Chapter 15: Chapter 8: Is This Still That Gluttonous and Lazy Female Village Bully?

Tang Min had always been worried about this niece of his. Now that she was willing to work, regardless of whether she had an ulterior motive, it was still better than her being lazy at home.

After a moment's thought, he said, "Alright, then you'll start raising pigs today. Youth Gu is on leave due to a leg injury, so you'll start by helping to cut pig grass. You'll get five work points a day."

Song Chu nodded unconcernedly. "Okay."

"If you perform well and truly raise the pigs well, I'll increase your work points," Tang Min said encouragingly.

He paused, then added sternly, "But this time, don't go fishing for three days and drying the net for two—don't be inconsistent. Or don't use raising pigs as an excuse to slack off or do other things. Otherwise, don't come looking for me if you have problems in the future."

"Big Brother, what are you saying? My Yaobao is so excellent; how could she possibly be lazy and inconsistent?" Tang Feng felt that her daughter was the best in the entire village.

Tang Min and the Tang family: "..."

She was most excellent at slacking off, fighting, and throwing tantrums; that much was true.

"Go to work, and do a good job," Tang Min said, feeling mentally exhausted. His niece's behavior was exactly how his sister had spoiled her; he couldn't even scold her, otherwise, she would pick a fight with whoever spoke up.

Looking at her eldest uncle's expression, which seemed to suggest he had lost all will to live, Song Chu chuckled softly. "Mm, I will."

After Tang Feng led Song Chu away, Song Chu's eldest aunt said with a smile, "Chu Chu finally wants to make progress."

Tang Min nodded with fatherly relief. "Yes, as long as she's willing to work, it's fine."

He only hoped this was a good start and wouldn't end abruptly like in the past.

He had two younger brothers and only one sister, Tang Feng. Among the children born to their four families, besides Song Chu, they were all boys. Because of this, even though his niece's actions were usually unreliable, they couldn't help but spoil her.

Song Chu's second cousin-in-law couldn't help but say, "I heard Chu Chu is pursuing Youth Gu. Could her wanting to raise pigs be for his sake?"

She did not like Tang Feng and her daughter, who were lazy, gluttonous, and frequently took advantage of their family.

She didn't believe for a second that Song Chu had actually changed for the better; she was surely after a man.

Upon hearing this, Tang Min's smile instantly faded. He felt his daughter-in-law might be telling the truth. "This girl... I really don't know what to say anymore."

He just hoped she wouldn't cause any trouble for the sake of a man.

The eldest aunt was also somewhat caught between laughter and tears. "Let's just wait and see. Maybe Chu Chu really has changed this time. After all, Youth Gu has been on leave these past few days."

"That's all we can do," Tang Min said to his wife. "Keep a close eye on her while you're working."

"Mm, I know," the eldest aunt nodded.

Song Chu went home for a bit before heading to the pig-raising site with her elder brother.

Since it was still a special period, pig raising was basically managed by the production team and the village. After half was handed over at the end of the year, the remainder would be distributed to each household according to work points.

The village pigsty was located near the cattle shed, a separately built mud-brick structure. The main person responsible for raising the pigs was her elder brother, while Gu Yue was in charge of cutting pig grass.

Because Gu Yue took on the entire task of cutting pig grass, he received six work points, plus an additional three points for feeding the cattle, totaling nine points a day, which was quite decent.

As soon as they entered the pigsty, a foul stench hit them. Song Chu scanned the area and found twelve pigs.

She then frowned; not only were the surroundings dirty, but the pigs themselves were incredibly filthy. "Brother, why don't you clean the pigsty?"

"I clean it every day. I carry the pig manure away to fertilize the crops," Song Lao Da said.

"That won't do. You have to clean the pigsty thoroughly, and the pigs need to be washed too. Otherwise, bacteria will easily breed, and the pigs will get sick easily."

Although Song Chu hadn't personally raised pigs in the apocalypse, she had studied many scientific pig-rearing tutorials from before the apocalypse. She had summarized them for those in charge of pig farming and personally supervised them, which had yielded good results.

Lao Da smiled dismissively. "Little Sister, we've raised them this way for years. Who washes pigs? Don't go making a fuss."

Song Chu raised an eyebrow. "I read this in a book. If you don't do it, I'll go back and tell Mom that you won't listen to me."

Her brother was an honest man; she couldn't bring herself to hit him, so she could only bring up the one person in the family he feared most.

Sure enough, at the thought of their mother throwing a tantrum, Lao Da's face turned bitter. "Little Sister, will this really work?"

"It definitely will. Besides, staying in such a poor environment every day isn't good for you. Cleaning it will help your health," Song Chu replied.

Although Lao Da didn't quite believe his sister, he was afraid of her reporting him, so he could only resign himself to cleaning the pigsty under her direction.

Song Chu was quite satisfied with her brother's work. "After rinsing the pigsty, use warm water to scrub the pigs down. I'll go cut some pig grass first and come back to check."

Lao Da worked with a bitter heart, waving his hand dismissively. "Fine, go ahead."

Song Chu put on a large wicker basket, took a sickle, and headed out.

At this time, everyone else was also out working. Seeing Song Chu heading up the mountain with a basket and a sickle, everyone felt as if they had seen a ghost.

Only after she had walked far away did people begin to whisper.

"What is she going to do?"

"I heard the Captain's daughter-in-law say that Song Chu requested to work in pig raising herself. Looking at her, she's going to cut pig grass."

"Her? Raising pigs and cutting grass? It'll be a miracle if she doesn't raise them to death."

"The sun must have risen from the west today. The Song family's precious treasure actually bothered to come out and work."

"I think the pig raising is a front; she's really just after Youth Gu."

"That's right. Youth Gu's job is cutting pig grass. I was wondering how she could suddenly become so diligent; it turns out it's for Youth Gu. That makes sense."

"Youth Gu is on leave due to a leg injury. It's hard on her to go through the motions of going up the mountain. I wonder if she can even bring back a single basket of grass."

"At most, it'll be one basket. That wouldn't even be enough for one meal for the pigs. They'll probably starve."

"No, if the pigs starve and die, how will we get our meat at the end of the year? We'll have to take this up with the Captain."

"Keep an eye on Song Chu in a bit. If she only brings back one basket of grass today, we'll go find the Captain after work."

The villagers did not believe Song Chu would be hardworking. Although cutting pig grass wasn't extremely exhausting, cutting enough to feed twelve pigs was no easy task.

Thus, everyone prepared to watch her, making sure she didn't ruin the production team's pigs.

Song Chu was unaware that she was being watched. She had studied materials on what grasses and wild vegetables pigs could eat, so she found them quickly.

She was strong, and her hands were nimble and quick. Before long, she had cut a full basket and was heading back down the mountain.

This stunned the people in the fields who were supposed to be watching her. It had only been about half an hour, and she had already finished a basket?

Song Chu placed the pig grass in the pigsty. Since running back and forth too many times was a hassle, she carried two more large baskets and headed back up the mountain. Watching her retreating figure, everyone found it hard to believe.

An hour later, when Song Chu returned carrying one large basket on her back and one in each hand—all filled to the brim with fresh pig grass—everyone was completely dumbfounded.

Song Chu had actually gone and cut pig grass seriously. Not only was she fast, but she could bring back so much at once? What kind of rhythm was this?

Youth Gu was on leave today; even if she performed this hard, he wouldn't be able to see it!

Could she really have become hardworking? They still found it hard to believe.

Then they discovered that Song Chu went up the mountain two more times, returning full each time. In less than a morning, she had cut all the grass needed to feed the pigs for the entire day. They could hardly believe it—was this still that lazy, gluttonous village bully?