Following Wang Qingchen's comfort and assurances, Caiyun finally stopped worrying about that matter. Wang Qingchen was quite relieved; thankfully, he had discovered the knot in Caiyun's heart and resolved it early, otherwise, who knew what might have happened down the line.

As for the hen, she remained squatting in the nest until evening, which made Caiyun extremely anxious, constantly asking Dahua if she was sick.

Not feeling entirely at ease, Mrs. Yang went to check the coop. Dahua was still settled in the nest, unmoving. Mrs. Yang then considered a possibility and reached under the hen’s belly to feel. Sure enough, there was an egg already there. The hen hadn't left the nest all day; she must have gone broody. However, this particular egg wouldn't hatch into a chick.

Once Mrs. Yang understood the situation, her worry subsided. After explaining it to Caiyun, the girl became quite excited.

"Mother, let's let Dahua hatch the chicks! Then our family will have lots of chickens later," Caiyun tugged at Mrs. Yang’s sleeve.

"Yes, Mother, let Dahua try hatching them!" Wang Qingchen chimed in support from the side.

"It's not that Mother is unwilling, but the egg Dahua laid won't hatch a chick! Besides, raising chickens takes so much feed," Mrs. Yang said helplessly.

"Mother, if we can hatch chicks, I will catch bugs for them every day; they won't need much grain at all," Caiyun stubbornly refused to give up, shaking Mrs. Yang’s sleeve.

"Alright, alright, stop shaking! Mother will go ask your Aunt Gui tomorrow if she has any fertile eggs; if she does, we'll let Dahua hatch them." Mrs. Yang smiled.

"Then our family will have so many chickens in the future, won't we, Mother?" Caiyun beamed.

"Yes, Caiyun will have eggs to eat every day from now on." Mrs. Yang laughed too, seeing how happy Caiyun was.

Wang Qingchen also strongly agreed with the idea; after all, he was eager to see how chicks hatched.

The next morning, Wang Youfu and Wang Qinghua went to the fields. Mrs. Yang took Wang Qingchen and Caiyun to Aunt Gui's house to inquire about fertile eggs. After all, Aunt Gui's family was relatively well-off in the village and kept quite a few chickens, both roosters and hens.

"I have fertile eggs here. If you want them, I can give you twenty to take back first. Any more than that, and one hen can’t hatch them all anyway," Aunt Gui said.

"That would be wonderful," Mrs. Yang replied, pulling twenty bronze coins from her sleeve. "Since these are fertile eggs, I’ll take advantage of you, Sister-in-law. Please don't think these twenty coins are too little."

"Oh, absolutely not! What's our relationship? I'll just give you these eggs," Aunt Gui quickly waved her hand, refusing.

"No, those twenty fertile eggs are worth dozens of coins. That's equivalent to so much embroidery work! Sister-in-law, please accept them," Mrs. Yang insisted.

"No way! These eggs are from our own hens. Just take them. How could I possibly charge you for them? No, no," Aunt Gui repeatedly shook her head.

"Why wouldn't you take payment? If you were to sell these, wouldn't they fetch dozens of coins?" Mrs. Yang argued.

"That’s selling to strangers! What is our relationship? I can't charge you! If you try to give me money again, I won't give you any eggs at all," Aunt Gui stated firmly.

The two argued, reaching no conclusion.

Wang Qingchen saw that this deadlock wouldn't resolve itself and stepped forward. "Mother, Aunt Gui, how about this: we trade our own eggs for Aunt Gui’s fertile eggs? Though Aunt Gui might be at a slight disadvantage, since our eggs aren't guaranteed to be fertile."

Mrs. Yang heard this and suddenly realized, "That’s right! If Sister-in-law won't take the money, I'll exchange them for eggs."

Aunt Gui considered it for a moment. "That works."

Since they decided on the egg exchange, Mrs. Yang took Wang Qingchen and Caiyun back to collect the eggs first. However, Caiyun was a bit unhappy. In her mind, she would rather use the twenty coins than trade the eggs. After all, the family's eggs were ones she had saved up bit by bit; she herself was reluctant to eat them. The thought of parting with twenty at once made her sting.

Wang Qingchen comforted her, "Caiyun, think about it: if you trade twenty eggs now for fertile eggs, and those fertile eggs hatch into chicks, and those chicks grow up, they can lay even more eggs and hatch even more chickens. Then our family will have tons of chickens! You can eat eggs whenever you want, or eat chicken—isn't that a good deal?"

Caiyun thought it over, pouted, "Fine, but those eggs were all ones I saved, so the fertile eggs we get in return are mine too, and any chicks hatched from them will be mine too."

Mrs. Yang laughed and patted Caiyun's head. "Yes, yes, from now on, all the chickens in our house will belong to Caiyun, okay?"

Caiyun was satisfied then and said nothing more.

Upon returning home, Caiyun rushed to the kitchen, grabbed an empty basket, and pulled out a small jar hidden behind the water vat. She carefully fished out eggs one by one and placed them in the basket. When she reached the twentieth egg, Caiyun stopped taking them out. She put the jar back where it was, recounted the twenty eggs she had taken out to confirm the count was right, and then handed the basket of eggs to Mrs. Yang.

Seeing Caiyun’s cautious demeanor, anyone watching might think she was counting gold ingots. But this gesture showed how much she treasured those eggs, explaining her reluctance earlier.

Mrs. Yang felt the same way seeing it and comforted her, "When the chicks hatch later, we'll have even more eggs."

Mrs. Yang took the eggs and returned with the two children to Aunt Gui's house. Caiyun watched intently as Aunt Gui accepted the eggs and then placed the twenty fertile eggs into the basket Mrs. Yang had brought.

Caiyun went over and counted them one by one. Only after confirming there were exactly twenty fertile eggs did she relax.

Aunt Gui, seeing Caiyun's little action, burst into laughter and teased, "Oh my, Caiyun is worried Aunt Gui might cheat her out of her eggs!"

Caiyun scratched her head, feeling a bit shy, and nestled close to Mrs. Yang.

"Tell me about it! All the eggs in the house were Caiyun’s savings. She felt heartbroken for a long time when we had to give them away!" Mrs. Yang chimed in, smiling.

"Oh my, Caiyun is truly sensible, to be able to save so many eggs," Aunt Gui said, then seemed to recall something. She reached into a nearby basket and pulled out two duck eggs. "My sister-in-law gave me ten duck eggs yesterday; they are all fertile. I’ll give these two to Caiyun. Since she's so sensible, this is a little reward from your aunt."

Caiyun was thrilled to hear this and happily accepted them. "These can hatch into little ducklings? Thank you, Aunt Gui!" She carefully placed the two duck eggs into the basket as well.

Mrs. Yang grew anxious. "Oh dear, this won't do! You only have ten to begin with, and you've given Caiyun two..."

"I'm telling you, don't refuse," Aunt Gui interrupted, then reminded them, "However, these duck eggs need 28 days to hatch, while chicken eggs only need 21. When you get home, let the hen hatch the duck eggs for seven days first, and then place the chicken eggs in with them to incubate together."

Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Mrs. Yang accepted them. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Aunt Gui, she took the fertile eggs and headed home with the two children.

Back at home, Caiyun immediately got busy. First, she carefully stored the fertile eggs. Then, under Mrs. Yang’s instruction, she swapped the egg under Dahua’s belly for the two duck eggs. After watching Dahua for a moment, she remembered the hen hadn't eaten. She quickly found a small bowl, put some food in it, and placed the bowl right beneath Dahua's beak. Dahua looked at it, seemingly realizing it wouldn't interfere with her incubating, and began to eat.

Mrs. Yang watched Caiyun bustling about and smiled before going to prepare lunch. Wang Qingchen decided to read for a while and returned to his room.

At noon, Wang Youfu and Wang Qinghua came back for lunch. Wang Qingchen sized up Wang Qinghua, noting that his older brother still hadn't revealed his feelings for the person he liked. It was a good thing Wang Qingchen had asked; otherwise, Mrs. Yang would never have considered the Second Elder Luo's family, and Wang Qinghua would surely regret it if a matchmaker arranged something else for him. Wang Qingchen mused that he was truly a model younger brother.

After the meal, Caiyun rushed out to share the news about Dahua hatching eggs with Hongying. She ran out as soon as she finished eating. A little while later, Mrs. Yang also went out, likely eager to find the matchmaker and inquire about the character of the girl from the Second Elder Luo’s family.

Wang Qingchen looked at Wang Qinghua’s impassive face and teased, "Big Brother, Mother probably went to see the matchmaker. It looks like a household might be chosen soon!"

Wang Qinghua gave no response, simply turned over, and settled down for his afternoon nap.

Wang Qingchen was speechless. He tried to tease him, but the other person wouldn't cooperate—what could he do? He picked up his book and began to read.

After reading for only a short while, he heard Wang Qingtong’s voice calling out, "Qingchen, Qingchen, let’s go fishing!"

"I’m not going; I still have to read," Wang Qingchen refused, genuinely finding fishing quite dull.

"Come on, let’s ask Brother Yuntai to join us this time too," Wang Qingtong tugged at Wang Qingchen.

"Stop pulling, stop pulling, I'll go," Wang Qingchen relented with a sigh.

Wang Qingchen reluctantly followed Wang Qingtong to Li Yuntai’s house. When they arrived, they found Caiyun, Hongying, and Li Yuntai already there, with Caiyun excitedly recounting the story of Dahua incubating the eggs. Wang Qingchen found it amusing, especially seeing Hongying looking genuinely envious.

Wang Qingtong told Li Yuntai about the fishing trip, and Li Yuntai agreed after a moment's thought. After all, it had been a long time since he had played with the village children; going out occasionally wouldn't hurt.

Li Yuntai brought out two fishing rods, one new and one old. He handed the new one to Wang Qingchen and kept the old one for himself. He then asked Hongying and Caiyun if they wanted to come along.

Usually, Hongying and Caiyun would never miss such an outing, but today was special; the two girls decided they would stay and watch how Dahua managed the eggs, so they declined.

For Wang Qingchen and the boys, it was better without the younger children tagging along. Thus, the three of them headed to the riverbank, where Wang Qingtong had arranged to meet his other friends.

When Wang Qingchen and the other two arrived at the river, Zhang Xueming and his group had just arrived as well. The groups followed the usual procedure of asking Zhang Xueming for earthworms, and then everyone scattered to fish. Wang Qingchen chose the same spot he had used during his last fishing trip.

Wang Qingchen waited for a long while, and just like last time, no fish took the bait for a considerable period. Wang Qingchen grew restless. Following his previous habit, he set down his rod and began to wander around.

As he walked, he ended up near the shed where he had dried the wild mushrooms previously. Thinking he had nothing better to do, Wang Qingchen decided to step inside and take a look.

Just as he was about to enter, Wang Qingchen heard two voices speaking inside the shed.

"You can hide what you did in town from others, but you can’t hide it from me. I saw you coming out of that alley with my own eyes," came a young, unfamiliar voice.

Wang Qingchen was suddenly stuck in a dilemma. Bumping into something sensitive in this location was unlikely to be good. Since he didn't recognize the voice, it was probably someone he didn't know, so Wang Qingchen decided to retreat quickly.

Just as he was about to turn back, he heard another voice reply, "So what if I came out of that alley? Who says I can't walk that way?"

Wang Qingchen froze upon hearing this. That voice was distinctly his Uncle Wang Youliang's! How could he be here?