The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 88 Hen

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Thud...

Three red pigeons flapped their wings and flew out of the east wing, waking Yang Ming from his shock.

"Time to cook..." Yang Ming straightened up and tore a handful of firewood from the woodpile outside the yard.

Smoke rises from the chimney, and the stove heats up.

Yang Ming found two eggs in the west room, but suddenly saw sixteen fist-sized black eggs in the egg basket. These eggs looked slightly larger than goose eggs. When he rubbed them with his hand, his hand was covered in black ink.

"Looks like my wife isn't stupid after all; she knows to cover up their colors." Yang Ming smiled slightly and asked Ya Ya to check how many fertilized eggs were inside. The result was quite disappointing: sixteen eggs, but not a single fertilized egg.

Put the eggs down, take two black eggs, and wash them with clean water in the outer room to reveal their true colors: seven-colored. These seven-colored bird eggs are different from dragon eggs; they break easily when tapped on the edge of the pot.

Oil was poured into the pan and heated. The clear, transparent egg whites and the yellowish yolks were then poured into the pan and immediately fried into colorful shapes. Yang Ming casually tossed the eggshells into the stove.

A strange fragrance instantly wafted out.

"What kind of fragrance is this? I can't smell it!" Wei Qingqing, who was sleeping in the room, couldn't fall asleep anymore because of the fragrance. She put on her pajamas and ran out.

"Guess..." Yang Ming said with a smile.

"What are you guessing? Look how big this fried egg is, you can tell it's a rainbow bird's egg." Wei Qingqing yawned and went back to her room to continue sleeping.

The aroma of eggs wafts through the air, filling one's nostrils with a strange sense of satisfaction—not from the stomach, but from the spirit.

Set up a small table on the kang (heated brick bed), and you'll have congee, milk, poached eggs, and pickled vegetables—it's a breakfast that will leave you wanting more.

The couple ate with great relish, taking a sip of congee, picking up a crisp little pickled vegetable, drinking some milk, and eating a poached egg...

It has a strong sense of leisurely life.

While the two were having breakfast, a group of old men were also gathered around a detached courtyard in Beijing, drinking porridge.

"Hey, why did you all suddenly come? Didn't you even give me a heads-up?" The owner of the courtyard was an old man wearing big glasses. He was holding a bowl of porridge and looked at his old friends eating greedily with a rather annoyed expression.

"Why are you getting more stingy as you get older? It's just a meal! If you keep talking like that, we won't come back..." An old man with gray hair held his rice bowl, glared at the owner of the courtyard, and picked up a piece of pickled vegetables with his chopsticks.

"Hey hey hey hey... How can you be like this? You're too greedy!" The other old men couldn't help but criticize him when they saw that this old man had taken a large portion of the salted vegetables from the dish with just one bite.

"I don't know if there's enough porridge, but there's plenty of pickled vegetables. Just ask your sister-in-law for more when you're done," the white-haired old man said irresponsibly.

"Sister-in-law, cut up a plate of salted vegetables, radish strips."

"I want mustard tuber."

"Cucumber will do..."

"Carrots, carrots, I want carrots..."

"...Do you think this is your own home?" the owner of the courtyard said, annoyed.

"Don't worry, we won't stand on ceremony with you." The white-haired old man patted the owner of the courtyard on the shoulder, making the owner sway and spill the porridge in the bowl. The owner immediately picked up the bowl, licked the spilled porridge clean, glared at the white-haired old man, and said with dissatisfaction, "I haven't even drunk it yet..."

After finishing their breakfast, a group of old men gathered in the yard and chatted.

"You mean the owner of that boat has already identified his target?" The owner of the courtyard looked at the old man with gray hair and asked solemnly.

"Of course, but he has an alibi, so it's hard to doubt him," the gray-haired old man scratched his head. "However, there was a post online a few days ago that mentioned a hotel. We've investigated that hotel thoroughly... This grand hotel is called Yingning Grand Hotel, run by a girl named Zhang Yingning. It's quite famous in Hebei Province. A few days ago, their dishes were generally upgraded. I tried them myself, and they were indeed excellent. Apparently, someone supplied them with a batch of high-quality vegetables. We've also figured out the source of those vegetables. It was a kid named Yang Ming who came up with the idea. I heard that Yang Ming started out selling vegetables at the market, but then he met the owner of Yingning Grand Hotel, and they hit it off, so they teamed up..."

"We've gone a bit off-topic, let's talk about the boat..." The owner of the courtyard had a series of black lines on his forehead.

"We've found the big hotel, and the person who supplied them with the frozen seafood was easy to find too. Guess who it is?"

"Yang Ming, huh..." The owner of the courtyard rolled his eyes. Although we're old, we don't have dementia yet.

"There he is, this is the kid..." The white-haired old man clapped his hands vigorously, "I didn't expect you to react so quickly..."

The other old men rolled their eyes.

"Go on, go on..." The owner of the courtyard waved his hand.

"That kind of water-powered boat first appeared in Yang Ming's hands. The relevant departments have already tested this kind of boat, and it's definitely a good thing... You know, Yang Ming, if you have something good, you should just keep it to yourself. He loves to show off, making his parents, in-laws, classmates, and friends all go out to sea to fish in his boat. He doesn't know how to be low-key at all. But I quite like him, he has a pure heart..." said the old man with white hair.

"We've gone off-topic again... I mean, if you think he's stupid, just say so. Why are you spouting this 'childlike innocence' nonsense?" the courtyard owner said, annoyed.

"Alright, alright, let's continue. When did we receive the text messages? It was when that post went viral. What does that prove? Once the news about the frozen seafood spread, we would definitely follow the trail and find his ship. But just when we were about to take action, a few text messages diverted our attention. Do you want me to go into more detail?"

Everyone here is shrewd; there's no need to spell it out, everyone understands.

"What exactly is his alibi?" the owner of the courtyard asked.

"That silly boy was involved in a lawsuit a few days ago. His dog bit and crippled a kid in the village. The local police restricted his movements, preventing him from leaving the county for two days. The local police can prove that the silly boy did not leave the county. So, this is a bit confusing." The old man with white hair became unusually serious. He couldn't understand what was going on either. Originally, his suspect was this silly boy named Yang Ming, but the guy had an alibi.

"Do you think he has some kind of special means of transportation? Like flying in the sky?" an old man with a goatee suddenly interjected.

"If he flew from the sky, he definitely wouldn't be able to escape our satellites..." said the old man with gray hair.

"That's not necessarily true. The technology he possesses is beyond what's available on Earth. What American technology? That's all nonsense from this fool. If America had that kind of technology, would they be so obedient? Would they need to fight in the Middle East? The entire ocean would be their refueling station... Just think about it, if American technology reached that level, what would we think? We'd definitely be uncertain, and we'd be incredibly anxious... Maybe this wicked kid is hiding in a corner right now, waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves..." The owner of the courtyard was very wise and saw through the man's sinister intentions at a glance.

"This kid is just asking for a beating..." The old man with gray hair originally had a good impression of Yang Ming, this silly boy, but now that someone's sinister intentions have been ruthlessly exposed, he immediately became so angry that he blew his beard and glared.

"But without a doubt, this silly boy still has a lot of feelings for the country. Now, what we need to discuss is whether to raise roosters or hens." The owner of the courtyard pushed up his glasses.

"What's the point of raising a rooster? To listen to it crow or to kill it and eat it?" the old man with gray hair asked.

"If you're raising a hen, it should lay at least one egg a day..."

"Raising hens..."

"Raising hens..."

Several old men expressed their opinions.

"Alright, let's raise him like a hen. Actually, I also prefer to raise him like a hen, harmony is the theme... However, we still can't be sure if this silly boy is a hen. We still need to keep him under surveillance. Otherwise, given his ability to evade our satellite monitoring and wander around our coastal cities, if he does something detrimental to the country, it will be too late for us to regret it..." The owner of the courtyard made his final summary.

"I agree. The most important thing is that we don't know where his high-quality vegetables came from. Did they appear out of thin air? Or were they airlifted in? This is something we must find out," said the white-haired old man.

"I agree..."

"I agree..."

"I agree..."

A group of old men expressed their opinions.

"Well! How should I put it, this silly boy has also contributed to the country's development. Rewards and punishments are clear, so we can't be stingy with him. It's only right to take care of him appropriately..." The owner of the courtyard adjusted his glasses and said.

"He made contributions to the country, and the country will never forget him. If he died a heroic death, I suggest that he be buried in Babaoshan Cemetery..." the white-haired old man said with a wicked smile.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

"Hahaha……"

A group of old men grinned mischievously.

"Alright, alright, we're getting off-topic again..." The owner of the courtyard glared at the old man with gray hair. "It's obvious you old codger quite like that silly boy. If he really does die a heroic death... hmph..."

"What bad luck, what nonsense..." The old man with gray hair chuckled.

A group of old men were discussing how to treat Yang Ming, but Yang Ming, along with Wei Qingqing, was helping Liu Sao come up with ideas.

Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing had just finished breakfast when Aunt Liu came over.

"Uncle Dabao just told me that my competitor is Wang Duo from the Wang family. When we were contracting the mountain, we beat him, but that was a matter of money. We can win if we have money. But it's different when we run for village chief. He's a college graduate, and I only graduated from junior high school. We're not even in the same league." Sitting on the kang (heated brick bed) in Yang Ming's house, Aunt Liu was worried.

"So what if he's a college graduate? He's been out of school for years, he's forgotten everything he should have. He's just more knowledgeable than you, but when it comes to being a good village chief, he might not be as good as you." Yang Ming poured her a glass of milk.

"What's the use of a degree? Ability is the most important thing. Even if we're compared to college graduates, we're not afraid of them. You have to constantly remind yourself that you have two college graduates supporting you..." Wei Qingqing encouraged.

"That's right! Now that you mention it, I've really come to terms with it. Two against one, we're sure to win..." said Aunt Liu.

"Alright, I won't bother you any longer. I'm going home to continue making clothes. Just so you know, we're almost out of silk fabric, so you'd better get some ready for me." Aunt Liu had a change of heart and felt much better. She got up and took her leave.

"No problem, we'll send it over to you in a bit..." Wei Qingqing quickly agreed.

"Qingqing's skills are as good as a spinning machine..." Aunt Liu winked at Wei Qingqing, smiled slightly, and turned to run out.

"What do you mean?" Wei Qingqing was a little confused.

"They already found out you were using a textile machine," Yang Ming said.

"..." Wei Qingqing was frustrated...

In just over ten days, the silkworms raised in Yang Ming's farm space have already produced two batches. The silkworms, which have been optimized in the farm space, have a significantly shorter growth period and produce finer silk, but they are also larger. What does this mean? It means that these silkworms are producing longer silk.

The couple went to the cabin together. Yang Ming took out all the silkworm cocoons from the farm space and piled them on the floor. So many silkworm cocoons piled up on the floor into a high mountain, almost reaching the roof.

"These silkworm cocoons weigh a full 100 jin..." Yang Ming said.

"Alright, alright, you can leave now. Leave the rest to me..." Wei Qingqing began to shoo him away.

"Okay..." Yang Ming left the wooden house, went straight home to get a large bucket, and cleared out three large water vats, scrubbing them clean and spotless. Today he was going to give the workers a treat.

Yang Ming carried a bucket to the farm of the Golden-Eyed One-Horned Cow and milked the cow. The cow was actually quite uncomfortable, as it hadn't been milked for several days. Even yesterday, Yang Ming hadn't milked much, which only made it feel more pent-up. So today, the milk flowed freely, and in no time, he had filled a large bucket. Yang Ming poured the milk into a pre-prepared water tank, then returned to continue milking, repeating this process until the cow was completely empty. He had milked more than half a tank of milk, which was definitely more than 100 kilograms; Yang Ming estimated it to be over 150 kilograms.

Just then, Liu Nannan came out from the back garden.

"Nan Nan, come here for a second." Yang Ming waved to Liu Nan Nan.

"Brother Yang, what's up?" Liu Nannan jogged over.

"Go and call everyone here," Yang Ming said.

"Oh!" Liu Nannan replied and ran off.

Before long, Liu Nannan arrived with a group of greenhouse workers.

"Boss, what do you need us for?" Sister Tie asked.

"Brother Yang, is it that you're not satisfied with the work we've done?" Zheng Tong blushed.

The other workers were also a little apprehensive. They really liked the job; it wasn't tiring, the pay was good, and they could learn greenhouse techniques.

"I called you here not because I'm dissatisfied with your work, on the contrary, I'm very satisfied with your work. So, I'm going to give you some benefits as a reward. I have some milk here. Whoever wants some can go home and bring a thermos, and I'll fill it up for you. From now on, there will be milk available every day..." Yang Ming said.

"Oh, so that's how it is? The boss is quite considerate..." When Sister Tie applied for the job, she was carrying a child with her, and now she's gone straight home.

The other workers breathed a sigh of relief and rushed home. Who wouldn't want free milk?

"Brother Yang, fill me up with a thermos first..." Liu Nannan was the fastest, carrying a thermos from her aunt's house and running over.

"Don't rush..." Yang Ming took the thermos from Liu Nannan, opened the lid, placed a funnel on it, and used a ladle to scoop up the milk from the water tank and pour it into the thermos.

"Nannan, bring a big thermos next time, so it can hold more..." Yang Ming instructed.

"Mmm..." The little girl, Liu Nannan, smiled broadly and nodded repeatedly.

After filling the thermos, Liu Nannan put the lid on, thanked Yang Ming, and ran away.

Next, Sister Tie, Wang Shuisheng and the others arrived. These people were more experienced than Liu Nannan, and they all carried large thermos flasks.

Yang Ming scooped water for each of them, sixteen people in total, one pot for each person. After scooping, there was still about half a pot left in the water tank, which weighed about 150 jin.

Everyone was all smiles as they thanked Yang Ming, their considerate boss, and took the milk home.

Seeing that everyone had left, Yang Ming looked at the half-full vat of milk with a worried expression, but there was nothing he could do. So he took the bucket and went to the farm to milk the long-tailed purple-haired sheep and the Alaskan puppies.

The goat milk, with its pale purple hue and peculiar aroma, filled half the vat, as did the dog milk, which was as smooth and warm as stalactites.

Looking at the three half-jars of fresh milk, Yang Ming felt only one word: worry… He really didn't know what to do. He couldn't possibly give out these perks twice a day, could he? Wouldn't that make people think he was stupid? Even if he really did foolishly give out perks again, dog milk was fine, as it was a normal color, but what about goat milk? Goat milk, with its faint purple hue, was supposed to enhance intelligence, but who would dare drink it? Wouldn't people think it was contaminated with heavy metals?

"Sigh! This is such a hassle... There's a limit to how much milk these animals produce. If we don't milk them, they'll be weaned in a month. If we milk them, it's not worth selling all this fresh milk. If we drink it, we can't finish it all. And if we throw it away, it's such a waste..." Yang Ming frowned.

"Let's buy a dairy processing machine and process this milk. We can send the goat milk to the school for the children to drink, and keep the dog milk for ourselves." At this moment, Wei Qingqing came over carrying two bolts of silk. Seeing Yang Ming frowning as he looked at the two vats of fresh milk, she knew what was troubling him and couldn't help but suggest.

"Processing?" Yang Ming raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, make goat milk into yogurt, hmph, what color of milk doesn't the market have these days?" Wei Qingqing said.

"What you said makes sense..." Yang Ming said after a long pause.

In modern society, even a broken stone can fetch a sky-high price if it has good packaging. Goat milk is a good product in itself, and if it has good packaging, it can be given as a gift to relatives.

Dairy processing machines are available for purchase through the vending system. There are many types available at reasonable prices. Yang Ming simply had Ya Ya buy a basic one and placed it in the cabin.

The dairy processing machine itself is not large, and its shape is similar to a refrigerator. Its function is also very simple, which is to package dairy products. There are two large funnels on the top, one for holding milk and the other for filling paper. There is a milk outlet at the bottom. Once the milk is processed, it slides out directly from the milk outlet.

Yang Ming took some paper and goat milk, put them into the funnel, and started the machine. With a slight hum, boxes of beautifully packaged fresh milk slid out of the milk outlet, each box with a paper straw attached.

Yang Ming picked up a box and squeezed it. The paper was quite sturdy and had obviously been disinfected. There was a thin, small round hole covered with a thin layer of paper, which was for inserting a straw.

He pried the straw off and inserted it into the small round hole. Yang Ming took a gentle sip, and a rich, fragrant milk flowed into his mouth, leaving a lingering sweetness on his lips and teeth.

"If I design another trademark, I'll be basically done," Yang Ming muttered to himself.

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(End of this chapter)