The single egg tasted like a revelation.
The next morning, Wang Shi, with ceremonial care, cracked it into a bowl, beat it with a pinch of precious salt, and steamed it over the cooking fire. The resulting pale yellow custard was divided with meticulous fairness into eleven portions, each no larger than a spoonful. It was more a scent, a texture, a memory of nourishment than a true meal.
But as Lin Yan swallowed his share, the rich, fatty silkiness of it seemed to seep directly into his starved cells. Across the low table, he saw the same stunned appreciation on every face. Lin Xiao licked his clay spoon clean three times. Lin Dahu ate his portion slowly, eyes closed, as if committing the sensation to memory. It was a taste of what could be.
"A good omen," Wang Shi declared, the lines around her eyes softening. "The hens know the family needs them."
Lin Yan said nothing. He knew it wasn't an omen; it was a direct result of caloric intake. The insect feast had provided the energy for ovulation. It was basic biology, now quantified by the blue screen in his mind which cheerfully read: Eggs Collected: 2. Days Remaining: 29.
The gratitude in the room was a warm, palpable thing, but it was edged with a new, sharp hunger. Not just for food, but for more.
After the meager breakfast of gruel and egg, the family dispersed to their daily battles for survival. Lin Dahu and Lin Tie took their mended nets down to the creek, hoping to catch something—anything—to supplement their diet or trade. Lin Zhu headed to Old Chen's compound to discuss the promised weeding work, his shoulders set in resignation. The women—Wang Shi, Chunhua, and Meilan—took their battered baskets to the wooded hillsides to forage for early spring greens, dandelions, and any edible fungus. The sisters, Xiaohua and Xiaolian, stayed to mend clothing and tend the tiny kitchen garden, their movements economical and tired.
Lin Yan was left with Lin Xiao and the three chickens. His father had given him a long look before leaving. "The hens… see to them. It is good work." It was an acknowledgment, a shifting of his son's role from invalid to contributor of a potentially valuable resource.
"Come on, Xiao," Lin Yan said, his mind already racing. "We have a patient to see."
The spotted hen was indeed their patient. While the black and yellow hens pecked with slightly more energy at the dirt floor of the lean-to, the spotted one sat hunched, feathers fluffed, her breathing a faint, audible rasp. The system's earlier diagnosis glowed: Internal Layer Inflammation.
"She's going to die, isn't she?" Lin Xiao asked, his small face serious.
"Not if we can help it," Lin Yan said. He pulled up the system's store. The "Basic Herbal Knowledge" unlock still cost 50 points. He had 5. He needed a cheaper, more immediate solution.
"System," he whispered, focusing his intent. "Search for treatments for avian inflammation within current point budget."
The screen shimmered. A new, temporary list appeared.
[Scanning Local Flora Database…]
[Match Found: Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Common. Leaves and roots possess mild anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties. Preparation: Crush fresh leaves into paste, mix with clean water, administer orally.]
[Acquisition: Forageable. No point cost.]
[Match Found: Plantain (Plantago major). Common. Leaves have drawing and anti-microbial properties for external use. Could assist if inflammation has external cause.]
[Acquisition: Forageable. No point cost.]
[Note: Host lacks precise identification skills. Risk of misidentification: Moderate.]
[Solution: Purchase 'Basic Plant Identification' module. Cost: 10 System Points.]
Ten points. He had five. He needed to earn five more, and quickly. He looked at the two relatively healthy hens. The mission was for eggs, but perhaps the system rewarded general husbandry improvements.
"Xiao, we're going to give them a new home. Just for the day."
Working together, using scavenged stones and fallen branches from the wood's edge, they constructed a small, temporary enclosure on a patch of grassier ground. It took most of the morning and left Lin Yan shaking with exhaustion, but it got the chickens onto fresh ground, away from their own accumulated waste. The black hen protested loudly, but the yellow one immediately began hunting for bugs in the new grass.
[Action Recognized: Implemented Basic Pasture Rotation. Livestock stress reduced. Health +2 (Black & Yellow). Points awarded: +3.]
Points: 8.
Close. He needed to clean and improve the permanent lean-to. He fetched a broken wooden shovel and, with Lin Xiao's help, began the foul task of removing the accumulated muck from the chicken shelter. The smell was eye-watering, but he persisted, scraping the nitrogen-rich waste into a pile at the edge of their vegetable plot—future fertilizer, his mind noted automatically. He propped up a sagging wall with a sturdy branch and patched the worst of the thatch roof with bundled dry grass.
[Action Recognized: Coop Sanitation and Repair Completed. Disease vector reduced. Nesting security improved. Points awarded: +4.]
Points: 12.
A small chime sounded in his mind. He could afford the identification module. But first…
"System, purchase 'Basic Plant Identification' module."
[Expend 10 Points. Purchasing… Integration complete.]
A wave of cool, clear information washed through him. It wasn't overwhelming, just simple, sure recognition—as if he'd been studying local weeds his whole life. He looked around. The world hadn't changed, but his understanding of it had. The broad-leafed plant by the path was not just a weed; it was plantain. The yellow-flowered intruder in their millet stubble was dandelion. He saw clover, chickweed, nettles—all with new labels and snippets of use.
"Xiao, we need these," he said, pointing to the dandelions. "And these broad leaves over here. Pull them up, roots and all."
Armed with their new knowledge, they foraged. They gathered a sizable bundle of dandelion greens and roots, and a clutch of plantain leaves. Back at the hut, Lin Yan used a clean stone to crush the dandelion leaves and a piece of root into a vile-looking green paste on a flat rock. He mixed it with a little water from their jar.
Holding the listless spotted hen gently but firmly, he used a thin, smooth twig to pry her beak open and drip the mixture into her throat. She struggled weakly, but he was persistent. He then mashed the plantain leaves and made a poultice, which he gently packed into a crude nest of clean straw in a corner of the newly cleaned coop.
"There," he said, placing the hen on the plantain poultice. "The inside medicine and an outside bed. Now we wait."
[Action Recognized: Administered Basic Herbal Treatment. Host has applied acquired knowledge. Points awarded: +5.]
[Target: Spotted Hen. Status updated: Debilitated -> Stable. Health: 24/100 (and rising). Inflammation: Reducing.]
Points: 17.
Lin Yan let out a long breath he hadn't realized he was holding. It was working.
The afternoon wore on. Lin Yan sent Lin Xiao to check the makeshift insect traps they'd built (pits covered with leaves) near the woods, which yielded a few more beetles and grubs. The chickens were fed again. The spotted hen remained on her nest, but her eyes were no longer glazed; they tracked movement.
As the sun dipped, the foragers returned. Wang Shi's basket held a meager collection of bitter greens. Chunhua had a few woody tubers. Their faces were drawn; the early spring woods were not yet generous.
Then Lin Zhu returned from Old Chen's. His expression was dark, his hands empty save for a few copper coins. "A full day's weeding, from dawn until now," he said, his voice flat. "For this." He dropped the coins on the table. They were barely enough to buy a sheng of the lowest quality grain. "He said the loan from winter now carries interest of twenty percent. To be paid in grain after harvest."
A grim silence fell. The brief glow from the morning's egg was smothered by the heavy reality of debt.
Lin Dahu and Lin Tie returned next, their nets holding only three small, silvery fish, little more than mouthfuls. The catch was dismal.
The atmosphere in the hut was sinking back into familiar despair when Lin Xiao, who had slipped outside to check the chickens, came running back in, his eyes wide.
"Second Brother! The spotted one! She's off her nest!"
Lin Yan hurried out, the family trailing behind him curiously. In the cleanish lean-to, the spotted hen was standing. She was still thin, her feathers dull, but she was standing. And she was pecking at the dirt floor, searching for food. She moved to the water bowl Lin Yan had set and took a few clumsy drinks.
Wang Shi gasped. "She's… she's walking! You healed her, Yan'er?"
"Just some weeds, Mother," he said modestly, but his heart swelled. It was proof of concept. The system knowledge was real and effective.
As they watched, the black hen, perhaps feeling her dominance challenged, strutted over and gave a warning peck. The spotted hen squawked and fluttered weakly to the side, landing near the nesting hollow.
And then she did something miraculous. She settled into the hollow, her body shifting in the familiar, rhythmic pattern of a hen preparing to lay.
The family watched, utterly transfixed. No one moved. No one breathed.
Minutes stretched. Then, with a final shudder and a soft cluck, the hen stood up.
There, in the clean straw, lay a third egg. It was smaller than the others, with a slightly misshapen, soft-looking shell. But it was an egg. From the hen that was nearly dead that morning.
Lin Xiaolian clapped her hands together. "Three! Three eggs!"
Lin Yan carefully picked it up. The shell was imperfect, but it was warm and whole. Eggs Collected: 3.
He turned to his family, their faces illuminated by the last of the daylight and a fragile, rekindled hope. He held up the small, imperfect egg.
"We have three eggs," he said, his voice quiet but carrying in the twilight. "We will not trade them all. We will eat one more, for strength. We will keep two. And we will use the knowledge we gained today—not just to keep chickens, but to heal them. To make them thrive."
He looked at Lin Zhu, at the bitter resignation still lingering in his brother's eyes. "Weeding for Old Chen buys a day's gruel. But this," he gestured to the chickens, to the eggs, to the foraged herbs, "this builds something that lasts. Something that grows."
Lin Dahu stared at his second son, as if seeing him for the first time. There was no grand speech, no wild promise. Just a sick chicken walking, and a third egg where there should have been none. It was a fact. A small, undeniable fact that spoke louder than any boast.
"Tomorrow," Lin Dahu said, his rumble of a voice finally breaking the silence. "Tomorrow, you and Xiao tend the hens. Zhu, you help them if they need it. The weeding… can wait."
It was a tiny allocation of family resources, a minor pivot. But in the economy of desperation, it was a revolution.
That night, as Lin lay on the kang, the system screen glowed softly.
[Mission Progress: 3/50 Eggs. Days Remaining: 28.]
[Total Points: 17.]
[New Recommendation Available: 'Coop Blueprint: Basic Weatherproof Design' – 30 Points.]
He had a long way to go. But he had points. He had a plan. He had a family starting to look at him not with pity, but with a question in their eyes.
And in the dark, he could hear the soft, contented clucking of three chickens who were no longer just starving liabilities, but the foundation of everything to come.