Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 159

Zhou Chunwen frowned, thinking to himself that something was wrong. He turned to look and saw Zhou Tianxiang's neighbor not far away loading cow dung into a donkey cart, apparently intending to take it to the fields as fertilizer.

"Uncle Zhang, where are my brother's chickens? There aren't any left."

Hearing Zhou Chunwen's voice, Uncle Zhang looked up, his expression seemingly very happy: "Hey, they're all dead. If they were alive, they would come to our manure pile all day long and keep nagging, making a mess of the road. It's good that they're dead, it's good that they're dead."

Uncle Zhang was quite happy that all of Zhou Tianxiang's chickens had died. While many city dwellers might find the idea of ​​raising chickens and ducks in the countryside and eating eggs appealing, Uncle Zhang found it repulsive. After all, Zhou Tianxiang's hens weren't just laying eggs for him; they also crowed loudly at night and left droppings everywhere during the day, especially in the summer, creating a foul stench.

Moreover, in the summer, those chickens did nothing but enter his vegetable garden and eat all the leaves off the vegetables he planted. Uncle Zhang told him off several times, but Zhou Tianxiang didn't do much to stop. His chickens just kept roaming freely.

Uncle Zhang was actually quite helpless. After all, it wasn't a big deal, but it wasn't a small one either. They were neighbors; what's wrong with them raising a few chickens? It wasn't illegal. Even if they ate all of Uncle Zhang's vegetable garden, there was nothing he could do, since it wasn't intentional on his part—the chickens ate it.

Uncle Zhang was in a good mood and had had enough of this over the past few years, so when he talked about how all the chickens at Zhou Tianxiang's house had died, he was particularly relieved. However, he was also afraid that Zhou Chunwen would complain to Zhou Tianxiang later, so he continued, "I don't know what happened to these chickens, they just disappeared in the last couple of days. Maybe they were sold."

Zhou Chunwen thought to himself that Uncle Zhang was talking nonsense. Zhou Tianxiang had more than a hundred chickens at home. In this day and age, who could sell more than a hundred chickens at once? No one could possibly buy that many.

"Is he sick?"

Uncle Zhang shook his head vigorously: "I don't know. Anyway, it's gone. It was still there for the first few days, but then it kept having those greenish-blue poops, which almost made me sick. After that, I don't know. Maybe it was sold, maybe it died. Who knows?"

Zhou Chunwen already knew all this, so he didn't ask any more questions. Just as he was about to go back, he saw Zhou Tianxiang's wife come out and look around. When she saw Zhou Chunwen, she said, "Chunwen, what brings you here? Your older brother went to your uncle's house."

Zhou Chunwen said with a smile, "I'm just passing by. It's nothing. I'm just checking if the road is easy to travel now. If it is, that's fine. I'm just worried that the road is not very good recently, and it will be difficult to go up the mountain."

"By the way, Chunwen. Your older brother is going to have a wedding ceremony on the tenth of the month, that's a good thing. But it's cold now, so getting food will be a problem. If you need tables, chairs, or anything like that, just come to my house and get them."

"Okay, sister-in-law, I'm off now." Zhou Chunwen said goodbye to Zhou Tianxiang's wife, Yang, and hurried home.

Back home, he said to Zhao Da'e, "Da'e, it's exactly as you said. All the chickens at my cousin's house are dead. Not a single one left. Maybe these three big roosters are still alive and were brought to our house. What are we going to do?"

"Just throw it away, there's no way to fix it. You can't eat this stuff if you get sick," Zhao Da'e said helplessly. "It's contagious. Although it might not be very contagious, people definitely can't eat it. And you can't feed it to dogs or anything like that."

Zhou Chunhong wanted to keep them, but Zhou Chunwen scolded her a few times and snatched the roosters from her hands, intending to throw them away.

"Hey goose, where do we throw this thing? Leaving it near the house is definitely not an option."

Zhao Da'e also had a headache: "We might have to find the village veterinarian to take a look. This thing is no joke. If one family gets sick, the whole village has to be killed."

“That won’t do.” Zhou Chunwen immediately refused: “If I go and they come and wipe out all the chickens in the village, wouldn’t I become the village’s eternal sinner?”

Zhao Da'e sighed, "Sister, it's almost certainly chicken plague, right? If you don't tell the vet, in a few days, all the chickens in the village will be wiped out. They're going to die sooner or later anyway. It's better to tell the village. What if other people's chickens get sick and they eat them? That would spoil the meal!"

Zhou Chunwen, however, felt that this matter should not be revealed. After all, if his own chickens were to contract fowl plague, they would simply die, and that would be the end of it; there was no escaping it anyway. But if he went to tell the veterinarian that there was fowl plague in the village and that all the chickens would be killed, the village would blame him.

Moreover, Zhou Chunwen felt that her elder brother, Zhou Tianfu, was about to become a high-ranking official and needed capable people, so it would be too offensive to say it out loud. She absolutely refused to agree.

Zhao Da'e understood Zhou Chunwen's feelings and thoughts. After all, this was a mountainous area where everyone lived quite far apart, and the spread of the virus would take time and distance. Perhaps many people's chickens would be fine.

Moreover, if this were told to the village, they would definitely cull all the chickens in the entire village of Jurenzhangzi. This would be a great loss for the villagers.

Perhaps this matter will eventually become undeniable, but I don't have any concrete evidence, and it hasn't been verified, so if I'm wrong, it will be difficult to handle.

"Alright then. But you don't have to say anything, but I'll go back and talk to my great-grandfather. We can't buy chickens from your village anymore."

Zhou Chunwen didn't care about that, so he instructed, "Just don't mention that it happened in my house."

"rest assured."

"What should we do with these? Throw them up on the mountaintop?" Zhou Chunwen asked.

In the past, if there was a dead chicken, duck, or goose, it would be thrown on the mountaintop, where there were wild animals that would eat it.

"No. The correct thing to do is to burn it," Zhao Da'e analyzed.

"Burned it?" Zhou Chunwen was stunned: "Wouldn't that make the whole place stink?"

Zhao Da'e didn't have much experience with this either: "I don't know. Maybe we could find a useless place, dig a hole, throw in some lime or caustic soda to disinfect it, and then bury it."

Actually, it would be easiest for you to leave this to the vet; they'll take care of it for you. But since you don't want to, you'll just have to bury it. And, sister, I'm not complaining, but some things just won't do. If you don't say anything now, it'll be difficult if something else happens later.”

Zhou Chunwen thought for a moment and said, "Alright. I'll go bury it. Er Ya, you come with me. Da'e, you stay home and watch the house."

Zhao Da'e, however, felt that this situation was not ideal. Although she wasn't a saint, she still felt that she needed to remind the people in her village about this.

She wasn't familiar with the area around the Juren Cane, so she figured she could do whatever she wanted in their village. She just hoped the chickens in her village wouldn't get fowl plague, or they wouldn't have any eggs to eat in the future.

So Zhao Da'e locked the door to Zhou Chunwen's house and then walked back to Dongtaizi Village.

Upon arriving in the village, Zhao Da'e went straight to Zhao Tingming's house. As soon as he entered, Zhao Da'e began shouting, "Grandpa, Grandpa, something terrible has happened! You have to call a village meeting!"

Zhao Tingming was wallpapering inside when he heard Zhao Da'e's voice and came out: "What's wrong, Da'e?"

“Recently, it seems there’s been some kind of chicken plague in the neighboring village of Juren Zhangzi. People in our village should be careful not to eat or buy chickens from there, as they can easily spread disease. It’s not a big deal, just keep all the chickens in our village penned up. And tell Zhao Tieqing’s son, Zhao Yongdong, and the other idle folks in the village not to go up the mountain to catch wild chickens lately, as they can easily spread disease,” Zhao Da’e said.

Zhao Tingming frowned, glanced at Zhao Dage, and seeing that she didn't seem to be lying, he agreed: "I'll wallpaper the wall later, and after I'm done, I'll go get the megaphone and shout a few times."

"The loudspeaker is in your house, just shout it out. Don't worry, Grandpa, if the news is inaccurate, I'll take responsibility."

Zhao Tingming patted Zhao Da'e's head: "Little guy, your great-grandfather isn't a cripple. Why would I ask you to take responsibility for something so small? Hahaha..."

Guo, Zhao Tingming's wife, came out of the house and glanced at the goose: "Oh dear, the goose is here. Come in, come in. It's terribly cold outside. Aren't you staying at your aunt's house? Why are you back? How are your aunt and uncle doing? Did they mistreat you?"

"No, how could those two bully me? My physique is just so-so. I just happened to have something to discuss with my great-grandfather, so I came over." Zhao Da'e chuckled.

"You know, your grandma wronged you last time, and I told her she's getting senile. What kind of nonsense is she spouting? Always causing trouble." Guo sighed. "Your grandpa's getting senile too. These two, the money's gone, so be it. Giving it to Zhao Chunqin is fine with Zhao Chunqin. It's understandable that Zhao Chunqin borrowed money to buy an apartment. She can just pay it back later. But look at them, they really know how to cause trouble."

Your grandma doesn't go to the barn very often. Let me tell you, it's only because your mom and your third aunt are honest that they're willing to divorce; otherwise, they would have gotten a divorce long ago.

Zhao Da'e: "Um...Grandma, actually Zhang Cuilan ran away too. My mom couldn't do anything about it. Even if she could, she wouldn't have stayed with my dad. She saved up money for six or seven years, but my grandparents took it all and spent it. My mom was the honest one."

But it doesn't really matter. Mainly, it's something that can't be changed now. Those few "spiritual mediums" in my family are just like that. They'll have their day to regret it.

"They brought this on themselves. They're old and still causing trouble. I really don't know what your grandparents were thinking. They're practically half-buried in the ground, and they still can't tell good from bad. Nobody cares about them. I told your great-grandfather that he shouldn't get involved in your family's messes anymore," Guo complained. "They're just embarrassing themselves. Your grandparents are always causing trouble. They do nothing but schemes. They even supported your aunt through university, and they still don't cause any trouble, they even give her money. What about the rest of the brothers?"

Zhao Tingming scolded, "Alright, alright, you can say less. That seventh brother isn't my own brother, how can I meddle in their family's mess? I have no choice... I have to help even if it's embarrassing, after all, he's my brother and my brother's wife."

Guo laughed: "Alright, alright, your brother and his wife are good people. They're both good people."

Zhao Tingming: "..."

"Alright. Big Goose, come inside, come inside." Zhao Tingming ushered Zhao Big Goose into the house.

However, there was no room to stand inside; the elderly couple were pasting a large pile of old newspapers on the walls.

In rural areas of northern China, few houses were decorated inside during that era. Although the exteriors were often quite nice, the interiors were mostly undecorated.

This also has a lot to do with the region. In places like Zhao Da'e's area, most people like to show off. They keep the substance to themselves, but decorate the outside to some extent. Nine out of ten of the rooms are covered with newspapers.

Zhao Tingming's room was filled with scaffolding, stools, glue, newspapers, and a whole bunch of other things, making Zhao Da'e unsure where to stand.

Guo quickly cleared a space on the kang (a heated brick bed): "Big goose, get on the kang."

Zhao Da'e's lips twitched: "Then don't bother getting on the kang (heated brick bed). There's nowhere to sit on the headboard."

Zhao Da'e didn't know that the other party was doing renovations. Usually, this kind of work is done before the end of the year, so when everyone visits each other for the New Year, they will see that the house is bright and clean, which is great.

Doing this ahead of time is a bit premature.

"Why are you wallpapering the walls now? Why didn't you do it sooner?"

“It’s getting late. Your uncle will be back in a few days. He’s a senior now, graduating next year. After that, he’ll be working and won’t have time to live at home anymore. That’s why I was thinking of cleaning and tidying up in advance so your uncle can live more comfortably.” Guo’s face lit up with smiles when she talked about her son, Zhao Tieyue. “We’ve finally managed to support him through university. It’s exhausted your great-grandfather and me.”

Zhao Tingming has five daughters and one son. However, in the era when Zhao Tingming was born, having many children was strongly encouraged. So he had a lot of children. Although the old man was over sixty, his son was only in his twenties.

Zhao Tieyue studied medicine at a university in the north, so his studies took a particularly long time. Medical school usually takes about six years, and this year was Zhao Tieyue's graduation year. His parents, Zhao Tingming and his wife, started tidying up their house in advance so they could have a peaceful and happy New Year when their son returned.

"Grandma, my uncle is the most capable person in our family. I, Zhao Da'e, have decided that I will learn from my uncle and work hard every day."

Zhao Tingming laughed: "Alright, goose. You can't even read. If you go back to school after the New Year, your great-grandfather will burn incense this thick." Zhao Tingming gestured as he spoke: "But with your temper, the school probably won't tolerate you. You'll probably punch the teachers and kick the principal, won't you?"

"Hiss... Grandpa, you're insulting me. I'm not that kind of person. I would never do something like hitting the principal. At most, I'll beat up the younger kids. In our Dongtaizi Village Elementary School, I'm the king." Zhao Da'e said with a smile.

Upon hearing Zhao Da'e's words, Zhao Tingming and his wife were overjoyed: "Great! You're capable, no wonder you're called Da'e."

“Your second aunt’s daughter will also be starting school next year, so you two will have each other’s company then.”

“That Li Wei from my second aunt’s family? Don’t worry, don’t worry. I definitely won’t beat her up…” Zhao Da’e gestured. “Let’s change the subject, Grandpa. I feel like I’ve fallen into a ditch and can’t get out. After you two talked, I’ve become the bad guy. I only sent my grandma to jail twice, that wasn’t my fault.”

My grandma loved the atmosphere of Balizi and insisted on going. We couldn't stop her. I even said to her, "Grandma, you're a real man! You're so lucky! You don't have to work in Balizi, and they provide food and lodging. It's the perfect place for you to retire..."