In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 90 An astonishing number of chickens and ducks

As the five women were talking, a tall figure walked over. Upon closer inspection, they immediately recognized the person.

"Cheng-ge'er".

Wu Yun smiled and waved to Chen Cheng. The other four also greeted Chen Cheng with smiles. They all knew that Chen Cheng was one of the first people to work with Chen Dao, so they wanted to ask him about some things.

"Hello, Aunt Wu!"

Chen Cheng scratched his head as he responded to the crowd, looking somewhat awkward.

Despite calling these women "aunties," they weren't actually much older than him. Lacking experience in interacting with women, Chen Cheng felt very uncomfortable in front of so many women.

"Cheng-ge'er, I heard you're working for Dao-ge'er now?" Wu Yun asked.

"Yes."

Chen Cheng nodded: "Brother Dao thinks highly of me and gave me a job."

The women's eyes lit up when they heard Chen Cheng's answer, and Qian Yu quickly asked, "Brother Cheng, how is helping Brother Dao with the work? Will you get enough to eat?"

"of course can."

Without hesitation, Chen Cheng replied, "I ate steamed buns with egg drop soup every day at Daoge's house, and I ate very well!"

Steamed buns with egg drop soup!

The women exchanged glances, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes. Feeding a big-bellied man like Chen Cheng steamed buns and egg drop soup every day, this Daoge'er family is too rich!

"Cheng-ge'er, is Dao-ge'er easy to get along with? Does he swear when we're working?"

"No! Brother Dao is very good to me."

"And what about Aunt Li? Is she easy to get along with?"

"pretty good."

"..."

After asking a few questions, the women gradually came to a better understanding. Judging from Chen Cheng's answers, working at Chen Dao's house shouldn't be too difficult.

"Squeak."

Just then, the door to Chen Dao's house opened.

Chen Dao looked at the five women waiting outside and recalled their identities from the original owner's memories. The four women were named Wu Yun, Qian Yu, Sun Jie, and Jin Hua. As for the last girl, Chen Dao remembered that she was named Chen Lian.

Chen Dao recalled that the four women in front were widows in the village, and the young girl Chen Lian also came from a family that had lost her parents. They were all the poorest families, and Chen He did not show favoritism in this matter.

"Good morning, Brother Dao."

Upon seeing Chen Dao, the six people hurriedly greeted him with ingratiating smiles on their faces.

Chen Dao then said, "Come in, it's cold outside."

So, Chen Dao led everyone into the house, gestured for Chen Cheng to wait in the front yard, and then led the five women through the living room to the back yard.

Upon entering the backyard, the five women's faces showed expressions of shock.

Everyone in Chenjia Village knows that Chen Dao's family raises a lot of chickens, but they don't know the exact number, only vaguely guessing that there are quite a few.

But at this moment... when they saw the huge flock of chickens in front of them, Chen Lian and the other four couldn't help but be shocked!

Looking around, the entire backyard was densely packed with golden-yellow chickens. Each of these chickens was so huge and looked so plump. Even the fluffy little chicks looked exceptionally adorable.

How many chickens are there?

Chen Lian subconsciously spoke up and tried to count the number of chickens, only to find that there were too many chickens in the backyard to count them all in a short time.

Besides the chickens, there were also two dogs and a flock of ducks in the backyard. The sounds of chickens clucking, ducks quacking, and dogs barking blended together, and the people who heard the sounds didn't find them noisy at all; on the contrary, they were quite pleased.

They were initially worried that Chen Dao's claim about raising chickens was false, but now they are completely relieved. With so many chickens and ducks here, Chen Dao must be short of manpower to help.

Chen Dao gave everyone a little time to adjust, then said, "What I need you to do is very simple."

"First, clean up the chicken and duck droppings every day."

"Second, remember the number of chickens and ducks and the number of eggs they lay each day. Remember to remove any chicken or duck eggs that fail to hatch."

"Third, feed the chickens and ducks every morning and afternoon."

"..."

Chen Dao told the five women everything that needed to be done.

After listening, Wu Yun couldn't help but say, "Brother Dao, is this all we need to do?"

Wu Yun had assumed that the work Chen Dao had assigned them would be very hard, otherwise he wouldn't have paid them one tael of silver a month. But to her surprise, the tasks they were required to do were so simple that Wu Yun felt that one tael of silver was too much.

"It's that simple!"

Chen Dao nodded. "Wait a moment, I'll go get the grain. You'll be in charge of feeding the chickens and ducks today."

With that, Chen Dao went back into the house.

After Chen Dao left, Qian Yu stared at the vast number of chickens and ducks and sighed, "With so many chickens and ducks, no wonder Brother Dao was able to take out so much silver to help the whole village pay taxes."

"Yes!"

Wu Yun nodded repeatedly and said, "These chickens at Daoge's house have bright yellow feathers and are quite big. They look so good, each one can definitely sell for a lot of money."

Chen Lian silently counted the number of chickens and said, "I just counted, there are 150 chickens and 30 ducks, for a total of 180."

"Not bad."

Chen Dao's voice came from behind him. Chen Dao, who was carrying a bag of grain back, looked at Chen Lian in surprise. He hadn't mentioned the number of chickens and ducks, yet Chen Lian was able to count more than a hundred chickens and ducks in such a short time. This showed Chen Lian's meticulousness and calculation ability.

"Brother Dao is here."

Chen Lian felt a little embarrassed after being praised by Chen Dao.

Chen Dao handed the grain bag directly to Chen Lian and said, "The grain is here. Try feeding the chickens and ducks."

After saying that, Chen Dao pointed to Xiao Hei and reminded him, "By the way, do you see that black-footed chicken? Don't mess with it, it can hurt people."

In most people's eyes, domestic chickens, although they may occasionally attack people, are almost harmless. But Xiao Hei is different. It is a fighting chicken equivalent to a ninth-rank martial artist. Therefore, Chen Dao had to give a warning to prevent Chen Lian and the others from accidentally provoking Xiao Hei and being attacked by it.

"We understand."

Chen Lian and the others nodded solemnly. The villagers would occasionally mention the black-footed chicken in Chen Dao's house when they chatted. After all, many young men in the village had witnessed the fighting power of this black-footed chicken. The story of a chicken chasing the three Chen brothers and making them flee in panic had long been spread by the villagers as if it were a legend.

"Then let's get started."

Chen Dao sat down near the door and watched Chen Lian and the others carry bags of grain to feed the chickens and ducks.

When Chen Lian took the grain bag, opened it, and saw the grain inside, she couldn't help but gasp.

"It's all sorghum!"