Bu Bing calculated the time and materials clearly. He even used his hands to measure the size of a bag of chicken manure needed to soak the worms, and how much chicken manure could be saved by fifty chickens.

He also told how his sister dug up the soil in front of the chickens and dug out the bugs.

While talking, if you are not sick, you should blow the bamboo whistle from time to time, and the laggard ducks will run two steps to catch up with the team.

If the ducks did not line up, but huddled together, a reed pole would pull at them, and the ducks would immediately line up obediently and follow each other.

Chu Qing thought it was amazing: "How did you make them listen to you? Two fried dough sticks."

I'm glad I'm not sick. Soy milk is sweet and difficult to store. The fried dough sticks should last for a few days. If you make more fried dough sticks, your family will save food for several days.

Wu Bing replied: "After the chicks are twenty days old, my sister starts to take them to the fields. It takes a month for others to let them out, but my family has too little food, so I can only take them to the fields to eat."

.

I will take the little ducks out for ten days, increasing the distance every day, and they will soon be able to reach this big puddle from my house."

Chu Qing looked up and saw that the lake ahead, known as Big Water Paozi, was not a small lake last year.

When the ducks saw the water, they started to have fun, and the formation broke up. They took two steps forward and turned back to see if they were okay. They took another two steps forward, turned back again, and were waiting for the master's order.

Wu Bing blew the bamboo whistle and made a long sound. The ducks immediately rushed towards the bubble with cheers of "quack quack".

"We take the ducks out every day and eat them along the way. We can also go to the water to bathe and eat small fish and shrimps. This can save a lot of food for the family.

But, now the family still can't afford to raise them. My mother is sick, so I have to leave some millet for my mother to make porridge." She said with some frustration.

Chickens and ducks don't graze for very long every day, so they need to be fed several times in the morning and evening when they get home. Especially ducks, which have rectal intestines, eat and poop at the same time, so they need to be fed constantly.

"Give me some millet for my mother, what do you eat?" Chu Qing asked.

"It's easy for us. You see, you can pick a lot along the way. People who can eat chickens and ducks can also eat it. It's not unpalatable." Wu Bing said: "I still have some rice bran at home, mixed with wild vegetables.

Together, just sprinkle a little salt on it."

Chu Qing felt sad when she heard this, and left the food for her mother to eat, so that such a young child would eat bran-thick vegetables.

"How old is your sister? Can she eat like this?" Chu Qing asked again.

"My sister was younger than me for an hour. The aunt next door said that I came out first, and then my mother fainted. My aunt pinched her awake, and she fainted again. My sister almost suffocated to death and couldn't get out." Wu Bing said:

"My sister is also weak, so my mother always divides the millet porridge between the two of us. We have to lie to my mother every time and tell her which aunt outside gave me pancakes or dug radishes in the fields."

This is a pair of twins.

In such an era and in such an environment, giving birth to a child is a gamble, let alone twins! No wonder his mother is in poor health.

The more Chu Qing listened, the more distressed she became: "Have you grown food this year?"

"No, last year there was a flood, and my mother got gonorrhea in order to collect food. She has been in bad condition. This year, my sister and I have to take care of my mother, as well as the chickens and ducks, and I can't even pick up a hoe.

." Wu Bing lowered his head in self-reproach as he spoke.

Chu Qing: "How old are you? How can you swing a hoe! Where is your father?"

Not sick: "I am eight years old, not young! But for some reason, I am old, short, and weak. My father died when I was two years old. He died in Donglun."

"Alas." Xiangzi behind him let out a long sigh.

He was eight years old, but he lost his father when he was two years old. It was during the war with Dong Lun and Voss that year. Xiangzi survived, and he still has all his tail and tail, but this child has no father.

Xiangzi was lucky. He entered the military camp as a refugee and had the opportunity to retire.

Even if he is not sick, he will not be able to do it. If his father dies, he will have to be registered as a "reserve soldier."

His sister can only marry into a military household in the future, because civilian households will never marry into military households.

If you choose to intermarry with a military household, it means that the civilian household has given up its household registration and becomes a military household. The sister who is not sick will continue to live the same miserable life as her mother.

The ducks have almost finished playing, so I don't mind blowing the whistle to call them back.

The ducks gathered around him again, waiting for the next order.

Chu Qing saw something stuck to the beaks of some ducks. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be locust eggs.

"How could a duck dig out insect eggs if it doesn't know how to dig for food?" Chu Qing was surprised.

There is no way to know this question, because he also asked his mother: "My mother said that chickens, ducks and geese all eat sand and mud, because sometimes they need these things to help them grind the food in their stomachs;

The duck's beak is so long that if you insert it into the mud, the eggs that are buried shallower will be brought up;

My sister goes to herd chickens...well, to herd chickens, I just take them to the fields to peck at insect eggs and earthworms. For twenty-day-old chicks, my sister tries to let them eat insect eggs so that they are easy to digest, but they can't eat too much."

Twenty days! A twenty-day-old chick can eat locust eggs!

You don’t have to eat full-grown locusts!

"Do the people in your village herd chickens and ducks like this?" Chu Qing's eyes were bright.

"No," Wu Bing replied: "There are few duck raisers in the village, and we don't have time to herd ducks. We have to work in the fields;

Their children occasionally help herd the ducks, and the chickens are kept in pens in the yard for fear of being lost;

In fact, it is not safe to keep them in captivity at home, as there are still foxes and jackals who eat them secretly;

My sister and I have to get up several times every night to check."

Such a young child does not have enough to eat and cannot sleep well. No wonder the eight-year-old child looks like he is only five or six years old.

"I hired you and your sister to work. If you are paid, do you want to do it?" Chu Qing asked.

"Ah? No. My sister and I have to take care of our mother, and we have to take turns tending the chickens and ducks." Wu Bing replied, with a regretful tone in his voice. He couldn't make any money.

Chu Qing: "What if it doesn't affect your ability to take care of your mother? This question is not a big deal."

Not sick: "Can you? I also asked a question. You don't need to give you dough sticks for this."

Chu Qing laughed: "Hahahaha, yes! I will call you the 'Duck Commander' and your sister the 'Chicken Commander';

You must lead the children in the village to raise and herd chickens and ducks with you, and teach them your methods to eliminate insects and insect eggs in the fields;

You are responsible for training an army of 'Charging Ducks', and your sister is responsible for training an army of 'Fighting Chickens';

Together, the two of you are paid a pound of grain per day, or ten cents, do you want to do this?"

My father is a soldier, and I am a child of a military family. I am very familiar with soldiers.

Naturally, when Wu Bing heard that he had been named "commander" and his younger sisters had become "female commanders", a burst of pride arose spontaneously: "Do it!"

Chu Qing patted him on the shoulder: "'Commander Duck'! I'm optimistic about you! You will definitely be able to lead your army! When your chickens and ducks grow up, you can sell them to me at the same price as the county town!"

Also, I forgot how many questions I asked you today, no matter how many, it counts as thirty fried dough sticks!"


Chapter completed!