The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Chapter 175: Chapter 171: Chick Hatches_1

Translator: 549690339

Upon waking up the next day, the first thing Yingbao did was draw water for the hens.

Seeing that the hens had drank without any anomalies, she then gave some to Xiaolu.

Youyou seemed quite fond of the water, guzzling it all down in one go, then persistently licked the bottom of the bowl.

“Alright, alright.” Yingbao took the bowl away, patted Xiaolu’s head and fetched some bean sprouts from the cave to add to the food trough.

It was strange that while she could help herself to anything from the cave, she could not take any of the Five-Triple Ganoderma from the roof of the cave.

Yingbao closed her eyes to concentrate, attempting to draw water from the pupil pool, and to her surprise, she succeeded.

Looking at the water in the pottery bowl, she grew contemplative.

Could it be that once she managed to reach up to the roof of the cave, she would be able to harvest at will?

Quite possibly.

Like the glowing object, before she reached its top, she had no idea what was there, and she couldn’t touch anything on top of it.

But now, she could take out anything from the top of the glowing object.

Upon further thought, could she also take out and examine the book within the glowing object at will?

For some reason, she hadn’t been able to enter the glowing object to look at the book for quite a while, and didn’t know what came next.

Yingbao tried to enter the glowing object using her consciousness, but to no avail.

Well, that’s that.

Perhaps she hadn’t touched any of the key characters in the book, or maybe the plot between the female lead and the supporting characters had nothing to do with her, and that’s why the book wouldn’t let her see.

No problem if she can’t see it, what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over. She felt more relaxed and could live peacefully.

By the end of March, the villagers of Dongchen Village became even busier.

Not only did the alfalfa start to divide but the cotton was also being planted.

During the bandit raid, Yingbao collected all the cotton seeds stored by the villagers at Jiang’s family into her cave. This action preserved those cotton seeds, otherwise the villagers of East Village wouldn’t have had any cotton seeds to plant this year.

One day returning from school, she saw Chunniang waving at her with a smile, “Baobao, quickly come look, our chicks are hatching.”

Immediately, Yingbao rushed over to watch.

She saw a small hole pecked into one of the eggshells, and inside a chick pecked away with its tiny beak.

Eventually, the hole in the eggshell got bigger and bigger, until the chick finally broke free, wet and struggling, from the eggshell.

Chunniang promptly placed the chick under its mother’s belly to let her warm up its feathers.

“Several more eggs will hatch soon, probably within an hour.”

Chunniang brought over an old blanket: “After all the chicks have hatched, put them under the blanket for warmth. The hen won’t take them foraging until the next day.”

Yingbao blinked, “With so many chicks, can the mother hen handle them all?”

Her mother had placed more than thirty eggs in each chicken nest. If all had hatched, that would be a large flock. A mother hen’s belly couldn’t possibly shelter over thirty chicks. With no warmth, many could die of the cold at night.

Chunniang laughed, “After they all hatch, Aunt Tang will bring a rooster over, and then we can divide the chicks among different nests.”

“Dividing nests with a rooster?” Yingbao curiously asked. “Can a rooster lead the chicks?”

Chunniang: “Of course. Roosters are very protective. You just blindfold the rooster, stick some chicks under its belly, and by the next day, it will lead them foraging just like the hen.”

Really? Is that possible?

Yingbao became even more curious, “Why doesn’t grandma Tang use hens to divide the nests?” It would save so much trouble.

“Her family only has one rooster left. The new hens they just bought are homesick and can’t guide the others, otherwise, the chicks would be pecked to death by the hens.”

Chunnian checked the other two hens for eggs and seeing some broken shells, she noticed fluffy chicks that had already dried off. They huddled together and were quite adorable.

“Wait until tomorrow, all these eggs will hatch. Then ask Nanny of the Wen family whether we are raising the chicks for her, or if she will take them home and raise them herself.”

“Okay,” Yingbao responded, “I’ll go ask in the afternoon.”

Xiaowu ran back, dripping with sweat, followed by his brother Jiang Jie, carrying his school bag.

Seeing that her children were back, Chunnian went to the kitchen to prepare food.

“Is Dad not coming home for dinner again?” Yingbao washed her hands and helped to carry the bowls and chopsticks.

“Your father was invited by the West Village chief today. They are probably going to have dinner there.” Ever since her husband became the village chief, he became busier. If he wasn’t going to town, he was being invited to the neighboring villages, barely having the time to tend to their own fields.

Fortunately, they had their older brother and nephews to help out. The villagers also pitched in, so their farm work didn’t lag behind.

Yingbao, her aunt, and her brother gathered around the dining table for dinner.

Today, Chunnian cooked three dishes and a soup: scrambled eggs with chives, stir-fried garlic shoots with tofu, a plate of cucumber salad with garlic, and a bowl of green vegetable soup.

The vegetables in their garden had gradually grown and produced excellent produce like garlic, green onions, cucumbers, and melons. They were growing sprouts, enough to drop anyone’s jaw.

While others barely saw their vines reach one foot, their vines had already started blooming and bearing fruit.

Even the gourds planted at the edge of their vegetable garden bloomed and climbed the vines. Tiny gourds, hanging like little pendants from the bamboo fences, attracted many children who were stopped by Xu Kun from picking them.

Chunnian glanced at her little daughter but didn’t ask anything.

Were these miracles related to her daughter, who took care of the vegetable garden and orchard in her spare time?

Wang Auntie was even murmuring today that it’s no wonder that her ‘magical’ daughter could grow something so different. She even asked Chunnian for some greens, claiming their benefits in curing ailments.

Chunnian was left speechless but couldn’t refute.

What Auntie Wang said was correct. No one in her family had fallen sick, including Xiaojie and Xiaowu.

While other children were often down with a runny nose, fever, or cold, her children never had any such symptoms.

Even if they occasionally sneezed or coughed, they recovered quickly.

Even the children’s grandparents, who were susceptible to coughing fits during winter due to a fondness for tobacco, became healthier since Yingbao came into their lives.

After dinner, Chunnian ushered her children to rest so they could go to school in the afternoon. She then cleared the dishes and went back outside.

She couldn’t leave the vegetable garden solely to her daughter. She also needed to loosen the soil and weed the garden herself to avoiding gossip about her daughter’s ‘divine powers’.

She also had to frequently water and fertilize the orchard.

Walking into the orchard, Chunnian saw that their fruit trees were laden with fruit.

It was only April, and the apricot, peach, pear, and apple trees were already covered with small fruits—too many to count.

What would happen when these fruits ripened? Wouldn’t they overwhelm the branches?

Chunnian took a walk around the orchard and went to check the vineyard.

Good heavens! She’d only been gone a few days, and the grapevines had already climbed onto the newly set bamboo frames, creating a lush green sight.

She then visited the pepper garden. The pepper sprouts had already grown into vines, flourishing even more than the grapevines.

No wonder the other women in the village kept bringing up the pepper planting. They had been keeping a close eye on her pepper garden all along.