After the four of them packed up, they chose a path down the mountain that was rarely traveled, hoping to collect more useful items on their descent. Surprisingly, though the path was difficult, it was rich in resources. They encountered two wild rabbits along the way, both of which were knocked out by a small stone thrown by Xiao'er. The three boys were amazed at Xiao'er's uncanny accuracy. It was almost too incredible to be true!
Later, they bumped into a pheasant. The three boys insisted on catching it themselves without Xiao'er's help. A thrilling chase began; they blocked its way, pounced, threw rocks, and even used their baskets. After using every trick in the book, they finally caught the bird. The boys sat down to catch their breath, all of them feeling somewhat deflated by the effort it took compared to Xiao'er's ease.
While they were busy with the pheasant, Xiao'er had been wandering around and had found a rabbit burrow. Using the method taught by Bai Tian, she managed to capture a whole group of rabbits with her space magic and also found a nest of pheasant eggs.
"What amazing luck we had today! I've never caught so many pheasants during my previous hunts." Jingrui couldn't hide his genuine smile at the thought of making chicken soup for his mother.
"Today's pheasants were particularly stupid." Xiao'er commented, trying to deflect attention from her uncanny accuracy. This earned her a collective roll of eyes from the three boys.
Chatting and laughing, they descended the mountain and stopped by a stream at the foot of it to tally their spoils.
Shen Zixuan, true to his promise, had climbed a tree and retrieved five bird eggs along with two sugar canes, which he had already cut into sections with a sickle.
Shen Jingrui had collected about two pounds of wild walnuts and a small bag of yellow Himalayan raspberries. Shen Jinghao had picked more than a dozen kiwis. Xiao'er had half a basket of chestnuts and yams. In addition, they had four pheasants and two rabbits.
All of them were hungry from their walk, so they built a fire by the stream and roasted some yams and eggs. While waiting for these to cook, they enjoyed sugar canes, kiwis, and raspberries and chatted casually.
A gentle breeze blew, and the autumn sky was clear, cloudless, and deeply blue. From time to time, flocks of migratory birds flew across the blue expanse. The distant fields looked like a golden ocean rippling under the soft touch of the breeze. Enjoying the sweet taste of the sugar cane and the beautiful scenery, a familiar phrase came to Xiao'er's mind: "A peaceful life, quiet and good years."
"That's a lovely sentiment, Xiao'er, where did you hear it?" Shen Zixuan curiously studied Xiao'er, suddenly feeling that she seemed different from before. Although she had always been clever, she hadn't displayed such confidence and wit before.
Xiao'er hadn't expected to voice her thoughts. Forced into a corner, she had to make up another lie: "Oh, I just overheard somebody saying it in town. I thought it was a beautiful idea, so I remembered it."
Shen Zixuan didn't press further, opting to quietly gaze at the scenery, his thoughts far away.
After a while, the yams and eggs were cooked. They shared the food, leaving a bird egg and a chicken egg for Mrs. Liu. After finishing their meal, Xiao'er divided the spoils into two equal parts, each packed into a basket. She handed one to Shen Zixuan, "Brother Zixuan, these hunting spoils are yours. Take them back now and we'll come and collect the basket some other day."
Shen Zixuan declined. Most of the spoils had been obtained by Xiao'er and he hadn't contributed much. Even if the spoils were his own, he would give them back. But this was a gift from them.
"If you won't accept it, Brother Zixuan, then we won't play with you anymore," Xiao'er threatened, resorting to a child's tactic: if you do this, we won't play with you.
Shen Zixuan knew about their family situation. The members of the third branch of the Shen family were honest and hardworking but barely had enough to eat, let alone being well-fed like people from the main family and second branch. Seeing the determined faces of the three children, he knew it was their good intention. After thinking it over, he made a compromise: "Okay, I'll take the spoils, but you must come over to my house for a meal tomorrow." Actually, if the spoils were brought back to their house, he doubted how much the children would get to eat. But if they came to his house, he would make sure they had their fill.
The three of them didn't object and accepted his condition, though, in the end, they didn't make it the next day.
Returning to the Shen residence, they found the courtyard empty and headed straight towards the west wing with their baskets. Mrs. Liu had just finished nursing the baby and let her sleep by herself. When she saw the three of them returning, she eagerly asked them to wash up. Jingrui set down his basket, "Mom, we ran into Brother Zixuan at the foot of the mountain today. He took us to a place we'd never been before, and we came back with a great haul."
"Yes, mother, today we caught four pheasants, two rabbits, and found chestnuts, yam, bird eggs, pheasant eggs, walnuts and wild fruits. We even ate some sugar canes." Jinghao counted proudly, remembering all the harvest they had made that day.
"All this stuff, surely you didn't go deep into the mountains, did you?" Upon hearing this, Mrs. Liu was more worried than pleased. Even when their father went hunting in the mountains, he couldn't bring back this much at once.
"No, we just stayed around the edge. Because Brother Zixuan led us, we went a bit further than usual. Don't worry, mother, we wouldn't go deep into the mountains on our own," Jingrui quickly reassured.
Mrs. Liu felt relieved upon hearing this. She knew her children well, they were honest and would not lie to her.
"Mother, let's kill the chickens later and make a chicken soup for you. Drinking more soup will make sure your milk is enough for your little sister." Xiao'er glanced at his soundly sleeping little sister whose skin was slightly yellow. He hoped it was only physiological jaundice. Nevertheless, to be safe, he decided that Mrs. Liu should drink more space water and then nurse the little one.
"We also found eggs from wild chickens and birds. We roasted them for you." Jinghao pulled out a pheasant egg and a bird egg and handed them to Mrs. Liu.
"You children eat them. I'm not hungry." Mrs. Liu wasn't as hungry as usual today, and there's also more breast milk. The little sister was well fed and didn't fuss all morning.
"We already ate, and also had some roasted yam. This is for you, mother. If you're not hungry, then little sister will be," Jingrui also started using the little sister as leverage.
With the three children taking turns to persuade her, Mrs. Liu couldn't resist and ate a bird egg. The chicken egg was saved for Shen Chengyao to eat.
While the courtyard was empty, probably because everyone was taking a nap, Xiao'er decided to kill the two chickens. He planned to make chicken soup for Mrs. Liu to drink as there wasn't any lunch. He wasn't sure how she could bear it otherwise.
In his past life, Xiao'er had learned to kill chickens while going on adventurous outings with his cousin. Wilderness survival skills were a must-learn for all Shen family children in his previous life.
The three put the rabbits in a cage and then went to the kitchen with the chickens. Since Jinghao was the youngest, he was in charge of heating the water and the fire, and boiling the chestnuts. Jingrui and Xiao'er teamed up to kill both chickens, and let them bleed out.
"Xiao'er, why didn't we save one chicken to kill tomorrow? Then mother could have had another bowl of chicken soup."
Xiao'er carefully scalded the whole body of both chickens with hot water, and then plucked the feathers. He gave one of the chickens to Jingrui to pluck while he explained, "All of uncle's family will come back from the town tonight. Mother would be lucky to get one piece of chicken breast if there was only one chicken. Wouldn't it be better to kill both chickens now, offer one for everyone tonight, and save one just for mother?"
"If we've killed both, mother won't be able to eat a whole one." Jingrui replied with disappointment. He knew people in the main family corner too well, along with his parents.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure mother gets enough. Now, let's hurry up, make the soup quickly and bring it to mother."
On hearing these words, Jingrui immediately sped up. The two boys cleanly plucked both chickens, gutted them, and washed them. Xiao'er immediately chopped up both chickens and brought them into the kitchen to make the soup while the leftover organs were left for Jingrui to clean.
Xiao'er made the soup for everyone else in a pottery pot and let it simmer slowly. But Mrs. Liu's soup, he stir-fried first, added lots of shredded ginger, and then boiled it with space water. After simmering for a short while, he scooped it out with a soup spoon. In fact, simmering soup for too long isn't always good, as it may contain excess Purine which is harmful to the body. Thus, Xiao'er didn't cook Mrs. Liu's soup too concentrated, which was also how it was done for postnatal women in modern times.