Chapter 901

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Li Xiulan and Wang Erhai arrived at a place selling chicks.

This stall was very crude.

A circle woven from bamboo strips, placed on the ground, enclosing countless cheeping chicks.

The chicks were very small, not yet fledged, all tender yellow, impossible to tell male from female.

The boss selling chicks was a middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties.

"How are these chicks sold?"

Li Xiulan walked over to ask.

"Two yuan each, all hatched at home, no hormones, buy them back and I guarantee they'll survive!"

The middle-aged woman wore a simple, honest smile.

Li Xiulan picked up a chick, looked at its beak, looked at its little claws, looked at its little wings.

Then she bargained:

"One yuan fifty each, will you sell?"

Wang Erhai watched from the side, not saying a word, because this trade he wasn't skilled in.

"No no, can't sell at one fifty, I'd make no money!"

The middle-aged woman's attitude was very firm.

At this time Wang Erhai chimed in:

"Auntie, we're buying a lot, so give us a discount."

Picking chicks Wang Erhai wasn't skilled at, but bargaining Wang Erhai was skilled at.

"How many?"

The middle-aged woman asked.

Wang Erhai said:

"At least a hundred, no less."

The middle-aged woman thought for a moment, then said:

"One yuan eighty! That's the cheapest, and only because you're buying so many!"

Li Xiulan continued bargaining:

"One yuan sixty, don't care about that few mao and jiao, if you sell, we pick now, if not we leave!"

Her mouth telling others not to care about that few mao and jiao, yet Li Xiulan herself, this whole lifetime, has always cared deeply about that few mao and jiao; she's used to saving, spends as little as possible.

"Fine fine fine, today I'll sell at a loss to you!"

The middle-aged woman finally compromised.

Li Xiulan began picking chicks.

She asked Wang Erhai:

"Want roosters, or hens?"

Wang Erhai was surprised:

"Chicks this small, can you tell male from female?"

Rural people all know, chicks just hatched not long ago, all look almost exactly the same, calls similar too, ordinary people simply cannot distinguish male from female.

Li Xiulan laughed:

"Can, why couldn't I?"

She's raised chickens many years, whether big chickens or small chicks, she can tell male from female at a glance.

She also taught Wang Erhai the technique:

"Very simple, grab the chick's two legs, hold it upside down, the one that lifts its head is a hen, the one that doesn't is a rooster."

Wang Erhai was surprised:

"That simple?"

Li Xiulan laughed heartily:

"Right, just that simple!"

Wang Erhai was puzzled:

"What's the principle?"

Li Xiulan laughed:

"I don't know the principle either, anyway your Waimu taught me to pick this way before, this method, pick ten and at least nine are correct!"

Wang Erhai found it very magical.

At the same time, one must admit, this experience passed down generation to generation, though unclear on principle, is very practical.

Just like Traditional Chinese Medicine, some medicines don't know the principle, but they just cure illness.

Based on this method, Li Xiulan and Wang Erhai began picking chicks.

Wang Erhai hoped to pick more hens.

One reason is because here making White Cut Chicken, half use hens that haven't laid eggs yet.

This kind of hen has good meat texture, and has chicken flavor.

The second reason is that these little chicks haven't been castrated yet.

If they're raising roosters, once the chicks grow a bit bigger, they'll still need to hire a specialized chicken castrator to come castrate them.

So in the end, Wang Erhai and his mother selected 80 female chicks and 20 male chicks.

They paid 160 yuan.

Then they used snake skin bags, cut a few small holes in them, and put the chicks inside to bring back.

One snake skin bag holds 50 little chicks, so two bags could carry all 100.

Carrying the snake skin bags, they placed the chicks in the trunk.

Through the snake skin bags, the little chicks chirped cheep-cheep, and there was also a smell of chicken manure.

The snake skin bags leak water, so the car would definitely need a wash when they got back.

But Wang Erhai didn't mind this at all.

His beloved car, being able to carry the chicks his mother selected — that was this car's glory.

Before long, they returned to Shangou Village.

The car had just stopped, and the first thing to do was hurry and take the little chicks out of the trunk.

Lest they be cooped up too long and suffocate the little chicks.

They put the hundred little chicks in the chicken coop.

Li Xiulan hurriedly fetched a worn plate, drew tap water for the little chicks, letting them drink some water to cool down.

Then she went non-stop to fetch some rice, feeding it to the little chicks.

She also went to the vegetable garden, picked some greens, chopped them up, and threw them into the chicken coop.

The little chicks ate with cheep-cheep sounds, very noisy, very lively.

Wang Erhai, meanwhile, went non-stop to find a site for raising chickens.

Right now these chicks are still small, a very small chicken coop can pen them.

But once they grow a bit bigger, they can't be penned like this anymore.

They need to be given space to move, only then will they grow healthy, and the meat will be delicious.

Free-range chickens are called free-range chickens not just because they aren't fed feed — it's also because they're given enough space to move.

"There's over an acre of wasteland near the village entrance; if we fence that off, it can be made into a chicken farm."

Before Wang Erhai set out, Li Xiulan said this one sentence to him.

"Okay Mom, I'll go take a look!"

Wang Erhai arrived at that patch of wasteland near the village entrance.

He saw weeds growing thick, thorns everywhere, the weeds grown as tall as a person.

Seeing the desolate scene before him, Wang Erhai couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

In his memory, this land used to be so fertile.

No matter what was planted here, the yield was good.

The rice straw planted here headed best, with the highest yield.

The peanuts planted here, a single peanut plant could produce a handful of peanuts.

Even sweet potatoes and cassava planted here could have astonishing yields.

Yet now, such good land has actually been left fallow.

A prime piece of land people used to fight over until heads were broken and blood flowed — now given free for others to farm, no one farms it.

Wang Erhai walked a circle around this land and discovered it really was a good place for raising chickens.

This land backs onto the mountain, fronts near the highway — customers coming to select ingredients is very convenient.

However, although this land is fallow, it's not ownerless land.

To raise chickens here, at the very least one must first go greet the land's owner.

Who this land currently belongs to, Wang Erhai wasn't too clear on.

So he planned to go ask Zhang Zhongtian, and at the same time, visit to check on Zhang Zhongtian's condition.

Arriving at Zhang Zhongtian's home, he saw Zhang Zhiqiang sitting in a wheelchair, watching his son playing on the ground, his gaze dim and lusterless, who knows what he was thinking.

"Uncle Zhiqiang, where's your dad?"

Although Zhang Zhiqiang isn't much older than Wang Erhai, by seniority Wang Erhai had to call him Uncle.

"On the second floor."

Zhang Zhiqiang looked up at Wang Erhai, replied with this one sentence, then didn't say anything more.

Wang Erhai went up to the second floor and saw Zhang Zhongtian in a room.

The moment he saw Zhang Zhongtian, he was startled by Zhang Zhongtian's state.

He saw Zhang Zhongtian lying on the bed, groaning in pain.

His whole body had wasted to skin and bones, that old face like a wrinkled skin wrapped around a skull.

Eye sockets deeply sunken, cheekbones on both sides very prominent.

His slightly open mouth, even his breathing, seemed to carry pain.

Seeing this scene, Wang Erhai knew Zhang Zhongtian probably didn't have many days left.

……