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Chapter 297: Chapter 297: So Happy I Could Fly
Little Zhuangzhuang was always excited. Mrs. Qin had bathed him, and wearing only his shorts, he ran to find Qin Han.
"Daddy, daddy, I’m going to school tomorrow, are you happy?"
Qin Han had just finished showering, and was carrying bathing water for Zhang Guilan, he casually replied, "Happy, I’m so happy I could take off flying."
"I’m so happy I could take off too, daddy, daddy, are you going to take me to school tomorrow?"
As soon as Qin Han entered the room, he saw Zhang Guilan just removing her coat, and his gaze deepened instantly.
With a sweep of his hand, he shooed the little nuisance behind him, "Go stay outside."
After he had poured water for his wife, he stepped out only to have his thighs embraced by a pair of small arms, "Daddy, daddy, are you going to school with me tomorrow?"
"Daddy has finished school, I don’t need to go anymore."
"But daddy can take me to school. I have a new backpack, new notebooks, and a new pencil case. Daddy, daddy, don’t you want to see them?"
Qin Han was annoyed beyond words; he had already seen them three times, "It’s time to sleep, go sleep with your grandma."
Zhuangzhuang refused and hugged his leg again, "I want to sleep with daddy; daddy still has to take me to school tomorrow."
Qin Han rolled his eyes, who agreed to that.
Grabbing the boy’s small arms, he headed for Mrs. Qin’s room, "Go sleep with your grandma, let your grandpa take you to school tomorrow. If you ask me, a real man doesn’t need to be escorted, stop being so whiny."
Today of all days, his wife finally relented on having a second child.
He had to take the time to work on making a baby, who had time to send this kid off.
Little Zhuangzhuang was tossed onto grandma’s kang bed, his little face puffed up in anger.
But when he turned to see his new backpack and stationery, he was happy again and closed his eyes contentedly with them in his arms.
...
The next morning, after breakfast, Lin Chuxia was going to the food factory and took Zhuangzhuang to school along the way.
Today marked the start of the new semester, and the teachers were all there; Lin Chuxia handed Little Zhuangzhuang directly over to Xu Yun.
Just as she walked out of the school gate, she ran into the village chief who was headed to the pig farm.
Seeing Lin Chuxia, the village chief greeted her first, "Are you here at the school to find Qin Jiang’s wife?"
"It’s the first day of school, isn’t it? I’m helping my older brother send his child," Lin Chuxia replied, "Uncle Qin, are you heading to the fields?"
The food factory and the pig farm were in different directions, and seeing that Lin Chuxia was about to leave after greeting him, the village chief hurriedly stopped her.
"I’m off to check on the pig farm. Lin, do you have some time right now? You haven’t visited since the pig farm was built; why don’t you come with me and take a look?"
Lin Chuxia wasn’t interested in the pig farm; it was dirty and smelly, even though she had invested in it.
But since the village chief had extended an invitation, she naturally wouldn’t snub him.
"Sure, uncle, let’s go have a look together."
The pig farm currently housed nearly a hundred fattened pigs, ten sows, and one boar.
The village chief led Lin Chuxia to see the fattened pigs first; these piglets had already been castrated. Eight to ten in a pen, their fur gleamed and they were well-cared for.
"Our pigs are all fed grain and forage, directly fed with cornmeal and wheat bran, and the forage is all sweet potato vines and peanut vines," the village chief explained with a sigh.
"Reminds me, I’ve eaten this stuff during natural disasters. Back then, you couldn’t even think about finding cornmeal. Our family had a small pile of sweet potato vines, and Aunt Qin and I ground it into flour with a roller, then steamed it with water to feed everyone. Later, as the sweet potato vine flour became scarce, steamed dumplings weren’t enough, so we made porridge, and then we added tree bark and leaves—anything edible was mixed together. It no longer felt like we were living day to day; we just felt lucky to have survived another day. If someone had told me back then that we’d feed these to pigs, I might have felt murderous," he finished and then laughed to himself.
Lin Chuxia also laughed along with him, "Nowadays, life is getting better and better. Uncle has the determination, and under his leadership, our village will definitely continue to improve. I heard that last year there were families in the village with poor harvests, barely enough to eat. This year, after the wheat harvest, almost every family has had their fill of pure white flour at every meal."
"That’s also thanks to your contribution. In our village with more than 300 households and over a thousand people, almost every family now has someone with a job earning a salary."
Besides the food factory, the chicken farm and pig farm employ villagers.
"Uncle, let’s not keep on praising each other."
This remark made the village chief laugh heartily.
"Alright, let’s go take a look over there." 𝓃𝓸𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
On the other side, there were sows and breeding pigs.
Generally, pig farms don’t have many demands for sows, as long as they have a decent shape and no bristles, they could be kept.
When they have their first litter, you can tell the quality of the pigs and whether they’re suitable for breeding.
Some pigs are naturally aggressive and will kill their piglets when no one is watching, sometimes even eating them alive; those pigs cannot be kept.
Usually by the second litter, you can tell a pig’s reproductive abilities. Those with poor fertility will also be swiftly culled.
Breeding boars, however, have much higher requirements: they need to be large, well-shaped, and grow quickly.
Especially the latter point.
Country-bred pigs take a long time to grow, both time and feed consuming.
This is also why, after the policy was relaxed, the country introduced quality breeds of pigs, gradually beginning domestic selective breeding to ensure the national supply of hog.
Knowing this, when they first built the pig farm, Lin Chuxia had reminded the village chief to buy a breeding pig himself.
However, upon reaching the breeding pig’s pen, Lin Chuxia saw a small pig that was not very large.
Being raised alone in a pen made the piglet look even more runty.
And looking at its shape: the chubby body, the round head, even its nose was round.
Lin Chuxia frowned slightly, "Is this the breeding pig bought for us by the breeding station?"
For a moment, Lin Chuxia almost believed what the village chief had said before: by raising their own breeding pig, they were taking business away from the breeding station, which surely wouldn’t sit well with them.
The village chief also looked worried, and that was the reason he had called Lin Chuxia here.
"It wasn’t bought by the breeding station’s help, but by Qin Wen."
"Qin Wen?"
Lin Chuxia couldn’t fathom why that person would help buy a breeding pig for the pig farm, wasn’t he always too proud?
The village chief nodded.
After the pig farm was built, Qin Wen took the initiative to find the village chief, saying he could get quality breeding pigs at a lower price.
The village chief figured that since Qin Wen was from Qin Family Village, it was better to use a local connection than to deal with the breeding station.
Plus, Qin Wen had always been working outside and certainly knew many people.
The village chief took his word for it and entrusted the task to him.
But when the pig was brought back, the village chief felt something was amiss. However, Qin Wen said the pig was young, and all piglets looked the same; it would be distinguishable once it grew bigger.
Now it’s been almost two months, not only has the pig not grown as quickly as the others, but it also doesn’t show any signs of being superior.
They had seen the breeding station’s large breeding pigs, which are long, with long snouts, their ears drooping, each weighing at least three to four hundred pounds.
For this one in front of them to reach three to four hundred pounds, how long would it have to grow?
