CHAPTER 186: CHAPTER 185: STOCKPILING SUPPLIES (4,000 WORDS)

Xiaoxue held the straw in her hand, unable to chase the chicken by herself. Upon hearing Xiaomi’s shout, she quickly jogged over.

Soon, the rooster was tied up at its wings and legs and dragged by Xiaoxue to outside the chicken coop, thrown together with the other chickens.

If it were nighttime, whether rooster or hen, they’d be still and easy to catch.

But not during the day; these chickens ran with increasing speed, often requiring two or three people to corner one.

Luckily, Xiaohei was of great help.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi was not to be outdone. With a couple of meows, she attracted the attention of Erniang and Aunt Yang.

She stood atop the high fence, and once Erniang and Aunt Yang looked over, she leapt into the rabbit shed, biting a big fat rabbit’s neck and pressing its head to the ground.

Erniang hurried over to grab the rabbit’s two hind legs, fearing that if delayed, they might escape.

After all, this big fat rabbit seemed even more robust than Xiaomi.

To say Jiang’s chickens and rabbits are indeed harder to catch than ordinary ones; that’s all Xiaoming’s fault, who constantly watered them with Spiritual Spring.

When Jiang Hu arrived with Uncle Liu and Jiang Yu, Liu Ze, they witnessed a chaotic scene indeed.

"Erniang," Jiang Hu called out, causing Erniang to slow her movements, allowing the rabbit which was almost caught to dart away.

Erniang wasn’t annoyed but straightened herself with a breath, turning to Jiang Hu: "Finished up?"

Frankly, the Jiang family might be the least tense before the impending disaster, mainly because the house was well-stocked with food and drink.

During those days, besides Jiang Hu and Qixi going to the mountains for water, the family well was also adequately filled.

With judicious use, the entire family could last for over half a year.

As for even longer...

It’s not that they haven’t contemplated that far ahead; it’s just that if no rain fell throughout those months, mere water storage wouldn’t suffice.

By then, accompanied by diminishing water stores, more severe problems would arise, and no amount of water could safeguard sufficiently.

Everyone understood this fact, just unspoken.

Seeing Erniang’s bright smile, with two chicken feathers on her head, she appeared somewhat disheveled yet warm.

The worry in Jiang Hu’s heart was instantly melted away, and a smile unconsciously formed.

"Finished up, let’s handle these eats first."

He glanced at the hard-earned chicken coop and rabbit shed, suppressing the reluctance inside.

"Don’t keep the wild chickens and rabbits; once things stabilize, we can catch again. Keep one young rooster and hen, and process the rest."

Besides needing them for food, importantly, raising these animals required substantial water and grass.

Currently, what they lacked most was water, and as for grass, it was long gone.

Though reluctant, Jiang Hu’s proposal was the best solution for now.

Keeping one rooster and hen was for future egg laying and hatching since without a rooster, even if hens laid eggs, they couldn’t hatch chicks.

With more people, catching them was even smoother, and soon only two chickens were left; even the ducks and geese that had just grown somewhat but hadn’t laid eggs, weren’t spared.

Jiang Hu and Qixi used a carrying pole, each carrying dozens, much more convenient than baskets.

After months of training, the once somewhat lean Qixi had become sturdy, downright a genuine farmer.

Erniang carried the iron pot and chopping board, coarse salt, among other things, and Aunt Yang carried two large water buckets and two jars.

The jars were for chicken blood, which was valuable; it couldn’t be wasted.

Uncle Liu switched to rough cloth short attire and joined them for assistance, not leaving out the kids.

Once they reached the site, clearing a patch of ground, they stacked stone to build a simple stone stove and busily set to work.

Those collecting firewood did so, those boiling water kept busy; slaughtering and scalding chickens, plucking feathers, cleaning them to cool first, then rubbing with coarse salt, placing them into a basket to carry the meat back.

Adhering to thrift, not even chicken gizzards and livers were thrown away.

The Jiang family worked for a while, then others arrived, similarly carrying chickens and rabbits, seemingly sharing the same goal.

In their interactions, it was revealed someone had already gone to town to buy coarse salt; curing these meats required quite a bit.