To hatch chicks, you must first use candles to pick out fertilized eggs, and you must also pick eggs that were laid in the last seven days, so that the hatching rate is the highest.

Chen Xiaomei had a basket of eggs, but not many were laid in the last seven days, and she didn’t have a rooster, so there weren’t many fertilized eggs.

Finally, Xu Huaiqian picked and chose, and selected five eggs that were laid by an unfaithful chicken.

Chen Xiaomei saw that there were only five eggs in the basket that could be used, and her face wrinkled with worry: “Only these few can be used?” When will her plan to make a fortune succeed?

“If you want to make money, you can’t be too eager for quick success,” Xu Huaiqian saw her impatient temper and thought that only five were good, “If you are too impatient, and you put a lot of eggs in, what if all of them are broken?”

When Chen Xiaomei found the candle, Xu Huaiqian had already made it clear to her that because the chicks were not born from the mother’s nest, the success rate might not be very high, so he lowered her expectations.

 In order to prevent her from having too high expectations and failing to reach this threshold, and being extremely disappointed and unable to recover.

“Okay.” With Xu Huaiqian’s precaution, although Chen Xiaomei was a little unhappy, she still held back, “Five is five, I hope two of them will succeed.”

Seeing that she had let it go and was no longer obsessed with making money right away, Xu Huaiqian went to find a wooden box. He spread rice bran on the bottom, put the eggs in it, and covered it with a quilt. Then he found the hot water bottle that the original owner used in winter, filled it with boiling water, and put it in the quilt. He found a place with a suitable height in the house, put the wooden box on it, and exposed it to the sun outside.

After finishing, he clapped his hands: “It’s done.”

“… Is it that simple?” Chen Xiaomei couldn’t believe what she saw.

Just find a box, take some cotton, wrap the eggs, put them in the hot water bottle, and it’s done?

It’s so simple to hatch eggs?

Xu Huaiqian nodded: “It’s that simple.”

In fact, to hatch chicks, you just need to keep the eggs at a constant temperature of about 37 or 38 degrees. You can use an electric rice cooker, electric blanket, water bag, or even body temperature at home.

 He had felt it before. The weather in April was not very hot. The temperature of direct sunlight during the day plus the heat from the hot water bottle could maintain the temperature for hatching chicks, but it would definitely not work at night.

Luckily, when he was looking for something, he found two cow stomach water bags. The outside was polished smooth, but the heat preservation effect was very good. It should be what Chen Liejiu used when he was escorting. At night, he filled them with boiling water and placed them on both sides of the box, and added an extra layer of quilt. That was enough.

In fact, the best way is to hatch on a kang. With a kang, it is easy to maintain a constant temperature, but unfortunately this is the south, and there is no kang.

After the hatching is successful, when you want to hatch on a large scale, find a way to find someone to make one. You can’t get fat in one bite.

Although Chen Xiaomei was very skeptical about Xu Huaiqian’s childish way of hatching chicks, seeing Xu Huaiqian’s confident look, she chose to believe him first.

What if it really works?

 With this method of hatching chicks, Chen Xiaomei didn’t even go out to play, and stayed at home all day to watch over the five eggs that were hatching.

Xu Huaiqian told her to turn the eggs every three or four hours to let the chicks in the eggshell breathe, so she turned them every day at the right time.

She looked forward to her chicks coming out soon.

On this day, Xu Huaiqian, who had almost finished reading the original owner’s book, was sitting in the main hall, grinding ink and starting to write notes. If you want to read the book well, you need notes.

Although he had the original owner’s memory, Xu Huaiqian still translated the book according to his own understanding, thinking that he would check it with the original owner’s memory at the end, which would also deepen his memory more deeply.

Chen Xiaomei also moved the box for hatching chicks to the yard to bask in the sun. The sun was a little small today and could not reach the house. She was afraid that the chicks would not feel the warmth of the sun and would not come out of the eggshell.

 As she was basking in the sun, Chen Guijia’s family next door came to her house with her little son carrying a basket: “Little sister, what are you busy doing at home? I don’t see you come out to play all day, my little Zhu misses you so much.”

“…Ah?” Chen Xiaomei was stunned by Chen Guijia’s family’s sudden enthusiasm. She usually didn’t play with Chen Sanzhu at all.

 However, since the other party had warmly greeted her, she couldn’t be impolite, so she politely asked, “Aunt Gui, is there anything wrong?”

“It’s like this,” Chen Guijia’s family laughed dryly, “My husband has had a bad appetite these past two days, and can’t eat anything. I want to exchange some rice with your family, so that I can make some rice porridge that is easy to digest for him, and see if he can eat a little.”

“Oh.” Chen Xiaomei saw that she had put a few handfuls of green vegetables and a few eggs in the basket she was carrying. She thought that it would not be a loss for her family to exchange a bowl of rice, so she let her into the yard and turned to Wang Wanwan and said, “Sister-in-law, Aunt Gui is here to exchange rice.”

“Got it.” Wang Wanwan, who was sitting in the corridor and making clothes for Xu Huaiqian, responded. She put down her needle and thread, took Chen Guijia’s basket, and went into the kitchen to exchange rice for her.

 Nowadays, not every household in the village has white rice to eat. They all eat indica rice, because indica rice in the south can be harvested twice a year, which is cheaper than rice that is harvested once a year and has a poor harvest. Most people eat this, and only when there are children, pregnant women, patients, etc. at home will they buy some white rice.

If you don’t need much, go to other people’s houses to exchange.

Although Chen Liejiu is a bully, he is generous and doesn’t take advantage of others. Sometimes he will give more. People around like to go to his house to exchange, and Wang Wanwan is also familiar with it.

When she entered the kitchen, Chen Guijia’s family was embarrassed to stand in the yard. Seeing Chen Xiaomei holding something wrapped in a quilt, touching it left and right, she asked her: “Little sister, what are you doing?”

“Hatching chicks.” Chen Xiaomei used the back of her hand to test the temperature in the quilt, which was just a little higher than the temperature on her body, and said it with confidence.

 “Hatching chicks?” Chen Sanzhu got interested and took away Chen Xiaomei’s quilt. He saw five eggs inside. He held them up and laughed. “Hahahaha, mom, she’s hatching chicks with a quilt. Does she think she is a hen? Can she even hold chicks!”

“Ah! My chicks!” Chen Xiaomei didn’t care what Chen Sanzhu said. When she saw that the five eggs she wrapped tightly were taken away, she hurriedly reached out to grab them.

“What chicks? They are obviously eggs!” Chen Sanzhu hid from Chen Xiaomei and didn’t let her take them back. He shouted, “Only hens can hatch chicks. Are you a hen?”

He was taller than Chen Xiaomei so Chen Xiaomei couldn’t reach them. She could only jump to reach them. As a result, Chen Sanzhu’s hand loosened somehow, and all the eggs fell to the ground and broke.

Chen Xiaomei looked at the broken eggs on the ground. Her eyes were red with anger, and she rushed over to Chen Sanzhu who was laughing. 

“You have to compensate me for my chicks! You have to compensate me for my chicks!”

She had been incubating for more than ten days. Her second brother said that if it was fast, the chicks would come out in about twenty days. Now, they are all gone! All gone!

“Hey, why are you hitting people?” She suddenly grabbed Chen Sanzhu’s head and hit it hard, which scared Chen Guijia and hurried to pull her away.

But Chen Xiaomei refused to let go and bit Chen Sanzhu’s shoulder. No matter how Chen Guijia hit her face and pinched her chin, she would not let go.

When Xu Huaiqian heard the noise and put down his pen, he saw that Chen Guijia had slapped Chen Xiaomei several times. He hurriedly stepped forward and pushed her hand away: “Auntie, you are going too far!”

“I went too far!” Chen Guijia, who was pushed away, was angry when he heard what Xu Huaiqian said, “She bit my baby so badly that it’s good that she wasn’t beaten to death.”

Xu Huaiqian gently separated Chen Xiaomei’s chin that was biting Chen Sanzhu’s shoulder. He saw that her fair face was almost swollen and her chin was full of pinch marks. Even so, she didn’t cry. Tears welled up in her eyes. She stared at the two people of Chen Guijia with resentment and kept shouting, “You have to compensate me for my chicken!”

“What chicken should I compensate you for?!” Chen Guijia opened Chen Sanzhu’s shoulder, who was screaming in pain, and saw that it was bleeding. “I didn’t ask you to compensate my little Zhu for medical expenses, which is good!”

“Oh, my sweetheart.” As she said this, she pushed Chen Sanzhu, who was crying and sobbing, to the ground. Chen Sanzhu held her in his arms, “Mom shouldn’t have brought you to this Chen family. You were bullied like this by a dead girl. How much suffering it must have suffered with bruises, swelling and bleeding.”

“You keep calling her a dead girl,” Xu Huaiqian saw that Chen Sanzhu’s rough Chen Xiaomei didn’t kill her at all. She just bit her and made her swollen and bleeding a little. It wasn’t that serious. She howled like she was about to die. On the other hand, Chen Xiaomei was beaten badly. He became impatient, “What is your child, a dead child?”

“How can you talk like that? You are a sickly child, and you are a dead child,” Chen Guijia held the child with a distressed look on her face, “She is a dead girl, a money-losing thing that should have been strangled to death when she was born. How can she be as precious as my son?”

It turns out that he still favors boys over girls.

When Xu Huaiqian went to the countryside before, what he hated most was people who didn’t take girls’ lives seriously.

 “Of course my Baozhu’s life is more precious than your son’s,” Xu Huaiqian rubbed Chen Xiaomei’s face that was swollen from being slapped, “When her chicks hatch, she will be our golden child. Your son can only play with mud until now, how can he compare with my Baozhu?”

Strike the snake at its weakest point, dig the root of the tree first.

What she cares about most, Xu Huaiqian will hit her.

“Golden child!” Chen Guijia looked at the egg that fell on the ground, “If a broken quilt can hatch chicks, I would say that silver can rain from the sky, but does it? Don’t think that being called Baozhu is precious, a thing that brings bad luck to parents!”

“You!” Chen Xiaomei looked at her, her eyes almost popping out.

 When she was born, her mother died of dystocia. Not long after, her father also died of illness. Her eldest brother was out escorting, and only her eight-year-old younger brother took care of her. Her younger brother had bad legs and feet since he was born, and he was always ridiculed by the villagers for taking care of her. They said that they were both unlucky stars in the family, and they brought bad luck to both their father and mother.

Later, their eldest brother came back and beat them all, telling them that the younger brother’s name was Jinhu and her name was Baozhu. They were both gold, silver and jewelry in the family, and they were treasures in his hands. They were not unlucky stars, so the villagers did not laugh at them openly.

Now this was brought up by Chen Guijia’s family again. The new and old hatreds added up, and Chen Xiaomei was so angry that she wanted to bite the old woman in front of her to death.

 “I said she is a golden baby, then she is a golden baby. I said she can hatch chicks with a quilt, then she can hatch chicks. A pearl is a pearl. It will only be covered in dust. Your Sanzhu…” Xu Huaiqian paused when he saw Chen Sanzhu, who could only cry in Chen Guijia’s arms, “I hope you don’t let him stay in this village.”

“Wanwan,” Xu Huaiqian said, calling Wang Wanwan, “Take out this aunt’s things. I think our family is sick and mourning. If we change them, people won’t dare to eat them.”

“Hey.”

Wang Wanwan, who was very angry when she heard the noise in the house, hurriedly came out with a basket. When she returned the basket to Chen Guijia, she deliberately loosened her hand.

The basket fell to the ground, and the eggs were broken all over the floor.

“You!” Chen Guijia was still hoping to take these eggs to other families to exchange for rice. Now that the eggs were all broken, she was so angry that she wanted to scold Wang Wanwan.

 “Cough cough cough cough–“

Xu Huaiqian covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed a few times. A few streaks of blood instantly appeared on the handkerchief. “Wanwan, go ask your brother to come back. I got angry today. I’m afraid I can’t make it…”

Before he finished speaking, Chen Guijia saw the blood and stepped back in fear. She ran away with her child: “This has nothing to do with us!”