21: Chapter Twenty-One: Dog Eat Dog 21: Chapter Twenty-One: Dog Eat Dog The bright sunlight shone through the window, waking up the still sleeping Wu Xiaoyu, who sprang up like a carp and got dressed.
When he walked out of the room, he saw his mother making breakfast and his father still fiddling with his dozens of knives.
Wu Xiaoyu sat down next to his father, wanting to discuss the idea of farming with him.
He had thought about it for a long time last night and felt that, given the current conditions, raising chickens was the most suitable option.
Firstly, the cost and risk of raising chickens were much lower than other livestock, and more importantly, the growth cycle of chickens was relatively short, allowing for quick wealth accumulation.
“Dad, I want to use the money from selling ginseng yesterday, aside from paying off debts, to start raising chickens,” Wu Xiaoyu tentatively said.
Upon hearing this, Wu Youliang put down the shiny knife he was polishing and turned to gaze at him, asking, “Are you serious?”
Although the money was earned by him, out of respect for his parents, he still wanted their approval.
Wu Xiaoyu gathered his courage and replied, “Yes, I’m serious!”
Seeing his serious expression and his apparent confidence, Wu Youliang picked up another knife from the ground and continued polishing, saying, “If you want to do it, then do it.”
His father’s easy approval surprised Wu Xiaoyu and also warmed his heart.
Having the support of his family made his motivation for hard work even stronger.
Just then, his mother came in with a dish and asked, “What are you guys talking about?”
His father casually replied, “Dadan said he wants to raise chickens!”
Don’t we already have more than a dozen old hens at home?
Where would we have space for more?” His mother put down the dish and walked over to the father and son.
Wu Xiaoyu looked up at his mother and said, “I plan to do it on a large scale, starting with a few thousand, and then expanding to tens of thousands once it proves profitable.”
The first thought that crossed Wang Aifeng’s mind upon hearing this was that her son had gone mad, dreaming unrealistic dreams.
That’s not something anyone can just do.
“You shouldn’t mess around!
Starting a chicken farm is not an easy task.
What if you lose money?
If you have nothing to do, you should go back to work in Guangdong Province.
Isn’t earning five or six thousand a month better than fooling around?”
As expected, his mother did not agree.
Wu Xiaoyu had no choice but to complain, “Working in Guangdong Province means working more than ten hours a day to earn five or six thousand yuan a month.
I might as well go into the mountains to dig ginseng instead.”
Though Wang Aifeng had little worldly experience and a somewhat narrow perspective, she was often good at pinpointing key issues.
She wiped her hands and sat down at the dining table, saying:
“What’s not difficult?
Do you think digging ginseng in the mountains isn’t hard?
Besides, there aren’t that many ginseng to dig up.
Working honestly is the only proper path.”
She then kicked Wu Youliang in front of her, signaling him to join her in persuading their son.
But in Wu Youliang’s view, a son wanting to start a farm and pursue a career showed ambition.
How could he dampen his son’s spirit?
Besides, the money was earned by their son, so he had every right to decide how it should be spent.
He then said, “The kid is grown up now, it’s normal for him to have his own ideas.
What if he loses everything?
If raising chickens were profitable, others would have done it already.
It wouldn’t be left to us.
Being practical and realistic is best!”
The phrase ‘practical and realistic’ left Wu Xiaoyu speechless.
Raising chickens and doing business were seen as unrealistic and ambitious?
Was working a regular job the only way to be practical and realistic?
As Wu Xiaoyu struggled to find a way to convince his mother to agree to raising chickens, his father suddenly put down the tools, removed his gloves, and said seriously, “Alright!
Let’s go with Xiaoyu’s idea; I think raising chickens is a good plan.”
Since Wu Xiaoyu could remember, he had never seen his mother go against his father’s decision.
Now that his father had made the final decision, his mother said no more, though she was still visibly unhappy as she got up, untied her apron, and went back to the kitchen to serve the meal.
Wu Xiaoyu and his father exchanged smiles, and he silently made up his mind to succeed and show his parents what he could achieve.
Just as the family quietly focused on eating without discussing the matter further, they suddenly heard the sound of a loud argument and cursing coming from the street.
Rural women, with no need to deal with affairs or guard against best friends, had their biggest daily pleasure in local gossip, with arguments being the time for all sorts of gossip revelations.
Upon hearing the argument outside, his mother quickly put down her chopsticks and said, “I’ll go see what’s going on!”
Wu Xiaoyu had already recognized the voices of the quarreling Niu brothers and couldn’t wait to say, “I’ll go see too!”
Wu Youliang, seeing the two of them rush out, felt somewhat helpless.
It was already bad enough that his wife loved to join in the excitement, but now even his son was just as gossipy.
Wang Aifeng and Wu Xiaoyu arrived one after another at the main battlefield in front of the Niu family’s home.
At this point, there was already a full circle of people around, but no one was stepping in to stop the fight, which said a lot about the brothers.
Niu Mancang was yelling with a snotty nose, “Niu Mantun, you mother-in-law!
If you don’t have money to irrigate your fields, just let your wife pee in the field.
Stealing my water, what kind of person are you!”
Held back by his own wife, Niu Mantun was not to be outdone and cursed back, “You idiot!
Do you have eyes in your ass?”
The two brothers went back and forth, creating quite a commotion, and some onlookers were even egging them on, “Mancang, it was clearly you who stole your brother’s water.
Didn’t you even steal your sister-in-law’s bath water?”
With the mention of this old dispute, the brothers got even angrier, hurling more insults without holding back and calling each other all sorts of names.
When other people argued, villagers would usually try to intervene at least a little, but with these two ruffians, no one wanted to miss out on the heated drama.
As they cursed and shouted, revelations about Niu Mantun sneaking peeks at village women and Niu Mancang stealing vegetables and melons from various homes came pouring out.
Just as the crowd cheered them on, village head Niu Mansheng charged through the crowd with a stick and started thrashing the two brothers.
“You two idiotic bastards, you’ve shamed the Niu family completely!
I’ll beat you both to death!”
The village head’s son, Niu Dachun, along with a few cousins, scurried through the crowd, shouting, “Everyone, go home…
go home, there’s nothing to see!
The Niu family, prominent and influential in the village with the village head as their backbone, usually strutted around with might.
Now that such an entertaining event occurred, how could anyone be willing to leave?