C4 He Came Back Full of Rewards

Suddenly, a flock of pheasants burst into Lingyan's view.

“Sis, I see the pheasants! You and Feng take one side, and I'll go catch them,” Zixuan exclaimed excitedly as he spotted a mother hen leading her chicks out to forage.

As Zixuan approached, the pheasants scattered immediately. The mother hen clucked in alarm, shielding her chicks. Seeing the chicks running in her direction, Lingyan lunged forward.

“Ha! I caught one!” Lingyan cheered, thrilled despite the chick being only the size of a pigeon.

“Sis, I got one too,” Zixuan announced, having quickly snatched up two chicks.

Fengjiao, a clever child, gave up after two unsuccessful attempts. She tossed a long vine to Lingyan and ran towards Zixuan. “Brother, give the chicks to Sis and go catch more.”

Picking up the vine, Lingyan realized it was a long green vine, perfect for crafting. She often used such vines to weave baskets.

Without wasting time, Lingyan used the vine to tie the little chick's feet.

If there was enough food at home, she would have raised all these little pheasants to sell later. Unfortunately...

Just as she finished tying up the pheasants to find Zixuan, she saw Fengjiao excitedly running over with five little pheasants. "Sis, it's a shame we lost over ten of them, but there are wild fruits and bananas over there. Brother is chopping down a banana tree, and those bananas are huge, and some are ripe."

"Really? Let me take a look."

Lingyan hurried over, and sure enough, the boy was chopping down a banana tree. With a dull thud, the tree fell to the ground, and he quickly cut down the whole bunch of bananas.

"Be careful, hand me the machete," Lingyan said, reaching out to Zixuan.

Zixuan asked with concern, "Sis, the top part is edible. Are you still hungry?"

"No, we need to store some food. Otherwise, if it rains, we'll go hungry again."

"But Sis, I want to eat," Fengjiao said, swallowing hard and looking longingly at Lingyan.

Lingyan smiled and cut down two bananas, giving them each one. "Go ahead and eat. Once you're done, I'll give you some chores."

"Okay." As soon as they peeled the bananas, Zixuan and Fengjiao started eating eagerly.

After about another fifteen minutes of busy work, Luo Lingyan and her siblings returned home with their hands full. As soon as they reached the door, Luo Lingyan asked Mrs. Chung, "Mom, did the medic help you change the dressing?"

"Yes, he did."

Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps, and Luo Lingyan felt her legs being hugged tightly. "Big Sis, you're finally back! Xianer is starving. Second Brother only left me two spoonfuls of potato soup."

"Oh, you're all hungry, huh? No worries, Xianer, you'll have a drumstick for lunch. Be good and go ask Big Brother for some candy. I need to get to work." Little Xianer, who was four years old, was as pretty as she was sweet, and Luo Lingyan adored her.

Hearing about the drumstick, Xianer forgot all about her hunger and dashed outside to find Luo Zijin.

After unloading her shoulder, Luo Lingyan assigned tasks to her siblings. "Feng, take some food to Mom first, then start a fire to boil water. Xuan, you'll need to slaughter two chickens later; keep the other six in the woodshed."

"Okay."

Luo Lingyan couldn't bear to use up all the Russules they had gathered. She picked out the ones that didn't look as nice and set the good ones out to dry on two round sieves. Then, she took the wild fruits and vegetables into the kitchen.

The banana leaves had long been stashed under the bed by Zixuan. Finally, under the blazing sun, Lingyan carried the herbs to the creek to wash them. By the time she finished drying them, she was drenched in sweat, feeling dizzy, and the scab on her arm was not only itchy but slightly painful.

"Sis, brother cut the pheasant into small pieces, and I cleaned the Russule mushrooms and wild greens."