When she met her husband's gaze, Li Dahua felt a little scared and quickly lowered her head.
"What's going on? Is what Er Ya said true? Did you really try to snatch her rabbit?"
Xu Wanli looked at the villagers walking towards them from not far away and just wanted to resolve this matter as soon as possible.
"I...it was all a misunderstanding!" Li Dahua said softly, her face flushed.
"A misunderstanding? The witnesses and evidence are right in front of you. What misunderstanding is there?" Jiang Hua said with a light laugh.
"Explain quickly!" Xu Wanli said to Li Dahua with a stern face.
“I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to protect the rabbit, so I wanted to help her carry it back.” Li Dahua lowered her head and said timidly, “Er Ya, your aunt didn’t mean it, so please don’t hold it against me. I meant well.”
"Er Ya, look, your aunt has already explained everything to you. Let's just let this matter drop." Xu Wanli said this with a hint of gritted teeth.
“Since the village chief has said so, let’s just let it go.” Jiang Hua didn’t pursue the matter further and nodded in agreement with Xu Wanli. “However, village chief, you need to make it clear to your aunt that next time she shouldn’t try to snatch prey from anyone she sees.”
“No one else is as easy to talk to as me,” Jiang Hua said, then pulled Aunt Liu away.
"You greedy glutton, you're always causing trouble. I'll deal with you when we get back!" Xu Wanli glared at Li Dahua, his disdain now undisguised.
"I never expected this girl to be so eloquent. She used to be so quiet and wouldn't dare to utter a word," Li Dahua said, feeling wronged.
"Er Ya, how dare you talk to the village chief like that just now?" Aunt Liu asked as she walked.
She still feels a lingering fear. Everyone in the village treated Xu Wanli, the village chief, with utmost respect, after all, the highest-ranking official they had ever met was the village chief.
If you offend the village chief, you'll have a hard time in the village in the future.
“Auntie, don’t worry. As the village chief, isn’t his job to solve these kinds of problems for us? Just because the other party is his family member doesn’t mean he can cover it up and let it go.” Jiang Hua retorted.
"Er Ya, why do I feel like you've changed?" Aunt Liu stopped pushing open the fence gate and looked at Jiang Hua seriously.
"Oh? Auntie, tell me, how have I changed?"
"She used to be a quiet person, but not anymore. She's become much more talkative," Aunt Liu replied seriously.
"Hey, why did you come back with me?" Aunt Liu asked, looking at Jiang Hua who had followed her in.
“Of course I’ll eat rabbit meat with my aunt,” Jiang Hua said, holding up the rabbit in her hand.
"No, you should take it home and eat it with your grandma and parents," Aunt Liu refused. "You hunted this rabbit yourself."
“Auntie, we came up the mountain together, so everyone should have a share. Please don’t refuse.” Jiang Hua added, “Besides, Auntie, you know my family’s situation. If I take it back, I won’t get a chance to eat it.”
Looking at Jiang Hua, who was so thin she barely had any flesh on her bones, Aunt Liu couldn't help but feel sorry for her again:
"In that case, the rabbit will stay at my house. I'll divide it into several portions for you, and you can come over to my house to eat it once it's cooked in the next couple of days."
Aunt Liu came up with a compromise and said.
"Okay, thank you very much, Auntie," Jiang Hua replied.
"Then put the rabbit down, and we'll kill it when your brother Tianming comes back from work," Aunt Liu said. She had never killed a rabbit before, so she didn't know how it was handled.
"Auntie, I know how to kill rabbits. Just give me a knife, otherwise it will be too late to kill the rabbits when Tianming comes back," Jiang Hua suggested.
"Er Ya, you know how to kill rabbits?" Aunt Liu looked at her with some suspicion. "If you're hungry, I have some pancakes in the kitchen."
“Auntie, I really can,” Jiang Hua said confidently.
Seeing this, Aunt Liu didn't insist any further. She took a kitchen knife from the kitchen and handed it to Jiang Hua.
"Er Ya, you have to be careful. If things get really bad, wait until Tianming comes back before dealing with it," Aunt Liu said worriedly.
"Okay, Auntie," Jiang Hua said, taking the kitchen knife from Aunt Liu's hand.
Jiang Hua touched the cleaver with her fingertip; it was quite sharp, apparently having been sharpened over the past few days. With a swift motion, the rabbit, which had been struggling just moments before, was now lifeless and motionless.
Aunt Liu was startled by what Jiang Hua was doing. Watching her skillfully skin the rabbit, a complete rabbit pelt was soon separated.
"Er Ya, who taught you this skinning technique?" Aunt Liu asked, suppressing her shock.
“Auntie, who could teach me? Before, Grandma and the others kicked me out, so sometimes I would go to the hunters’ houses to watch them skin their prey. When they saw how pitiful I was, they would give me a piece of meat to eat,” Jiang Hua replied.
She wasn't making things up; the original owner of this body had indeed done just that, otherwise she wouldn't have survived until now.
"You'll get it by watching more."
"You're so pitiful. Your parents are so clueless. You're clearly their biological child." Aunt Liu quickly changed the subject after saying this.
It's strange, but she used to dislike Er Ya, but since yesterday, she's started to feel sorry for her.
"Er Ya, then Auntie will wash these wild vegetables first," Aunt Liu said.
Jiang Hua nodded. Not long after Aunt Liu left, she had almost finished processing the rabbit. Considering that there were only four people eating it, she divided the rabbit in half and ate it in two meals.
Then, with a swift stroke, he chopped one side of the rabbit into pieces and put the other side into a wooden basin. Since the weather wasn't hot, hanging it in the well overnight wouldn't be a problem.
"Auntie, I've finished processing the rabbit. When is Brother Tianming coming back?" Jiang Hua asked, putting down the bowl of rabbit meat in her hand.
"Oh dear, why did you chop so much? You should have just chopped one leg," Aunt Liu said, looking at the full basin of rabbit meat.
“Auntie, I already left half, so the four of us will eat half and save the other half for tomorrow,” Jiang Hua said.
“That won’t do, just cook your own portion!” Aunt Liu insisted.
"Auntie, you still have the other half, right? You'll have to rely on your protection in the future," Jiang Hua said casually.
"Auntie, you go and do other things, I'll take care of the kitchen."
"Go to the field and pick another radish for me; I'll make soup later." With that, Aunt Liu lit the fire on the stove before taking the basket and going out.
After Aunt Liu left the kitchen, Jiang Hua finally got to work, first checking the seasonings on the stove, which were basically the same as those at the Xu family's place.
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