Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 25 Rabbit Stew in an Iron Pot

Li Ruru had expected that her business would be envied and imitated, but she never imagined that her two nephews would be the first to try to imitate her.

"It's alright. If they can really figure it out, I'll admire them."

Pan Dayan received 40 coins and left happily.

Daya's little face scrunched up. "Mom, how about we make less today?"

It's better to be safe than sorry. If her cousins ​​find the trick, their business will definitely be affected.

Li Ruru smiled and asked in return, "Don't you want to earn more money?"

She also plans to expand her konjac business in the future, eventually outsourcing all the processing steps to others.

She only needs to be responsible for boiling the wood ash water; of course, she should keep the key technical aspects under her control.

If she gets tired and wants to slack off one day, she can simply use alkaline water instead of wood ash.

Li Ruru finished cooking the konjac; it was almost dark.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and went into the kitchen to begin cleaning the wild rabbit.

Li Ruru is very efficient at her work and is also a good cook.

Adhering to the principle that one should never neglect one's stomach, she chopped the wild rabbit into large pieces and cooked a pot of soup.

The pot was bubbling and emitting a delicious aroma, and the three girls gathered around the kitchen, drooling as they helped out.

Li Ruru cut the potatoes into large chunks and cooked them together, then added some glass noodles.

Then he took out some flour, made a few pancakes, and stuck them around the pot.

Li Ruru stole a glance at Er Ya, and seeing that she didn't ask anything, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

When it was almost cooked, she threw in some wild vegetables.

"Go wash your hands, it's time to eat."

She had eaten braised goose in an iron pot in Northeast China, and it tasted delicious.

We don't have geese at home, only wild rabbits. Since it's all meat, it shouldn't taste bad.

The three little ones washed their hands and gathered around the pot, their faces full of excitement.

"Mom, it smells so good!" Daya swallowed hard.

"Mom, can we eat now?" Er Ya was practically bursting with anticipation.

Although she was worried that there wouldn't be enough food at home, her mother said that she had taken a lot from her grandmother, and she trusted her mother and believed that she wouldn't go hungry if she stayed with her mother.

"Wait, you two go and call Xiao Yishan over for dinner." Li Ruru pushed her two daughters out the door.

Taking this opportunity, she opened the pot lid, preparing to let it cool.

The children are too hungry and may get burned if they eat too quickly.

Soon, Daya and Erya returned with their heads down.

“Mother, he’s not coming. He said he has food to eat,” Daya said.

Er Ya's face turned pale. "Mother, you didn't see it. He... he was eating raw meat. Ugh, it was all bloody."

Li Ruru wiped her hands. "Mother will go take a look."

After thinking for a moment, she said to Sanya, "You go with your mother."

Sanya held Xiao Yishan's hand at noon, and he didn't flinch, so it seems he doesn't mind Sanya.

After all, Sanya was just a 5-year-old girl with two pigtails sticking up in the air. She was incredibly cute with her sweet, childlike voice.

Li Ruru hugged Sanya in her arms and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Sanya, eat more food from now on, so you can grow up round and chubby, okay?"

Sanya is too thin; Li Ruru thinks chubby babies are cuter.

Sanya asked earnestly, "Does Mother like chubby Sanya?"

Li Ruru nodded, and Sanya happily said, "Okay, Sanya will definitely eat more and grow fat."

The two arrived at Xiao Yishan's house. Li Ruru tried to knock on the door, but found that the house didn't have a door at all.

Parting the tall weeds, one could see Xiao Yishan gnawing on a piece of meat with a ferocious expression.

Crimson blood flowed from the corner of his mouth down his neck, hands, and the ground.

The scene was bloody, like a murder scene.

Li Ruru's lips twitched. "Um... Xiao Yishan, why don't you come to my house for dinner?"

She tried to be as tactful as possible, as children this age have a strong sense of self-esteem.

Sometimes, the kindness of others is seen as blatant shame by them. Those who have never experienced poverty may not understand that Li Ruru lost both her parents at a young age, and her family was destitute.

Sometimes when villagers invite her to eat or bring her things, she always feels that the pity in their eyes is hurtful.

Although she knew they meant well, she would rather go hungry and suffer than become an object of charity.

Upon hearing the sound, Xiao Yishan's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the meat.

His voice was hoarse, and he shook his head. "No need."

He was so hungry at noon that he went to Li Ruru's house to ask for a meal.

In the afternoon, he repaid their favor with a wild rabbit. Now that he had meat to eat himself, how could he possibly accept their food again?

Even landlords don't have surplus grain these days, so one shouldn't go too far.

Seeing that he refused, Li Ruru didn't say anything more and turned to walk out on her own.

As she walked, she winked at Sanya.

Sanya blinked and rushed to Xiao Yishan's side, "Brother, we can't finish it all, there's so much meat!"

As she spoke, she grabbed his hand and led him out the door.

Xiao Yishan didn't dare to refuse too forcefully, afraid that the little girl would fall.

Seeing this, Li Ruru seized the opportunity and said, "I only called you over because I really couldn't finish eating. Just consider it helping me out. Let's not waste food, right?"

Xiao Yishan didn't understand what she meant. Before, some people in the village had invited him over to eat.

But when something went missing from that family's house, they accused him of stealing it.

Later, several families said the same thing, and they stopped paying attention to him after that.

They complained that he smelled bad and called him a jinx who had caused the deaths of his parents.

Xiao Yishan secretly glanced at Li Ruru, and in that one glance he suddenly felt a little dazed.

Her eyes were gentle, like the mother I remembered.

"Da Ya, Er Ya, come quickly and get the bowls and chopsticks."

Li Ruru gave a call, and Daya and Erya quickly got to work.

The pot lid was opened, and the three girls cheered in unison, "Wow, it smells so good!"

Li Ruru beamed with joy and served everyone a full bowl of rice.

The bowls are still the same few broken bowls, and the chopsticks are still tree branches.

But everyone ate with gusto, their faces buried deep in their bowls.

Xiao Yishan took a bite of rabbit meat; its texture was delicate and tender, and it was smooth and delicious.

Rabbit meat is neither as tender as chicken nor as tough as beef.

"It's delicious," he said softly.

"Eat more if you like it." Li Ruru smiled and put a potsticker in his bowl. "Try this one, it tastes even better with the soup inside."

The three girls followed their mother's example and soaked the potstickers in the meat broth.

Er Ya exclaimed, "Mom, what kind of divine way of eating is this? It's so delicious!"

Sanya took a bite of the soaked potsticker, held it high in front of Xiao Yishan, and said, "Brother, eat."

Xiao Yishan took a bite and smiled shyly.

-

The Chen family suffered a setback today, and they couldn't understand it.

Why did the village head help Li Ruru? Why didn't he kick her out of the village?
It was clearly Li Ruru who stole their things.

Zhao was also puzzled. That county magistrate was really something, not only did he not stand up for them, but he also dared to beat her precious son.

"Old man, this matter cannot be left like this. If you ask me, if the county magistrate won't stand up for us, we'll go to the prefect."

If that doesn't work, we can appeal to the emperor.

Chen Bingxiao, smoking a cigarette, scolded, "Let's talk about it after Sanbao's injuries have healed."

He didn't know what went wrong, but he felt as if the whole world was helping Li Ruru, and this matter needed to be considered carefully.

"Grandma, Grandpa, look what this is!" Chen Jingang suddenly ran over.

"Our family is going to be rich!" Chen Jintong's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Oh? Get rich? How do you get rich?" Zhao's interest was instantly piqued.

(End of this chapter)