Killing a duck was easy, but plucking its feathers was a technical job.
Before plucking, the slaughtered duck had to be soaked in hot water, and the water temperature was the key.
If the water was too hot, the duck's skin would tear apart when plucking, leaving it ragged and ugly.
If the water was too cool, the feathers wouldn't come out—especially the fine down on the skin, which was extremely difficult to remove.
Back in the original timeline, seventeen-year-old Xu Tongdao definitely wouldn't have been able to control this temperature properly.
Not just him—his sister Ge Yuzhu and his brother Xu Tonglu wouldn't have been able to manage it either.
But now…
He tossed the slaughtered duck onto the open ground outside the kitchen and told his sister to keep stoking the stove and boil the water.
He himself went into the main hall, fetched a wooden foot-washing basin, washed it clean, and poured in two ladles of cold water.
When the water in the pot came to a boil, he scooped several ladles of boiling water into the basin, stuck his hand in to test the temperature, added another ladle of hot water, tested again, and repeated this several times.
Only then did he pick up the duck—which had long since stopped moving—and place it into the basin, scalding it repeatedly in the hot water.
By the time he started scalding the duck, his younger brother Xu Tonglu had already finished eating and come out of the main hall, watching him work.
Ge Yuzhu squatted beside him, blinking as she watched, and asked worriedly, "Big Brother, you didn't add salt to the hot water, did you? I remember Mom always added salt when scalding ducks, otherwise the feathers wouldn't come off cleanly…"
"No need."
Xu Tongdao replied casually. With one hand gripping the duck's leg, his right hand quickly pushed at the coarse feathers on the wings. As his hand moved again and again, clumps of coarse feathers slid off easily.
But the water was quite hot, and his seventeen-year-old fingers couldn't quite take it. He turned his head and told his sister, "Go get me a ladle of cold water."
"Oh, oh! The water's too hot, right? I'll get it right away!"
Ge Yuzhu immediately got up and went to the water jar.
Before she came back, Xu Tongdao—still pushing feathers off the duck's wings—added, "Don't pour the cold water into the basin. Just put it by my hand."
"Ah? Oh… okay."
Ge Yuzhu was a little confused, but she obediently complied.
Soon she placed a ladle of cold water by Xu Tongdao's hand.
Xu Tongdao quickly dipped his right hand into the cold water, then continued plucking the feathers.
…
Because the water temperature was just right, before long all the feathers—large and small—were removed cleanly.
"Bring me the scissors!"
He called out again.
Ge Yuzhu answered and hurried into the main hall to fetch the scissors.
When she handed them to him, she saw Xu Tongdao skillfully open the duck's belly and remove the gizzard, intestines, and other innards with practiced ease.
Ge Yuzhu, squatting beside him, was completely stunned.
Xu Tonglu, standing nearby, was also visibly surprised.
Ge Yuzhu couldn't help asking, "Big Brother, when did you learn to do all this? You never seemed to have slaughtered a duck before."
Xu Tongdao didn't lift his head. He was already using the scissors to trim the duck's claws. He gave a casual "Mm" and didn't intend to explain.
Now that he had been reborn, there would inevitably be many things that surprised them. He had no intention of explaining any of it—let them think whatever they wanted. No one would ever imagine that he had returned from another lifetime.
…
While Xu Tongdao was killing and stewing the duck at home, Ge Xiaotian and Ge Xiaoyu's father, Ge Zhiping, trudged through the muddy ground and arrived at a household beside the dike.
This household had a large courtyard, where twenty to thirty people were sitting or standing.
As soon as Ge Zhiping arrived, many people greeted him, and he responded with a smile.
Scanning the courtyard, he quickly found his wife, Xu Hongye.
According to the rules for dike duty, every household had to send one person.
Ge Zhiping's wife, Xu Hongye, had already been on duty here all day. Ge Zhiping had just come from home to relieve her.
At that moment, Xu Hongye was leaning against the wall, dozing.
Ge Zhiping walked over and patted her shoulder. "You can go home now. I'm here."
Xu Hongye opened her eyes, looked at him, smiled, stood up, brushed off her clothes, and left.
Xu Tongdao's mother, Ge Xiaozhu, had been sitting with Xu Hongye earlier. Seeing Xu Hongye head home, she looked up at Ge Zhiping, forced a small smile, and asked, "Zongjia, you came from the village—are my kids… are they all okay?"
Her husband's sudden disappearance and the pile of gambling debts he left behind, along with the loss of household goods and grain, had cast a shadow of worry between her brows. Even when she smiled, her forehead remained faintly furrowed.
Why did she call Ge Zhiping "Zongjia"?
It was because both of them had originally come from Ge Family Village.
Later, she married into Xu Family Village, while Ge Zhiping married into Xu Family Village as a live-in son-in-law. Their homes were not far apart.
In other words, they shared the same surname and clan, so she habitually called him "Zongjia."
Because of this same-clan relationship, Ge Zhiping usually looked out for her as well.
"Your family…"
Hearing her question, Ge Zhiping frowned and gave a wry smile, shaking his head.
The moment he shook his head, Ge Xiaozhu became tense and hurriedly stood up to ask, "What's wrong? Did something happen at my house again?"
Seeing her anxious expression, Ge Zhiping quickly raised his hand to reassure her. "Xiaozhu, don't get so worked up. Actually… it should count as a good thing. Don't worry, don't worry!"
"A good thing?"
Ge Xiaozhu was confused. "How so?"
Ge Zhiping chuckled. "It's like this—your Xiao Dao really made a splash today. That kid has guts—far more than his father ever did. Let me tell you, this morning he first went to Xu Jinshan's place, then he went to that brat Xu Hengbing's house…"
Like telling a story, Ge Zhiping recounted what Xu Tongdao had done that morning, as if he had personally witnessed it all.
In reality, Ge Zhiping hadn't been home that morning. Everything he was telling her now was what he had heard at lunchtime from his daughter Ge Xiaoyu and son Ge Xiaotian.
Even so, his account made Ge Xiaozhu's expression change again and again—shock mixing with worry.
Even after hearing everything, she still wasn't at ease. She asked to confirm, "Zhiping, is everything you said really true? You… you're not lying to me, are you? My Xiao Dao is really okay?"
Ge Zhiping nodded with a broad smile. "It's all true. You can rest easy."
As he spoke, quite a few people in the courtyard unconsciously gathered closer.
All of them were from Xu Family Village.
Hearing that Ge Xiaozhu's son Xu Tongdao had caused such a stir in the village today, everyone's interest was piqued.
They began chattering and teasing Ge Xiaozhu.
"Xiaozhu, you've got it good now. Your man ran off, but your Xiao Dao can support you from now on. Heh heh."
"Exactly! I really didn't see that kid had such backbone before…"
"Zhiping, are you sure you didn't get it wrong? I remember Xiaozhu has two sons—her younger one has the worse temper, right? Didn't you mix it up? The things you just described sound more like something that kid Xiao Lu would do."
"I think it must've been Xiao Lu too!"
…
But Ge Xiaozhu had no mood to banter with them at all.
Even though Ge Zhiping had confirmed that her son was safe, she was still deeply worried.
After frowning and struggling internally for a moment, she suddenly let out a breath and said to their production team leader, "Team Leader! Something so serious has happened in my family. I really can't put my mind at ease. I… I want to ask for leave and go back for a while. Is that okay? Don't worry—I'll definitely come back as soon as I can!"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup