Chapter 77 Letting the Rabbit Go

Not long after lunch, Shitou came to play with Fu Zai.

　　He was carrying a rattan rabbit cage in his hand, containing two little rabbits, one black and one white.

　　Fu Zai's eyes lit up when he saw it: "Wow, Brother Shitou's little rabbit has grown so big."

　　"You may eat them to attract wealth." Shitou said proudly, "I have to add rabbit grass to them four or five times a day."

　　Fuzai looked at Shitou's two little rabbits, and then at his own. He always felt that his own two were smaller than Shitou's.

　　He wondered: "I feed them a lot of rabbit grass every day. Why aren't they as big as Brother Shitou's?"

　　"Do you usually let them out to play?" Shitou asked.

　　Fu Zai nodded: "I let them play in the yard for a while every day."

　　"That's not possible. You have to put rabbits where there is grass." Shitou said, "I know there is a place on the side of Wangyue Mountain where the grass grows very well. I will take you there."

　　"Okay!" Fu Zai suddenly became interested.

　　The bamboo cage made by Jiang Zhu was relatively large and difficult to hold, so he found a small basket and put the two little rabbits in it.

　　Then he went to Ye Anyian and said, "Brother, Brother Shitou and I are letting the little rabbits go."

　　Ye Anian was busy with his carpentry work in the medicine house when he heard someone telling him: "Don't run too far, don't go into the mountains, don't go into the water, come back early."

　　"I know." Fu Zai agreed.

　　With Ye Anian's permission, Shitou took Fuzai's hand and said, "Brother Ye, don't worry, I will send Fuzai back later."

　　Seeing the two children walking away hand in hand, Tongqian squatted at Ye Anian's feet and hummed, while humming, he kept turning his head to look at the entrance of the courtyard.

　　Ye Annian was helpless: "You should go too and keep an eye on the two children."

　　"Woof!"

　　Copper Coin barked loudly, turned around and ran away.

　　The two children went out to play, and the copper coins ran away with them. Ding Qiu was a child of few words, so the courtyard became quiet for a while.

　　Ye Annian was busy making his orders. He has completed all ten Luban locks, and Yan Jitu has the last two left, and they are all completed.

　　Thinking about the Rubik's Cube he had been thinking about before, he planned to make one in the afternoon and give it a try.

　　Jiang Zhu collected the newly dried medicinal materials in the courtyard and put them into the medicine shelves by category.

　　After doing this, he brought out the chestnuts and hawthorns that the four of them had packed up last night.

　　Thinking of the sugar snowballs that Ye Anyian told him yesterday, he came over to sit next to Ye Anyian and asked him how to make sugar snowballs.

　　"It's very simple," Ye Annian replied, "You also need to boil the sugar. When it boils in the pot, add some white vinegar, then add the processed hawthorns, and stir-fry until the outside is coated. White icing will do."

This recipe is similar to candied haws. After hearing this, Jiang Zhu made it and soon fried it in a pot.

　　The red hawthorns are wrapped with a layer of snow-white icing sugar and stacked together on a plate, like red mountains and white snow, which is very beautiful.

　　He put a plate in Ye Anyian's hand, then picked up one and stuffed it into Ye Anyian's mouth: "How about trying it?"

　　The icing on the outside of the sugar snowball was sweet, and the flesh inside was slightly sour. The sour and sweet taste was similar to what he remembered.

　　Ye Anyian tasted it carefully.

　　Seeing that he didn't speak, Jiang Zhu asked, "Why, isn't it delicious?"

　　"It's delicious." Ye Anyian pursed his lips, "One more."

　　He was holding a freshly cut triangular piece of wood in his hand, which was covered in dust and sawdust and couldn't free his hand.

　　Jiang Zhu followed his words and pinched another one and fed it to him, then put a pair of chopsticks in his hand.

　　"You can eat it yourself later, I'll make chestnut cake."

　　"Let's wait another day," Ye Anian said, "One pot of sugar snowballs is enough for a few days. This stuff will melt when heated, and it won't last too long, so you have to eat it quickly."

　　"Chestnut cake can be used as a snack. The more sugar you put in it, the longer it will last."

　　Jiang Zhu: "Starting tomorrow, if there is nothing else, I will go to the town for medical treatment. I will make some snacks for you, so you can eat them slowly."

　　"It's almost time for me to deliver the goods." Ye Annian said.

　　However, there are still a few days left before the time that the young master said. He plans to use these days to make more gadgets and sell them by the time.

　　"We'll be together then." Jiang Zhu also pinched a sugar snowball and chewed it in his mouth.

　　The two chatted for a while, and then Jiang Zhu went to work in the main room. Ye Anian occupied his medicine house and continued to work on Yan Jitu.

　　…

　　On the other side, Shitou took Fuzai to the fertile secret treasure land he discovered at the foot of the mountain.

　　It was not far from the stream, and there were several large trees growing densely together, forming a good shield.

　　The grass under the trees is also growing very well, and most of it is the type that rabbits like to eat.

　　Shitou was very experienced. He asked Fu Zai to sit under the big tree and look at the rabbit cage and basket, while he ran behind the thickest tree, tinkered for a while, and came out with a bunch of grass and vines stacked on top of each other.

"What is this?" Fu Zai was curious.

　　Shi Shi mysteriously pulled out the grass vine and put it on the ground. He picked up a small piece and showed it to Fu Zai: "This is a thorn vine with small thorns on it. Rabbits are very afraid of this."

"When I kept rabbits here before, I would use these thorn vines to surround the place so that they wouldn't escape. We could do other things, including sleep."

　　Fuzai's eyes were bright: "Brother Shitou, you are so smart."

　　Shitou's face turned red when he was praised, and he scratched his head in embarrassment: "I just discovered it by accident."

　　After he finished speaking, he quickly started to pull away the thorn vines. Fu Zai saw this and wanted to help, but Shi Shi refused.

　　"It will hurt your hand, just let me do it."

　　"Then you won't cut your hand?"

　　"I come here every day. I'm very familiar with this. It'll be fine."

　　This location is backed by a mountain on one side, so all you need to do is surround the remaining three sides. Stones are laid with thorns and vines to make the fence, and the copper coins are chasing him around.

　　After a while, a strong fence was set up.

　　The two children released the rabbits from the cages and baskets together. The two raised by the stone were already very familiar with them because they came to play every day, and they started to have fun as soon as they were released.

　　The two Fu Zai were still a little dazed, huddled up against each other, sniffing with their little noses, but not eating.

　　"Why don't they play? They don't eat grass either."

　　Fu Zai touched the two little rabbits, feeling a little worried.

　　"It's okay, they have to get used to it for a while, and they will be able to play later," Shitou said.

　　Sure enough, not long after, Fu Zai's two little rabbits also scampered away and began to wander around in the circle.

　　Copper Coin was obviously dissatisfied with this small place surrounded by thorns. After wandering around a few times and peeing a few times to mark the place, he returned to Fu Zai's side and lay down with his eyes closed to relax.

　　The two children had nothing to do, so Shitou ran to pick some mulberries. The two of them held them up with big leaves of a tree. While eating, they watched four little rabbits eating grass and having fun.

　　The mulberries were so sweet that Fu Zai's lips turned purple after eating them, but he felt so happy.

　　This place is blocked by several big trees as big as one person. This is such a small area. The canopy of trees overhead covers the sky. No matter how strong the sun is outside, it is not exposed to the sun. Only dots of sunlight come through. It is quiet. And comfortable.

　　The two of them ate a lot of mulberries and soon felt sleepy.

　　Shitou was about to take off his coat and cover Fu Zai so that he could squint for a while, when a shrill cry suddenly rang out not far away, startling both of them.

　　"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

　　"Ouch!"

　　The sound was so miserable that Fu Zai froze in place with fear.

　　Tongqian, who was awakened by the cry, had already stood up, with his ears erect, listening carefully to the movements around him.

　　The cry lasted for a while and then subsided. Fuzai patted his chest and wanted to ask Shitou if he wanted to go out and take a look, but a familiar voice suddenly came over.

　　"Why doesn't it bark?"

　　"You're not going to die, are you?"

Fu Zai's eyes suddenly widened, it was Ye Anbai!

　　Not caring about anything else, he lay down on a big tree and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw three children surrounded by a stream not far away, and one of them was not Ye Anbai.

　　At this time, Ye Anbai was holding a small, gray thing in his hand, like a kitten, shaking back and forth.

　　But the kitten lowered its head, motionless as he tossed it around, not knowing whether it was dead or alive.

　　Fu Zai looked at this scene and was so angry that he clenched his fists and wanted to rush out.

　　Shitou quickly grabbed him: "We can't go out like this."

　　"But he almost killed that kitten!" Fu Zai's eyes turned red with anxiety.

　　"We still have four little rabbits here," Shitou said, "We can't let them discover this place."

　　When he said this, Fu Zai also realized that Ye Anbo's little devil was so evil. If he and Brother Shitou knew about this treasured rabbit breeding ground, they would definitely cause trouble every day, and they would not be able to come here in the future.

　　"What should we do?" Fu Zai asked.

　　Shitou looked at the position of Ye Anbai and the others by the stream again, and quickly came up with an idea: "We have to make a detour to make them think we have just come to the back mountain."

　　Fu Zai immediately understood what he meant and felt that this method was the safest.

　　The two of them found some more thorns and vines and surrounded them tightly. They asked Copper Coin to stay and watch the four little rabbits before leaving.

　　By the stream, Ye Anbai and two children from the village were squatting on the ground playing with the poor kitten.

　　The kitten is small, furry, with tiger stripes, and there are two tufts of black hair on the tips of its ears.

　　It was supposed to be a cute little thing, but now it was lying pitifully on the ground, its pupils shrank in fear, and its belly was pressed tightly to the ground.

　　Ye Anbai poked it with a branch, and saw that it was still limp and motionless, and suddenly felt that it was boring.

　　"It's not fun." He curled his lips.

　　A dark and skinny kid next to him said, "Then let's leave it alone and let's catch fish for fun."

　　This child belongs to the Wu family in the village, his name is Wu Ergou. He is seven years old this year. His family is very poor. In addition to him, he also has an older sister and a younger brother. He is the middle one, and the adults don't care much about it. He hangs out every day.

　　Ye Anbo didn't listen to Wu Ergou's suggestion. He kicked the kitten with his foot and said, "What's so interesting about fish? They don't know how to bark."

　　Wu Ergou stuck out his tongue and licked his chapped lips. He didn't catch the fish for fun, he wanted to grill it and eat it.

　　"You throw it into the water." Another child who was squatting next to him silently spoke.

　　The clothes he wore were clean and tidy. He was round and chubby, a little taller than Ye Amber, and he was also stronger than Ye Amber.

　　But it wasn't Zhao Jinbao, the golden grandson of the Zhao family next door to Lao Ye's family.

　　Zhao Jinbao's words made Ye Anbai's eyes light up. He picked up one of the kitten's legs and was about to throw it into the stream.

　　At this moment, Fu Zai ran over quickly and shouted at him: "Stop!"