"Dad, look what I brought home!" As soon as Nan Feng entered the room, she put down the bag of half-filled rice first, then raised the wild rabbit in her hand, grinning happily and proudly.
"Eh, Fengfeng, where did you get this wild rabbit?" Nan Quanyou asked with surprise.
"On the back mountain. I wanted to find the red berries we ate before, but I couldn't find any. However, I found a rabbit. Dad, we have meat for dinner tonight."
Nan Quanyou swallowed hard, as he hadn't eaten meat for half a year, but he still stuttered, "Perhaps, you didn't catch the rabbit by yourself, but someone else caught it for you, didn't they?"
Nan Feng looked at Nan Quanyou, "Dad, have you been listening to gossip again?"
"I heard from your Aunt Lan that you were not at the threshing ground today and later you came back with Ye Ge."
"Yes, he helped me catch this rabbit. Dad, is there something inappropriate about this?" Nan Feng asked.
"Well... never mind, it's nothing," Nan Quanyou felt that his daughter had become very decisive recently, so he didn't know what to say.
He had seen Ye Ge a few times. He was not a handsome man, but he was very nice to his uncle and was always grateful. If Nan Feng really wanted to be with him, he wouldn't object. However, Nan Feng's marriage with Wenxuan hadn't been officially cancelled yet, and she would ruin her reputation like this.
"Dad, please sharpen the knife. I'll slaughter this rabbit!"
...
Nan Feng had eaten wild rabbits during her wilderness survival training before, so she was no stranger to handling one.
She quickly cleaned the rabbit. The rabbit was really fat, so she decided to divide it in half: one half was to be cooked as red-braised meat, and the other half was to be salted for tomorrow's meal.
"Dad, did you start the fire?" Nan Feng asked at the door.
"I already started it, and the pot is hot," Nan Quanyou, adding firewood, said, whom by now could hardly wait any longer.
"Okay, then I'll start cooking!"
Nan Feng took charge of the cooking, waiting until the water in the large iron pot had evaporated, then put the rabbit meat in. Soon the fat began to sizzle and fill the kitchen with a meaty aroma.
Nan Quanyou couldn't help swallowing saliva again: "Ha ha, this rabbit meat smells so good, it must be better than the cured meat we had during the New Year."
Nan Feng laughed and said, "How would you know, you haven't eaten it yet?"
"I'm drooling just smelling it," said Nan Quanyou, chuckling. His face was reddened by the stove fire.
Nan Feng laughed again.
A layer of oil quickly collected at the bottom of the pot. Nan Feng asked Nan Quanyou to lower the flame a bit, then scooped out some of the oil to use for boiling the wild vegetables.
The cooked half of the rabbit filled up a large bowl.
Nan Feng then sautéed some wild vegetables and dinner was ready - one meat dish and one vegetarian dish.
Just as they were about to eat, Nan Feng suddenly remembered something. She immediately put down her chopsticks. "Dad, wait a minute. Let's send half a bowl to Aunt Lan's family first."
Nan Quanyou quickly realized: "Ah, yes, Aunt Lan's family always remember us when they have something good to eat. Now we have such delicious rabbit meat, we should also send half a bowl to them."
Nan Feng quickly grabbed another bowl: "Dad, I'll go. It won't take long."
...
"Aunt Lan, are you home?" Nan Feng called out over the fence.
Smoke was coming out of their chimney, so they seemed to be cooking dinner.
In a little while, a woman in her forties came out, holding a spatula. Seeing Nan Feng, she chuckled: "Oh, Nan Feng, what brings you here?"
"We cooked rabbit at home. Dad asked me to bring a bowl over for you," Nan Feng said with a smile.
Aunt and Uncle Lan were really honest folks and they were also very nice to her family.
Aunt Lan said: "Oh, is it a rabbit caught from the mountain?"
"Yes, I ran into Ye Ge on the mountain today. He was really helpful," Nan Feng answered proactively to avoid Aunt Lan from coaxing out the information.