That day, Xiao Jiu dug out two quail eggs from the grass nest in the yard. Haha, of course, she was the one who put them there. But she stumbled over to her grandmother and carefully protected the eggs in her hands, saying, "Eggs, eggs, eat eggs."
Grandma took it with delight: "Oh my, aren't these quail eggs? Did we get some quail in our house? But that doesn't make sense, why would a bird lay its eggs in the vegetable garden so casually?"
When Grandma ran over and parted the few vegetables, she was surprised to find five or six quail eggs. I thought she would just pick them up and cook them for me.
Grandma looked left and right, then finally took a handful of dry grass from under the eaves to the vegetable garden, built a bird's nest, and put six quail eggs inside.
Xiao Jiu was stunned by this scene. With her mouth watering, she pointed at the quail eggs and cried out in her heart, "My quail eggs! Those are the eggs I want to eat! Why did you put them in there? Aren't you afraid that the weasel will snatch them away?"
"Little Jiu, the quail mother has gone out to find food. These little quails haven't hatched yet. Once they hatch, they'll fly away, so we can't eat them."
Little Jiu was on the verge of tears. "Grandma," she cried, "these quail eggs won't hatch! They're all unfertilized quail eggs, how could they possibly hatch? Besides, you don't have a mother bird. How can they hatch without a mother?"
Finally, pitifully, Xiao Jiu was carried away by her grandmother. She was a little unhappy because she didn't get to eat any quail eggs. She just wanted to improve her diet, so why was it so difficult?
Fortunately, to make up for it, Grandma gave her some peach shortbread. Licking the sweet pastry, she finally cheered up again.
However, she also realized that her grandmother was a good person, a very kind old woman who would rather not eat than let the mother bird lose her child.
May good deeds be rewarded, and may the Tao family have a smoother future, safely weathering any calamities to come.
The next day, Grandma took her to the vegetable garden in the backyard again. Fortunately, all the bird eggs were still there, but they were not warm and no feathers were left.
"Could it be that it was abandoned? No, we can't just leave it alone. What if it can hatch? Let's go and try to find Old Liu's hen."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jiu realized it was a waste of time and quickly grabbed the old lady's arm, saying, "Chi, Grandma, eat eggs, Jiu, eat eggs."
Grandma turned around and saw her staring eagerly at the quail eggs in her hand, and couldn't help but smile.
"You're such a glutton! Fine, then you can have a taste."
So the eight quail eggs were steamed. Xiao Jiu happily ate four of them. The older sisters were reluctant to eat the remaining four, and the older brothers shared them with each other. In the end, the youngest brother ate them. Well, the two youngest in the family are the ones who benefit the most. They get to share all the good food.
When my father came home that evening, he was carrying a very beautiful pheasant, and it was quite large, weighing at least three or four pounds.
Grandma looked at it with surprise: "Where did it come from? It's still alive!"
"I don't know what bit it, so I brought it back. It looks like a rooster. We don't have any roosters at home, right? Maybe I should try raising it? I'll clip its wings in a bit, then it won't be able to fly."
Grandma picked it up and examined it. She noticed its thick hind legs were covered in blood and frowned. "Can we still keep this? What if it has some kind of disease?"
"Mom, what kind of illness could it have? We're not going to eat it right now. Let's see if it survives. If it does, we'll breed it. Wild pheasants are different from domestic chickens. Let's see if this breed's eggs can hatch. If it doesn't survive, we'll cook it and eat it. What's wrong with eating it?"
She then took the chicken to the backyard, found a small cage for it, and put it inside. Her brothers excitedly ran over and carried her on their backs.
She saw her father take scissors and cut off half of its colorful wings. Just to be safe, he also applied some medicine to its legs to treat external injuries and bandaged them up.
The chickens kept clucking, clearly terrified of their new environment. After finishing tidying up, the father turned to them and said...
"We won't be able to sleep in anymore, because this rooster can crow."
The eldest brother pouted: "Dad, whether it crows or not, we don't sleep in. My sister Zhaodi is like an alarm clock. She gets up to clean and cook every day at the appointed time. My mother requires that whenever my sister Zhaodi and the others get up, we have to get up to study. This habit has been formed. Have you forgotten?"
Tao Changyi then remembered and praised, "I really forgot if you hadn't mentioned it. This is a good habit. You all have to stick to it in the future and get into university. Once you become university students, our family can bring honor to our ancestors."
Taozui looked up at the sky and thought his father was daydreaming, because it seemed like there were still four or five years before he got into university.
In his opinion, it would be great if he could finish junior high school. He will graduate from elementary school (six-year system) next summer at the age of eleven, and then he will have four more years (two years of junior high school + two years of senior high school) to graduate from high school.
My father talks about going to university every day, but if going to university were so easy, why are there so many illiterate people?
Xiao Jiu was unaware of her brother's pressure. Suddenly, she caught sight of a large gray rat darting past in the corner and instinctively cried out.
"Look, a mouse!" The unadorned voice rang clearly in everyone's ears. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. She bit her lip, looking at them helplessly, and muttered softly, "A mouse, there's a mouse."
Tao Ran asked her excitedly, "Little sister, you know what a mouse is? And you can explain it so clearly! You're really amazing!"
Xiao Jiu was so excited that she forgot the occasion. Usually, she would deliberately control her voice and act a bit pretentious, but at this moment, she was truly undisguised.
"Where there's food, there will be mice. Don't worry, I'll set some mousetraps tonight and put them in every corner of the house. Your house has a lot of food, so be especially careful."
Father turned to Sister Zhaodi and said something. Zhaodi nodded repeatedly, "Uncle, don't worry, I'll definitely keep a close eye on Xiaojiu."
Rats bite people, especially children. When they are very hungry, they will bite anything. If there is food, they will definitely eat the food first.
During difficult times, when there was no one to take care of the children, they would tie them to the bed and end up having their fingers and toes bitten off by rats. We heard stories of this almost every year. In their village alone, there were two girls missing fingers, and another girl had her ear bitten off. If it weren't for her older sister taking good care of them, they probably would have suffered the same fate.
Because Cao Amei was not a responsible mother at all; she had never properly cared for them from childhood to adulthood.
It's sad to think about. They never experienced fatherly or motherly love growing up. After coming to the Tao family, seeing how the family treated their son and sister, the sisters would fantasize about their parents suddenly having a change of heart and becoming better when the night was quiet. But their fantasies were ruthlessly interrupted by their eldest sister.
"Stop dreaming. If they could change for the better, the sun would probably rise in the west."
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