Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 54: You Chickens! You Made Me Look Bad!

Chapter 53

You Chickens! You Made Me Look Bad!

After an exhausting dance, the two cousins made their way back home in the evening. Xiaolin, completely drained and soft like a piece of tender tofu, rested on Tianchen’s shoulder, who could barely take another step himself. But eventually, both of them managed to make it back home.

Xiaolin sprawled in the middle of the hall, next to where Tianchen lay fast asleep. The chubby child rolled over to use her uncle’s belly as a pillow, finding a comfortable spot to rest.

Just as she was about to drift off, Tianrong entered the house and sighed deeply upon seeing the two cousins.

"Father, can I ask for something?" The exhausted child managed to say, her eyes almost closed.

"What is it, you troublemaker?"

"Could you please soak about two cups of wheat seeds in water for me? Just leave them to soak overnight, yawn~" The chubby child’s request was met with a big yawn.

"Alright, I’ll do it for you."

Xiaolin mumbled a thank you to her father before her head dropped, and she fell asleep mid-air. Tianrong shook his head, went into his daughter’s room, and came back with two pillows. He carefully positioned the cousins to rest more comfortably on the pillows, then disappeared towards the back of the house.

The next morning, the chubby child cheerfully emerged from her room, singing and shaking her bottom so vigorously that Zhang Ruo had to peek out from the kitchen in disbelief she even dropped the spatula.

But the chubby little girl did not care; she carried a small bucket with the wheat seeds she had soaked the night before to the backyard. She grabbed a basket and two clean clothes, soaked one of the clothes in water, laid it on the basket, evenly spread the wheat seeds on it, and covered them with another wet cloth.

"Five more days to wait, la la la, hmm hmm."

She carefully moved the setup to a corner of the porch to keep it out of the way.

Standing in the middle of the porch, she began to dance again. The previous day’s exhaustion hadn’t quenched her dance spirit; she only went home because she was too tired to continue.

"Quack quack, ducks bathing in the stream," she danced a duck-like waddle, mimicking ducks heading to a stream.

"And their eyes wondered because there are shells, crabs, and fish in the stream~"

"Pff!" Tianrong came out with a cup of hot tofu drink but choked on it, nearly spraying it out through his nose at the sight of his daughter’s lively morning dance.

"Hehe, daddy, come dance with me," the chubby child beckoned with a wide, squinty smile, gesturing for her father to join.

"Uh, go ahead, my child," Tianrong coughed and retreated back into the house, leaving his daughter to dance joyfully on her own.

After dancing to exhaustion, the chubby child was carried back into the hall by her father for breakfast. The meal was a set of unfamiliar dishes prepared by their grandmother, primarily cooked with oil. Xiaolin swallowed hard.

"Here, stir-fried bean sprouts and morning glory," Zhang Ruo placed the dishes on the table. Xiaolin sighed with relief that there was at least something she could eat; otherwise, she might not have been able to stomach the oily food.

Because there were only spicy dishes today, the chubby child’s mouth watered as she eagerly ate the stir-fried bean sprouts, thinking that adding chicken blood would make it even more delicious since stir-fried bean sprouts with chicken blood were the best thing in the world!

After breakfast, the little white figure stood waving goodbye to her father and grandfather as they went to check on the construction of their shop. She hoped that in a few days, the market would be ready for them to sell their goods. She wanted to go to the forest to find gifts for the governor and his wife.

The chubby child stood stroking her chin with a sly smile. Seeing her uncle coming out with his school bag, she clung to him with a small basket in hand.

Tianchen, feeling sore all over as if he had been on a boat for several days, was more exhausted than ever. This morning, he had to carry the little white piglet clinging to his back, almost breaking in half.

"Great-grandmother!" The chubby child slid off her uncle’s back and waddled towards the elderly woman sweeping leaves in front of the house.

"Oh, little Xiaolin," Miss Liu embraced the chubby child running towards her. Luckily, the child didn’t crash into her with too much force, or the old lady might have ended up on her back.

"Shall we go into the forest, great-grandmother?" The chubby child looked up at the elderly woman with a pleading gaze.

"Looking for trouble again?" Liu Hao, who walked out of the house with an old tome, asked.

Xiaolin looked at Liu Hao, pouted, then raised her head to show off her double chin.

"I’m not being naughty at all. But I want to go looking in the forest, we might find something good."

"My grandmother can’t trek through the forest; she’s old," Liu Hao said with a smile while sitting and watching the chubby child.

"But there’s no one else to go with Xiaolin."

"Can you wait for a while? I’ll just recite some passages from the tome for A’Chen."

Hearing this, the chubby child nodded vigorously, making her cheeks wobble. Seeing her reaction, Liu Hao chuckled softly before inviting the little one to check out the vegetable patch behind the house.

"You plant vegetables too? And is that sweet potato over there?" The chubby child pointed at the neatly ridged plot, asking in a chirpy voice.

"Yes, when I have free time, I like to plant vegetables. Sometimes when I’m bored and have nothing to do, I go out to chat with your great-grandmother."

"You should find a grand-daughter-in-law to talk to and keep you company," the chubby child whispered conspiratorially.

"This child, leave that decision to your uncle," Liu Hao laughed softly, affectionately stroking the sun-kissed head of the little one.

"In that case, I will talk to great-grandmother herself and help her weed the vegetable patch."

"Thank you so much."

Afterward, the chubby child kept talking nonstop while weeding, and despite speaking and working for more than half an hour, she showed no signs of fatigue.

"When I got back, I ran away from grandma until I was exhausted. But I got spanked anyway in the end."

"Next time, listen to what the adults say, so you won’t get spanked," Liu Hao, both amused and sympathetic, heard the tale.

"I do not dare to be naughty anymore. Xiaolin is scared of getting spanked by grandma hehe."

Miss Liu glanced at the mischievous face of the chubby child and shook her head lightly. Could this child really stop being naughty? If that were to happen, the sun might as well rise from the west.

After weeding and accidentally pulling out some young plants, and about an hour had passed, the chubby child bounced towards the front of the house. Seeing the two young men packing up, the chubby child began to dance eagerly.

"Let’s go to the lotus pond, Xiaolin wants to eat lotus seeds."

"Sure," Liu Hao and Tianchen hoisted their baskets on their backs and followed the inexhaustible chubby child closely.

Arriving at the lotus pond, Xiaolin stopped and watched hundreds of ducks swimming in the large lotus pond. Seeing the beautiful pink lotus flowers, an idea struck her.

"Lotus stamen tea! Lotus petals can also be used to make tea, hehe. I’ll come back to collect them later, dear lotus."

Xiaolin led her two uncles to see the orange and pomegranate trees first, which were just starting to sprout new leaves. Thus, the chubby child walked past them to look for something else instead.

"Is there durian in this forest? Uh, I want some. Mangoes would be good too, Mmm!" The little one imagined herself eating sour mangoes dipped in fish sauce, almost drooling.

"Swoosh! Must find mangoes!" She clenched her fist and raised it to the sky, making a determined face, causing the two young men following her to exchange glances.

THUD THUD

"Huh!" Xiaolin heard an odd noise and looked for its source. The chubby child carefully approached behind a bush.

Peeking through the foliage, she saw a clearing full of wild chickens, chubby and seemingly well-fed, probably having eaten well after winter. And importantly, there were quite a few of them.

"What’s up, Xiaolin?" Tianchen asked, approaching the little girl who was crouched down peeking through the bushes.

"Uncle, there are so many wild chickens here. Can we catch them?" The chubby child asked excitedly, thinking if they caught many, they could keep some.

"Do you want to eat chicken, Xiaolin?"

"Yes, uncle. And I want to keep them too."

"Then we must help each other to catch them," Liu Hao said, putting down his basket.

What followed was a chaotic chicken hunt, with Xiaolin and Tianchen running after the chickens, and Liu Hao catching and tying them up.

However, these wild chickens weren’t easy to catch. Being wild and accustomed to surviving in the forest, they had to evade predators almost daily, so catching them with bare hands was quite challenging.

PUFF PUFF

"Agh! Don’t fly away!"

"A’Chen, go right!"

"Ouch! Xiaolin, don’t run into me"

"Achhh!"

CLUCK CLUCK!

The noise of the commotion lasted for a while, leaving both people and chickens exhausted. Xiaolin collapsed on the ground, completely drained, breathing heavily, her belly heaving up and down.

"Panting! You chickens! You make me look bad!" Xiaolin glared at the chickens that had all flown up to perch on the trees, escaping.

Cluck! Thud.

The chickens lifted their heads with the flapping of wings, as if mocking the chubby human lying exhausted below. And to add insult to injury, they even pooped down.

"You chickens!"

Xiaolin got up, infuriated by the mockery of the chickens. Fortunately, she wasn’t lying directly under that tree; otherwise, she might have gotten pooped on her head.

The chubby girl glared at the base of the tree where the chickens had pooped, blinking slowly, then gazed thoughtfully at the plant in front of her. Previously, she couldn’t distinguish between similar-looking rhizome plants like ginger, galangal, turmeric, and lesser galangal. They all looked alike at a glance, and it took her mother teaching her for a long time before she could differentiate them. But sometimes, when unsure, she still had to break a leaf to smell it.

But this time, she was sure it was ginger!

The chubby child trotted over to inspect the newly discovered plant. They were growing in a wide circle and must have been growing for many years. However, it was surprising how they had survived the recent snowfall.

"What’s up, Xiaolin?" Liu Hao, who had tied up twelve chickens tightly, stood up and followed the chubby child, leaving Tianchen lying sprawled alone.

"Uncle, can you help Xiaolin dig up this plant’s roots? Xiaolin wants to see if it’s the plant she’s thinking of."

"Of course."

Liu Hao used a stick to dig for a while before pulling the plant out. Xiaolin broke off a small piece to smell.

"It’s really ginger!"

The chubby child’s eyes widened. She had found another ingredient for cooking. She turned sharply to look at the group of captured chickens and grinned smugly.

"You’ve come just in time~ As if you knew what I needed," the chubby child danced and wiggled her bottom.

Liu Hao watched the little girl’s silly dance.

"Uncle, hurry and help dig more ginger! Xiaolin will make something delicious."

"Right away!" Tianchen ran over, forgetting his fatigue. He grabbed a stick and started digging vigorously, as if venting his frustration.

In the end, this forest adventure yielded twelve wild chickens and a large haul of ginger. Xiaolin walked out of the forest in high spirits, not having to carry anything back, even forgetting her earlier desire for lotus seeds and to collect lotus flowers.

"Let’s take the chickens back to my house first. Can you two uncles go cut some bamboo to make a sturdy chicken coop? And Uncle Hao, if you want to keep some of the chickens too, you can make a coop and divide the chickens later."

As they reached the edge of the forest, Xiaolin turned back to address the two young men, one laden with chickens and the other with a basket full of ginger.

"Okay, little miss, but don’t forget the delicious food."

"Sure! Oh, and if you find bamboo shoots, dig some up to bring them back as well, at least two shoots. But if they’re still small, get lots so we have enough to eat. Xiaolin will make chicken curry with bamboo shoots."

"Just talking about it makes me hungry," Tianchen rubbed his growling stomach. Hearing this, Xiaolin chuckled merrily.

"Then hurry up and dig up those bamboo shoots, uncle!"

After delegating the tasks, the chubby child cheerfully waddled back home. The unfortunate three chickens were scalded in hot water, plucked clean to reveal their chubby white flesh. By the time the two young men finished processing all three chickens, they returned, each carrying three to four bamboo poles.

"Here are some bamboo shoots, but they’re still small. Is this enough, Xiaolin?" Tianchen placed the basket of bamboo shoots down for his niece to see.

Xiaolin looked at the small bamboo shoots, about the size of an adult’s fist, nodded in approval, and said they would do. Hearing this, Tianchen went back to cut more bamboo to continue building the chicken coop.

The three chubby chickens and their organs were neatly chopped up. Xiaolin didn’t forget to ask her grandmother to set aside some chicken meat for making ginger chicken. It was a pity there were no black mushrooms; otherwise, they could have enjoyed the spontaneously created ginger chicken stir-fry as usual.

"Please peel the bamboo shoots and boil them, Grandma. Then we can chop them up."

"Sure, where will you be going?"

"I’m going to gather some wild green onions."

The chubby Xiaolin went off to collect a large bunch of wild green onions, washed and cleaned them along with the ginger. Once done, she headed into the kitchen.

While waiting for the bamboo shoots to boil, Xiaolin asked Zhang Ruo to julienne the ginger in preparation. She also chopped the green onions and prepared other ingredients.

Once the bamboo shoots were bland enough, she took them out, sliced them into strips because she preferred them that way, set up a small stove with a clay pot ready, added chili, crushed onion, and salt followed by the chicken meat. She waited until it was cooked before adding the bamboo shoots and seasoned it with fish sauce to finish.

"If only someone made shrimp paste to sell," the chubby child grumbled with a scrunched face.

"What are you mumbling about? And what about the chicken and ginger?"

"Just stir-fry it, Grandma. Put the chicken in first. When it’s nearly cooked, then add garlic."

Seasoned with soy sauce, a little oyster sauce, and a bit of sugar, then finally add the ginger to stir-fry. The aroma of the dish called the young men working outside to drop their tools and rush to stand waiting in front of the kitchen.

"Uncle Hao, can you call Grandma Liu over?"

"Sure thing!"

This meal made the bamboo shoot soup very popular. Fortunately, almost three chickens were used, leaving some for the father-in-law and son-in-law to enjoy in the evening. As for the chubby child, she lay sprawled happily in the middle of the hall with a bulging belly.

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