Chapter 064: The Chicken-Catching Strategy

Qinghu crept up carefully behind the partridge hen. With a gentle slap of her fair little hand on its head, the bird fainted instantly. Qinghu quickly tied its beak shut, bundled its body with rope, and tossed it into a cloth sack.

One by one, she gathered the eggs from the grassy nests, placing them gently into her basket.

After clearing out a nest, Qinghu and Xiaobai tiptoed around several patrolling partridge roosters, targeting only the brooding hens. Their actions were quiet, swift, and ruthless.

In no time, Xiaobai had silently delivered a sackful of live chickens and a basket of eggs back to the large wooden raft. She dumped the live birds into the big basket on the raft. “Watch these closely. Miss managed to get them all.”

The two boys guarding the raft thumped their chests in assurance, promising not to let a single bird escape.

Shortly after Xiaobai left, Jiuquan and Qingquan returned together, each carrying a large basket and a cloth sack filled with live chickens and eggs. The chickens were all unconscious; once they woke, no doubt they'd start clucking for help.

“Do you have any rope? Could you help us tie the chicks’ beaks?” Qingquan asked.

“We brought plenty. Leave it to us.” The boys on guard quickly took over the baskets and sacks, carefully transferring the birds to the raft and binding both their beaks and bodies.

“Ahem, you’re pretty good at this,” Qingquan said, laughing at their skillful knots.

“We’ve seen Miss and the maids tie up chickens so many times. By the way, that big basket over there is what Miss and Xiaobai brought back.”

At this, Qingquan and Jiuquan saw the overflowing basket of live chickens. Even those that had revived lay motionless, trussed up with their beaks and claws bound.

Qingquan burst out laughing. “This is some honest binding! No wonder, with Miss and Xiaobai at work.”

“Let me see, let me learn! This technique is quite interesting,” Jiuquan said with a hunter’s eagerness and began to study the method. Qingquan also watched closely, then joined the boys to help tie up the chickens.

“Besides us, has anyone else brought chickens back yet?”

“Not yet. We’ll probably need to wait a bit longer,” one of the guards replied. “Not many people know how to bind chickens like this. As they catch more, some of the unconscious birds will wake up and start clucking. When that happens, the partridge flocks will come looking for trouble.”

After tying a few chickens, Qingquan and Jiuquan quickly got the hang of it and headed back into the grass and low woods with more rope.

Xiaobai, Qingquan, and Jiuquan returned once more, each time bringing more live chickens and eggs.

Before their third trip was complete, chaos erupted in the thickets.

Cluck, cluck, cluck…

At last, a partridge let out a wail, and the rest of the flocks sprang into action. They beat their wings and set off searching for the invaders, attacking fiercely at the first sign of an enemy.

More and more partridges gathered; those caught were forced to retreat from the woods with cries of pain.

Even Shen Qingjin and his group were discovered. They shielded their faces with their arms to avoid being pecked blind and supported one another as they retreated slowly. As they withdrew, they deftly caught attacking birds—wringing necks and hanging them from their belts. Qingjin, quick of hand, even managed to stun birds that flew too close and added them to his haul. Shen Qingzhen, a bit slower, had his hands bloodied by pecks but still caught seven or eight.

Qingquan and Jiuquan had their share of scratches but also brought back birds.

Everyone hurried back to the raft, where they found Xiaobai and Qinghu already seated on the benches, surrounded by several large baskets of live chickens and sacks.

The rest of the young men quickly boarded with their spoils. Then, one by one, the large rafts left the island, speeding toward the peninsula.

Only when the rafts were far from the island’s edge did the partridges retreat into the woods.

Though scratched and wounded, the group’s harvest was impressive. Once ashore, they counted their catch: over six hundred partridge hens, with the trio of Qingjin and his siblings bringing in the most. There were also more than two thousand eggs gathered.

“Well done, everyone! There’ll be a reward for all when we return—two hundred red gold coins each,” Qingjin announced with satisfaction.

None of the young men had ever seen such generous rewards. Cheers erupted around them.

The dead birds needed to be processed quickly; the live ones required care. As for the eggs, Qingjin had already arranged to send them to the chicks’ nursery, with Qinghu accompanying the delivery, eager to give everything a final check.

There were so many partridges that Qingjin had to set aside another courtyard just for raising them.

For dinner, they enjoyed spicy stir-fried partridge, clear stewed partridge, crisp-fried partridge racks, and roasted partridge skewers. Even Mrs. Feng, who had been eating well lately with Qingjin’s family, was delighted. “Oh, I haven’t had wild partridge in ages. The last time was before I got married, with my father.”

“Shall we send a box of frozen partridges to Grandfather?” Qinghu asked.

“If we pluck and gut them, we can fit more in the box,” Qingzhen added.

But Mrs. Feng shook her head. “I just sent grass carp and carp recently. If I send too much, my family’s side might start complaining. If they see us as easy marks, there’s no point. We’ll wait awhile before sending more.”

“That’s fine. When the partridges are plentiful, we’ll make cured chicken and send a whole box,” Qinghu replied.

“Cured chicken isn’t as tasty,” Mrs. Feng said. “Better to clean and freeze them first.”

Second Aunt Shen looked enviously at Mrs. Feng. Having severed ties with her family, she had no parents to care for her.

“Eat up and stay healthy. We’ll have a few little ones of our own,” Second Uncle Shen said, quickly trying to distract his wife.

At his words, Second Aunt Shen blushed and gazed at him with such affection it seemed she might melt him with a glance.

Qingzhen, watching from the side, felt a chill run down his spine.

How did Second Uncle tolerate it?

Qingjin quickly turned his younger brother’s face away, toward their parents.

Damn it, why keep watching Second Uncle and Aunt? Couldn’t he see even Second Uncle’s lips were twitching?

Ning Qi hid a smile, thinking it truly was entertaining to share meals with the Shen family.

Old Zhao, face stern, focused solely on his food. Finding a wife was definitely moving up his list of priorities—otherwise, Old Shen and Second Shen would keep flaunting their affection right in his face, and that was simply too much.