Two days later, Du Lianqiao's family moved out of the old Du family house and started a new life.
This house also has three main rooms and two side rooms; it would be very nice if it were cleaned up.
Most importantly, this house is located far away from the original Du family residence, one to the east and the other to the west, which Du Yuhan is very satisfied with.
Du Yuhan's younger brothers were very happy. They had finally escaped the bullying from the other branches of the Du family and were full of hope for the future.
Wang Yuqiao was also very happy to see the excited children.
She looked at her sullen husband and said, "Dad, don't let Yuhan down. We need to live a good life so we can support her in the future."
Fearing things might go wrong if things dragged on, Liu Cuilian urged the matchmaker to contact the city family as soon as possible to arrange Du Yuhan's marriage so that the bride price could be received.
The food rations had already been distributed to each household. Under the supervision of the village leaders, Liu Cuilian withheld fifty jin of cornmeal in advance, thus shortchanging the second branch of the Du family from their food rations.
Du Lianqiao didn't mind too much; it was already very good. In the past, his family wouldn't have been able to eat so much food.
Du Yuhan took her two younger brothers into the mountains to collect firewood, hoping to gather enough firewood for the time being, as they wouldn't have time to go into the mountains to collect firewood during the busy farming season.
All the cotton in the village has been picked, so the cotton stalks need to be pulled up. They're good firewood, and their family can get a share.
Du Yuhan and her younger brother also brought home all the bird eggs they had hidden before, making a nice improvement for their home.
Before heading into the mountains, Du Yuhan made several rabbit costumes. Her younger brothers were curious as they watched their sister make the costumes and tried to imitate her.
Du Lianqiao was also very curious about when his daughter had learned to make this.
Du Yuhan said she had seen other people set rabbit snares in the mountains, so she decided to try making one herself.
The siblings went into the mountains. Du Yuhan carried a willow basket containing several rabbit snares. After observing the areas where rabbits frequently roamed, she set up the snares.
These skills were taught to her by Han Yixian in her previous life, and she acquired them through practice. What she learned from Han Yixian has benefited her immensely throughout her life.
The two younger brothers watched with great interest as their older sister set the trap.
Du Yuhan explained to them how to observe animal activity traces, and how to determine the species of animals and their movement patterns through feces, footprints, and other similar evidence.
Du Haichao asked excitedly, "Sister, can we really catch a rabbit?"
Du Yuhan rubbed her second brother's head and laughed, "Maybe we'll have something when we come back from gathering firewood. If we catch a rabbit, Mom can stew it for us tonight."
The two brothers were hoping that their sister's rabbit snare would be effective and that she would be lucky enough to catch a rabbit so they could have rabbit meat for dinner.
Du Yuhan also taught her two older brothers kung fu, which was taught to her by Han Yixian in her previous life.
In her previous life, Du Yuhan only practiced basic martial arts, which was just for physical exercise. It wasn't until she was out in the world on her own that she realized she should have some skills for protection, so she diligently practiced the skills Han Yixian taught her.
Later, when she became wealthy, she hired a skilled martial arts master to teach her, so she now knows several different martial arts styles.
Although Du Yuhan's skills weren't particularly outstanding, she could still easily take on several not-so-strong individuals by herself.
She wanted her younger brothers to learn a few self-defense skills, so she secretly taught them, telling them not to tell anyone, not even their parents.
Du Yuhan knew she was being too hasty, but she didn't have much time to stay with her family; she would soon be leaving to be with that person.
The land in Xikou Village is extremely barren, and even in good years the harvest is meager. Disaster years only exacerbate the situation; otherwise, her adoptive parents' entire family wouldn't have starved to death in her previous life. She will try to find a way to relocate her adoptive parents' family elsewhere, but she still needs to carefully consider where.
The rabbit snares were a success. When Du Yuhan returned to the snare site with her two younger brothers, each carrying a bundle of firewood, the snares actually caught two rabbits.
Seeing the rabbits struggling in their trap, the two brothers happily threw down the firewood they were carrying and each grabbed a rabbit.
Du Haichao exclaimed happily, "Sister, you're amazing! You managed to catch two big rabbits with just a few rabbit snares. I want to learn how to use rabbit snares from you later."
Du Yuhan smiled and said, "No problem, it's good that you all learn it, so our family can eat meat more often in the future. Even if we don't eat it, we can sell it at the purchasing station in town for money."
Du Yuhan used a machete to knock the two rabbits unconscious to prevent them from escaping. She then tied them up, placed them in a willow basket, and covered them with dry grass. This was to keep a low profile and prevent others from finding out and causing trouble at the Du family's old residence.
The three siblings happily carried firewood back to their new home. At their sister's instruction, the two younger brothers did not call out at the door but calmly entered the house.
After closing the courtyard gate, the three siblings put the firewood in the woodshed, and the two boys each carried a still unconscious rabbit into the house.
As soon as he entered the house, Du Haichao shouted, "Dad, Mom, look what we caught!"
Du Lianqiao and Wang Yuqiao were surprised to see their two sons each holding a large rabbit, but then they were overjoyed.
They all knew that their eldest daughter had made several rabbit snares, saying she was going into the mountains to snare rabbits. They didn't take it seriously at all, thinking that their daughter was just joking around. They never expected that she would have such a big haul.
The couple took the two rabbits and looked at them for a long time, overjoyed. It seemed that their children would be able to eat meat today.
Wang Yuqiao asked, "Is this the rabbit snare your eldest sister made?"
Du Haifeng nodded and said, "Yes, it's because of the short time; otherwise, there would be more. Big Sister has finished setting up the rabbit traps again; I reckon we can catch more tomorrow."
Du Yuhan walked into the house and said, "Mom, have Dad kill the rabbit. We'll stew it for dinner tonight to celebrate moving into our new house. We can save the tanned rabbit skin to make clothes and shoes."
Du Lianqiao also laughed happily, "I'll go kill some rabbits. Rabbit skins are good stuff too, I'll keep them all."
The three boys ran out to watch their father kill the rabbit and skin it. They weren't afraid; all they knew was that they would get to eat rabbit meat.
Wang Yuqiao said happily, "Yuhan, I didn't expect the rabbit cover you made to be so useful."
Du Yuhan said, "Mom, my dad and brothers can all learn this. When I'm gone, our family can still eat meat from time to time. We can keep the rabbit skins to make clothes and save on cloth coupons and cotton."
Wild rabbits reproduce very quickly, so catching a few every day won't have any impact.
That evening, Du Yuhan personally cooked stewed rabbit meat, closing the door in the main room to stew the meat and try to prevent the smell from escaping.
As soon as the smell of meat wafted out, Du Haifeng and his two brothers would peek through the door at their eldest sister and mother as they cooked, hoping the rabbit meat would be ready soon so they could eat it.
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