Chapter 56: The Stolen Eggs

But when Jiang Fubao reached the hollow, she froze.

It was empty.

Nothing inside but a few broken eggshells.

Heavens above—!

Who stole her eggs?!

Jiang Fubao was furious.

She had saved them up for days, and now they were gone.

Tears slid down her cheeks, her little face flushed red with anger.

Sure enough, hiding things outside was not safe at all.

By the hollow, there were several kinds of tracks—like those of large animals.

Clearly, this place was no good anymore.

Fubao returned and tugged her brothers away from the inner mountain.

On their way down, they caught only ten worms in total. Not a single smile remained on their faces.

“What do we do now? If the hens don’t have worms to eat, what if they stop laying eggs? Then we won’t have eggs to eat anymore!”

Gluttonous Jiang Tongtu was on the verge of tears.

“That won’t happen. Tomorrow, the coop will be full of eggs—way more than today, so many we won’t even finish them.”

Fubao had already made up her mind.

If she couldn’t hide things outside, then she’d just build herself a persona.

From now on, whatever she said would come true.

That way, her family would just think her fall into the river had brought her good fortune—

and no one would suspect ghosts or demons.

She had thought about telling her family about her secret space.

But people’s hearts were hard to read.

She couldn’t bring herself to trust them completely.

“Sis, you’re lying. How could there ever be more eggs than we can eat?”

Tongtu shook his head.

“Hmph, well, whatever Fubao says always comes true.”

Fubao lifted her chin and sniffed proudly.

They had already reached the foot of the mountain.

She slid down from her cousin’s back, stretched her legs, and ran home.

“Grandma—!”

Her childish voice rang out, and Zhang Jinlan hurried from the backyard.

“Fubao’s back? Why are you calling for Grandma?”

“Grandma, I just told Fifth Brother that the hens will lay lots and lots of eggs tomorrow, but he doesn’t believe me. He’s bad!” Fubao pouted deliberately, looking wronged.

“Yes, he’s the bad one. Grandma believes Fubao. Don’t be upset, sweetie. Today the hens laid over ten eggs again. Later Grandma will make you some egg custard, all right?”

Zhang Jinlan scooped her up and coaxed her gently.

“Okay!” Fubao answered brightly—then twisted her neck to stick her tongue out at Tongtu.

“Grandma, we only caught this many worms today. The hens definitely won’t get full. What if they don’t lay tomorrow?”

Tongtu ignored her teasing.

All he cared about was whether the hens would lay.

“No matter. Grandma will fetch some grass seeds this afternoon to feed them.”

But her words didn’t soothe Tongtu.

Grass seed could never compare to worms.

Hens wouldn’t fatten up on that.

Still, his worries faded by evening—because Jiang Dahe came back with the others, carrying a pound of fatty pork.

That night, they stir-fried pickled greens with pork slices, served with soft rice porridge.

Tongtu ate so well he forgot all about hens and eggs.

Night fell.

The Jiang family drifted into sweet dreams.

In her side-room, Jiang Fubao quietly climbed out of bed.

She slipped out into the backyard.

The hens and roosters were all dozing.

Fubao summoned all three hundred eggs from her space and dumped them into the coop in one go.

The eggs surrounded the eight chickens completely.

Finished, Fubao curved her lips into a sly grin, then tiptoed back to bed.

With the mountain night filled only by the occasional birdcall, she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, it was morning.

“Ahhhh—!”

Suddenly, several shrill screams tore through the Jiang family’s backyard.

They were screams of utter shock.

Everyone woke up, Fubao included.

She dressed quickly and wandered out sleepily, only to see the whole family already gathered.

“What happened—?”

Her soft little voice rang out.

Everyone turned their heads in unison.

“Little Sister!! The hens really did lay a mountain of eggs! What you said yesterday came true! It’s my fault. From now on, I’ll believe everything you say.”

Tongtu squeezed past the adults to her side, eyes shining with excitement.

“What eggs?”

Fubao tilted her head, acting puzzled.

“Fubao, tell Grandma—how did you know the hens would lay so many eggs today?”

Zhang Jinlan lifted her granddaughter into her arms, speaking gently.

Even the strongest hens couldn’t possibly lay this many in one night.

Something strange was going on.

“I don’t know. I just thought it in my head, that’s all. Why, Grandma—did they really lay a lot? I want to see!”

Fubao played dumb.

Carried to the coop, she saw the hens crammed tight, practically buried in eggs, blinking in confusion.

“Mother, what is going on? When I came out from the privy and saw this heap of eggs, I was so scared I nearly wet myself. Could it be our hens are divine chickens?!”

Luckily, Sun Pingmei had just finished peeing.

Otherwise, she really would’ve needed new trousers.

“I don’t know either. These chickens were strange to begin with, and now the eggs too. We only have six hens. I roughly counted just now—there are at least three hundred eggs. No way our hens laid these. Something’s off.”

Jinlan narrowed her eyes.

Her gaze drifted to her granddaughter’s innocent little face.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that Fubao was involved.

“Fubao, yesterday when you thought about the eggs, how did you think about it?” she pressed.

“Just like with the ginseng. That day on the mountain, I was playing, and I thought to myself, If only I could see the ginseng Grandpa Doctor talked about. And then I really saw ginseng. Same with those eggs I found before—I thought, If only I had eggs to eat, and then they appeared. Grandma, am I amazing~?”

Fubao giggled, shaking her head proudly.

But her words silenced the whole family.

Only the occasional cluck of chickens broke the quiet.

“Mother… Fubao… she couldn’t really be a fairy come down to earth, could she?” Sun Pingmei swallowed nervously.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Fubao was born from my wife’s belly. How could she be a fairy? Fubao, tell Father—have you run into anything strange lately?”

Jiang Siyin immediately denied it.

His Fubao was his daughter, nothing else.

A fairy from heaven?

Fairies returned to the skies.

Fubao would never leave him.

But his voice trembled, betraying his fear.

Only he himself noticed.

“No, well—maybe… but the white-bearded grandpa told me not to tell anyone.”

Fubao pursed her lips, spinning a tale.

“Father isn’t anyone else. Neither are Mother or Grandma. We’re your family. You can tell us.”

The moment Siyin heard “white-bearded grandpa,” his pupils contracted.

His voice shook harder.

“All right… then I’ll tell you. That day, when I fell into the water, I dreamed of a white-bearded grandpa. He said Fubao was cute and wanted to give me a gift. He said from then on, whatever Fubao wanted, she would have.”