Chapter 3: Roast Chicken

Clang!

In the middle of the night, while digging a grave, a weak voice suddenly called out from the graveyard. Startled, Zhou Qing’s hand shook, and she nearly dropped the hoe on her foot.

Turning her head, she saw a young man leaning on a tombstone, holding his shoulder, standing about a meter away from her.

Zhou Qing...

The male lead?

This entrance feels a bit cliché.

Blood was continuously seeping from the young man's fingers as he held his shoulder.

She glanced at his bloody hand, then carefully looked at his feet and breathed a half-sigh of relief.

He had a shadow!!!

"Um, I don’t know any medical skills."

The young man...

"Miss, my leg is injured, I can’t get on my horse. Could you help me?"

Your leg is injured, so why are you holding your shoulder and leaning on the tombstone?

Frowning, she finally noticed the horse behind the young man, which also had a shadow.

How did they manage to appear behind her so quietly?

"Should I help you up?"

The young man nodded slightly, "Thank you, miss. I will never forget your kindness."

"No need for that, just give me money."

The young man...

Zhou Qing...

As long as I’m not embarrassed, the awkwardness falls on others.

Right!

The young man fished out a piece of silver from his clothes, apologetically looking at her, "This is all I have on me."

......

After taking the silver, Zhou Qing swiftly helped the young man onto the horse, then happily picked up her hoe.

And continued digging the grave.

The original owner had hidden a small jar beside the grave, inside which was a string of money she had secretly saved up.

When she returned home, she was almost startled by the chaos inside the house.

The few pieces of furniture were scattered all over the place, the bedding on the kang was spread out, and Zhou Huaishan was sitting on a stool, panting heavily, covered in chicken feathers.

"What happened?"

He winked at her with a proud face, "You didn't enjoy dinner tonight, right? I will make you a beggar's chicken.^[1]"

He adapted to the situation quickly!

"Did you kill the chicken in the yard?"

He snorted, "Is that food for humans? In the past, even my dogs ate better!"

"Tomorrow morning, the family will notice a chicken is missing."

He clicked his tongue, "If you don’t tell, and I don’t tell, who will know we ate it? Deny it till the end."

Her gaze fell on the chicken feathers covering him.

Zhou Huaishan’s face immediately drooped, and he said pitifully, "Killing a chicken is so hard, harder than climbing to heaven. Help me pluck the feathers."

Zhou Qing...

Why does that sound so awkward?

"Is your leg okay?"

"Still hurts a bit, but it doesn’t affect my eating."

In the end, she didn't help him pluck the feathers; the room was already filled with enough feathers for her to clean up.

After tidying the house, Zhou Huaishan had plucked all the feathers from the chicken.

He stuffed all the feathers into the stove under the kang. When the small fire caught the feathers, it flared up momentarily.

By the light of the fire, Zhou Qing saw a mud egg.^[2]

"Is that your beggar's chicken?"

He nodded proudly, "Once it’s cooked, we’ll eat. By the way, did you find it?"

She took out a piece of silver and a string of copper coins, not mentioning anything else.

He looked at the small piece of silver, disappointed, "This isn’t even enough for a bowl of abalone rice."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "This silver is for buying you brush, ink, paper, and inkstone."

Zhou Huaishan’s eyes widened, pointing at his nose, "Brush, ink, paper, and inkstone? Me? I’m a wastrel, what do I need them for? I’d rather have two roasted chickens!"

"Then I’ll buy you a hoe!"

Zhou Huaishan's face fell, "Brush, ink, paper, and inkstone it is. But daughter, I must tell you, I truly can’t write essays."

"You don’t need to write essays."

Before leaving, Zhou Qing had Zhou Huaishan write on the ground with a stick. Although the writing wasn’t clear, it was evident his handwriting was good.

No matter how much of a wastrel, he was still a marquis, surely he studied as a child.

"Once we get the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, you’ll copy books to earn money."

Zhou Huaishan’s eyes widened again, looking incredulous, "Earn money? Me? Daughter, you want me to earn money?"

What a joke!

"How will you study without money? And if you don’t study, your persona will expose," Zhou Qing said exasperatedly.

He wore a bitter expression, whispering, "I thought you would support me."

She laughed out of exasperation.

"I’ll support you once I find a way to make a living. Right now, the quickest way for us to earn money is for you to copy books. Once I earn enough, you won’t have to do it anymore."

He sighed, "Then hurry up."

Originally, having Zhou Huaishan copy books was just a temporary measure, as copying books didn’t make much money.

Now it seems...

She’d have to make him copy a lot more; otherwise, he certainly wouldn't take the initiative to study.

He felt uneasy under Zhou Qing's gaze, "Daughter, you won’t harm me, will you? Even though we aren't blood-related, but we’re closer than family!"

She grinned, "What are you thinking? Is your beggar’s chicken ready?"

Zhou Huaishan slapped his forehead, "Almost forgot."

Getting off the kang, he crouched in front of the stove, using tongs to pull out the mud-coated chicken.

"It should be ready. Daughter, wait, I’ll crack open the mud shell. The drumsticks and wings are yours."

Saying this, he raised the tongs and struck the mud-coated chicken.

With one strike, a crack appeared in the mud shell.

He put down the tongs and used his hands to break the mud shell.

Then...

Zhou Qing watched as a featherless chicken struggled out of the cracked shell.

The scene was so shocking that Zhou Qing laughed so hard she fell onto the kang, trying not to laugh out loud, making her stomach hurt as she rolled back and forth.

"Did you just wrap it in mud without killing it first?"

Zhou Huaishan...

The featherless chicken tried to escape. Fearful it would make a sound, he pounced on it like a hungry wolf, smothering it with his shirt.

"I knocked it out, and when it didn’t move, I thought it was dead. Damn, even after plucking it, it’s still alive!"

Zhou Qing buried her head under the blanket, laughing so hard it sounded like a goose.

Zhou Huaishan, still holding the chicken, also couldn’t help but laugh.

In the end, neither of them ate the beggar's chicken. Zhou Qing put the chicken in the kitchen, planning to stew it the next morning.

After giving Zhou Huaishan a few instructions, she went to sleep in Zhou Yao’s room.

The Zhou family’s eldest son never did any work.

Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Huailin were responsible for farming, Zhao and Zhou Yao for vegetable gardening, while Zhou Qing and Zhou Ping handled the daily meals, raising pigs and chickens, and doing laundry.

The next morning.

Zhou Qing, as usual, got up early to sweep the yard and make breakfast.

Sun lay on the kang, listening to the sounds outside, sneering at Old Zhou, "What did I say, the second son is just pretending. You even wanted to get a doctor. You can’t start this precedent. There’s just so little money in the family, not enough for Yuan's studies. Where would we find extra money?"

Old Zhou sighed, "Be nicer to the second and third sons in the future."

Sun spat, "I’m not a stepmother!^[3]"

As she spoke, daylight brightened.

Just as Sun got up, Wang burst in.

"Have the second family admitted their mistake?"

"Mother, Qing cooked the chicken!"

Upon hearing this, Sun almost spat out blood in anger.

That chicken was meant for laying eggs.

Even if it was to be cooked, it should wait until Zhou Yuan returned to eat it.

"That little brat! She’s doing this to spite me!" Sun trembled with anger and rushed to the kitchen.

Wang followed closely behind.

When Sun burst into the kitchen, the third son’s family was already seated.

Zhou Ping eagerly looked at the large pot Zhou Qing brought out, "Sister, are we having chicken for breakfast? It's not even my birthday yet."

Zhou Qing placed the pot on the table and patted Zhou Ping’s head, "Got lots of questions in your head, huh?"

"Who told you to kill the chicken?" Sun's roar from the doorway shattered the joyful atmosphere of having chicken for breakfast.

_____

Footnotes:

[1] Beggar's chicken is a traditional Chinese dish where a whole chicken is wrapped in lotus leaves, then coated in mud or clay, and baked.

[2] 泥蛋 (mud egg) is a playful term referring to the mud-coated chicken used in making beggar's chicken.

[3] In this context, she means that as their real mother, she shouldn't have to be told to be nicer to her own children, implying she already treats them properly.