CHAPTER 201: CHAPTER 201: SURPRISE

Early in the morning, Lin Xue couldn’t contain her excitement.

She wanted to quickly tell Zhang Yuan about it, because having someone to share her joy with made her feel lucky.

At least, she could share this with Zhang Yuan.

Breakfast was made by Wang Cuihua, and since the children were tired, she insisted that her daughters not help.

Eating in the new house was great — not crowded, and with a big round table surrounded by ten stools, there was plenty of room, and the table could hold lots of dishes.

After dinner, Lin Daliang couldn’t sit still at all and went out to tinker with things here and there.

Wang Cuihua went to busy herself with her vegetable garden.

The kids only came back in the afternoon, and without other errands, they were doing homework.

Lin Yun looked like she had dark circles under her eyes, obviously from staying up late, but Lin Xue said nothing.

It was the weekend, and letting her fuss about seemed alright; realizing a dream isn’t easy, and her sister knew how to use her time and endure hardships, which was a good thing.

Zhang Yuan hurried to work right after breakfast, without any time to talk.

Lin Xue waited until the evening, when Zhang Yuan moved in, before she found an opportunity to talk.

The kids had all gone to school, and Lin Daliang had left too, making the house quiet all of a sudden.

Lin Xue pulled Zhang Yuan outside to the yard and told him about the warehouse.

"I’ll take a look inside tonight. What kind of warehouse are you so happy about?"

Lin Xue laughed, and Zhang Yuan laughed with her, and the two shared a silly laugh for a bit.

After everyone was asleep, they locked the door and entered the space.

"Look, my warehouse! Is it big?" Lin Xue pulled Zhang Yuan to the warehouse, boasting as she introduced it.

Then she pushed Xiao Bai out for a ride around in front of Zhang Yuan.

"This is much easier than a bicycle!" Lin Xue patted Xiao Bai when she came back and said.

Zhang Yuan was fascinated with Xiao Bai, as he had always been sensitive to automotive things, and now with this in front of him, he couldn’t move his feet.

He began to study Xiao Bai, finding more surprises the more he looked.

He thought this was very convenient, faster than a bicycle, and didn’t require pedaling...

He talked on and on about the advantages of the electric scooter, and Lin Xue was surprised that among all the resources in the warehouse, it was the scooter that captivated him.

"How long are you going to keep looking? I’m sleepy!" Lin Xue protested, it had already been two hours, and she was tired, her eyelids were fighting each other.

"You go ahead and sleep! I’ll sleep in a bit!" Zhang Yuan said without even lifting his head.

"I’m not dealing with you anymore! But don’t break my Xiao Bai! It’s the only one!" With that, Lin Xue went out to sleep.

After that, Zhang Yuan became obsessed with the electric scooter, finding every chance to go into the space to tinker whenever he could.

One day, Wang Xuehua came over from the chicken farm to find Lin Xue.

"Xiao Xue, there’s a bit of a problem at the chicken farm..." Wang Xuehua said hesitantly as she came in.

"What’s happened?" Lin Xue was sitting in the living room, and she had planned to visit the chicken farm that morning.

There were already seven people at the chicken farm, treating the chicks more importantly than themselves, serving them like grand ladies.

After so long since they hatched, few had died, so what could have gone wrong?

"A few chicks are missing from the chicken farm! We went early in the morning and found a few missing!" Wang Xuehua said.

This was her responsibility, as Lin Xue had assigned everything to her to manage.

But she failed to ensure security, and losing chicks made her feel particularly guilty.

"Did you find any footprints or anything like that?" Lin Xue stood up and asked immediately.

"No, we checked all around, and there were no footprints!" Wang Xuehua shook her head, "Xiao Xue, it was my negligence, I’ll compensate the farm!"

Looking remorseful and regretful, Wang Xuehua could have not told Lin Xue and claimed they died, since only a few were missing, but she couldn’t do it. Lin Xue was her best friend, and having trusted her so much to assign her the task, she felt guilty for failing.

"Did Monk Huang leave any footprints?" Lin Xue asked again.

On their side, they had some beliefs in Monk Huang, referring to weasels, which some households even worshipped.

But given the times, superstitions weren’t allowed, so worship was done in secret.

"No, we checked, and the chicks were brought inside to spend the night, so Monk Huang couldn’t get in!" Wang Xuehua shook her head firmly, "I came to you because I simply can’t figure out how five or six are missing!"

"I was planning to head to the chicken farm too, let’s go!" Lin Xue said with determination, feeling she had an idea of what happened, and led the way with Wang Xuehua.

Wang Xuehua hurried to follow, and along the way, she explained the situation in more detail.

Lin Xue, in the end, inquired about the background of the two women hired later.

"Those two, they wouldn’t do something like stealing, right? They seem so honest and kept to themselves," Wang Xuehua noted, seeing Lin Xue’s gears turning.

"You can’t be sure honesty on the outside means they’re honest on the inside, can you?" Lin Xue looked back and asked.

Wang Xuehua lowered her head and pondered silently.

"Xuehua, I’ll leave investigating to you, and if you do it well, I have an even more important task for you!" Lin Xue wanted to test if Wang Xuehua’s mind was suited for being farm manager.

"Ah? Xiao Xue, you know I’m not good at these things, how do I investigate?" Wang Xuehua waved her hands.

Xiao Xue gave her all chicken farm duties, understanding that it was training, especially after their discussions.

But getting to the bottom of this kind of thing was something she felt she had no idea where to start.

"I believe you can do it!" Lin Xue patted Wang Xuehua on the shoulder.

If she could resolve these issues well, then Lin Xue would feel at ease.

Once at the chicken farm, Lin Xue truly didn’t interfere with that matter.

She informed Grandma Zhao to start incubating the second batch of chicks.

As during winter, the chicken farm needed to provide a thousand chickens, and after the first batch, they’d have none left.

Another batch would hatch and be ready for egg-laying in spring the following year, and thus, the chickens handed over could mainly be roosters, supplementing with hens only if needed.

Roosters did not lay eggs, needing only a few dozen for breeding purposes.

This meant the chicken farm could run freely without needing to use market space to supply eggs, becoming self-sufficient, where eggs from their chickens could be incubated.

Batch after batch could stock supply cooperatives with eggs and sell hatched chicks.

This would improve villagers’ lives, no longer sparingly eating chickens, ensuring a chicken dish at the New Year table, and buying chicks from the farm to raise next year.

Lin Xue fussed about for several days, finally sorting out all the eggs.

They were all sent to the chicken farm to start the second round of incubation work.

Grandma Zhao led Aunt Sun Hong and Wu Zhaodi for incubation.

Wang Xuehua managed all chicken farm matters, while others cared for the chicks.

Distribution was clear, proceeding orderly, and the missing chicks issue was also resolved: upon further investigation, they had run off and then died.

Lin Xue knew this couldn’t be true, but she didn’t voice her thoughts, instead deciding to see how Wang Xuehua would handle things next.