Chapter 94 Picking Eggs and Hatching Chickens
Grandpa Chen was quite pleased at this moment, and upon hearing Grandma Xi's words, he patiently explained:
“We don’t have enough chickens, but there are a few other families in the village. They raise so many chickens every day. If each family shares five, that would be enough. How could they refuse such a good deal?”
“Everyone raises chickens and feeds them the same way, so how could they be any different from ours? If we go back and talk to them about it, they’ll definitely agree.”
Sure enough, after the three of them packed their things and went home, they told a few households in the village about it.
Several villagers agreed without much hesitation.
Most of the chickens raised by the Chen family were sold off at once, leaving only a few old hens and two roosters.
When guests come to the house, or when Chen Fangyang and his friends come home, they have to kill one of the chickens from time to time, and the family's chickens suddenly become a bit short of supplies.
After dinner, Grandma Xi asked Shen Xuewei to wash the dishes. She took a flashlight and went to the chicken coop.
Remove the eggs from under the hen and place them all in a basket.
After collecting all the eggs from the henhouse, she took the basket and returned to the fire pit.
She put down what she was holding, got up and went back into the room to find a kerosene lamp, and lit it.
By this time, Shen Xuewei had already washed the pots and pans and put them back in the old cabinet.
Turning around, I saw Grandma Xi squatting on the ground, holding an egg, looking at something.
She closed the cupboard door, took a few steps to her side, and imitated her to look at the eggs in front of her.
Shen Xuewei looked at it but couldn't figure out how she picked out the fertilized egg, so she asked out of curiosity.
"Grandma, how do you tell which eggs will hatch into chicks and which won't? I can't tell at all!"
Grandma Xi smiled and asked her to hold up the kerosene lamp and demonstrate it in front of her.
"Come here, look at it like this. Look at this egg, when the light shines on it, can you see a small black dot inside, and some things that look like blood vessels? This kind of egg can hatch into a chick."
"Take a look at this one. There are no black spots inside. It looks perfectly normal, just a regular egg. It won't hatch into a chick..."
Shen Xuewei took a closer look and it was indeed true.
She imitated Grandma Xi and helped her sort the eggs.
After dividing them, Grandma Xi wiped the cooled bottom of the pot, then smeared a smear of ink on the fertilized eggs to mark them.
After marking all the eggs, she asked Shen Xuewei to put the rest of the eggs on top of the cupboard, while she took the fertilized eggs to the chicken coop.
This year, thanks to Shen Xuewei's relentless pursuit and her bringing up Chen Taipo's age, the elderly couple in the Chen family finally managed to cultivate less land than in previous years.
Knowing nothing, and only restricted from going to the fields again, Granny Chen smoked her cigarette with a blank expression, thinking for a long time but unable to figure out the reason.
She watched Shen Xuewei washing the quilt outside, muttering something unintelligible.
When Shen Xuewei returned with the bucket, she leaned closer to listen and finally understood what the woman was cursing.
"Neither of them, surnamed Chen nor Xi, are any good. Why can't I work in the fields? What will I eat if I don't work? If I don't grow anything, is the land subsidy just a waste? I think those two have something wrong with their heads..."
Shen Xuewei paused for a moment, then walked past her as if nothing had happened.
She also played a part in preventing Granny Chen from getting out of bed.
If Granny Chen finds out, she might get scolded too...
Ever since Granny Chen was bitten by a snake once, her family has been reluctant to let her work in the fields.
She is now ninety years old.
Old Master Chen had just passed away, and the Chen couple did not expect Old Master Chen to leave so soon as well, lying in her coffin early.
Granny Chen and her coffin had been prepared more than 20 years ago.
Granny Chen's coffin was placed in a corner on the second floor. Shen Xuewei had seen it many times when she went upstairs to look for things.
The elderly person is old and unwilling to go to the hospital. If they were to fall in the field, the consequences would be unimaginable.
They preferred to keep her at home, with Big Yellow watching over her most of the time.
As soon as she puts on her basket and goes out, her dog, Da Huang, starts barking incessantly, attracting other villagers.
In this way, even if the elderly couple Chen are not at home, it is basically impossible for Granny Chen to go to the fields alone.
Those who would be discovered were advised to go home.
Shen Xuewei washed things at home in the morning. After lunch, she packed Grandpa Chen and Grandma Xi's meals into lunchboxes.
He took a hoe and some fertilizer in a basket, told Dahuang to take good care of the house, and then headed to the field with his things.
The elderly couple stopped what they were doing when they saw her bringing them food from afar.
When she arrived, I took the lunchbox and ate my meal quietly.
Shen Xuewei put down her basket, picked up a hoe, and went forward to weed and loosen the soil.
After finishing their meal and drinking some water, the two of them worked together with Shen Xuewei.
As night fell, the three of them walked for quite a while under the cover of darkness before finally seeing the lights emanating from the village houses.
Shen Xuewei and the other two returned home and put down the baskets on their backs.
Granny Chen, who was standing guard by the fire pit, rolled her eyes impatiently when she saw the three of them finally return.
He tapped the edge of the iron pot with his chopsticks and said angrily:
"You wouldn't let me get out of bed, and you still came back so late. Why didn't you stay out all night? Hurry up, dinner is ready, let's eat."
She's been very short-tempered lately and speaks harshly, but the three of them aren't angry or afraid.
"Mom, next time you don't need to wait for us to come home for dinner. If you've cooked something, just eat it first. You're getting old, you can't go hungry..."
Grandma Xi washed her hands, scooped a bowl of rice from the pot, sat down next to her, and said loudly.
Shen Xuewei silently sat down, picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks, swallowed it, and then slowly reminded him:
"Grandma, you don't need to speak so loudly to Great-Grandma. She can't hear you whether you speak softly or loudly."
Grandma Xi suddenly realized, "Oh, right, your great-grandmother has gone deaf."
She was used to talking to Granny Chen like this, and she would always forget that the other woman was deaf.
Grandpa Chen washed his hands, smoked outside, and then went back inside.
He sat down in front of the fire pit, with a bowl full of rice already laid out in front of him, and began to eat.
Of the four, only Grandma Xi occasionally spoke.
Grandpa Chen and Shen Xuewei either nodded or shook their heads, or simply hummed in agreement.
Shen Xuewei wasn't unwilling to respond; it was just that after working in the fields for so long, she was so exhausted that she had no energy left and didn't even want to talk.
After dinner, she sat and rested for a full half hour before she felt a little better.
She got up with some difficulty, cleared the dishes and chopsticks aside, and took out Big Yellow's rice bowl from behind the door.
Big Yellow, who had been lying lazily at her feet, instantly came to life upon seeing this.
Shen Xuewei poured the remaining soup from the pot into Dahuang's rice bowl, then scraped the bottom of the rice pot and scooped the leftover rice into Dahuang's bowl.
She didn't stop, while Da Huang just squatted to the side.
She gently kicked the food bowl in front of Big Yellow, saying, "Alright, eat up."
As soon as she finished speaking, Da Huang immediately turned into a lazy dog.
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