Chapter 54 : Grandma, My Third Aunt Knows Kung Fu

Nowadays, chestnut trees aren’t the shorter, improved varieties developed in later generations. Instead, they grow very tall, and this particular chestnut tree was quite old, reaching a height of about 20 meters, Su Mo estimated.  

The chestnuts lower on the tree had already been knocked down and collected, leaving only those hanging at the higher branches. To reach them, one would need the courage to climb, or wait until the chestnuts ripened and naturally fell.  

Su Mo silently noted the location. The next time she came, she would use her abilities to ripen the chestnuts and collect them easily.  

“It’s fine. If we can’t gather chestnuts, there are still other things we can collect. Let’s go pick pine nuts instead,” Su Mo reassured the children.  

Children’s emotions shift quickly, and soon they were excitedly leading Su Mo to find pine nuts.  

By the end of the afternoon, they had gathered half a basket of pine nuts.  

Don’t ask why Su Mo and the children had collected the same amount. First, Su Mo’s backpack was larger. Second, she had quietly placed some in her spatial storage. Without this trick, carrying everything in her backpack would have been a struggle.  

Seeing the late hour, Su Mo decided it was time to return with the children.  

As they descended the hill, chatting along the way, they approached a slope when Su Mo suddenly sensed a gust of wind from behind. Her instincts, honed during the apocalyptic times, kicked in, and she reflexively executed a 540-degree roundhouse kick aimed at the source of the movement.  

While Su Mo’s combat strength was considered weak during the apocalypse (compared to enhanced zombies), it was still formidable in normal times. Against ordinary creatures, she could easily handle one or two zombies, let alone something smaller.  

Unfortunately, her current body wasn’t conditioned for such moves. The kick caused her to strain a tendon, and she grimaced in pain as most of the pine nuts spilled from her backpack.  

Everything happened so quickly that the children froze in shock.  

After a moment, Lu Fengqin spoke, “Aunt San, what just happened?”  

“Something flew at us just now, and I kicked it over there,” Su Mo said, pointing to the grass.  

The object had moved too fast for her to see clearly, but it felt soft likely an animal.  

After resting a moment and using her supernatural ability to soothe her strained muscles, Su Mo walked over to investigate.  

Parting the grass, she found a gray hare lying there. It was quite large, weighing about three or four pounds. Her kick had injured it, leaving it spitting blood and close to death.  

Su Mo raised an eyebrow. How had she suddenly gained such heroine-like luck? A wild rabbit practically delivered itself to her doorstep!  

Grabbing its ears, Su Mo lifted it with a grin and said, “Look, a hare! We’ve got meat for dinner tonight!”  

The children, snapping out of their shock, stared at the rabbit in awe, recalling Su Mo’s swift kick. Their faces lit up with admiration and excitement.  

“Aunt San, you’re amazing! You killed a hare with just one kick!” Lu Guodong exclaimed, his excitement making him stutter.  

Boys naturally idolize strength, and Lu Guodong now viewed Su Mo as a hero. In his eyes, his Third Aunt had joined his Third Uncle as one of the most admirable people he knew.  

“It was just luck,” Su Mo said modestly, though inwardly she winced. Her foot still hurt, and she resolved to start exercising tomorrow.  

The two little girls cheered happily, “Aunt San, you’re awesome! We’re having rabbit meat tonight! Haha…”  

Su Mo quickly hushed them. “Shh! Keep your voices down, or others might hear, and then there’ll be no rabbit meat for us!”  

The children immediately quieted, though their excitement was evident in their flushed faces.  

“Hurry and help Aunt San pick up the pine nuts. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go back and eat rabbit meat,” Su Mo urged.  

The three children jumped into action, quickly gathering the spilled pine nuts.  

Su Mo: …  

After collecting all the pine nuts, Su Mo placed the rabbit into her backpack, covering it with wild grass to keep it hidden.

On the way back, the three children were brimming with excitement, though they refrained from speaking, instead exchanging meaningful glances that only they could understand.  

Su Mo, watching from behind, found it amusing. Children really were the funniest little beings.  

Once they reached home, Su Mo told the children, “Go and tell your mother and grandmother that Aunt San will bring the rabbit meat over once it’s ready. Ask them to prepare some vegetables and a staple dish to go with it.”  

The three children nodded eagerly and sprinted off toward their house. They were thrilled not only because of the rabbit meat but also because they couldn’t wait to share what had just happened.  

As the children arrived home, they saw Li Yue’e their grandmother returning from work. Without hesitation, Lu Guodong rushed forward, grabbed Li Yue’e’s hand, and exclaimed, “Grandma, Aunt San knows kung fu!”  

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Li Yue’e asked, confused.  

“Just now, when we were coming down the mountain, we saw a wild rabbit, and Aunt San kicked it dead in one kick!” Lu Guodong exclaimed, gesturing excitedly.  

“Your Aunt San kicked a rabbit to death?” Li Yue’e asked skeptically. Surely, it was more likely the rabbit had already been dead, and Aunt San just happened to kick it.  

“Yes, yes, yes!” chimed in Lu Fengqin and Lu Aiqun, nodding vigorously.  

Liu Yuzhi, who knew her children well, stepped in. “Slow down. Tell us the whole story, from the beginning.”  

The children eagerly recounted the incident in detail, finishing with, “Aunt San said to just cook some vegetables. She’ll bring the rabbit meat over later.”  

Li Yue’e and Lu Guihua were astonished, while Liu Yuzhi remained composed. She commented, “I’ve always said the third brother’s family isn’t ordinary.”  

Despite this reassurance, Li Yue’e felt uneasy. “No, I need to see this for myself,” she declared, hurrying toward Su Mo’s house.  

She couldn’t shake her worry, what if Aunt San had picked up a dead rabbit out of greed for a bit of meat? That could bring trouble to the whole family.  

When Li Yue’e arrived, Su Mo was boiling water with the hare lying nearby.  

Li Yue’e crouched down and touched the rabbit. It was still warm and soft, clearly freshly killed. It also looked healthy and plump, with no signs of disease. Could it really have been kicked to death by her third sister-in-law?  

“Third daughter-in-law, did you really kick this rabbit to death?” Li Yue’e asked hesitantly.  

“You could say I kicked it to death, or you could say it ran into me and killed itself,” Su Mo replied. “When I was young, my family hired someone to teach me a bit of self-defense. When I saw something rushing toward me, I instinctively kicked. Maybe the rabbit was running too fast and hit my foot, causing its death.”  

Li Yue’e nodded, somewhat convinced. She recalled that the brigade had once caught a wild boar that had died similarly, running too fast and crashing fatally.  

Besides, Su Mo didn’t seem physically strong enough to kick a rabbit to death intentionally. This must have been a coincidence.  

When the water boiled, Li Yue’e helped Su Mo pluck the rabbit’s fur. Su Mo intended to discard the internal organs, but Li Yue’e, unwilling to waste them, cleaned them up for cooking.  

Once the rabbit was prepared, Li Yue’e got ready to leave, saying, “Don’t cook the staple food here. I’ll bring it over later.”  

“Alright,” Su Mo agreed. She didn’t mind eating with the elderly, after so much loneliness in the apocalypse, having family around was comforting.  

She remembered that she still had some radishes Lu Changzheng had exchanged from the village recently and decided to make a rabbit-and-radish stew.  

Pulling the radishes from the basket, Su Mo froze. She had forgotten the radishes here were red-skinned, unlike the white ones she grew in her field.  

Never mind, she thought. She’d tell the supply and marketing cooperative that they were a new variety from the south, worth trying out.  

Su Mo braised the rabbit meat first, simmering it until tender. Then she added chopped radishes and let it cook on low heat for half an hour. Once the radishes were fully flavored, she transferred everything into a large clay pot.  

After cleaning the pot, she filled it with water and set it over the remaining fire to heat. Finally, Su Mo packed the clay pot of rabbit stew into her backpack, ready to deliver it to the Lu household.