10. Big White Goose_1

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Song Tan's grandpa, Song Youde, is a true old farmer, and this year, he's 79.

He has a lung condition that makes him short of breath, so he hasn't done much work in the past few years.

Aside from tending to the vegetable garden, he spends his days playing leaf card games with a group of old men in the village. With an aged smoking pipe in his hand that's rarely seen for miles around, there are always people coming each year to ask for the old tobacco oil inside the pipe to treat sores.

Grandma Wang Lifan, on the other hand, is strong and healthy, especially her legs, and she's also a wonderful cook. The vegetable garden at home is still kept neat and orderly, and every year, people from the village come to her to exchange seedlings.

She could be considered the pillar of the Lao Song's family.

As Song Tan left the courtyard and walked past a vegetable patch, she saw an old red-brick house standing at the foot of the mountain. The courtyard in front of the door was paved with cement, with only a sweet osmanthus tree in a corner of the yard, under which a few chickens were taking a sunbath and scratching away at the sand.

And at the entrance of the yard, there was an extremely fierce Big White goose. It had been squatting in the corner, but now seeing someone approaching, the tuft of yellow on its head shook instantaneously, making it very noticeable.

It glared with its round little eyes and now was "gagaga" squawking, flapping its wings as it waddled aggressively towards her!

Song Qiao, trailing behind, quickly spread her arms and charged forward, shouting as well, "Gagaga! Big White, here I come!"

Then, she skillfully squatted down.

And just like that, she was hugging it out with Big White goose like they were the best of buddies.

One arm wrapped around a long neck and one wing wrapped around a back – such deep affection!

Song Tan: ...

She couldn't quite come up with a comment for such "man vs. nature" scenarios.

Grandma Wang Lifan had just come out of the kitchen and was very happy to see Song Tan: "Tantan, when did you get back?"

And looking at Song Qiao: "Qiaoqiao, don't let Big White dirty your sweater."

Qiaoqiao looked up and answered her, "Gaga!"

Big White goose, the astute one, also raised its head and echoed, "Gaga!"

Wang Lifan laughed heartily, "This kid... Tantan, have you eaten yet? Grandma will get you some biscuits."

Song Tan quickly went over, "I just got back last night, went downtown this morning, and haven't eaten yet."

Hearing this, Wang Lifan quickened her steps, "Then I'll get you more to eat!"

This was exactly the effect Song Tan was looking for—since the items were all expired, of course she'd want to deal with them as soon as possible!

She looked around the courtyard. Her grandparents were diligent people. The house was tidy and clean, and apart from the few chickens in the corner of the yard, there was not a bit of mess.

At that moment, she was seized by an impulse. Crouching down, she gathered a grain-sized ball of Spiritual Energy at her fingertips. With just a flicker, Qiaoqiao's good buddy immediately abandoned her, flapping its wings "gagaga" as it dashed over at high speed!

Its flat webbed feet slapped on the cement "pap pap," and its little yellow-capped head stretched out so far, one could tell how eager it was!

Not just Big White, the five chickens that had been sunbathing in the dust bath were running like mad towards Song Tan, with the lead rooster's glossy neck feathers all fluffed up and its red comb trembling, turning a mealtime rush into the intensity of a fight!

For a moment, even Qiaoqiao was surprised, her mouth agape.

Song Tan thought this was bad—she knew Spiritual Energy was especially beneficial for farming and raising animals, but she hadn't realized it would be this attractive here!

If they pounced on her now, her clothes would be ruined!

She hastily withdrew her hand, but the group that had charged over couldn't stop in time!

Just then, she felt a cool breeze pass over the back of her head, and without hesitation, a broom swept overhead. She could even sense the dust falling down from the broom "flu flu."

The valiant broom caused the rushing chickens and goose to scatter all over the yard amidst a cacophony of squawks, finally bringing some calm to the scene.

Wang Lifan caught her breath, "I just chopped up some cabbage for them, why are they so crazy!" Worry crept into her voice, "I hope they weren't scared. They better not stop laying eggs these next few days."

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Song Tan felt a little guilty.

But Wang Lifan just nagged a bit, and at this moment, seeing her granddaughter becoming more and more fair and pretty, and then looking at Qiaoqiao, her heart and eyes were filled with joy:

"Come, come, come, these are the cookies your aunt bought for me, eat more of them!"

Perhaps afraid that the children wouldn't have enough to eat, she had used a plastic bag to fill half a bag. Song Tan figured that with this, Grandma's stock hadn't been cleared by 80%, there must be at least half gone!

Qiaoqiao was overjoyed and about to tear open the bag, and Song Tan didn't stop her but simply took the plastic bag in her hand and gave Song Qiao a small cookie, "Qiaoqiao, let your Big Goose brother have a taste."

The expiration date was printed in bold black ink, clearly expired since last September.

Qiaoqiao cheerfully agreed, "Okay!"

The siblings, one intentionally and one unintentionally, both ignored the look of distress on Wang Lifan's face.

Seeing her own grandson so naïvely delighted, Wang Lifan felt pity for the cookies but could do nothing; her eyes were now fixed on Song Tan:

"You've lost some weight, has work been okay in the province? How many days are you staying this time around?"

Song Tan didn't hide it from her but inevitably had to use some tactful expressions, "Grandma, I'm back this time to take care of my health, so I might rest for a while longer. When it's time to plant vegetables, come help me, yeah?"

With that, Wang Lifan understood—it's just that her granddaughter wanted to stay home and play for a while, isn't it? As for planting vegetables, what can these young people do nowadays? It's just for the novelty.

Therefore, she laughed out loud, "Oh, my granddaughter planting vegetables, I'll definitely come and help you!"

Of course, in a few days, she won't be able to say a word.

Song Tan looked around, "Where's my grandpa?"

Wang Lifan thought for a while, "Probably at the village square playing cards with people, that old-fashioned card game of theirs, nobody plays it anymore, it's not easy to gather enough players..."

A group of trembling old men, playing with just one yuan at stake, almost dozing off as they play their hands...

Wang Lifan was happy that he went out to entertain himself.

"So he doesn't pick and choose at home," she said with a dismissive air towards the old man.

In reality, the old couple had spent decades together; Song Youde had known her since he was herding cattle for the landlord at seven or eight years old, their relationship was indeed deep.

Song Tan strolled around, watching as Qiaoqiao squatted there making friends with the Big White goose: "Big White, you eat a big piece... How is it? Sweet, right? It's a milk cookie."

"I'll take a small piece..."

Without paying attention, Song Tan also took a bite.

Song Tan: ...

Well, well, with that level of skill, it's probably not the first time for him either.

Looking back down into the plastic bag again, my goodness, the bag was full of various types of cookies and candies, without exception, all expired last year.

Among them was a pack of oat cookies, a rare find with an expiration date from the year before last.

Song Tan took it out and was silent for a long while, now not even daring to feed it to the goose.

However, she was indeed quite taken with that Big White goose.

It was so noisy, bold, and also very alert—when she harnessed Spiritual Energy, this goose was the furthest away, but its reaction was the fastest! An excellent guardian for the home and property.

Once the pigsty on the back hill is simply fixed up, she would ask Grandma to let her borrow it to be a pig-herding goose!

Paired with a couple of Dahuang dogs, what did the poetry say? "Leading the yellow, lifting the azure," that's the spirit, hah!