“What… what?”
Plop…
Plop…
As one egg after another dropped to the ground, the villagers watching from outside all crowded into the courtyard, staring in shock as the hen laid eggs without stopping.
“Oh my goodness, another one!”
“This is unbelievable! What kind of chicken is this? It lays so many eggs!”
“It’s a whole size bigger than an ordinary hen. No wonder it can lay so many!”
…
Amid everyone’s astonished cries, the hen looked like a battle hero. From its reddened rear came a steady stream of gleaming white eggs, one after another, until there were more than ten.
The eggs were noticeably larger than ordinary free-range eggs, even bigger than duck eggs and nearly the size of goose eggs.
“One, two, three… ten… eleven! A chicken can lay… that many eggs?”
Fenniang counted the eggs on the ground, feeling as though she were dreaming. Her mind went completely blank.
Zhuo Ling covered her mouth and giggled.
Of course it could.
This was a genetically enhanced, technologically engineered super hen—a true combat machine among hens. How could it not be amazing?
Crack…
Something shattered.
“My egg!”
Fan Cuihua let out a miserable shriek. While craning his neck to watch the spectacle, Xiaohu had accidentally bumped the hand holding his egg.
It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
The golden yolk spread across the dirt, while the scattered eggshells seemed even more broken than her heart.
Both furious and distressed, she smacked Xiaohu across the head, jabbed a finger at him, and cursed,
“You little good-for-nothing! Why were you shoving around like an idiot? What’s so fascinating about a hen laying eggs?
“Do you know how precious eggs are these days? Your father risked everything to sneak one home for you, and you’re too unlucky to even enjoy it!
“Look at you! Now it’s gone!”
She had just turned the whole village upside down over a single egg.
Then, in the blink of an eye, someone else’s family ended up with a hen that laid eggs nonstop.
How was that not infuriating?
“My ear hurts! It hurts… Mom, my egg… Waaah…”
Xiaohu covered his ear and bawled.
“Eat your mother’s foot! You were born unlucky! Even if someone served you crap, you’d still miss it while it was hot! Get home!”
Humiliated beyond words, Fan Cuihua grabbed Xiaohu by the ear and dragged him away.
The villagers burst into laughter.
“Xiaohu, come here.”
Fenniang suddenly waved him over.
She slipped an egg into the boy’s hand and said gently,
“Don’t cry anymore. Auntie is giving this one to you.”
Xiaohu sniffled as he looked at her.
“A-Auntie…”
“I heard from Chang’an that you’ve been bullying our Ling’er again?”
Fenniang stroked his head and spoke softly.
“Ling’er is your little sister too. You’re family. As an older brother, you shouldn’t bully your younger sister. Do you understand?”
“Auntie… I-I won’t… I’ll never bully… the foolish girl again…”
Clutching the egg, Xiaohu cried so hard that bubbles of snot kept forming under his nose.
“She’s not called ‘the foolish girl.’ Her name is Ling’er. As an older brother, you should protect your little sister. Family should look after one another, don’t you think?”
Fenniang gently patted his head.
“Go home and eat your egg.”
“Bleh!”
Zhuo Ling stuck out her tongue at him in disgust.
With Xiaohu’s level of intelligence, who knew who would end up bullying whom in the future?
What a waste of a perfectly good egg.
Repaying hostility with kindness—and taking the opportunity to teach the child a lesson as well…
Zhuo Ling couldn’t help admiring Fenniang’s generosity.
Because she knew she couldn’t have done the same.
“What’s all this commotion? Break it up, break it up.”
Old Master Zhuo hobbled over with his cane behind his back.
“Everyone, go home.”
“Grandfather.”
Fenniang hurried over to greet him.
“Have you eaten yet?”
“Great-Grandpa!”
The three boys also rushed over to support the old man.
“I have, I have.”
Old Master Zhuo glanced at the children before giving them a mysterious wink.
“Let’s talk inside.”
Zhuo Ling quietly observed him.
He looked to be around sixty or seventy years old, dressed in a coarse cotton shirt patched upon patch. His back was badly hunched, and his face was deeply lined with the marks of age.
Though he looked very old, his features were kind and gentle.
From the scattered memories of the original owner, Zhuo Ling remembered that this great-grandfather often secretly gave her little snacks—sometimes half a steamed cornbread bun, sometimes a handful of roasted soybeans, or a few dried radish strips.
“What is it, Great-Grandpa?”
After Zhuo Chang’an helped him into the house, the old man reached behind his back and opened his withered hand.
Hidden in his palm was a single egg.
Fenniang blinked in surprise.
“Great-Grandfather, what’s this…?”
“It’s nothing. I was resting by the village entrance when I heard that the little girl ate Xiaohu’s egg and that the second branch started making another scene.
“Fenniang, you know what your second sister-in-law is like. She’s always been that way. You’ve got a good temper, so don’t argue with her.”
He pulled Zhuo Ling onto his lap and gently rubbed her little head.
“I borrowed this egg from the Clan Chief’s family. Take it and return it to the second branch, so she won’t keep making trouble.”
As soon as he’d heard the news, he’d hurried off to the Clan Chief’s house with his cane.
He had no idea that the family now owned an extraordinarily productive hen.
“Grandfather… you’re always looking after us.”
Fenniang sniffed, hurriedly supporting the old man’s hand.
“We’ve already returned the egg. We don’t need yours.”
“Take it. Why be so polite with your grandfather?”
Thinking she was simply too embarrassed to accept it, the old man kept pushing the egg toward her.
“Da Wu has been bedridden for over a month. You and Chang’an are carrying the whole family on your shoulders. You barely have enough to eat yourselves. How could you possibly afford to pay them back?”
“We really have returned it.”
Fenniang’s voice caught.
“You’ve worried about us so much all these years, yet we younger ones have never properly repaid your kindness…”
The old man sighed.
“What do you mean you haven’t?
“Who patches my clothes if not you? Who helps wash and clean around my house?
“And who brings me firewood and water every day if not Chang’an?
“Filial piety isn’t just about words. I know what’s in your hearts.”
“Cluck… cluck… cluck-cluck…”
Before he could finish speaking, a large, glossy black hen strutted proudly through the doorway.
It looked around the room, pecking here and there at the floor.
“W-What… what’s that?”
The old man’s mouth fell open wider than an egg.
“Good heavens! What kind of chicken is that? Why is it so enormous?”
“Great-Grandpa, it’s our hen!”
Zhuo Changfu eagerly stretched out all ten of his grimy fingers.
“My mom counted them. It laid eleven eggs!”
“Quit talking nonsense!”
The old man gave him a playful tap with his cane, unable to hold back his laughter.
“You’re trying to fool your great-grandfather! A hen lays one egg a day at most. If it laid eleven eggs at once, wouldn’t its backside swell up as big as a basket?”
Zhuo Changfu scratched his head and grinned foolishly.
“Great-Grandpa, it really did lay eleven eggs! Mom gave one back to Second Aunt, another to Xiaohu, and there are still… um… lots left!”
He couldn’t count.
The old man looked at Zhuo Chang’an in disbelief.
“Chang’an, you’re a steady boy. Is what he said true?”
“Great-Grandpa, Changfu is telling the truth. It really laid eleven eggs!”
Zhuo Chang’an nodded earnestly.
“We found the hen hiding in our haystack. Ling’er was the one who discovered it.”
“The little girl found it? I knew this child was blessed!”
Old Master Zhuo hugged Zhuo Ling tightly and exclaimed again and again,
“My goodness… I’ve lived more than sixty years, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of a hen laying so many eggs!”