After herding the ducks home, Xingxing was unhappy again. She discovered that the ten ducks no longer liked her; they all quacked and went into their nest, no longer the fluffy ducks that used to follow her around when she was little.
"Mom, look, the ducks don't follow me anymore. They've grown up and aren't lovable at all." Xingxing sniffed and threw down the little wooden shovel in her hand, feeling wronged. She had lost interest and wouldn't dig earthworms for the ducks anymore.
Zhao Guihua quickly put down what she was doing and came over to comfort her.
It took a while to calm her daughter down. Looking at Xingxing, who was surrounded by Ah Hui and Ah Hei and had stopped crying and started laughing, Zhao Guihua breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Maybe we shouldn't raise ducks anymore, otherwise they'll turn into big, fluffy ducks again, and my daughter will inevitably cry again.
Just then, five brothers surnamed Fu were sneaking around in the backyard. Zhou, the eldest brother, happened to be picking vegetables in the backyard and thought they were up to something again.
"What are you doing, acting all sneaky? Be normal, stop learning such nonsense every day." Boss Zhou got angry when he saw them cowering around.
"Shh, Dad, keep your voice down, don't let my sister hear." Zhou Erfu glanced at his father, his face revealing that he knew something bad was going to happen.
"Hey, you brat, you dare glare at your old man? You want a beating?" Old Zhou was furious. He stopped picking vegetables and strode over to teach Erfu a lesson.
"Dad, calm down, we brothers have important business to attend to. Look what this is!" Zhou Sanfu showed the eldest son, Zhou Laoda, a few duck eggs he had just bought from another store.
"Aren't these duck eggs? Our little hen started laying eggs a few days ago, why are you wasting money to buy duck eggs?" Old Zhou stared, feeling that his sons were too wasteful.
"These duck eggs were bought to appease my little sister. We went to herd the ducks earlier, and she... We're worried that when she wakes up tomorrow, Xingxing will run to the duck coop to collect the duck eggs, and we won't be able to find a single one. She'll definitely cry."
So they secretly bought duck eggs and planned to put them in the duck coop that night, so that Xingxing could find the duck eggs the next day.
Upon hearing that it was meant to appease his daughter, Zhou Laoda lost his temper. However, he remarked, "You still have two days off, so doesn't that mean you'll be taking two days off?"
The five brothers nodded. Luckily, it was only a three-day holiday. They were delayed in town today, but they still had two days at home. Once they returned to town, they wouldn't have to worry about the duck eggs anymore.
The next morning, as expected, Xingxing ran into the duck coop as soon as she got up to collect duck eggs. After a short while, she came out again with her short legs and went to the kitchen.
"Mom, give Xingxing a small basket. The ducks laid a lot of eggs, and we need to put them in a basket," Xingxing said in a soft, sweet voice.
Zhao Guihua: "?"
The sons only bought four duck eggs and planned to release two each day. They released one last night and one tonight, and they'll be going back to town the day after tomorrow. So there should only be two duck eggs in the nest now. You can just take one out with each hand, why do you need a basket?
Although Zhao Guihua was puzzled, she thought that Xingxing was still small and was probably afraid that the egg would be too big to handle and break, so she put it in a basket.
So she continued making breakfast. While she was cutting the cured meat, she heard footsteps and knew it was her daughter returning with the eggs. She smiled and turned around to look.
"Mom, look, so many duck eggs, one, two... there are five!" Xingxing happily placed the small bamboo basket containing the eggs on the stool.
Zhao Guihua was also quite surprised. There were indeed three more ducks, but she had only raised less than three ducks in total. How could they start laying eggs so quickly? Normally, ducks should be raised for at least three months before they start laying eggs.
Although she couldn't understand it, it was still a good thing that the eggs were laid earlier. Zhao Guihua put the eggs in the cupboard, preparing to fry a plate of scallion eggs in the morning.
"Duck eggs aren't as good as chicken eggs, so let's use chicken eggs to make steamed egg custard. I just heard the hen clucking, so Mom will go and get the eggs." The reason we bought five chicks at once was because they lay eggs, so Xingxing could eat eggs every day.
"Mom, you're busy, Xingxing is going to collect eggs." The little girl loves collecting eggs the most, and she took the empty little bamboo basket away again.
All five hens laid eggs today. Two of them just laid their eggs and are stretching their necks and clucking incessantly.
"One, two, three, four, five, wow, five more eggs to eat! You guys are awesome! Remember to lay eggs tomorrow too! Star loves steamed egg custard. When I have some free time later, I'll go dig up some earthworms to feed you."
After collecting the eggs, Xingxing chatted with the five hens for a while before coming out. However, after eating, she didn't go dig for earthworms. Instead, she went up the mountain with her parents and the five Fu brothers.
With the continuous spring rain, the bamboo shoots on the mountain have begun to sprout. They are going to dig up bamboo shoots, to dig up as many as possible, so they can make dried bamboo shoots.
After Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu each dug up a basket of bamboo shoots, they lost interest in digging anymore. They pretended to want to drink some water and rest for a while, then squatted down next to Xingxing and whispered to each other.
"Xingxing, can you tell Second Brother where we can dig for snakes, bamboo rats, or anything like that? We can stew meat for dinner tonight." Zhou Erfu looked at her hopefully.
Xingxing was deep in thought, her chin resting on her hands. When she heard her second brother say this, her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "I know! Let's go dig up some good stuff!"
Um?
Not to mention Erfu and Sifu, everyone else paused in their work. If there's something good to dig up, why bother digging for bamboo shoots? Let's go treasure hunting together!
Zhou Erfu was the most enthusiastic, holding onto the star tightly the whole way and refusing to let go. Guided by the star, he took the lead, with everyone else following closely behind.
But when everyone saw the clump of vine seedlings in front of them, they were dumbfounded. This was the treasure that Xingxing had mentioned. What kind of plant was this? They had never seen it before. Could it be some kind of valuable medicinal herb?
"It's not a medicinal herb, it's a vine that bears big gourds. Let's quickly dig it up and plant it in the vegetable garden, then we'll have big gourds to eat!"
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