"Fangfang, how many quails do you raise now?"
"Eighteen quails, except for two male quails, the rest are female. At most, I collected more than twenty quail eggs a day. Don't underestimate them because they are small, they are very satisfying to eat."
Lu Fangfang took a quail egg from the basket and put it in Sun Manling's hand.
The conversation was so lively that a few women passing by came over out of curiosity.
Listening to Lu Fangfang's words, they also picked up the quail eggs and examined them carefully.
"Comrade Lu, does this quail eat a lot?"
Lu Fangfang turned her head and saw that the person who asked the question was Zhao Guilan, who had been picking mushrooms yesterday.
She waved her hand and said, "Not much. Quails eat everything—tender vegetable leaves, grass seeds, small insects, small fish and shrimp. They can be fed anything and they don't get sick. They're doing very well."
Actually, the way to feed quails is similar to that of chickens, but quails eat much less than chickens and lay eggs more frequently.
The chickens raised in this era were not the white-feathered chickens of later times; they were traditional free-range hens. Not only did they grow slowly, but they also laid eggs less frequently than white-feathered chickens, and the eggs were smaller. In total, the cost was much higher than feeding quails.
There's just one thing: quail doesn't taste as good as old hen.
In front of everyone, Lu Fangfang talked about the benefits of raising quails again.
The women around them listened with great interest, their eyes growing brighter as they looked at the quail eggs.
After a while, not only the military wives, but also the men who were about to go to the regiment came over to listen to the lesson on raising quails.
“If you raise a quail, it will lay one egg a day, which is just enough to supplement the nutrition of the baby birds at home. You don’t need to feed it much grain. If you really have nothing to feed it, you can go to the pasture outside, cut some tender grass shoots, pick some grass seeds, and take a little bit from its food. That’s enough for the quail to eat.”
Lu Fangfang spoke with great enthusiasm, her spittle flying everywhere.
The people around nodded in agreement.
"Comrade Xiao Lu, your quails lay more than a dozen eggs every day. It seems you'll have to raise more than a dozen babies in the future."
Hearing this, the sisters-in-law all laughed.
"Sister Guilan, I only have one child, and he'll need ten eggs to eat. There's nothing I can do about it; that's just how we are. If you sisters are envious, then do what I did and feed him two more."
"Oh dear, we wouldn't dare compare ourselves to you, Xiao Lu."
...
At the very edge of the crowd, Gao Dajiang stroked his chin, deep in thought.
This quail is quite good at laying one egg a day.
If I remember correctly, he had his wife give these quail eggs to Comrade Xiao Lu.
Unexpectedly, just over two months later, the quails that Comrade Xiao Lu raised were already laying eggs.
"Fangfang, how do you hatch quail eggs? Could you hatch a few baby quails and give me one?"
As soon as Zhao Guilan spoke, the women around her all turned to look at Lu Fangfang.
"this……"
Lu Fangfang looked troubled.
Little did she know that something so easily obtained is not something anyone cherishes.
"My quail haven't started nesting yet, and it's not easy for them to incubate the eggs..."
"Fangfang, what are you doing here?"
Zhuang Mingcheng walked over curiously from outside the crowd.
He got up early in the morning and searched everywhere but couldn't find his lover. He never expected to find her here.
Lu Fangfang's eyes lit up; this person had arrived just in time.
She immediately took back the quail eggs from the hands of her sisters-in-law, then squeezed through the crowd and pulled Zhuang Mingcheng back.
The women had been listening to the story about raising quails all morning and were now really into it.
Seeing Lu Fangfang leave like that, they were immediately filled with anxiety and felt extremely distressed.
"Hey? Fangfang? Fangfang? Don't go!"
"Yeah, Xiao Lu? Shall we talk about the little quail again?"
Lu Fangfang grabbed Zhuang Mingcheng's arm, pretending not to hear what her sisters-in-law were saying.
"Why are you carrying a half-basket of quail eggs so early in the morning instead of eating breakfast?"
Zhuang Mingcheng looked at his lover with a face full of curiosity.
My partner is a low-key person who doesn't usually do anything boastful, so he must be up to something again.
"Me..."
Lu Fangfang looked at the quail eggs in the basket and continued, "I want to help the women in the family compound get rich together."
"Common prosperity? What do you mean by common prosperity?"
Zhuang Mingcheng was even more puzzled.
"I'm afraid someone will be jealous of our quails."
"Then why are you showing off?"
"Mingcheng, you don't understand. Once all the women in the family compound are raising quails, who will be envious of what they have?"
Lu Fangfang hugged Zhuang Mingcheng's arm and explained in a low voice.
If she hadn't overheard her sisters-in-law talking about it yesterday, she wouldn't have known that her quail had become such a widely known topic.
A dozen or so quail eggs a day, who wouldn't be envious?
If she only raises quails by herself, people will definitely have something to say about it in the long run.
She decided to show off and promote it once, attracting everyone to raise it together, and also making the people in the family compound remember her kindness.
Zhuang Mingcheng smiled and shook his head.
Well, what my partner said makes a lot of sense. It's just that I'm overthinking things. But it's a good thing that everyone is raising quails.
He's been eating a lot of quail eggs lately; they're really good.
"Fangfang, everyone envies Xiaohua for catching rabbits. What are you going to do? Let everyone raise rabbits together?"
Lu Fangfang's heart skipped a beat, and she said, "It's not impossible."
Rabbits reproduce very quickly, producing litters every two months with seven or eight offspring per litter.
This is a vast grassland, with plenty of food available, making it easy to feed the animals.
"When I get back, I'll talk to Xiaohua and ask her to catch a few live rabbits."
"Don't be silly. Wild rabbits are very temperamental. Some people in our compound tried to feed them before, but those wild rabbits would rather starve than eat anything. So don't even think about it."
Zhuang Mingcheng shook his head, pouring cold water on his lover.
Lu Fangfang thought of the brat.
If I have the chance in the future, I might try to find a rabbit hutch and see if I can catch some baby rabbits. I should be able to raise the cubs to adulthood.
"Mingcheng, are you riding a horse again today? I'd like to go mushroom picking in Gona. Could I borrow your chestnut horse for a bit?"
"Okay, I'll bring it over for you in a bit."
The two walked to the entrance of the family compound and were about to part ways when Gao Dajiang caught up from behind.
"Xiao Zhuang, Xiao Lu, wait a moment."
"Commander, is something the matter?"
Lu Fangfang was still a little guilty after mentioning the matter of borrowing horses from the troupe.
She's taking advantage of the public funds.
"Xiao Lu, what you just said about quails, is it all true? Are they really that prolific at laying eggs? Are they really that easy to raise?"
Gao Dajiang's face was very serious. "Comrade Xiao Lu, you can't lie."
Before Lu Fangfang could reply, Zhuang Mingcheng stepped forward.
"Commander, what my wife said is true. These days, the quails at home are laying at least one egg every day. In all this time, none of the quails we've raised have gotten sick. They are indeed easy to raise."
Lu Fangfang nodded hurriedly from the side.
Gao Dajiang was still a little worried, so he asked a few more questions.
There was no need to lie about raising quails; Zhuang Mingcheng answered Gao Dajiang's questions truthfully.
After a while, Gao Dajiang had a better understanding.
It seems that this quail is indeed a good thing.
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