Chapter 11 Waiting for a Rabbit by the Stump_1

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"Gougou, go rest over there for a while," Nanzhi said softly to the sweat-drenched Gougou.

Gougou was still too small. She had nearly passed out from heatstroke, and if something happened to Gougou, she feared he might lose half his life.

She remembered the Huoxiang Zhengqi water she once found distasteful, thinking how fortunes change. Now, it was something she could not afford.

"Okay," Gougou replied, truly feeling tired. No matter how sensible he was, his body was still that of a little child.

He went to sit and play nearby after responding.

"Ms. Liu, I plan to borrow the donkey cart tomorrow. I want to take the chestnuts to town to exchange for some grain. Would you like to come with me?"

"Can chestnuts fetch a good price?" Ms. Liu hesitated. She had entertained the same thought but feared chestnuts might not sell well and considering them for sale might not be any better than eating them as food at home.

"The price of grain has risen sharply. Chestnuts can sell for five wen coins per pound, and so does coarse grain. I'm thinking of buying more coarse grain to store," Nanzhi explained.

"Coarse grain is five wen per pound now?" Ms. Liu found it hard to believe. In better years, her family rarely ate coarse grain because it was rough on the throat, typically eaten only by those who couldn't afford better.

Nanzhi wiped her sweat and continued, "Polished rice has jumped to eight wen, new rice to sixteen wen per pound, flour is fifteen wen, coarse grain five wen, salt has reached fifty wen per pound, and oil is forty wen per pound. Who knows how much more they'll rise."

The more Ms. Liu heard, the heavier her heart sank. "Nanzhi, how often do you go to town to sell chestnuts? I'll go with you."

"This afternoon," Nanzhi nodded, still worried. If there were any grain looters, how could she, a widow with a child, handle it? If Ms. Liu came, she would surely bring her husband, lessening the chance of any mishap.

It wasn't until they were nearly down the mountain that they realized Gougou was missing. Nanzhi panicked, fearing something terrible had happened.

Distraught, she and Ms. Liu scrambled everywhere, calling out for Gougou.

"Mom! Mom! I'm here!"

They finally relaxed upon hearing Gougou's distant voice and followed the sound to him.

Nanzhi, holding a small stick, was ready to scare Gougou as punishment but was stunned when she saw him.

Due to prolonged malnutrition, Gougou was thin and small. Yet, there he sat on the ground, hugging a large, dusty fattened rabbit.

"Mom, Mom, I found a rabbit," Gougou said, beaming with his little white teeth showing clearly.

"Gougou, where did you catch this rabbit?" Ms. Liu was astounded beyond belief.

How could such a small child have caught such a large, plump rabbit? By the looks of it, the rabbit weighed at least five or six pounds.

"Gougou pee, bunny come, hit tree," Gougou clutched the rabbit tightly, fearing it might escape, and explained with a smile the rabbit's mishap.

He had listened to his mom, not wandering off, a well-behaved child.

No sooner had he arrived than he saw a large rabbit dash towards him and slam into a chestnut tree.

Was this "watching the stump waiting for the rabbit" turned real?

Nanzhi was full of questions.

"My goodness, Gougou, what luck you have," Ms. Liu clicked her tongue in wonder. The West Mountain was almost barren, the wild vegetables nearly all picked clean, and yet Gougou had found a nest of wild chicken eggs. Now, returning just once, he had stumbled upon a fat rabbit for free.

Nanzhi took the wild rabbit from Gougou's arms and weighed it. It was indeed five or six pounds heavy. She could only wonder at the irony; she was clearly the unlucky one, while her fortunate son kept finding wild chicken eggs and grass mushrooms, and now this plump rabbit had fallen into his lap. If not an Emperor Ou in luck, then what was he?

"Mom, Mom, my pants are wet," Gougou blushed a little. He had just arrived when he encountered this foolish rabbit and hadn't had the chance to pee, afraid the rabbit would run off, so he held onto it and ended up wetting his pants.

Ms. Liu burst into laughter upon hearing Gougou's words and teased, "Don't worry, Gougou. Your mom wouldn't dare spank you."

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With that rabbit in hand, Nanzhi felt more vigorous as she descended the mountain.

The rabbit was only stunned, not seriously injured, so it could be kept at home until tomorrow, when she could gather some chestnuts to sell along with it.

By the time she descended the mountain, it had already turned dark. Meeting a few people along the way, Nanzhi only mentioned that she had gone to East Mountain with Ms. Liu to dig up some wild vegetables.

Once home, Nanzhi enthusiastically scooped out half a bowl of old rice, cooked it with some chestnuts and potatoes, and made a pot of thick porridge.

"Wow, Mom, it smells so good." Gougou, having shed his dirty pants, was running around the courtyard bare-bottomed, and only upon smelling the aroma did he bound into the kitchen with his little nose sniffing.

"Alright, alright, go wash your hands, it's time to eat."

The mother and son happily ate, and after washing up, went to bed early.

Shen Dazhu was led by his wife to see the day's harvest, and he nearly dropped his dry tobacco pipe on the ground in dismay.

Seeing a sack full of chestnuts, Shen Dazhu rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Is this, this, this all you've brought back?"

Hadn't his wife said that today she was going to follow Ms. Lin to dig wild vegetables and collect donkey grass?

Ms. Liu, proud, puffed out her chest as she looked at her husband's stumbling manner, "What else?"

"Where did you find so many chestnuts? Did you go rob someone?" Shen Dazhu's voice trembled as he pointed at the bag of chestnuts.

"What nonsense are you talking about, old man?" Ms. Liu rolled her eyes. "I picked these with Ms. Lin on East Mountain; there's a vast chestnut forest over there."

"We need to tell Li Zheng about this. A huge chestnut forest could save so many lives." He was about to put on his clothes and go out when Ms. Liu grabbed hold of him again.

"What are you doing, old woman, pulling at me? Telling Li Zheng about this could save so many lives in the village, why stop me?"

"You old fool, do you think I'm that kind of person!" Ms. Liu, too, got heated. "Do you need to play the hero? Ms. Lin already told Li Zheng. She just took me there first to pick for a couple of days so we could store some food at home."

Shen Dazhu, embarrassed, scratched his head, "Well, I didn't know, did I?"

After that, Shen Dazhu had to find various ways to appease Ms. Liu's anger.

While both families were lively, East Mountain saw a few faint lights.

Ms. Wu was wandering East Mountain with Old Man Li and Li Tian, among others. She had forgotten to make any marks during the day. At first, as they entered the mountain, they were able to follow the path opened by Nanzhi, but as they went deeper, where could they find any traces of people having passed?

"Ms. Wu, is what you're saying really true?" Old Man Li muttered with his dry tobacco pipe in his mouth, his tone revealing no particular emotion.

This afternoon, Ms. Wu suddenly came back, claiming she had found a vast chestnut forest on East Mountain.

Ms. Wu, who usually looked for ways to be lazy, why would she think of adventuring up East Mountain? It wasn't until she was slapped by Li Tian that she said she'd followed the Shen Family's young widow.

In the past few days, they hadn't seen much of that young widow; perhaps she truly was busy picking chestnuts. With this thought, the family followed Ms. Wu into the mountain with half-belief and half-doubt.

They brought ten baskets and buckets with them, hoping to fill them all to bring back.

But after following Ms. Wu around for half a day, they didn't find a single chestnut tree, not to mention any chestnut shells.

"Grandma, believe me, there really is a chestnut forest up this mountain!" Ms. Wu was also panicking; seeing her mother-in-law's darkened face, she explained hurriedly, fearing another slap from Li Tian.

"How long have we been following you around this mountain, Ms. Wu? Where's the chestnut forest?" Li Tian glared at Ms. Wu, as if he would devour her if she didn't provide a satisfactory answer.

"I, I don't know either." Ms. Wu felt wronged; she had clearly seen it, so why couldn't she find it now?