The scent of fresh-cut wood and dried reeds hung over the Lin compound, a perfume of progress. Under a sky the color of a faded bruise, the final phase of the coop construction began. The skeleton of the structure, robust and square, awaited its skin and crown.
Lin Yan woke with the dawn, his body a chorus of aches from the previous day's labor, but his mind was clear and sharp. The system's blue glow was a familiar comfort now. He checked the mission: 3/50 Eggs. Days Remaining: 27. The counter hadn't changed, but the "Estimated Productivity" modifier next to the incomplete coop flickered hopefully.
The family moved with a new, purposeful rhythm. After a breakfast fortified with mashed wild yam—the starchy comfort of it still a novelty—they assembled. Today was for thatching. Wang Shi, Chunhua, and Meilan had spent the evening weaving the marsh reeds into tight, heavy bundles. Lin Zhu and Lin Tie lifted them onto the slanted roof frame. Lin Yan, Lin Xiao, and the sisters worked from below, passing up more bundles and the willow-withe ties.
Lin Yan watched his eldest brother, Lin Tie. The man was a pillar of quiet strength, his movements economical and powerful as he secured the thatch. He spoke little, but his eyes missed nothing. When Lin Zhu directed him to place a bundle at a specific angle for better water runoff—a detail from the system blueprint—Lin Tie merely grunted and did so, his hands making the adjustment with brute precision. There was an unspoken understanding forming: Lin Yan provided the what and why, Lin Zhu the how, and Lin Tie the undeniable force to make it real.
As the thick, insulating layer of reeds began to cover the roof, the coop transformed from a framework into a shelter. It looked dignified, a stark contrast to the sagging huts of the village. Lin Xiaohua, her gentle face smudged with dirt, paused to look at it. "It's a fine house. The chickens will be lords and ladies."
"They'd better lay like empresses," Lin Xiaolian quipped, hefting another bundle with a grunt. But she was smiling.
By midday, the roof was sealed. Lin Zhu, perched atop it, gave a final, satisfied pat to the ridge. "Rain could come now. It'll run off like a duck's back."
Next came the door—a solid frame of wood with a lattice of thinner branches, hinged with leather strips from an old, worn-out harness. Lin Zhu crafted a simple but effective wooden latch. "No fox is puzzling this out," he declared.
Finally, they laid the slatted floor, raising it a hand's breadth above the ground. Beneath it, Lin Yan slid the removable dung board made of smoothed planks. This simple innovation, which would make cleaning effortless and collection of fertilizer efficient, made Lin Zhu stare in admiration. "Who thinks of such a thing? It's brilliant."
"A clean house is a healthy house," Lin Yan said, again deflecting the source of his idea. "For people or for poultry."
The moment of truth came. Lin Yan carefully shepherded the three chickens from their temporary pen into their new home. The black hen strutted in first, claiming dominion immediately, hopping onto the low roost Lin Tie had installed. The yellow hen followed, investigating the nesting boxes lined with soft, clean straw. The spotted hen, still moving slowly but with steady purpose, entered last. She didn't go to the nests or the roost. Instead, she began pecking at the floor, then drank deeply from the new clay water dish. Then, with a soft, contented burr, she settled directly onto the slatted floor, fluffing her feathers and closing her eyes in profound peace.
"She approves," Wang Shi said, a genuine smile touching her lips.
[Structure Completed: 'Basic Weatherproof Coop.']
[Livestock Morale: Significantly Improved. Health Recovery Boosted (All).]
[Egg Production Modifier: +30% (Effective Immediately).]
[Mission Projection Updated: Current trajectory suggests 45-52 eggs within mission timeframe.]
[Points Awarded for Completion of Significant Infrastructure: +25.]
Total Points: 34.
A surge of triumph warmed Lin Yan's chest. They were on track. The projection was within reach. The system's approval was a tangible wave of validation.
The celebration was cut short by the arrival of not Old Chen, but his son, Chen Fu. A man in his late twenties, Chen Fu shared his father's calculating eyes but lacked the older man's patina of paternalistic authority. His demeanor was sharper, more openly avaricious.
He didn't bother with greetings. He stopped and stared at the new coop, his lips pursed in a silent whistle that was not complimentary. "Well, well. The Lin family is building monuments. I heard you struck wild yam. A lucky find."
Lin Dahu stepped forward, his stance unconsciously squaring. "The land provides, Brother Chen Fu. We are grateful."
"The land provides all of us," Chen Fu said, echoing his father's warning but with a harder edge. "My father sent me. The spring district tax assessment is done. The magistrate's clerk will be making the rounds in three weeks to collect the silver, or its equivalent in grain at the official rate." He paused, letting the dread sink in. "He also asked me to remind you of our family's loan. Two dou of millet, plus the agreed interest. Payable after harvest, but… with such impressive construction underway," he waved a hand at the coop, "perhaps you'd like to clear the debt sooner? To avoid any… compounding."
It was a squeeze. A direct threat. The tax was a sword hanging over everyone. But Old Chen's private debt was a garrote specifically around the Lin family's neck, and he was choosing now to tighten it.
Lin Yan felt the family's collective breath hitch. The newfound hope in the air grew thin and cold.
"We have no silver, Brother Chen Fu," Lin Dahu said, his voice gravelly. "And our grain is for seed and survival until the harvest."
"Then you'll need to generate some, won't you?" Chen Fu's eyes slid to the coop. "Eggs are a luxury. The clerk might accept a basket of good eggs at a fair price. Or…" he let his gaze wander over their improved plot, "perhaps you could sell some of that fine timber you've hauled. Or the labor of your strong sons. My father has fields that need plowing before sowing. The rate is three copper coins per mu."
It was slave wages. Plowing a mu by hand was a day of back-breaking labor for a grown man. Three copper coins would buy half a sheng of poor grain. They'd be working themselves to death just to feed themselves while paying off the debt, with nothing left for the tax.
Lin Yan saw the despair begin to reclaim his father's eyes. He saw Lin Tie's hands clench into fists. He stepped forward before his father could speak, his mind racing.
"Thank you for the reminder, Brother Chen Fu," Lin Yan said, his tone respectful but devoid of fear. "We are keenly aware of our obligations. We will have the interest for your father's loan ready by the end of this week. In eggs, at the market rate in the county town."
Chen Fu's eyebrows shot up. "This week? The market rate?" He chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "Bold words, young Lin. The market rate for eggs fluctuates. And you have, what, three hens?"
"We have what we have," Lin Yan said, holding his gaze. "Will you accept eggs at the end-of-week market rate, as assessed by any reputable vendor in Willow Creek or the county town, as payment for the interest portion?"
It was a specific, almost commercial offer. It bypassed the emotional pressure and framed it as a transaction. Chen Fu, whose thinking was mercantile, was momentarily thrown. He'd expected pleading, not negotiation.
"I… would need to ask my father," he hedged.
"Please do," Lin Yan said with a slight bow. "And please inform him we thank him for his patience. We intend to be debt-free neighbors, not burdens."
The message was clear: they would pay, but on terms that recognized the value of their goods, not under duress as beggars. Chen Fu narrowed his eyes, looked at the solid coop once more, gave a curt nod, and left without another word.
The silence he left behind was tense.
"Yan'er," Lin Dahu breathed. "The interest alone… even at a good price, that's two dozen eggs at least! In a week? We have three!"
"We have three healthy hens in a new coop with a thirty percent better chance to lay," Lin Yan said, turning to his family, his voice low and urgent. "And we have points. I can buy something to boost them. But more than that, we have to sell. Not just here. We need to go to the county town market at the end of the week."
"The county town?" Wang Shi's face paled. "That's a half-day's walk! And the market fees… and the hawkers there are wolves!"
"We have something they don't," Lin Yan said. He walked to the basket and pulled out the two saved eggs from the previous days—the good ones. They were clean, a decent size. "Our eggs will be clean, fresh, and we will sell them as… Medicinal Hens' Eggs."
"Medicinal?" Lin Zhu echoed, baffled.
"From hens fed on wild insects and herbs, kept in a clean, healthy environment," Lin Yan explained, the marketing plan forming as he spoke. "We tell the truth—that these eggs come from hens healed with dandelion and plantain, fed on protein, living without stress. In the county town, where people have a little more coin and care about health, it will have value. We won't sell them as mere food. We'll sell them as tonics."
It was a gamble. It required audacity.
Lin Tie spoke, his voice a low rumble. "I will go with you. To carry, and to… discourage wolves."
Lin Yan nodded, gratitude swelling in him. "Thank you, Big Brother."
That afternoon, with a sense of quiet crisis driving them, the family worked harder than ever. The women foraged for the best insect-attracting plants to feed the hens. Lin Yan, with 34 points burning a hole in his system, ventured into the livestock section. He bypassed the unaffordable cattle for now and found a subcategory: Poultry Enhancements.
[Product: 'Vitality Boost' Supplement (One-week course for 3 birds). Temporarily increases health, immune response, and egg-laying frequency. Cost: 20 Points.]
It was expensive, but it was an investment directly into their survival. He purchased it. A small, unmarked ceramic vial of ochre powder appeared in his system inventory. He retrieved it discreetly, explaining it as a "special mineral clay" he'd found near a cliff face, known to be good for animals. He mixed a pinch into their moistened feed.
The rest of his points he spent on 'Basic Market Negotiation' knowledge for 10 points. The remaining 4 he saved.
The next three days were a blur of focused effort. The hens, perhaps sensing the collective will of the family, perhaps responding to the new coop and the subtle system supplement, performed miracles.
On the first day: two eggs.
On the second day: three eggs.
On the third day, the morning of the market: an astonishing four eggs.
Eggs Collected: 12. They had a dozen. Nine were perfect. Three were slightly smaller. It was more than they had ever dreamed of possessing at once.
As Lin Yan and Lin Tie prepared to leave at dawn on market day, packing the nine best eggs in a basket lined with straw and soft moss, the family gathered to see them off. Lin Dahu placed a heavy hand on Lin Yan's shoulder. "Sell true. But come back safe."
Wang Shi pressed a small bundle of wild garlic and yam into Lin Tie's pack. "For your journey."
Lin Yan looked at their faces, etched with hope and fear. The new coop stood proudly behind them, a testament to what they could build. But ahead lay the wider world of the county town, a place of opportunity and peril.
He hefted the basket. The eggs within felt not like fragile shells, but like ammunition.
"We'll be back," he promised. "With copper, and a plan for the tax."
As they walked down the path, leaving Willow Creek behind, the first rays of the sun struck the new reed roof of the chicken coop, setting it ablaze with golden light. It was a beacon. But the shadow of debt and taxation stretched long before them, waiting in the dusty market streets ahead.