Chapter 38: Angry
Editor: Atlas Studios
When Mu Yangling went down the mountain, the rabbits in the basket on her back were either dead or injured, but the nest of live rabbits were still jumping and struggling in the sack.
Little Bowen was still standing under the tree with his hands behind his back, memorizing a book. When Mu Yangling waved at him, the child ran over eagerly.
Knowing Little Bowen was timid, Mu Yangling did not let him see the rabbits with a bloody hole in their necks in the basket. Instead, she opened the sack for him to see. “These are the rabbits caught by Sister. Do you like it? If you do, keep one for yourself.”
Little Bowen’s eyes were sparkling. “One would be so lonely. Let’s raise two.”
Rabbits could be fattened to the point of being edible in a month or two. Mu Yangling said, “Just one. You still have to gather grass for it to eat. You won’t be able to manage it if it’s two.”
“Oh.” Little Bowen stuck his head out and pointed at the whitest one. “Then I want this one. It’s the cutest.”
Mu Yangling took it out and stuffed it into her brother’s arms. “Hold it tight. Don’t let it escape. I’ll find a rope to tie it up.”
Little Bowen said happily, “When Father comes back from the mountains, I want him to help me weave a cage.”
Mu Yangling mocked him mercilessly. “Forget it. Father only knows how to kill rabbits and eat them.”
Little Bowen couldn’t help but hug the rabbit tightly and gaze at his sister pitifully.
Mu Yangling touched her nose and apologized to her father in her heart. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Let’s go. We’ll look for Great-uncle. He knows how to weave cages.”
Mu Yangling simply threw the basket at home, took the sack, and carried her brother to look for her eldest great-uncle.
Shu Wanniang was sitting under the roof, embroidering. When she saw them, she instructed, “Come back quickly. Your father is coming back from the mountains soon.”
“Got it, Mother.”
Meanwhile, Liu Lun was crying at home, rolling around and wailing, “Cousin gave that to me to raise. Why are you so ruthless? How could you bear to eat it?”
Eldest Great-aunt Liu1 stepped over him without blinking. Then, she sat on the small stool and chopped the vegetables, not responding to him.
Liu Lun howled even louder. Liu Zhuang’s wife, Madam Liu-Zhang, sneered and said with a displeased expression, “Ah Lun, yesterday, you and your brothers and sisters went to your great-aunt’s house to eat good food while your younger siblings didn’t have any meat or fish at all. What’s wrong with them eating a rabbit? Besides, didn’t you also eat it last night?”
Eldest Great-aunt Liu frowned and put down the kitchen knife. Glaring at her daughter-in-law, she said, “What are you talking about? Ah Ting and the others went over yesterday to help your aunt. If you had any objections, why didn’t you ask Ah Yang and the others to tag along yesterday?”
Madam Liu-Zhao sneered and went forward to pull her son up. What else could it be? Wasn’t it because she couldn’t bear to let her children suffer?
Looking at her son, who was crying and snotting, Madam Liu-Zhao felt anger surge from within. She smacked his butt and said, “So what if we eat one of your rabbits? Surely you weren’t waiting for it to give birth to a baby?”
“That’s exactly what I was keeping it for.” Liu Lun cried. “Cousin has already promised to give me a female rabbit today. Now that you’ve eaten my male rabbit, how will this female rabbit give birth? If there are no bunnies, how will there be rabbits to eat in the future? Tsk, my poor male rabbit.” As he said that, he sat on the ground like his grandmother and slapped his thigh as he cried.
Everyone in the courtyard was stunned. The corners of Liu Ting’s mouth twitched. He stepped forward and gently kicked his younger brother. “Alright, don’t cry. It’s not as if you didn’t eat a lot last night. We can just ask Cousin to help us catch another one.”
“You’re not allowed to go!” Liu Daqian frowned, clearly angry. “How many times have I told you not to accept your uncle’s things? I won’t say anything about yesterday since we all came back together. How many times have you taken advantage of your uncle previously? I was wondering why you two brats have gained weight even though we haven’t had meat and fish for half a year. So you’ve been secretly asking your uncle for food.”
With that, Liu Daqian picked up the stick and was about to hit him. Liu Lun jumped up and hid behind his mother.
Madam Liu-Zhao’s heart ached for her son, but she did not dare to stop her father-in-law. She could only explain anxiously, “Father-in-law, they didn’t ask Uncle for it. They were just playing with their cousin…”
Although Liu Ting and Liu Lun were called fat here, they were actually as thin as spare ribs. However, in comparison with a bunch of sticks in the village, even spare ribs appeared “fat”.
Heart aching for her grandsons, Eldest Great-aunt Liu went forward to stop him and said, “Alright, alright. It’s not from their uncle. When have you ever seen Rocky1 hunt meat for us for no reason? Ah Ling only gave her cousins some meat because she felt sorry for them.”
From time to time, Mu Yangling would bring the children to the cave to roast meat and eat. It was not a secret in the village. Some families could not bear to interfere when they saw their children sneaking over to eat, because they felt bad for them.
“These kids are still young. How would they know about the matters of the old farts? Do you think Rocky isn’t aware? If he doesn’t say anything, it’s because he’s kind-hearted.” Eldest Great-aunt Liu wiped her tears. “Ah Ling is also a good child. By making a scene now, aren’t you making them grow distant? If you want to hit them, fine. Just tell the children what happened.”
Liu Daqian choked. How could he say it? Would the children understand if he said it?
He returned to his room, huffing and puffing.
Madam Liu-Zhao heaved a sigh of relief, but Madam Liu-Zhang, who entered the family late and did not know the reason, rolled her eyes. In the beginning, it was not that she did not want to take advantage of the Mu family, but because of this matter, she was almost divorced and warned by her in-laws again and again. Now, she did not dare to say anything about borrowing or exchanging meat with the Mu family even though they had plenty.
The daughters-in-law of the other families in the village had also been warned when they married into the family. Therefore, although the Mu family was more well-off than everyone in the village, no one had ever seeked trouble with them. Even if there was any trouble outside, the elders in the village would just take care of it by themselves.
For example, the last time the Junior Officer accompanied the county magistrate over and asked about the income and assets of the various families, more than ten elders in the village unanimously helped the Mu family cover up.
Since they could afford to eat meat and white rice every day, and drink millet porridge from time to time, how could they be from an inferior family?
However, Madam Liu-Zhang only dared to utter such criticisms in her heart and did not dare to say them out loud.
After being reprimanded by his grandfather, Liu Lun did not dare to howl anymore. He sat on the ground and wiped his tears. When Mu Yangling came over, she saw this scene and felt that Liu Lun was very pitiful.
“What’s going on?”
When Madam Liu-Zhao saw Mu Yangling, she quickly smiled. “Ah Ling is here? Come in, come in. Your cousin is crying. You guys can go out and play later.”
The children’s eyes were glued to the rabbit in Little Bowen’s arms. The six-year-old Liu Yun bounced over and stared at the rabbit in his arms for a moment. Then, she looked at Mu Yangling with eager eyes and said, “Cousin, I want a rabbit too.”
When Madam Liu-Zhang saw her mother-in-law frown, she quickly went forward and pulled her daughter over. She smacked her butt and said, “What nonsense are you talking about? Your cousin is catching rabbits to sell for grains.”
Mu Yangling said with a smile, “Third Aunt, I’m here to look for Eldest Great-uncle. Is he around?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him.” Madam Liu-Zhang went into the house to look for her father-in-law.
“Eldest Great-aunt, I caught a nest of live rabbits. There happened to be a female in them, so I brought them over for Cousin.”
Eldest Great-aunt Liu smiled and said, “There’s no need for it now. Since that male rabbit was eaten by us, we have no use for a female rabbit now. Why are you looking for your great-uncle?”
Mu Yangling looked at Liu Lun in shock. She did not expect that the rabbit would not even survive a night. Seeing that his eyes were red, she immediately understood what was going on.
Liu Yun looked at her eagerly and whispered, “Cousin, give me a little rabbit too.”
Mu Yangling actually didn’t really like Liu Yun, for she found this child too delicate and scheming. However, the other party was only a six-year-old child, so Mu Yangling couldn’t be too calculative. After some thought, she figured that if she gave it to Liu Lun and didn’t give it to Liu Yun and Liu Yang, the two families would fight.
“Alright, I’m here to exchange things with Great-uncle. If your grandfather agrees to help me later, I’ll give you the rabbit.” Only by saying this would Eldest Great-uncle allow them to accept the rabbits.
Liu Daqian came out with a chuckle. “Ah Ling, what do you need my help with?”