One sentence stumped Liu.
"I'm just asking around! I'll tell Dahai and Yingzi about this first, so you two can be mentally prepared."
Zhao Tingzhang remained silent, since he didn't have any good ideas anyway.
Liu then looked at Zhao Dahai and Cheng Ying, and saw that both of them had their heads down and had not said a word from beginning to end.
She urged them anxiously, "You two, say something! I'm doing this for your own good."
Seeing that Zhao Dahai still didn't intend to speak, Cheng Ying made up her mind and nodded, "Mother, I'll listen to you."
Zhao Dahai silently breathed a sigh of relief. "Then you guys handle it."
Mrs. Liu was finally relieved and was just waiting to inquire if anyone had an unwanted child. If so, she would take the child home.
"Mother, open the door!" Zhao Xiaohe's knocking voice came from outside the courtyard gate.
The family quickly dispersed without saying a word; they usually only talked about this kind of topic behind Zhao Xiaohe's back.
Liu went out muttering to herself, "This child is getting more and more out of control, coming home so late from playing."
As soon as Liu opened the door, she was about to say a few words to Zhao Xiaohe when she saw He Shitou following behind.
"Stone, you brought the child back, right? Oh dear, look how much trouble you've gone to," Liu said apologetically.
He Shitou smiled sheepishly, "Hehe, hello Auntie."
At this moment, Zhao Tingzhang also stepped forward and said, "Stone, thank you for your trouble, Xiaohe."
Seeing his parents being so polite, Zhao Xiaohe hurriedly said, "Father, Mother, please don't say anything else. We just ran into Zhao Ergou on the way back."
"Zhao Ergou said that you have to stay out of his family's business from now on, or else we'll be in trouble."
He Shitou nodded, "Yes, Zhao Ergou looks terrifying."
Zhao Tingzhang stopped smoking. "What? What else does this kid want to do?" He simply couldn't believe that the kid could do anything outrageous.
Liu looked worried. She glared at the old man and scolded, "I told you you shouldn't have gone to Liu's house today! You can't handle that mess!"
Zhao Tingzhang didn't speak; he had gone to see Liu Shi this evening.
He couldn't be too direct about his daughter-in-law's affairs. Liu also asked him about Zhao Ergou, and he said he wanted to cut Zhao Ergou off from the city completely.
It would be best to find a job and have something to do.
He probably heard Zhao Ergou overhearing him saying this, so he held a grudge.
"Alright, what's the point of talking about this so late at night? Let's talk about it tomorrow!"
He Shitou said goodbye and jogged home.
The mornings in Changfeng Village are shrouded in a thick fog, and the villagers have always been early risers and early sleepers.
As soon as the sky began to lighten, the villagers gradually got up.
At He Tiantian's home, both adults and children got up early.
They all have a very important task to do today: kill rabbits.
Two days ago, He Tiantian asked her father, He Chun, to build two ovens out of mud in the yard.
A fire is lit underneath, and meat can be grilled on top.
She decided to use the same method she used to roast chicken to roast rabbit meat.
With many people in the family, the task of killing and skinning the rabbit was assigned to He Chun, He Shitou, and Mr. Xu.
He Tiantian specially invited Sister Yulan to come and help, and Shuixian also came along to play.
Seeing that Shui Xian had come, Zhao Wanzi secretly went to Old Zhao's house and called Feng Nian and Zhao Xiaocao over as well.
Zhao Fengnian had visited several times before and was quite relaxed. Zhao Xiaocao, on the other hand, was very reserved as it was her first time there.
Her eyes darted around the small courtyard; everyone was busy. It turned out her second aunt's family had so much stuff—much more than her own.
"Little Grass Sister, I called you here to help out. You can gather firewood and watch the fire under the stove." Zhao Wanzi noticed Zhao Xiaocao's unease, so she casually assigned her some work.
"Okay, sure." Zhao Xiaocao quickly ran over.
Zhao Xiaolü played with Xiaomingzhu in the yard, while Zhao Wanzi, Liu Shuixian, and the two little helpers from the Zhao family that she had called over were responsible for fetching water to wash the rabbits.
He Tiantian and Sister-in-law Yulan were responsible for applying seasonings to the cleaned rabbit meat.
The seasonings were plentiful; He Tiantian had specifically bought seasoning packets from the mall.
There are three flavors: spicy, non-spicy, and a sweet one.
The cleaned rabbit meat is evenly coated with seasonings and then placed in the oven to roast.
Yulan's mother worked quickly and efficiently, looking at the full basket of spices and smelling them again and again.
This smells amazing, it's even more delicious than meat!
"Maruko's mom, did you make this seasoning yourself? It smells so good!"
Yulan's mother also felt a little sorry for the rabbit; if she were to smear the entire rabbit with the seasoning, it would take a lot of seasoning.
This stuff is so expensive! We can't even afford to use salt at home normally.
He Tiantian smiled and nodded, "Actually, apart from the salt which I bought, I picked everything else from the mountain in the spring. I mixed it myself and thought it tasted alright, so I picked a lot more and then ground it into powder."
Yulan Niang licked her fingertip and tasted it.
Her eyes lit up immediately. "Great! This tastes amazing! Maruko's mom, next spring you can take me up the mountain with you, and I'll pick some to cook with."
He Tiantian's lips twitched, and she chuckled twice.
"It's too much trouble to find this stuff. I have some left over, I'll get you some later."
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