Chapter 18 Golden Finger? (2)_1

Ruan Jiaojiao leaned in with her little head to look and sure enough, she saw seven or eight speckled quail eggs quietly nestled in the bird's nest.

"These are not enough to eat, Xiaoba, put them by Jiaojiao's side first, then let's look for more," Ruan Feng said. With a group as large as more than a dozen people, so few eggs were not nearly enough to go around.

Little Fatty nodded and, taking the matter very seriously, placed the bird's nest in Ruan Jiaojiao's hands, then followed his older brothers to hunt for more nests.

By the time everyone returned, half an hour had passed, and they had much more to show for it.

They had caught four or five sparrows and more than twenty eggs, but after a winter, the sparrows were pitifully thin and barely had any meat on them.

Ruan Chi went to deal with the sparrows first while Zhao Hu, familiar with the process, cleared a spot on the ground, swept away the dead leaves, gathered some dry branches to make a fire. The group of more than a dozen people huddled around in two or three circles, even Wa Yiting joined in, though she stood far from Ruan Jiaojiao.

Ruan Jiaojiao watched everyone sitting on the ground with crossed legs and followed suit, but was quickly pulled up by Ruan Jie.

Ruan Jie led her around in a circle, patted the dust off her little backside, and said, "Don't dirty your pants by sitting on the ground, sit on your brother's lap."

Ruan Jiaojiao's face turned red from the pat on her backside; though she had been a cat in her past life, she still knew about privacy and gave Ruan Jie an annoyed glare. Ruan Jie, however, thought she was upset because he wouldn't let her sit on the ground and coaxed her, "Be good, little sister. If your pants get dirty, grandma will find out, and then you won't be able to come out and play next time."

"..." Ruan Jiaojiao. That wasn't the point! Besides, he was practically a grown young man, how could he pat her backside?!

She shifted her little backside, trying to stand up, but Ruan Jie encircled her little waist, refusing to let her go, and even patted her head affectionately, telling her not to fuss.

"..." Ruan Jiaojiao, she wasn't fussing!

Alright, if it was a hug, then let it be a hug. After all, he was her brother.

After gutting the sparrows, they looked even thinner, and the eggs were small too, cooking up quickly. Before long, the aroma of meat wafted through the air. However, without any seasonings, the sparrows looked burned and blackened, which made Ruan Jiaojiao lose her appetite at just a glance.

The taste of the quail eggs was quite good, though, and she got three of them.

Normally, each person would only get one, but as more than half of them were her brothers, she naturally ended up with the most. They even handed her the sparrow legs first. When she didn't want to eat, Little Fatty forcefully stuffed them into her mouth.

To her surprise, despite the burned appearance of the sparrows and the absence of any seasoning, they actually tasted quite good? They were crunchy in a way that even the bones could be chewed and eaten.

Especially Wa Yiting, with her share of a bird's neck, she even seemed to swallow the bones along with the meat?

Tsk tsk, Ruan Jiaojiao couldn't help but lament how scarce resources were in this era. It was tough on these kids.

Unlike in her time, when almost every meal included meat, and always the best cuts at that—of course... that was also from the wolf she had stolen from!

Ruan Jiaojiao smacked her lips, her appetite whetted by the tiny bird's leg. She looked around, wondering if there might be pheasants in the area. Even if there weren't any pheasants, quails would do, since they were much meatier than sparrows.

Yet, no sooner had she finished the thought than she heard a flapping sound behind her.

Then, Little Fatty, sitting next to her, was hit by something, grabbed his head, and hollered in pain as he jumped to his feet.

Everyone turned to look and was instantly dumbstruck!