Chapter 26: The Chicken Was Stolen
 

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Aunt Chen tilted her head back, pursed her lips, and glanced into the house. Despite the pain in her mouth, she used her voice to coax the hen, saying, “Come, come, follow me. I’ll give you something tasty.”

The hen stared at her with its round eyes, completely motionless.

Aunt Chen grinned, her crooked smile making her already damaged lips look even worse. She took a step closer, beaming as she said, “Come here, hurry over.”

Her demeanor resembled that of a shady child trafficker on the street.

The hen lifted its head, slowly stood up, and began walking toward her.

Aunt Chen was so overjoyed she almost jumped up. She rushed forward, scooping the hen into her arms.

The hen gave a token struggle, flapping twice, but soon stopped moving.

Aunt Chen beamed with delight, ignoring the pain in her mouth. She nearly shouted out in excitement, “Got it, got it! Oh, I caught it!”

This old hen usually had quite the temper, but today it was unusually docile.

Nestled in Aunt Chen’s arms, its little eyelashes drooped as it assumed a disdainful air, almost as if plotting something.

Using her sleeve to conceal the hen, Aunt Chen sneaked back out through the courtyard wall.

When she returned home with the hen in her arms, Uncle Chen was still sound asleep, snoring away.

The sound of snoring filled the room. Aunt Chen, visibly annoyed, gave Uncle Chen a kick.

Uncle Chen rolled over and continued sleeping soundly.

Aunt Chen placed her “precious stolen treasure” – the hen – inside the house, tossed it a pile of grains, and returned to bed to continue sleeping.

Perhaps it was because Aunt Chen, while climbing over the wall earlier, had accidentally stepped on some rotting leaves, causing a faint noise that startled little Qiyue, who had just finished drinking milk.

Little Qiyue turned over in bed, her tiny brows furrowing slightly in her sleep.

The next morning, at dawn.

Tan Yiliang squinted his eyes, yawning as he went out to feed the chickens.

Tan Yiliang casually tossed a handful of grains onto the ground. The chicks he had bought a few days ago came scampering over happily.

He raised his head slightly and glanced at the chicken coop. Inside, there was nothing but a nest of eggs.

Tan Yiliang’s drowsiness vanished instantly. Rubbing his eyes hurriedly, he began searching around the courtyard.

After circling the yard, he still couldn’t find any sign of the hen.

Panic set in. He rushed back into the house. “Dad, Dad, the chicken—it’s gone!”

Old Tan was busy preparing breakfast for the family. Upon hearing this, he immediately dropped the spatula in his hand and asked, “What did you just say? The chicken is gone?”

Tan Yiliang anxiously replied, “It’s our best egg-laying hen!”

“Ah! The chicken!” Old Tan slapped his thigh in frustration and ran toward the backyard.

Sure enough, only a few pecking chicks remained in the yard.

“How could the chicken just disappear like that?” Old Tan muttered as he rummaged through the chicken coop.

Hearing the commotion, Wan Chunmei walked over and said, “Keep looking, it might be hiding in some corner.”

Old Tan let out a long sigh and said, “I’ve already searched everywhere, but there’s no sign of that chicken!”

Tan Yiliang, seeing how anxious his father was, quickly tried to comfort him. “Dad, don’t worry, don’t worry. If the chicken is gone, it’s gone. Sure, it laid eggs, but don’t we still have the chicks? When they grow up, they’ll lay eggs too!”

His simple mind couldn’t come up with anything better to console his father, so that was all he could say.

However, Old Tan’s face remained filled with sorrow.

Tan Yiliang started to panic.

Wan Chunmei stepped forward and explained, “Your dad isn’t upset about the eggs. He’s upset about the chicken itself. That chicken has been with us for over a year, going through tough times with us. We’ve grown attached to it. If it weren’t for me giving birth to your younger siblings this time, he wouldn’t have even considered slaughtering it!”

Tan Yiliang froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.

Though Old Tan appeared tough on the outside, he had a soft heart. That day, even if the chicken hadn’t laid any eggs, he still wouldn’t have been able to go through with it.

Now that the chicken was suddenly missing, who wouldn’t feel bad about it?

While the Tan family was in a frenzy searching for the lost hen, the Chen family was just waking up.

Uncle Chen slowly opened his eyes, catching a whiff of a strong, unpleasant smell. Frowning, and without even opening his eyes, he muttered to Aunt Chen, “Woman, did you take a dump in the house?”

Aunt Chen groggily turned over, her mouth still sore, unwilling to respond.

Uncle Chen sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around the room.

What he saw made his jaw drop—chicken droppings were scattered all over the floor, piled in heaps, even blocking half the doorway.

Not only that, but there was chicken poop on Uncle Chen’s bed, his clothes, his face, and even his hands.

It was sticky and disgusting to the extreme.

Uncle Chen was stunned. “What… what is this? Why is there chicken poop everywhere?”

Aunt Chen continued to sleep, refusing to respond to him at all.

Uncle Chen rubbed his eyes again and took another look around the room.

The chicken poop was still everywhere, covering the entire room.

At that moment, a yellow-feathered hen jumped onto the table. Its rear end, like a leaky faucet, started releasing poop with a rhythmic plop, plop.

The layer of chicken poop on the floor grew even thicker.

After finishing its business, the old hen lowered its gaze, exuding an air of smug satisfaction.

Uncle Chen stared wide-eyed in utter disbelief. “This chicken… this chicken… did it climb out of the latrine pit?!”