Chapter 177 - Chapter 177: Chapter 173: Chicken Kid_1 (1/2)

Chapter 177: Chapter 173: Chicken Kid_1

Translator: 549690339

By noon, most of the chicks were exchanged by people for eggs.

Old Lady Tang exchanged ten, Wen Shu’s Nanny also got ten, the Zhou Family and Yanru each received fifteen, and the other villagers successively exchanged more than forty, leaving only a dozen chicks at home now.

These dozen or so chicks are being raised by a hen, foraging in the yard.

The other two hens were miserable, unwilling to abandon the late-hatching eggs, their chicks were stolen one by one by their mistress, leaving only a few weak chicks that had just hatched with their feathers still wet.

Chunniang wanted to take these chicks too, let one hen raise them and allow the other two hens to recover more quickly and start laying eggs sooner.

However, one Reed Chicken was particularly stubborn. Once her chicks were taken away by the mistress, she would chase after them frantically, snatch one or two back from the hen who was raising the chicks, then take the two chicks somewhere else to forage.

After several occurrences, Chunniang decided to let her be.

A few days later, the hens were able to take their chicks out of the yard.

Fearing that their own chicks would get mixed up with others’, Chunniang made a red mark on the heads of their chicks with sappanwood.

Every morning, after feeding the hens and chicks with small yellow rice, the hens would cluck and bring their chicks out.

The Reed Chicken also brought out her two little chicks.

Perhaps because the Reed Chicken was raising fewer chicks, she often went far out, sometimes even to the wasteland over there.

The wasteland was near a pond and there was a wild bamboo forest in the distance. With the thriving plants and dense bushes in the wasteland, the hens with chicks could not only find insects there but also hide from the hawks and falcons in the sky.

However, there are also many ground predators, such as weasels, foxes, jackals, etc., that would sneak out to hunt.

Fortunately, people are often washing rice and vegetables, doing laundry, and carrying water near the pond, preventing these animals from approaching during the day.

However, the two chicks of the Reed Chicken disappeared after a short while, probably either snatched by eagles or caught by other wild animals.

Recently, one or two eagles have been gliding past the sky above the village, causing widespread panic among the chickens.

Not only the chickens were frightened, but the villagers were also uneasy, quickly bringing their children back home and hiding the lambs and piglets.

Because these eagles are large enough to easily snatch a four or five-year-old child or a half-sized lamb.

Whenever they see an eagle diving down, the villagers would beat their copper basins or gongs, waving their arms and shouting loudly to scare them away temporarily.

However, the eagles would soon return, circling above the Jiang family’s yard a few times.

Chunniang had no choice but to drive the hens and chicks into the house until the eagles flew away before letting them out.

She didn’t pay much attention to the Reed Chicken, leading to the disappearance of Reed Chicken’s chicks.

However, the Reed Chicken did not despair after losing her chicks, instead, it repeatedly attempted to snatch chicks from other hens.

But the chicks have recognized their mother and were not willing to follow it.

Therefore, Yingbao often saw the Reed Chicken going to the pond alone, unsure whether she was foraging or looking for her lost children.

After spending three days in the county town, Jiang Sanlang returned joyously with a new carriage, immediately showing his wife and daughter the title deed of a house.

It is a courtyard with five rooms, not far from the county school, and cost more than 300 taels of silver.

With the cost of the carriage being a hundred taels, Jiang Sanlang spent over four hundred taels in all, including the hundred taels of silver given by his daughter.

Chunniang had almost spent all her silver, leaving only more than ten coins of copper left.

She didn’t feel a bit reluctant and was instead very delighted. Finally, they have a house in the county town, and it’s a five-roomed house made of green bricks and tiles.