Chapitre 10: 10. Big White Goose_1
Song Tan's grandfather, Song Youde, was a true old farmer, and this year he was 79.
He had lung issues and was prone to panting, so he hadn't done much work these past few years.
Apart from tending the vegetable garden, he spent his days playing cards with a group of old men from the village. Holding an old, aged smoking pipe in his hand, a rarity within ten miles and eight villages, there were always people coming each year to ask for the old tobacco oil inside the pipe to treat sores.
Grandma Wang Lifan, on the other hand, was strong-legged and very healthy, a terrific cook too. Even now, the family's vegetable garden remained neatly kept, and villagers would come annually to exchange seedlings with her.
She was truly the pillar of Lao Song's family.
Song Tan exited the courtyard, walked past a vegetable garden, and saw an old red-brick house standing at the foot of the mountain. The courtyard at the entrance was paved with cement, except for a corner where a sweet osmanthus tree stood, under which a few chickens were sunbathing and scratching in the sand.
And at the gate, there was a fiercely aggressive goose. It had been squatting in a corner, but upon seeing someone approach, its goose-yellow crest shook vibrantly, very noticeable.
It stared with its small round eyes and "honk honk honk" started squawking, flapping its wings and wobbling over!
Song Qiao, who was behind her, also hurriedly spread his arms and ran forward, shouting, "Honk honk honk! Big White, here I come!"
Then he skillfully squatted down.
And embraced the goose with brotherly affection.
Your arms around my long neck, and my wings around your back, such deep affection!
Song Tan: ...
She momentarily couldn't evaluate such a "man and nature" scene.
Grandma Wang Lifan had just come out of the kitchen, very happy to see Song Tan, "Tantan, when did you come back?"
She looked at Song Qiao, "Qiaoqiao, don't let Big White get your sweater dirty."
Qiaoqiao looked up at her, "Honk!"
Big White, the goose, also lifted its clever little head and responded, "Honk!"
Wang Lifan laughed heartily, "This child... Tantan, have you eaten? Grandma will get you some biscuits."
Song Tan quickly went over, "I came back last night and went downtown this morning, haven't eaten yet."
Hearing this, Wang Lifan hurried even more, "Then I'll bring you more to eat!"
That was exactly the effect Song Tan wanted—since the goods were expired, of course they should be dealt with quickly!
She looked around the courtyard; her grandparents were diligent people, the house was tidy, and aside from a few chickens in the corner of the courtyard, it was spotless.
At that moment, she knelt down, gathered a handful of rice-sized Spiritual Energy at her fingertips, just a flick, and immediately Qiaoqiao's good buddy dropped him and spread his wings, speeding over with a "clack clack!"
The flat feet stomping on the cement, the little yellow-capped head stretched out far ahead, you could tell how eager it was!
Not just Big White the goose, but the five chickens that had been sunbathing in a dirt pit also went crazy, stretching their legs and running towards Song Tan, the lead rooster's shiny neck feathers puffed up, its red comb trembling, turning feeding into a battle of energies!
For a moment, Qiaoqiao was so surprised that he opened his mouth wide.
Song Tan thought to herself this was bad—she knew Spiritual Energy was great for farming and raising animals, but she didn't expect it to be so attractive here!
If they rushed over, her clothes would be ruined!
She quickly withdrew her hand, but the charging bunch couldn't stop!
Just then, she felt a cool breeze sweeping past the back of her head, a broom unhesitatingly sweeping across from above, she could even sense the dust falling from the broom.
That heroic broom had thrown the charging chickens and goose into a chaotic flap, scattering around the courtyard, finally calming down.
Wang Lifan gasped, "I just chopped up some cabbage to feed them, why are they so crazy!" and then felt sorry, "They must have been scared; I hope they will still lay eggs in the next few days."
Song Tan felt a bit guilty.
But Wang Lifan just nagged for a bit and at the moment, looking at her increasingly beautiful granddaughter and then at Qiaoqiao, her eyes and heart were filled with joy,
"Come come come, these are the cookies your aunt bought for me, eat more of them!"
Probably worried that the children wouldn't have enough to eat, she directly used a plastic bag and filled up half of it. Song Tan figured that with this, about 80% of Grandma's stock must be cleared, if not half, at least!
Qiaoqiao excitedly started to open the bag. Song Tan didn't stop him, but held the plastic bag in her hand and gave Song Qiao a small cookie, "Qiaoqiao, give this to your big goose brother to try."
The expiration date in prominent black print clearly showed it had expired last September.
Qiaoqiao happily agreed, "Okay!"
The siblings, one intentionally and the other unintentionally, both ignored the sadness on Wang Lifan's face.
Seeing her own grandson so naively, Wang Lifan felt sorry for the cookies, but could do nothing about it and just looked at Song Tan,
"You've lost some weight, is it good working in the province? How many days are you staying this time?"
Song Tan didn't hide it from her, but had to use a bit of the Spring and Autumn Annals style, "Grandma, I came back this time to recuperate my body, probably rest for a bit longer. When it's time to plant vegetables, come help me, will you!"
Understanding this, Wang Lifan realized, it's just the granddaughter wanting to stay at home and play for a while, planting vegetables and such things, what can young people do nowadays? They just look for something new.
She then laughed loudly, "Oh my, my granddaughter planting vegetables, I will definitely come to help you!"
Of course, a few days later, she couldn't speak anymore.
Song Tan looked around, "Where's Grandpa?"
Wang Lifan thought for a moment, "Probably playing cards with people at the village square, that leaf card game of his, hardly anyone plays it nowadays, it's hard to gather enough players..."
A group of shaky old men, playing for one yuan each day, nearly falling asleep with every card they play...
Wang Lifan was happy he found something to do outside.
"To spare us his picking and choosing at home." She said with a distasteful look about the old man.
Actually, the old couple had been together for decades; Youde had known her since he was seven or eight when he herded cattle for the landlord, their relationship was deeply affectionate.
Song Tan strolled around and saw Qiaoqiao squatting there with Big White, getting along like brothers, "Big White, you eat a big piece... How is it? Sweet, right? It's a milk cookie."
"I'll eat a small piece..."
Song Tan wasn't paying attention and she too ate a bite.
Song Tan: ...
Oh well, he had probably eaten it before, considering his expertise.
She bent down and rummaged through the plastic bag again, what a find, a bag full of various cookies and candies, without exception, all were expired since last year.
Among them was a package of oatmeal cookies, a rare one that had expired the year before last.
Song Tan took it out, fell silent for a long time, and then didn't even dare to feed it to the goose.
However, she really did take a liking to that big white goose.
So noisy and bold, yet very sharp—when she channeled Spiritual Energy, this goose stayed the farthest yet reacted the fastest! It could be a good guardian for the home.
Once the pigpen in the back hill was simply fixed up, she would ask Grandma to let her use it as a herding goose!
Paired with a couple of Dahuang dogs, how does the poetry go? "Leading Yellow, holding up Grey," something like that!
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone