Chapter 74: A Scolding

This time, three mother rabbits gave birth, resulting in a total of seventeen baby rabbits. They were nearly a month old now.

So, the Zhao family now had a total of twenty-two rabbits.

On Zhang Jin’s side, one of his rabbits had also given birth—four kits in total, three males and one female.

Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying discussed it. Since rabbits were reproducing quite frequently, they realized they couldn’t afford to raise too many. They agreed to reduce their number and finally kept only three pairs of rabbits at home.

Zhang Jin thought two pairs were enough for his side, which left two extra male rabbits.

Raising them further didn’t serve much purpose, so he spoke with Uncle Chen Jiu. They set up two large pots in the middle of the village and stewed the two rabbits with a generous amount of cabbage, radish, and potatoes. Everyone got a large bowl full.

Tongshu Village was once again bustling with excitement.

At the same time, the villagers made up their minds. Though they missed out this time, next time Zhao’s rabbits had babies, they’d definitely catch a pair to raise. This was practically a guaranteed profit!

After distributing food, it was time for the summer planting…

As soon as the summer planting ended and they barely had time to catch their breath, three families who had previously taken rabbits to raise came back, looking miserable as they said to Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying:

“Tell us, why are these rabbits so hard to raise? The pair we took home, both died.”

“Our pair too—one died, and the other got bitten to death by a rat!”

“Our rabbit dug a hole and escaped on its own!”

Aunt Zhao first expressed her sympathy, then said to them, “Raising rabbits requires care. Look at us—we practically built half our courtyard just to make rabbit pens!

“Didn’t I tell you before? We dug down a foot, laid stones, covered it with soil, and built stone walls around it. Rabbits dig tunnels and are afraid of the cold. You can’t put fresh grass or greens in the pen…”

She patiently repeated her rabbit-raising experience again.

The three families looked at one another, and finally, Sister-in-law Wang spoke up awkwardly, “Aunt Zhao, we came to ask if we could discuss something. At the time, we traded two jin of wheat for the rabbits.

“Now that the rabbits are gone, we were wondering if we could get a partial refund… even just a bit?”

Aunt Zhao’s expression darkened.

She was about to lash out when Qin Ying stopped her. With a gentle smile on her face, Qin Ying said, “Aunties, sisters, when we made the trade for the rabbits, we made it clear in advance that we didn’t guarantee they’d live.

“But since we’re all neighbors and we’ve received a lot of your care, now that you’ve brought it up, how could we not offer a refund?

“However… this kind of thing can only happen once. If in the future we refuse to trade again, I hope you won’t be upset.

“So, tell us—how much do you want back? Even if you want it all, we won’t object.

“Also, please do us a favor. When you go back, tell the other three families who got rabbits too. If they don’t want to raise them anymore, they can return them anytime.

“From now on, we won’t trade any more rabbits.

“We didn’t tell An’an about the rabbit trades in the first place. If she finds out, who knows what kind of scene she’ll make.”

These words, equal parts firm and soft, left the three families red-faced with embarrassment.

Finally, Sister-in-law Wang said, “Sigh, it’s all because we’re poor! We’ve been scared of hunger! Otherwise, we wouldn’t do something so shameless.

“Let’s do this—just return half. We’d be too ashamed to take more.”

Qin Ying looked at the other two families. Seeing they had no objections, she and Aunt Zhao weighed out the wheat and gave it back to them.

Aunt Zhao stood at the gate with her hands on her hips and shouted loudly, “Next time, don’t come to our house for rabbits! What, we’re the ones who can’t raise them? You lot make trouble and blame us for it!

“One jin of wheat for a rabbit—who exactly do you think lost out here?!”

Zhang Jin called out from over the wall, “Aunt Zhao, what happened?”

Aunt Zhao animatedly recounted the incident, emphasizing, “Yingzi even told me, since we’re all neighbors, we shouldn’t fuss too much.

“But if I don’t make a fuss today, and again tomorrow, pretty soon everyone who fails to raise rabbits will blame me, right?”

Zhang Jin clicked his tongue, “I’ve only ever heard of ‘goods and payment exchanged, no more ties.’ Never heard of people asking for a refund days later.”

Word of the incident quickly reached Uncle Chen Jiu. The three families who had been thinking about asking for their wheat back—along with the three who had already gotten it—were all summoned to his courtyard.

The old man’s beard quivered with rage, and he slammed his cane on the ground, scolding:

“How can you be this short-sighted?

“How could you even have the nerve to come? What, you think you can shove your poop back inside after it’s out?

“Even Mr. Zhang knows about this now! You’ve humiliated us all!”

Sister-in-law Wang muttered, “That blabbermouth Aunt Zhao…”

“Who’s the blabbermouth? You are!” Chen Jiu had no hearing problems and snapped back, “You do something so shameless and think no one’s allowed to talk about it?

“Think they gave back your wheat just because they owed you?

“If they didn’t care about being good neighbors, would Huzi’s mom have even traded rabbits with you?

“You think they don’t know how to raise rabbits? Can’t enjoy the meat themselves?

“They raise enough to eat once a month if they wanted!

“They kindly traded them to you. Then you fail to raise them and blame them?

“Bad harvests are Heaven’s fault. Bad looks are your parents’. Poor work is the fault of bad tools… So you’re perfect, huh?

“If you’re so capable, how come you can’t even keep a rabbit alive? Didn’t they tell you how to do it?

“Try reflecting on yourselves a bit, maybe then life wouldn’t be such a damn mess!”

Everyone lowered their heads deeply.

Chen Jiu wasn’t done.

“Mr. Zhang is a scholar. He’s never farmed, never raised animals, never fed chickens or ducks.

“But look—his chickens, his rabbits, even his vegetables are all better than ours!

“When he doesn’t understand, he asks. When he doesn’t know, he learns. Never once has he complained, ‘Why can’t I do it?’ or ‘So-and-so didn’t teach me properly!’

“What a bunch of disgraceful fools! From now on, no one is to trade rabbits with them. If you have no meat, just drool while others eat theirs!

“Don’t expect others to raise rabbits just to feed you. Why should they? Are you their father? Their mother?

“You say you helped them work? And they never helped you?

“I’m going to tell Mr. Zhang—next time there’s something good to eat, don’t even think about these folks!

“You’ve gotten a taste for it and now think you deserve it? If that’s not ungrateful, what is?!”

He slapped his own face.

“I’ve lost all my old man dignity! And to think I praised our village folks in front of Lord Zhou! Pah! Now look at me—slapping my own face!”

No one dared utter a word. They all stood with heads bowed, faces burning red with shame.