Chapter 1670: Settle the Account
Old Zhou sneaked back to the room. Qian was sewing shoe soles on the couch by the window. These were for her sons. They often went out, so thicker soles were better for their feet and more durable.
Because of the screen between them, she didn't see Old Zhou peeking in, but she heard some noise and asked loudly, "Have they decorated the new house?"
Old Zhou was startled and nearly fell over. He uttered an "Ah" and replied, "Everything has been arranged almost."
He stood there waiting for a while, and when he saw that his wife had no intention of talking anymore, he turned around and quietly went into the inner room.
He took out the two strings of money in his arms, fumbled deep in the cabinet at the end of the bed, and finally took out a box. After opening it, he quickly stuffed the two strings of money into it, then looked at the door, and seeing that no one was coming, he breathed a sigh of relief and stuffed the box back.
Old Zhou closed the cabinet door, stood there and looked at it, feeling satisfied, then turned around and walked out with his hands behind his back.
He said to Qian, "I'll go check out the front. Manbao has bought a lot of eggs."
Qian felt that his voice was two decibels higher. She lowered her head and took a moment to think. She wondered what kind of eggs Manbao had bought, so she responded casually.
Old Zhou went to the front.
Zhou Dalang had already called his two younger brothers, and also asked his third son and others who lived in the side yard in front to help carry the basket back to the yard.
They were also surprised that Manbao bought so many eggs. After a moment's thought, Xiao Qian said, "These aren't for eating, but for hatching chicks, right?"
Zhou Silang said, "It's no use asking me. I have to ask Lijun about this. She definitely knows what Manbao is thinking."
Zhou Dalang turned his head left and right and asked, "Where is Lijun?"
Fang said, "She's out delivering whitening cream. I guess she won't be back for quite a while."
Xiao Qian had already rolled up her sleeves and said, "Let's take inventory first. We can't just stop working until she comes back."
Zhou Dalang sighed, thinking that these kids just did whatever they wanted, and since they had money and big ideas, no one could stop them.
He turned to Zhou Silang, who was standing lazily, and said, "What are you still standing there for? Go find some thicker cloth to cover the wing where the three children often play. Light the oil lamp and see if there are any eggs."
Zhou Silang opened his mouth wide and pointed at the baskets, saying, "So many eggs, do you want to look at them one by one?"
Zhou Dalang asked, "What if we miss one and hatch them all together? Wouldn't that be a waste?"
Zhou Silang was speechless. After being pulled by Fang, he could only go to work silently.
The couple covered the windows with cloth and closed the door, darkening the room. Zhou Silang came over carrying several oil lamps and sighed, "I mean, we don't need the money for these eggs right now. We'll just hatch them. If no chicks hatch, the rotten eggs will still be useful."
Fang said unhappily, "What's the use of it? Are you going to use it to hit you on the head?"
She said, "If you don't run a household, you won't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt are. Do you know how much money our family spends every day?"
"Ask Lijun about this. I only know that I make a lot of money every day."
Fang knew he was just a chatterbox, so she slapped him and said, "Behave yourself. Dad will come up and hear you, and he'll beat you up if he hears you."
Zhou Silang stopped talking.
Several people carried two baskets of eggs into the house, lit the oil lamp and started to look.
It is not difficult to look at the breeding eggs. Everyone in the Zhou family knows how to do it. The third son and his friends didn’t know how to do it at first, but Zhou Silang taught them how to do it after a while.
One oil lamp could hold two people together, so Zhou Silang went around each room and took out six oil lamps.
Xiao Qian brought another basket and put a layer of empty rice husks on the bottom just as the farmers had prepared. Then everyone looked at the eggs and put them in the basket after confirming that they were breeding eggs.
After everyone has laid a layer of eggs, they put the empty rice husks in the basket on this side to the other side. After the next layer of eggs is exposed, they continue to look and pile up another layer of eggs. As long as there are no gaps and there are empty rice husks as a buffer, the eggs will generally not be damaged.
After Old Zhou came up, he naturally had to get busy too. Even Old Lady Liu in the other side yard heard about it and brought Zheng and several maids to join in the fun.
Everyone was crowded into one room, and those who knew couldn't be taught. After watching two of them, Old Lady Liu felt her eyes sore and she shook her head repeatedly, saying, "No, I'm old, and I can't see clearly when I concentrate."
Qian also came. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said, "My dear, you've been reading too much. I've seen Manbao's eyes turn red after reading for a long time, and she even tears up easily when the wind blows. Later, she read a medical book and it said it was also a disease. Since then, she has not dared to read for such a long time. My dear, why don't you give your eyes a rest and let them rest."
She smiled and said, "If you're bored, you can talk to us."
Madam Liu smiled and responded, "With so many eggs, they'll have to be raised at Zhitian after hatching. Do Manbao and the others plan to raise them themselves, or give them to the tenants?"
Qian sighed, "I guess they'll definitely be handed over to the tenants to raise. I've never heard them mention hiring a farmhand. Raising so many chickens together will easily cause them to get sick. It's better to raise them separately."
Old Madam Liu nodded.
When Lijun returned with the medicine, she confirmed their thoughts. She said, "I've already reserved the hens. After we check the eggs tonight, Fourth Uncle and I will deliver these hens and eggs to Putian Village tomorrow."
Old Zhou almost jumped up and down, "You even bought a hen?"
"I bought one hundred. I asked my aunt, and she said that twenty-one or twenty-two eggs are the best number to put in a henhouse. More would be too much trouble. One is just right for each household. When they hatch, they can raise the chicks and prevent them from being caught by eagles in the sky."
Old Zhou asked, "Have you ever calculated how much you can earn back after spending so much money?"
"Forget it," Li Jun said. "I've already agreed with them. I'll give them twenty eggs, and at least sixteen chicks must hatch. By June of next year, at least twelve must be alive. Only if twelve or more survive, we'll split the profits 40-60. If eight or more survive, but less than twelve, we'll split the profits 50-50. If fewer than eight survive, they'll all be ours."
"If we raise them poorly, you have to give us a hen and forget about the eggs. If we raise them well, you'll get twenty breeding eggs next year." Li Jun said, "Grandpa, we counted when we bought the eggs. There are only two hundred roosters in total, and the rest are all hens. You did the math. Even if only one thousand of these two thousand eggs eventually become mature chickens, and we split them 500-50, that's 500 chickens. According to probability, there will be about 125 roosters, and the remaining 375 will be hens. They will be able to lay eggs in June next year. Even if they only lay an egg every other day, that day there will be at most 187 and a half. Those 500 chickens are ours, and of course all the eggs they lay are ours too. In other words, in just eleven days we can collect 2,000 eggs, and get 500 more chickens. Don't you think we made a profit?"
The next update will be around 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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