Chapter 658: Chapter 657 All the Feathers Are Hers

The infamous duo from the compound ultimately didn’t end up causing trouble for Wang Shumei’s family.

Because Su Yuncheng returned.

“Wuwuwu, Brother Yuncheng! Thank goodness you’re here! Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to spend the long Chinese New Year’s Eve!”

Su Yuncheng wrapped his arms around Lin Nianhe’s shoulders, a smile lingering on his lips: “I will keep you company.”

“Ying ying ying, Brother Cheng! You’re finally back! I want to stay with you on New Year’s Eve night!”

Su Yuncheng: “Scram.”

Though Su Yuncheng was a bit hypocritical, without a doubt, after his return, the two rambunctious kids finally found their pillar and began planning the purchase of New Year’s goods.

Speaking of purchasing New Year’s goods, there really wasn’t much to prepare—both the textile factory and the match factory had issued generous benefits, providing rice, flour, grain oil, sugar, tea, alcohol, and fabric; anything you could think of, nothing was not distributed, everyone from full-time employees to part-time workers in the factories got their share.

These two factories were at the forefront of the era, deeply demonstrating what it means to be “so wealthy you’re oozing oil from a monthly salary of twenty.”

The Ten Miles Team was also planning to procure New Year’s goods, and a few days ago, Li Dahe had announced that he would organize people to go into the mountains to catch wild chickens and rabbits.

The able-bodied villagers and the Educated youth staying at the team for the New Year all joined in, the young people chatting and laughing; their loud voices inevitably earned them a few scoldings from the elders, accusing them of scaring the animals away.

After the heavy snow sealed the mountains, the mountain paths were particularly difficult to navigate, a foot could sink past the knee, and if one carelessly stepped into a snow nest, the snow was deep enough to cover one’s head.

“Fourth Sie, are you even capable? Walking a few steps and you’re gasping like this, no wonder Brother Yuguo dislikes you.” Lin Nianhe’s cheeks were rosy, her speech not showing a hint of breathlessness.

Sie Yufei, supporting his knees and breathing heavily, glared back at her: “And you have the nerve to complain about me? At least half of the path was walked with you on Brother Cheng’s back!”

Lin Nianhe: “Tsk tsk, jealousy makes you hideous.”

So what if she was carried?

Didn’t… Niuwa also get carried by Cao Shijian?

She wasn’t the only one.

Lin Nianhe ignored Sie Yufei’s jealousy, stuffing the hot water bottle from her arms into Su Yuncheng’s embrace: “Brother Yuncheng, get warm quickly.”

“Okay.” Su Yuncheng’s lips curved into a smile, taking the hot water bottle and tucking it into his own embrace.

He looked around and found a good spot for Lin Nianhe and Niuwa, instructing them, “Don’t wander off later, just stay here and watch.”

“Okay.”

Lin Nianhe and Niuwa obediently agreed.

After a brief rest, Li Dahe had everyone split into groups and spread out, with the experienced adults leading some younger ones in different directions, ready to capture food for the New Year.

Lin Nianhe and Niuwa stood on a big rock, their eyes unblinkingly watching everyone’s movements, dreaming only of chicken stewed with mushrooms.

Some scattered millet on the snow, while others spread a large net; Lin Nianhe and Niuwa were also assigned to one corner, both pairs of hands firmly grasping the net, eyes filled with excitement.

“Alright, no more talking.” Li Dahe whispered a caution, then stepped back to the side.

The world seemed to quiet down, even the sound of breaking snowflakes could be heard.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed, Lin Nianhe was starting to find it a bit boring when a splash of vibrant colors finally appeared in her sight.

The wild chickens looked beautiful and could fly, making them agile and not easy to catch. The group of wild chickens seemed to be around twenty, probably a family out foraging together.

The scene before her was something not even the highest-end hunting clubs in future generations could replicate, considering that in several decades these wild chickens would become protected animals.

Lin Nianhe eagerly watched, her hands instinctively tightening their grip.

“Don’t move.”

The voice of Li Dahe next to her instructed in a low tone.

Lin Nianhe held his breath, daring not to breathe heavily, fearing that he might scare these little critters away.

The flock of wild chickens gradually entered the ambush circle, pecking at the millet on the ground, unaware of the net above their heads ready to fall at any moment.

“Drop it!”

At Li Dahe’s command, everyone holding the net swiftly pressed it down to the ground.

The wild chickens finally sensed danger, flapped their wings trying to escape, but were trapped by the net with no way out.

Li Dahe took over the net from Lin Nianhe and Niuwa, telling them, “You two go back, don’t cry over spilled chickens.”

As he said these dismissive words, his body honestly blocked them from moving forward.

Lin Nianhe, dragging Niuwa, retreated to the good spot Su Yuncheng had found for them, excitedly watching everyone gradually tighten the encirclement and then dragging the wild chickens out from under the net one by one, tying them up and stuffing them into sacks.

While catching, Li Dahe suddenly released one chicken.

“Uncle Team Leader, why did you let it go?” Lin Nianhe asked.

“That’s the leader. If we let it go, we can catch it again next year,” Li Dahe explained, “We can’t wipe out the whole breed.”

Lin Nianhe was quite surprised: “How did you know it was the leader? Don’t they all look the same?”

Li Dahe, without looking up, replied: “You’ll know when you’ve seen enough.” There was a hint of pride in his voice.

Lin Nianhe didn’t care much about how to distinguish who was the head of the wild chicken family; she was more interested in, “Uncle Team Leader, I want to make a feather duster, can you spare some more feathers for me?”

Li Dahe paused, looking at her with a particularly complex expression, “If you’re keen on it, I’ll give you all the chicken feathers in the village.”

This was obviously a tease, but Lin Nianhe still found it amusing: “That would be great, we’ve made a deal, and you can’t go back on your word.”

“Why would I bother tricking you over such trivial stuff?”

Li Dahe didn’t find it worth fussing over at the time, even feeling that he finally found a good use for all those feathers, no longer having to see feathers flying all over the village – a truly disheartening sight.

It was only when Lin Nianhe came the next day, asking him with a shuttlecock made of wild chicken feathers whether he would buy it for a penny each, that he belatedly realized something was amiss.

In the past, Li Dahe definitely would have said, “What good is a penny? What’s the use of buying this thing that’s neither food nor drink,” but now, with more wealth in his pocket and seeing Li Hehua’s longing gaze, he actually felt a moment of temptation, thinking buying one to make the child happy wasn’t such a bad idea.

After all, it was Chinese New Year’s Eve!

Li Dahe knew in his heart that Lin Nianhe wasn’t planning to sell the shuttlecock to him; he straightforwardly asked, “What are you up to? Setting up a stall to sell these?”

“How could I? That would be buying and selling under the table, I couldn’t blatantly make life difficult for Uncle Wong.”

“What do you mean then?”

“What if I ask Uncle Wong to issue a sales permit?”

…

So, it was still about selling.

Li Dahe was somewhat baffled: “You need that little bit of money?” This girl had more money than anyone, was she still thinking about making money, transfixed by it?

“It’s tight over the New Year,” Lin Nianhe said laughingly.

Li Dahe: “Tell the truth.”

“I want to take the students from the village school to sell shuttlecocks, consider it a social practice class! I want them to deeply understand the value of hard work!”

Li Dahe, gnashing his teeth and glancing at the little bastards throwing firecrackers everywhere, readily agreed:

“Fine! Take all these little brats away!”

Never mind practical or not, just stop stirring up trouble with cats and dogs already.