Chapter 46: Mischievous Idea

In the middle of the night, Chen Feng was dreaming when she was suddenly awakened by Golden Treasure’s wingtip. The bright moonlight shone through the small window, revealing Golden Treasure’s bright little green eyes.

Chen Feng exclaimed with delight, “You’re back? What about Qiqi?”

Golden Treasure whispered, “Qiqi has already gone back to the room. I’ve come to give a great gift to Mommy.”

Chen Feng was taken aback, “What great gift are you giving me?”

Golden Treasure chirped, “I stole from the villain’s house, so I naturally took a bit of treasure. This unexpected windfall is my filial gift to Mommy.”

With that, the Golden Swallow shook its wings, dropping two large gold ingots. Before Chen Feng could respond, the Golden Swallow flew off to rest in the new courtyard.

Chen Feng weighed the gold ingots. Each weighed twenty taels, making it a total of forty taels of gold, which was four hundred taels of silver.

Thinking about the villain who wanted Qiqi, Chen Feng considered Golden Treasure’s actions as a way to punish the wicked and help the needy, so she didn’t feel any pressure in accepting the gold ingots. She chuckled softly and stored the gold in her space, feeling so elated that she couldn’t sleep for a while.

Seeing Dabao’s furrowed brow and his pouty little mouth, she knew he must be dreaming about Qiqi. Her heart softened, and she gently pinched his little face.

Early the next morning, Chen Dabao opened his eyes and really heard the calls of Golden Treasure, Qiqi, and Gray.

He got up, not even bothering to put on his clothes, and ran to the new courtyard. In the morning light, Qiqi’s feathers were even more vibrant and eye-catching. Dabao happily held Qiqi in his arms and squeezed it, causing Qiqi to squawk. He also tried to catch Golden Treasure, but it managed to evade him as it didn’t want to endure his rough handling.

This left Chen Ming exclaiming in disbelief.

Chen Feng secretly chuckled, finding it even more unbelievable.

When no one was around, she quietly asked the Golden Swallow if the man would come after their family if he found out Qiqi had run away and caused him to lose money again.

The Golden Swallow retorted, “Who said that their financial losses have anything to do with Qiqi running away?” It further added, “As long as Chen Dabao doesn’t foolishly show off Qiqi in the county town, they won’t be discovered.”

Hearing this, Chen Feng felt relieved.

The Golden Swallow then asked, “Mommy, do you want to make money?”

Chen Feng was pleasantly surprised. Had this little creature finally realized it wanted to help her earn money? She quickly held it in her hands and joyfully replied, “Of course, I do.”

The Golden Swallow stretched its neck and chirped, “Then let’s take Qiqi to the provincial or capital city, somewhere far away. You can sell Qiqi at a high price, then hurry back. Two days later, I’ll bring Qiqi back. Qiqi is well-grown and can speak, so it’s certain we can get a good price.” It then wore an expression that seemed to say, “See how clever I am? Praise me.”

Chen Feng felt disappointed. What kind of idea was this? This was criminal! She quickly shook her head and said, “A noble person loves wealth but in the right way. We can’t make money this way.”

The Golden Swallow gave her a disdainful look and muttered, “Mommy is still pretending. Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘No matter if it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat’?”

Chen Feng replied, “You’ve misinterpreted the meaning of that saying. You can’t take it out of context.”

The Golden Swallow became unhappy and chirped, “In the future, don’t blame others for not helping you get rich. Once, there was a path to riches right in front of you, but you didn’t know how to cherish it.” With that, it flew away.

Chen Feng’s scheme for getting rich was temporarily shelved.

However, with an addition of over fifty taels of silver and several hundred more hidden away, her wealth was already quite substantial. As a seasoned food lover, Chen Feng didn’t want to deprive herself when it came to food. Even if she couldn’t have meat every day, she made a variety of dishes, including scrambled eggs, steamed eggs, braised dried tofu, scallion pancakes, and sweet pastries. She even added brown sugar and dates to her steamed cornmeal cake.

In truth, she longed to eat meat every day, but she didn’t dare to buy it daily for fear of others’ judgment. She wished for winter when she could buy more at once.

She was happy with her cooking, while Chen Ming and Chen Dabao experienced a mix of joy from the delicious meals and concern about spending too much money.

Chen Feng would console them, saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll find ways to make money in the future. Our family will definitely become one of the largest landowners, even surpassing Lizheng’s family.”

During this time, apart from going out to fetch water, watering the vegetables, or occasionally encountering a few men who would enthusiastically greet her or offer to help when she went shopping, Chen Feng’s days were still relatively peaceful.

As a modern woman, especially as a modern beauty, being approached by men was common. The problem was that the men who expressed interest in her were all quite unimpressive.

One of them was shorter than her and slightly limped. Another was older, around Chen Ming’s age, with a few moles on his face. Then there was one with thinning hair, making his head resemble a “surrounded center,” and his hair was tied up like a small horn on the top of his head.

The key issue was that these men had particularly poor personal hygiene, with yellowed teeth, dirty clothes, and some noticeable body odor.

Chen Feng felt rather despondent. Was this to be her fate as a woman with her own household, accompanied by such unimpressive suitors? Being pursued by them was worse than not being pursued at all.

In such a case, she’d rather live alone with Dabao. Perhaps, in this lifetime, she would have to remain single.

In her spare time, Chen Feng began making bedding and a few small chicken plush toys, as these were relatively simple tasks. However, when it came to sewing clothes and pants, which were more complex, she felt hesitant to admit that she doesn’t know how to do them herself, but she knew the design to make a good clothes that fit the modern day’s style. She decided to wait for Mrs. Wang to return and “teach” her these skills.

Meanwhile, Chen Dabao’s days were joyful. After studying at home for an hour each morning, he would take Gray and Qiqi out to play. In the mornings, they would go to the open area to the east of the village, where they would fly ahead while Dabao chased after them.

In the afternoons, they would head to the area to the west of the village, where there was plenty of firewood to gather, as the wheat straw at home had already been burned.

Sometimes, Shitou and Sixizi would join them in their playtime.

Particularly, Shitou would visit Chen’s house almost every day. He loved the steamed cornmeal cake and scallion pancakes that Chen Feng made, saying they tasted much better than those made at his home. Every so often, he would also bring Dabao some wooden toys—little wooden knives, horses, ducks—that were polished and painted. He claimed that these were made by his second uncle. This caused Dabao’s fondness for Wu Chanshen to increase significantly for the second time, the first being when Wu Chanshen stops fancying Chen Jue.

The Golden Swallow rarely stayed at home, spending most of its time playing in the woods. Qiqi and Gray didn’t want to go with it, as they now considered Chen’s house their own home. They enjoyed playing with Dabao, eating the food at Chen’s house, and especially liked the unique scent that Chen Feng carried.

To the west of the village, there was an area with denser woods where they encountered people with ill intentions towards Qiqi and Gray. Qiqi and Gray, being very intelligent birds, would take flight at the first sign of trouble.

One time, a person got angry and kicked Dabao a few times, even pushing him to the ground. Qiqi and Gray then swooped down, pecked the person a few times, and soared back into the sky. After that incident, the person never dared to provoke them again.