Chapter 92 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 92

After lecturing the group of cattle herding children a few times, Ji Xiu sent them down the mountain, then returned home to discuss what to do with his daughter, Ji Jingyu.

Through their daily interactions, he had already guessed that there was more on Ji Jingyu than just the spatial spirit spring.

Either she had been reborn, or she possessed foresight.

But no matter which it was, her everyday behavior clearly showed that she had the thinking of an adult.

Since she was an adult and also the owner of the spirit spring, whenever decisions needed to be made regarding Jingfeng Mountain, Ji Xiu would discuss them with her.

Hearing this, Ji Jingyu did not hesitate at all and countered, “Dad, what do you think?”

When she had first been reborn, she had indeed wanted to make a big splash and become the pillar of the family.

But the salted fish life was just too wonderful. Being able to rely on Dad for everything made her unwilling to use her brain anymore.

So at the beginning, when something came up, she would still offer suggestions and ideas. Later on, no matter what it was, she pushed everything onto Ji Xiu without thinking twice.

Ji Xiu sighed. Looking at Ji Jingyu’s expectant and completely matter of course expression, he had the illusion that he had raised his daughter into a useless person.

She was clearly someone who would become a domineering and capable career woman in the future.

He thought this in his heart, but his mouth did not delay. “Since someone wants to steal strawberries, then we should prepare defenses. And these preparations boil down to just two options. Build a wall, or install an alarm system.”

“Dad is right.” Ji Jingyu agreed without objection. “Then let’s do it your way, Dad.”

Ji Xiu raised an eyebrow and, out of spite, reached out and fiercely ruffled her neatly combed hair. “You little girl have degenerated. Can you not help me come up with ideas? Do you have to make Dad handle everything alone?”

Ji Jingyu protected her head and dodged. “Ah, I was wrong. I’ll help you come up with ideas right away. Don’t touch my hair.”

When Ji Xiu gently and indulgently rubbed her head, his strength was completely different from how he was deliberately bullying her now.

Her hair had already turned into a chicken nest.

Ji Jingyu was indignant. While protecting her hair, resentment surged in her heart and she began to think.

“Hmm… building a wall would take a long time, and installing an alarm system feels like overkill. How about raising a few dogs?”

Ji Xiu paused, recalling Big Yellow from the previous world.

He hesitated and rejected the suggestion. “Raise dogs? Is there anything else?”

Ji Jingyu was a little puzzled about why Dad rejected the idea, but she quickly thought of another one.

“If you don’t want dogs, how about raising a flock of geese?”

Geese were creatures with combat power even fiercer than dogs. Which rural child had not experienced the terror of being dominated by geese?

No one in Liu Village had raised geese for several years now. The newly born children had never seen geese before. If they saw them, they would definitely be very happy.

The little devil inside Ji Jingyu awakened. She blinked. “Dad, how about it? Geese are great. If they are raised well, geese will recognize their owner and are very obedient. As long as they are properly educated, they definitely will not touch our vegetables.”

Ji Xiu glanced at her, seeming to see through her thoughts. He revealed a light smile but did not object, nodding. “Alright. I’ll call Professor Qian in the provincial capital and ask if he has any goslings there.”

Professor Qian quickly replied with definite news, saying that they had a batch of goslings that had been selectively bred. If Ji Xiu needed them, he could provide around twenty.

Twenty were already enough. After these geese settled on Jingfeng Mountain, Ji Xiu would not restrict them from reproducing. It was estimated that soon more geese would be born, until the entire Jingfeng Mountain became their territory.

By then, let’s see who would still dare to touch their strawberries.

Of course, the education of this batch of goslings was also very important.

Poultry liked to eat tender leaves. That was instinct. Especially since the vegetables on Jingfeng Mountain were irrigated with spirit spring water, the tender leaves would taste even better.

If the geese were not educated well, there would be no need to wait for outsiders to wreck the strawberries. Their own home would be turned upside down first.

A few days later, Ji Xiu received a call from the logistics company. He drove the three wheeled vehicle to the town and brought the goslings back.

On the way back, he passed the village entrance.

The few children he had caught stealing strawberries a few days ago were chatting here, their expressions secretive.

When they noticed Ji Xiu passing by, their faces tightened and they quickly shut up.

Ji Xiu suspected that they had become addicted to eating strawberries and were planning to go up the mountain again, so he gave them a meaningful look before slowly driving the three wheeled vehicle away.

But the children were quite bold and did not think much of it. They even had the leisure to greet him.

“Uncle Ji, what’s in the cage on your truck?”

Ji Xiu glanced at the cargo bed and smiled. “Goslings. I’m planning to raise them on the mountain.”

“Goslings?” The children had never seen geese before and immediately became interested. They gathered around the cage to look. After looking, they showed disappointed expressions. “Why do they look about the same as ducks? Nothing special.”

“Let me see, let me see… Why do I feel these geese are even uglier than ducks?”

With a mischievous streak, Ji Xiu explained, “Because these geese are right in their molting period. In another half month, they will become good looking.”

Knowing that Ji Xiu needed the geese to guard the place, Professor Qian had specially chosen goslings that were already over a month old. Once the molting period passed, they would have preliminary combat power.

Dealing with a few children would be no problem.

Of course, after growing for a few more months, they would become the tyrants of Jingfeng Mountain. Even adults would feel intimidated when facing a flock of attacking geese.

Ji Xiu was very grateful to Professor Qian and had already mailed over a batch of crayfish and strawberries for him to taste.

And toward these children who might in the future have to submit under the terrifying reputation of the geese, he felt genuine pity from the bottom of his heart.

Perhaps Ji Xiu’s expression was a bit too obvious. The children scratched their heads, somewhat confused. After thanking him for the explanation, they waved and ran off.

Ji Xiu did not mind at all. In a very good mood, he hummed a tune while driving the three wheeled vehicle up the mountain.

He suddenly understood the mood Ji Jingyu had been in when she suggested raising geese.

…

Building a wall required contacting a construction team, but a goose shed was not that troublesome.

Ji Xiu and his eldest brother Ji Qin gathered materials on the spot, cut down a batch of trees on the mountain, roughly trimmed them, fixed them with wooden nails, and built a goose shed. They placed feed troughs and water basins inside, then released the goslings from the cage.

Ji Jingyu was also by their side. Taking advantage of Uncle Ji Qin not paying attention, she dripped a drop of spirit spring water into the water basin.

The goslings, which had rushed out of the cage like fierce tigers descending the mountain and were about to launch an attack on Ji Xiu and Ji Qin, instantly froze as if petrified. After hesitating for a moment, they decisively abandoned Ji Xiu and the others and rushed toward the water basin.

One by one, they stuck up their butts, buried their heads to drink the spirit spring water, and let out excited honking sounds.

Ji Qin’s heart skipped a beat. He could not help retreating half a step. “Why do I feel like they were about to peck me just now?”

Ji Xiu nodded. “Big Brother, your feeling is correct.”

Ji Qin froze, then fearfully glanced at the goslings and said with a troubled expression, “Look at you, why did you buy these ancestors? If you want to raise geese, it’s better to start from little goslings. These are already over a month old. It’s really not easy to tame them.”

“It’s fine. I have nothing else to do anyway. I’ll just spend time with them.” Ji Xiu patted his shoulder to comfort him. “Raising little goslings takes too much time. This kind at one month old, with no fixed owner yet, is actually the best.”

Ji Qin could not argue with him. He frowned and sighed. “I hope so.”

Ji Qin still needed to supervise the workers picking strawberries and catching crayfish, so he did not have time to linger here with Ji Xiu. After taking a few looks, he left. Only Ji Xiu and Ji Jingyu remained, watching the goslings eat.

The goslings had traveled a long way and spent two days on the road. Their spirits were not very good, and they were a bit irritable and prone to attacking people.

Fortunately, there was spirit spring water.

After half a day passed, the goslings recovered their spirits and calmed down. They wandered around the goose shed, inspecting their new territory.

Some bolder goslings even secretly slipped out of the goose shed, opening up the vast outside world.

The goslings in their molting period were truly lacking in looks. On the mountain path of Jingfeng Mountain, from afar, they looked like a bunch of bald wild ducks.

Ji Xiu found it amusing and did not chase them back into the goose shed. He followed behind them at an easy pace, wanting to see where they were going.

Because the geese were meant to watch over the strawberries, the goose shed had been built near the strawberry fields.

As they walked, the goslings unknowingly arrived at the strawberry fields.

Smelling that fragrance of strawberries, one shifty eyed gosling glanced left and right, then spread its legs and charged straight toward the strawberries.

Bang.

Ji Xiu stepped forward in time and extended his foot to block it.

The gosling crashed directly into his calf. Its head and calf had an intimate collision. Dizzy, it spun around on the spot.

Ji Xiu laughed and grabbed it in his hand. “Very good. I was just worrying about how to educate you. Now I have inspiration. Little goose, you’re finished.”

Looking again, two other goslings were also charging toward the strawberry field.

Ji Xiu subdued them one by one, picked a few strawberries, then carried these goslings upside down back to the goose shed. He had Ji Jingyu find a few ropes, tied one leg of each goose, and tied the other end of the rope to a corner of the goose shed, restricting their range of movement.

Then he took out strawberries from his pocket and placed them one by one in front of the goslings.

The two goslings that had long been driven crazy by craving strawberries immediately became excited and rushed over without hesitation to eat.

Only the very first shifty eyed gosling hesitated and glanced at Ji Xiu. It actually did not open its mouth.

Ji Xiu was surprised. “You’re quite a little schemer.”

One strawberry remained. Ji Xiu was about to put it away when suddenly a gosling jumped out from the side and snatched the strawberry into its mouth.

Ji Xiu revealed a smile. “Perfect timing.”

He grabbed this sneaky gosling and swapped its position with the shifty eyed one.

The shifty eyed gosling gained freedom. It blankly watched its companion take its place with one leg tied. It shook its head and stood to the side watching the show.

Ji Xiu glanced at it, withdrew his gaze, then raised his head to signal Ji Jingyu beside him to drip another drop of spirit spring water into the basin.

“Honk honk honk honk…”

The charm of double spirit spring water was something the goslings simply could not resist.

The goslings, who were already reluctant to part with the spirit spring water, went crazy again. They flapped their short wings and launched an assault on the water basin.

That shifty eyed gosling, possibly the leader of this batch, had a larger build and greater strength than the others. Its little bean eyes shone brightly as it squeezed past the other goslings in one go and seized the best drinking position.

Only the three goslings that were tied up could not get over no matter how they flapped their wings because of the restraint of the ropes. They were so anxious that they let out irritable honking sounds.

Ji Xiu stood to the side, smiling. “This is the price of eating strawberries.”

The goslings were still young and naive and of course did not know what Ji Xiu meant by this sentence. But Ji Xiu had plenty of free time and used this trick every day to train the goslings.

Under his cruel education, the goslings spent five days learning through conditioned reflexes the code of conduct of refusing strawberries and staying far away from strawberries.

Now, if someone wanted to tease them and placed strawberries in front of them, the goslings would only viciously pounce on that person and peck their face until it bled.

There are always trash who want to harm me. Hmph.

…

After the goslings had stayed on the mountain for more than ten days, they finally finished molting one after another.

The post molt goslings were snow white all over. Although their bodies had not yet grown to the size of adult geese, they had already learned to flap their wings to accelerate themselves, chase bad people, and viciously peck their butts as a method of subduing enemies.

Especially that shifty eyed gosling. Because it snatched the most spirit spring water, it also grew the most beautifully.

Now it was no longer appropriate to call it shifty eyed. It had snow white feathers, a long and slender neck, powerful webbed feet, and a very upright and elegant build.

Because its intelligence surpassed the other goslings, it knew who to please in order to obtain spirit spring water. It gained Ji Jingyu’s special favor and received a name belonging only to it, called Da Bai.

Da Bai alone enjoyed exclusive favor. It lived comfortably and ate happily. It was the tyrant of the goose flock, managing all the goslings.

Other than Da Bai, the other goslings were all tool geese. Ji Jingyu was very cold and did not give them names.

However, Da Bai did not disappoint this favor. Under the effect of the spirit spring water, its intelligence seemed to have been further enhanced, sometimes even more clever than dogs.

One morning, Ji Xiu was awakened by the noise outside. Realizing something had happened on the mountain, he hurriedly drove the three wheeled vehicle up the mountain and saw Da Bai leading the goslings, chasing several children all over the place.

When they saw Ji Xiu appear, it was as if they had seen a savior. Their eyes sparkled with excited tears.

“Uncle Ji, save us!”

Ji Xiu froze for a moment, stood in place suppressing his laughter, and stubbornly did not speak.

He watched the goslings chase the children around twice, giving the naughty kids a good scare, before finally stepping forward to speak.

“Da Bai, come here.”

Da Bai stopped its attack, glared threateningly at the children, then turned around and happily led its underlings running toward Ji Xiu.

Ji Xiu squatted down, rubbed Da Bai’s gorgeous and comfortable back feathers, then raised his head to look at the naughty kids and asked sternly, “Why did you come again?”

The children cried with tears and snot, admitting their mistakes and repeatedly stating that they would never dare again.

Seeing how miserable they looked, Ji Xiu felt very satisfied in his heart. On the surface, he seriously nodded and demanded that they must not come to the strawberry field again.

If they came again, he would inform their parents.

Moreover, the goslings only listened to him and Ji Jingyu. If they encountered a time when neither of them was around, no one would be able to save them.

Under terror, the children of course frantically waved their hands to say they would never come again and swore repeatedly.

Ji Xiu nodded. “Alright, you can go.”

The children, having escaped death, fearfully glanced at the goslings, then turned and fled in panic.

Watching their disheveled backs, Ji Xiu patted Da Bai’s head and praised it. “Well done.”

With the goslings patrolling Jingfeng Mountain, in the short term Ji Xiu was not worried about anyone coming to steal strawberries again. However, other protective facilities still needed to be prepared in advance, in case the things on Jingfeng Mountain became more and more valuable in the future and attracted other people’s covetousness.

Ji Xiu went to the town to contact a construction team, planning to build a wall.

The construction team came to Jingfeng Mountain once. After inspecting the surrounding environment, they shook their heads in confusion and told Ji Xiu that parts of Jingfeng Mountain had dangerous terrain and it was impossible to build a wall. They could not take this job.

Ji Xiu was somewhat disappointed, but he did not vent his anger. After sending them off, he walked around the mountain himself. Seeing pink flowers blooming on vines twined around tree trunks, he suddenly thought of using shrubs to make fences and enclosures.

He returned home, turned on the computer, browsed Taobao for a while, and after careful selection, ordered a batch of rose seedlings.

They were all climbing rose varieties, with thorns, capable of climbing, and could be propagated by cuttings. As long as fences were set up on the spot and the roses planted underneath, within a few months they would grow into a stretch that not only prevented outsiders from climbing over, but also produced beautiful flowers, becoming a bright scenic line of Jingfeng Mountain.

Over the next few days, he received logistics calls one after another, making fences while planting roses.

On Jingfeng Mountain, aside from leaving one patch of grass for the villagers to graze cattle, he fenced off all other areas with fences and roses.

And just as the days passed by like this, Ji Jingyu started school.

Rural children were used to counting age in nominal years. Ji Jingyu was said to be twelve, but in fact she was eleven years old.

After school started, she advanced to fifth grade and became a glorious elementary school student.

On the first day she came back from school, Ji Jingyu looked full of worry.

These two months at home, communicating with Dad, Dad had always treated her as an adult with respect. She had almost forgotten that in outsiders’ eyes, she was still just a child.

At school, teachers would not take her opinions seriously at all.

Every day she had to pretend to be a child, act obedient in front of teachers, and communicate with childish classmates.

She was about to become depressed.

Especially since students from more than a dozen nearby villages shared one elementary school, the news of Ji Xiu and Tian Chunfang’s divorce spread without restraint. Not only was it known throughout Liu Village, people from Tian Village knew, and even outsiders knew.

They also knew that after the divorce, Tian Chunfang abandoned her daughter, followed someone else, left the family, and went to live outside.

In Ji Jingyu’s view, Tian Chunfang leaving was exactly what she wanted.

But in this relatively simple and honest village atmosphere, divorce was a rather big matter. A child whose parents divorced was a little pitiful. A child abandoned by one parent was greatly pitiful.

Villagers discussed this matter and sympathized with Ji Jingyu.

Their children, influenced by what they heard and saw, also learned about Ji Jingyu’s situation. They whispered about her, wearing sympathetic expressions.

Ji Jingyu felt like she had become some kind of zoo exhibit in the class.

Everyone wanted to come look at what she was like, whether she would live miserably after her parents’ divorce, and whether she was suffering now.

To be honest, they might not have ill intentions, but this kind of attitude alone was already enough to be annoying.

After staying in class for two days, Ji Jingyu got angry and proposed to Ji Xiu that she did not want to go to school anymore.

Ji Xiu said, “How can that be allowed?”

“Why can’t it be allowed?” Ji Jingyu was depressed. “I don’t want to turn into an animal for people to look at.” She muttered softly, “Besides, Dad, you already know my situation. I can study on my own at home just the same.”

“You want to study on your own at home?” Ji Xiu hesitated for a moment. “It’s not impossible.”

The teachers at rural elementary schools were very dedicated, but the teaching quality was indeed average. On top of that, elementary school material was simple, and Ji Jingyu had had an extraordinary encounter. If she insisted on self studying at home, her progress might even be faster than at school.

Any adult with normal intelligence, returning to fifth grade of elementary school, would not fall behind.

“Alright then. You’ll self study at home. Tomorrow I’ll accompany you to the school to handle the procedures. We’ll say your health is not good and you need to recuperate at home. In the future, you’ll only go to school to take exams.”

Ji Jingyu jumped up happily. “Dad, you’re the best!”

She was extremely happy. Looking at Ji Xiu, she could not help recalling the doubt she had that day.

That day, Dad had pierced through her concealment, saying that her personality change was too big and asking if she had other secrets.

She did not say anything about being reborn, but she felt that Dad had probably already guessed it.

However, that night after returning home, as she lay in bed, she suddenly thought of a key question.

Her personality change was huge because she had secrets. She was reborn.

But Dad… seemed to also have secrets?

From the moment she was reborn, many things had changed.

If one were to say that all of this was caused by her butterfly wings, that would be too slanderous.

Many things happened before she even made a move. Dad had already made decisions first.

Dad should have a secret similar to hers.

However, that day she was too tired. Thinking about this problem, she fell asleep quickly without continuing to dwell on it.

Until now, looking at Dad’s kind and tolerant gaze, she thought of this again.

Perhaps Dad, like her, was also reborn?

That was why his personality changed drastically. He refused that woman’s control, calmly agreed to divorce, and took her changes in stride.

At the very least, if it were the Dad from the previous life, he definitely would not have agreed so easily to her staying home to self study.

Or perhaps, this person was actually not her Dad…

Thinking of this possibility, Ji Jingyu’s heart began to pound violently.

For a moment, she felt uneasy, expectant, and afraid.

Don’t look at how she always despised that woman and missed Dad’s goodness in her heart.

But in fact, she also knew that although Dad in her previous life did not favor sons over daughters too severely, in his heart he still wanted a son.

Otherwise, he would not have suggested to Tian Chunfang to name her Ji Zhaodi.

It was just that she only had Dad as her one relative, and he treated her reasonably well, so she cherished those memories.

Was the Dad now really still the Dad from her previous life?