Chapter 26
In addition to Prime Minister Qin's family, the Qin family's second branch was also exiled this time. Now, only Qin Si Niang is left alive in the second branch, and the rest are Prime Minister Qin's descendants, and they have all started their own families.
Uncle Qin has a nine-year-old son, Qin Dalangjun, and a five-year-old daughter, Qin Xiaoniangzi.
Mr. Qin San has a two-year-old son, Mr. Qin Sanlang.
Then there was Qin Zhikai, the Fourth Master of Qin, and Qin Sanniang, who was born to the same concubine as him.
After the accident, Mr. Qin San and Mr. Qin Dalang were responsible for taking care of Mr. Qin, while Mr. Qin Si was responsible for running errands.
As for the female prisoners, Madam Qin arranged for Grandma Qin to be in charge of serving Old Madam Qin, and Qin Siniang was in charge of taking care of the young Third Young Master Qin and Little Lady Qin. As a concubine's daughter, Qin Sanniang naturally had to do odd jobs, and Grandma Qin San was arranged to serve her.
At this moment, after receiving the order from Mrs. Qin, Grandma Qin San excitedly went to find Gu Ran, wanting to give her a warning.
And what is Gu Ran doing at this moment?
Roasted rabbit.
The frozen rabbit that had been put in the workshop for so long could finally be taken out and eaten during the chaos - because there were many people injured in the avalanche, in order to recuperate, Chen Jieguan and other subordinates not only boiled medicinal soup, but also took out the best food they brought with them and cooked it. Some of the exiles they were responsible for escorting had a good time when they stayed in Sui County some time ago. It was the New Year, so they probably spent money to bribe the officials to buy a lot of food to take with them. Now that they were injured and recuperating, they took the food out to give to their own injured people.
In addition, today is the Lantern Festival, and people as particular as Mr. Xu might have brought some delicious food, so the campsite was filled with the aroma of meat.
It was under such circumstances that Gu Ran began to think about eating rabbit meat.
She had been craving for meat for a long time, and now was the right time. Of course, if she wanted to roast rabbit meat under everyone's eyes, she had to get the rabbit out of the way first, and secondly, since she had taken it out, she had to plan to share it.
Thinking about how he had just confronted the Fourth Master of the Qin Family, he did not regret it. However, he was going to Fujian with officials watching him, so he expected that the Qin Family would not easily make things difficult for him. However, he still had to be on guard. For example, compared with the Qin Family, he was naturally more familiar with Aunt Mai and her daughter, as well as Pei Liuniang. He could use rabbit meat to buy good things. If the Qin Family really deliberately made things difficult for him, he could not expect them to stand up for him, but he could at least say a few words for him, or serve as a background to give him courage, right?
So when Gu Ran went to pee, he returned to the camp and said to Aunt Mai in a surprised manner, "Aunt Mai, Pei Liuniang, look, I found a rabbit over there."
The three people who were lighting a bonfire in front of the tent turned their attention to Gu Ran when they heard it. Seeing that she really had a rabbit in her hand, Pei Liuniang said nothing. Aunt Mai was delighted: "Second Aunt Gu, you are really lucky. I can pick up a rabbit for you like this."
"Mother, it's meat!" Mai Xiang looked at the rabbit with shining eyes and subconsciously licked her lips. "Can I eat it?"
"Yes, of course." Gu Ran said.
"I, I mean, me, my mother and I, can we eat it?" Mai Xiang asked, "Sister Gu, can you give us some?"
"Whoever sees it gets a share, of course." Gu Ran said with a smile, and then said in embarrassment, "It's just that we don't have the tools to process this rabbit meat!"
Of course, they are prisoners now, and the officers will not give them sharp weapons like knives and daggers at will. Gu Ran cannot use the scissors and knives in the workshop. What should he do?
"Wait a minute, I'll go tell Lord Li." Aunt Mai stopped roasting the fire and immediately stood up to leave, but then stopped and looked at Gu Ran. "Well, let me help Second Madam Gu borrow the knife. Can you give some meat to my child's father and Xiangxiang's brother?"
Gu Ran looked at the rabbit, pretending to be embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, he finally agreed: "Well, we can't have more. It's just for the few of us. Otherwise, there won't be enough meat to share."
"Okay!"
Aunt Mai quickly went to Li Si to borrow a knife. When she returned, she not only brought Uncle Mai and Mai Dong back, but also a message: "Second Aunt Gu, you have to leave two rabbit thighs for the official!"
Well, the meat has decreased again!
Gu Ran nodded, anticipating that he might have to pay tribute to the officials.
Aunt Mai handed the knife to Gu Ran. Gu Ran took the rabbit meat and started to feel embarrassed again.
Of course she knew how to peel rabbit fur. When she was a monk in her previous life, in order to find talisman skins, she had to skin and debone the animals when she found them. But the original owner didn't know how to do that!
So she could only pretend not to understand, which was really difficult for her.
She looked at Uncle Mai and Mai Dong, and handed over the rabbit and knife. "Do you know how to do it?"
Uncle Mai and Mai Dong had heard that there was meat to eat, so they followed happily and were rubbing their hands, waiting for it to be roasted. When they heard Gu Ran ask this, they shook their heads at first, but still stretched out their hands.
Although I have never been a hunter and don't know how to skin an animal, since they found it and treated them to meat, my wife wouldn't do such a violent thing. As her husband, I can't make things difficult for her, so I did it.
Before Uncle Mai and his son could take the rabbit, Pei Liuniang, who was sitting next to Gu Ran, intercepted the rabbit and the knife in the middle.
"Pei Liuniang?" Everyone was shocked.
"I can."
Pei Liuniang said this in a clear voice, and in front of everyone, she skinned and gutted the rabbit, peeled off a whole piece of rabbit hair, and handed it to Gu Ran.
Gu Ran certainly didn't dare to show that he knew about this in front of everyone. Feeling distressed, he waved his hands and said, "I don't know how to do this. You keep it, Liu Niang!"
Pei Liuniang didn't hesitate and immediately took the skin back. She then grabbed a handful of clean snow from the ground and wiped it on the rabbit. She first removed the two rabbit thighs and gave them to Maidong to pass on to the officials. Then she grabbed the prepared rabbit and asked, "Do you want to roast it like this, or roast it separately?"
"Divide, bake separately."
It takes a long time to roast a large rabbit, so cut it into pieces and each person roasts their own, which also makes it roast faster.
After Gu Ran finished talking to Pei Liuniang, he and Mai Xiang started to break off branches from nearby trees. When they hurried back, Pei Liuniang had already divided the rabbit meat into six pieces. Her portion was the largest and came with a front leg.
Everyone immediately sat around the campfire with a smile on their faces. Each of them took their own portion, forked it with branches, and put it in the fire to roast.
"This is rabbit meat, what a good piece of meat. It looks delicious." Mai Dong smiled until his eyes narrowed into a real line. "Hey, Gu Erniang is really good. She can pick up a rabbit for you for free in this weather."
"Sister Gu is so lucky, that's why we can eat meat!" Mai Xiang also smiled happily at Gu Ran, looking at the rabbit meat in the fire with greed.
"That's right, we are all thanks to Gu Erniang."
"It just so happens that today is Lantern Festival, so eating meat is just right."
While the Mai family was having fun, Pei Liuniang was also turning her portion of barbecue and asked, "Where did you find this rabbit?"
"That, that, that place."
Gu Ran was originally listening to what everyone said with a smile, but when he suddenly heard Pei Liuniang ask this, his face froze. Didn't Liuniang say that it was in the woods where one urinated?
We are all women, wouldn't it be embarrassing to talk about this in public?
"Where?"
Gu Ran could only point in a certain direction in the snowy night.
"How did you pick it up?"
Seeing Pei Liuniang's detailed questions, Gu Ran had to explain in detail, "Originally, I didn't know there were rabbits there, but I saw small footprints on the snow and thought they must be rabbits out foraging. I saw the footprints weren't far away, so I followed them and found a rabbit nest..."
"Rabbit's nest!"
Everyone in the Mai family shouted in surprise, interrupting Gu Ran's words, "Doesn't that mean there are a lot of rabbits?"
"I don't know. When I tried to dig out the rabbits, I didn't catch any live ones, but I found this one that was frozen to death, so I picked it up." Gu Ran recounted the situation when he discovered the rabbit's nest in detail.
"Dad, let's go dig out the rabbits tomorrow!" Mai Dong said excitedly, "Mother Gu, where is the rabbit's nest?"
"A cunning rabbit has three nests. Gu Erniang has alarmed the rabbits in that nest, and the rabbits inside must have escaped." Pei Liuniang glanced at Gu Ran and explained lightly.
“Tsk!”
"Why!"
The Mai siblings were all disappointed.
Seeing Pei Liuniang asking so many questions, Gu Ran seemed to doubt the origin of her rabbit. However, she also had a suspicion in her heart. "Pei Liuniang, how come you are so skilled at skinning and bone removal?"
She is a young lady living under someone else's roof, yet she is so skilled in handling rabbits. Where did she learn this?
Logically speaking, the Pei family is a wealthy family. No matter how harsh they are on her, they would not let the young lady do such a thing, right?
"Of course I am familiar with it. I have been practicing the art of skinning and dismembering for years in order to avenge my grievances."
When Pei Liuniang said this, everyone remembered the Pei family massacre. The culprit was the delicate lady in front of them. Their scalps went numb and they were speechless.
"Hurry, hurry, the oil is coming out."
"Hurry up, don't waste it."
The barbecue they got from the officials was always lacking in oil. Now that they saw the hot oil right in front of them, they certainly couldn't let it go.
Everyone picked up the hard, dry steamed buns that had also been heated in the fire. They had originally intended to roast them until they were soft, and now they immediately put them under the roasted rabbit meat, watching the hot oil drip into the fire.
Then I tore off the part stained with oil and put it in my mouth. The steamed bun that was originally dry, hard and tasteless seemed to become delicious.
Gu Ran simply tore the steamed bun into small pieces. Seeing that the barbecued meat was oily, he smeared the pieces on the rabbit meat, and then started eating after being coated with oil. The others did the same.
"tasty!"
“It tastes much better with oil.”
Eat steamed buns while grilling meat. By the time the steamed buns are finished, the meat will be grilled through.
Gu Ran hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not take out the small bag of salt that he had hidden away - that tiny bit of salt was not even enough for him to lick, so he couldn't be so generous and share it all at once.
Although no seasoning was added, the roasted rabbit meat was juicy and sweet. For people who have not eaten meat for a long time, it is simply a delicacy.
"Delicious, this rabbit meat is so delicious!"
"This is my first time eating rabbit meat. Is it better than dragon meat?"
"Sister Gu, please pick up a few more rabbits tomorrow!"
It was at this time that Grandma Qin San found Gu Ranren.
After she came out, she asked Qin Sanniang and found out that Gu Ran was still among the group of prisoners at the back. However, the prisoners from the two escort teams were mixed together with mixed identities. She didn't dare to ask anyone casually. She spent a long time identifying outside before she recognized which place was the camp for the prisoners that Li Jieguan was responsible for escorting.
After seeing Gu Ran, she approached him and before she could say anything, she smelled the rich aroma of meat. Then she heard Mai Xiang's smiling request and looked closely at the uneaten rabbit meat in Gu Ran's hand. Grandma Qin San's throat slid open, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and then she was furious: "Second Mother Gu, are you thinking of rebelling?"
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