Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Zhao Da'e and Zhao Laosan exchanged a few more words, and regardless of whether Zhao Laosan believed them or not, she believed them anyway.

After all, it's better if Zhang Cuilan doesn't come back. That jinx, even if she came back, she'd just be lazy and good-for-nothing. If she doesn't come back, so be it. It's not like I don't have a wife, so I can do whatever I want.

On their way back, Zhou Yuren and his wife went to their elder brother Zhou Puren's house to discuss matters, and Zhou Tianfu also went. After all, they were brothers, and their nephew getting married was a major event for the Zhou family, so naturally they had to discuss it carefully.

Only Zhou Chunwen was washing clothes at home, while Zhou Chunhong was plucking feathers from a chicken.

Zhao Da'e looked around and felt something was off: "Sister, didn't you eat your rooster? Why is there another one?"

Zhou Chunwen was a little smug and said happily, "My uncle's older brother gave them to me. He said your cousin is getting married and he wanted to give me a few roosters as a token of his appreciation."

Zhao Da'e asked blankly, "Your uncle's older brother sent you three roosters out of the blue? This seems so absurd! Sister, are your two families that close? As far as I know, your brother's name is Zhou Tianxiang, right? His nickname is 'The Great Conman.' He's known as the most unreliable person in your village, and he's not exactly a model citizen. While he's not exactly a swindler, he certainly doesn't have a reputation for generosity. And his wife, Old Yang, is another terrible person. Old Yang is from Dadao Village, right? She's illiterate and always complaining, just like my third aunt, Zhang Cuilan. If someone like that sends you a rooster, I'd suspect ulterior motives. Sending you three roosters? Isn't that a bit strange?"

Zhou Chunwen blushed: "Big Goose, don't think so badly of my relatives, okay? What if one of my relatives is a decent person?"

Zhao Da'e chuckled: "Big sister, do you believe me?"

Zhou Chunwen pursed her lips: she didn't actually believe it.

However, these were all private families, and Zhou Tianxiang was practically their only uncle or elder brother; their relationship was almost like that of blood brothers. So, it was understandable that he sent three roosters. After all, Zhou Tianfu was getting married, and it was normal to send gifts to the bride's family.

So Zhou Chunwen didn't think much of it at first and just let Zhou Chunhong kill the chicken.

Zhou Chunhong was originally timid and didn't dare to kill a chicken. However, Zhou Chunwen was incredibly busy, having to wash a huge amount of clothes. With the tenth day of the lunar month fast approaching, and clothes drying especially slowly in the dead of winter, the laundry had to be finished tonight. That way, when their older brother Zhou Tianfu visited their family, everyone could wear some nice, clean clothes, which would make their brother look good and at least prevent them from losing face. Therefore, the task of killing the chicken fell to Zhou Chunhong.

However, after hearing what Zhao Da'e said, Zhou Chunwen also became apprehensive.

Indeed, over the years, Zhou Tianxiang has never given his family anything of value. Even during holidays, he would just come over to offer his greetings, usually empty-handed.

This sudden enthusiasm made Zhou Chunwen feel that something was amiss.

But Zhou Chunwen had a vague feeling that nothing serious should happen. They were just a few roosters, lively and energetic; what could possibly go wrong?

Zhao Da'e observed the roosters for a few moments, then frowned and said, "Sister, these chickens aren't behaving properly. We can't eat them... we need to throw them away quickly."

Zhou Chunwen was stunned for a moment: "Throw it away? Why would you throw away a perfectly good rooster?"

Zhou Chunhong said, "The meat... is thrown away... what a waste."

Zhao Da'e was a person who valued her life. She took a wooden stick and turned over the chicken that Zhou Chunhong was killing: "Big sister, come here and take a good look."

Zhou Chunwen came over to take a look and felt that everything seemed normal, so he said, "He's lively and energetic, there's nothing wrong with him."

"A rooster's comb is normally red. But these roosters' combs aren't red; they're purple. Purple and red aren't very different, but you can still tell the difference. A normal rooster's comb is red; it will change color if you squeeze it. But if you don't believe me, try squeezing these roosters' combs."

Zhou Chunwen and Zhou Chunhong obediently pinched the rooster's comb, but after pinching it for a long time, the color didn't change at all. Zhou Chunwen immediately felt uneasy: "What... what's going on? Is it frozen?"

Zhao Da'e shook his head: "No. Frozen chickens turn bluish. And you two should take a good look at these chickens; although they're alive, their eyes are clearly very dazed..."

“Hey goose, stop messing around. This rooster has a dazed look in its eyes? I don’t see that at all,” Zhou Chunwen retorted.

Zhao Da'e patiently explained, "Take a good look. It's because their corneas have a semi-permeable membrane. Normally, a rooster's cornea has light, but these few don't. They look listless. It's like eyes with cataracts, where the retina is dull."

Zhou Chunwen looked bewildered: "I don't feel anything. I feel perfectly normal."

Zhou Chunhong also said, "Okay...okay..."

Helpless, Zhao Da'e could only say, "Can't you see that the chicken is drooling? Are they craving something delicious? You killed your rooster, sister. When you killed the chicken, did it drool?"

Zhou Chunwen thought about the chicken-killing incident a couple of days ago and realized that he hadn't drooled.

"And look at it, it's all scrawny and clumsy, but it keeps flicking at people. When killing chickens, they usually can't fight back, and it can't beat a person. It wasn't afraid of my second sister holding a kitchen knife. The one being killed was flapping its wings, and the two that were about to be killed were flapping their wings too. Moreover, the skin of these three roosters is a bit purple. I feel that these chickens have fowl plague," Zhao Da'e analyzed.

"What is chicken plague?" Zhou Chunwen asked, somewhat confused.

“Chicken…chicken…plague…is it a disease?” Zhou Chunhong asked, stammering.

Zhao Da'e was also stunned: Holy crap, my rebirth is too ahead of its time. People in this era have no idea about chicken plague.

This era was somewhat isolated; everyone lived in the countryside, and Jurenzhangzi was located deep in the mountains and forests, teeming with wild pheasants, many of which were kept as pets. For example, Zhou Yuren's family kept a few chickens, but they didn't need to feed them; they were simply let out during the day to forage in the mountains. The soil in the mountains was rich in nutrients, and there were even more insects. In the mountains, apart from pigs that were fed a little cornmeal, other animals like chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, cattle, sheep, horses, and donkeys didn't need to be fed. Therefore, living off the land gave the farmers in the mountains an advantage over villagers from outside.

However, there are many wild animals in the mountains. Wild animals are different from domesticated ones; they are nomadic and are very likely to carry viruses. In cases like this, where no other houses are nearby, but these three roosters have become sick, it is highly likely that Zhou Tianxiang brought wild chickens from the mountains and infected his own chickens with the disease.

In his previous life, Zhao Da'e had heard of this disease; swine fever and chicken plague were quite common, and later there were even things like avian influenza. Many animals had strange diseases. Especially in later generations, with large-scale farming and higher density, there were more viruses.

Moreover, this thing is highly contagious.

So Zhao Da'e told Zhou Chunwen and her sister everything she knew, concluding that the chicken was sick and couldn't be eaten.

"Not eating?" Zhou Chunhong immediately objected: "It's all...it's all...it's all...cleaned up, I want...I want...I want...to eat."

Zhou Chunwen also felt it was a bit of a pity: "Big Goose, are you sure? This rooster may look listless, but maybe the meat is still good. Besides, we can just stew it, then it'll be fine, right?"

Zhou Chunwen looked at the three roosters and felt it was a pity. These roosters were quite big, each weighing about three or four pounds, and one of them had already been plucked. Should he feed them to the dog instead of eating them? The problem was, he didn't have a dog at home.

“Well, I don’t have any experience with this either. But usually, in this situation, not only can you not eat them, you have to bury those roosters and throw them far away. Even then, there’s no guarantee that your dozen or so hens won’t get infected. This stuff is highly contagious; if one family’s chickens get sick, the whole village is basically wiped out.” Zhao Da’e sighed, “I guess, I’m just guessing, your hens are basically ruined too. But one thing is for sure, I’m basically right about this. Sister, sneak over to your uncle’s older brother’s house, but don’t get too close, see if they still have any chickens. If they don’t have any chickens left, or if the remaining chickens are sickly and about to die, then they definitely have fowl plague. I’m only 90% sure right now.”

Zhao Da'e wasn't a professional veterinarian, after all. She just had a simple judgment about these chickens: they looked very much like chicken plague.

This reminded her of a time when she watched the Spring Festival Gala and saw Teacher Song, nicknamed "Yi Jian Mei" (meaning "a plum blossom in the wind"), cut the ribbon at a chicken farm, only to find that all the chickens had contracted bird flu the next day. She burst into laughter at that moment.

However, this also precisely illustrates that fowl plague spreads extremely quickly. Zhao Da'e isn't a professional and doesn't know the specific differences between fowl plague and avian influenza, but judging from the names, fowl plague seems to be more severe, carrying a larger virus. Of course, its spread and mortality rates might be slightly slower. Generally, viruses with high mortality rates are transmitted through contact, while those with lower mortality rates are likely transmitted through the air.

This has some scientific basis. Viruses, simply put, are just cells. Since they all exist in cellular form, the larger one will sweep across the globe, but its disadvantage is that it moves slowly. The smaller one moves faster and is more agile, but its pathogenicity is certainly weakened.

In his past life, Zhao Da'e remembered a village northeast of Dongtai Village called Sanjia Village. Sanjia Village was a village formed by three surnames. From the late 1990s to a long period in the new century, their village raised laying hens. Laying hens are relatively simple to raise; they can be raised intensively, requiring little space. A chicken coop of 30-50 square meters, or even a house where no one lives, can house several hundred laying hens, making it low-cost.

Zhao Da'e had heard that there had been a chicken plague outbreak there one year, and people were terrified of it. Countless chickens, overnight, all became sick. Because the houses were all next to each other, except for three households that lived further away, whose chickens ultimately didn't get sick, the rest were all wiped out. Nearly a million chickens were gone. That was a major turning point for that village, from wealth to poverty.

The main cause of the village-wide outbreak was that one family's chickens got sick, but they didn't say anything. Instead, they used the meat from the diseased chickens to hold a celebratory event—I think it was their grandson's one-month celebration. In rural areas, you can't avoid the custom of giving gifts to villagers for celebrations. Even if two families don't get along, you still have to give a gift.

Giving money as a gift is essentially a way of repaying a debt. It's a matter of "I'll only go if you come; I won't go if you don't." That's the basic principle. Especially in this era, when people are generally not wealthy, the money given as a gift can indeed play a significant role. But that's beside the point.

So many villagers in Sanjia Village ate the diseased chicken without knowing it was infected. They were also small-minded and had little awareness of things like virus prevention. After that family joyfully celebrated their son's one-month birthday, the entire village was plunged into a somber atmosphere.

Most importantly, several villagers also fell ill and were hospitalized after eating the diseased chicken.

Although Zhao Da'e wasn't entirely sure whether eating this kind of chicken would cause illness, there was definitely a risk of getting sick.

Besides, it's not worth it.

"No matter what, these three roosters are absolutely not to be eaten. If you eat them and get sick later, it won't be worth it. No matter how delicious the chicken is, it has to be healthy. Second Sister, get up quickly, don't clean it up anymore." Zhao Da'e pulled Zhou Chunhong up, stopping her from plucking the roosters.

Zhou Chunhong reluctantly got up, muttering a few words: "This chicken is so good, it's a shame not to eat it. Goose, if you don't want to eat it, don't stop me, I'm not afraid of dying..."

Zhao Da'e almost gave Zhou Chunhong a thumbs up: "Second Sister, you're awesome!" Zhao Da'e had heard plenty of stories about people who weren't afraid of death, but she'd rarely seen anyone actually facing death and still babbling about how they weren't afraid. What was the point of being so stubborn now?

Zhao Da'e told Zhou Chunwen to go check on things. If there was really nothing wrong, they could eat it later, and cook it a little longer.

Zhou Chunwen then got up and went to the vicinity of the home of Zhou Tianxiang, the eldest brother of her great-uncle Zhou Puren.

In the past, Zhou Tianxiang raised a hundred or so chickens, which caused constant complaints from his neighbors. The reason was that Zhou Tianxiang raised chickens but didn't feed them at all. Zhou Chunwen would sometimes throw some corn kernels to his chickens in the cold winter, but Zhou Tianxiang didn't feed them anything, so his chickens roamed freely. They often went to the neighbors' yards to eat grass seeds and grains, causing the neighbors a lot of resentment. Furthermore, the chickens pooped everywhere, making a mess all over the yard, which further fueled the neighbors' dissatisfaction.

In the past, when Zhou Chunwen came, she was truly "a crane among chickens," with a bunch of chickens clucking and pecking at her. But now, where are the chickens? Not a single one is in sight.