"I don't know. Since it's dead, you can skin it. Add some spicy rabbit tonight."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
Jinlu left with the rabbit, leaving the burlap sack containing it on the ground.
Yan Xia picked it up and saw that the straw rope tying the sack was made of four straws twisted together in opposite directions. This unique twisting method was different from the spiral twisting method used by the villagers. Only the original owner's father knew how to do it.
It seems the rabbit was sent by Yan Hecheng.
I don't know where he got the rabbit from. There are guards on the mountain every day, so it's impossible to get in.
There aren't many small animals on the low hills.
Well, since he wants to make amends, let him be.
Yan Xia stopped paying attention. She had complicated feelings about the original owner's father, feeling both disgust and helplessness.
She could clearly sense that Yan Hecheng regretted his actions and was trying to make amends.
But the original owner is already dead, that's an indisputable fact.
She did not intend to invite Yan Hecheng to spend New Year's Eve with her.
Meanwhile, Yan Hecheng was alone in the dilapidated temple, warming himself by a fire.
Since there was no stove, he simply made a wooden frame, put firewood underneath, and placed the clay pot on top.
The clay pot was bubbling away.
Brown rice porridge.
Yan Hecheng had just finished chopping firewood. His hands were red from the cold. He went close to the fire and warmed them for a long time before they warmed up. Then he sprinkled some salt into the clay pot, a whole spoonful, something he would never have been so extravagant in the past.
Today is Lunar New Year's Eve.
He felt that there had to be some flavor in his mouth.
He found the two rabbits in the wild mountains outside the village, and he even tripped and almost slipped down the mountain, but luckily he managed to grab onto a dead tree.
Xia loves eating rabbit meat. When she was little, he made a simple scarf for his daughter out of rabbit skin.
But I never expected that it would disappear from my home after only wearing it twice, and I couldn't find it no matter how hard I looked.
He promised his daughter that he would go find a rabbit every winter and make her a new one.
But who knew he would never catch it again.
Rabbits like to run outside on snowy days, and they move more slowly than usual, making it the easiest time to catch them.
It just so happens that Baihua Village has been experiencing heavy snow every day for the past few days, so there's no work to do.
Thinking of this, Yan Hecheng went into the mountains to look for rabbits. After three days of searching, he found a rabbit hole and caught two rabbits at noon today. He put the rabbits in a sack and quietly placed it at his daughter's door.
Yan Hecheng took out a bamboo bowl that was blackened by the fire and filled it with porridge.
While it was still hot, I carefully slurped it into my mouth and drank a mouthful of slightly salty rice porridge, letting out a comfortable sigh.
A whole pot of brown rice porridge, enough for him to eat for three days.
Cook a large batch at once, and just reheat it when you want to eat it next time.
This saves firewood.
On the other side, in the Chen family home, Wang Lihua, along with her nephew and daughter, squeezed into the kitchen, leaning against the stove for warmth and comfort.
"Be good, even though it's New Year's Eve, the weather is freezing. If you go out and get cold, we won't have the money to treat you. You two stay here to keep warm while I go make the New Year's Eve dinner."
Wang Lihua was gentle by nature, although she disliked her mischievous nephew somewhat.
But I wouldn't bully him.
After all, he was a son to carry on the family line, and he couldn't compare to a worthless girl, so she treated her nephew even better than her own daughter.
"I want to go out and play! I'm so bored staying at home all day! I want my great-grandmother, I want my mother, I want my father! You bad guy, where did you hide them?"
Chen Tiangui is already 6 years old, and will be 7 after the New Year.
But his words and actions are like those of a four-year-old child.
This shows how spoiled he was by the Chen family.
On the contrary, Chen Zhao'er, who was only 5 years old after the New Year, was well-behaved and sensible. She was still doing chores, picking wild walnut kernels for her mother with bamboo skewers.
The little person was as thin as a kitten.
Sitting on a low stool, there was only a small clump.
"They went to a faraway place to earn money for you. Our Tiangui will need money to get married in the future, so your aunt has been taking care of you these past few years. Be a good boy, Tiangui, help your cousin pick walnuts, okay? Your aunt will cook walnut rice for you later and fry an egg. That's what we'll eat for New Year's Eve dinner. But there won't be any tomorrow. We don't have much food left at home. We'll eat dark flour buns tomorrow."
Although all the land and a lot of grain were sold, and the money was used to compensate Yan Shi.
But the remaining rice and flour were enough for the three of them to eat until spring.
With no able-bodied men left in the family, the conscription was none of her business. She would go and clear the wasteland in the spring, and her nephew and daughter would not starve.
She had to wait until her man came out.
Five years.
It passed quickly.
"I don't want walnut rice, I want meat, I want meat! You wretched woman, did you drive my great-grandmother away? Great-grandmother and grandmother said you're a barren hen. What right does a hen have to tell me what to do? Go to hell! Get out of here! What right do you have to eat my eggs? She's not allowed to eat them either. You're a worthless piece of trash, you should be sold to buy me meat! Sell her, sell her!"
Chen Tiangui pushed Chen Zhao'er down.
He arrogantly cursed at the mother and daughter.
Chen Zhao'er fell heavily to the ground, her face scraped, but she dared not utter a sound.
Her eyes were red and brimming with tears, which she held back for a long time.
It's heartbreaking to see.
She looked at her mother, as if seeking comfort.
But Wang Lihua ignored her, walked up to Chen Tiangui, and picked him up in her arms.
Chen Tiangui is already seven years old. He has been pampered since he was a child, eating only the best food. Even his poop is more nutritious than what Chen Zhao'er eats.
Natural body shapes vary greatly.
Wang Lihua held her heavy nephew in her arms.
I patiently coaxed him.
"Tiangui, be good. Your great-grandmother and your parents will be back in five years. It's not that your aunt doesn't want you to eat meat, it's just that we don't have any money at home. When spring comes, your aunt will go and pick more mushrooms to sell in town. I'll definitely buy you meat to eat, okay?"
"Why not sell her? I want to eat meat right now!"
Tian Gui kicked his feet hard, completely disregarding whether Wang Lihua was in pain.
"Tiangui, Zhao'er is still young. When she grows up, Auntie will marry her off. Auntie's son hasn't even been married yet, how can we sell her? Be good, how about this, the scrambled eggs later will be just for you, and Auntie and Zhao'er will eat walnut rice, okay? If Tiangui is not good, you won't get to eat New Year's Eve dinner."
After coaxing him for a long time, Wang Lihua took out the last three pieces of pastry from her mother-in-law's cupboard and gave them to her nephew.
That's how I managed to appease him.
"I'm going out to play with my friends, you're not allowed to stop me, or I'll tell Grandma you hit me!"
"Alright, alright, my little darling, don't get cold. If you feel cold, come back quickly and Auntie will make you some ginger soup."
Wang Lihua shook her head helplessly.
Chen Tiangui, having succeeded, finished the pastries and walked away smugly.
Poor Chen Zhao'er's face hurt, and her mouth was craving something. After her cousin left, she secretly picked up the crumbs of pastry that had fallen on the ground and stuffed them into her mouth, not caring whether she had eaten mud or not.
"Mom, the pastries are so sweet!"
"You greedy girl, only your cousin can eat the pastries, so you're not allowed to even think about them. Hurry up and help your mother with the chores. Have you finished picking out the walnuts? Hurry up, or if Tiangui comes back and the food isn't ready, he'll start making a fuss again."
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