Chapter 158 Did they go to the mountains to "rob"?

"Go and take a look, I guarantee you'll like it," Wang Xifeng assured her confidently.

Daiyu snorted, "Then I'll believe you this once."

"Have you chosen the fabric and style?" Yuan Hongqu walked closer. "Is there anything you particularly like?"

"Yes, I've already had them make them. Granny, I've also made a few sets of riding clothes; these styles weren't available where we live before. There's another thing; the manager of Chu Embroidery Workshop has taken a liking to our pattern book and wants to buy it from us, but I don't know much about it... Aunt Fang is chatting with her."

“With Aunt Fang around, she’ll definitely be able to sell a lot of money from just one picture.” Yuan Hongqu knew Aunt Fang, the head of the sewing shop, very well. She was definitely a strong woman, much more ambitious than Yuan Hongqu, who was more laid-back.

"Daiyu, why don't you learn from Aunt Fang? You might need it someday!" Wang Xifeng teased her.

"Hehe, I know my own limitations. I'm not good at those things!" Daiyu wouldn't be swayed by Wang Xifeng's words and actually try to learn Fang Da Niang's way of doing things.

"I'm going to be a female knight-errant in the future!" Daiyu said with great enthusiasm. The puppy in her arms sensed Daiyu's excitement and barked twice in its babyish voice.

"Hehe, heroine, this puppy is so cute, it's not even a month old yet, is it?" Wang Xifeng leaned forward and reached out to touch the puppy's head.

"She turned one month old yesterday, and Sister Su brought her here today."

After saying that, Daiyu naturally held up the puppy to Yuan Hongqu, "Granny, this is a puppy that Sister Su found for me. It's so small, it's not even as big as a cat."

Yuan Hongqu took the puppy. The puppy whimpered a few times and then huddled in Yuan Hongqu's palm, sniffing around as if it had smelled something delicious, but obviously there was no food for it to eat.

"You're really cute. You'll have to take care of one more pet from now on, so don't work too hard." The puppy was soft and fluffy. Although it was small, its thick fur was very soft and sturdy.

"Granny, I don't think it's hard work at all. I love them." Daiyu said confidently. "I'm sure I can take good care of them."

"But what if there's a pair of guinea fowl, two little rabbits, two little squirrels, and four swans? Can you manage to take care of them all?" Wang Xifeng teased Daiyu. "If you like, I also have a pair of sika deer at home; I'll send them over for you to play with as well."

Daiyu stared in disbelief, "Sister Feng, did your family go to the mountains to 'rob' someone?"

“Little girl, that’s called hunting, not robbery,” Wang Xifeng corrected her.

“No, no, Sister Feng, you just went into the mountains to ‘rob’ them, and you took so many animals from the mountains.” Daiyu said seriously, “You’re not hunters, so you can’t say you went hunting.”

"Alright, then let's say we're going to 'rob' the mountains. Do you want these spoils?"

Daiyu's eyes sparkled as she smiled and nodded. "Did Sister Feng come to my house to 'divide the spoils' with us?"

"Sister Yuan, what books has your child been reading lately? Why does he speak in such a sly way?" Wang Xifeng was a little unable to accept this version of Lin Daiyu.

“The Tale of the Bearded Stranger from the Taiping Guangji,” Daiyu answered the question herself with a smile.

Wang Xifeng had no idea about the Bearded Stranger. She just felt that Lin Daiyu shouldn't be like that. She thought that at most she could read "The Romance of the Western Chamber," and this "The Tale of the Bearded Stranger" sounded like a miscellaneous book.

“Sister Yuan, you’re not even keeping an eye on Daiyu’s reading. Not just any book is suitable for her,” Wang Xifeng scolded Yuan Hongqu.

"Sister Feng, this set of books was a gift from my second uncle."

"Um, then pretend I didn't say anything."

The group chatted and laughed, and soon arrived at the Lin family's garden.

Under the direction of the head maid in charge of the courtyard, the old women of the Lin family were building a chicken coop, loosening the rat cages, and settling the pair of rabbits in a suitable place in the courtyard. These were all easy to handle, but the four swans were still frozen to death on the ice, which was only recently after the New Year.

What attracted Daiyu the most were those swans.

Swans are naturally clean creatures. Even when they are kept in cages with very limited fresh water each day, they still keep themselves very clean.

Unlike those farmed geese, which are filthy and smelly.

"Granny, let's build them a nest on the ice! This nest should not only be sturdy but also waterproof. When the ice melts in a few days, the nest should be able to float on the water. That would be the best!" Daiyu suggested.

“This is a small matter, of course, no problem. I remember when we cleaned this pond before, we had an old boat. Why don’t we use the old boat to turn it into a nest?” Yuan Hongshu suggested.

"Granny's idea is good. With a small boat to support it, even if the ice melts, the bird's nest won't fall into the water."

“There’s a rocky area to the east of our pond that connects to a reed bed. Although the reeds have all been cut, it’s a warmer spot. Let’s drag the old boat to where the reeds meet the rocks and build our nest there,” Yuan Hongqu said, pointing to the east side of the pond.

"Granny, that place is wonderful. No one can disturb them, and the water there comes from outside; they'll definitely love it." Daiyu, after hearing Yuan Hongqu's plan, also looked eastward and thought it was an extremely suitable spot…

As night fell, lanterns were lit throughout the Lin family's residence. Wang Xifeng waited until after dinner before taking her leave.

After seeing Wang Xifeng off, Yuan Hongqu went to the courtyard. After thinking for a moment, she released some water from the small pond in her space.

She also keeps animals in her space, and now those little animals have become a bit too smart because they've eaten too much of what the space produces.

So now Yuan Hongqu can no longer bear to kill and eat them. Instead, she puts new chicks and ducklings into her space and lets the earliest animals take care of them.

Since the products from her space can make small animals smarter, if the Lin family's small animals eat them, wouldn't they become less wild and less likely to harm children?

Especially the swans. Today, I saw that Daiyu really liked those four swans. Despite the cold weather, she insisted on taking her paintbrush under the eaves and painting a picture of swans for an hour.

If these wild swans were to fly away again, wouldn't Daiyu be heartbroken?

Yuan Hongqu decided to use the produce from the space to lure these animals into willingly staying in the Lin family's garden.

She had experience with this before; the kitten and the parrot would enjoy a meal of the creatures in the space every few days, and they were much smarter than other small animals of their kind.

Yuan Hongqu had just finished feeding the small animals and hadn't even returned to Jiaoyun Garden when the old woman guarding the second gate rushed in with an urgent report.

“Granny Yuan, that Eunuch Chen who came to our house last time has suddenly come. He says he has something important to discuss with you.”