Chapter 177 - 173: Chicken Kid_1

Translator: 549690339

By noon, most of the chicks were exchanged by people for eggs.

Old Lady Tang exchanged ten, Wen Shu’s Nanny also got ten, the Zhou Family and Yanru each received fifteen, and the other villagers successively exchanged more than forty, leaving only a dozen chicks at home now.

These dozen or so chicks are being raised by a hen, foraging in the yard.

The other two hens were miserable, unwilling to abandon the late-hatching eggs, their chicks were stolen one by one by their mistress, leaving only a few weak chicks that had just hatched with their feathers still wet.

Chunniang wanted to take these chicks too, let one hen raise them and allow the other two hens to recover more quickly and start laying eggs sooner.

However, one Reed Chicken was particularly stubborn. Once her chicks were taken away by the mistress, she would chase after them frantically, snatch one or two back from the hen who was raising the chicks, then take the two chicks somewhere else to forage.

After several occurrences, Chunniang decided to let her be.

A few days later, the hens were able to take their chicks out of the yard.

Fearing that their own chicks would get mixed up with others’, Chunniang made a red mark on the heads of their chicks with sappanwood.

Every morning, after feeding the hens and chicks with small yellow rice, the hens would cluck and bring their chicks out.

The Reed Chicken also brought out her two little chicks.

Perhaps because the Reed Chicken was raising fewer chicks, she often went far out, sometimes even to the wasteland over there.

The wasteland was near a pond and there was a wild bamboo forest in the distance. With the thriving plants and dense bushes in the wasteland, the hens with chicks could not only find insects there but also hide from the hawks and falcons in the sky.

However, there are also many ground predators, such as weasels, foxes, jackals, etc., that would sneak out to hunt.

Fortunately, people are often washing rice and vegetables, doing laundry, and carrying water near the pond, preventing these animals from approaching during the day.

However, the two chicks of the Reed Chicken disappeared after a short while, probably either snatched by eagles or caught by other wild animals.

Recently, one or two eagles have been gliding past the sky above the village, causing widespread panic among the chickens.

Not only the chickens were frightened, but the villagers were also uneasy, quickly bringing their children back home and hiding the lambs and piglets.

Because these eagles are large enough to easily snatch a four or five-year-old child or a half-sized lamb.

Whenever they see an eagle diving down, the villagers would beat their copper basins or gongs, waving their arms and shouting loudly to scare them away temporarily.

However, the eagles would soon return, circling above the Jiang family’s yard a few times.

Chunniang had no choice but to drive the hens and chicks into the house until the eagles flew away before letting them out.

She didn’t pay much attention to the Reed Chicken, leading to the disappearance of Reed Chicken’s chicks.

However, the Reed Chicken did not despair after losing her chicks, instead, it repeatedly attempted to snatch chicks from other hens.

But the chicks have recognized their mother and were not willing to follow it.

Therefore, Yingbao often saw the Reed Chicken going to the pond alone, unsure whether she was foraging or looking for her lost children.

After spending three days in the county town, Jiang Sanlang returned joyously with a new carriage, immediately showing his wife and daughter the title deed of a house.

It is a courtyard with five rooms, not far from the county school, and cost more than 300 taels of silver.

With the cost of the carriage being a hundred taels, Jiang Sanlang spent over four hundred taels in all, including the hundred taels of silver given by his daughter.

Chunniang had almost spent all her silver, leaving only more than ten coins of copper left.

She didn’t feel a bit reluctant and was instead very delighted. Finally, they have a house in the county town, and it’s a five-roomed house made of green bricks and tiles.

The house is good, and the yard is quite large too. There should be no problem growing some vegetables or flowers as normal. Wait for a while and I’ll go there again to hire several bricklayers to refurbish it and buy some furniture. After the autumn harvest, we can send Xiaojie and Yuanbao to study in town,” he said.

Jiang Sanlang said to his little daughter, “You and your mother will go to the county town together, and we will become a family based in the county town from now on.”

After eight or ten years, the young girl would become a proper inhabitant of the town, and by then, she could find a good in-law family in the county town.

Yingbao shook her head: “I won’t go to the county town. It’s enough if Ah Ma goes with Big Brother.”

In her previous life, she lived in the county town for several years, but aside from the larger population, there was nothing interesting about the place.

Besides, water was a serious problem in the county town. If a house had no well, they either had to carry water from the river for their use or purchase it.

If they bought water, even a full load barely lasted a family of three to five people a day. For typical tasks like laundry, rinsing rice, and washing veggies, they would have to go to a nearby pond.

The large water pond in the county town was in the same league as a dirty drain, and the color of the water was green. While it was bearable in winter, by the time summer rolled around, the entire pool would exude a faint stink.

Even if they lived near a flowing river, people would perform their washing directly using the moving water. However, there was no guarantee that there was not someone upstream who was in the process of dumping their chamber pots or cleaning their toilets.

Therefore, she didn’t want to go to the county town.

Chunniang asked, “Why don’t you want to go, Baobao?”

“I need to learn medicine from my master,” explained Yingbao.

Not only did she have to study medicine, but she also had to practice martial arts. Furthermore, she couldn’t afford to neglect earning money by cultivating golden ears. If she moved to the county town, she wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Chunniang laughed, “That’s right, our Baobao has to study medicine. We — her parents — have been so silly that we forgot all about it.”

In just a few days, the fact that the Jiang Family purchased a property in the county town spread throughout the village.

This couldn’t be helped. One of Lizheng’s duties was to register the villagers’ assets. Land and property records were particularly important to keep track of.

Right after Jiang Sanlang formalized the ownership document in the government office, a notification from the County Government arrived at Sun Licheng’s place another two days later, asking him to re-register Jiang Sanlang’s wealth.

With all this back and forth, now, who wouldn’t know about it?

“Aiyo, has your family really purchased a property in the county town?” As soon as Wang Erlang’s aunt saw Chunniang, she started questioning her.

Withdrawing her sleeve subtly, Chunniang smiled and replied, “It’s not a grand property, but just a two-room house.”

“Well, even a two-room house is a property,” Wang Erlang’s aunt laughed mysteriously and asked in a low voice, “So, are you planning to move to the county town? Are Erni and Yingbao also going with you?”

“How could we? We have all our farmland here, there’s no way we could move to the county town.”

Eager to leave, Chunniang said hurriedly, “Erniang, I have stuff to do. I can’t chat longer.” With that, she quickly walked away.

Wang Erlang’s aunt was persistence. She wanted to follow Chunniang to ask more, but was stopped by her son, “Mother, the pancake is getting burnt, you better go take a look.”

“Oh my!” Wang Erlang’s aunt slapped her thigh and rushed to lift off the pot cover. Upon checking, she found the pancake to be perfectly okay and not burnt at all.

“You rotten boy! How dare you trick me!” Wang Erlang’s aunt was annoyed to discover she’d been duped as she flipped the pancake.

She turned around to find her son standing near the stove looking at her, she glared at him, “What are you looking at?”

Wang Erlang: “I’m hungry. I’m waiting for the pancake to be done.”

“Eat, eat! All you know is eating!” Wang Erlang’s aunt swayed a spatula in front of her son’s face, annoyed. “Erni will soon go to the county town, let’s see what you will do then!””

“What will I do then?” Wang Erglang’s eyes were glued to the pancake in the pot.

Wang Erlang’s aunt gives her son an exasperated look, “Haven’t I told you arrangements could be made, the more you play around with Erni and Huzi, the likelier our two families could become in-laws.”

Only then did Wang Erlang react, pulling a face, “Mother, how old is Erni? What on earth can we do together?”

He was fifteen, and Erni was just ten. What common interests could he possibly have with a little girl?