Chapter 44: Mommy Has To Feed The Ducklings First

Dumbstruck, Lu Yumo could not fathom how things would suddenly develop like this.

“Alright. Things are very clear now. Yumo, you’ve misunderstood your sister.” Xu Wei comforted her son. She picked a duckling out of the box and put it on her palm. As she looked at the yellowish creature, she couldn’t help herself and she petted its head.

The duckling fluttered its wings as if it wanted to fly. “Quack.”

“Oh my, look how adorable he is!” Xu Wei exclaimed. Her eyes glowed brightly as if this was the first time she was seeing something like this. “He thinks I’m his mother!”

After saying that, she asked Fu Zhi, “Should I hire a carpenter to build a house for these ducklings?”

“That’s not necessary. Just putting them in the flower bed would do.”

However, Xu Wei was still skeptical about putting these ducklings in Fu Zhi’s flower bed. ‘”But what about your plants? All plants are delicate, and these ducklings are still small. I’m worried that they might make a mess of your garden.”

Fu Zhi then replied softly, “It’s alright. These ducklings have all been professionally trained beforehand, so they know what they are doing.”

The plants she grew were all top-graded medicinal herbs. They would attract many bugs and insects, so she needed these laboratory-raised ducks to get rid of that nuisance.

Xu Wei did not know what to say. She looked at the so-called professionally-trained duckling on her palm and fell into a pensive silence, trying her very best to make sense of what Fu Zhi had told her to no avail.

She raised her head but just as she was about to say something, she saw the serious expression on Fu Zhi’s face and felt stumped. In the end, she swallowed her words.

After all, her daughter must be feeling very bad now that she had just lost her grandfather. Therefore, she decided to go with whatever her daughter said as long as she was happy.

With that thought in mind, Xu Wei poked the duckling’s wings again. In response, the duckling wagged its head back and forth and hit her in a soft spot.

“Ahhh, this is so adorable!”

As she indulged in the cuteness of the winged creature, Fu Zhi’s apathetic voice wafted into her ears. “When these adorable creatures grow up, we can slaughter them and make herbal soup out of them. It’s very good for your health.”

The corners of Xu Wei’s lips twitched. It took her a few seconds to digest the idea of making these ducklings into a herbal soup when they grew up. When she came back to her senses, her eyes bulged in disbelief and she exclaimed, “Ducklings are cute! How could you eat them?”

Then, Fu Zhi replied softly, “We’re not going to eat these ducklings,” she explained seriously. “They are too small, which is why I said we’re going to wait until they grow up.”

The duckling on Xu Wei’s palm shuddered. It quacked at Fu Zhi as if it was telling her to stay away from it.

“Alright, alright.” Xu Wei held the duckling with one hand and patted her restless eldest son’s head with her other hand. With a smile plastered across her face, she said, “Zhizhi, go back to your room and change clothes. Your father said we’re going to have dinner at the farm tonight.”

After Fu Zhi nodded at her, she said, “I’ll go feed the ducklings first.”

Fu Zhi then turned around and went back to her room.

Downstairs, Lu Yumo swatted his mother’s hand away from his head after Fu Zhi left the living hall. He turned around and faced Xu Wei. He had no idea why his mother would suddenly change her mind at the last moment. Disappointment was written all over his face as he asked, “Why did you stop me, mom? Were you not the one who asked me to ask if she’s seeing someone? Look what you have done. How could you say one thing and do another?”

Xu Wei knew she had let her son down. She averted her gaze and gave her son a shy look. “Well, I was just worried about her and I don’t want to pressure her too much. Besides, did you not hear what your sister just said? She’s so overwhelmed by grief that she wants to slaughter these ducklings. Don’t you think it’d be very cruel of me if I still doubted her in her current condition?”

There was nothing Lu Yumo could say. He could almost picture the sadistic expression on Fu Zhi’s face when she was about to slaughter the ducklings in his mind.

The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He shook his head and refocused his eyes. Then, he said, “I’m sure you’ll regret spoiling her so much one day. She doesn’t seem so sad to me. I remember when my grandpa passed away. I could barely speak and I almost fainted a few times.”

Xu Wei frowned and replied, “That’s why your father and I thought you were not going to be successful in the future. The reason he works so hard right now is so that we don’t have to rely on you when we’re old.”

Lu Yumo furrowed his brows in disbelief. Just as he was about to say something, he saw his mother pick up a book titled “Spare The Rod, Spoil The Child” from the table and instantly landed back on his seat.

‘I guess I’ll let it go this time. After all, there are many events going on around the world. Why should I obsess over fighting about something as trivial as this?’