Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 21: Xiao Zhong’s New Friend

Chapter 20

Xiao Zhong’s New Friend

Several days had passed,

And there had been no word from the father and son of the Ling family, leading the Tang family to believe they were no longer interested in the job. Thus, the Tang brothers returned home with their bedding, as the dried seafood they had prepared was sufficient for the winter.

The little girl, who had intended to sell some of the dried squid, had to reluctantly let go of that plan. They had an ample supply of dried seaweed and shrimp, only lacking the oyster sauce they hadn’t yet prepared.

Today, the four men planned to enter the forest, and Xiaolin insisted on joining them. She clung to Tianchen’s back, refusing to let go until he agreed to take her along in the wheelbarrow.

The two cousins decided to catch fish near the waterfall close to the old pond where they had previously dug for sweet potatoes. Upon arrival, they split from Tianrong, Hui Song, and Liu Hao, who went on to hunt wild boars.

"I wish you, Daddy, Grandfather, and Uncle Hao the best luck catching wild boars and hope you get many of them," she said.

Hearing her, Tianrong laughed before replying to his daughter, "How would I carry them all back?"

"Hehe, you’re very strong, surely you can carry them back," she confidently replied.

After bidding farewell, everyone went their separate ways. Tianchen wheeled the cart towards the waterfall where they often caught fish to eat. They divided the tasks, with Tianchen scooping the fish and Xiaolin waiting to put them into the bucket.

Their lively chatter filled the air, startling the small creatures into fleeing the intrusive human noise.

Meanwhile, at the Tang residence, Hui Ning and Zhang Rua, having the day off, decided to check on their sweet potato patch, steering clear of the construction site of the new house, busy with about a dozen men. The new house was nearing completion, expected to be ready in about a week for the Tang family to move in.

Zhang Rua and Hui Ning walked through the sweet potato field, pulling weeds as they went. Xiaolin had once mentioned that after the vines had spread across the ground, they wouldn’t need much watering.

"In another month, we can start digging them up," Hui Ning noted.

"Mother, it’s flourishing quite well,"

Xiao Zhong followed slowly behind, looking at the bright green plants without much interest. Once, it had sneaked a taste of this plant, but the sap made it spit it out quickly and rush to drink water urgently.

"Why not go play instead of following me around, huh?" Zhang Rua petted the plump cow’s head, and it rubbed its head against her hand, seeking more attention.

"If you get any bigger, you won’t fit in the house anymore, Xiao Zhong," Hui Ning lightly complained, not too seriously, before hearing someone calling from the front of the house.

A slim figure walked to the front, seeing two strangers and a child waiting. She frowned slightly before recognizing them.

"Ling Heng?"

"Yes, I’ve come about the job. Do you still need someone to work?"

Hui Ning looked at his significantly more haggard face. The woman beside him and the two boys also showed clear signs of stress.

"Yes, please come in. My husband isn’t home right now; he went hunting in the forest." Hui Ning opened the gate and invited the guests inside.

The Ling family followed her inside and sat on the bamboo mat as Hui Ning brought them drinks. They all held their cups quietly, making Hui Ning puzzled.

"Is something wrong? You all look quite troubled."

"It’s Miss Niang Xin. Ever since I mentioned wanting to quit and find other jobs, she’s been loudly berating us, even coming to our house to do so morning and evening. I’ve been absent because I didn’t want to leave my wife at home alone."

Hearing this, Hui Ning sighed deeply. After her daughter had a bad day and noticed her parents’ odd behavior, she went ahead to ask them about what was going on.

It turns out that her mother was originally from Haibin village. When her maternal grandparents passed away, her grandmother’s real sister, who is Grandma Zhang, the one Hui Ning often asked for milk for Xiao Zhong, took her mother to live with her and her husband.

Zhang Rua used to visit her old home often when she was younger. She was sometimes accompanied by Hui Song, her husband. Niang Xin saw him and developed a liking for him. Getting to this point, Zhang Rua stopped her storytelling, causing Hui Ning to think that something bad had happened as she noticed her mother’s sour expression.

"Stay here for now. My husband has been in the forest since morning and should return by noon. We can talk then."

The couple nodded, agreeing to wait. Hui Ning excused herself to return to the sweet potato field, with the two boys asking to follow and trailing behind her.

Ling Hai and Ling Han looked at the thriving sweet potato field with wide eyes, never having seen such prosperity.

"Who’s that, sweetie?" Zhang Rua looked up to ask her daughter

"The Ling family."

Zhang Rua nodded, showing no further inquiry.

Hui Ning sat back down to where she was and started pulling out the overly dense and large weeds. She left the smaller ones since removing them all from the twenty plots would mean there would be nothing else to do. Probably because of the good fertilizer, that’s why they grew so densely.

On the other side, Xiao Zhong looked at the two boys with bright eyes. It approached them and just looked up at them. The Ling brothers also looked back at the little cow curiously.

Moo~

"Big brother, is that a cow?" Ling Han asked softly, tugging at his brother’s shirt and looking at the fluffy cow with interest.

"I think so, but why is its fur so long?"

Xiao Zhong wagged its tail happily, wanting the brothers to play with it. It led them to a small vacant land where it liked to graze. The cow kept looking back to see if the humans were following. When it saw the brothers closely behind, it continued to walk and then started to hop along.

"Ha ha ha, what’s the cow doing?" Ling Han watched Xiao Zhong’s hopping and laughed loudly.

"He might want to play with us." The two boys ran after the plump cow.

The trio played joyously on the small piece of land, their laughter and joyful shouts mingling with the cow’s mooing. Hui Ning and Zhang Rua turned to look, and Ling Heng with his wife, hearing their sons’ laughter, excused themselves to watch, worried the boys might trouble others.

"It seems Xiao Zhong has found playmates," Hui Ning remarked, her gaze following the joyful cow and the two boys chasing after it.

"He must be lonely since Xiaolin goes out in the sea quite often."

By noon, the two uncles returned home with a cart full of fish buckets, Xiao Zhong sitting at the front of the cart, singing cheerfully.

"What song is that?" Tianchen asked his niece.

"A song from the Overseas Chinese."

"Oh, do you know the language of the Overseas Chinese?" He asked, half-jokingly, not really believing she knew. Xiaolin nodded eagerly, causing her cheeks to wobble.

"I’m just talented."

"Indeed, the little tycoon is the most talented," Xiaolin giggled.

The cart stopped in front of the house, and the two uncles looked curiously at the strangers talking with Zhang Rua. But once they pushed the cart into the house, they recognized who they were. Xiaolin greeted loudly,

"Uncle, are you coming to work for me now?" The plump-looking little girl was lifted down and placed on the ground. She walked over to receive a cup of drinking water from her mother. Hui Ning watched her daughter for a moment before heading into the kitchen.

"Yes, are you still going to hire me?" Ling Heng asked the plump child. He had just taken a good look at the adorable, plump child and felt a great affection for her. Both he and his wife wished for a daughter like her but were unable to have children of their own.

"Of course, I’ll keep the dried seafood to sell," she said, then drank thirstily, her little cheeks flushed from the sun.

"Oh, you’ll sell it too? Then don’t forget to share it with me."

"I won’t sell it to you, uncle. You’ll be working for me so I will share it with you for free," she said, then clumsily climbed onto the bamboo bench because of her belly.

She used to be able to climb easier than this..

Seeing this, Tianchen lifted his niece onto the bamboo couch before carrying the buckets filled with fish to the back of the house to prepare for filleting.

 

"And what will you do with those fish?" Zhang Rua asked her granddaughter.

"We’ll filet them by slicing from the belly to the back fins, but not all the way through," everyone tried to visualize it but couldn’t quite grasp how it would be done.

Laughter was soon heard from the front of the house. It was the three men pushing two wheelbarrows in, loaded with four plump pigs lying on them.

Xiaolin’s eyes widened in astonishment, and her plump body jumped off the bamboo couch and hurriedly waddled over to inspect the fat pigs. Each pig was plump and healthy.

"Did you really catch four? That’s amazing!"

"Hahaha, your grandfather managed to catch two of these pigs himself," Hui Song lifted the little girl up and kissed her cheek.

"Wow, you’re the ultimate boar conqueror, Grandpa!" The child clapped their hands enthusiastically, causing the person being praised to burst into loud laughter.

"Ah, isn’t that Ling Heng?" Tianrong greeted.

Upon seeing this, Ling Heng stood up and bowed to Hui Song and Tianchen. Although Tianchen was much younger, Ling Heng was about to become his employee and thus showed him respect.

"Yes, I’ve come to discuss employment."

"Oh, we can talk about that later, I’ll for sure hire you. For now, let’s help with the pigs. You can have a share in the meat too."

"Uh..."

"Don’t be shy, come on. Let’s move the wheelbarrows to the back." Seeing Ling Heng hesitate, Hui Song quickly waved him off and cut him short.

Hui Song, carrying his plump niece, led everyone to the back of the house. Seeing this, everyone followed. Ling Heng, looking confused, was prompted by his wife to follow the group.

"Honey..." She called her husband softly.

"Mi Hua, don’t doubt it. They are just this kind-hearted. Sharing hard-earned meat with strangers like us, it’s my first time experiencing this," he reassured his wife and followed the others.

"You’re all back, aren’t you?" Hearing her father’s loud laughter and the sound of conversation coming towards the back of the house, Hui Ning came out to look.

"Oh, A’Ning, don’t bother cooking today. I plan to have a big feast of grilled pork. Just prepare the wild spring onion stir-fried liver."

"Alright, Father," Hui Ning agreed with a smile and then excused herself to collect wild onions. Mi Hua asked to go with her.

"Alright, let’s start butchering the pigs," Tianrong suggested.

"And what about these fish, Big Brother?" Tianchen asked about the three buckets of fish he had caught.

"We’ll dry them by the sea, Uncle. The sun there is very strong," Xiaolin advised her uncle.

Tianchen nodded in understanding. The men then carried the pigs a little away from the house, set up a pile of dry grass, and started to burn off the boar’s hair.

Xiaolin folded her arms, watching the men work noisily, processing the four pigs into eight separate legs. She wasn’t worried about salt because over the past few days, she and her mother had been boiling salt all day long, yielding a large jar of it, certainly enough for curing the pig legs.

The front legs are better for stewing~

Moooo~

The loud mooing of Xiao Zhong could be heard as it waddled into the yard, seeking affection from the plump little girl for some milk. Despite two months passing, the chubby calf still had a strong preference for milk.

"You’re hungry, aren’t you, you fatty?" Her white hand petted the calf’s head, now almost as tall as her.

Moo~

Xiao Zhong mooed softly, content as the little master scratched its chin, occasionally sticking out its tongue to lick her small hand.

"Haha, oh, Brother Hai and Xiao Han," Xiaolin greeted the two boys following the chubby calf.

"Xiaolin, did you also go boar hunting?" Ling Hai greeted the young hostess. He had heard that her father went boar hunting and hadn’t seen her at home, so he assumed she might have gone with her father.

"Oh no, I didn’t, I went fishing with Uncle. Oh by the way, big brother Hai, could you help pour some milk for Xiao Zhong? No one else is free."

"Sure thing."

Xiaolin led Ling Hai to fetch the milk bucket from the kitchen, while she went to get a milk basin. The boy poured half a bucket of milk into the basin as the girl instructed. Xiao Zhong wagged its tail happily and immediately started drinking once the human finished pouring.

"Sigh, Xiao Zhong does nothing but eat."

‘Overseas Chinese’ are people of Chinese birth or ethnicity living outside mainland China. For example, people from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

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