Chapter 72 - Steamed Stuffed Buns (1/2)
Qian Wu also went up and poked the pheasant in his hands, and then said, “Older Brother Zhao Han, can you give me a few of this pheasant’s feathers? My younger sister is always pestering me to make a feathered shuttlecock for her…”
Little Shitou didn’t give him any face and laughed, “Weren’t you the one who boasted that you could catch pheasants? You have exaggerated so much that you don’t know how to fix it, right? So you’re asking for Brother Zhao Han’s help now…”
“You stinky rock [1]! Can’t you give your older brother some face? I’m two years older than you after all. Don’t you know that you need to respect the old and the wise!” Qian Wu cried angrily. The two little kids began to fight in jest again and appeared very lively.
“Father, we’re back!” Before Little Shitou entered the door, he had shouted excitedly as if he was afraid that others wouldn’t know about his ‘triumphant’ return.
Yu Hai, who was immersed in weaving bamboo baskets in the courtyard, heard the noise in front of the door and looked up in surprise, “Xiaowen, Xiaowu, Hanzi, why are you guys here? Xiaolian, quickly get seats for the guests…”
Qian Wen gently prevented Yu Hai from standing up and smiled, “Uncle Dahai, there’s no need. Xiaowu and I are going back now. Xiaocao, where should I put this basket of wild herbs?”
Xiaolian put down her embroidery and looked at the basket full of wild herbs in surprise. She exclaimed softly, “You guys dug out so many wild herbs? I never knew that we could gather so many wild herbs during this season!”
Yu Xiaocao directly instructed, “Just put it in the kitchen… By the way, Brother Xiaowen, you should take some back to make soup. It tastes delicious!”
“No need, no need! There are still a lot of vegetables in our family’s cellar, so we have enough vegetables to eat at home…” Qian Wen politely declined.
Qian Wu covetly stared at the basket of shepherd’s purse and honestly said, “I’m tired of eating vegetables in the cellar, which are nothing but radishes and cabbage. Older Brother, today we also helped to dig up a lot of the wild herbs, so it’s alright to take some back.”
Qian Wen glared at him helplessly and continued to refuse. But Xiaocao had already packed the vegetables for him. She divided one basket of shepherd’s purse into two small baskets. She gave one basket to Qian Wu and had prepared to give the other basket to Zhao Han so that he could take it back to try it.
“Uncle Hai, I caught two wild hares and three pheasants today. My father told me to bring you one.” Zhao Han put the tied up pheasant in front of the kitchen door and was about to leave right away.
Yu Hai limped over with a crutch and said, “Why are you bringing game over again? These days, your family have sent a lot of things over already. For the bear last time, your family didn’t keep any money for yourselves and gave it all to us. Go back and tell your father that you guys don’t owe me anything!”
Zhao Han’s mouth twitched and slightly furrowed his dashing brows, and then said, “You guys didn’t receive any of the money for the bear, right? If we knew that it would turn out like this, my father would have secretly given the money to Uncle Hai and Auntie…”
Yu Xiaocao smirked and said, “Everyone in the village knows that your family sold the bear for three hundred taels. If Grandmother hadn’t received the money from you guys, she would had already gone to your house for trouble. Even if the money was given to my father, it would had been snatched away by my grandmother anyways. Well, she’s not our real grandmother, so there’s nothing I can say. However, my father is Grandfather’s biological son. I can’t believe he actually helped Grandmother hide it from us…”
“Cao’er! How can you criticize your elders? Is that what Father usually teaches you?” Yu Hai raised his voice and interrupted his daughter’s words.
Xiaocao bit her lips and refused to comply, “Why would they be afraid of other’s criticism when they’re capable of acting in such ways? Grandfather and Grandmother are originally at fault for this matter! If they even gave us one-tenth of the three hundred taels, we wouldn’t have to meticulously calculate our rations when cooking every day!”
Yu Hai’s gaze dimmed. He sighed deeply and said, “Father is useless. I’ve made you guys suffer with me…” As he spoke, he limped back to the main room.
Xiaolian looked at her stubborn younger sister, and then looked at her father desolate back. She wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, she finally said, “Little Sister, I buried a sweet potato for you under the ashes below the stove. Later, you can take it out to eat…” After she finished speaking, she immediately chased after her father and entered the house.
Everyone in the family knew that Xiaocao easily got hungry at noon, so they would bury a sweet potato in the ashes under the stove after cooking every morning. Xiaocao preferred the sweet-tasting roasted sweet potato compared to the coarse grain pancakes and bean paste soup. They saved all the sweet potatoes that their maternal grandmother sent over last time for her. Even Little Shitou didn’t bear to eat one.
Qian Wen felt somewhat awkward as he stood there, so he coughed twice and said, “Xiaocao, we’ve been out for quite a while, so we should go back now.” After that, he pulled the slow-witted Qian Wu and left Xiaocao’s house.
Zhao Han also planned to take this opportunity to leave, but Xiaocao stopped him and said, “Thank you for sending the pheasant. Like my father said, you don’t have to bring us game anymore. We’ll accept it this time, but if you continue, we’ll just send them back to your house. This is the wild herbs that we dug out today. Bring them back for Uncle Zhao to taste.”
Zhao Han didn’t refuse and took the basket, “I’ll bring the basket back to you tomorrow.”
Xiaocao and Little Shitou were the only ones left in the courtyard speechlessly looking at one another. Little Shitou stealthily looked his second sister and whispered, “It seems like Father is really angry. You should go in and apologize to him. Father dotes on you the most, so he won’t spank you!”