Chapter 269 - 267: Bamboo Forest Chicken

Chapter 269: Chapter 267: Bamboo Forest Chicken

As she pushed open the door, Lin Qiao didn’t forget to explain, "My dog is really fierce. He barks like crazy when he sees strangers, but he won’t bite as long as I’m here. If he starts barking in a bit, don’t be scared."

"I’m not scared. Usually, dogs are the ones scared of me," Gu Nuan Nuan replied casually.

"Haha, Nuannuan, you’re hilarious." Lin Qiao burst out laughing. But mid-laugh, she noticed her big dog—the very one that usually barked nonstop at strangers—cowering in a corner and staring their way, its gaze timid. She blinked, wondering if she was seeing things. Her dog was certainly not acting like his usual self today; he didn’t even run over to wind himself around her ankles.

Puzzled, she let out a small "Huh?" and beckoned to the large dog. "Heizi, come here." But the dog, Heizi, only cowered more. Instead of obeying her, it tucked its tail between its legs and bolted as if terrified, vanishing from sight. This left Lin Qiao utterly baffled. "What’s gotten into him? Since when did he get so shy?"

’Hahaha, Master, I’m starting to think this new girl of yours has terrible eyesight! I could let it slide when she thought you were just shy because you didn’t feel like talking to people. But anyone with eyes can see that dog was scared out of its wits, and she still calls it ’shy’! That’s hysterical! Oh man, I’m dying of laughter...’

Cao Cao, who had emerged from its space at some unknown point, was clutching its stomach and rolling with laughter in mid-air. The sight of it convulsing with mirth made Gu Nuan Nuan smile. She said to Lin Qiao, "Let him be. Maybe he just really had to go?"

"Pfft..." It was the first time Lin Qiao had heard such a funny excuse, and she couldn’t help but laugh along. "Oh, well. It’s better that he’s not here. It gets annoying when he’s constantly circling my feet anyway."

"How big is your family’s bamboo forest? And how long is the lease for?" Gu Nuan Nuan asked casually, looking around as Lin Qiao turned back to close the gate. She noticed the terrain of the forest wasn’t flat; they were standing on a small earthen slope.

"Twenty or thirty mu, I think?"

Lin Qiao closed the gate, turned, and led Gu Nuan Nuan deeper into the bamboo forest. "I’m not exactly sure, but I think that’s what my parents said. I do know how long the lease is for, though. Back then, my mom insisted on the longest possible term, seventy years. Later, she told me in private that she regretted leasing it for so long. She said it would’ve been much better if she’d listened to my dad and chosen the shortest term of thirty years."

"I’m sure your mom will be glad she did before long," Gu Nuan Nuan said, glancing around.

"Why?" Lin Qiao asked, looking at her in confusion.

"How can your family be worried about money when you’re sitting on a treasure trove?" Gu Nuan Nuan sighed. "Besides bamboo and bamboo shoots, you can intercrop bamboo fungus and other mushrooms in the forest. You could even grow some shade-loving medicinal herbs. Or, to keep it simple, you could raise chickens, ducks, and geese. Any one of those would definitely bring in more money than just digging up bamboo shoots or selling bamboo stalks."

A jolt of excitement ran through Lin Qiao. She stared blankly at Gu Nuan Nuan, listening as she continued, "You don’t have to do anything too complicated at first. Just starting with the simplest thing—raising chickens—would be great. Intercropping bamboo fungus, mushrooms, or even growing medicinal herbs requires some technical skill, but raising chickens is easy, right? Plus, your bamboo forest has a wall around the perimeter, so you don’t have to worry about the chickens running away or being stolen."

Gu Nuan Nuan walked around, looking this way and that, earnestly recalling what she knew about raising chickens in a bamboo forest from her past life. "Mhm, free-range chickens from a bamboo forest—whether it’s the meat or the broth—will taste completely different from regular farm-raised chickens. I’ve had it before; the flavor is much richer. You wouldn’t have to worry about finding buyers at all. Plus, raising them this way doesn’t require a lot of manpower. You just let the chickens forage for themselves in the forest. The grass and insects should be enough for them to eat. Water isn’t hard to solve, either. Just chop down a few bamboo stalks at set intervals, and the water inside the segments will be enough for them to drink..."

"...Even if it’s a good idea, w-we don’t have any money right now. We can’t afford to do any of this."

For a moment, hearing Gu Nuan Nuan’s words had filled Lin Qiao with the excitement of a desert traveler stumbling upon an oasis. But that feeling quickly faded as she remembered her family’s situation. The despair of being crushed by heavy debt washed over her. No matter how good the idea was, it was impossible without money. Suddenly, it was as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head in the dead of winter, chilling her to the bone.

Truly, a lack of money can stump even the greatest of men.

Gu Nuan Nuan looked at Lin Qiao, who was staring at the ground in misery, and broke into a radiant smile. "Have you forgotten that you’ve already sold yourself to me?"

Lin Qiao stared at her blankly. What did that joke of a servitude contract have to do with anything right now?

"Pfft."

Gu Nuan Nuan laughed. Lin Qiao’s expression was adorably dazed. She explained with a smile, "Since you’ve already sold yourself to me, money isn’t an issue. I happen to have some pocket money on me, about five thousand yuan. That should be enough for your family to buy chicks. I’m not just giving it to you, either. Consider it a loan. There’s no rush to pay it back, and you don’t have to worry about interest. After all, you’ve already sold yourself to me. We’ll just count the interest as the payment for that."

’Gu Nuan Nuan’s offer to lend money was also a deliberate test of Lin Qiao and her parents. She wanted to see if they were as simple and honest as they appeared, or if they would be the type to borrow money and never pay it back. To her, five thousand yuan wasn’t a large sum. If it could help her gauge the character of someone she wanted on her side, it was worth it.’

"Five thousand yuan? How could you have that much pocket money?"

Lin Qiao was astonished. As the eldest daughter in a poor family, she had always been sensible for her age, a maturity hastened by her mother’s habit of venting her troubles to her. From what she knew, even her uncle’s monthly salary, including all his subsidies, was only a little over a hundred yuan. Five thousand yuan was an absolutely colossal sum. It would take her uncle over three, almost four years to earn that much, and that was only if he saved every penny. Yet Gu Nuan Nuan was telling her she had that much just in pocket money.

"It’s just the allowance my dad, mom, grandpa, grandma, uncle, and aunt give me, plus my New Year’s money every year." The actual amount was, of course, far more than that; this was just a fraction of it, but Gu Nuan Nuan had no intention of scaring Lin Qiao with the real number. She smiled. "I don’t really have much to spend it on, so it just piled up over time."

’Gu Nuan Nuan knew that what she’d just said might sound like bragging to Lin Qiao, but how else was she supposed to explain it?’