The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 778 - 767: Catching Chickens

Chapter 778: Chapter 767: Catching Chickens

Teenagers can eat their parents out of house and home, especially boys like Bai Shan who are right in the middle of their growth spurts.

They were all exhausted from the journey yesterday, so none of the three were very hungry this morning, but now that they were sitting together, their appetites were ignited, and they started eating one dish after another.

Once full, they put down their chopsticks, and only then did Manbao remember Mr. Zhuang, exclaiming, "Oh no, we forgot about our teacher!"

Bai Shan and Manbao exchanged looks, then both turned to Bai Erlang.

Bai Erlang, who was already a bit sweaty from eating his breakfast, now had a drop of sweat fall from his forehead, "My dad should have taken care of him, right?"

But the habits of the past half year were still etched into their bones, so the three of them got up to go and pay their respects to their teacher.

Mr. Zhuang was advanced in age and had endured the strain of travel yesterday, which is why he got up a bit late today and was just washing his face.

Seeing the three of them lined up to greet him, he set down his towel and asked with a smile, "Have you had breakfast?"

The three boys saluted Mr. Zhuang and then responded, "Yes, Teacher. What would you like for breakfast?"

Manbao said, "My sister-in-law made tofu pudding, would you like a bowl?"

Mr. Zhuang nodded with a smile, "Sure."

Bai Erlang said, "Teacher, our kitchen made beef sauce noodles which are also very tasty."

Bai Shan said, "The meat porridge at our home isn’t bad either."

Mr. Zhuang laughed heartily, "Then I’ll have a little of each."

The three of them turned and ran to get everything ready to bring over.

Old Master Bai, seeing this, was seized with envy. He’d raised his son all these years and hadn’t even had one bowl of noodles served to him by the boy.

Bai Erlang didn’t even notice his father standing at the doorway; he just brought the noodles directly to Mr. Zhuang’s table, "Teacher, you have to eat the noodles while they’re hot."

Bai Shan: "It’s as if you’re saying porridge doesn’t need to be eaten hot."

Manbao said, "Now that it’s cold, tofu pudding should also be eaten hot to taste good."

Mr. Zhuang waved his hand dismissively, "Alright, finish eating and go study your morning lessons. It might be vacation, but you shouldn’t slack off."

All three of them stiffened at once. Bai Erlang turned to Bai Shan, Bai Shan turned to Manbao, and Manbao, braving it out, said, "Teacher, the New Year is almost here, can’t you let us rest a bit?"

Mr. Zhuang lifted his eyelids to look at them, "I’m not stopping you from resting, but there are twelve hours in a day. You can’t just sleep, eat, and play. You should study a bit during morning lessons; at the very least, practice your writing twice a day. Especially with writing – if you don’t practice every day, your hand will get rusty. Haven’t I always said that unless you’re so sick you can’t get out of bed, you must practice every day?"

The three boys bowed their heads in acknowledgment and obediently withdrew to study.

Mr. Zhuang contentedly enjoyed the peace of his room and ate his breakfast with great pleasure.

He was also going to return home for the New Year. However, Mr. Zhuang was not in a rush. After breakfast, he played a game of chess with Old Master Bai and took the opportunity to talk about Bai Erlang’s learning progress this year and their plans for the future.

After reaching an understanding with the parent, Mr. Zhuang had already quickly formulated a plan for training Bai Erlang.

After talking with Old Master Bai, Mr. Zhuang went next door to visit Old Madam Liu. He drank two cups of tea and had lunch before returning to rest at the guest compound of the Bai family.

When he got up from his afternoon nap, he walked into the village with his hands behind his back and found Old Zhou under the banyan tree at the village entrance. He was then invited to the Zhou family, where he talked with Old Zhou and Ms. Qian about Manbao.

As for the three of them, they couldn’t wait for their luggage to be sorted at home, so they had Daji bring a bullock cart and excitedly climbed aboard, urging him to head toward their Little Manor.

Although Manbao and her friends were not in the village, they kept remote control over the production at their Little Manor.

From the Mid-Autumn Festival to now, more than three months had passed, and the three were longing for their manor, so as soon as they entered their farmland, they jumped down and gleefully ran toward the manor.

Many fields in the manor were planted with winter wheat, which by now had grown quite tall.

Manbao and the others only paused to take a brief look before dashing toward the mountain at the top of the manor.

Daji sat leisurely on the bullock cart, driving it slowly. It was now the wintry twelfth month, and the fruit on the mountain had long been picked; even some fruit trees were left with only smooth trunks and branches. He really didn’t understand what was so exciting for them.

Yet the three were cheering all the way up the mountain, touching their sturdy fruit trees and nodding in satisfaction before running down to chase the chickens and ducks that were kept in the pens below.

The piece of wasteland at the foot of the mountain was mixed with quite a few stones. Aside from the houses, there were cattle sheds, chicken coops, and duck coops, housing many chickens and ducks.

Looking at the beautiful feathers of the roosters, Manbao said, "I feel like making shuttlecocks."

Bai Shan felt an itch in his feet too, while Bai Erlang outright suggested, "Let’s slaughter a few roosters."

Manbao looked at him with disdain, "Just for the feathers? It’s better to just pluck them. They have so many feathers; plucking a few won’t hurt, right? Just like us, pulling a bit of hair doesn’t hurt."

Considering this, Bai Shan found it reasonable, so he rolled up his sleeves, "Let’s go, that one has the most beautiful tail feathers, let’s catch it first."

By the time the farmhands heard the commotion and came running out, the three of them were already causing chickens to fly everywhere inside the fenced yard.

The farmhands, stunned for a good while before they realized who the three were, rushed up to them, "Young Master, Hall Master, Miss Man, just tell us what you need; you shouldn’t be catching them like this. What if you get scratched by the chickens?"

Manbao realized that these chickens were quite lively; not to mention their swift running, but they could also flap their wings and fly a short distance, so they could not catch them at all.

She stopped to catch her breath and asked, "How do you usually catch the chickens?"

"We wait until nightfall to herd them into the coop, then we close the door and catch them inside," the farmhand replied. "Miss Man, do you want to eat chicken? Tell us which one you fancy and I’ll catch it for you."

Manbao shook her head, "We don’t want to eat chicken; we just want a few feathers from their tails."

The farmhands: ...

Though they didn’t understand, since the masters had already said so, what else could they do?

The farmhands asked Manbao and the others to step aside, brought in some chicken feed, lured the chickens into the coop, and then began to catch them.

Once they caught the chickens, they quickly plucked a few feathers from their tails, causing the chickens to cry out in pain.

When they finally got the one with the most beautiful tail feathers, the farmhand weighed it and suggested, "Miss Man, do you want to have chicken for dinner tonight? Why not kill this one for you to eat? That way you can pluck all of its tail feathers."

The three children huddled together to look at the rooster and after a bit of discussion replied, "Let’s not. It’s so beautiful; better to keep it a little longer. We won’t pluck its tail feathers. We’ll take it to the county town for the Lantern Festival."

The farmhand: "...You mean to take it to the county town to be butchered? That’s so much trouble. Young Masters and Miss, we can catch and butcher it right here if you want to eat."

Manbao: "No, we’re planning to sell it."

The farmhand’s eyes crinkled with laughter, giving Manbao a thumbs-up, "Miss Man really knows how to manage a household. There will definitely be many people buying meat during the Lantern Festival. How many chickens does Miss Man plan to take to the county town? We can feed them early in the morning to make them a bit heavier, and then catch them for you."

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