Swallowing hard at the thought of the scene, Yuan Qiwen grinned at Du Yuhan and said, "Yuhan, shall we have meat for lunch today?"
Seeing Yuan Qiwen's obvious craving, Du Yuhan smiled and said, "It's almost noon now. It'll be too late to cook dinner after we finish cleaning the game. Let's have a simple lunch first. We'll clean all the game this afternoon and cook dinner early. You can go back after you finish eating, and bring back a pheasant and a rabbit for Aunt Han."
Upon hearing that he would definitely be able to eat meat today, Yuan Qiwen happily agreed.
After returning home, they reported their day's results to Han Yixian, and then everyone began to divide the work. Du Yuhan cooked, while Yuan Qiwen and Liu Gang cleaned the game.
When it comes to preparing prey, Yuan Qiwen is no match; he still needs to learn from Liu Gang.
Take skinning a rabbit, for example; there's a skill involved. It takes good craftsmanship to skin a rabbit perfectly without damaging it.
In order to be able to do things for himself in the future, Yuan Qiwen humbly learned from Liu Gang how to skin rabbits quickly and well.
Liu Gang's skills were learned from Han Yixian. Having received Han Yixian's true teachings, his skills were naturally excellent. He could peel off a rabbit skin perfectly without any damage and without leaving a single piece of meat on the skin.
Yuan Qiwen looked at Liu Gang's skill with sparkling eyes and praised, "You're pretty good! Your skill in skinning rabbits is excellent."
Liu Gang proudly shook his head and boasted, "That's right, this is a special skill that the regimental commander taught me. Recently, Yuhan has been hunting rabbits frequently, which has given me a lot of practice, so I've naturally become proficient. If you handle more rabbits, you'll be just as skilled."
As he spoke, Liu Gang began processing the second rabbit, explaining the techniques to Yuan Qiwen as he skinned it. The two young men, roughly the same age, chatted and laughed, working with great enthusiasm.
While cooking, Du Yuhan also boiled a pot of water. She poured the boiling water into a large basin and then had Liu Gang and the other man pluck the feathers off the pheasants.
Du Yuhan plucked and collected the larger feathers from the pheasant's tail and wings. She had collected enough feathers to make two feather dusters herself.
Lunch was simple, but it included rice and vegetables. There was a plate of hot and sour cabbage, a plate of stir-fried potatoes with scallions, and some leftover steamed buns from breakfast that I heated up. I also made a wild vegetable soup.
Yuan Qiwen and Liu Gang didn't eat much at noon, both saving their appetites for a big meal that evening.
Du Yuhan could tell just by looking at the two brothers' noticeably smaller appetites. She smiled and didn't urge them to eat more.
In the afternoon, Du Yuhan directed Liu Gang and Yuan Qiwen to help build burrows for the rabbits they had caught.
The rabbit hutch wasn't made of any other materials. Since the rabbits arrived quite suddenly, we didn't prepare in advance and just built it little by little with branches and wooden strips. We put some dry grass in one spot inside the hutch so the little rabbits could sleep on it.
The weather is warm now, so it's okay to build a nest out of branches and wood, but not in winter.
Some rabbits give birth in winter, and if they are not kept warm, the baby rabbits will freeze to death overnight.
Du Yuhan thought that when she had time, she and Liu Gang could make some adobe bricks by the river, and then use the adobe bricks to build a burrow for the rabbits. If they put dry grass in it, it should be fine in winter.
The chicken coop should also be improved, built into a structure where the top is for laying eggs and the bottom is for resting at night.
At night, the chicks' nest should have a wooden frame that is a certain distance off the ground. This way, the chicken droppings will fall under the frame, making it easier to remove them, and the frame where the chicks stay will be cleaner.
Following Du Yuhan's instructions, Liu Gang and Yuan Qiwen covered the top of the rabbit burrow with a thick layer of dry grass and then plastered it with mud to prevent leaks when it rained. The rabbit burrow was now complete.
Du Yuhan carefully put the six little rabbits into their burrow and then took out the freshest wild vegetables she had dug and placed them in front of them.
Fearing the rabbits wouldn't eat the wild vegetables, Du Yuhan secretly dripped a few drops of well water from her space onto them. Sure enough, the little rabbits happily began to eat the tender wild vegetables.
Liu Gang and Yuan Qiwen also found it quite novel.
Liu Gang's family is from the countryside, and he raised small animals when he was a child, which helped him a bit.
Yuan Qiwen, on the other hand, couldn't keep up. When he was a child, he did raise a little bird that had fallen from a tree and couldn't fly yet. Unfortunately, the bird died after two days of not eating. He was heartbroken for several days and never raised any small animals again after that.
Today, Yuan Qiwen was delighted to see a group of little rabbits happily eating wild vegetables and decided that he would often go dig wild vegetables for the rabbits in the future.
Du Yuhan felt relieved seeing the little rabbits eating. Rabbits grow and reproduce quickly; as long as there's enough food, these few rabbits can quickly multiply into many more.
After a while, the number of rabbits she raised increased, and the dozen or so chickens she raised also started laying eggs. Even if she no longer went into the mountains to hunt, her family would not lack meat.
Thinking about all this fills Du Yuhan with energy. She feels a great sense of accomplishment in improving her life with her own hands.
Under Du Yuhan's careful feeding, none of the dozen or so chicks died, and they grew very fast. They had already shed their soft yellow down and grown larger feathers. At this time, the chicks were also much tougher and would not die easily.
After building the rabbit hutch, Du Yuhan went into the kitchen to stew meat, much to the anticipation of Liu Gang and Yuan Qiwen. Liu Gang diligently helped her tend the fire.
That evening, Du Yuhan braised rabbit meat, prepared to make Kung Pao chicken, and simmered a pot of chicken soup.
When the rabbit meat was almost cooked, I added a few potatoes.
The chicken in the chicken soup was cooked until very tender. Du Yuhan also added some well water from her space and several herbs to the chicken soup, making it even more delicious.
The aroma wafting from the pot prompted Liu Gang and Yuan Qiwen to repeatedly ask when the chicken soup would be ready.
Du Yuhan can guarantee that this chicken soup will be delicious and nutritious, with a warming and nourishing effect on the body. Drinking this chicken soup today will be good for everyone, especially Han Yixian.
The aroma of stewed meat and chicken soup filled the entire kitchen and wafted out into the yard, even reaching Han Yixian, who was sitting inside the house.
As soon as Han Yixian smelled the aroma, he knew that there would be meat tonight. He thought about how, ever since Du Yuhan came, they would have a very affordable stewed meat every few days, while he had nourishing soup almost every day.
Han Yixian felt that he was paying Du Yuhan too little and that he should pay her more.
Take Du Yuhan's excellent hunting skills, for example. Even if you have money, you might not be able to buy the wild game they eat.
He planned to discuss the extra money with Du Yuhan when he had the chance. Getting the young girl to earn more money seemed quite difficult.
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