Chapter 58: A Family of Egg Thieves

  When An arrived at Lewisburg Airport to pick up his checked luggage, he gave old Thomas a big fright. Old Thomas joked and said: "An, aren't you planning on moving the whole of San Francisco over here?"

  Jū ān said: "It's just that I bought some food, all of which were purchased at the Chinese supermarket, there isn't one in Lewisburg."

  Thomas and Ju An loaded several large boxes onto the GMC, then thought for a moment before saying to Ju An: "Lewisburg doesn't have an Asian supermarket, but Niagara Falls definitely does, and I've been there a few times. The money you spent shipping these things from San Francisco can buy several boxes of gasoline, which is enough for ten or more round trips from Niagara Falls."

  He sat still for a moment, then slapped his forehead and said: "Damn! How could I have forgotten about Niagara Falls? Look at my brain, I was only thinking that Lewisburg didn't have one, but Niagara Falls is much bigger than Lewisburg, there must be a Chinese supermarket there, what a loss!"

  Old Thomas smiled and said, "Next time you want to buy these things, go to Niagara Falls City. There are many Chinese restaurants there, and there must be a Chinese supermarket. I didn't hear that you wanted to buy these things, but I reminded you."

  "I also bought it on a whim, and wasted a lot of time with the delivery, oh dear, my brain is a bit dizzy" said with a sigh.

  The two men put everything in the back seat, got comfortable and entered the driver's room. Old Thomas sat down in the passenger seat. The two of them drove to the pasture.

  When they returned to the ranch, when unloading things below, everyone was surprised again. Then, my mother opened several boxes and saw that she had bought 10 kilograms of tofu. Fortunately, the tofu here is vacuum-packed in hard plastic boxes, otherwise it would have been crushed into tofu pulp.

  My mom quickly cleared out the space in the fridge and put some easily spoiled things inside, such as tofu, dried bean curd, and oily bean curd, which took up almost half of the space. The fridge was packed to the brim, and there were still some domestic products like fermented bean curd and yellow flower vegetables that didn't fit inside. You know, our family's fridge is a large double-door one that's as tall as a person, similar to a wardrobe, but it still couldn't hold all these things. Luckily, there was a bit left over, which my mom planned to cook for lunch. As for the dried goods and chili sauce we bought, my mom and older sister put them away in the kitchen cabinets.

  After watching TV for a while, Ju'an returned to her own room, took a bath and changed her clothes. She also put the clothes she had borrowed from her brother's house into the laundry basket. When she brought it downstairs, her sister took over the basket and told Ju'an to focus on her own things, saying that she would help with the laundry. It's no wonder that since their mother and sister arrived, Ju'an has been living a comfortable life - every day someone cooks for her, and now someone is even doing her laundry. She really wishes her mother and sister could stay here forever, but unfortunately, it's already almost September, and her sister and brother-in-law will have to go back to work, while Rongrong will have to start school again, and Tongtong will also have to return to their home country. Before long, this big house will be left empty once more, a thought that fills Ju'an with regret.

  Just as Ju An was about to go out, his mother called him back: "Third son, go take a look by the pond and see if the ducks and geese have laid eggs again. There are a few things that don't lay eggs in their nests, but like to lay them in the grass. If I hadn't accidentally discovered it once, I wouldn't have known. You go to the side of the pond and take a closer look."

  Jū ān answered with a "yeah", then asked: "Where did Rǎn rǎn, Tóng tóng, old dad and sister's husband go? Why can't I see them?"

  Mom said: "Little Jerry's school is holding some kind of science thing, I don't know if friends can be invited, but Little Jerry invited Rongrong and Tongtong to go. Now the four little guys are always together, plus Wusong, Houtou and Suantou didn't get this treatment, they stayed at home. Your dad and your brother-in-law are just mobile wallets."

  Sister smiled and chimed in, "They're having a math and science fair, many of the little ones went today, Jerry's dad and mom both went."

  "Have you told Dad and your brother-in-law? Foreigners usually go Dutch, so just pay for yourself," Ju An asked.

  Sister nodded and said: "I know, I reminded them early on, no problem, now Ruan's English is basically stuttering and can say a few sentences."

  Jū ān nodded and went out to prepare the horse. As he walked to the door, Hǔ tóu and Suàn tóu wagged their tails and welcomed him. At the stable door, a whistle was heard, and soon Dòu cǎo came running over with Xuě huā. After preparing the saddle for Dòu cǎo, he mounted it with Hǔ tóu and Suàn tóu, and galloped towards the direction of the pond.

  From a distance, the loud barks of Pidan and Xisi could be heard. Hu Tou and Suan Tou also joined in, barking furiously. As they rushed over on horseback, they saw that Pidan and Xisi were chasing after a fox. The fox was cunningly running around in circles, and Pidan and Xisi were having trouble keeping up with its agility. Every time they thought they had it cornered, the fox would start running in small circles again, dodging the two dogs' snapping jaws. When Hu Tou and Suan Tou joined the fray, it wasn't long before the four dogs had surrounded the fox. The fox was soon pinned to the ground by Pidan, who had its mouth clamped around the fox's neck. Xisi, Hu Tou, and Suan Tou sat around the fox, panting and barking triumphantly. The master looked at the small fox, which wasn't very big and still quite beautiful, with its light reddish-brown fur and not a single drop of blood on it. Suddenly, Suan Tou, Hu Tou, and Xisi started barking again and ran towards a nearby thicket. At this point, the fox in Pidan's mouth began to struggle, but its struggles were no match for Pidan's strength. Before long, Hu Tou, Suan Tou, and Xisi each returned with a small fox cub in their mouths, which were only slightly larger than the three big dogs' paws and didn't struggle at all in their jaws.

  In the mouth of the pheasant, the big fox was barking even more sharply. Guan An took a look and saw that the whole family had fallen into the net. He said to the four dogs, "Let them go, it's too pitiful." The four dogs put down the fox family in their mouths, but still surrounded them. The old fox escaped safely, but didn't run away. Instead, he circled around the little fox, barking, and the little fox followed suit. If this were a movie, Guan An would be a standard big villain, leading his dog minions to surround poor civilians and rob their belongings.

  "Come over here," said Ju An to the four dog legs. As he spoke, he took a few steps back with the four loyal dog legs. The old fox seemed to understand Ju An's intention and led the little fox towards the forest, turning its head to bark at Ju An twice, seemingly in gratitude.

  Just as Ju An was about to feel sentimental, Xi Si picked up a duck egg from a pile of grass, with a small wet paw print on it that was definitely not a dog's. The four dog paws' prints were much larger than this one. It turned out that the fox family had come to steal his duck eggs. Ju An patted each of the dogs' heads as a reward.

  Then he put the duck eggs under several noses and sniffed, saying: "Take a look, there's still that restless one who laid eggs outside, find them all for me." The four dog legs were ordered to do so, and they barked twice, searching for eggs along the edge of the pond.

  He sat comfortably with his legs crossed, on several plastic chairs, humming a little tune, somewhat resembling the appearance of Huang Shiren who had just been robbed. These chairs were originally folding chairs used by Ju An, but later Old Thomas suggested putting a few plastic chairs here as he found it troublesome every time he brought them, and now Ju An feels that it is indeed much more convenient.

  Just then, I saw Pidan wagging his tail and coming over, with a duck egg still in his mouth. He rubbed Pidan's head and praised him: "Well done, it was worth raising you, go find some more." Then Pidan continued to work, wagging his tail as he went.

  In front and back, a total of four duck eggs were found. Then I went to the poultry house and saw seven more duck eggs. These dozen or so ducks are really powerful! When touching the duck eggs, I also saw a goose incubating eggs. Seeing Ju An calling out, a goose immediately came over, trying to drive Ju An away, but was immediately scared off by Pi Dan's loud barking.

  For this chess soft afraid of hard city management quality, the peace is deeply despised. Holding a duck egg, comforted the skin egg and Xisi, brought another two dog legs Hu Tou and Suo Tou, boasted about the bean grass, and returned home.

  Handing over the duck eggs to his mother, he asked: "Mom, how many duck eggs have you collected? Is it enough to make a batch of pickled eggs?"

  Sister said: "More than 40, you duck and goose are really awesome, each head is bigger than the one at home by a circle, the goose started laying eggs so early, and the duck is basically one per day."

  Ju An asked: "Geese are originally very big, I didn't see anything strange."

  Mom said: "Generally, a big goose is about 16 or 17 catties, our geese are probably over 20 catties. Your dad also said he's never seen such a big goose, and it's fierce too. Last time your dad saw a fox being chased away by several geese, if not for the fact that the egg was watching him, he wouldn't have dared to go touch the egg."

  Jū ān rubbed his head and thought: Looking at the physique of this group of guys, are things raised in space really bigger than those outside? As for how big geese originally were, Jū ān didn't understand either. When he was old enough to know better, his whole family had moved into the county town, where there was no place to raise geese. Even if he saw them, it was just a glance. As for geese being fierce, Jū ān knew that already. Some families in the countryside raised a few geese as watchdogs.

  "Mom, are there enough duck eggs to make a jar of pickled eggs?"

  Sister smiled and said, "That's enough, you've been gone for four or five days, adding to the previous ones, there are more than sixty now, which is enough for a large jar. You're free now, go wash the jar clean first, then turn it over and drain the water inside. Mom and I will make pickled duck eggs this afternoon."

  Jū ān yī tīng lái le jīng shén, cóng cāng kù lǐ bǎ tǎn zi ná le chūlái, hái shì shàng cì cóng jiā lǐ dài lái de xiǎo kǒu dà dù de jiàng sè tǎn zi, jū ān pà lǎo měi zhè lǐ méi de mài, zhíjiē cóng lǎo jiā nà biān gǎo guò lái de, shàng cì huí jiā jiù dài le yī tǎn zi, zhè cì shí yuè fèn huí jiā cān jiā lǐ zěnme shuō yě yào nòng ge dà róng guòlái, děng zhe qiū dōng jiāo tì de shí hou, ràng lǎo mā zài gěi zì jǐ nòng yī róng jiā xiāng de suān cài.