Chapter 98 Rouge Fish
In the eyes of children born in the 1970s and 1980s in rural areas, slingshots are definitely an indispensable part of childhood. Because they are simple to make, most male dolls have one, and they often use them to shoot. Shooting birds or shooting fish, whose slingshot is more powerful.
There are generally two ways to make slingshots, one is made of tree twigs, and the other is made of thick wire nests, but Chen Ling is strong and can withstand his use without deforming. There wasn't much wire, so I made a wooden slingshot.
Chen Ling found a suitable tree twig, used a hatchet to peel off the bark, and made it into a [Y] shape. Then he cut two grooves at both ends of the twig, and then discarded the bark. Cut the bicycle inner tube into several long strips of flat rubber and tie it into the grooves at both ends of the tree branch. In fact, rubber bands are usually used. The greater the tension of the rubber bands, the greater the power of the slingshot.
However, there was no ready-made one at home, so Chen Lingtu saved the trouble and used a bicycle inner tube instead, and then found a leather bag to wrap the projectiles. This is usually cut from an old cowhide belt, or old cowhide used for mending shoes. That’s it.
Punch two holes in the leather pocket and secure the rubber through the holes.
Finally, a few circles of cloth strips were wrapped around the handle of the slingshot. After trying to see if it could hold the handle, a decent slingshot was made.
Chen Ling looked up and saw that the group of magpies were indeed still in the same place, squatting on the toon tree outside the courtyard, chirping from time to time, provoking him.
Before learning that magpies steal eggs, Chen Ling simply thought that this thing was a beneficial bird. Later, when he found out that this guy was a thief bird, he paid attention to it. He even asked someone to inquire about it, and finally found out that this bird was actually a thief. An out-and-out gangster.
Crops and fruit trees only pick out the good and big ones. Not only that, they also bully the house sparrows and swallows, and steal the chickens and ducks in the house. Wang Lixian said that he has seen several Magpies steal chicks and hunt swallows. They kill and eat them directly after catching them. Sometimes several of them share the food together. The scene is quite cruel and bloody.
But it is not easy for people to teach them a lesson. This kind of bird thieves are clever. If you get within three feet, they will fly away immediately. When you leave, they will fly back and continue to harass you. The essence of guerrilla warfare.
The flower magpies are not only rogue, but also very ferocious. I heard from Wang Lixian that these things are also dominant in the mountains. They come in groups. Generally, small eagles do not dare to provoke them.
Isn’t that kite unable to withstand their siege before I saw it?
At this time, Chen Ling saw that these magpies dared to provoke him, so he did not hit them with a slingshot directly. Instead, he turned around and found a long bamboo pole, and used it to hit several big trees not far from his home. All the nests in the previous buildings were destroyed by them.
This guy immediately aroused the anger of the magpies. They jumped back and forth crazily on the toon branches and screamed louder, but they did not dare to fly down. They just screamed urgently to attract friends. .
After a while, the number of magpies expanded from seven or eight to twenty or thirty. It seemed that all the surrounding magpies were summoned, leaving Chen Ling stunned for a while.
“Damn it, why are you so exaggerated?”
Chen Ling raised his head and was stunned for a long time, but he was not soft-hearted or guilty at all.
If this group of thieving birds is left alone, the vegetable garden in the backyard will no longer be available. Maybe these thieving birds will get worse and cause harm to the front yard when people are not paying attention.
If I didn’t give them some color this time, I would really think that Uncle Chen is a sick cat.
Then he took the two dogs back to the front yard. There were still a lot of pebbles picked up early this morning. Chen Ling put the basket at his feet, picked up a stone, opened the slingshot, and aimed at the magpie on the tree. It shot out with a 'swish' sound.
The first time he missed, but because Chen Ling had fully pulled the slingshot, the stone he hit was very powerful. It hit the tree trunk with a bang and made a huge noise. The magpies suddenly He was so frightened that he flew away with fluttering wings.
Chen Ling is not discouraged. Magpies like to fight guerrilla warfare, so he will accompany them to fight a protracted war.
As long as you dare to show your head, we will immediately serve you with a slingshot.
For the next morning, Chen Ling spent the next morning with these magpies. As long as they dared to fly close to the yard, he would greet them with a slingshot. In the first few times, he could not hit them, but as time went by, After I found the feeling in my hand, the accuracy came up immediately.
Hit two in a row.
Because Chen Ling was too strong, as long as he was hit, he would be dead. Half of one of his heads was knocked off. He spun from the tree and fell to the ground. Heiwa and Xiaojin’s two dogs picked him back up after a while. The yard is full of hair.
Chen Ling did not reprimand them. He wanted this effect. Otherwise, how could he scare these thieving birds?
Wang Susu came home at noon and saw bird feathers all over the yard. She thought something had happened, but when she heard Chen Ling explain, she was very angry. The vegetables grown in her backyard turned out to be... How can you bear it after being harmed by these thieving birds?
Without saying a word, he grabbed the slingshot from Chen Ling's hand, put some stones in his pocket, and shot several times at the magpie outside the yard.
It's just that these thieving birds are a little scared now. Not to mention being far away from Chen Ling's yard, they flew away early when they saw people raising their slingshots, giving them no chance to aim. After lunch, Chen Ling was afraid that these thieving birds would go to the vegetable garden to retaliate, so he went to the backyard to squat once, but he killed two of them directly. It was worse than the two he shot in the morning. The stones were directly embedded in his body. He flapped his wings, gasped, and struggled on the ground for a long time before he died completely.
Seeing the bloody and miserable death of their companions, these thieves also knew that Chen Ling’s house was in danger, so they no longer dared to approach the yard, and flew away when they saw Chen Ling. Go away, not daring to stop near him.
On the last day of April in the lunar calendar, Wang Lixian's family was about to harvest melons. Chen Ling rushed there early, but he didn't know that his Ernier and her son-in-law had returned to her parents' house and had to entertain them at noon today. As a young couple, they had to wait until the cool evening to harvest the melons.
Chen Ling also knew that these two people must have come to help, so he rejected their family's attempts to stay. He returned to his home and watered the vegetable garden in the backyard twice more with diluted stream water. Now at home Chen Ling's water tank was mixed with stream water. This kind of water would be colorful when taken out alone, especially at night, it would emit brilliant fluorescence, but after being neutralized with ordinary water, it would become ordinary. , except that it tastes sweet and refreshing, there is nothing eye-catching on the surface.
So Chen Ling just kept using it as he pleased. He didn't mix in much stream water, and he wasn't worried that Wang Susu would find anything unusual.
After working hard at home for a while, I went to the fields to graze cattle and pick some mulberry leaves. After lunch, Han Chuang actually brought some fish over. There were dozens of them, colorful. There are various kinds, the longest is no more than two fingers, but they are all beautiful.
Chen Ling doesn’t know much about ornamental fish, and he doesn’t recognize them all, but among the ones he can name, there are several wild ornamental fish that are hard to see in later generations, such as mullet fish and golden thread fish. And betta fish.
These fish are rare in the local area, especially the mullet fish. You have to go over the Niangniang Mountain outside Fenglei Town to find it in the Yangtze River to have a chance to catch it.
I heard Han Chuang say that many of the fish were brought back from outside when his brother was out delivering canned goods, and they were kept in the pond of their cannery. They were mixed and kept together regardless of species. , when I remembered, I would throw a few pieces of steamed bread crumbs or sprinkle some bran in it, and if I couldn’t remember, I wouldn’t feed it, and it just looked pretty, so they didn’t take it seriously.
Today he took an aquatic truck to deliver the fish to the reservoir dam. After he came to the village and called Chen Ling, he accompanied Chen Ling to drive the cattle and brought the fish back to his home in a large water tank. Then he ignored Chen Ling. The couple asked to stay and left in a hurry.
When I got home, I moved the water tank from the oxcart. There were seven or eight fish that turned over on their bellies and didn’t move much in the water. Chen Ling hurriedly put them into the lotus pond. After scooping a few ladles of diluted stream water into the water tank, everyone became energetic again.
“These fish are so beautiful. When the lotus flowers bloom in a while, our yard will definitely be more beautiful.”
Wang Susu was also attracted by these beautiful fish, and squatted with her gills in her hands. Beside the pool, watching quietly.
The fish may have noticed the difference in the water, and they swam happily in the water one by one. Wang Susu caught some rice grains and fed them, but they didn't even hide, and opened and closed their mouths out of the water. Go grab food.
Chen Ling went to move the two red eels and red eel seedlings out of the house, changed the water, and also let them come out for air.
Although the eel fry placed outside grew slower than those in the cave, they were almost as long now, which made Wang Susu surprised.
Chen Ling knew that this had nothing to do with the Dongtian Stream, but that the eels were a special species. Of course, it was also possible that they were genetically mutated species and were caught by Chen Ling unintentionally. Later, after being fed some stream water, he was stimulated again and mutated.
He didn't know what the situation was, but it grew very fast.
“I wonder what that lynx went to the mountains to do. If he doesn’t come back, these eel fry will grow into big fish.”
Chen Ling couldn't help but murmur in his heart.
Then I squatted beside the pool with Wang Susu, counting how many special fish there were.
After observing for a while, I found that there were three mullet fish, a dozen betta fish, and seven or eight cow fish, or panda fish, and the rest were mostly ordinary goldfish.
People at this time were basically like Han Chuang's brother, who didn't pay much attention to these things. Moreover, in this remote mountainous county, there was no concept of ornamental fish or not, which meant keeping them for fun. Hell, whether it’s a gift from someone else or something you find from the wild that you think looks good, you just throw it into the pool and forget about it. Most of the time, it’s just to add some life to the home, or just to make it look festive. I don’t even know that there are some How precious the fish will be in future generations.
But Chen Ling doesn't care about this now. In his eyes, these things just look good. They can add a bit of different color to the small yard, and their value is secondary.
Before the wheat harvest, the weather in the mountains is like a monkey's face, extremely changeable. It's fine during the day, with the sun shining brightly, but towards evening, it suddenly becomes cloudy.
Chen Ling did not dare to neglect when he saw this. After informing Wang Susu, he drove the bullock cart down to the fields to help Wang Lixian's family collect watermelons.
(End of this chapter)