Wang Xiaoqiang chuckled, opened the lunch box, and saw his favorite scallion egg and mashed garlic eggplant dishes. Although they were just ordinary home-cooked dishes, in Liu Juyi's skilled hands, they looked absolutely exquisite, like two plates of artwork. The scallion eggs were tender and yellow, with onion flowers wrapped within the well-fried eggs, faintly visible.

The sliced eggplant in the mashed garlic eggplant was cut into strips slenderer than a thumb, drizzled with shiny garlic mash. Both dishes not only had color but were also fragrant, rich, and delicious, complemented by two big white steamed buns on the side.

"Be careful not to choke," she warned him with a playful scolding.

Then she watched Wang Xiaoqiang eat, quietly savoring that sense of peace and happiness.

It was only at times like these that this woman could feel a trace of happiness.

But such happiness was so fleeting; in no time at all, two steamed buns and two plates of food were devoured by Wang Xiaoqiang. Liu Juyi knew it was time to leave, and with a slightly disheartened sigh, she began to clean up the bowls and chopsticks.

Wang Xiaoqiang walked over to the chicken pen, picked up three pheasant eggs, and returned to the house, placing them in the egg basket, which already held over fifty Wild Mountain Eggs laid by the three hens over this period.

Looking at those pheasant eggs, Wang Xiaoqiang's idea of raising chickens resurfaced. Taking advantage of the idle farming season, Wang Xiaoqiang decided to get started. Soon, he had a plan in his mind; it was to use these pheasant eggs to hatch chicks while catching wild pheasants in the mountains.

Once the number of Wild Mountain Chickens reached a hundred, he would lease Mantou Mountain and establish a Chicken Farm there.

With a rough plan in mind, Wang Xiaoqiang came to Liu Xianghong's house again. Last time at her place, he had seen pheasant eggs, and he thought of buying all her pheasant eggs.

"Oh, Little Qiang is here," Liu Xianghong was sitting alone in the courtyard knitting a sweater. Seeing Wang Xiaoqiang enter, she greeted him warmly, "Right, that gun worked well, didn't it?"

"What gun?" Wang Xiaoqiang was confused by her sudden question.

"Cut it out, that one, the gun you borrowed from my house last time..." Liu Xianghong leaned closer to Wang Xiaoqiang, her peach-blossom eyes sliding a glance towards a point just below his lower abdomen, "What, you thought I was asking about some other 'gun'? I wasn't asking about that 'gun' of yours..."

Realization hit Wang Xiaoqiang followed by confusion: "My gun? I don't have a gun, why would I come to borrow one from you last time if I had one?"

"I'm not talking about a gun... haha..." Seeing Wang Xiaoqiang's puzzled expression, Liu Xianghong laughed behind her hand: "I meant your, uh, man's 'gun'... haha..."

Realizing that Auntie Liu was joking with him again, Wang Xiaoqiang felt a bit embarrassed but replied seriously, "That gun of yours, I haven't used it, so I don't know if it works or not."

Wang Xiaoqiang was telling the truth; he really hadn't used that gun.

"Uh..." Liu Xianghong stopped laughing, observing Wang Xiaoqiang's earnest and slightly foolish look, she found it quite endearing and couldn't help but tease him again, "But your 'gun' should work well, right? Hehe..."

She then looked at Wang Xiaoqiang with interest.

Wang Xiaoqiang blushed with embarrassment, yet seriously said, "That 'gun' of mine, I haven't tried it either."

Again, Wang Xiaoqiang told the truth.

But Liu Xianghong looked skeptical, "Come on, Little Qiang, you just pretend. Taking Xia Guifang to the Provincial Capital and staying there for a night, you dare say you didn't touch her..."

"I didn't touch her!" Wang Xiaoqiang insisted earnestly: "Really didn't touch."

"Alright, you know whether you touched her or not," Liu Xianghong said, "Tell me, what brings you here today, what are you borrowing from my house this time?"

After trying to lure Wang Xiaoqiang twice without success, Liu Xianghong knew he was a decent man, and now that he was with Xia Guifang, she naturally wouldn't tease him further. After joking around a bit, she became serious again.

"This time it's not borrowing, it's buying," Wang Xiaoqiang said.

"Buying, buying what? You're doing well for yourself now, Little Qiang, what does my house have that you'd want to buy?" Liu Xianghong asked with hands spread wide.

"Wild Mountain Eggs," Wang Xiaoqiang replied curtly.

"Pheasant Eggs? What do you want them for?" Liu Xianghong asked in surprise.

"Never mind that. If you have them, sell them all to me at market price."

"I do have them, but you have to tell your aunt what you're up to, right?" Women are naturally curious; Liu Xianghong wanted to get to the bottom of things, even though it was none of her business.

"Eating them, is that okay?" Wang Xiaoqiang frowned and replied.

"Oh, eating, sure," Seeing Wang Xiaoqiang looking somewhat annoyed, Liu Xianghong didn't ask further, "You should indeed eat more eggs to replenish yourself, hehe..." She glanced meaningfully at Wang Xiaoqiang.

"Since you've got no eggs to replenish with, just bring them all out and sell them to me! Hehe..." Wang Xiaoqiang chuckled mischievously.

"You big rascal." Seeing Wang Xiaoqiang joke with her, Liu Xianghong seemed very happy, casting him a coquettish glance as she swayed into the house to get the pheasant eggs.

Before long, Liu Xianghong brought out all the stored Wild Mountain Eggs from her house, a whole basketful, totaling forty-six.

Wang Xiaoqiang paid her the market price in full and then carried the basket of eggs out the door. Too much gossip happens at a widow's front step, even more so inside a widow's house, and he didn't want to invite trouble.

"Little Qiang, why the hurry? Are you rushing to go home and replenish with those eggs?" Liu Xianghong called after him.

"Cut it out. I can't argue with you; you've got two mouths," Wang Xiaoqiang said without turning back.

<ahref=http://www.qidian.com>QiDian Chinese Network www.qidian.com welcomes all book friends for reading, the newest, fastest, and hottest serial works just at the original creation of QiDian! </a><a>Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read. </a>

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.