CHAPTER 130: IS IT MALE OR FEMALE?

Regardless, Liu Yang became more cautious around Liu Ze.

Don’t be fooled by their shared surname Liu; they’re from completely different clans and have no relation.

In Liu Yang’s mind, even being the largest household in town already made one as powerful as an elephant that could crush ants at will.

Not to mention Liu Ze’s father does business in the county!

Historically, there has always been a hierarchical division of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, with merchants at the bottom, and at least he was a farmer.

But now it’s different; the world has just settled, everything is in its infancy, and merchants can bring more benefits to various places.

So in recent years, the status of merchants is not low at all.

Jiang Hu also noticed Liu Yang’s change in attitude but didn’t say much.

This is fine as it is, since everyone fears the Liu family, it makes it much easier for them to build their small courtyard.

Just as they got home, Qixi came back carrying a few bamboo poles.

"Brother Jiang, the bamboo from your place is really good. They’re big and thick. If these grow bamboo shoots in winter, they surely won’t be small."

He casually threw the bamboo on the ground and came over to help move things.

"Did you bring the young master’s stuff? Young master and... huh? Young master, you’re back."

Just as he was about to say the young masters are in the fields, he saw Liu Ze and Xiaomi each pull back the curtain of the carriage.

He then quickly ran over to help his young master sit on the deckchair.

In the ox cart, besides Liu Ze’s large boxes, there were bamboo baskets filled with vegetables, and with four kids sitting, it was a bit crowded.

Although they were all children, after all, there’s an old saying that boys and girls should not sit together after the age of seven.

So Liu Ze and Tiedan sat squeezed on one side, while Xiaoxue and Xiaomi were squeezed on the other.

Jiang Hu and Liu Yang helped pull out the remaining three siblings, Jiang Hu pulling up an empty bamboo basket.

It wasn’t really empty.

"Wow, oh my, such a big soft-shelled turtle, Brother Jiang, where did you get it?"

Jiang Hu proudly smiled, "It wasn’t me who got it; a few of these little guys caught it themselves in the field."

"Qixi, help me bring a bucket of water from the house, the old turtle’s back is dry, let’s soak it in some water."

"Alright, Brother Jiang."

Once Liu Ze was seated, Qixi quickly ran to fetch water; he also wanted to see what the big turtle looked like.

Liu Yang had already noticed the bamboo basket.

"Did Xiaomi and the others catch these eels too? What luck. They’re pretty big."

Jiang Hu nodded, "The luck was quite good; it’s rare for me to catch ones this big."

They were about seven to eight ounces, almost a pound in size. If made into a soup, one eel would be enough for a meal.

Little Xiaomi squinted her eyes; eels this big were certainly not caught in the field. She had secretly released them from her space and then pretended to catch them!

To make it more believable, she even let her second sister catch one!

Everything the family had now, there was in the space as well, and she often secretly brought out some.

But she didn’t dare to take out too much, for fear of being discovered.

But now, her attention shifted to the old turtle in the bamboo basket.

Qixi brought out half a bucket of water, afraid to handle it directly, he picked up the basket and poured the old turtle in.

Xiaomi watched curiously from the side.

"Daddy, is this old turtle male or female? Can it lay babies?"

"It’s female."

Jiang Hu hadn’t had a chance to speak before Liu Ze answered.

"Oh? Brother Ze, you know about these?" Xiaomi looked at him in surprise.

Everyone else’s gaze turned to him as well.

After all, he’s just a kid, Liu Ze’s face reddened slightly, but he still nodded.

"I read in a book that female turtles have short, thick tails hidden within their skirts, and this old turtle is exactly like that."

Xiaomi hurriedly leaned over for a look.

Qixi had already seen: "Really, young master, you’re so smart."

Xiaomi also saw it.

"Then what does a male turtle look like?"

"The tail is thinner, and the tip of the tail is outside the skirt, that’s a male turtle."

After speaking, Liu Ze seemed to remember something, "Turtles don’t lay babies directly, like chickens, ducks, or fish, they lay eggs."

"By the way, it seems like the time for turtles to lay eggs is from June to September each year."

"Really?" Xiaomi was thrilled, "It’s September now, could this turtle be laying eggs?"

If it were laying eggs, she could secretly hide a few in her space and when they hatched, there’d be soft-shelled turtles in there!

This is something you can only hope to encounter; rather than catching one to covertly put into the space again, letting this turtle lay eggs and hatch them was a more practical option.

Little Xiaoxue, who had been listening, seemed thoughtful and asked Liu Ze, "Brother Ze, do you know what turtle eggs look like?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaomi felt something was off.

Her second sister wasn’t usually curious; and judging by her expression, it seemed suspicious.

"Second sister, could you have found turtle eggs?"

Xiaomi’s mouth fell agape; if they really found them, their luck was through the roof!

Xiaoxue furrowed her brows slightly, "I’m not very sure, it’s just that when you pulled the old turtle out, it left a small puddle behind with some white things, about this big."

She gestured with her hand, showing it to be about the size of an adult’s finger.

Liu Ze was also a bit surprised, "But turtles don’t lay eggs in water!"

"Doesn’t matter, I’ll go check it out." With that, Xiaomi took off running.

"Hey, Xiaomi, wait, I’m going to..."

Jiang Hu tried to stop Xiaomi, but she quickly sidestepped him and ran off.

"Daddy, don’t worry, I’ll go check it out myself."

If they were turtle eggs, she still intended to secretly hide a few; she couldn’t let her dad take them.

Jiang Hu shook his head helplessly, "This child, always restless."

Qixi, who had placed the bucket under the eaves, saw Xiaomi running off and became concerned, "Brother Jiang, should I go with her?

Jiang Hu shook his head, "No, she’ll be back soon enough."

Liu Yang also chimed in with a laugh, "Never mind other kids, but there’s absolutely no need to worry about Xiaomi. She can run around the village freely and never get lost."

Little Lucky Star, once in the village, has everyone watching her closely, in fear that anything might happen to her.

Qixi was doubtful, but since Jiang Hu said it was fine, and the others weren’t worried, he didn’t say anything more.

Liu Ze’s boxes were quite heavy, probably all books; clothes wouldn’t weigh as much.

Everyone helped move the stuff inside, and then they went with Liu Yang to check out the syrup.

This large vat of syrup was in the room where Liu Ze and Qixi slept, but there was a sieve covering it, and they hadn’t opened it to look.

Once the sieve was lifted, a thick, sweet aroma spread.

Liu Yang instantly beamed with joy.

"I didn’t look closely yesterday morning, but now I see the syrup’s color is superb."

And smelling this sweet scent, he wasn’t worried at all about not being able to sell it.

Qixi leaned over as well, "So this is the syrup you guys made yourselves, Brother Jiang. The color is just like honey."

Tiedan squeezed in too, "Candy, Dad, Tiedan wants to eat candy."