Chapter 40 - A Two-in-One: Fluffy Little Chick, Peach...
Lin Chuntao strolled around the market, thinking about what Aunt Guizhi had said, that it was indeed a bit uneconomical to keep buying eggs to eat. She decided to look around to see if there were any chicks she could buy to take home.
After wandering around for a while, I found an old lady selling chicks. The chicks were still fluffy and looked like they had just hatched a few days ago.
"Auntie, how much is each of your chicks?"
"Nine coins for a hen, six coins for a rooster."
Lin Chuntao nodded slightly, then asked, "Has it been four or five days since it hatched?"
"I've got it. Today is the fifth day."
Lin Chuntao smiled and pointed to the cloth bag behind her: "Why don't you mix some fine bran for them to eat? I'd like to pick a few."
The old woman looked up at her, scooped some chaff from the cloth bag, poured some water from the gourd, placed it on a bamboo tray, and said while stirring, "Young lady, don't worry, my chicks are all very good."
Lin Chuntao smiled. After the old lady mixed the bran, she put it in front of the chicken coop, and the chicks in the coop rushed to eat it.
She selected eight that were eating more actively, and the old woman helped her put them into a bamboo basket, saying with a smile, "Oh, little girl, you know how to choose! They're all hens."
"Eight pieces, seventy-two coins each."
Lin Chuntao smiled upon hearing this, "Auntie, don't try to fool me just because I'm young. I clearly chose six hens and two roosters."
The old woman denied it and tried to fool her.
“Girl, these eight hens you picked are all really hens. Look, they all look exactly the same.”
Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "Auntie, how about we check if the chicken's butt looks the same?"
The old woman looked embarrassed and said with a forced smile, "You have a sharp eye, young lady. It's sixty-six coins in total."
She quoted a new price, and Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Sixty-two, I'm buying so many, give me a discount."
The old woman's face froze for a moment, then she hurriedly waved her hand: "No, no, how can it be priced like that? I won't sell it."
"It's already this late, ma'am. If I don't sell it to you, you'll have to take it back tomorrow. You'll have to raise it for another day, and you'll have to feed the chicks bran." Lin Chuntao said with a smile, but the old woman's eyes showed some displeasure.
Lin Chuntao knew that very few people came to the market to buy chicks. There were many brooding hens in the village, and many people would pool their eggs to hatch chicks for the old hen. If there were more buyers, the old lady wouldn't still have so many chicks left.
The old woman hesitated for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Sixty-three coins, take it."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Okay."
As she spoke, she began counting the coins. Her eagerness made the old woman regret not insisting on the lower price.
Seeing her like that, Lin Chuntao smiled again: "If you don't give me a penny off, I won't buy it." As she spoke, she handed over the counted copper coins. The old lady happily took the coins and then smiled and said: "I'm giving you a discount, miss."
"I'm giving this little chicken coop to you too, so you won't have trouble taking it back."
Lin Chuntao smiled and accepted the chicken coop. "Thank you, Auntie."
The fluffy chicks chirped and twittered in the cage. Lin Chuntao was in a good mood and leisurely carried the chicken cage to find Pei Ying.
Pei Ying was still busy when she saw Lin Chuntao carrying chicks over and called out, "Did you buy chicks?"
Lin Chuntao nodded, "While the weather is still warm, let's buy a few chicks to raise. Maybe they'll all start laying eggs by the time the New Year comes."
Pei Ying listened to the chirping sounds, but was too busy with her hands to look closely.
How many did you buy?
Lin Chuntao replied, "Eight: six hens and two roosters."
“In that case, we’ll have ten chickens at home.” As soon as Pei Ying finished speaking, Lin Chuntao laughed and said, “Those two are old hens, and they might stop laying eggs in a while. I’ll kill them and eat them when they stop laying eggs.”
Pei Ying couldn't help but laugh. "Then it'll probably be next year."
Helan didn't come today; Pei Ying and Chunzi are looking after the meat stall.
After the market had dispersed and almost all the meat was sold out, Pei Ying and the others packed up their stall and went home.
When they arrived home, Lin Chunxing had already steamed the rice and washed and chopped the vegetables. They were just waiting for Lin Chuntao and the others to come back so they could start cooking.
Hearing the familiar footsteps, Lin Chunxing was about to add firewood to cook when she saw Lin Chuntao come in carrying a cage of fluffy chicks. The familiar chirping made the three sisters' eyes light up instantly, and they rushed over eagerly.
"Sis, did you buy chicks?"
Wow, so many!
Seeing their happy expressions, Lin Chuntao handed them the chicken coop she was holding.
"Yes, eight, six females and two males. We'll boil some hot water to scald the bran we got from pounding rice yesterday, and then feed it to the chicks."
Lin Chunxing carried the chicken coop, while Lin Chunhe turned around and ran to boil water.
"Sister, how much do you want to cook?" Lin Chunhe asked, holding a pot in one hand and a water ladle in the other.
One ladleful is enough.
Seeing their happy expressions, Pei Ying went back into the house to get a sickle, and came out to say to Lin Chuntao, "I'm going to cut some bamboo to make a chicken coop. Should we open the coop separately?"
Lin Chuntao nodded: "We need to separate."
Watching Pei Ying leave, Lin Chuntao suddenly remembered something and said to him, "Cut down a thicker one, we need to make a chicken feeder."
After Pei Ying left, the water boiled, and Lin Chuntao scalded some rice bran for them to feed the chicks.
The sisters squatted there watching the chicks eat, touching them every now and then, as if they had never seen chicks before.
Lin Chunhe turned around and looked at Lin Chuntao, who was washing her hands. She met her sister's gaze and chuckled.
It's a bit silly, but I'm happy.
They used to feed the chickens often, cutting grass and catching earthworms for them to eat. At first, they just hoped that if they worked hard, their grandmother would see it and give them an egg, or two pieces of meat when she killed the chicken.
Unfortunately, those were just their hopes. They had no eggs to eat, no chicken to eat, and even a sip of soup was a blessing.
The chicks in front of me are different. Once they grow up and lay eggs, they can eat them as much as they want. After they stop laying eggs, my sister will kill them, cook the meat, and share it with them.
Six hens, once they all start laying eggs, there will be six eggs a day, and you can eat eggs every day. Just thinking about it makes me happy.
They fed the chickens, and Lin Chuntao washed her hands and started cooking. By the time she finished cooking, Pei Ying had also returned carrying bamboo.
The sisters wanted to go forward to help, but Pei Ying repeatedly refused.
"You can't lift it, move the chicks aside so they don't get hit."
Lin Duo'er ran far away with the chicken coop in her arms.
Lin Chuntao couldn't help but smile at her actions.
"Duo'er, put this at the doorway and get your bowl and chopsticks ready for dinner."
Lin Duo'er replied, "Sister, I'll carry them inside."
"Whatever you say," Lin Chuntao said helplessly.
Lin Duo'er quickly carried the chicks into the house before running out to wash her hands and prepare for dinner.
There was some meat left over from cooking rice noodles in the morning. Lin Chunxing chopped the meat and green peppers, while Lin Chuntao simply stir-fried the meat with peppers.
She had some leftover pickled cabbage, so she shredded some potatoes and made two kinds of pickled cabbage and potato shreds dishes. She added a little bit of chili, and the sour and spicy flavor was very refreshing and went well with rice.
The sisters had eaten noodles in the morning, so they weren't too hungry at noon. They ate quickly and then took the chicks out to sunbathe.
After finishing her meal, Lin Chuntao sat down at the table to rest. She looked at Lin Chunxing and the others and said, "Let's go find some wild vegetables later."
The three of them turned to look at her together. "Sister, where should we dig? In the mountains or by the river?"
"Let's go to the mountains," Lin Chuntao said. She remembered that there were plenty of wild vegetables in the mountains this season, and at the very least, there were dandelions and plantains, which were everywhere along the roadside and ridges.
Thinking of the wild vegetable buns she had eaten before, and then of the meat and eggs she had been eating recently, Lin Duo'er asked with some worry, "Sister, will we have to eat wild vegetables from now on?"
Lin Chuntao was stunned for a moment, then realized and laughed, "Wild vegetables can be delicious too. If we find some that are good, we'll cook them and eat them. The ones that aren't good, we'll give to the chickens and piglets."
Lin Duo'er shook her head: "Wild vegetables are all hard to eat."
Lin Chuntao thought back to the wild vegetable buckwheat bun she had for her first meal, and it really wasn't tasty.
She smiled and said, "Let's go dig first. If we find any good ones, we'll sell them."
Lin Chuntao said that the villagers would also bring some wild vegetables to eat together. It wasn't very realistic to get a lot of wild vegetables to sell, so she mainly wanted to accumulate points.
After resting for a while, Pei Ying took a sickle and trimmed bamboo to make a chicken coop.
Lin Chuntao picked up a hoe, carried a basket on her back, and led Lin Chunxing and the others out to the mountain.
Before leaving, Lin Duo'er was still worried about the chicks and kept telling Pei Ying, "Brother-in-law, you have to keep an eye on the chicks for me and give them some water later."
Pei Ying smiled and replied, "Okay, I'll remember."
Having received the message, he then followed Lin Chuntao.
There weren't many wild vegetables in the mountains, so they went to some valley meadows and saw dandelions everywhere.
Lin Chuntao called out the system and prepared to sign in.
She casually dug up a dandelion, and Lin Chuntao heard the announcement: "Dandelion, cold in nature and bitter in taste, has the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, dispersing nodules and reducing swelling, points two."
She then wielded her hoe and dug up a small plantain plant nearby. The announcement soon sounded again: "Plantain, cold in nature and sweet in taste, has the effects of relieving cough, resolving phlegm, and improving eyesight. Points: 2."
She looked at the lush green wild grass and vegetables everywhere. She dug up the ones she recognized, but would the system announce if she dug up the ones she didn't recognize?
With that in mind, Lin Chuntao looked at the unknown wild vegetable next to her and started digging.
"Chrysanthemum indicum is cold in nature and bitter in taste. It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying and regulating the meridians. (Point 2)"
Hearing the score of 2 and looking at this area, Lin Chuntao couldn't help but smile.
“I’ll dig, you guys pick it up, shake off the dirt.”
After saying that, Lin Chuntao started digging, regardless of whether she knew them or not.
All afternoon, Lin Chuntao's mind kept replaying "points two, points two..."
She dug through half the valley, drenched in sweat, yet remained energetic.
Lin Chunxing said, "Sister, let me dig."
Lin Chuntao also waved her hand, refusing.
Moreover, some of the things Lin Chuntao dug up were pig feed, as well as dandelions and plantains. Many of them were old and didn't look good. They usually picked the tender ones to cut when they cut pig feed, and they disliked these old and ugly ones.
But Lin Chuntao seemed completely oblivious, and dug everything up.
Seeing Lin Chuntao like this, Lin Chunhe looked at Lin Chunxing with some confusion: "Second sister, what's wrong with my sister?"
Lin Chunxing shook her head; she didn't know either.
Lin Duo'er stood beside her and said quietly, "I forgot to ask my sister how much each chick costs. Second sister, do you think we're out of money after buying chickens?"
Lin Chuntao looked at Lin Duo'er's wrinkled face and almost laughed.
Although she didn't know exactly how much money her family had, she knew that even the most expensive chick couldn't be more expensive than clothes, so what Lin Duo'er was saying was impossible.
They agreed that they would listen to whatever Lin Chuntao said, so they didn't care and just picked them up first.
Lin Chuntao was so engrossed in wielding her hoe that she didn't stop for an entire afternoon.
Before the sun had even set, the system couldn't help but ask.
"Host, aren't you tired yet?"
Lin Chuntao looked at the sky and smiled, "It's alright."
System: "...Host, there are plenty of wild vegetables on this mountain; you can't possibly dig them all up in one day."
"Report today's points," Lin Chuntao said.
"This morning's mushroom points: 187; wild vegetable points: 552."
Lin Chuntao then asked, "What is the total balance?"
System: "Two thousand one hundred and seventy-four."
Hearing the fairly satisfactory points, Lin Chuntao smiled, brought up the control panel, opened the living area, and saw that rice and flour were both 10 points per jin (500g). Lin Chuntao directly exchanged three shi (250g) of rice and one shi of flour.
As she listened to the system announce the successful redemption and the balance of her points, she checked her backpack and found three bushels of rice and one bushel of flour. Her good mood, which had been ruined by pounding rice yesterday, returned.
"It's alright, let's come back to dig again tomorrow." She then looked at Lin Chunxing and the others and said, "Let's pick up what we've dug up and go home."
Her beaming smile puzzled Lin Chunxing and the others. Although Lin Chuntao was optimistic, her eyes would look tired and listless when she was exhausted. Today, she had spent the whole afternoon digging for wild vegetables, but now she was full of energy and her eyes were shining.
Lin Chunhe frowned slightly and whispered to Lin Chunxing, "Second sister, don't you feel that the way my sister looks at these wild vegetables is like she's looking at money?"
Lin Chunxing nodded in agreement after hearing this.
"It does look somewhat similar."
Although the two sisters spoke softly, Lin Chuntao still heard them, but she smiled without saying a word.
Points can be exchanged for food, and all the wild vegetables on the mountain are like silver coins to her.
As the group carried wild vegetables into the village, they encountered many people returning from the fields. Seeing the dandelions and plantains on their backs, they laughed and said, "Chuntao, did you go dig for wild vegetables today?"
Lin Chuntao replied with a smile, "Yes, we dug up some dandelions and plantains."
The person speaking even peeked into the basket on their back. Seeing that the wild vegetables didn't look fresh, they asked, "Are you digging up wild vegetables to take home and eat?"
"Why are they all old people?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I just dug them up randomly. There are some tender ones too, they're down there."
As she spoke, she glanced at the woman who had spoken, "We can't eat much either, so we'll give the old stuff to the pigs."
The woman frowned slightly and said something that was not very polite.
"I feel like even pigs wouldn't eat it."
Lin Chuntao wasn't angry when she heard this; she just smiled.
When they arrived home, Pei Ying had just finished making two chicken coops. The coops were rectangular. The smaller coop had narrower seams so the chicks wouldn't crawl out, while the larger coop was huge. Lin Chunxing laughed and said, "These chicken coops are too big."
Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "There's a little space in keeping those two now. Once the chicks grow up, they won't be big enough to keep them all in."
Lin Chunxing suddenly realized and gently patted her head.
"I'm dumbfounded."
Lin Chuntao and the others had no idea that just now, when that woman peeked out, half the villagers knew that they had been digging for and eating wild vegetables.
The next day, when the villagers saw that they had spent another day digging for wild vegetables, Aunt Guizhi couldn't sit still anymore. She came to Lin Chuntao's house at dusk to ask if she had run out of vegetables to eat.
Seeing Aunt Guizhi's worried expression, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "There's food. I've been idle these past few days, so I bought a few chicks. I was going to dig up some wild vegetables. We can eat pigs and chickens."
Aunt Guizhi said, "I heard that the grass you dug up is very old. Pigs and chickens eat it. Go and cut some tender pig feed. They don't like to eat the old grass."
"If there are no vegetables to eat, just go pick them from the field yourself. Whether you have money or not, you can eat them."
Just as Lin Chuntao was about to explain, a voice called out from outside: "Sister Chuntao, are you home?"
She stepped out of the house and saw Chen Dong's two sons, one carrying a small bamboo basket and the other holding a few cabbages and eggplants.
"My grandma asked us to bring it."
Lin Chuntao looked at the dish and didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she quickly took the dish from her.
Lin Jiahui looked at her and said, "My grandma said that wild vegetables are too old now and don't taste good. If you don't have any vegetables, Chun Tao, just go to the vegetable garden and pick some."
"Okay, please thank Grandma for me. If I have no vegetables to eat, I'll definitely go and pick some. I won't be polite."
"Have you eaten yet?" Lin Chuntao asked.
Lin Jiahui nodded. "We've eaten. Now we're going back."
Lin Chunxing called to them to play for a while, but they didn't stay and went back.
Aunt Guizhi looked at the few vegetables and laughed, "Look, it's not just me, your great-grandmother also thinks you have no vegetables to eat."
Lin Chuntao was both amused and exasperated, but also felt a warm glow in her heart.
It's always a happy thing to have someone care. She said to Aunt Guizhi, "If I have no vegetables to eat, I definitely won't be polite. I'll just dig for a couple of days, and in a few days I'll be able to go back to the fields to work."
Speaking of the fields, Aunt Guizhi hurriedly asked her, "I almost forgot, have you gone to check if the corn has sprouted yet?"
“I checked. I went to see it on the day Qiao’er got married. There were already a lot of crops in the two plots at the entrance of the village. The two plots by the river and the one behind the mountain had fewer crops, but a few more days have passed, so they should all be almost full.”
"Where are the bean sprouts? Have they sprouted yet?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Quite a few have already sprouted, and my vegetables have also sprouted."
Aunt Guizhi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. The corn was planted late, and she was worried that the seedlings wouldn't sprout if the weather got too hot.
At least the seedlings have sprouted, which gives us a little more hope.
Seeing the change in Aunt Guizhi's expression, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Don't worry, Auntie, as long as the weather is good, I'm sure I'll have a good corn harvest this year."
She spoke with conviction, and Aunt Guizhi was somewhat hesitant to believe her, but in her heart she certainly hoped that, as Lin Chuntao said, the harvest would be plentiful, the sisters would have enough food, and they could save a lot of money on buying grain.
She knew that Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying would have no problem making money, but if they wanted to save money to build a house, they would definitely have to save as much as possible.
Lin Chuntao brought over a chair, and the two sat in the courtyard chatting while enjoying the cool breeze.
After chatting for a while, Aunt Guizhi finally noticed the two chicken coops under the bamboo fence. The fluffy chicks inside were chirping and twittering. Aunt Guizhi smiled and asked, "You bought chicks?"
Lin Chuntao nodded. "I bought eight."
Aunt Guizhi was somewhat surprised and laughed, "Are they all hens?"
"Six hens and two roosters."
Aunt Guizhi looked at the two chicken coops, both made of green bamboo, which blended in with the bamboo fence; she hadn't even noticed them unless she looked closely.
The chicken coop was covered with thatch, so it should stay dry unless there was a heavy downpour. She thought about why they didn't build a proper chicken coop, but then she remembered that this was the old house of the village head, so she swallowed her words.
"Did Xiao Pei make this chicken coop? It's quite well made."
Pei Ying, who was also nearby, said somewhat embarrassedly after hearing this, "It was just something I made quickly, so we'll use it for now."
"It's already very good. When I build my new house in the future, I'll build the chicken coop and pigsty at the same time, so it will be even more convenient to use."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "That's what I'm planning too. We'll find the best spots in advance and build them all together."
After talking about her own family matters for a while, Lin Chuntao asked Aunt Guizhi, "Is the dress that Auntie made for Sister Shuilian finished?"
Aunt Guizhi waved her hand and smiled, "She'll be alright soon. I'll go see her after the sixth day of the sixth lunar month."
In Yizhou, there is a custom on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month: to worship ancestors and eat mutton.
On this day every year, people from different villages will slaughter sheep together and share them, or someone will slaughter one and sell it. The price will be much cheaper than buying it from a butcher shop in the county town.
"By the way, your great-grandfather will be registering how much mutton each household in the village needs tomorrow. If you want some, you should let him know."
Lin Chuntao nodded. Everyone should register by household. Record how much food a large family needs so that it will be easier to estimate how many sheep to slaughter for distribution.
Lin Chuntao said, "In the past, we couldn't make decisions about these things, and we didn't know how much it would cost per kilogram after it was divided up."
"It costs around thirty coins, which is almost half the price of buying it in the county town."
As soon as Aunt Guizhi finished speaking, Pei Ying looked over in surprise. Thirty coins for a pound of mutton, isn't that about the same price as pork?
Seeing Pei Ying's surprised look, Aunt Guizhi laughed and said, "Little Pei, do you think it's cheap? Live sheep are cheap, but villagers don't make any money even if they slaughter them. In the county town, you still have to pay fifty or sixty coins to buy a pound of sheep."
Pei Ying smiled and said, "I see."
After Aunt Guizhi left, Lin Chuntao asked Pei Ying, "Is mutton more expensive where you live?"
Pei Ying nodded. "Where I live, raw mutton costs seventy or eighty coins per pound. Is June 6th a festival here?"
"Let's offer sacrifices to our ancestors and pray for a bountiful harvest."
In fact, Lin Chuntao didn't know the specifics very well. In later generations, she only left behind the saying that mutton is eaten on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. On that day, every household cooked mutton hot pot.
Pei Ying understood after Lin Chuntao said that.
Lin Chunhe and the others still remember the taste of mutton rice noodles they ate in the county town.
In previous years, Tian would also buy a few catties of wild vegetable buns on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, but they wouldn't get a turn. The adults, brothers, and cousins would gather around the stove to eat, while they and their cousins would eat their own wild vegetable buns in the next room.
At first, Lin Chuntao thought that the people in this village were very sexist, but after seeing Lin Qingqing and the others, she found that this was not the case. Lin Qingqing and Lin Jiaye were cousins, and their family ate together without distinguishing between men and women. Many families in the village were like this, and the Lin family was actually a minority.
Seeing her younger sisters' expectant eyes, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I'll talk to Grandpa tomorrow and we'll buy a few pounds of mutton the day after tomorrow to make a mutton hot pot."
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