Ye Xiaoxiao seemed to have been intrigued by her sister-in-law's suggestion. She hadn't been to the mountains since arriving here, and remembering how many novels described people going up mountains to hunt and dig for ginseng, she insisted on going. In the end, her father-in-law gave his approval.
"You can go, but you'll have to bring a few boys with you."
Li Jianguo glanced at his sons, "You lot, all of you come with me. Keep an eye on your sister-in-law. If anything happens, I'll beat you all to death when I get back."
Li Chenyang figured there was no work to do right now, so he might as well go. He couldn't possibly leave his wife behind and run up the mountain by himself.
"We absolutely have to go. If we don't keep an eye on her, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause next."
"Who are you talking about?" Ye Xiaoxiao glared at him. She didn't think anything could happen to her. Despite her big belly, she was capable of taking down Li Chenyang.
"Hey, I mean, tigress, I mean strongwoman, female warrior, you better take it easy." Li Chenyang dodged away with a grin.
The third and fourth brothers laughed along, "Yes, sister-in-law, please take it easy, don't hurt my brother."
"Try saying another one of those sarcastic remarks?" Ye Xiaoxiao pretended to hit her.
The boys ran outside laughing. Liu Juan could only shake her head as she watched them playfully bickering.
"These two, one after another, are all causing us a lot of trouble."
After saying that, Liu Juan glared at her father: "You're just going to let her go like that? What if something happens?"
"Hehe... what could possibly happen? Your wife is even tougher than your son. She'll be fine even if someone else gets into trouble." What could Li Jianguo do? A whole bunch of kids at home, causing him endless trouble every day.
Once they reached the mountain, Li Chenyang told his younger brothers to split up: "Go that way and see if you can find the rabbit burrow."
"What about the eldest sister-in-law?" the fourth brother asked.
"Yanni and I will just wander around outside," Ye Xiaoxiao said. "You two go do your thing, don't worry about me."
Li Yanni happily took her sister-in-law's hand: "Sister-in-law, I'll take you to find mushrooms. It rained the other day, there must be plenty."
After the boys left, Ye Xiaoxiao and Li Yanni wandered around the mountainside.
Li Yanni was like a happy little bird, hopping and skipping around looking for mushrooms.
"Sister-in-law, do you think this is edible?" Li Yanni pointed to a brown mushroom.
Ye Xiaoxiao glanced at it: "No, look, the bottom of its canopy is black; that kind is poisonous. Let's find the white one, with a pink bottom."
The two walked and searched, and soon found quite a few edible mushrooms. Ye Xiaoxiao then taught Li Yanni to recognize various wild vegetables: "This is bracken fern, this is purslane, they're both edible."
Li Chenyang was leading his younger brothers on a stroll in the mountains when the fourth brother, with his sharp eyes, spotted a rabbit burrow: "Big brother, there's a hole here!"
Several people quickly surrounded him. Li Chenyang directed, "You guys block the other exits, I'll guard this place." Li Chenyang grabbed a handful of dry grass, lit it, and released smoke directly into the cave.
A moment later, a gray rabbit darted out, and Li Chenyang grabbed it by the tail. The rabbit struggled desperately and almost escaped again.
"Haha, we caught them!" the group cheered happily.
The fifth brother jumped up: "We get rabbit meat! This trip wasn't a waste!"
"Third brother, tie him up and keep looking." Li Chenyang didn't want to catch just this one; who would get enough meat? The family had plenty of edible animals. "Come on, let's look again. Maybe we can catch a pheasant or something."
Ye Xiaoxiao had already filled most of her basket with wild vegetables and mushrooms, and also found a few wild eggs. Li Yanni said happily, "Sister-in-law, we're so lucky!"
"Yes, we had a good day," Ye Xiaoxiao said with a smile. "Come on, let's go rest over there for a while."
The two found a flat, large rock and sat down. A gentle mountain breeze carried the fresh scent of grass and trees. It was cool on the mountain, and being there made them feel good.
"Sister-in-law, there's a mulberry tree here." Li Yanni picked a handful of ripe, dark purple mulberries, her little hands turning a different color from the fruit. She ate them with a giggle and even wrapped some in leaves for Ye Xiaoxiao.
Ye Xiaoxiao looked at her sister-in-law. This child is good; she's not possessive of her food, unlike that Li Yanhong.
After Li Chenyang and his team caught their first rabbit, their excitement hadn't even died down when they heard voices coming from ahead.
"Quick, chase after it! Don't let it get away!"
"Over there, over there, they've crawled under that tree!"
Li Chenyang and his group looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was a few boys from Lei Family Village. A large rabbit was running towards them from there.
"Big brother, let's go too!" The fourth brother's eyes lit up. This rabbit was even bigger than the one they had just caught.
Without a second thought, Li Chenyang rushed forward. Both sides simultaneously pounced on the rabbit.
"Hey, we found it first!" exclaimed Lei Dazhuang, the eldest brother of Lei Family Village.
"Bullshit, if the rabbit runs this way, it's ours!" the fourth brother retorted.
Just as the two groups were about to fight, Li Chenyang grabbed the rabbit's hind leg. Lei Dazhuang also pounced and grabbed the rabbit's ears.
"let go!"
"Let go!"
The two were locked in a stalemate, and the rabbit squeaked in pain.
"Alright, alright!" Li Chenyang's younger brother, Shengzi, ran over to smooth things over, "You're all grown up, fighting over a rabbit, that's really inappropriate."
"That's right, we all get along so well," Erhu from Leijia Village added.
Li Chenyang and Lei Dazhuang exchanged a glance, both feeling a little embarrassed. The young people from their two villages often played together, and it was indeed inappropriate for them to fight over a rabbit.
"How about this," Gou Shengzi suggested, "we'll split the rabbit in half, so everyone gets a share."
"Bullshit!" the fourth brother retorted, "You can't split a rabbit in half?"
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