CHAPTER 81: CHAPTER 81: HATCHING EGGS

Although Jiang Hu was full of energy at work, he knew to measure his capabilities. He didn’t blindly open up land, choosing instead to cultivate just three acres of paddy fields.

Not only that, he also let others select their locations first, picking up the leftovers himself.

The paddy fields were near the river, while the dry fields sat at the foot of the mountain, some on slopes. They lived at the end of the village, quite far from the center. When everyone was opening up land, this area was always the last choice.

This arrangement was convenient for the Jiang family, with fields nearby, making work easier without much involvement with others.

However, one thing Jiang Hu didn’t expect was that he initially intended to let everyone choose first, but others insisted that he should be the first. Jiang Hu estimated the reason and accepted without hesitation.

He still chose a location close to his home, but...

Recalling the previous incident when many villagers almost fought over the land adjacent to his home, Jiang Hu was quite speechless.

"Isn’t it all just farming? Could being next to my home really make it grow better? I don’t see what’s so desirable about it."

Shaking his head helplessly, he thought those people were too idle, and that they should spend the time working more instead.

But Second Aunt, hearing this, put down her needlework and pondered.

"Now that you mention it, I remembered Wang Xiang mentioned it casually before, but I didn’t pay much attention at that time."

"Do you remember those dozen corn stalks in our garden? I heard a few village households have some too, all located near our fields. So, previously, many people came with wheat seeds to exchange for millet."

At that time, she was busy sorting pigweed, and she forgot about it soon after Wang Xiang talked about it, without giving it much thought.

Had Jiang Hu not brought it up, Second Aunt would have forgotten about it.

Jiang Hu was truly surprised by this: "I had no idea this happened."

Glancing beside him at Xiaomi, he suddenly saw her jump excitedly: "Alright, alright, Dad, hurry up, the sweet potatoes are ready!"

Jiang Hu hurriedly used fire tongs to take the roasted sweet potatoes out from beside the fire: "Careful, it’s hot. Wait a bit before eating."

"Alright, I’ll wait," Xiaomi nodded repeatedly and held back Iron Egg’s reaching hand.

The sweet potatoes were planted late, so they didn’t grow very large, but the biggest ones were as big as corn cobs. After starting to stoke fires in the winter, Xiaomi was most keen on roasting a few long, thin sweet potatoes.

They’re sweet and glutinous; absolutely delicious!

The only awkward part is that eating sweet potatoes makes you fart a lot.

Luckily, Xiaomi relied on her young age; she didn’t worry one bit about any uncouth behavior!

The only concern she might have is...

"Alright, everyone gets half; don’t eat too much, eating too much will give you heartburn and feel bad."

Jiang Hu very ’generously’ divided one sweet potato in half, giving half to Xiaomi and half to Iron Egg.

Watching the remaining two roasted sweet potatoes being enjoyed by her elder brother and second sister, Xiaomi felt a bit upset.

She could only turn her grief into appetite, devouring what she held in her hands.

The rice in the space grew very well and would surely mature before next year’s planting. She had secretly taken some of the family’s sweet potatoes, intending to plant a crop in the space after the rice harvest.

After all, the sweet potatoes would be transplanted with vines eventually, so there’s still time.

However, she successfully kept the sweet sorghum, now growing at the edge of the wheat field, about a dozen plants.

Jiang Hu was curious about whether these sorghums growing in the winter would yield, so he didn’t remove them, planning to see next year.

Previously, when they planted sorghum, the weather was too cold, and most just died off naturally. This newly grown sorghum surprisingly stayed lush and green, not appearing to be frozen at all.

After eating roasted sweet potatoes, Erni pulled Xiaomi up: "Xiaomi, let’s feed the chickens."

Whenever she fed the chickens, Xiaomi followed, so she was used to bringing Xiaomi along now.

Although Erni was the one feeding the chickens and rabbits while Xiaomi watched from the side, Erni still liked having Xiaomi with her.

Da Wa was practicing writing on the sandbox nearby, using small wooden sticks and boards to create a sandbox filled with fine river sand, practicing writing with a stick.

Erni also had one initially, but she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about reading and writing, just knowing how to read and write sufficed, whereas Da Wa wanted to write more beautifully.

Xiaomi watched them once, finding the writing similar to the simplified characters from her previous life, barring a few different strokes that she recognized by and large.

Still, Xiaomi didn’t start learning them hands-on, fearing she might shock her parents, considering she already stood out quite a bit.

"Xiaomi, hold this while I check inside," Erni picked up an egg and placed it in Xiaomi’s hand before bending over and darting into the pen.

This area by the house was fenced specifically for raising chickens. Chicken manure harms the land, especially when it’s not fermented.

So every month or so, Jiang Hu moves the fence sideways for a different spot to raise the chickens, then uses a hoe to turn over the trampled area and splash some dung water on it. After half a month, wild grass grows back.

Several chicken nests were built inside the pen, and Erni checked each whenever she fed the chickens, keenly picking up eggs each time, feeling very pleased.

"This egg isn’t small," Xiaomi raised the egg to look at it, finding it not much different from those in the space.

Wasn’t it said that farm eggs are generally small?

Looking again at the chickens in the pen; even the wild ones are fatter than normal wild chickens.

Finally, Xiaomi credited her elder brother and second sister; despite the winter, they could still be seen searching for bugs everywhere.

Whether in the vegetable field or crop field, they were always spotted with little bamboo knives and tubes, hunting for insects, and of course, wild grass.

"Second Sister, I’m going to check the chicken pen," Xiaomi said, turning around into the adjacent chicken pen.

Two hens were recently nesting, and her parents had saved twenty eggs, just changed in the morning, beginning incubation.

Xiaomi added Spiritual Spring water in the trough and directly reached in, driving the two hens nesting on eggs out of their spots.

Perhaps because Xiaomi often fed them water, the hens didn’t peck at her, heading straight to drink.

Xiaomi swiftly retrieved a few eggs from the space, deliberately finding fertilized eggs.

The eggs in the nests had just been laid in the morning, only incubated for half a day, making it perfect timing.

She swapped out five eggs in each nest with the space’s eggs; these were noticeably larger than the family’s eggs, likely producing slightly larger chicks.

Once she’d changed them, she acted as if nothing had happened.

Surprisingly, after the hens returned, they used their claws to rearrange the eggs but eventually settled back down.