Chapter 263: A New Home for the Chickens

In just three days Xia Qing built a chicken house thirty square meters wide and three meters high.

Like the goat pen the chicken house had sturdy load-bearing walls on all sides. The roof was built with wooden beams and purlins, topped with wood laths, three layers of reeds for insulation, a layer of waterproof fabric, and finally finished with synthetic resin tiles.

The Greenlight Chickens were the most important poultry in her territory and needed special protection. Since Xia Qing was a professional builder, the chicken house she built wouldn’t collapse unless it was hit by fist-sized hail, gale-force winds above a level eight storm or rammed by someone with the strength of Old Goat’s evolution. Otherwise, it would hold steady.

Besides being sturdy Xia Qing also solved the problem of getting chickens in and out. There was no need to haul them in and out of the coop with a chicken cage every morning and evening.

She added a door for herself to enter, and a window for the chickens.

The chicken house sat on the west side of Xia Qing’s yard—it was the west house—so she put the chicken house door on the east wall to make it easy to go in, feed the chickens, collect eggs, and check on their safety. To keep the hens calm and happy when laying, Xia Qing made a whole row of grass nests. Even if all six hens laid at the same time, no one had to wait for a nest.

The small chicken window was set high in the west wall, about a meter and a half above the ground.

The yard, west of the chicken house, was originally cleared by Xia Qing for growing veggies. But after she discovered the terraced slopes on the hillside for planting, she moved all her seedlings over there, leaving the west yard empty.

After finishing the chicken house, Xia Qing fenced in the entire west yard and covered it with insect netting to keep the chickens safe and give them plenty of space to roam.

She then fixed up aluminum doors and windows she’d salvaged from the ruins and installed them on the chicken house. With that done, she let eleven chickens and one goose loose in their new home.

At dawn the chickens would hop out the window into their yard to peck and play. When dusk fell they’d leap back through the window to roost inside. If it rained or there was any danger, Xia Qing only had to close the window to keep her precious Greenlight Chickens safe inside.

And that Redlight Goose? After confirming it not only didn’t have any special abilities but was even more timid than the Black-Feathered Rooster—not good at guarding and making a mess in the chicken manure too—Xia Qing got in touch with Zhong Tao to swap it for some points when they stopped by.

With the chickens all set in their new home, Xia Qing called her companions—Old Goat, Er Gou, and Crippled Wolf—over. She had them circle the chicken yard with her and gave them strict instructions: “You three need to patrol the chicken yard a few times each day. Don’t let any little thieves sneak in and steal our chickens.”

When they stopped in front of the chicken house door Xia Qing pointed at it and said to the goat and two wolves, “This house is for the chickens. They’re weak and if they get out they’ll get snatched by hawks, weasels, foxes, or wildcats. So whenever this door is opened you have to shut it right away, no letting chickens run out.”

“Watch how I open and shut the door.” With that Xia Qing demonstrated how to work the door for her animal companions.

If it had just been the two wolves, Xia Qing would have just told them not to open the door. They never got curious and would always obey. But Old Goat was different. It saw itself as the owner of the whole territory and believed if it wanted to go somewhere, nothing should stop it.

If it couldn’t get in, it’d throw a fit. No matter how sturdy the door was, it wouldn’t survive a headbutt from Old Goat.

After demonstrating a few times, Xia Qing called out, “Old Goat, come try opening the door.”

Old Goat just squinted and didn’t even budge a hoof.

Xia Qing didn’t get upset. She waved for Crippled Wolf. “Crippled, you give it a go. See if you can open it.”

This door was basically a simplified burglar-proof door, no challenge at all for the attentive Crippled Wolf. It stepped up, lifted a paw to nudge the handle, pushed the door open, walked in, then nudged the door back open from inside and walked out.

A chunk of iron hung from a rope on the door frame, heavy enough to swing the door shut by itself.

“Excellent!” Xia Qing praised Crippled Wolf right away. “Crippled Wolf, you really are a brain-evolved wolf—smart, quick to learn. Got it right the first try and didn’t let a single chicken out. Here’s your reward.”

She handed over a piece of roasted jerky, but Crippled Wolf just raised its head, signaling her to drop it into its pouch. Xia Qing had strapped that pouch onto him before the third acid rain and hadn’t been able to take it back since.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to; it’s just the wolves thought that pouch was their private property now and never gave it back. So Xia Qing only took out the Yi Stone inside.

With the jerky tucked into the pouch, Xia Qing gave Crippled Wolf’s thick fur a scratch and called for Er Gou. “Er Gou, your turn.”

Er Gou completed the task easily too, then gazed up at Xia Qing with those clear wolf eyes. Xia Qing quickly shoved a piece of jerky into its pouch. “Er Gou, great job! You really are the wise old wolf—quick to learn. Just remember to be careful so the chickens don’t get out when you pass through.”

Er Gou wagged its tail and grinned wide, pleased with the treat.

And before Xia Qing could even call him, Old Goat strutted over and stood in front of her, head held high for his reward. Xia Qing immediately tossed in a piece of goat feed. “Our Old Goat is awesome too—the smartest goat ever.”

Once she finished the checks, Xia Qing’s face turned serious as she stared at the trio and warned, “Anyone who opens this door without shutting it and lets the chickens out will be punished. Old Goat, you open it without permission—you lose feed and get scolded.”

“Er Gou, you open it on your own—no meat stew. Crippled, if you open it…” Xia Qing fixed Crippled Wolf with a fierce look and threatened, “if you open the door, that bald spot on your back will never grow fur again. Got it?”

Old Goat, looking mischievous, chewed his cud as he eyed the door behind Xia Qing. Still, she could tell he understood.

Er Gou sat obediently by while the clever Crippled Wolf was already checking his own bandaged back.

Satisfied, Xia Qing handed each of them a basket. “All right, I’m off to cook. You three go patrol, catch some bugs, and when you’re back, we’ll eat.”

Now that Crippled Wolf could walk around he had his own jobs too—patrolling, catching pests, feeding chickens and fish. Just yesterday, he even brought back a nest of mice that had just moved into the territory and showed Xia Qing exactly where he found them. He basked in her praise and earned a piece of jerky for it.

After the goat and wolves left, Xia Qing took out her phone to check the time—and glanced at Red Squirrel’s location for good measure. That little one hadn’t shown up on her windowsill for water in three days, ever since Alpha scared him off.

At the moment he was holing up in a tree hollow he’d just found on Hill Forty-Nine, Section Three. This hollow was high up, nearly fifteen meters in a towering Red-Pine. Maybe Red Squirrel figured a higher home would keep the wolves at bay, and he’d moved all his stores from the lower hollows into his new nest.

Xia Qing took advantage of his morning foraging to climb up and check—there were still no peanuts in his stash.

At ten o’clock the next morning, the patrol and supply truck arrived at the pass between Territory One and Territory Ten.