The sound of cannons didn't stop all night on New Year's Eve, and the excitement lasted until four or five o'clock in the morning, when the sound of cannons gradually subsided.

It was already the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Before dawn, the little kids in the village came to Chen Ling's house to pay New Year's greetings.

Everyone was wearing new clothes and cotton-padded jackets, laughing and calling uncle and aunt, and reaching out to the young couple for new year's money.

Wang Susu had prepared the change a long time ago. The amount was not large, just for a celebration, and every doll had a share.

Of course, peanuts, melon seeds, and candies were also placed in conspicuous places on the table. Anyone who came to the house to pay New Year greetings would be given two handfuls, and their pockets would be stuffed full.

Most of the candies at home are milk candies bought by Chen Ling, as well as sweet halva and fruit candies. Even when Chen Yuqiang and other adults came over, they reached out to grab them from the plate with playful smiles.

However, these things are put out for people to eat. Whoever grabs two more handfuls and two fewer handfuls does not care, and they will be given more after they have finished.

When the people who came to pay New Year greetings were almost here, Chen Ling, Yu Qiang, Chen Ze and others went from house to house to pay New Year greetings to the elders in the village. Wang Susu also joined the wives and visited every house to pay New Year greetings.

Men walk together, and women and children walk together. This can be regarded as a hidden rule. Members of the family and relatives must come to visit and pay homage.

In this way, it was lively from the first to the fifth day of the lunar new year.

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, people from ten miles and eight villages began to visit relatives.

As for Chen Ling's family, my daughter-in-law doesn't have to go back to her parents' home for the Chinese New Year this year. They don't have any relatives to go to, so they just stay at home.

Until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, there was a temple fair in the county town. Liang Yuemin's family of three came to his home to play for a day. After lunch, they also went to the temple fair for a stroll.

On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, Han Chuang and his wife also came over on a motorcycle.

After that, the flavor of the New Year became less and less intense, and the festivities and bustle of the New Year gradually calmed down.

The Spring Festival of 1995 passed like this, and the new year began.

…

After the first month passed and February entered, the weather began to get warmer day by day. Construction on Chen Ling's farm began again, and the primary school in the village also reopened.

Liu Nier, Xizi, Zhuwa and other little kids came back to the village from the county town to go to school.

After all, compared to the county town, tuition fees in the village are cheaper, and parents don’t need to pick them up and drop them off at school.

As for Wang Zhenzhen, she stayed comfortably at home for more than a month during the Chinese New Year. On the fourth day of the second lunar month, Wang Qingwen and his wife sent her over.

The little girl got first place in the last semester. The teacher knew that she was far away from home and would have to rest at home during the Chinese New Year. During the winter vacation, he specially gave her a thick stack of papers to do. This paper was not available in the school.

The questions were completely found by the teacher and printed for her at his own expense, for fear that she would fall behind in her studies.

I have to say that teachers at this time are still very responsible for students. If they do this to ordinary students, they will naturally pay more attention to good students who know how to make progress.

The little girl did not disappoint the teacher. When she came back, she finished the paper completely without making a few mistakes. When Chen Ling went to pick her up, the teacher kept praising her, saying that she was really smart.

With academic performance, you can learn English in advance.

At this time, English could not be learned until after junior high school. Even in the city, it was not until fifth grade that English could be learned.

When Wang Susu found out, she was so happy that she supervised her sister's studies at home every day.

At first, Wang Zhenzhen was a little proud and studied honestly for a few days. But after these few days, she began to get bored and couldn't learn anything anymore. She muttered all day long, "The weather is getting warmer, fish in the water."

The shrimps are out and the birds are about to lay eggs. I really want to go out and play.

"Taking fish and catching birds is what wild boys can do. You study hard at home. Next Sunday, I will take you to the market in Huangni Town. We will buy whatever you want."

Chen Ling saw her lying on the table with a sad face and comforted her.

"Really? Then I want to buy pens, paint pens, and pencil cases, okay?"

Wang Zhenzhen suddenly became excited and became energetic immediately.

She had heard from her brother-in-law about Huangni Town a long time ago. There were many factories there, there were many rich people, and there were many delicious and fun places.

It's no worse than a fair in the county town.

"I need a pencil case again. Didn't I just buy you a new pencil case last year? It's still three-layered. Why buy it again this year?" Chen Ling remembered that he picked her up from school two days ago and saw her pencil case.

, it’s well taken care of and looks like new.

"It's for Teacher Zhang. Teacher Zhang's children are learning to draw."

"Okay, I'll buy it for you."

Chen Ling agreed as soon as she heard this. The little girl is a grateful person. The teachers in Fenglei Town are good to her, she will remember it, and the teachers in the county town are good to her, she will also remember it.

Just like what Wang Cunye said, although this girl runs around like a little wild horse all day long, she has her own ideas in her heart and can distinguish who is really good to her and who is not good to her.

She is also a sensible girl.

"Aling, I have picked out the melon seeds, can you take a look?"

While Chen Ling was coaxing her sister-in-law, Wang Susu picked out the watermelon seeds. She selected the large and plump seeds and prepared to plant some watermelons on the hillsides and ditches around the orchard.

If it grows well and produces a lot of melons, then take them to the county town to sell some. If the harvest doesn't work, it doesn't matter, just keep them for your own consumption.

"Okay, that's good. I'm going to put it in Brother Xian's mushroom shed for germination..."

After looking at the seeds in the small iron basin and turning them over twice with his hands, Chen Ling nodded and walked outside.

"You and Zhenzhen should stay at home. I'll go for a walk outside the village later and come back later for lunch."

"knew."

…

When growing melons on the mountain, germination and seedling growth are required due to the low temperatures in the morning and evening.

First, let the watermelon seeds germinate in a warm place, and then plant the germinated seeds. Fill the waste pig trough, livestock trough, etc. with soil. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as the melon seedlings can grow well.

After the melon seedlings have grown up and the temperature in the field has stopped freezing, they can be transplanted to the selected melon field.

After transplanting, wait for the melon seedlings to adapt to the soil of the melon field. If there is a lot of rain in the spring this year, you can save worry and don't have to worry about it. If there is little rain, you have to irrigate frequently because of watermelon transplanting.

The vines will be drawn out soon after. The vines need sufficient water during the drawout period. They will not grow well without water irrigation.

"Okay, Fugui, just leave it here and leave it alone. I'll call you over when the seedlings grow in a few days."

Wang Lixian took him to put the seeds in the warm soil greenhouse, and then waved his hand so that he didn't have to worry about it anymore.

He had tinkered with this thing last year, so he was familiar with it, and his land was ten acres, which was too little compared to Chen Ling's, so it was a piece of cake for him.

He also made a lot of money growing mushrooms this year. He became more and more interested in this earthen greenhouse. He came here almost every day and was able to help Chen Ling take care of it.

"Well, brother Xian, why don't you bother, I have to go to the fields again." Chen Ling smiled, said a few words to Wang Lixian, and walked towards his farm.

The mushrooms in Wang Lixian's shed have long been sold out. After asking Chen Ling for his opinion, he decided to try growing some vegetables this year. Currently, he only has two pieces of land and the space is small, so he just planted them as he used to in his own vegetable garden.

Just plant cucumbers, tomatoes, leeks, garlic sprouts, whatever you usually eat.

He won't plant watermelons this year either.

One thing is that I am too busy, and another characteristic of growing watermelons is that you cannot grow melons in the same field for two consecutive years because the fertility of the land does not allow it.

"Come here and have a look, Fugui?"

"Yeah, come here and take a look. You're so anxious to pull the dung into the ground. Come and transport it, uncle."

"Haha, don't worry about the crops. This year's solar term is early, so we are rushing to poop. Just watch, there will be more people pooping in the next two days."

Chen Ling took a quick look and saw that there were quite a few people in the distance also pooping into the ground.

Most of them are people who feed pigs and livestock in the village. They pull the livestock manure they have accumulated all winter into the wheat fields to fertilize the crops.

Otherwise, after a period of time, the winter wheat will take off, and you will not be able to step into the wheat field casually.

As for what Wang Laiyun said about solar terms being early.

This is because last year there was a leap month in August, a total of thirteen months had passed, which caused the normal solar terms in previous years to be moved forward by one month.

For example, Jingzhe, normally the Jingzhe occurred in the second month of the lunar calendar in previous years, but this year it falls in the first month.

Therefore, February of this year's lunar calendar appears to be much warmer than before.

"Is your village almost ready?"

"It's coming soon, it'll be fine in just over a month."

"That's going to be pretty soon. When it's built, we'll be able to visit it."

"It's hard to tell. You can come over and take a look at any time."

After chatting nonsense with the villagers all the way, Chen Ling arrived at the farm at the foot of the mountain.

Half of the farm is now built, and it will be basically completed by the end of March.

It is completely possible to move in before this summer.

So Wang Susu has been busy these days, preparing to hatch chicks and ducks. The farm is so big, and we need to hatch more this year and raise them all here.

As for eggs and duck eggs, Chen Ling bought them when he went to the county fair. The eggs laid by his own chickens and ducks are more expensive than ordinary eggs.

Wang Susu was reluctant to use her own eggs and duck eggs to hatch seedlings.

"Lao Gao, are you lazy today? It seems like there is no change from yesterday?"

The workers next to the wooden building and the bamboo building were all busy banging away. Chen Ling walked over and looked at the wood, the bamboo, the bluestone slabs on the ground, and the sawn pieces of wood and bamboo.
To be continued...