"There are many, at least twenty or thirty, all eating rice bran under the trees at the chicken farm!"
Fu Ming, beaming with excitement, recounted his past experiences.
“I just walked over and saw so many pheasants. I thought I was lucky and was going to catch them, but Brother Ye Lin told me that they were all raised by Brother Ye Jun. I had no choice but to let them go.”
Ye Lin poured them a few glasses of water and explained, "Those pheasants flew down after the New Year. There probably wasn't much food on the mountain in winter. The chicken farm has rice bran every day. We even shot down two when we first arrived."
Later, they found there wasn't much meat, so they thought they'd wait until they were fattened up before eating them. But to their surprise, before the pheasants were even fattened up, their numbers kept increasing.
Li Chunhua was unsurprised and took Ye Xiaoli from Fu Wan.
"There are more than just a lot of them! Those pheasants aren't afraid of people anymore. Sometimes when Ah Jun and I go to collect eggs, they don't run away when we get close. We can just reach out and grab them!"
These words struck a chord with Fu Ming. He had actually caught one earlier, and it was indeed not challenging at all. The wild pheasant was raised like a domestic chicken, and it was very stupid.
"There weren't many wild ducks, and they would fly into the reeds after they finished eating. You two are quite capable, you actually caught two."
Jack didn't seem to understand, he just grinned.
Robert was very proud of himself. This wasn't the first time he had seen wild ducks like this. Wild ducks often appeared on old Robert's estate, so when Robert was just a few years old, he had seen old Robert carrying a hunting rifle and catching wild ducks.
These wild ducks are very beautiful. The male ducks have a bright green head, a white collar of feathers around their necks, chestnut-colored breasts, and black feathers on their backs.
Compared to the bright colors of male ducks, female ducks have much more subdued plumage, with fine blackish-brown stripes all over their bodies. These wild ducks are also called mallards or green-headed ducks locally, and in later generations, they would be considered national protected animals.
Image of a mallard duck (image removed due to copyright). It looks very similar to the domesticated Muscovy ducks of today.
However, that was decades later. The mallard is the ancestor of domestic ducks, especially the females, which are almost identical to the domesticated Muscovy ducks of later generations.
Ye Jun was initially troubled by the pheasants and ducks that came to steal his food, but after some careful consideration, he suddenly stopped worrying about them once pheasants started building nests and laying eggs at the chicken farm.
Although these pheasants and ducks ate the food he prepared for the chickens, ducks, and geese, they also gave him something in return.
Those wild chicken eggs and wild duck eggs were a form of reward; they were a bit small, but that didn't stop him from using them to hatch chicks and ducklings.
Moreover, once these pheasants and ducks are raised properly, they are just like domestic chickens and ducks, and people in town will buy them.
Ye Jun's family knew about this, but Fu Ming and Jack did not.
So as soon as they saw the mallards, they immediately picked up stones from the wall and threw them at them. They were surprisingly accurate, knocking down two of them in just a couple of swift blows.
Seeing this, Ye Jun simply let them take it back, and he would fix the fence himself before coming over.
"Thankfully, the ducks are all quite plump. I'll go boil water and pluck their feathers now!"
Li Chunhua quickly found a red silk cloth and carried Ye Xiaoli on her back. Ye Xiaoli was already used to it and soon became drowsy.
Just then, Ye Jianguo, who had just gone out, entered the courtyard with two men.
The man was also holding a basket of knives, clearly a skilled butcher.
"Wow, Jianguo, you have guests at your house today?"
"Oh, they are my nephew and niece, and their friends."
"Nephew? You must be Xiao Cui's kid. No wonder there's a Jeep parked in front of your house!"
The two butchers were brothers, whom Fu Wan and Fu Ming had met before, and they quickly nodded and called them "uncle".
Fu Ming had cigarettes on him, and seeing this, he went up and gave one to each person.
After distributing the packages, he still had more than half a bag left, so he simply handed it to Ye Jianguo.
Knowing that Fu Ming didn't smoke, Ye Jianguo accepted the cigarette and put it in his pocket without any qualms.
"Big Head, Second Head, we need to hurry, the villagers will be coming to buy meat soon!"
"Okay, let's begin now!"
The two men tucked their cigarettes behind their ears, and with a swift motion, cut off the pig's head.
Fu Wan found it frightening and turned to go into the kitchen.
"Ah Wan, this wild duck is really good. Should I make soup or braise it?"
Fu Wan thought for a moment and replied, "It's fine either way. There are two here. Aunt, you can keep one, and I'll take the other one."
I'm skipping dinner; I have to go back and pick Lingling and the others up from school tonight!
What? You're not eating dinner?!
"How can you go back without eating dinner!"
Li Chunhua immediately raised her voice, and Fu Wan was also helpless, so she could only touch her nose and explain.
"Auntie, I want to eat too, but I really have to rush back to pick up the kids. It's been raining lately and it's hard to ride a bike. Today is the first day, and if I don't pick them up, Lingling and Mingzhu will throw a tantrum tonight."
Children have tempers too. It was their first day back at school, and Fu Wan had promised to pick them up when she dropped them off that morning.
After hearing this, Li Chunhua had no choice but to give up. "Oh well, if you don't want to eat it, then don't. I'll clean the duck up later and you can take it back."
"And here are the peanuts I picked out. Your mother loves these freshly dug peanuts the most. I just washed them and haven't dried them yet. You can take them back with you later."
Fu Wan readily agreed. Just then, someone walked into the kitchen. Fu Wan turned around and realized it was Ye Jun.
"Ah Wan, you're here too!"
Fu Wan nodded, then looked at Ye Jun in surprise and said, "Brother Jun, why are you carrying a chicken?"
"Hehe, I figured you rarely come here, so I caught two chickens for you to take back."
He smiled very honestly, a stark contrast to the obsessive and crazy Ye Jun of early last year.
Fu Wan frowned. "There are wild ducks here, and they're not small. Brother Jun, you work hard raising chickens, why don't you release them later?"
Although Fu Wan said that, Li Chunhua disagreed and advised, "Since A-Jun has already arrested him, A-Wan, you should take him back!"
Besides, you bought Lili two more cans of formula and so many other bags and packages. If you don't accept them, I'll get angry!
Upon hearing this, Ye Jun realized that Fu Wan had bought milk powder. He had also bought milk powder from the supply and marketing cooperative when he sold chickens last time, so he knew how expensive milk powder was.
A small jar like that costs seven or eight yuan, which is much more expensive than his chickens and ducks.
"What? Ah Wan, you bought milk powder again? You have to accept the chicken, and also, take those eggs back with you, otherwise I really don't know how to thank you."
Ye Jun's words were sincere, and with Li Chunhua's persuasion, Fu Wan had no choice but to accept them. The chickens were fine, but she really didn't need that many eggs. It would be such a waste if hundreds of eggs went bad.
The wild boars outside have already started distributing their meat. Just like last time, in addition to the two people who are distributing the pork each receiving three catties of meat, and the meat for their own consumption, the rest of the pork is being sold for four mao per catty.
You know, after the New Year, pork at the market has risen to 80 cents a pound. Although domestic pork tastes better than wild boar meat, the price difference is almost double and you don't have to go to the market, so the villagers would definitely prefer to buy wild boar meat.
After hearing about the price, everyone praised Ye Jianguo for his generosity.
Of course, there are a few who say he's stupid; if it were them, they'd be willing to pay five or six cents a pound.
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