Chapter 7: Rabbit Hole

After passing through the light mist and entering Yama Mountain, the Ji siblings looked around curiously like little explorers.

“This is Yama Mountain? Doesn’t look all that different from outside,” Ji Jingze muttered, pouting.

“There’s a big difference! All the good stuff’s up ahead, so stop dawdling!” Chu Xiaoqi didn’t even turn her head, just cheerfully walked on with a basket strapped to her back.

Ji Jingxuan watched her back, his brow slightly furrowed. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she had changed a lot. Not just her personality—she never used to speak so kindly to them before.

Now, even though she wasn’t exactly affectionate, she also wasn’t hostile anymore. It was like she was treating them like ordinary friends.

Had she really not regained her memory?

“Wow… Sister-in-law, there are mushrooms here!” Ji Jinglan bounced excitedly toward a fallen tree, shouting with joy.

Chu Xiaoqi didn’t come over, just waved her hand as she walked. “We’ll come back for the mushrooms later. Let’s grab the good stuff first.”

Ji Jinglan nodded obediently and happily skipped after her.

Ji Jingze clenched his fists tightly, his lips curling in excitement, trying hard to contain the joy in his heart.

With those mushrooms, they wouldn’t have to go hungry today…

But when they reached the river, he could no longer hold back. He pointed at the water, jumping up and down, shouting, “Fish! There are fish!

Sister-in-law, I want to catch fish!”

Chu Xiaoqi thought for a moment. Splitting up the work would be faster, so she nodded in agreement. “Go ahead.

Just be careful. We’ll be about two hundred meters up ahead gathering chestnuts.”

But Ji Jingze wasn’t listening at all. He kicked off his shoes haphazardly, rolled up his pants, and ran straight into the river.

“Let’s go gather chestnuts,” Chu Xiaoqi said, leading Ji Jingxuan and Ji Jinglan onward.

Once they arrived, Ji Jinglan bent down and picked up a spiky brown ball from the ground, looking puzzled.

“Sister-in-law, is this a chestnut? It’s all fuzzy—can we eat it?”

Chu Xiaoqi took the chestnut from her, gently pried it open with a knife, pulled out the nut, peeled it, and fed it to her.

“It’s crispy and sweet! So yummy!” Ji Jinglan’s eyes crinkled into joyful slits.

“They’re even tastier once we process them back home.”

Ji Jingxuan picked one up from the ground, opened it, and held the chestnut in his hand to examine it. “I’ve seen people selling these in town before.”

Chu Xiaoqi perked up and scooted closer to him. “How did they sell them? How much per jin?”

“They didn’t sell by weight—ten wen for a small bowl. But not many people were buying.”

Chu Xiaoqi curled her lips. Ten wen per bowl? That’s really cheap. Still, it was better than nothing. If they prepared and processed the chestnuts well, they might make a small profit selling them.

“Let’s gather them all first!”

Chu Xiaoqi and Ji Jinglan found a clear patch to sit down, and Ji Jingxuan carried the spiky balls over to them. The two girls peeled the chestnuts while he continued gathering.

The three of them worked together well and quickly amassed a large pile.

Once they had peeled enough, Chu Xiaoqi stood up and pointed at the remaining spiky balls on the ground. “Once you finish these, that should be enough. Otherwise, we won’t be able to carry them all.

You two stay here and finish the rest. I’ll walk around nearby to see if there’s anything else edible.”

Ji Jingxuan got to his feet. “I’ll go with you!”

“No need. I won’t go far—just nearby.” Chu Xiaoqi said, then slung on her basket and briskly walked off.

Ji Jingxuan stared at her back as she disappeared into the woods. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this person wasn’t the real Chu Xiaoqi… yet she still looked exactly the same.

Can falling down really change someone’s personality that much?

Or… is this who she really was all along?

Chu Xiaoqi wandered in a 50-meter radius around the chestnut trees, picking some star anise and Sichuan peppercorns. She even stumbled upon a laurel tree and ruthlessly stripped off a thick layer of its bark.

Dragging a big piece of cinnamon bark on her way back, she misstepped due to unclear footing and tumbled down a dirt embankment.

Hearing a sudden scream, Ji Jingxuan and his siblings quickly stood up and rushed toward the sound.

“Sister-in-law!”

“Xiaoqi! Xiaoqi, are you okay?”

Having fallen down the slope, Chu Xiaoqi was in so much pain that she grimaced and couldn’t respond to the siblings right away.

After a long while, she finally managed to speak. “I’m fine…”

She braced her hand on the slope to try and stand up, but her palm suddenly sank into a hole. She pulled it back out and turned to take a look.

Whoa…

What was that? A rabbit hole?

A rabbit hole!

She suddenly felt like fate had just handed her a golden cheat code. Her luck was off the charts today!

When Ji Jingxuan and his siblings arrived, they saw her squatting in front of the slope, seemingly doing something.

“Xiaoqi, are you alright?” Ji Jingxuan asked, running over in concern.

Chu Xiaoqi didn’t look up. Instead, she pointed cheerfully at the hole. “Look what I found!”

The siblings followed her finger and saw… well, just a hole. Nothing special.

“Sister-in-law, it’s just a hole. What’s so strange about it?” Ji Jinglan asked, confused.

This time, Chu Xiaoqi was the one shocked. These kids were raised in the countryside and had never seen a rabbit hole before?

She stepped aside and pointed again. “Come look more closely…”

Ji Jingxuan and Ji Jinglan leaned in to examine it seriously. “Sister-in-law, it’s just a hole. Nothing special.”

Chu Xiaoqi, a pampered rich girl in the modern world, even she knew this was a rabbit hole. And these two had grown up rural? Seriously?

What kind of bizarre timeline have I transmigrated into?

“Sigh, never mind. Go find some dry grass and leaves,” she instructed Ji Jinglan. Then she turned to Ji Jingxuan, “Search around here and see if there are any more holes like this.”

The siblings didn’t ask questions and followed her instructions.

They eventually found a total of three holes. Chu Xiaoqi had Ji Jingxuan block two of them with dry leaves, leaving one uncovered. Then she had Ji Jinglan press her basket over that one and lit the leaves in the other two holes.

“Sister-in-law, what are we doing?” Ji Jinglan asked curiously, eyes fixed on the basket-covered hole.

Chu Xiaoqi, watching over the burning leaves, didn’t look up. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Ji Jingxuan was just as curious but stayed quiet, obediently standing off to the side and watching.

About fifteen minutes later, thick smoke began seeping from the hole Ji Jinglan was holding down. It stung her eyes so badly she could barely keep them open. “Sister-in-law, the smoke is awful…”

“Just hold on a bit longer. Almost there…”

Just as Chu Xiaoqi finished speaking, Ji Jinglan suddenly felt something drop into the basket. She instinctively reached to check, but Chu Xiaoqi quickly stopped her.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t touch it!”

Ji Jinglan had no choice but to endure the smoke and keep holding the basket down over the hole.

Ten more minutes passed. Chu Xiaoqi figured the timing was about right. She came over, took the basket from Ji Jinglan, and carried it to a breezy open area.

The Ji siblings followed behind her to see what would happen next…

Peering into the basket…

“Big Brother! It’s rabbits—rabbits!” Ji Jinglan cried out excitedly, tugging on Ji Jingxuan’s arm.

Ji Jingxuan looked down at the rabbits of various sizes inside the basket, and his doubts about Chu Xiaoqi only deepened.

How did she know how to hunt like this?

Ji Jinglan leaned over the basket and started counting, moving the rabbits with her hand. “One, two, three…”

She turned around and shouted excitedly at Chu Xiaoqi and Ji Jingxuan, “Big Brother! Sister-in-law! There are eight rabbits—two big ones and six little ones!”

“Alright, carry them over and prep them. It’s getting late. Let’s pack up the chestnuts and check how Xiao Ze is doing with the fishing,” Chu Xiaoqi said, picking up the sachet of Sichuan pepper and the two large pieces of cinnamon bark she had dropped.

Ji Jinglan nodded, slinging the basket onto her back and following Chu Xiaoqi to the chestnut pile.

Chu Xiaoqi pulled the rabbits out, tore a small piece of hemp rope and unraveled it, then tied the rabbits’ legs together and tossed them aside. She fed them some herbs to keep them calm.

She pointed at the chestnuts and told the siblings, “Pack up the chestnuts. Lay a layer of wild grass on top, then place the rabbits flat and cover them with more grass.

I’m going to check on Xiao Ze.”

As Chu Xiaoqi approached the riverbank, she could see Ji Jingze from afar, standing in the water angrily splashing at it.

“Didn’t catch a single one?” she teased from the bank.

Hearing her voice, Ji Jingze’s face flushed with embarrassment. He turned his head away and mumbled awkwardly, “It’s not my fault. The fish are too slippery—they won’t even let me get close.”

“Alright, alright… come up here already,” Chu Xiaoqi called. Then she turned to chop a branch from a nearby tree, sat down at the riverbank, and began sharpening one end into a point.

After climbing out of the river, Ji Jingze squatted beside her, looking puzzled. “Sister-in-law, what are you doing?”

“Spear fishing.”

“You know how to spear fish?” Ji Jingze stared at her in disbelief.

But Chu Xiaoqi shook her head honestly. “Nope. I’m just giving it a shot.”

Ji Jingze was speechless. He thought she knew what she was doing—turns out she was just relying on luck.

He flopped down beside her and scoffed, “You can’t even get near the fish to grab them—how do you expect to spear one?”

Chu Xiaoqi didn’t bother replying. So what if I haven’t eaten pork? I’ve seen pigs run!
She was a modern woman with real skills—who knows, maybe her luck really was just that good?

Once her wooden spear was ready, Chu Xiaoqi took off her shoes and socks, rolled up her pants, and stepped into the river.

The fish scattered in all directions from the disturbance.

She stood in the middle of the river holding the spear, perfectly still.

It was already late summer, so the water wasn’t bone-chilling, but it was still cold enough to make her feel stiff all over.

This body is seriously weak…

Meanwhile, Ji Jingxuan and Ji Jinglan had packed up everything according to Chu Xiaoqi’s instructions and came to the river to meet her.

Even before they reached the riverbank, they could see Ji Jingze barefoot on the shore while Chu Xiaoqi stood motionless in the water with a wooden spear in hand.

“Second Brother, what’s Sister-in-law doing?” Ji Jinglan whispered as she moved to Ji Jingze’s side.

Ji Jingxuan also put down the basket he was carrying and looked out into the river.

Ji Jingze shrugged. “She said she’s trying to spear a fish…”

“Then why’s she just standing there?”

“Who knows? She’s been standing like that for a whole tea’s time.”

Ji Jingxuan bent down to feel the water temperature, then stood up and called out, “Xiaoqi, come—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Chu Xiaoqi suddenly thrust the spear into the water with a sharp, swift motion.