Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty

Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Saving the Bird Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Saving the Bird Chen Afu, having come to a realization, laughed, “Oh, I was shallow before. To have Jin Bao is already my great fortune.”

Jin Yanzi eased a bit upon hearing this.

Chen Afu continued, trying to coax her, “Jin Bao, can you not steal gold? Good kids shouldn’t steal.”

Jin Yanzi seemed displeased. It hopped around and said, “In our dictionary, to steal is to take, to take is to purchase.” Glancing at Chen Afu, it impatiently added, “Even though I call you Mommy Fu, you shouldn’t try to control my actions.”

Chen Afu realized she really had no control over Jin Yanzi and gave up trying to manage it. Instead, she proposed, “Jin Bao, could you just call me ‘mom’ or ‘mommy’? Adding ‘Fu’ doesn’t sound good, too rustic.”

Jin Yanzi, finding this hilarious, covered her mouth with her wing and chirped laughter. “Have you ever looked in a mirror?” she said with mirth, “You’re not just rustic, you’re extremely rustic.” But then it softened, appeasing her like a good child, “Fine, I’ll be a good kid and not bring up your faults. I’ll just call you mommy.”

This wasn’t just a stubborn child, but also a contradicting one.

However, its laughter was simply too adorable. Its little round eyes, like green beans, curved into crescent moons, cheek muscles slightly elevated, half-open beak revealing a small pink tongue.

Any animal’s smile is as adorable as an angel’s, much like the Samoyeds she loved in her previous life.

Chen Afu was immediately swept over by cuteness at the sight of its smile. She wanted to pick it up and nibble right away, but, thinking of the bloody hole on that idiot’s face, she decided against it and instead continued to coax, “Jin Bao, haven’t you always regretted not seeing the Sydney Opera House and Bird’s Nest? I can draw, and you could build a house like that for yourself to live in, it would be splendid. Though as for the Dubai Pearl, it’s pretty tall but doesn’t have much else to offer, it wouldn’t suit you.”

Jin Yanzi’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. It flew onto Chen Afu’s hand and stretched out its neck to enquire in a soft murmur, “Mommy, um… mommy, can you really draw the Sydney Opera House and the Bird’s Nest? Do those two houses really look extremely good and unique?”

Its murmur was soft and mellow, so pleasant to hear.

Chen Afu nodded, “Yes, they are extremely good looking. I’ve been to both places, so I can definitely draw them for you.”

Jin Yanzi was so excited that it spread its wings and flew a couple of rounds in the air, then delicately landed on her hand, hopped joyfully, laughing all the while. Finally, it said, “Mommy, you’re the best. You’ll help me draw those two houses. I owe you one.”

Chen Afu grinned, “Alright, once we’ve bought paper and pen at home, I’ll draw for you.” Implicitly, it meant that if she helped earn money soon enough, they’d be able to buy paper and pen, then she could draw the house for her.

However, Jin Yanzi didn’t seem to catch the hint, and only replied, “Okay, I’ll wait for mommy to draw them.” Then added, “Mommy, it’s been years since I last played in the woods. Don’t wait up for me tonight.”

With a flash, she disappeared.

Suddenly, with another flash, she dashed back, stood on Chen Afu’s hand, and said, “In case of an emergency, pinch your left palm and I’ll hurry back. But remember, only for real emergencies.”

Then with another flash, she disappeared entirely.

If she was in danger, a pinch to her left palm would summon her back? Chen Afu imagined Jin Yanzi’s speed, akin to lightning, assuming it’s definitely faster than an ordinary sparrow with a speed of at least three hundred kilometers per hour. If within a hundred li radius, indeed, it would only take a few minutes to race back.

Finding herself protected by such an extraordinary bodyguard, joy overwhelmed Chen Afu. She looked again at the magic waste space, suddenly discovering a sapphire at the root of a tree beneath her feet, looking further, she found a few more gems – rubies, jade, pearls, and some fragments of gold weighing about twenty-something li. The quality of the gemstones was not as good as those in Golden House, and the purity of the gold was not too great, presumably these were waste materials discarded by Jin Yanzi while constructing the Golden House.

Chen Afu’s eyes crinkled from her smile. Jin Yanzi mentioned not to take things casually from the tree, but she could probably take and sell these discarded items from beneath the tree, right?

She felt disgusted at her greedy thoughts, blaming it on her extreme poverty. After some consideration, she decided not to take any of it out of the space just yet. Instead, she gathered them into a handkerchief, and stashed them under the tree root, planning to ask Jin Yanzi before taking any further action.

Looking around quietly, she noticed a few leaves had fallen. Uncertain as to how long they had been there, they were as green and glossy as the ones still on the tree. Picking up the leaves, she brought them to her nose to smell – the scent was refreshing and elegant, similar to the aroma in the magic waste space, only with an added note of coolness, clearing her mind further. Besides being used as a perfume, these leaves seem to have a rejuvenating effect. Her happiness doubled and she picked up all five leaves from the ground, putting them in a wallet and stashing them under a tree. She didn’t dare expose these things, they smelled too good.

She took another glance at the two small bundles, satisfied, and silently uttered the word “out”. In a blink, she was sitting on her bed.

Chen Dabao was still sleeping soundly.

Back in the east room, Chen Afu didn’t feel any fatigue at all; in fact, her strength was fully restored and she felt even better than before, her fingers were already very flexible. It seemed the magic waste space was not entirely useless after all.

She thought about how she should coax Jin Yanzi better in the future, get some green bird’s nest for Chen Ming to eat. For that bird’s nest was built by Jin Yanzi, with a guaranteed quality. The magic waste space had an aura, despite being of low quality, after being nourished for so long, the quality of the bird’s nest could only be superior.

Thinking all these, she was filled with joy and ran to the west room, joining Mrs. Wang in sewing. Whilst Mrs. Wang sewed the needle case, she worked on the basket and details. Seeing the flexibility return to her daughter’s fingers made Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang even happier.

Due to Chen Afu’s fight, the family stayed home for the past two days busying themselves with housework. They greatly appreciated the little bird that pecked the idiot, it helped Chen Afu greatly.

Chen Afu realized that Jin Yanzi couldn’t always stay in the magic waste space in the future, there would definitely be times when they would be together. So she pretended to recall something and said, “Oh, that’s right, I once saved a bird last month. Now it strikes me, the bird that pecked that idiot was the one I had saved.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Ming and the others looked at Chen Afu in astonishment, “There’s more?”

Chen Afu nodded, “Yes, it happened last month, when Dad was resting, Mum, brother, and Dabao went out. I saw a small, injured bird fall into our courtyard and was about to be eaten by a cat. So, I chased the cat away. Once I was holding the bird in my hand, I realized its leg was broken, I applied some healing herbs to it and wrapped the leg up with a cloth, even gave it some water to drink. It rested in my palm for a while, after recovering, it flew away. It had flown high into the sky and then descended again, chirping at me a few times, only then did it officially take off.”

As Chen Afu narrated, her listeners marvelled at each sentence, completely buying her story.

………

Thank you to Yiren Hongzhuang, Hera @ social butterfly, for their wallets, thank you to Scholar 100103150303680 for his sachet. In past rankings, my new book achieved good results, thank you all for your support, especially keppra for their significant support.