Old Lady Ji was confused. How difficult could it be to simply open a door?
Zhu Xiuxiu restrained the old lady, adjusted her own clothes, then went to answer the door.
At the door stood a well-behaved boy of about ten, holding a plump duck.
Zhu Xiuxiu was stunned! It was true, there was a quacking duck at the door, but why was there a little boy too? Goodness, my Xiaosuisui certainly hadn’t said she wanted to eat human flesh!
"Who... who are you? What are you doing with a duck at my doorstep?" Zhu Xiuxiu finally remembered to ask the child standing before her.
"This is a return gift my mother asked me to give your family." The little boy handed the duck to Zhu Xiuxiu.
Zhu Xiuxiu didn’t accept it, as she didn’t recognize this little boy. She asked with some confusion, "A gift for my family? Kid, are you sure you’re not mistaken? Did your mother perhaps ask you to deliver it somewhere else?"
The Ji family lived in seclusion in this poorest village, Ling Village, to avoid trouble. They never took the initiative to make contact with the villagers here. Therefore, Zhu Xiuxiu truly didn’t recognize the little boy who had suddenly shown up at her doorstep.
"It’s for your family, Auntie. Last night, you secretly gave our family pork. I saw it," the little boy said. He then placed the duck inside the courtyard and turned to leave!
Zhu Xiuxiu was speechless. Could this really be happening?
Old Lady Ji was also stunned. Although her third daughter-in-law, Zhu Xiuxiu, was usually somewhat scatterbrained, she would never be so careless as to be discovered when she went out at night to do good deeds. They had been living here for many years, after all, and she had done such good deeds late at night more than once or twice. How had she suddenly been exposed?
"Young man, which family are you from? I can’t accept this duck! Please take it back." It took Zhu Xiuxiu a moment to react. She picked up the duck the boy had left in the courtyard and hurried out after him.
But the child had already vanished.
Whose child could this be? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before!
Old Lady Ji walked out and gave her a meaningful look. "I know this child. He’s from that family at the very edge of the village, by the foot of White Cloud Mountain!"
Hearing this, an image of a farmhouse with a half-collapsed wall appeared in Zhu Xiuxiu’s mind. "That’s on the west side of the village, about two miles from here! That child must have walked for close to an hour to get here!"
That they would come such a long way to give a return gift showed they were a grateful family.
Holding the duck and thinking about the extra hot water they’d boiled, Zhu Xiuxiu said, "Mother! Let’s slaughter it!"
Old Lady Ji frowned. "We slaughtered a pig yesterday and several wild chickens today. Now a duck too? Can we even finish it all?"
Although Zhu Xiuxiu had given away a good portion of the pork last night as a good deed, there was still a large piece of pork belly left at home.
"We have to slaughter it. If we keep it, its droppings will make the house stink and affect Xiaosuisui, won’t they?"
That’s what Zhu Xiuxiu said, but Xiaosuisui said yesterday she wanted to eat duck. If this duck isn’t slaughtered for her, who knows if those little rabbits and the wild boar she mentioned will even appear?
Old Lady Ji didn’t know what Zhu Xiuxiu was truly thinking, but she felt her reasoning made sense. Her precious Xiaosuisui has just started her studies. How could she be exposed to such filth? What if the stench of duck droppings affects her learning? This duck must be slaughtered!
"Alright then, let’s slaughter it! That family at the foot of White Cloud Mountain seems to have no man, just the boy and his mother. Why don’t you send them two of the wild chickens later!"
Zhu Xiuxiu nodded. "Alright, I’ll take them over after lunch!"
Zhu Xiuxiu had no idea that when she went to deliver the wild chickens, an even bigger surprise would be waiting for her!