frightfiction Chapter 265 Old Wang, the Queen Bee of the Production Brigade's Old Bee Farm
Chapter 265 Old Wang, the Queen Bee of the Production Brigade's Old Bee Farm
There was a commotion outside, and the second uncle asked, "What's all that noise? There's no road access to this area."
He initially thought the roaring sound was from Master Chen driving up the road, transporting something to earn some extra money. He was surprised to find it was Old Wang from the production brigade, who was on an oxcart, jumping off the tricycle to unload several tattered planks and carrying down old boxes.
The strange wooden box puzzled the two old men. Li Ju'an smiled and said to them, "This is the first time I've tried this, so I don't know if it will work. It will only be considered a success if it can build a royal platform."
Old Wang, a former beekeeper from the production brigade, laughed and said, "This young lad has been coming to our area a lot lately. He even went to the old work area to ask Old Liu and Old Chen about building queen cells. This is a skill that can't be learned in a short time. We thought it would be good if he could come and lend a hand."
Old Wang, a former beekeeper, lived in Wangxing Village. Li Ju'an used to stay at Old Zhao's house when he hunted in Wangxing Village, and he and Old Wang had some interaction and chatted. Old Wang told him that the old bee farm of the production brigade was often attacked by bears back then, and the bee farm was very profitable. Every spring after the breeding season, when the main honey flow arrived, March was the right time to collect honey.
During that period, the best months for harvesting honey from native bees were spring and autumn. These two seasons were the peak honey production periods.
Old Wang once counted on his fingers and told him in detail: "Our old team leader set up a bee farm with more than 200 beehives. After the honey harvest season begins, the entire harvest period is expected to last for a quarter. The honey from our mountain has the lowest water content, tastes good, and can be sold for a good price. People from the south are scrambling to buy it."
Old Wang spent most of his life beekeeping at the old apiary of the production brigade. If the apiary hadn't been so successful, with so many bears visiting every autumn, he might still be working there now.
Li Ju'an chatted with him and said, "That's true. The production brigade might keep these 200-plus beehives now, so Brother Wang, you can still be the queen bee in the mountains."
Old Wang laughed heartily, his eyes brimming with pride when he talked about beekeeping. So when he learned that Li Ju'an had come to him wanting to learn beekeeping techniques, he straightened his back and was very excited, just afraid that the young man wouldn't want to learn or would give up at the first sign of trouble.
He brought several old beehives and hives from his old apiary and carefully explained to Li Ju'an how to develop bee colonies.
When the old man and his second uncle saw that guests had arrived, they naturally didn't want to linger, but they were also curious, so they put their hands behind their backs and peeled peanuts while watching. The old beehive was buzzing, and a few bees were scurrying out and flying around the room.
Second Uncle asked Song Lanhua for a palm-leaf fan, waved it a couple of times with disdain, and said, "What is this thing? It just flies into the house."
Old Wang was afraid he would break the bees, so he said, "Be careful, there aren't many bees, they'll fly away soon."
Watching Old Wang teach Li Ju'an how to raise bees, Uncle Er simply stood up and said, "This is all the land can do. What else can we do? Raise bees and plant some trees. It would be good if they bore fruit. It's not easy to come all this way, it's quite far."
Song Lanhua, the mother, was a little embarrassed. Li Xiao looked at his mother and then at his second uncle, and suddenly said, "Second Uncle might not even recognize this place next time he comes. Today, my brother led Second Uncle back to the road. Next time, I will bring Second Uncle in to sit down."
The second uncle waved his palm-leaf fan and pretended to scare the child, saying, "You little girl, you've got a sharp tongue. Alright, alright, I'll see what else you can do with this dry land later."
Neither he nor the old man believed that anything could be accomplished from this dry land; they thought it wouldn't amount to much. The two shelled peanuts for a while, listening to Li Ju'an and Old Wang talking about beekeeping in a way they couldn't understand, before making an excuse to get up and go home.
After the two returned home, the second uncle's two sons asked him, "Dad, how is Li Ju'an's house being renovated? What do you think of it?"
Second Uncle snorted, patted the dust off his thighs, and said, "Good my foot! If you ask me, we made the right choice in dividing the land. It's a good thing we didn't choose that dry land, which was completely out of place. If you ask me, that piece of land was useless."
"Of course! Dad chose the best one. He let Li Ju'an mess around with that mediocre piece of land himself, which was just a waste of time."
The old man and his family felt a little better and comforted themselves. The second uncle was in the best mood. He praised his two sons and said, "Our family is doing really well. Li Changqing from your uncle's side ran off to the south by himself, and we haven't heard from him since. Who knows how he's doing."
His eldest son laughed and said, "Once he's made something of himself, he'll definitely come back to brag. If he's doing so well, do you think he'll ever come back?"
The youngest son said, "We'll just have to wait and see if Li Changqing comes back next year. If he's doing well, he'll definitely come back eagerly to brag. And even without him bragging, Auntie will rave about it like crazy, wanting the whole village to know."
The second uncle's family laughed heartily; happiness is relative. Now Li Ju'an had land nobody wanted, they had irrigated land, and a tenement building in the city—they were living a very comfortable life.
Second Aunt called out to her eldest daughter-in-law, Zhang Cui, "Little Zhang, why don't you introduce a potential partner to Second Brother? Isn't his partner your sister-in-law? Your distant niece, ask her out more. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she married into our family? Their life would be prosperous!"
Zhang Cui coaxed her son and casually replied with a "yes".
Uncle Er chuckled again, lit his pipe, and said, "Li Ju'an hasn't gotten married yet. If we have a grandson, we can hold our little grandson too. Ah, the Li family still has to rely on me."
The second uncle's family of six lived in a cramped tenement building. Except for his wife Zhang Cui, everyone else was very content.
……
At this moment, Li Ju'an was discussing beekeeping with Lao Wang.
It's April now, and Lao Wang happens to have a strong colony. He took down the beehive, which was filled with bees, and told Li Ju'an that the next step was to feed them a lot, not to think about harvesting honey yet, but to let the colony develop rapidly until queen cells appeared before they could swarm.
Li Ju'an knew Old Wang from the production brigade; he used to be the queen bee at the old apiary and was a very capable man, known in the production brigade as the "bee fanatic." There was no queen cell he couldn't build.
Old Wang told him that swarming was the first step to successful beekeeping. Many beekeepers lacked the skills to quickly build queen cells, making swarming impossible. Beekeeping requires multiple queens, each capable of managing a colony. By swarming twice in the spring, eight strong colonies could be developed within a year.
"By next spring, there will be more than a dozen bee colonies, and the apiary will be ready."
Old Wang grinned as he took the cigarette Li Ju'an offered, lit it, took a deep drag, and then suddenly his face hardened as he said, "But in the summer, when honey is scarce, we have to be careful."