Chapter One Hundred and Seven: The truth is, I do not understand either! Please do not misunderstand.

Eggs were never stocked in large numbers to begin with. Some were sold loose, some kept for the household, and then there were the greedy little mouths of badgers, rabbits, and hedgehogs.

Whenever a party like this one came in and ordered several tables at once, the shortage would show itself.

Fortunately, eggs were collected every morning, so there should already be plenty in the coop now.

“Big brother, are you here to pick up eggs? I’ll help you!” At that moment, Sun Miaomiao suddenly appeared beside the chicken pen.

She had been teasing a hedgehog nearby when she spotted Zhong Di’s figure. As expected, if she kept watch, there would always be a chance to strike up a conversation.

“No need. I’m only taking a few,” Zhong Di said, glancing at Sun Miaomiao. She was in a dress and sandals; how could she go stomping around in a place covered in chicken droppings?

It wasn’t impossible. It just didn’t fit the picture.

“But I still see so many. Aren’t you taking those too?” Sun Miaomiao asked in confusion.

“I’ll gather the rest tomorrow morning together,” Zhong Di replied, carrying the eggs into the kitchen. Sun Miaomiao trotted after him.

Though it was an old-fashioned kitchen, it had been decorated a bit for the recent stream of guests. It did not look especially luxurious, but it was neat and clean.

Crack.

With a crisp sound, Zhong Di quickly broke the eggs into a bowl. Six eggs for one dish of fried eggs felt like a lucky number, too.

“Big brother, what are those white bits?” Sun Miaomiao asked curiously, looking at the bowl.

White bits? Zhong Di followed the line of her pale finger and saw the white flecks in the egg mixture. Ah, so that was what she meant.

His sudden closeness caught Sun Miaomiao off guard.

A trace of sweat drifted to her nose. Compared with the usual sour odor of sweat, the scent on Zhong Di carried something rather pleasant, entirely different. She inhaled unconsciously.

So nice.

She wanted to make some sound, but would big brother think she was being too forward? No, that certainly wouldn’t do.

“How should I put this? An egg is like a human fertilized egg. When sperm and ovum come together, this white part is basically the rooster’s—”

Zhong Di was explaining when he suddenly lost the words. That explanation was indeed rather awkward.

Many people were curious about this: eggs clearly had shells, so how exactly were they fertilized?

When a hen forms an egg, the yolk comes first. At that point, the rooster fertilizes it, and the hen then forms the egg white, which protects the yolk while also providing nourishment.

Only after all that is complete does the hen form the shell and wrap the whole egg in it. That is how an egg is fertilized.

“Ah! That’s disgusting!” Sun Miaomiao cried out after hearing this, then quickly realized something. Blushing, she said, “Um, actually, I don’t really understand! Don’t misunderstand me.”

“Mm, right. You don’t understand anything,” Zhong Di said with a smile, playing along.

Not understanding, my foot. The way you look at it, you know more than anyone.

“Ahhh! What kind of look is that? I really don’t understand!” Sun Miaomiao saw through his meaning at once, then ran out in embarrassment.

Only after crouching beside the hedgehog did she realize something was off. Her goal had clearly been to flirt with big brother, so why did it feel like she was the one being flirted with?

Seeing Sun Miaomiao run off, Zhong Di shook his head and went on preparing the ingredients.

Tomatoes, green peppers, bird’s-eye chilies.

One after another, he laid them out. After a long while of busy work, everything was nearly ready. Just as he was about to add more firewood to the stove, his phone rang. It was Qian Weining.

“Uncle Qian, what’s up?”

“Didn’t you say your pond needed fish fry? I’ve arranged it for you. They’ll be air-shipped directly here, all kinds of varieties, plus scallops and the like. They’ll arrive tomorrow afternoon, so make sure someone’s there to receive them.”

Qian Weining sounded a little out of breath, clearly busy with something. Busy with what? Ahem, don’t overthink it.

“Uncle Qian, our place is too cold. Scallops and the like won’t survive here, so bringing them over would be useless,” Zhong Di said instinctively upon hearing about the scallops.

If the northwest could raise those things, some seafood would not be so expensive.

“No problem. Raise them with confidence. The ones that die can be used as feed for the other fish; the ones that live, keep them. I looked at your place, and with just over two acres, you can put up a greenhouse right on top. They won’t freeze to death in winter.”

Qian Weining seemed to have some experience with this. He spoke with ease, as if it were no big deal at all.

After hearing this, Zhong Di suddenly had an insight. Just over two acres—forty by forty meters, to put it plainly—was not large. Build a steel frame, cover it with plastic sheeting, and skip all the fancy equipment, and it really would not cost much at all.

Besides, water itself has a certain specific heat capacity. Even if the surface iced over, the temperature below would still be plenty warm. And once the daytime temperature came up, it might not freeze at all.

Just as Qian Weining had said, build a greenhouse—or more accurately, a hoop house. Since there were no heating facilities and the like, let the living ones multiply and use the dead ones as feed. Perfect.

It would not affect anything. If even a few varieties could be raised successfully, there would be plenty to work with. Sell off some stock casually, and the cost of the greenhouse would be negligible.

In the future, if he wanted to eat seafood or the like, it would be convenient too.

After saying a couple more words to Uncle Qian, Qian Weining hurriedly hung up. No one knew what he was busy with.

After ending the call, Zhong Di went to check the kitchen again. Everything was proceeding in good order. A few older sisters had returned from picking vegetables, so there was no room left for him to help. He decided to take a look around the garden.

With so many people around now, it was the perfect chance to spot any problems—anything out of place, or anything that needed improving.

First, Zhong Di walked the outer edge of all the enclosures. There was nothing major wrong, except for some trash outside the pens, which looked especially jarring.

That needed fixing. Once more tourists came, trash strewn everywhere would be inevitable. He would need to place trash bins at intervals.

After noting that down, Zhong Di began to inspect the entire fishpond. The pond was fenced off all around to keep visitors from accidentally falling into the water, mainly to prevent children from doing so.

Overall, there was nothing wrong. Some people were taking photos, some were playing, some were picking vegetables, and a few children, unwilling to listen, were plucking unripe jujubes from the trees and being scolded by their parents.

Zhong Di had no intention of setting up any strict rules, such as forbidding people from damaging things here at will.

He believed most people still had decency. Since they had come to have fun, there was no need to make too many rules—just let them enjoy themselves. Only, there were too many people this time, and the trampling was not very friendly to the environment.

Along the path from the fishpond to the center, some visitors were tired and crouching down to rest on the road.

Mm, he should install some eco-style benches along the sides, or maybe place old wooden stumps and tree roots there, and plant some succulents.

Zhong Di slowly made note of each place that needed improvement.