Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 1117 - 358: Cunning Capture of Chicken Thieves

Chapter 1117: Chapter 358: Cunning Capture of Chicken Thieves

"Yan girl, where did you pick up that child from?" Wu’s asked about the child’s origin as she came out of the house.

"Little Black came across him on the way back from the city, I’m not sure exactly where he’s from."

The child’s experiences in the textile workshop were too miserable, and Mo Yan did not want to upset Wu’s by telling her, besides she really didn’t know the child’s true origin, so she quickly moved past the question with a brief answer.

"I see..." Wu’s murmured absent-mindedly, nodding her head and saying, "Such a small child, looks even younger than my Si Nier, so thin he’s lost shape, and to run out in such cold weather, his family must be missing, I guess... It’s hard to say if he was abducted when he was young or if he got lost on his own..."

Seeing that Wu’s was reminded of Si Nier, Mo Yan felt glad she hadn’t spoken about the child’s plight; otherwise, Wu’s might have become distressed with all sorts of worrisome thoughts.

This topic clearly couldn’t be continued, so Mo Yan quickly changed the subject, "Aunt Wu, thieves have just entered the village, and no one knows if they’ll come back. You should take a dog home with you; it will help you sleep more peacefully at night."

Wu’s, snapping out of her thoughts about her missing daughter, hesitated, "Right now, God Huang can’t find enough to eat, can the chicken farm manage with one less dog?"

Mo Yan smiled and said, "We have five dogs there; one less won’t matter."

When the chicken farm was first built, it attracted who knows how many yellow weasels, but every time they were chased back into their holes by the five dogs. After many such encounters, the weasels learned and seldom came to steal chickens again, and even the persistent few left behind only a scattering of fur as they fled in defeat.

With these words, Wu’s no longer protested, "Then my thanks to you, Yan girl. I’ll be able to sleep soundly tonight."

"Why be so formal, Aunt Wu? That dog eats a lot; just don’t mind it," Mo Yan joked, and then patted Mao Tuan to go and fetch a dog from the chicken farm on the back mountain.

Soon, Mao Tuan led a big dog with a black coat and white patches over. Thanks to generous feedings and regular drinking of Spirit Spring Water, the dog had grown both tall and strong, nearly one and a half times the size of an ordinary dog. It looked fierce with sharp eyes and an agile stance.

However, that was just the appearance of the big dog. The moment it saw Mo Yan, its master, it instantly transformed from a "tough guy" to a "little princess," wagging its tail and rubbing against its owner’s leg.

Mo Yan took out a piece of chestnut cake from her purse to feed to the big dog, patting its head as she instructed, "You’ll go home with Aunt Wu later to help her guard the house properly, and you mustn’t leave at night."

Wu’s, amused by Mo Yan’s serious demeanor, was about to say that dogs don’t understand human speech, when she saw the dog actually squat in front of her, holding the chestnut cake in its mouth, its gaze soft and looking very obedient.

At this, Wu’s had to believe that the dog had human-like intelligence.

After the intelligent dog was brought back to Wu’s house, it was warmly welcomed by the Wu family. However, when they saw the dog devouring most of a bowl of soaked rice soup and then still eagerly eyeing the food on the table, the family looked at each other in dismay. Realizing this, Wu’s finally understood that Mo Yan’s "don’t mind it" was not said in jest.

...

After Old Man Sun’s house was burgled, the villagers raised their vigilance, hiding their silver and even the copper coins they kept for everyday use were buried under the bed with a pit dug for them and a pickle jar placed on top, so that not even a Wen money could be taken by the thieves.

However, while silver could be hidden, the livestock at home could not. Nearly every household in Liu Yang Village kept chickens, and most of them were kept in fenced-in yards that couldn’t possibly stop thieves with just a few mud bricks for a chicken coop.

Indeed, on the third night after the burglary at Old Man Sun’s house, seven or eight households in the village had their chickens stolen clean. Altogether, there were thirty to forty chickens—enough to be worth two taels of silver if sold at the market.

Based on the footprints left in the snow, the villagers deduced that there were four or five Chicken Thieves. It’s not that the households didn’t notice anything at night; even if they knew the thieves were coming, they could well be armed, and it would be futile to confront them.

Although the loss was not significant when spread among the households, it was maddening for anyone to have their chickens, which they had painstakingly raised for a year, stolen. The women whose chickens were taken stood at their doorsteps brandishing knives and chopping boards, cursing loudly even though they knew the thieves couldn’t hear, just to vent their anger. They were just hoping that justice would be served and the thieves would suffer their own misfortunes.

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