Chapter 92 - 91: Resettlement Housing for the Geese

Chapter 92: Chapter 91: Resettlement Housing for the Geese

Whether they wanted to eat it or not, there were no other vegetables at home. They had no choice.

There were plenty of weeds outside, but these goslings were less than a day old, and Huai Yu didn’t dare take the risk. If they ended up swallowing mud and sand with those sharp beaks, who knew if their stomachs could handle it? She had no idea if they had iron-cast stomachs.

So, she diced the bamboo shoots, blanched them, let them cool, and immediately poured them into a basin to serve.

The two little gray geese, which had been honking HONK HONK HONK, instantly fell silent. Stretching their necks, they pecked straight into the basin!

SCREECH.

After a strange noise, Huai Yu looked at the stainless steel basin she had spent a good amount of points on—sure enough, they had pecked a large hole right through it.

Huai Yu was speechless.

The hole perfectly matched the shape of the gosling’s beak, and two pieces of diced shoot had already tumbled out.

Looking at the gosling—ha! At least it was frugal! Its flat beak was now aiming straight for the floor to peck at the dropped food!

Huai Yu’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly lifted the basin higher to distract them.

"Um... I can’t patch up this concrete floor, you know... How about we go outside to eat?

"You guys aren’t afraid of the cold, right? If you are, I’ll just carry the whole box outside for you..."

She felt so incredibly subservient!

Who on earth kept these mutated pets? What kind of cages did they usually use? Titanium alloy or specialized steel?!

Regardless of whether the goslings were cold, they were now outside in their box. The only silver lining was that they were relatively docile, offering no resistance no matter how she handled them.

But they were simply too round and chubby; there was no room left in the box for the basin.

Not daring to risk letting them out, Huai Yu simply tipped the basin over, sending the diced shoots tumbling down like rain with a loud CLATTER.

The two goslings opened their beaks in bewilderment, smacking them a few times. Once they registered the taste, they immediately ducked their heads and began frantically pecking at the mountain of diced bamboo shoots that threatened to bury their legs!

PECK PECK PECK... PECK PECK PECK...

The sound of their flat beaks snapping up food was incessant. With every strike, a layer of cardboard from the box was torn away alongside the bamboo shoots.

Huai Yu squatted off to the side, numb. She simply couldn’t bear to watch.

She had no idea if these geese would eventually be able to guard the house once they grew up, but the cost of raising them was already proving to be astronomical.

She merely wanted a living alarm system—was that so wrong? Her only mistake was using way too much Power of Induction on the bamboo!

Way too much!

Two massive, solid bamboo shoots yielded a portion that completely dwarfed the cabbage from that morning.

Yet, every single piece in the box had been devoured. The two goslings even continued to peck aimlessly here and there, reducing the tattered cardboard box to a honeycomb of holes.

Then, they suddenly popped their butts up and dropped a massive pile of poop.

Huai Yu was utterly speechless.

Buying these two was truly a blessing.

Understood. This cardboard box was absolutely not getting recycled, was it?

Huai Yu didn’t even know how to describe her mood as she carried them back into the house. The chicks were still peeping CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP, and the goslings were honking HONK HONK HONK... She didn’t dare put them together.

Leaving them outside was out of the question. It was far too unsafe, considering those beaks could effortlessly bypass any physical defense.

But keeping them inside? Just watching them lower their heads to forage on the ground left her trembling with fear. This was a perfectly good, newly built house! No matter how much she despised Wu Yue, she didn’t despise her own home!

If they ended up pecking the floors into a pitted mess...

After mulling it over, her gaze drifted toward the bamboo forest behind the house.

Well... Kuang Biao had made a huge mistake today, so it was only natural for him to pull his weight and contribute a little to this household, right?

With that thought, she quickly rummaged around the house and successfully dug out the basket with the severed handle.

The basket was flat and narrow, sitting at a height the goslings could easily step over. She planned to stick a few branches around it and drape a plastic bag over them to block the wind, creating a simple but warm little goose coop.

After plucking a handful of dry grass to carefully line the bottom with a few layers of bedding...

Huai Yu carried the setup into the bamboo forest, found a slightly sunken depression, and settled it into place. Satisfied, she clapped her hands.

"Kuang Biao..."

The bamboo leaves rustled with a SWISH. Kuang Biao’s lazy voice drifted over once again. "Day in and day out, don’t keep calling my name for no reason. If you want to dig up bamboo shoots, dig them. If you want to chop bamboo, chop it... Not like I can stop you anyway."

"I’m not doing that," Huai Yu said, her voice soft and exceptionally sweet. "Besides, those are your shoots and your stalks. If you don’t give permission, how could I just do whatever I want with them?"

Kuang Biao grumbled, "You didn’t bother asking for permission when you yanked out my bamboo shoots earlier. You just went right ahead and pulled them out—those were my leaves too, you know."

However, since he had just taken a beating earlier today, he only dared to mutter under his breath rather than raise his voice.

Emboldened by his meekness, Huai Yu pressed on. "Do me a favor, okay?"

"No way!" Kuang Biao replied haughtily. "If you want to eat, just eat! I can’t do anything else anyway."

Huai Yu held up her fingers. "Twenty square meters!

"If you handle this job well for me, I’ll approve another twenty square meters of land for you!

"And don’t you dare think twenty square meters is small! Let me tell you, it’s plenty. When I went to Flower City, I heard folks in the city say that back in the day, people would spend their entire life savings on a house, and many of their living rooms weren’t even twenty square meters.

"With twenty square meters, your root system could expand by a huge margin! Think of how many shoots you could sprout!

"So, are you in or out? If not, forget I asked."

Kuang Biao’s bamboo leaves trembled violently with a loud RUSTLE, as if a sudden gale had swept through the night. The violent shaking even caused the plastic bag she had set up for insulation below to loudly FLAP in the wind.

"Twenty square meters... A human’s living room..." He sounded deeply conflicted. "Why don’t you tell me what the job is first? I’ve been observing you—you have zero aesthetic sense, and your brain isn’t too sharp either. I’m worried you’re going to make me do something stupid."

Huai Yu was speechless.

Taking a deep breath, she forced a tight smile. "I just got two new geese, and I don’t have space for them in the house. How about you keep an eye on them out here at night? If they get cold, go hungry, or try to run away... just give me a holler."

Kuang Biao’s rustling leaves instantly froze.

"That’s it?!"

His raised pitch betrayed his utter disbelief, but a second later, his tone shifted, becoming measured and seemingly burdened with difficulty.

"You know, we bamboo are a highly territorial species. Letting two geese move in really goes against our customs. You’re putting me in a very tough spot..."

Huai Yu didn’t say a word. Holding her breath, she quietly listened to him spout utter nonsense.

"But since it’s you, Little Yu, who wants to raise them..." Kuang Biao’s voice became obsequiously sycophantic.

"Well, I’m a bamboo that knows how to repay a favor. You’ve given me all this territory, and now you’re offering me another twenty square meters as a babysitting fee... If I were to turn you down, that would be incredibly disrespectful to you, wouldn’t it?

"Don’t you worry. As a proper bamboo, I would never let you down."

Huai Yu smiled. She exhaled her held breath slowly and softly, her voice returning to its sweet lilt.

"Is that so? I knew you were incredibly capable, Kuang Biao.

"Then it’s a deal. I’ll bring the geese over in a bit. Oh, by the way—if they try to run away, I expect you to block them. I spent quite a few points on these two."

Kuang Biao’s branches wildly rapped against his bamboo stalks. Despite being a mere six years old, he delivered a grown man’s solemn promise:

"Leave it to me! You have absolutely nothing to worry about!"