Chapter 5 Roasted Rabbit Meat_1

Liuliu kept asking questions all the way, but fortunately, Yang Xiaoquan, who was a little slow on the uptake, just thought that his elder sister-in-law had been severely beaten by his elder brother.

The two of them passed a few small hills, and seeing the dry grass on them, Liuliu couldn't help but get a headache. It was winter now, everything was withering, where could they find food? Suddenly, she noticed a two-meter-wide water ditch behind the small hill - clean mountain spring water cheerfully flowing. She was joyous, where there was water, there might be fish!

"Xiaoquan, do you think there might be fish in this ditch?" Liuliu asked excitedly.

"Elder sister-in-law, even if there are fish, they won't be easy to catch. This ditch is very deep. Someone once tried to jump down to catch fish and ended up drowning. Besides, there aren't many fish here due to the fast current, it's not easy to fish! Let's go farther up the mountain and see if we can find any wild chickens or rabbits." Yang Xiaoquan didn't want to risk freezing to death in the ditch during winter.

Liuliu sighed. Indeed, if it was easy to catch, then the villagers would have caught the fish already. It was a pity! If only she could make a net, and using a bamboo pole to control it, maybe she'd be able to catch some! She would see when they get back. She wondered if she could make it with what she could find locally. Bamboo poles were available on the mountain, but what about a net? Looking everywhere, she thought maybe she could make a circle with a thin bamboo stick, bind it to a bamboo pole with a vine, and make a net with the vine. At this thought, Liuliu was excited.

The two of them crossed the ditch and walked towards the edge of the big mountain. Following this smaller mountain, they would need to walk dozens of miles further to reach the real big mountain. The region was mountainous, the mountain ranges stretching as far as one could see, reaching the clouds, the peak wasn't visible.

Yang Xiaoquan picked up two bamboo sticks, handing one to Liuliu. "Elder sister-in-law, when we are in the mountains, I will use the bamboo stick to create some noises, and you keep a lookout for any wild chickens or rabbits running out. When you see one, hit it as hard as possible, once we catch it, we will have food!". The two, one a child, ignorant of the dangers of the mountain, and the other a transmigrant, equally unaware of the situation of this mountain, courageously faced the unknown.

Surprisingly, the fortune-favored Yang Xiaoquan and Liuliu managed to catch a rabbit as well as a muntjac. Seeing the rabbit and muntjac that elder sister-in-law had killed with a stick, Yang Xiaoquan was very pleased.

"Elder sister-in-law, let's take these to the ditch and roast the rabbit. I'm pretty good at roasting rabbits!" Yang Xiaoquan couldn't think of taking the game home; his idea was to eat first, and if they couldn't finish the muntjac, take it home.

"Sure! I want to see how good your roasted rabbit is!" Liuliu also agreed, mainly because she was hungry and still wanted to catch fish. She used the bamboo stick in her hand to make a net for catching fish.

"Elder sister-in-law, what are you doing?" Yang Xiaoquan looked at Liuliu curiously as he held the game.

"I'm making this to catch fish, you'll know soon." Liuliu said, eager to try.

"Really? If we can catch fish, it'd be great! We could sell the fish and have some money to gamble. Fish is very expensive in winter!" Yang Xiaoquan's mind was still on gambling, which annoyed Liuliu. Just wait, once I understand the situation, I'll definitely get you to quit gambling.

When they arrived at the ditch, Liuliu didn't care about her brother-in-law anymore. She looked at the clear water in the ditch. She could not only see fishes flowing downstream but also her current appearance.

Her eyebrows were thick, her eyes were big, her nose and mouth were ordinary, but when combined, they gave her a fierce look. Her skin was a wheatish color, indicating health, but not beauty. People often say "a lighter complexion covers three ugliness," otherwise why would there be so much skin whitening cosmetics in her previous life? She was not too tall nor too short, around 1.5 meters. She wasn't too thin or too fat, she was muscular. It seemed she was a strong woman.

Looking at her unfamiliar self, all Liuliu could do was to accept it! It seemed that being outstandingly beautiful would not be her fate. She couldn't even call herself delicate, and she wasn't very tall, but given her age appeared to be in her teens, her height should increase more later, right? Her transmigration had managed to shave off half her age, which made herself smug. If she were to trim her thick eyebrows, she might look more delicate, but then again, why bother? Her current look was more formidable. For now, she was fine with how she looked!

She waited till she saw the fish coming, then quickly jabbed at it. At first, Liuliu didn't catch anything but eventually got the hang of it and caught a few carp. One seemed to weigh two or three pounds, and the catch was not bad.

Over there, Yang Xiaoquan had roasted the rabbit meat. Liuliu smelled the fragrance of the roasted meat and her stomach embarrassingly grumbled.

"Elder sister-in-law, here you go!" Xiaoquan handed Liuliu a rabbit leg, and he tore one for himself.

Liuliu wasn't polite and started gnawing at it right away. It tasted pretty good, although it was bland, but the meat was crispy. She didn't expect this gambling-loving brother-in-law to have such talent.

"It tastes pretty good, let's roast some fish to eat next!" Liuliu was in high spirits, and wanted to eat some grilled fish.

"No, let's finish the rabbit. If we have time, we'll go to the town to sell the fish; if we don't, we'll sell them tomorrow. Then we'll see what luck has in store!". Xiaoquan brought up the topic of gambling again.

Liuliu rolled her eyes and her mouth twitched. 'You little rascal, will you die if you don't gamble!? Just wait for me to deal with you later! For now, let's just enjoy our freedom for a few more days! To engage Xiaoquan, Liuliu, after finishing her meal, resumed fishing. Xiaoquan, getting in the spirit of things, snatched Liuliu's self-made net and started jabbing in the ditch.

Seeing him, Liuliu was also eager to try. She made another one on the spot and joined in. The two of them went on from eating rabbit meat to fishing until it was getting dark. In about three hours, they caught twenty-six fish, including crucian carp, grass carp, and silver carp, Liuliu threaded the fish with a vine and gave one of the thicker bamboo poles to Xiaoquan to carry, while Liuliu carried the dead muntjac.

Liuliu didn't act like a respectable sister-in-law, leaving the hard labor to her young brother-in-law. She wasn't even as tall as him, and besides, he was a man. This was also in line with her usual tough image. She couldn't let the villagers see a tough sister-in-law turning gentle now, could she? If her family knew, wouldn't they suspect something?

The two of them walked until it became dark. Villagers wouldn't come out much when it was dark and cold. They tended to go to sleep early and save lamp oil.

Meanwhile, Liuliu's mother-in-law and father-in-law, and the kid who despised Liuliu, were anxiously looking outside. Normally, the two of them would be back from the town at this time, even though they went there to gamble. Even though her son was a gambler, he was still her son, and the same went for her daughter-in-law. If anything happened to them, they couldn't bear to face the Liu family.

"Let's not wait any more, let's eat. We'll save this wild vegetable pancake, at least that'll prevent her from throwing a tantrum when she comes back."

The father-in-law's language revealed his fatigue. Was it because this daughter-in-law keeps horrifying their ancestors, and it was in their wrath they have sent this disaster to their family, especially to Xiaotian. How unfortunate was he, to reap such an unbearable wife. Not getting married wasn't an option, neither was getting a divorce. Sigh! Once Xiaotian comes back, he should persuade him to have a child with her as soon as possible, maybe that would ameliorate things a bit.