NOVPUB
Chapter 117: Chapter 112 continues herding sheep
"Old man," I heard Ning Lin say his Aunt Yunfang is back home," the grandson just got home and was shouting that his Aunt Yunfang had returned, and she even gave candy to other kids, but not to him, so he came to ask Granny for some.
As soon as Shen Da Nian heard this, she hurriedly came to ask the old man. Hearing that she had brought back big and small packages, she wondered if she should go take a look, in case the girl had forgotten she still had relatives here.
"Mm, she should be here by now, it’s been half a month since she left," Shen Yeqing was quite nonchalant, he knew what was going on.
"Exactly, these past two years the girl hasn’t been home for the New Year. Why don’t I send the kids to find their aunt and invite her over for a meal?" Shen Da Nian was making her own little plans.
Shen Da Nian had truly been annoyed with her niece Shen Yunfang, but over the past year, Yunfang hadn’t come to freeload meals and had barely stopped by. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and the relationship between the two households actually improved. From time to time, Shen Da Nian would think about Yunfang, though whether those thoughts were genuine was another matter.
"No need, you get the dinner ready; the girl is sure to come by tonight," Shen Yeqing didn’t look at his wife. He knew that his niece Yunfang, having returned from afar, would definitely visit him first.
"Alright then, I’ll invite Zhijie and his family along with Zhiwen, so we can liven things up with a reunion dinner," she thought to herself, but deep down, she figured that Yunfang couldn’t come empty-handed. Having her nieces and nephews around, she might score something extra.
One can’t say that rural women lack exposure to the world; they can be rather savvy indeed.
While they were getting ready on this side, Shen Yunfang was also tidying up. She had just had Dashuan and his wife pass on the gifts for Wang Da Nian’s family, which she sent out the door. Then she made a round inside and outside the house, checking on the chickens in the backyard and the mushrooms in the west room. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Dashuan and his wife, it was just habit, being accustomed to knowing everything about her own home.
After the inspection, she finally returned to her room to sort things out.
This time she had brought back something special. She took out a box from the space, opened it, and there were several quail eggs inside.
She had seen quail eggs at Zhou Sis’s house during a meal there and found out that they were raised in her hometown. She had brought them from her hometown visit. Shen Yunfang brazenly asked for the rest of the eggs that weren’t broken, and of course, she sent an equivalent gift in return.
Quails are a real treasure. Though small in size, they’re mighty in ability. They can lay eggs 35 to 40 days after hatching, and nearly one egg a day after that, for almost ten months, adding up to nearly three hundred eggs.
This was indeed a fast and low-investment yield. Besides, quails require little food and are easy to raise, and the eggs they produce have high nutritional value. So, seeing these eggs, she planned to expand her breeding stock.
The only drawback might be that these quail eggs couldn’t be sold. At that time, not many people recognized their value and the state didn’t collect them, so they could only be kept for personal consumption.
She carefully took out the quail eggs and brought them to the warm shed at the back, removed a few chicken eggs, and tucked the quail eggs underneath the broody hen.
Whether they would hatch or not would be seen in seventeen days.
In the evening, with gifts for others in hand, she headed to Old Shen’s house.
"Yunfang’s back, your grandpa was just talking about you this afternoon, saying you’d definitely come tonight, and here he is cooking something delicious for you," Shen Da Nian kept looking out to the courtyard, and when she finally saw Yunfang approaching with a bag, she hurriedly went to open the courtyard gate.
"Happy New Year, Auntie," Shen Yunfang said with a smile.
"Happy happy, come in quickly, it’s cold outside," Shen Da Nian said with a smile.
Once Shen Yunfang entered the west room, she saw not only Old Shen but also her big cousin Shen Zhijie and second cousin Shen Zhiwen, along with their children. Shen Ninghao was already fourteen years old and taller than Shen Yunfang. Since they were close in age, he was reluctant to talk to her because he might have to call her "auntie," which was embarrassing for a kid. Then there was Shen Ninglin, ten years old and at the age when kids tend to be unruly. Every time Shen Yunfang visited, he would be out playing and away from the house, but this time, to her surprise, he was there.
Then there was four-year-old Shen Ningchen and two-year-old Shen Ningtao, playing on the kang, watched over by Old Shen.
"Happy New Year, grandpa," Shen Yunfang greeted as she entered.
"Mm, you’re back, was the trip okay?" Old Shen stopped playing with the children when he saw Yunfang, crossed his legs by the edge of the kang to keep the kids from falling off, and let them crawl around and play.
