As darkness approached, Su Hua and her companion carried the loads down the mountain.
Just as I walked down the hillside, I heard a roar.
"You brat, how dare you take your aunt to the mountain? Are you asking for a beating?" Su Bai stood in the courtyard with her hands on her hips, her sharp, slanted eyes bulging. She grabbed a feather duster and rushed over.
“Grandma…” Chunhua stood there, her body trembling slightly.
I could hear a whooshing sound.
The expected pain did not occur.
She subconsciously opened her eyes and saw her aunt, like a goddess, holding a feather duster and smilingly stuffing a large gray rabbit into Su Bai's arms. "You mustn't hit it. Chunhua has done a great service today. Look at this fat rabbit, it's the one she caught."
Sure enough, Su Baishi suddenly picked up the big rabbit, and her attention was immediately drawn to it.
The Su family members, who were returning to the courtyard one after another, were also quite surprised.
You know, back when their father was still alive, he never caught such a fat rabbit when he occasionally went into the mountains to set traps.
"My goodness! This rabbit is so fat! If we stewed it, it would smell amazing!" Madam Qian beamed with delight, her eyes glued to the rabbit, drooling. "Since it was caught by my Chunhua, I'm going to have a lot of meat tonight."
Upon hearing this, Chunhua quickly waved her hand, "No, it was all caused by my aunt smoking it with a tinderbox, saying it's like a cunning rabbit with three burrows."
As for her, all she did was sit down.
Madam Qian's smile froze. She didn't believe that her sister-in-law, who spent her days eating and sleeping, could catch rabbits!
Su Baishi couldn't help but pull Su Hua aside and whisper in her ear.
"Is Hua'er craving meat?"
Su Hua was taken aback, wondering how the conversation had turned to this, but then she heard Su Bai's wife continue, "We have enough money at home. If Hua'er is craving meat, just have your brothers go to town and buy a couple of pounds of meat. Don't come to these mountains again."
These words were spoken almost in a whisper by Su Baishi, and only the two of them could hear them.
The woman's thin face clearly showed her worry.
Su Hua felt both warm and bittersweet at the sight.
"Mother! Hua'er doesn't crave meat!"
Having lived two lives, Su Hua realized for the first time what it felt like to have a mother who cared for her.
She looked up, her chubby face beaming with a smile. "This big rabbit will be perfect for stewing and nourishing the family. As for the baby rabbits, we can raise them to have litters. That way, our Su family will never lack meat again. Isn't that more cost-effective than going to town to buy meat?"
"Raise rabbits?" Su Bai looked troubled.
You know, in the past, everything they raised would die.
Even pigs, which are so easy to care for, can be raised to death.
Wild rabbits are notoriously precious and difficult to care for; I'm afraid they'll eventually meet their demise.
"Oh dear, Hua'er, you can't raise this rabbit!" Upon hearing this, Madam Qian quickly stopped her, saying, "Instead of waiting to collect the rabbit's corpse later, why not skin it and eat it today? Although the rabbit has little meat, it's still some meat."
The two young men, who were squatting on the ground looking at the little rabbit, suddenly hugged it tightly.
Su Bai scoffed, "My daughter caught these rabbits, and she says she wants to raise them, so be it! They're useless at everything, and they eat everything. If you want to eat meat so badly, you can go to the mountains and catch as many as you want, and I won't say a word."
“Mother, isn’t your daughter-in-law doing this for the good of the family?” Madam Qian said with a wronged expression. “We can’t possibly raise these wild rabbits. Why let Hua’er waste them? It would be better to give the children more meat to eat…”
"Enough!" Su Erhu grabbed Qian Shi, his face cold. "Mother is right. If you want to eat meat, go catch it yourself in the mountains."
What's wrong with their little sister wanting to raise a rabbit?
Even if the rabbit dies while being raised, it's just that the rabbit is unlucky.
Su Hua's lips twitched. None of these people seemed to think she could raise rabbits well.
In her modern days, she actually raised a pair of rabbits, hoping that the rabbit couple would have a litter of baby rabbits. However, several years passed, and the rabbits died of old age without any baby rabbits being born. Later, she found out that she had bought a pair of sister rabbits.
Now, as long as these eight little rabbits are well cared for, countless rabbit delicacies will soon follow: braised rabbit, cold-served rabbit, whole roasted rabbit, spicy rabbit head, smoked rabbit meat, spicy rabbit hot pot...
"Alright!" Madam Su waved her hand and made the decision directly. "Dahu, you two will build a rabbit pen later. From now on, Dalang and Erlang, you two will be responsible for cutting rabbit grass. We can't let them go hungry! As for these two big rabbits, keep one for our own consumption and take the other to town to sell for some money tomorrow."
"yes."
The Su brothers nodded and turned to go to the storeroom to select firewood.
These eight rabbits are only a little over half a month old, so there's no need to worry about them digging holes everywhere; we can simply fence them off with wooden boards.
In another ten days or so, the ground of the rabbit pen will need to be piled up with large stones and compacted one by one.
"Mother, let's keep this prettier one for later." Su Hua handed over the stunned gray rabbit without saying a word.
Su Bai was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing, "Good, good, good! Our Hua'er is famous for her beauty all around here. After eating this beautiful rabbit, she'll be even more beautiful!"
Su Hua: "..."
She actually wanted to see if the rabbit that swallowed the water droplets from the stone bracelet would taste better when stewed.
However, this did make her somewhat curious about her own appearance.
Could it be that this body, though somewhat plump, possesses a face of unparalleled beauty?
Taking advantage of the Su family's busy moment, Su Hua turned back to the main house, followed the original owner's memories, found a bronze mirror under the dressing case, and eagerly went to look at it.
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