A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 18 Happy Cottage

The next morning, my phone rang; the excavator had been delivered to the village entrance. I quickly washed my face, hopped on my bicycle, and headed there. It would be impolite to keep them waiting.

When I arrived at the village entrance, the village chief was already there.

A young man came today. He looked a bit childish, but he was actually a skilled excavator operator at the company. If it weren't for the boss's insistence, he would still be working on the construction site. Zhang Niu only found this out later.

The young man readily introduced himself, saying his surname was Zhang. You could call him Xiao Zhang. He even said that we were all from the same family five hundred years ago, which made everyone laugh; they all thought the young man had a good sense of humor.

Before starting work, Xiao Zhang took out a fee schedule and said, "It lists the fees. The excavator is charged by the hour. It's 230 per hour. Since you're the boss's friend, it says it'll be rounded up to 200. If there are no problems, we can sign the time now and start work."

Zhang Niu wasn't very familiar with the market, but he still signed his name. His family even brought out a string of firecrackers and hung them on a bamboo pole. The crackling sound filled the air. This was a good start; everything would go smoothly. If this were done after the New Year, he'd have to give a red envelope to the person in charge.

Zhang Niu led the way. The excavator followed behind, cracking and popping as it crushed broken tree branches, with a group of wild children following at the very back. Excavators were a rare sight in the village; everyone seemed to be there just to watch.

Regarding widening the mountain road, the village chief had a good eye. Following the small mountain road outside the village, the village chief asked Xiao Zhang to help level the small mounds of dirt along the way. For Xiao Zhang, it was essential to do his best in everything during work hours. That's why he became a skilled excavator operator at the company.

The village chief felt it was a good thing to be able to do something for the village. Only a fool wouldn't do something that didn't cost him money.

The winding mountain road blocked the excavator's path. Xiao Zhang, aboard the excavator, pointed out that all they needed to do was level the small trees and other debris on both sides, and then use the heavy excavator to compact it a few times. That would widen the road considerably. The soil here is hard, and a few compactions would solidify it.

This suggestion greatly pleased the village chief and Zhang Niu. Without professional expertise, it could have been quite troublesome, but with the village chief present, widening the mountain road went very smoothly.

It's just a short mountain road. Xiao Zhang spent most of the day working on it with his excavator.

At noon, I invited the village chief and Xiao Zhang to my house for blackfish. The village chief was a bit surprised; blackfish are a good catch, and this one weighed over eight pounds. His seemingly ordinary eyes suddenly lit up. It was clear that the village chief also loved fish.

Xiao Zhang had heard of blackfish before, but he never expected to come all the way down to the village and get to eat such a delicacy. He felt the trip was worthwhile. Who in the county town would pay such a high price for this rare commodity?

At noon, several people sat around a table. The black carp, of course, was cooked in the village's favorite style of boiled fish. It tasted much better than Zhang Niu's own cooking. After all, he added some seasonings he didn't have, making the flavor even superior.

Xiao Zhang had things to do in the afternoon, so he didn't plan to drink alcohol. The village chief and his father drank warm yellow wine. Zhang Niu didn't drink either. He urged Xiao Zhang to eat more and not to be shy, to make himself at home.

After a hearty meal, Xiao Zhang kept praising how delicious the blackfish was, saying it was far superior to other fish like flatfish or grass carp. The entire pot of spicy boiled fish was devoured at lunchtime.

After a short rest, they prepared to get back to work. As for the village chief, he couldn't hold his liquor and went home, since there wasn't anything else to do in the afternoon that required his help.

The mountain road has been widened, and the eerie feeling it used to give us is gone. Now the road leads straight through, and the sun shines directly on it.

Zhang Niu led the way. We drove into the vicinity of Fly Tree. We helped dig a pond here, because there's a large irrigation canal nearby. The reservoir releases water through that canal, making pumping water easier later.

Zhang Niu watched Xiao Zhang's tireless work from under the tree, feeling a bit envious. But the thought of sitting there all day was unbearable. Even though the salary was high and there was extra income, it was still tiring. As for the extra income, he heard it involved working twelve hours but only reporting ten. The boss couldn't be there every day, so he just turned a blind eye.

Seeing Xiao Zhang busy at work, Zhang Niu greeted him and prepared to go to Er Gou's hilltop to buy some oranges.

Er Gou's hill is near Zhang Niu's, only about a ten-minute walk away. When I arrived, Er Gou was still picking oranges. This year's weather has been good, with favorable winds and abundant harvests.

The oranges that Er Gou's family is currently picking are early-ripening varieties. Er Gou usually drives a tractor to transport them out for sale. The early-ripening oranges fetch a price of over one yuan.

Oranges picked from the very tip of the tree usually have thicker peels and don't taste as good. The ones picked from the bottom of the tree have thinner peels and are juicier. You shouldn't eat too many oranges. Early-ripening oranges these days are usually quite sour and taste very good.

He carried a bag of oranges down the mountain, intending to give them to Xiao Zhang to try.

A square pond has been dug over the fly tree. Small ponds raise small fish. Big ponds raise big fish—it's unclear who started this saying, but everyone seems to believe it.

Tell Xiao Zhang to come down and rest for a bit. Have him try some oranges first. It's not peak season yet.

Xiao Zhang really liked the newly released oranges, but they were too sour.

By evening, the pond had been dug to about the same size as the duck pond above. There's no need to dig it very deep for raising eels and loaches, about 1.4 meters. It's difficult to raise them if it's too deep, and we don't plan to raise bottom-dwelling fish like carp either.

It's late, so we can only arrange for Xiao Zhang to stay at our house. We'll deal with the rest tomorrow.

The night was quiet.

Zhang Niu tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. The little one beside him, however, slept soundly, curled up in a ball with his tiny paws around his head – his sleeping posture was hilariously funny.

Thinking back to the snakehead fish I ate during the day, and how even Xiao Zhang, who lives in the county, enjoyed it so much, why didn't I dig another pond tomorrow specifically to raise snakehead fish? It would only take half a day more at most. The price of snakehead fish wasn't an issue either; I'd just dig the pond and start raising them first.

I fell asleep in a daze, and when I woke up it was already broad daylight.

Xiao Zhang also came up very early, and said that the environment here is nice and better than in the city.

Zhang Niu couldn't help but say a few words: the only thing the countryside can't compare to the city in is the air quality. Even now, there are still a few people in their nineties in the village.

Before Xiao Zhang got on the excavator, Zhang Niu told him that after digging this pond, they should dig another one next to it, leaving a three-meter-wide path in between.

Yesterday, the first pond was almost finished. By noon, the second pond was also successfully dug, and a one-meter-deep ditch was dug next to the main irrigation canal, leading directly to both ponds. We can simply set up the pumps at the irrigation canal, and the pumped water will flow in along the ditch.

After everything was done, the final bill was settled. Thirty hours, a total of six thousand yuan—Zhang Niu felt this was unusually expensive; he signed and paid. The mountain road is now accessible by car, but how easy is it to drive on it now? The truck arrived in the afternoon and took the excavator back.

At dusk, Zhang Niu hung a wooden board by the roadside. On it, one could vaguely make out a few large, flamboyant characters: "Happy Little Abode".

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