After the family split up, my stepmother and scumbag father begged me to come home.

She had only taken a few steps when a white, furry thing darted out of the bushes with a "whoosh"—this time it was Lin Qianqian's turn to be startled.

Upon closer inspection, it was a wild rabbit, which darted into a burrow in a flash.

She quickly raised her hand and made a "shh" gesture to Lin Yulong behind her.

Lin Yulong leaned closer and whispered, "Sis, it's already inside the hole, we can't catch it now, right?"

Lin Qianqian didn't reply, her eyes fixed on the hole, already calculating in her mind. She lowered her voice: "You cover the hole with the basket, I'll go over there and light a fire to smoke it out."

Lin Yulong got excited when he heard this, and quickly grabbed the basket and covered the entrance of the cave tightly.

Lin Qianqian squatted down and started fiddling with her "fire-making by friction" again. This time she was quite skilled and soon stuffed the smoking wood chips into another hole, added some dry grass, and the flames leaped up, with thick smoke pouring straight into the hole.

"Keep it covered, get ready to close the net." She patted the dust off her hands.

Lin Yulong stared intently at the opening of the basket.

After waiting for a while, nothing happened.

After waiting a while longer, there was still no movement.

He couldn't help but turn to look at his sister.

Lin Qianqian didn't speak, but simply raised her chin, signaling him to continue staring.

Just as Lin Yulong was losing patience, there was a sudden "thump" from under the basket, as something bumped into him.

One, two, three, four!

"Stop!" Lin Qianqian reacted quickly, rushing forward to gather the basket and blocking the opening with her stomach.

"Sis, you're amazing!" Lin Yulong's eyes lit up as he circled the basket.

"Stop praising it, hurry up and find something to tie it up." Lin Qianqian squatted down and held down the rabbit that was still running around in the basket.

Lin Yulong looked around, plucked a handful of grass, twisted it and it broke. He twisted another one, but it still didn't work.

He glanced down at his already tattered jacket, gritted his teeth, and tore off a few strips of cloth from the hem.

Lin Qianqian's eyes widened when she saw him do this: "Why are you tearing your clothes?"

"It's fine, they're broken anyway, we'll just buy new ones later!" Lin Yulong said nonchalantly, carefully reaching in with one hand to grab a rabbit's hind leg, pulling it out and tying it up. One, two, three, four, all tied up securely.

Once the four plump rabbits were lined up at their feet, the siblings sat down on the ground, looked at each other, and then at the basket of spoils. They were panting heavily, but their faces were full of smiles.

"Sister, four, a whole four!" Lin Yulong said in a low voice, his excitement barely contained.

"It can be exchanged for a lot of money." Lin Qianqian smiled as well.

"It's a pity it's not ours; the milk will definitely take it." The light in Lin Yulong's eyes dimmed, and he seemed somewhat discouraged.

"We'll make sure she doesn't even see a hair on her head." Lin Qianqian squatted down, picked up a fat rabbit and weighed it in her hand. "Do you know how to kill it? If we kill one, we can have a treat, and we can sell the remaining three in town later."

"Sell them all, sis, I don't want any." Lin Yulong shook his head sensibly.

"Not eating? We can't even walk to town." Lin Qianqian rolled her eyes at him. "Stop talking nonsense, can't you even skin someone alive?"

"It might be..." Lin Yulong scratched his head, "I'm afraid if I don't skin it properly, the rabbit skin won't be worth anything."

"It's okay, it's broken, it's broken." Lin Qianqian said, looking around for something to peel off. There was nothing on the ground except for stones and grass roots.

"Sister, here's a shard of porcelain!" Lin Yulong, with his sharp eyes, dug half a broken bowl out of the soil, rubbed it on a stone, and the blade showed a white burr, sharp enough.

"You tidy up first, I'll go further in and see if I can find anything else." Lin Qianqian patted the dirt off her hands and stood up.

"Sister... be careful," Lin Yulong said, looking up at her.

"Okay." Lin Qianqian had already pushed aside the bushes and gone inside.

Lin Yulong gripped the porcelain shard, turned the rabbit over, and made a slow and gentle cut.

The hides have to be peeled off whole; each hide can fetch several more copper coins.

He pursed his lips, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, the porcelain shard gliding along his skin, not daring to exert even a little more force.