Chapter 51

Wang Changping was still preoccupied with last night’s events, always trying to cheer up Liu Yu. With the white flour ready, he immediately wanted to get to work.

He thought for a moment and told Liu Yu, “Let’s make flatbreads.”

Liu Yu tilted her head and, from a long-term perspective, said, “Let’s mix in some cornmeal. It’s a waste to use only white flour.”

Wang Changping stubbornly shook his head, “No, we’ll just make sugar flatbreads.”

The rabbit was caught by Wang Changping, and the white flour was exchanged by him. Liu Yu hadn’t contributed anything from start to finish, but she hadn’t forgotten about the treasure basin either.

These days, white flour was hard to get. She hadn’t even managed to buy it last time she went to the grain shop, so she was happy to have some here. Liu Yu obediently mixed the flour into dough, secretly slipping a bit into her pocket.

She rendered the fat from the rabbit into oil, then used it to fry the sugar flatbreads. Since a lunchbox was used as the pan, the flatbreads turned out square-shaped and slightly flavored with rabbit meat. The remaining rabbit meat was kept in the lunchbox for tomorrow.

After they were full, Liu Yu knew that Wang Changping had stayed up all night. She felt guilty and offered to take the watch tonight.

Liu Yu kept the watch until dawn, when Aunt Flo made her appearance, and her stomach ached. She simply couldn’t do any more work. Wang Changping knew that women needed to rest at this time, so he told Liu Yu, “You take the day off. I’ll help you ask for leave. For breakfast, you can have that lunchbox of rabbit meat. I’ll keep it warm by the fire for you.”

Liu Yu nodded, grateful to Wang Changping. After a deep sleep, she suddenly heard a “tch tch tch” sound outside the hut, as if someone was eating and drinking right in front of their door.

She suddenly remembered the lunchbox by the fire. Slowly approaching the edge of the hut, she stretched her head out to peek. She was startled to see a woman in green military uniform with two little braids, crouching by the fire, stealing her roasted rabbit meat! She was carefully gnawing on bones, leaving them all over the ground!

Panicking, Liu Yu bent down and picked up a short, thick dry twig. She crept up to the braids, shouted, and charged forward, hitting the woman’s head with a stick. The woman, who was crouching and eating, got hit unexpectedly and shoved her face right into the lunchbox.

Liu Yu immediately shouted, “Come help! Someone’s stealing!”

The woman with the braids raised her head, wanting to see who had hit her. Seeing it was Liu Yu, she quickly turned and ran, disappearing in just a few steps.

Liu Yu furrowed her brow and went to pick up the lunchbox—this was the roasted rabbit meat that Wang Changping had saved for her, and she was upset to see that it was all gone, eaten by that woman!

No, she had to find her!

Liu Yu angrily took the empty lunchbox and stormed over to the young intellectuals’ camp.

“Sun Baoxiang, come out!”

Sun Baoxiang was the name of the woman with the braids. Liu Yu had lost the rabbit meat and was furious. She didn’t care anymore and adopted the posture of a shrew. In the eyes of this group of young intellectuals, Liu Yu wasn’t any better than a shrew!

Some of the intellectuals, curious, came over and asked, “What happened now?”

Liu Yu was livid. She opened her mouth and said, “Sun Baoxiang is really ungrateful. She wanted to eat rabbit meat but didn’t bring anything to exchange, and now she’s stealing it!”

Sun Baoxiang, who had been hiding in the tent, knew things were about to escalate. She thought, “I can’t face this,” so she braced herself and pushed aside the tent flap, crawling out: “What’s going on?”

Liu Yu raised her empty lunchbox, “You stole food, and now you have the nerve to ask me?”

Sun Baoxiang placed her hands on her hips and retorted, “What did I steal?”

Hah—like a dog eating steamed buns and not knowing the truth! This woman was shameless!

Liu Yu wanted to spit in her face but knew the rabbit meat was already in Sun Baoxiang’s stomach. No one had seen it, and there was no evidence. Just her words wouldn’t convince anyone. Making her apologize and admit it would be difficult!

Liu Yu felt the bunny’s fluffy tail in her pocket. Wang Changping had given it to her to play with, and now she had an idea!

Her brows furrowed, “Comrade Wang said that if you want rabbit meat, you should exchange it for white flour. You only wanted to eat rabbit meat but didn’t want to bring any food to exchange, so you came here to steal it! If you dare steal from me, you’ll steal from others too!”

When she said this, the other young intellectuals grew uneasy.

What if Sun Baoxiang really was a petty thief? They weren’t wealthy, just a few odds and ends, grains, and flour. Who could tolerate their things being stolen?

Someone spoke up: it was the intellectual who had bought the rabbit from Wang Changping earlier. “Thieves are the worst! Sun, did you steal anything or not?”

“I didn’t steal anything! Liu Yu is slandering me! She even framed Bai Xueling before! Everyone saw it!”

Sun Baoxiang confidently denied it, even bringing up Bai Xueling. After all, the rabbit meat was already in her stomach, and no one could pry open her mouth to see it!

Liu Yu scoffed, “Yeah, yeah, I’m the bad one! If you didn’t steal, then why not let me search you?”

Sun Baoxiang immediately objected, “Why should I let you search me?”

Liu Yu crossed her arms and said confidently, “If you didn’t steal, why are you afraid to let me search? You’re guilty, that’s why you don’t dare to let me see!”

Sun Baoxiang was so furious her mouth twisted. She knew there was no hiding the truth now. She’d eaten the rabbit meat, but since she hadn’t hidden anything else, searching her wouldn’t reveal anything. She decided to let Liu Yu search and see her fail: “Fine! I’ll let you look! But if you don’t find any rabbit meat, you have to apologize and give me three more pounds of white flour!”

Liu Yu raised an eyebrow and agreed eagerly, “Sure!”

Sun Baoxiang shared a tent with other female intellectuals, and her belongings were few: a patched-up bag. She opened the bag and started pulling things out one by one—bottles of sauce, a roll of toilet paper, a few pounds of grain, and some spare clothes.

“Look carefully! Did I steal your rabbit meat?”

Finally, Sun Baoxiang pulled out the last item from her bag and shook it out in front of everyone, making a show of her defiance.

Liu Yu grabbed the bag from her hands, “I’ll search it myself!”

Sun Baoxiang let her take it, knowing full well what was inside. Liu Yu waited for her to kneel and apologize, hoping for her to give up the three pounds of flour!

But Liu Yu reached into the bag, pretending to search for something, while secretly pulling out the fluffy bunny tail.

The fluffy rabbit tail appeared in Liu Yu’s hand, right in front of everyone!

Sun Baoxiang’s face immediately dropped. She quickly turned her face away, trying to explain to the young intellectuals, “How could this be in my bag? I swear I didn’t take it!”

Liu Yu raised the tail and threw it right at her face, then shouted, “Look at this! You still say you didn’t steal? You’re like a dog eating steamed buns and not knowing the truth!”

Liu Yu shouted the words loudly, feeling a rush of satisfaction in her heart!