Traveling through the 1970s: The young wife loves to make trouble

Chapter 32: Leaving chicken under the knife

"Sister-in-law, you're amazing." Li Zi glanced at the hare and pheasant and praised, "Not only did you pick up so many mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms, but you also caught hares and pheasants. You're really amazing."

"That's right." Tao Qiuyi was a little flattered by the praise, and then thought of a question, "Lizi, can you kill a chicken?"

"No." Li Zi shook her head, then quickly added, "Big brother and Xiao Huai can."

Tao Qiuyi clearly saw that the hare and pheasant were happy for a moment when they heard Li Zi say no, but when they heard someone else knew, they gave up struggling, stopped flapping their legs, and lay down waiting to die.

"Your eldest brother needs to recuperate and can't get out of bed. Wait for Xiao Huai to come back and have him kill the hare and pheasant. We'll save the hare for tomorrow, and stew the pheasant with mushrooms tonight. Then make some flatbreads, and we'll have dinner."

Li Zi nodded in agreement. Thinking about having chicken soup and chicken in the evening, her hands picked mushrooms and fungus even faster.

Tao Qiuyi watched the little girl's actions, smiled, went into the house to see Wei Jingyuan, and saw that he was asleep with his eyes closed. He silently left the house and went to work with Li Zi.

When picking mushrooms and wood ears in the mountains, he just thought the more the better. Now he has to sort them out and feels that too many is not good. Tao Qiuyi suddenly felt a headache when he thought of the large pile of them in his ring space.

Not long after, Xiao Huai came back with medicinal wine.

He was holding something wrapped in paper in his hand, and was not surprised to see the two men still sorting mushrooms and wood ears.

"Xiao Huai, you're back! My sister-in-law said we should eat pheasants tonight and eat both pheasants. My sister-in-law and I don't know how to kill chickens, so go kill and clean the chickens quickly, and I'll stew them later." Pear's little mouth chattered as she told him that Tao Qiuyi asked Xiao Huai to kill the rabbits and pheasants.

"Okay." Xiao Huai nodded in agreement. After seeing that there were no scars on the hare and pheasant, he was stunned for a moment and his eyes fell on Tao Qiuyi's busy hands.

What are this woman's hands made of?
Pheasants and hares...can be caught with bare hands?
"What are you carrying?" Li Zi asked when she saw the paper bag in his hand.

"These are corn cakes given by my fourth uncle and aunt." Xiao Huai answered and carried the things into the house. He first helped his eldest brother rub the medicinal wine before coming out to kill the rabbit and pheasant.

Uncle and Auntie often gave them food, and Lizi had long been accustomed to it.

After receiving some mushrooms and fungus, the fourth uncle and aunt gave him other food in return. Tao Qiuyi felt that it was okay. It didn't matter if the gifts were too few, and the correct way of interacting with others was to give and take.

With the unremitting efforts of Tao Qiuyi and Li Zi, the mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms were finally sorted, but it was almost dark.

Tao Qiuyi kept the mushrooms for himself to eat tonight and the black fungus to give as a thank-you gift, and put the rest back into his backpack. He planned to take them to the black market to sell them tomorrow.

This time they are packed separately, with the mushrooms at the bottom and the wood ear mushrooms on top, with a little straw in the middle as a partition.

After packing, Tao Qiuyi and Li Zi took the mushrooms to the kitchen. Xiao Huai had already killed the pheasant and plucked the feathers. He was skinning a rabbit. His hands were stained with the rabbit's blood, but the boy remained calm. His hand holding the knife was very steady, as if he was carving a work of art.

"Xiao Huai, where did you learn this skill? It's quite good!" Tao Qiuyi walked to Xiao Huai in surprise and praised him generously.

"My eldest brother taught me." Xiao Huai's voice was very calm, and he looked unperturbed by praise or criticism.

It turns out that it was Wei Jingyuan who taught him. That’s nothing strange. Tao Qiuyi praised Xiao Huai a few more times.

"Xiao Huai is amazing. He can make benches with bamboo and weave many kinds of things with bamboo. Sister-in-law, the backpack that you use to carry mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms was woven by Xiao Huai." Li Zi also praised Xiao Huai with a very proud expression.

"Really? That's amazing." Tao Qiuyi praised sincerely.

"Lizi, the meat we had left over from lunch is gone," Xiao Huai suddenly said. "What do you mean the meat is gone?" Tao Qiuyi asked before Lizi did. After she finished asking, she realized that even though she was standing next to Xiao Huai, he was talking to Lizi. What a strange temper!

Li Zi also walked over and looked at Xiao Huai, waiting for his answer.

"It means exactly what it says." Xiao Huai kept moving his hands.

Tao Qiuyi didn't have to think much to understand the meaning of Xiao Huai's words. There was always someone in the house after the family split up, which meant that the meat disappeared before the split up.

When the commotion started, there were many people watching in the yard, but they were all simple villagers who would not take advantage of the chaos to break into other people's houses and rob them.

The only people who would enter the house were the Wei family’s own people. Several adults of the Wei family were present, but none of the children came out.

In fact, even if he came out, Tao Qiuyi would not recognize the Wei family's children.

"If it's gone, then it's gone. We don't need that little bit of meat. We'll just have to take care of our own food in the future." Tao Qiuyi didn't plan to pursue the matter.

Xiao Huai looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to be so easy to talk to.

Li Zi went back to do her own thing, and Tao Qiuyi had nothing to do, so she continued to watch Xiao Huai peeling the rabbit skin.

"I didn't use the medicinal wine I brought back from Fourth Uncle's house to rub my eldest brother." Xiao Huai suddenly lowered his voice to explain, "I accidentally knocked over the bottle of medicinal wine this afternoon, and the wine spilled out, filling the room with the smell of it."

"Not long after you left, Big Brother started sweating and his fever quickly subsided. I helped him take off his sweat-soaked clothes and applied ointment again. Then Xiaoli and I stayed in the house the whole afternoon."

"We just opened the door when Fourth Uncle and the old Party Secretary came. The smell of medicinal wine was still in the room. Fourth Uncle saw that my eldest brother was much better, and that most of the bottle of medicinal wine was gone. He thought that the medicinal wine must have worked for my eldest brother."

"No, actually. Big brother got better after applying the ointment you made. I didn't know if you would like others to know that you could make ointments, so I didn't dare to tell Fourth Uncle clearly."

After saying that, Xiao Huai looked at Tao Qiuyi nervously, worried that she would blame him for acting on his own.

No wonder the captain asked Xiao Huai to go to his house to get medicinal wine again. So this is what happened. Tao Qiuyi saw Xiao Huai's uneasiness and worry, and was very relieved. Xiao Huai was willing to take the initiative to explain to her, which showed that he sincerely accepted her.

"Xiao Huai, you did a great job and thought it through very carefully," Tao Qiuyi said sincerely. "I want to say thank you for keeping it a secret. I really didn't want anyone to know I could make ointments so early."

It would be bad for her to reveal her abilities too early.

"We're family, no need to say thank you." Xiao Huai felt relieved.

"You're right, there's no need to say thank you as a family." Tao Qiuyi agreed with a smile.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Turning around, he saw Li Zi holding a kitchen knife and about to chop two pheasants, so Tao Qiuyi hurriedly spoke out to stop her.

"Hey, spare the chicken under the pear knife. The pheasant is small and there is no need to chop it. Just throw it into the pot and blanch it. Take it out and wash it clean. Pour out the dirty water in the pot. Wash the pot clean, put clean water in it and bring it to a boil, then throw the pheasant into the pot and stew it." Tao Qiuyi repeated the process of stewing pheasant.

Li Zi didn't ask why, she just did as she said.

(End of this chapter)