After packing up their belongings, the four of them chose a less-trodden path to descend the mountain, hoping to gather more useful items on their way down. Surprisingly, the road less traveled, despite being difficult to navigate, was rich in resources; they even came across two rabbits, which of course were stunned by stones thrown by Xiao'er. The three boys were utterly dumbstruck on this mountain trip. The randomness with which Xiao'er hit the targets made it almost impossible for others to aim properly!
Later, they encountered a pheasant and the three boys insisted that Xiao'er should not take action, so a fierce chase ensued: blocking, lunging, smashing, and covering with a basket. They displayed all their martial arts skills and finally managed to capture the pheasant. After securing the pheasant, the three boys sat down to catch their breath, feeling somewhat envious of each other's skills.
While they chased the pheasant, Xiao'er wandered around and discovered a rabbit burrow. Following the method taught by Bai Tian, she successfully used space water to capture a nest of rabbits and even found a nest of pheasant eggs.
"We're really lucky today; I've never caught so many pheasants on a mountain trip before," Shen Jingrui remarked, unable to hide a genuine smile at the thought of making chicken soup for his mother.
"The pheasant today was especially stupid," Xiao'er blurted out, trying to cover up her accuracy, earning herself rolled eyes from the three boys.
The four of them chatted and laughed as they walked down the mountain. They stopped by a small stream at the base of the mountain to take inventory of their catch.
Shen Zixuan actually climbed up a tree, fetched five bird eggs, and found two canes of sugarcane, already chopped into segments with a sickle.
Shen Jingrui collected nearly two kilograms of wild walnuts and a small bag of yellow Himalayan raspberries, while Shen Jinghao picked over a dozen kiwis. Xiao'er gathered a small basket of chestnuts and yams. The rest included four pheasants and two rabbits.
Hungry from their journey, they started a fire by the stream and roasted two yams, some bird eggs, and pheasant eggs. While waiting for these to cook, they ate sugarcane, kiwis, and yellow Himalayan raspberries, and chatted.
A gentle breeze blew, and the autumn sky was high, profound, and cloudless, revealing its clear, azure beauty. Occasionally, flocks of migratory birds could be seen flying across the blue sky. In the distance, the fields appeared like a golden ocean, with waves rolling under Qingfeng's gentle caress. Eating the sweet sugarcane, Xiao'er contemplated a familiar saying from her past life, "In this life, peace is contentment, and the days are tranquil."
"That's beautifully said, Xiao'er—where did you hear it?" Shen Zixuan curiously looked at Shen Xiao'er, suddenly feeling that she seemed different this time, more confident and clever than usual.
Xiao'er hadn't expected to reveal her thoughts and reluctantly found herself in a position to lie again, "I overheard it in the town. It sounded so appealing that I remembered it."
Shen Zixuan said nothing more, silently admiring the scenery and lost in thought.
After a while, the yams and eggs were cooked. They shared out the food, leaving one bird egg and one chicken egg, which Xiao'er decided to take home for Mrs. Liu. Having finished eating, Xiao'er divided the game into two equal portions, each into a basket. She handed one basket to Shen Zixuan, "Brother Zixuan, this basket is yours. Take it home, and we'll come by another day to pick up the basket."
Shen Zixuan refused, knowing that most of the game was acquired by the three of them without his help, and it wasn't really his to take. However, faced with the three children's resolute expressions that threatened ending their friendship if he didn't accept, he compromised, "I'll take it, but tomorrow you must come to my house for a meal." Secretly, he thought that even if they took the game home, they wouldn't get much for themselves, but at his place, he could ensure they had a few more pieces of meat.
The three didn't decline the invitation, but they never made it the next day.
Three people returned to the Shen family home, and at this time, there was no one in the courtyard, so they headed back to the west wing with their baskets on their backs. Mrs. Liu had just finished feeding the baby sister and after patting her back for a while, she let her sleep by herself. When she saw the three siblings return, she hurriedly asked them to wash their hands and faces. Jingrui set down his basket, "Mother, today at the foot of the mountain we met Brother Zixuan. He took us to a place we had never been before, and we had quite a rich harvest."
"Yes, Mother, today we caught four pheasants, two rabbits, and also gathered chestnuts, yams, bird eggs, pheasant eggs, walnuts, and wild fruits. We even ate some sugar cane," Jinghao said, ticking off today's findings one by one on his small fingers.
"All those things? Did you go into the deep mountains?" Upon hearing this, Mrs. Liu's worry outweighed her joy, as even their father couldn't acquire so much in one trip to the mountain.
"No, we were just on the outskirts because Brother Zixuan took us, so we went a bit further than usual. Don't worry, Mother, we won't go deep into the mountains on our own," Jingrui quickly reassured.
Mrs. Liu was relieved upon hearing this. She knew her own children; they were honest and wouldn't lie to her.
"Mother, later let's kill a chicken and make chicken soup for you to drink. Drinking more soup will ensure there's enough milk for the baby sister," Xiao'er suggested, glancing at the baby sister who was sound asleep. The baby's skin was a bit yellow, hopefully just from physiological jaundice. But just in case, Mrs. Liu needed to drink more 'space' water to pass enough milk to the baby sister.
"We also found some pheasant eggs and bird eggs. We can cook them for you to eat," Jinghao said, presenting a pheasant egg and a bird egg to Mrs. Liu.
"You all eat it. I'm not hungry," Mrs. Liu replied. Today, she genuinely didn't feel as hungry as usual, and there was more breastmilk, so the baby sister was satisfied and hadn't fussed all morning.
"We each have had our share already. We even had roasted yams. This is for you, Mother. Even if you're not hungry, the baby sister might be," Jingrui also learned to use the baby sister as a reason.
With the three children taking turns persuading her, Mrs. Liu couldn't refuse and ended up eating a bird egg, while saving the chicken egg for Shen Chengyao.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one in the courtyard, probably because everyone was napping, Xiao'er decided to slaughter the two chickens first. Making some chicken soup for Mrs. Liu to drink was essential since she hadn't had lunch. How could she endure it?
In her previous life, Xiao'er had adventured in the wild with her cousin and had also done the task of slaughtering chickens. Survival skills in the wild were also a mandatory skill for the Shen family's children in the past life.
They placed the rabbits into a cage, and then the siblings headed to the kitchen with the chickens. As the youngest, Jinghao was responsible for boiling the water and then for maintaining the fire to cook the chestnuts. Jingrui and Xiao'er collaborated to slaughter the two chickens, letting the blood drain.
"Xiao'er, why not save one chicken to kill tomorrow? Then Mother could drink another bowl of chicken soup," Jingrui wondered.
Carefully using boiling water to scald the feathers off both chickens, Xiao'er then handed one over to Jingrui for him to pluck the feathers, "Tonight, when Uncle and his family return from town, Mother would be lucky to have a piece of breast meat from one chicken. If we kill both, we can eat one tonight and save one for Mother. Wouldn't that be better?"
"But even if we kill both, Mother won't get to eat one," Jingrui said feeling dejected. He knew the people of the main family branch too well, as well as his own parents.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure Mother gets to eat. Let's hurry now and prepare the soup quickly and serve it to Mother," responded Xiao'er.
Hearing this, Jingrui speeded up his actions. They cleaned the chickens thoroughly, removed the innards and washed everything clean. Xiao'er immediately chopped the two chickens and took them to the kitchen to start the soup. The remaining innards were left for Jingrui to wash.
Xiao'er put the soup for everyone in a clay pot to simmer slowly. For Mrs. Liu's portion, he stir-fried it in an iron pot briefly, added lots of shredded ginger, then boiled it directly with 'space' water. It didn't take long to be ready and was served in a soup dish. Actually, boiling the soup too long isn't necessarily good as it creates a lot of purines, which are not good for health. Hence, the soup for Mrs. Liu Xiao'er made wasn't too concentrated. This method of making chicken soup is also used in modern times for postpartum nourishment.