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As they pondered, a rustling sound emerged.
The noise grew louder, indicating rapid speed. Before Jiang Mixia and Song Jingyun could discern what had darted beneath them, a grey rabbit crashed into a stout bamboo tree with a resounding “thud.”
The rabbit landed upside down, twitched a couple of times, and then lay still, lifeless.
This… suddenly, they had gained two rabbits!
Song Jingyun enthusiastically picked up the rabbit. “Today is really our lucky day. We can have braised rabbit meat for two meals.”
“Yeah, really lucky,” Jiang Mixia agreed with a nod, though she couldn’t help but feel that their luck was almost too good to be true.
After all, it was just too lucky.
It was like manna from heaven. And such a sudden windfall…
But then again, since the heavens were so kind as to provide, they would graciously accept it.
After all, who could resist a pot of fragrant rabbit meat?
Jiang Mixia didn’t dwell on it and simply tied the feet of the two rabbits with a hemp rope. She carried one rabbit in one hand and the bamboo in the other, making her way towards the handcart.
Song Jingyun also hoisted two pieces of bamboo onto his back.
As they emerged from the bamboo grove, they ran into Jiang Chunhe, the eldest son of the second household. He carried a bow and arrows, apparently returning from hunting in the mountains. However, his hands were empty, indicating a lack of success.
Upon seeing Jiang Mixia and Song Jingyun, Jiang Chunhe’s expression soured.
Jiang Chunhe didn’t favor the third household. This stemmed from the time before the family split when their grandfather was still alive. At that time, Jiang Youcheng, his uncle, had been selfish. He never fully handed over the money earned from making baskets and instead kept it for himself, refusing to spend it on Jiang Chunhe and his brother, Jiang Chunbao. He even claimed he was saving it for Jiang Mixia’s future use.
Jiang Chunhe found this reasoning absurd. In his view, Jiang Mixia was just an expense, as she would eventually marry into another family. Saving money for her to use later meant taking the family’s money to subsidize an outsider.
He felt that his uncle was excessively partial. Furthermore, during the division of the family assets, Jiang Youcheng had stubbornly insisted on obtaining five acres of land from the family’s property.
I really don’t understand why Jiang Youcheng has such thick skin. He doesn’t even have any descendants, yet he has the nerve to claim the family’s land. Isn’t this equivalent to stealing food from his nephew’s mouth? And he’s still considered an uncle.
This time again.
He makes money by weaving bamboo baskets, and after securing such a big deal from the tea garden, he’s not thinking about the second household’s nephews and grandchildren. Instead, he eagerly invites Jiang Chunshi, who has only produced a loss, and his wife to work at home. Then, he only shares the earnings with their family. Isn’t this unfair?
It’s really puzzling. Where in this world can one find such an unworthy uncle? The more Jiang Chunhe thinks about it, the more upset he becomes. He doesn’t even want to greet Jiang Mixia and Song Jingyun.
Naturally, Jiang Mixia also knows that the relationship between the two families is strained. Seeing Jiang Chunhe ignoring them, she feels at ease and continues walking toward the handcart.
“Stop, you two,” suddenly says Jiang Chunhe.
“What’s the matter?” Hearing Jiang Chunhe’s unfriendly tone, Jiang Mixia doesn’t even want to call him “elder brother,” just arches her eyebrows at him.
“Where did the rabbits come from?” Jiang Chunhe asks.
“We just caught them in the bamboo grove,” Jiang Mixia replies.
“In the bamboo grove? Are you just making up stories? The rabbits in the mountains are so cunning. At the slightest noise, they vanish. You two are cutting bamboo and catching rabbits? Who are you trying to fool?” Jiang Chunhe doesn’t believe them at all.
He went into the mountains before dawn, worked until now, and for a good part of the day, he hasn’t even caught a single wild chicken.
So a seasoned hunter like himself couldn’t catch anything, yet these two who don’t know the first thing about hunting conveniently find two plump rabbits in the bamboo forest?
Moreover, Jiang Mixia used to be a simpleton, and Song Jingyun is skinny and timid. It’s even more unlikely.
But come to think of it, he did see rabbits in the mountains at the time.
He had intended to shoot one in the eye, skin it for a full rabbit pelt, have a rabbit meat meal, and sell the pelt. However, his shot missed, startling the rabbits. They ran in all directions, and he missed several of them.
Now, looking at the two rabbits in Jiang Mixia’s hands, it’s evident that one of them died from a collision.
So…
Certainly, he startled the rabbits, causing them to run around in panic. One of them died from the collision, and Jiang Mixia took advantage of the situation!
The more Jiang Chunhe thought about it, the more he felt compelled to reach for the rabbit. “Give me the rabbit!”
“Why should I?” Jiang Mixia, seeing Jiang Chunhe aggressively attempting to take the rabbit, felt indignant. “This is our rabbit. Why should we give it to you?”
“Your rabbit? This is the rabbit I was just chasing in the mountains. It ran here and died from the collision. You took advantage of me, and you’re asking why?” Jiang Chunhe shouted loudly.
“It’s amusing. You say you were chasing it, so it’s yours? Who saw you chasing it? Just because you say so? Baseless claims – where’s the evidence?”
Jiang Mixia’s words poured out like beans from a bamboo tube, rattling off rapidly, leaving Jiang Chunhe unable to respond.
After a moment, he rolled his eyes, a mocking expression on his face. “So you claim you caught these rabbits? Who witnessed it? What evidence do you have?”
Seeing this, Song Jingyun wanted to speak up.
But Jiang Chunhe cut him off, “You two are a couple, so you’ll definitely support each other. Your words don’t count!”
“I’m busy as well. Quickly give me the rabbit. If you don’t, I’ll take you both to the village chief and have him settle this. We’ll let the entire Jiang family see what kind of deceitful people you are!”
Go to the village chief?
With both sides holding firm and no witnesses, it would be difficult to determine the truth about the two rabbits. One showed marks from a machete, but the other was unclear.
In a dispute, the rabbits would likely be confiscated for fairness, with no one getting a share.
Losing the rabbits she had chanced upon, Jiang Mixia felt a pang of regret. But now, Jiang Chunhe’s unreasonable behavior was adding insult to injury…
Indeed, it seemed that whenever good fortune appeared, there would always be someone to snatch it away!
Jiang Mixia’s anger surged to her chest. She looked around and asked, “Did you come alone for the hunt, Elder Brother?”
Jiang Chunhe was in the middle of discussing the rabbit when Jiang Mixia abruptly asked an unrelated question, leaving him slightly bewildered. “Of course, I always hunt alone.”
Who needs to be joined at the hip like you two, constantly sticking together like your lives depend on it? Even Song Jingyun lacks the demeanor of a man; it’s truly disgraceful.
“Stop the nonsense and give me the rabbit, or else I…” Jiang Chunhe’s words were cut short as he took two steps back, looking wary as he saw her set down the rabbit and bamboo, rolling up her sleeves as she advanced toward him step by step. “What are you trying to do?”
“Nothing much, just want to have a good chat with Elder Brother about this rabbit,” Jiang Mixia chuckled mischievously, pulling Jiang Chunhe into the bamboo grove.