"Mom, what's wrong?"
The seventh brother, Li Qubing, came out of the shack first. He was very worried that something might happen to his evil mother.
When he took a closer look at what Wang Yi was holding, he opened his mouth in surprise: "Rabbit? Mom, where did you get this rabbit?"
Not to mention rabbits, even the insects on this mountain have been caught. Li Qubing's eyes widened as he looked at the rabbit in Wang Yi's hand. He moved closer to smell it, and there was no smell at all, which meant that although the rabbit was dead, it was still edible!
This is meat!
The eldest, Li Shenggen, was still adding firewood to the pot. This pot was the only intact iron pot in the family, dug out from the ruins. The water inside the pot had already begun to bubble out. Hearing Li Wangshi's shouting in the distance, he threw the firewood in annoyance and stood up and walked over.
He was surrounded by a lingering gloomy air. Since his father passed away ten years ago, he had almost become half the pillar of the family.
Although he's only twenty, he's been supporting the family for four or five years. In good times, when the family had plenty of land, he'd lead his wife and brothers in the work, leaving his mother too lazy to even cook. Luckily, with so many people in the family, there was plenty of land, and his brothers were young, so he could work from dawn to dusk to keep the family from starving.
He was completely disappointed with his mother and thought that Wang Yi was making trouble again.
However, when he got closer and saw the rabbit Wang Yi was holding, he was stunned for a moment.
"Hare? Where did it come from?"
"I dug it. I was just digging casually, but I didn't expect to find a dead rabbit buried underneath. Maybe it was washed down by a mudslide?" Wang Yi blinked his eyes, hoping that the system would pop up a filial piety value.
But her wish was unfulfilled. Li Shenggen was silent for a moment, as if she didn't exist, and looked straight at Lao Qi.
Li Qubing said obediently: "My mother said she was going to die of anger and buried herself, so she went to dig a hole..."
Li Shenggen nodded, picked up the rabbit and left.
Well, that’s right, it’s something a mother can do.
Wang Yi: “…”
Do you think I am nothing but air?
Don’t take my rabbit!
Wang Yi sat down angrily and, taking advantage of the night, pressed the potatoes one by one into the rabbit pit.
Just bury it first, and then cut it and plant it when it sprouts. It would be a pity to eat it now.
"Mom, what are you planting?" Li Qubing asked obediently.
"I dug it out from the pit. It looks like it's edible. I'll bury it first and harvest it in the fall."
"Why are there so many things in this pit?"
"How should I know? Maybe your deceased father sent it from the underworld."
Li Qubing: “…”
Well, mom is angry, so just ignore her for now. She will be fine after a while.
After burying the potatoes, Wang Yi surrounded them with stones and soil to prevent them from being stepped on.
She returned to the shack and dug out a string of copper coins from under the bedding. She untied the string and stuffed the three copper coins in.
"Here, Qubing, take this money to your eldest brother. Tell him to exchange it for some black flour and salt from the village chief. Then he can stew the rabbit and make a good meal for everyone."
This was the legacy left by their father. After marrying off his sons, only thirty-five copper coins were left. The previous incarnation of the father kept them by his side when he slept.
Li Qubing raised his eyebrows and looked at his mother.
Before, her eldest nephew Yuan'er was almost starving to death, but she didn't even ask to take out the money.
Why did you change your temper now?
"Seventh Brother, why don't you go quickly?" Li Liugen suddenly spoke in the corner of the shack.
He has tried many ways to steal this little money from his mother but failed. Why is the seventh brother still hesitating?
Wang Yi glanced at Lao Liu silently. Okay, it seems that even the cutter is a black-hearted person.
I finally figured out that the seventh child was the only one in the family who was on the same page with me.
Humph. Once this crisis is over, don't even think about asking me to share any of the goodies with you! Keep them all for my good Qi'er!
In front of the big pot in the old house, Wang Juanhua poured boiling water and began to remove the rabbit's hair.
She glanced at Li Shenggen, who was sitting in front of the fire with a gloomy expression, and asked, "Why did grandma suddenly change her temper?"
"She doesn't have a pot, otherwise she would have eaten it secretly."
"Don't keep thinking like that. Grandma has just taken out the rabbit. I don't want my share later. Give it to Yuan'er." Wang Juanhua thought of her poor son and couldn't help but look back. The little boy was only three years old. He was so hungry that his head was big and his stomach was small. He didn't know if he could survive.
"Eat them all. Each person can eat a little less, but everyone must eat. Isn't the one in your belly your own flesh and blood?"
Wang Juanhua was crying. She was hungry and was afraid that she would digest the little one in her stomach.
"Okay, stop crying. I'll go see how much money I have and exchange it for some salt and black flour."
As he was speaking, Lao Qi came running over.
"Brother, this is what mother gave you. She asked you to exchange it for some black flour so that we can have a good meal."
Li Shenggen looked at the string of copper coins with a shiny black rope and took it silently.
"I understand. Xiaoqi will eat rabbit meat later. I'll be back soon."
On the way to the village chief's house, Li Shenggen's figure was swallowed by the night. He wiped the tears from his face, and the copper coins in his hand were heavy.
He is only twenty years old now, but he has become the pillar of this family.
With only this handful of copper coins, there are fourteen people in the family, and there is an unborn baby in the belly. How can they survive?
After this hearty meal, I will really escape the famine tomorrow.
Forget it, I’ll just change the flour to black flour and steam it into buns at night. I’ll eat it as many times as I want.
Looking back, there was a barren wasteland left by the mudslide.
It’s a pity that we have to abandon our few acres of fertile land and ancestral home.
The village chief's family still had some surplus grain, which was actually tax grain that should be paid to the court.
Because the Yunze Kingdom was destroyed, their place was remote and no one cared about it, so it became the village grain they paid every year, which was used for disaster relief at this time.
Black flour and brown rice cost three cents per pound. Li Shenggen used these thirty-eight cents to exchange for five pounds of brown rice, five pounds of black flour, and two ounces of coarse salt.
Salt is a precious commodity nowadays, and the village chief doesn't have much. His family was spared because of its high location, but the stock is small, and he is already being considerate by selling it to everyone without raising the price.
These ten kilograms of food were all they had to escape the famine.
My mother is really lucky. She can find a rabbit in any hole she digs. If she could be luckier, she could dig more food.
Thinking of this, Li Shenggen wanted to laugh. What a good thing he was dreaming of. He was so hungry that he was confused. Could there be another such thing as waiting for something to happen?
But when he returned home, he found that everyone in the family was gathered around the fire, except for the figure that he loved and hated.
Something is wrong. He was already prepared for his mother to throw a tantrum and roll on the ground to snatch half of the rabbit away, so why didn't anyone come?
Shouldn't she be guarding the stove and being the first to eat the meat?
But Li Qubing had a sad face, and when he saw him coming back, he shouted, "Brother, go find mother quickly! She's gone!"
"What?" The food fell to the ground with a thud, and Li Shenggen was filled with anger again.
I knew she had no good intentions in handing over the copper coins for no reason. What was she doing?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
