EHCR 8

The Encyclopedic Harvest: Cultivating Riches in Lean Years

Chapter 8: Jian Shou Qing

The big rooster was kicked over a zhang away, rolling on the ground as feathers flew everywhere, squawking at the top of its lungs.

Song Yaozu, who had just stepped out to relieve himself, happened to run right into this scene.

"Song Zhaodi, you've got some nerve. This chicken is supposed to be for building up my strength; if you kick it to death, my mother won't let you off!"

Not just the chickens at home, even the eggs were meant to nourish Song Yaozu; giving them to little girls to eat would be a complete waste.

His shout was so loud that Pandi, tucked safely in her arms, gave a frightened start and buried herself straight into Zhaodi's chest.

Song Zhaodi soothingly patted her head and said, "It threw itself right against my foot; who knows what kind of madness it caught."

Song Yaozu refused to believe it at all, pointing a finger at Song Zhaodi to threaten her: "You've gotten a lot bolder after a few days out of sight, just watch how I get my mom to deal with you!"

Right as those words dropped, a few more people stumbled out of the room, sleepily asking, "What's going on? Why is it so loud?"

Before Song Yaozu could say a word, Song Zhaodi jumped in first: "Little Uncle said he wanted to slaughter a chicken to treat you guys! My little uncle is really generous."

As she spoke, she pointed right at the big rooster still spinning around in circles on the ground in a daze.

This vicious chicken was just like its owner—bullying the weak, and it had picked on Pandi more than once or twice.

It should have been tossed into the stewing pot long ago.

Anyway, since they wouldn't get to eat any of it anyway, she might as well take this chance to get it butchered.

Hearing this, the group chuckled and showered Song Yaozu with praise: "Yaozu, you're way too honest; having a friend like you is totally worth it."

Song Dachuan was terrified of losing face and loved putting up a front, while Sun Xiuhe loved to act sophisticated and put on airs even when she was dirt poor.

Song Yaozu cared even more about face, pretending, and bragging; even though his family was poor, he always acted big-spending in front of his classmates, treating people to local eateries every few days, which earned him quite a few drinking buddies.

Flattered right then and there, he felt like he was glowing with pride, smiled brightly, and waved his hand to command:

"Zhaodi, killing just one isn't enough, go slaughter two more old hens to nourish my friends together!"

With that, he turned around, slung an arm over those guys' shoulders, and said: "Let's go back and keep sleeping, once you wake up we'll drink old hen soup. All you can eat!"

Whether it understood human speech or not, that big rooster suddenly bolted, leaping into the air and flying straight up onto the rooftop.

Song Zhaodi tried throwing stones and swatting at it with tree branches, but nothing worked; in the end, she had to grit her teeth and scatter a handful of rice bran just to lure it back down.

Pandi handed over the kitchen cleaver, still finding it hard to believe that the big rooster which had bullied her for years was genuinely going to be butchered today.

"Big Sister, can we really kill it?"

Song Zhaodi: "I can't go around killing people, but a dumb animal? Watch me. Relax, Little Uncle told us to kill it."

It had nothing to do with them.

Just as Sun Xiuhe walked back from buying groceries and stepped through the courtyard gate, she caught sight of Song Zhaodi plucking chicken feathers.

She immediately let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig: "Ah~! Song Zhaodi! What are you doing?!"

Song Zhaodi looked up, her hands never missing a beat as she plucked feathers, speaking with eerie calmness: "Plucking chicken feathers."

Sun Xiuhe rolled her eyes back in sheer fury, dropped the pork she was holding, and lunged forward: "You—you've rebelled to the heavens! How dare you slaughter my chicken."

Seeing her pick up a nightsoil scoop and charge over, Song Zhaodi hurriedly grabbed the half-plucked rooster and took off running.

As she ran, she plucked and threw feathers behind her, and feathers filled the sky; Sun Xiuhe chased right behind and ended up with a mouthful of chicken fluff.

Even though Sun Xiuhe was armed, she was getting old after all, and no matter how hard she pushed herself, she couldn't catch up to the nimble Song Zhaodi ahead.

Song Zhaodi played with her like she was teasing a monkey, running while shouting: "Little Uncle, hurry up and come look! Grandma doesn't want to slaughter chickens to build up your health!"

Because of that yelling, not only did Song Yaozu pop his head out, but all his fair-weather friends poured out too; seeing Sun Xiuhe looking an absolute mess as she chased Song Zhaodi with a nightsoil scoop, every single one of them dropped their jaws.

A young man dressed in green robes poked Song Yaozu, his lips curling into a teasing smirk: "Yaozu, is that your mother?"

Another man furrowed his brows and shook his head: "Such a disgrace to scholarly decency, a total disgrace!"

Everyone else shot weird, judgmental glances at Song Yaozu, and losing his grip on his dignity, Song Yaozu blasted a yell straight at Sun Xiuhe:

"Mom, what are you doing? I'm the one who told Zhaodi to kill that chicken to host my scholarly friends!"

Hearing that, Sun Xiuhe finally ground to a halt, taking a clear look at the few young men standing behind Song Yaozu.

These were all her son's classmates, all men of letters, and word had it their families were well-off; they might even be able to help Song Yaozu out down the road.

She couldn't afford to offend them, and Sun Xiuhe’s old face flushed bright red, whether from the run or out of sheer fury.

She threw the nightsoil scoop aside, spat out the chicken feathers in her mouth, and squeezed out an awkward smile: "I wasn't trying to keep the chicken; I was telling her to slaughter two more, but she complained it was too tiring, so I was just giving her a little lesson."

The group gave understanding nods, and under Song Yaozu's welcome, walked back inside.

Seeing everyone head back in, Sun Xiuhe wanted to curse out Song Zhaodi, but terrified of being overheard, she had to drop it.

Figuring she would teach her a lesson after the guests left.

To her surprise, the moment she looked up, she saw Song Zhaodi picking up the kitchen cleaver again and heading toward the chicken coop, shouting aloud: "Grandma, don't wrong me, I'm the most hardworking person around."

"Even though I won't get a single bite of this chicken, I definitely have to host Little Uncle's friends properly."

Sun Xiuhe let out a wail; her forced "generosity" completely collapsed. There were only a few chickens left in the house, and butchering one already felt like slicing flesh off her own body—let alone two more?

She was just saying it to look good! Why didn't this Song Zhaodi know how to fake it and just put on a show?

Sun Xiuhe immediately grabbed Song Zhaodi and lowered her voice to hiss: "I was just saying that for them to hear! You're actually going to kill them? If you dare kill them, I won't let you off!"

Song Zhaodi asked with sincere innocence: "But Little Uncle said we need to treat his friends well."

Sun Xiuhe snatched the kitchen cleaver right back, huffing: "They're all rich kids, who hasn't eaten chicken? If we give it all to them, Yaozu won't have any eggs left to eat later."

Sun Xiuhe returned the cleaver to the kitchen, while Song Zhaodi used her peripheral vision to glance at the patch of green robes exposed through the door panel, and smiled.

She refused to believe that scholars who prided themselves on their pure reputations could stomach such two-faced hypocrisy.

Sure enough, within a few moments, the scholars all walked right back out, with the young man in green robes leading the pack.

Song Yaozu followed closely behind them, trying to make them stay: "You guys must have misunderstood something! Don't leave yet, stay for dinner and drink some chicken soup... Brother Xie, please stay..."

The green-robed young man, Xie Sui, flicked his sleeves and huffed: "You'd better save that chicken soup for yourself, lest you starve down to skin and bones."

Sun Xiuhe was busy bustling inside the kitchen, and hearing the commotion, walked out: "What's going on here?"

Song Yaozu shot a fierce glare right at her.

Well, a good show was about to start.

But Song Zhaodi didn't want to watch the show and risk getting caught in the crossfire, so she immediately shouldered her bamboo back-basket and slipped away.

Pandi held onto Zhaodi's hand as they walked carefully along the mountain path, and the thought that she wouldn't be chased and pecked by the big rooster anymore filled her little face with happy smiles.

When she saw Song Zhaodi reach her hand toward a toxic lump under a tree root, her little face turned pale with fright.

"Big Sister, don't touch it, it's poisonous!"

At the same time, as Song Zhaodi's fingers touched the fungus, subtitles flashed right before her eyes:

"Jian Shou Qing (See-Hand-Blue / Boletus), Boletaceae family. Contains very high protein, amino acids, minerals, and polysaccharide substances; extremely rich in nutrition and exceptionally delicious in flavor. Poisonous yet edible—please strictly follow the cooking instructions below."

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