Chapter 4: Drama Queens

Wang Jinhe looked at the wild chicken that was making a pitiful noise and twitched her mouth as she turned to Grandma Wang beside her, saying, “Grandma, is this wild chicken aware that we are going to eat it, hence why it’s making such a sad noise?”

As soon as the wild chicken heard Wang Jinhe’s words, it started making noise again with an even more sorrowful tone, which made Wang Jinhe feel uneasy about eating it.

Looking at the wild chicken making such a pitiful noise, Grandma Wang suggested, “Why don’t we keep it and raise it instead? We can trim its feathers so that it won’t be able to fly away.”

“That’s a good idea,” replied Wang Jinhe.

However, as soon as they made the decision, the wild chicken suddenly collapsed on the ground as if it had died. This behavior made Wang Jinhe’s mouth twitch non-stop; the chicken was such a drama queen.

“Is it dead? Then I’ll go boil some water to pluck its feathers, we can have chicken for dinner…”

While Wang Jinhe was speaking, the wild chicken suddenly jumped up upon hearing the words “chicken soup for dinner.” It had been playing dead all along.

Xiao Bao looked at the wild chicken with curiosity and asked his mother, “What’s wrong with this rooster?”

“He’s having a seizure,” Wang Jinhe replied without thinking.

Xiao Bao looked at Wang Jinhe with confusion, not understanding what “having a seizure” meant.

Wang Jinhe looked at Xiao Bao’s eager expression and explained, “Having a seizure means going crazy, like those people who pretend to be insane to avoid punishment.”

Xiao Bao nodded, seeming to understand. “Mother, are we still going to eat it?” he asked.

As soon as Xiao Bao mentioned eating the chicken, the wild chicken seemed to be ready to fight him.

Wang Jinhe slapped the wild chicken on its head and warned, “This is my son. If you dare to harm him, I will chop you into pieces and feed you to the dogs.”

“But Mother, we don’t have any dogs,” Xiao Bao pointed out, looking up at his mother with wide eyes.

Wang Jinhe couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time. Her son was quite sharp-tongued and always knew how to make her feel embarrassed.

“I’ll   find a suitable one for you to raise, okay?”

Xiao Bao nodded eagerly. He loved dogs – the rounder and chubbier, the better.

Although the wild chicken didn’t seem to want to fly away, just in case, Wang Jinhe decided to clip its wings to prevent it from escaping.

However, upon seeing its wings clipped bare, the attention-seeking wild chicken once again collapsed on the ground and played dead, refusing to get up.

Wang Jinhe couldn’t be bothered with the chicken’s antics, so she took the wild chicken eggs she had brought back today and went to the kitchen to cook.

When Wang Jingyu came back with his parents, he saw that there were two extra chickens in the house: “Grandma, why do we have two more chickens? Their wings are gone.”

“Xiao He accidentally caught it on the mountain. I originally planned to eat the rooster and keep the hen for laying eggs for Xiao Bao. But when Xiao He said we were going to eat it, this wild chicken pretended to understand and lay down on the ground playing dead,” Grandma Wang said with a smile as she looked at the rooster in the chicken coop.

Wang Jingyu became interested and ran over to try to catch it, but the rooster got agitated and flapped its wings, flying and hopping out of the chicken coop to peck at Wang Jingyu.

Wang Jingyu was running around being chased, while the wild chicken continued to peck at him relentlessly until Wang Jinhe came out with a kitchen knife, saying, “Are you going to go in on your own, or do I have to chop off your head for dinner?”

As soon as the wild chicken saw the knife in Wang Jinhe’s hand, it ran back into the chicken coop, hiding behind the hens, making itself look invisible.

Wang Jingyu stared in amazement at the chicken and said, “Oh my god, is this chicken actually enlightened? How is this even possible?”

Xiao Bao suddenly became curious and asked, “Mom, what are their names?”

“What names do you want to give them?” Wang Jinhe asked with interest.

“Big Flower and Little Flower,” Xiao Bao replied.

Wang Jinhe nearly slipped and fell to the ground. “Son, can we choose a name with more meaning?”

Xiao Bao, who was biting his finger, thought that Wang Jinhe didn’t like the name, so he suggested, “How about naming it Gou Sheng (Scrappy)?”

“Hahaha, calling a chicken Gou Sheng, son, tell mom, how did you come up with this name?” Her son is so funny? He actually named a chicken Gou Sheng?

“That annoying uncle’s son in the village is called Gou Sheng.”

Wang Jinhe thought carefully for a moment and finally remembered who her son was talking about.

She looked at Xiao Bao helplessly, “If you really call this chicken Gou Sheng, someone might get angry if they hear it.”

“Then what should we call it?”

“Da Hua, Xiao Hua.” Wang Jinhe shook her head and said.

Xiao Bao happily hopped to the edge of the chicken coop and stood on tiptoe to look at the two wild chickens inside, saying “Da Hua, Xiao Hua.”

“Right, it’s Da Hua and Xiao Hua.”

After dinner, Wang Jinhe remembered that there was still something she hadn’t brought out and quickly went to get her basket. “Hey, I still have something here, look”. She said

“What is it?” The family looked at Wang Jinhe, curious about what good thing she had brought back.

When Wang Jinhe took out something like a radish from her backpack, Grandpa Wang suddenly stood up and exclaimed, “This…this is ginseng, and it’s so big!”

Wang Jinhe nodded seriously and said, “I found this while digging on the mountain. I plan to sell it tomorrow to see how much I can get. Our house is not in good condition, so we need to repair it. Otherwise, it will be too late once the heavy rain comes during the rainy season.”

Their house always leaked during heavy rain outside while only a little when it rained inside. Moreover, being located in the south, it rains more frequently in this region.

While digging the ginseng, she was thinking that once she sells the ginseng, she will build a beautiful house for her family so that they don’t have to worry about rain leaking into their home anymore, especially during rainy days.

Xiao Bao clapped his hands happily and said, “Build a house, a big house!”

Wang Jinhe was amused by Xiao Bao and pinched his face playfully, teasing him, “Oh, does Xiao Bao also want a big house? Then let’s build a big house for Xiao Bao to live in and be  satisfied?”

“Grandpa, grandma, great-grandpa, great-grandma, and uncle can all live together,” Xiao Bao said, shaking his chubby little hands.

“What about Mother?”

” Mother will also live in the big house.”

“Okay, we’ll live in a big house.” Wang Jinhe loved this little baby so much. How could there be such a cute little one?

Grandpa Wang looked at the ginseng in Wang Jinhe’s hand and said with emotion, “Many people have gone up the mountain and haven’t found ginseng. But Xiao He found such a big ginseng in just one trip.”

“Yes, this ginseng can be sold for quite a lot of money,” Wang Jinhe replied.

“I have another small one here. Let’s keep it. Who knows when we might need it,” Wang Jinhe said, taking out another ginseng that was much smaller than the previous one.

The family stared at the two ginseng roots in Wang Jinhe’s hand, not knowing what to say for a moment.

“I think we should sell both of them together,” Grandpa said as he looked at the ginseng in Wang Jinhe’s hand.

But Wang Jinhe shook her head and refused, saying, “This big one is enough. We’ll keep the small one for ourselves and use it to help Grandpa and Grandma improve their health.”

“Yes, let’s listen to Xiao He and keep the small one,” Grandma Wang agreed, and seeing that everyone else was in agreement, Grandma Wang nodded her head in approval.