The glow of the oil lamp swayed on Fu Yucheng's shoulders, and the cotton wadding on his military green cotton-padded jacket was tinged with pale yellow by the light and shadow, like a dried locust flower.
He cleaned it with extra care, even rubbing the locust petal patterns carved on the edge of the feeding trough with the corner of a cotton cloth, afraid that any wood shavings might scratch the rabbit's delicate mouth.
"Why aren't you sleeping again?" Yun Tangyin walked over and gently draped her old cotton-padded jacket over his shoulder. Her fingertips touched the tip of his ear, which felt slightly cool.
When Fu Yucheng turned around, the moisture from the oil lamp still clung to his eyelashes, making them look like tiny dewdrops in the light: "I just heard the feeding trough making a noise, and I was worried that the mother rabbit might rub against a splinter while eating at night, so I wiped it off to put my mind at ease."
He pointed into the cage, where the mother rabbit was lying by the new food trough, her nose gently touching the side of the trough, as if she was getting familiar with the new object.
Yun Tangyin squatted down beside him and saw Huaqiu emerge from the mother rabbit's arms, its short legs staggering toward the feeding trough. It stumbled after only a couple of steps, but immediately got up and continued toward the trough.
“Look how persistent it is,” Yun Tangyin couldn’t help but laugh, her voice very low, “just like you, once you’ve decided on something, you have to do it well.”
Fu Yucheng took her hand and pulled it into his palm: "It wants to eat, but I want you and the baby to be comfortable."
The two squatted in front of the rabbit cage, watching as the flower ball finally moved to the edge of the feeding trough, sniffed it with its little nose, and then looked up at Fu Yucheng, as if to confirm whether it was safe.
“This little thing is very intelligent,” Fu Yucheng said softly, taking a dried carrot from his pocket and gently placing it in the feeding trough. “I’m saving this for it so it can have something to eat if it gets hungry at night.”
Flowerball immediately came over, its three-lobed mouth chewing rapidly, its little tail sweeping fine marks on the snow.
When I got back to the kang (a heated brick bed), the coal in the stove was still crackling softly, making the room warm and cozy.
Yun Tangyin leaned against Fu Yucheng's chest, her fingertips touching the calluses on his palm.
It was honed during shooting practice in the army, and later during wood chopping and carpentry work.
"Do you think our child will be as skillful as you in the future?" she asked softly. The little one in her belly suddenly kicked, as if in response.
Fu Yucheng pressed his ear against her lower abdomen and laughed, "It's good that you're like that, so thoughtful and good at embroidery."
"Who said that?" Yun Tangyin lightly punched his arm. "The food trough you made is prettier than the ones from the carpenter's shop, and the locust flowers you embroidered are more vibrant than mine."
Yun Tangyin smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful."
Fu Yucheng kissed the top of her head: "I've never dared to be rough with you."
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Fu Yucheng got up to polish the feeding trough.
He took fine sandpaper and rubbed the edge of the trough little by little, the sawdust floating in the morning light like tiny snowflakes.
When Yun Tangyin brought out the hot water, she noticed some wood shavings on his military cap and couldn't help but reach out to remove them for him: "Slow down, don't hurt your hands."
Fu Yucheng looked up and smiled, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes glistening with light: "Almost done. After this round of polishing, we won't be able to scrape any more rabbits."
When Xiaolan arrived carrying a bamboo basket, the feeding trough had already been polished.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, she exclaimed, "Sister-in-law! Brother Fu! I brought some freshly picked vegetables for the rabbit!"
The green vegetables in the bamboo basket were still covered with snowflakes, making them exceptionally bright and vibrant.
"My mother said these were stored in the cellar, and they're at their tenderest in winter," Xiaolan said, squatting by the cage and carefully placing the greens into the trough. "Snowball, Coal Ball, Flower Ball, come and eat!"
The three little rabbits immediately surrounded each other. Snowball was eating the fastest and accidentally knocked over a leaf of greens. Coalball immediately rushed over to snatch it, and the two rabbits squeezed each other and spun around.
"Don't fight over it, there's more!" Xiao Lan smiled and put down a few more pieces of greens. Hua Qiu didn't rush to eat them, but instead picked up a piece of green and brought it to the mother rabbit's mouth, which made Yun Tangyin laugh out loud: "This Hua Qiu is really sensible, he even knows to let his mother have her way."
Fu Yucheng stuffed a freshly steamed sweet potato into Xiaolan's hand: "Eat it quickly, you've been freezing all the way, warm yourself up."
Xiaolan took the sweet potato, took a bite, and the sweet juice spread in her mouth. Suddenly, she remembered something and took out a small cloth doll from her pocket. "I made this for my little brother. My mother taught me how to sew rabbits. Doesn't it look like a snowball?"
The doll's ears were crooked, yet they were undeniably cute. Yun Tangyin took the doll and said with a smile, "It's so lifelike, little brother will definitely love it."
Zhou Desheng carried a broom to sweep the yard, his military boots crunching on the snow: "Brother Fu, is the feeding trough ready? I'll help you sweep the snow in the yard so the rabbits don't slip when they come out to play."
He glanced into the cage and saw three rabbits eating vegetables. He suddenly laughed and said, "This feeding trough is really well made. If my two sons saw it, they would definitely beg me to make one for them."
Fu Yucheng stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into his hand: "Eat here for lunch, and let Yinyin make you sweet potato porridge."
When Zhou Desheng's wife arrived carrying a can of millet porridge, her blue apron was still covered in flour: "This is freshly made millet porridge, for Yinyin to nourish herself."
She added a spoonful of millet porridge to the cage, and the mother rabbit immediately came over to drink it. "Aunt Zhang said that millet porridge is good for the stomach. The mother rabbit drinks it and has plenty of milk, and the babies grow strong after drinking it."
Yun Tangyin took the porridge pot and said with a smile, "Thank you for thinking of us and always sending us things."
The afternoon sun shone through the frost-covered windows, weaving a shimmering net on the ground.
Fu Yucheng sat in the yard making a small burrow for the rabbit. He wove a small basket out of thin bamboo strips and lined it with pieces of floral fabric cut by Xiaolan. It was very soft.
“When spring comes and it gets warmer, we’ll put this little burrow under the old locust tree,” he said to Yun Tangyin. “Let the rabbits play outside during the day and go back to their cages to sleep at night.”
Yun Tangyin leaned against the door frame, watching him weave bamboo baskets. Suddenly, she felt the little one in her belly move, gently, like a locust leaf falling on her heart.
Xiao Lan squatted down next to Fu Yucheng and handed him bamboo strips: "Brother Fu, can you teach me how to weave a bamboo basket? I want to weave a small basket for the rabbits so they can carry vegetables."
Fu Yucheng smiled and nodded: "Okay, I'll teach you how to make something simple first. Take your time, don't rush."
He taught Xiaolan how to weave bamboo strips, and the sunlight fell on the two of them, warm like a piece of melting sugar.
By evening, the little bamboo basket was finally finished. Fu Yucheng put the basket into the cage, and the three rabbits immediately gathered around, crawled into the basket, and huddled together for a nap.
“This is so comfortable,” Xiaolan said with a smile. “They will definitely love this little nest.”
Yun Tangyin added some soybeans to the cage, and the mother rabbit also crawled into the bamboo basket, holding the three little rabbits in her arms like a gentle mother.
When Zhou Desheng and his wife came to say goodbye, they saw the rabbits sleeping soundly in the small bamboo basket.
Fu Yucheng stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into their hands: "Take it back for the children to try, it's freshly steamed."
Zhou Desheng's wife took the cake and stuffed a cloth bag into Yun Tangyin's hand: "These are eggs my mother gave me. They're good for the child. Eat one a day and he'll grow strong."
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