AYLS – Chapter 76

On the weekend, Su Weizhen actually brought home a duck to roast.

Lin Qiao and Li Ermei finished the chores at the chicken farm and then came over to help. Lin Qiao couldn’t really do much, but Li Ermei could—she helped pluck the duck, chop the vegetables, and was busy as could be.

Lin Qiao just sat by the side, shelling sunflower seeds.

Li Ermei said, “All you know is sit there and wait to eat.”

“If you’re not worried I’ll waste good ingredients, then I’ll help,” Lin Qiao said, rolling up her sleeves to start working.

“Forget it, forget it, you don’t need to,” Li Ermei replied, worried that she might ruin the duck meat, muttering, “If you can’t even cook a meal properly, how could your Gu Huayuan tolerate it?”

Lin Qiao said, “What’s so hard to tolerate? I’m not refusing work; I even washed the dishes.”

Su Weizhen laughed when she heard that. “It’s just two bowls, and you’re acting all heroic?”

Lin Qiao proudly lifted her chin, feeling that even washing two bowls was quite an achievement.

The two of them worked quickly together. Lin Qiao leaned on the table, watching their swift movements, and complimented, “Ermei, you’re amazing! Are you also good at cooking? Have you ever made duck roasted in white wine before?”

Li Ermei replied, “Our family never had a duck for me to roast. Back then, on New Year’s, just having a piece of salted meat was a treat. Cutting a piece of meat, our family could keep the kitchen busy for a whole year. I only learned this because later, when the large mess hall started cooking big pots of food, I went to help and picked it up.”

Listening to her, Lin Qiao found it hard to imagine.

She had thought her life here was already hard enough, and that she had to make the best of it—but there were actually even tougher times.

“Ermei, from now on, we should raise chickens properly, so more people can have meat to eat.”

Li Ermei thought this was just talk. “Just the two of us? Don’t dream.”

Lin Qiao pouted. “We’ll do our best.”

Su Weizhen was on the side preparing seasonings. She smiled at their conversation but didn’t comment.

At noon, the three of them had a proper meal of fragrant roasted duck. Li Ermei even cleaned the plates completely.

The food was so delicious it nearly brought tears of emotion.

“When I go back home and tell my mom and sister about this, they definitely won’t believe it,” Li Ermei said.

Lin Qiao replied, “Then go back and cook it for them.”

Li Ermei wiped the corner of her eyes. “No way, I’ll eat it myself.”

After the meal, Li Ermei went back to study, while Lin Qiao lingered at Su Weizhen’s place, chatting and hanging out.

Su Weizhen placed a plate of sunflower seeds next to her. “When are you going to hatch the second batch of chicks?”

“Let’s wait. I’ll have to wait until the hens start laying eggs, then I can make them fertilized to get fertilized eggs.”

Su Weizhen said, “Do you want me to help you raise another batch of chicks then? It’s not difficult at all. You already have the resources here now, and it’s not as complicated as before. Operating it would be pretty simple.”

Lin Qiao of course knew it would be easy—but she hadn’t expected Su Weizhen to volunteer to help.

Su Weizhen looked at her and smiled. “There’s nothing strange about it. I just see how enthusiastic you are about raising chickens, and I want to contribute a little to the team. Just like you said, do your best.”

“Zhenzhen, you’re really the best,” Lin Qiao said happily, holding her hand. “I want to thank you first. Well, I won’t need your help for this batch yet, because I want to try raising a good batch of chicks first. If it succeeds, I can later promote this breed. If it succeeds, we’ll definitely scale up production. At that time, if you’re still available to help, I’ll definitely bother you again.”

“No problem!” Su Weizhen said with a smile. “I just do my best. Compared to you, I’m still a bit behind.”

“Behind? Not at all. Everyone does different things. I just really admire you.”

Although Su Weizhen had a “golden finger,” it wasn’t like it gave her everything without effort. She still had to farm, raise animals, and manage her work.

Su Weizhen came here, got herself a job at the local unit, and still used her spare time to farm and raise animals, plus sell things on the black market—she was really impressive.

Lin Qiao felt that even if she had a special space, she probably wouldn’t be able to make much use of it.

If she could separate from the golden finger, she’d most likely hand it over to the state and just live off the system…

……

Lin Qiao received her salary on February 10th.

Li Ermei came along with her.

Sister Zhang handed ten yuan and some tickets to Li Ermei, and Li Ermei’s hands trembled with excitement.

Sister Zhang also noticed that Li Ermei had changed a lot—she no longer caused trouble, and instead, seriously helped Lin Qiao at the poultry farm as a volunteer. Her opinion of her improved.

People’s thinking was simple: as long as someone hadn’t done anything truly harmful before, if they later decided to reform, you wouldn’t dwell on the past.

Plus, with Lin Qiao speaking up for her, Sister Zhang felt that Li Ermei not only reformed but was even moving toward becoming a responsible person.

She smiled at Li Ermei, “Work hard. You’ll have opportunities in the future.”

Li Ermei could hardly believe it.

Lin Qiao encouraged her, “Sister Zhang is complimenting you.”

Li Ermei hurriedly promised she would work and learn diligently.

“Go ahead, buy yourself something tasty as a reward,” Sister Zhang encouraged.

Lin Qiao said, “We’re planning to celebrate. We already agreed—going to Ermei’s house to cook a meal.”

“Go, go. You should spend some time together,” Sister Zhang said, very pleased.

The two of them hurried out with their wages and tickets.

Outside, Li Ermei could barely contain herself. Holding the money, she said, “I really earned this!”

“Of course, you earned it yourself,” Lin Qiao said, putting her share of the money into her pocket. Although it was half her salary, she was quite happy. After all, she had rested for half a month.

She hadn’t used all her snow cream, and her clothes were fine, so she didn’t need to spend much. She planned to save this money for a trip to the provincial capital.

“Are we eating at my place tonight?”

Lin Qiao nodded, “Sure. Don’t prepare much. I talked with Zhenzhen—we’ll each bring a little and just make do.”

Li Ermei felt a bit embarrassed. She knew it was because her home didn’t have much.

Before, she liked to take advantage of situations to save money for her family.

Now, her feelings were more complicated.

She also wanted to host a proper meal for someone someday.

In the evening, the three of them sent their men away and had dinner at Li Ermei’s house.

Lin Qiao brought eggs, Su Weizhen brought some cured meat, and Li Ermei had some coarse grains and wild vegetables. Somehow, it came together into a fragrant meal.

At the cafeteria, Gu Huayuan sat eating with his dorm advisor Li Wentian.

Xu Yuanzheng brought a lunchbox over, and Instructor Chen also joined.

It seemed the women’s socializing had seriously influenced the men’s social circle. People who previously were just acquaintances were now closer.

Of course, Xu Yuanzheng and Gu Huayuan were a bit annoyed with Instructor Chen, finding him too naggy.

For example, he said that this kind of group meal was unnecessary, making the Xu and Gu families spend money.

“It’s just ten yuan. Really unnecessary.”

Though he claimed disapproval, his tone carried a hint of pride.

Xu Yuanzheng couldn’t help but say, “Could you stop showing off? It’s just getting some money.”

“It’s my wife’s first time. Why can’t I be happy?” Instructor Chen said. “You don’t know how happy she was. Today she even spoke to me gently.”

Xu Yuanzheng said, “Then you need to reflect. A woman can be so happy over ten yuan. Why? Anyway, I hand my wife my salary every month, and she doesn’t feel anything. Don’t you agree, Gu?”

Gu Huayuan said, “I don’t know. I never give my salary to my wife; she collects it herself. Today she even gave me some pocket money.”

Xu Yuanzheng and Instructor Chen: “……”

Li Wentian couldn’t stand it and walked away with his lunch. He thought maybe he should find a partner too; otherwise, he really couldn’t handle these three bragging.

They were all married. Couldn’t they eat at home, rather than tormenting single men in the cafeteria? No sense of public decency.

……

After a satisfying dinner, Lin Qiao woke up early the next morning feeling full of energy. As usual, she went straight to check on the poultry farm before washing up. She had to let the chickens out and feed them before she could eat breakfast with peace of mind.

As usual, she scattered chicken feed in the yard and let the chickens out. A flock of chickens rushed out clucking.

Lin Qiao was about to go back to rest when she noticed a milky-white object in the corner of the room.

She froze for a moment and hurried inside.

Usually, she would tiptoe, but this time she ran a few steps and squatted down to take a closer look.

Eggs! Real eggs!

She carefully picked up the eggs with both hands—they were still warm.

She checked another corner and found another egg.

She couldn’t find any more, but even so, Lin Qiao’s eyes glistened with excitement.

These were the first eggs laid by the chickens she had raised since childhood!

She happily held the two eggs and ran out of the poultry farm. “They laid eggs! My chickens laid eggs!”

The flock in the yard calmly watched her run out and went back to clucking and pecking, as if to say the excitement was unnecessary.

Is it strange for a chicken to lay eggs? As a mature hen, laying eggs is completely normal.

By now, everyone in the courtyard had gotten up to prepare breakfast. The children were getting ready for school, and the adults were preparing to go to work.

Hearing Lin Qiao’s voice, everyone came out into the yard.

Someone asked, “Comrade Xiao Qiao, the chicken laid an egg? So soon?”

“Yes, it laid an egg!” Lin Qiao replied happily. “I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly either.”

She had thought it wouldn’t be until March.

For chicks hatched in mid-August to lay eggs by mid-February, the speed was indeed astonishing.

The children happily ran over to take a look.

They had contributed a lot themselves, running around after school to catch bugs and bring them to the chicken coop.

But Sister Xiao Qiao had said they couldn’t go inside, because the chickens might get sick, so they were just leaning over to watch from the yard.

Now, seeing the eggs, they felt a strong sense of accomplishment.

The adults didn’t think too deeply; they were simply happy. This batch of eggs would supply the entire courtyard, which meant more food in the future.

They were more concerned with how many eggs had been laid.

Lin Qiao said there were only two today and didn’t know which chicken had laid them. They would have to observe a bit more.

The children started clamoring, saying they should feed the egg-laying chickens extra bugs to help them stay healthy and lay more eggs.

“They will, they will. Heroes deserve rewards. I’ll first take these eggs to the logistics office for storage. Once we have enough, everyone can enjoy some eggs.”

The children erupted in cheers.