Chapter 25: The First Time

Meng Liang forcefully lifted the collapsed thatched roof.

“Hmm, the iron pot is still intact!”

Everyone in the family let out a sigh of relief. As long as the iron pot was fine, everything was okay.

Only then did Meng Ling notice that the snow outside had thickened by half a foot again. The village was covered in a blanket of white; every household had their doors and windows tightly shut, and there wasn’t a single figure outside.

Seeing that the kitchen wouldn’t be fixed any time soon, Meng Ling suggested, “Dad, why don’t we just cook inside the house for now? We can set up a makeshift stove with some rocks.”

“Alright, let’s move it to the main room!”

The others nodded as well. That seemed to be the best temporary solution.

Meng Liang quickly found a few stones and assembled a simple firewood stove.

Looking at the makeshift setup, Meng Ling thought, If we could have hot pot in this weather, that would be perfect. The whole family gathered around, cooking thin slices of beef, lamb, tripe, enoki mushrooms, potato slices…

Unknowingly, she was already drooling.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking. But having a pork hot pot was still doable.

She placed the iron pot on the stove, added some lard, sautéed some garlic until fragrant, then poured in water and various seasonings to make a simple broth base.

She sliced the frozen pork into thin pieces, prepared some slices of Chinese yam, and washed some napa cabbage.

The cabbage had been dug out from under the snow—quite a bit of it—so it wouldn’t freeze and spoil outside.

She also mixed a dipping sauce with soy sauce, vinegar, and minced garlic. Just like that, a steaming hot pot meal was ready.

They could blanch some cabbage and cook radish, yams, and more.

Seeing her set everything up, someone asked, “This is that ‘hot pot’ you were talking about?”

“How do you even eat this? Never seen or heard of it.”

Meng Ling replied with a smile, “Just follow my lead. I promise it’ll be delicious.”

Everyone watched her and started imitating: dip pork slices into the broth, swish a few times, then dip into the sauce.

Meng Liang took a bite and found it very tasty. The steam and heat warmed him up—unlike regular meals, which went cold soon after being served, this one stayed hot throughout. It felt comforting.

After a few bites, he asked, “Big Ya, where did you learn this? It’s amazing!”

Hearing her father praise the food, Meng Ling beamed. “Delicious, right? I heard about it the last time I went to town to sell soft-shelled turtles.”

“Hmm, this is exactly what winter meals should be like!”

Even Shen Yun felt like she had discovered a whole new world. This way of eating was new, tasty, and, most importantly, warm—perfect for winter.

“Sis! That was my piece of meat—I just cooked it!”

Meng Shiqiao’s piece had been snatched.

“Hahaha, well, you didn’t grab it, and I didn’t want it to overcook!”

Everyone burst into laughter. The collapse of the kitchen hadn’t spoiled their appetite or mood at all.

Meng Ling ate happily. To her, this was the ideal life: being full, eating well, and being able to eat what she wanted—that was the dream.

Two days later, the temperature rose slightly, and a few rays of sunshine peeked through the clouds.

Only the thatched roof of the kitchen had collapsed—the walls were still intact—so it didn’t take long to repair.

Meng Ling looked out at the white, snowy world and figured the rabbits must be curled up under the snow. It shouldn’t be hard to find their tracks.

She held a pair of single-layer cloth boots coated with tung oil. She’d thought of the idea on the day it snowed, and now the tung oil had dried.

She slipped them over her cotton shoes to keep them from getting wet in the snow.

Then she strapped spiked wooden boards under her soles, tying them with cloth strips up to her calves. This would prevent her from slipping or falling while climbing the mountain.

Once she was ready, she called out, “Erwa, let’s go! Let’s find some rabbits in the mountains!”

Meng Shiqiao answered, “Okay, wait a sec!”

Soon, he was geared up too. He ran a lap around the snowy ground, not slipping at all. “Sis, this stuff you made really works! It’s great for walking in the snow!”

Meng Ling tilted her head proudly. “Of course it works—I made it myself!”

“Let’s go rabbit hunting!”

With that, the two of them headed up the mountain. Madam Shen called out after them, “You two be careful!”

“Got it!”

“Okay!”

They weren’t the only ones on the mountain—there was also the hunter Zhang Dashan’s younger brother, Zhang San, whom the villagers nicknamed “Pockmarked Zhang.”

The two brothers didn’t have much hunting skill left, and they couldn’t even train hunting dogs anymore.

From a distance, Meng Ling could see something in the cloth bag on his back. Judging by the size, it looked like a rabbit.

“Erwa, this bow’s been with us for a while. Let’s see if you can get me a tuft of rabbit fur today,” Meng Ling teased.

Since buying it, they hadn’t actually used it to hunt. But whenever he had free time, Meng Shiqiao practiced in the yard and rarely missed a target within five or six zhang (about 15–20 meters).

Meng Shiqiao stood up straight. “Sis, have some faith in me. I guarantee I’ll get us a few rabbits today.”

They walked to the place where they had set traps last time. Faint little footprints were visible in the snow.

“They went that way!”

Meng Ling pointed.

Following the tracks for a long while, they still didn’t see a single rabbit.

If only we had a dog, Meng Ling thought. We’d have tracked it down already.

In this freezing weather, rabbits would be burrowed under the snow. They usually left small holes to breathe, and hungry ones might venture out to forage.

After walking a bit more, they saw another set of tracks nearby.

Meng Shiqiao asked, “Sis, which way?”

“Let’s split up. We’re catching one today no matter what!”

Meng Ling went left; her brother, right.

She followed the tracks into a patch of thatched grass. Hidden inside was a snow hole.

Could it be in there?

She noticed some yellowish footprints at the entrance, suggesting the rabbit had gone out for food the night before. But whether it came back was uncertain.

There were several overlapping sets of prints. Rabbit forefeet and hind feet left different shapes, but Meng Ling could tell them apart.

She stepped forward cautiously and gripped her hiking stick.

“Whoosh!”

She jabbed at the snow—once, twice, three times—but aside from a burst of snowflakes, there was nothing.

She then poked the hole with a sharpened stick, still no movement.

“Darn it, empty!”

After grumbling, she continued following the tracks. Fortunately, the snow was compacted and firm, so her feet didn’t sink too deeply.

Fresh snow is soft, but over time, it compresses under its own weight, forming a brittle, hard crust.

Before long, the two siblings met up again. Meng Shiqiao already had his arrow nocked, ready to shoot at any moment.

Seeing how serious he looked, Meng Ling asked, “Erwa, if a rabbit really shows up, can you hit it?”

“Of course! I’ve trained for this. Moving targets? I never miss. As soon as a rabbit appears, it’s dead.”

He was very confident.

Meng Ling said, “Look, there’s only one set of tracks, and there’s a grass patch ahead. The rabbit is probably there. I’ll scare it out—don’t let it escape!”

“No problem. I’ll hit it for sure.”

Meng Ling nodded and approached the patch. Rabbits don’t usually come out during the day—they’re more active at night—so this one was likely hiding under the snow, asleep.

Meng Shiqiao moved closer, keeping a five-zhang distance, with his hand on the bowstring, ready to shoot.

Soon, Meng Ling reached the snow hole. She pointed at the ground, signaling Meng Shiqiao to get ready.

Crack!

Meng Ling stomped hard on the ground. The dull sound startled the rabbit, and it shot out like lightning.

Whoosh!

The arrow sliced through the air—and plunged into the snow, leaving only a small hole.

“This is what you call a ‘guaranteed hit’?”

Meng Ling rolled her eyes.

“You shot in the wrong direction! You have to wait for it to run forward, then aim ahead of its path—not shoot the second it jumps out!”

“With a distance like this, by the time the arrow gets there, the rabbit’s already gone. Got it?”