Chapter 30: My Son Became a Livestock King?

Wang Yong stared wide-eyed. "Brother Hui, are you running a nightclub in here?"

Lin Hui scoffed. "You illiterate, what do you know? I'm cultivating the chickens' artistic sensibilities!"

"Holy shit!" The two of them were completely speechless. "Why don't you just give them a massage while you're at it?"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you want the good life, do what I say — shake those hips and sing along!"

Wang Yong and Chen Erhu exchanged a glance, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

This was way too ridiculous!

"Erhu, what are you standing there for? Sing!"

Lin Hui gave Erhu a kick in the backside.

Chen Erhu pulled a long face. "Brother Hui, this song — I, I don't know it."

"Then just hum along!"

Lin Hui shot him a look. "The main thing is to get hyped up. Don't you see the chickens are watching you? Set a good example!"

Chen Erhu looked up miserably and sure enough, every single chicken was staring straight at him.

Though judging by those beady little eyes, they looked more frightened than anything.

"Move it!" Lin Hui gave him another kick.

Chen Erhu had no choice but to shuffle along behind, moaning and groaning like he had a toothache...

"Blazing flames, burning me up — you're just like, a raging fire!"

Wang Yong suddenly let loose at the top of his lungs, howling like a wolf.

Not only did it startle Lin Hui, even the chickens flinched in unison.

"What the hell kind of singing was that? Are you mourning at a funeral?"

"After hearing that, you think any chicken could lay an egg?"

"They'd suck any eggs right back in. Start over — be gentle, put some feeling into it!"

Lin Hui acted just like a music teacher scolding a tone-deaf student.

Wang Yong shrank his neck, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "Sorry, sorry, let me try again..."

Before long, under Lin Hui's guidance, Wang Yong and Chen Erhu gradually found their groove.

Lin Hui was, after all, the prince of the nightclub scene.

Singing, building an atmosphere — that sort of thing was second nature to him.

As the three of them sang their hearts out, the mood inside the chicken coop slowly began to shift.

At first, the hens had indeed been startled, but after a while, realizing that the three of them posed no threat, they all settled down.

The music beat on, and some of the chickens had already gotten used to the rhythm.

A few were even bobbing their heads left and right in time with the music.

They looked genuinely happy about it.

Cluck cluck cluck...

"They're moving, ha, they're actually moving!" Wang Yong shouted excitedly.

Chen Erhu scratched his head. "But does this actually work?"

"What do you know?" Lin Hui said with complete seriousness. "These chickens are cooped up in here every single day. If that were you, would you have any energy?"

"We have to get them moving. Once they're energized and then tired out, they naturally won't be able to hold back — and then the eggs will come pouring out!"

Wang Yong and Chen Erhu stared at him with deep skepticism. "Brother Hui, are you just making this up?"

"Stop talking nonsense, keep dancing — put some feeling into it, get the chickens hyped!" Lin Hui gave each of them a smack on the backside.

The two had no choice but to keep swaying along with the music.

One song ended quickly, and the next was pure high-energy DJ beats.

Wang Yong seemed to have a fire ignited inside him, and at this point he had completely let loose, throwing his arm around Lin Hui and going wild.

Chen Erhu, seeing the other two going all out, simply threw himself on the ground and started spinning around like a human merry-go-round.

The whole chicken coop was flashing with lights and pulsing with music.

Not far away, two veteran soldiers stared at the chicken coop with its swaying lights, their jaws nearly hitting the floor.

"They're... going to slaughter the chickens, right?" one of the veterans swallowed hard.

"That's what I think too!" The other veteran nodded. "I reckon they're about to send every last one of those chickens off."

The first veteran gave a wry smile. "I've been here a long time, and this is the first time I've ever seen anyone raise chickens like this. Should we go report it to the Quartermaster?"

The other soldier shook his head. "Forget it. Right now those three are the Quartermaster's favorites. If we go report it, we'll probably just get yelled at. Let's wait — if a bunch of chickens are dead by tomorrow, they'll have hell to pay!"

The two shared a smug grin, then turned and headed back to the barracks.

Time ticked by, minute by minute, song after song playing on.

The chicken coop had worked itself into a complete frenzy, chickens and humans alike bobbing their heads to the music.

After thirty minutes, Lin Hui pulled the other two aside to sit and rest.

"Alright, now let's watch them do their thing!"

Wang Yong scratched his head. "Brother Hui, the chickens are all riled up now, but when are they actually going to lay eggs?"

Lin Hui checked his watch. "Give it another hour, then cut the music — otherwise we'll actually tire them to death."

"Brother Hui, I, I think I might die before they do."

Chen Erhu was gasping for breath, drenched in sweat.

Soon enough, an hour passed.

The music was switched off, but the chickens were still buzzing with energy.

Wang Yong and Chen Erhu stared at each other blankly.

"Doesn't seem like anything's happening..."

"Brother Hui, what if the chickens got too hyped up and stopped laying altogether?"

"Shouldn't happen. Let's wait a bit more."

Lin Hui felt a twinge of doubt.

This was a method he had pieced together from his reading.

It had worked on the pigs — surely it wouldn't fail on chickens?

After a little while, the chickens seemed to tire out and settled into their nesting boxes.

"Oh no, the chickens are going to sleep — they must have played themselves out and now they won't lay!" Wang Yong panicked.

The words had barely left his mouth.

Cluck cluck cluck...

A nearby hen suddenly laid several eggs in quick succession.

"They're laying, they're actually laying!"

Chen Erhu let out an excited shout.

Lin Hui and Wang Yong leapt to their feet, eyes wide as saucers.

The next second, the other hens in the coop, like a squad of sprinklers, began popping out eggs one after another in rapid succession.

Wang Yong grabbed Chen Erhu in an excited bear hug. "Amazing, this is amazing! Our hard work paid off! Brother Hui, you're incredible — I'm so happy I could lay an egg myself!"

Lin Hui's face went blank.

You go ahead and try — I sure as hell wouldn't want it!

* * *

Early the next morning.

Fan Ming strolled over to the chicken coop with his hands clasped behind his back, smiling pleasantly. "So, you three — did the chickens lay this morning?"

The three of them exchanged a knowing smile. "Quartermaster, why don't you go take a look for yourself?"

Fan Ming laughed heartily. "It's fine, it's fine. You've only just taken over the chicken coop, so not being familiar with things is understandable. I can allow the egg yield to be lower than usual for the first week. With your abilities, after a week..."

Suddenly, he froze completely.

"What's going on? Where did all these eggs come from?"

He rushed over to the egg baskets in disbelief, his pupils rapidly dilating.

Today's egg count was nearly double the usual amount — the baskets were almost overflowing.

"Did you go out and buy eggs?" Fan Ming glared at them.

Lin Hui said cheerfully, "Quartermaster, what are you saying? We'd never cheat like that! We got these eggs through sheer skill!"

Fan Ming's jaw nearly hit the floor. "You can get hens to have a natural delivery?"

He turned to look at the chicken coop. Every single hen was listless and drooping, looking exactly like they were in postpartum recovery.

"Holy shit, what did you do to these chickens?" Fan Ming yelled in alarm.

Lin Hui laughed. "Don't worry, they're just tired. You try laying that many eggs and see if you're not tired too!"

Fan Ming: "....."

Damn it, you're the one who lays eggs.

Lin Hui continued, "Let them rest today, and tonight they'll be able to keep going. As long as the feed keeps coming, I guarantee they'll not only lay more, but stay in top health!"

Fan Ming's eye twitched as he listened. These chickens looked for all the world like they were on the verge of dying from some kind of fowl plague.

But then he looked at the eggs piled up beside them, and he couldn't help but believe Lin Hui.

He'd been at this base for years and had never seen so many eggs laid in a single night!

Just then, all the veteran soldiers came rushing over.

The two veterans from the night before had come expecting to enjoy a good laugh — but the moment they saw the baskets packed full of eggs, they were struck dumb.

"What the — how did they manage this?"

The two stared at each other, racking their brains and still unable to figure it out. After all that craziness last night, the chickens still managed to lay this many eggs?

That defied all logic!

Fan Ming had by now recovered his composure and burst out laughing. "Lin Hui, you've really opened my eyes! You're not just a great pig hand — you're a great chicken hand too. Your father isn't just a master pig-slaughterer; he must be a livestock genius!"

Lin Hui suppressed a laugh. If his old man ever heard that, he'd probably slap the Quartermaster's face swollen!

Lin Hui smiled pleasantly. "Quartermaster, about our agreement then!"

Fan Ming chuckled. "A man's word is his bond!"

"That said, this is only the first day. Just to make sure you didn't simply get lucky..."

"Here's the deal: if you can keep the egg yield from the chicken coops and duck pens above the average standard for a full week, I'll give you a commendation and five days of leave — go wherever you like!"

The eyes of all three lit up, and they were so excited they nearly floated off the ground. "Thank you, Quartermaster — it's a deal!"

Fan Ming roared with laughter. "It's a deal!"

Once everyone else had left, Old Ma came over and punched Lin Hui on the arm. "You little rascal, you've been hiding your talents. I'm your squad leader — if you've got good techniques, don't keep them to yourself. You'd better teach me!"

Lin Hui looked sheepish. His techniques couldn't exactly be taught — not unless Old Ma had a System too.

He laughed it off vaguely and managed to dodge the question.

Over the following days, the three of them repeated the same routine.

Chicken coop, duck pen, goose pen — a touring performance circuit.

Every night at the livestock base, it was Night after night of revelry.

The poultry had the time of their lives.

Egg production was surging higher every single day.

By the fifth day, the base's egg output was a full three times higher than before!

Fan Ming was grinning from ear to ear. He felt like Lin Hui was a heaven-sent treasure!

Life for the three of them was going absolutely swimmingly...

* * *

That evening, Lü Qingsong was reviewing some documents.

His phone rang. He glanced at the number and instantly shot to his feet.

"Hello, Commander, sir — I was just about to call you..."

"Oh, so you do remember to call me!" Lin Guangyao said coldly. "Were you going to report that my son assaulted someone during recruit training?"

Lü Qingsong looked awkward for a moment, but quickly broke into a smile. "Commander, sir, what young man doesn't make mistakes? That's all in the past now. A man who recognizes his faults and corrects them is still a good comrade, isn't he? Please don't be too hard on him!"

"You little rascal, just keep covering for him!" Lin Guangyao said angrily. "He pulls a stunt like this as a recruit — what's he going to do when he's older? Tell me — how did you punish him?"

Lü Qingsong said with a grin, "I sent him to the production base. I wanted him to endure some hardship and get some tempering!"

"Bullshit!" Lin Guangyao slammed his palm on the table. "That place is where idle people go to loaf around. You think he'll learn his lesson there? You're just protecting him!"

Lü Qingsong shook his head quickly. "Commander, sir, you're being unfair to me — and you're misjudging him. Let me tell you, this kid has changed a great deal since he got to the base!"

"Hmph. What could he possibly have changed?"

"He really has changed!" Lü Qingsong said with a smile. "Since he arrived, he's not only increased the piglet output, he's also multiplied the base's egg production several times over. He's already been named a model soldier at the base, and the base has even submitted a request to have him featured in the military newspaper for commendation!"

On the other end of the line, Lin Guangyao nearly spat blood. "What did you say? That kid... he's become a livestock specialist?"

Lin Guangyao was so furious his teeth were nearly grinding to dust.

The Lin family had served in the military for generations — every one of them a hero, decorated with battle honors!

And now, with Lin Hui, the family had produced a livestock king?

The Lin family's honor had been thoroughly dragged through the mud by this boy...