Du Haifeng knew something was wrong when he heard his brother shout, but he still had to try his best to cover up the lie and hope to fool Han Yixian, who looked puzzled.
He quickly stood up, blocking Han Yixian's view, and turned his back to him while repeatedly winking at his younger brother, saying, "Little brother, did Sister Dayan from Uncle Liang's family catch another rabbit? She doesn't know how to clean rabbits, so I always clean them for her. Go tell Sister Dayan that we have guests, and our parents are out in the fields, so I have to stay with them. I'll clean them for her after they leave."
As he spoke, he winked at his younger brother and then said to his second brother, Du Haichao, "Haichao, I'm afraid my younger brother won't be able to explain it clearly, so you go and tell him."
Du Haichao immediately replied, "Okay, then I'll go with my brother to tell him."
After saying that, Du Haichao grabbed his younger brother and ran out of the house.
After the two children ran away, Han Yixian asked, "It seems you get along well with the other people in the village."
Du Haifeng said, "Yes, the villagers are all very kind. Nobody bullies us."
Han Yi nodded and said, "Your sister would be very happy to know that you are doing well. Was the person who called you over from the village?"
Du Haifeng felt a pang of guilt when Han Yixian asked him this, and said, "That's an older sister from our village. She learned how to trap rabbits from us, but she doesn't know how to clean the game. Every time she brings back a rabbit, she makes me clean it."
After listening, Han Yixian nodded and fell silent, as if immersed in memories of the past.
Du Haifeng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Han Yixian didn't ask any more questions.
Then Du Haifeng looked at the things Han Yixian had brought and said, "Hmm, Brother Han, please don't come again. And don't send anything to our house anymore. My parents will be sad if they see you, and I don't want you to come anymore. They don't want you to come either. You should take these things back today."
Han Yixian looked up at Du Haifeng and said, "I know you resent me. I'm prepared for your punishment. But I hope you won't refuse me. Your sister's biggest concern was this family. Now that she's gone, I hope I can protect it for her so she can rest in peace."
Han Yixian's words made Du Haifeng even more guilty, after all, his sister wasn't dead. He always felt guilty for lying to Han Yixian and seeing his sorrowful expression. But then he thought about how he had bullied his sister and hurt her, which strengthened his resolve.
Du Haichao and Du Haisheng ran to Du Yuhan's house and told her that Han Yixian had come again, telling her to hide and not go out.
Du Yuhan frowned upon hearing her two younger brothers' words, hoping that her older brother could smooth things over for her younger brother.
However, she still went inside the house, so at least she couldn't be seen from outside the yard.
Han Yixian saw that Du Haifeng was keeping his head down and not saying anything, so he stood up and said, "Since my father-in-law and mother-in-law are both very busy, I won't stay any longer. You can give these things to them when they come back. Don't refuse again; these are for you on behalf of your sister."
If there's anything you can't handle, be sure to call me, and I'll come right away. Your village should have a phone. Or you can come to the city to find me.
I see that you and Haichao are studying on your own, which is excellent. Your sister graduated from junior high school in less than two years. If you and Haichao want to go to school, your brother-in-law can arrange for you to attend a school in the city and live at his house.”
Du Haifeng quickly said, "We don't need to go to school; we can just study at home. Uncle Liang's older brothers and sisters are all studying outside, so we can ask them for help if we don't understand something."
Han Yi nodded and said, "You'll all have to go to school sooner or later. You can study on your own for now. I'll talk to your parents about your schooling when I come back next time. Okay, I'll be going now."
After saying that, Han Yixian left the Du family.
He drove himself here today, and parked his car on the side of the Du family's courtyard. That's why Du Haisheng didn't see the car and didn't know someone had come to his house, which almost gave him away.
Du Haifeng was still only a twelve or thirteen-year-old child, and he was somewhat timid in the face of the cold and serious Han Yixian. He had only forced himself to say those things to deceive Han Yixian in a moment of desperation. He didn't know if Han Yixian believed him or not.
Han Yi first got into the car and turned to look at the Du family's house. He didn't know why, but he had a strange feeling about the Du family these past few visits. The Du family didn't seem truly saddened by Du Yuhan's death. Did they not have a deep affection for Du Yuhan?
He drove away from Laohewan Village with a hint of confusion in his heart. He had many things to deal with right now, and Gu Qi had come to him for help. They were friends, so he should help him out of both courtesy and reason.
This is where the Du family lives, and Han Yixian doesn't want a serious disaster to occur here. He should help if he can.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Han Yi left.
Du Haifeng arrived at his sister's house soon after. He had to help his older sister prepare the game.
Seeing that there were quite a few prey, Du Haifeng asked, "Big sister, how did you hunt all this?"
Du Yuhan picked up the bow and arrow and said, "I hunted it with this."
Upon seeing this, Du Haifeng exclaimed with delight, "Big sister, you can shoot arrows? And you're so good at it! You've hunted so many prey. Can I learn from you?"
Du Haichao also said, "Sister, I want to learn too."
Seeing her two younger brothers' excitement, Du Yuhan smiled and said, "Alright, I'll teach you later. Now, you two hurry up and prepare this rabbit and pheasant. We'll stew them tonight. Parents and Uncle Liang must be very tired from doing heavy work in the fields, so we'll treat them to something nice tonight."
The two brothers were delighted to hear that they would be eating meat that night and began to prepare their prey.
Yu Huiru watched as Du Yuhan instructed her two younger brothers and said rudely, "Do they even know how to do it?"
Du Yuhan laughed and said, "Mom, you don't know this, do you? My dad and Haifeng both know how to trap rabbits. They're very familiar with handling these kinds of prey, so don't worry. Children from poor families mature early, and they can do everything."
I'll go knead some dough; we'll steam some rolls for dinner tonight.
The rolls that Du Yuhan was talking about were made with unleavened dough. They were like steamed buns, with oil spread on them and rolled up. Then they were cut into strips with a knife, pulled and twisted by hand, and then placed side by side on a steamer to steam. The resulting unleavened rolls were not hard and were even more filling than steamed buns made with leavened dough.
Everyone is doing manual labor now, so Du Yuhan is planning to improve the diet of her parents, Uncle Liang, and Aunt Liang, so they won't suffer from health problems.
Since they couldn't eat all the prey today, Du Yuhan stewed a wild rabbit and two pheasants, along with some potatoes, making a whole big pot of stew.
Du Yuhan kept the kitchen doors and windows closed to prevent the smell of meat from wafting out. The only other families living nearby were the Du and Liang families, so they were unlikely to notice that meat was being stewed in her house.
In the future, she will try to chop the meat into minced meat for dumplings or meatballs, so that the aroma will be much less strong.
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