Chapter 294: Abundant Supplies – Daily Melon Eating in the Courtyard of the Sickly Young Lady

Chapter 294: Abundant Supplies – Frail Little Aunt’s Compound Gossip Life

Mother Lin looked at the bulging bag and asked, "This many?"

"Yeah, hehe! Surprised, huh? Neither did I—there were so many rabbits!" Mother Li grinned widely, cackling.

"Yep, the resources in these mountains are really plentiful!" Mother Lin gazed at the large bag of rabbits and then at the lush green scenery covering the hills, marveling.

Mother Sui was also thrilled. This whole bag was meat! City folks relied entirely on rations for food and drink. If supplies ran short, they might not even have enough to eat. Pork was scarce in the city, and even when it was in stock, you couldn’t always snag any. With so many rabbits, the three families could divide them and have enough to eat for a long time.

"Now what?" Mother Lin watched as the rabbits in the bag kept struggling fiercely.

"How about we grab some vines to tie ’em up?" Mother Li also felt that keeping them like this wasn’t a good idea.

"Alright! Then you hold on tight, and we’ll go look. Don’t you dare let go!" Mother Sui quickly agreed, repeatedly reminding her before leaving, afraid the rabbits might escape if they weren’t careful.

"Right, you’ve got to hold on tight!" Mother Lin, seeing how vigorously the rabbits were thrashing, was also a little afraid they might break free.

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely hold on tight." To show she could manage, she twisted the bag’s opening tighter and clenched it tight.

Only then did Mother Lin and Mother Sui feel reassured enough to book it downhill to look for vines.

They remembered seeing some in the grass along the path when they came up earlier, so they hurried back in that direction.

In no time, they returned with a large bundle of vines.

"Huff—puff—" The two of them had run so fast they were panting heavily by the time they got back.

"Geez, why the rush? I could’ve held on just fine—you could’ve taken your time."

Mother Lin bent over, waving a hand, still too breathless to speak. She swallowed hard to moisten her throat before saying, "Every second counts—who knows what could happen? We need to get this done quickly."

"Yep." Mother Sui beside her nodded eagerly, clearly sharing the same thought.

Mother Li gave in, but since they were already back, she said, "Then you two take a breather. Later, we’ll team up to tie up the rabbits."

"Okay."

After a while, once Mother Lin and Mother Sui had caught their breath, they joined Mother Li in binding the rabbits.

Mother Li kept a firm grip on the bag, holding the opening high to prevent the rabbits from escaping, while Mother Lin and Mother Sui worked together to tie them up.

They were worried that the rabbits might struggle too much for one person to handle alone.

Their concern wasn’t unfounded. The first time, due to lack of experience, Mother Lin had grabbed a rabbit’s leg but failed to secure the other, and with one strong kick, it wriggled loose.

They realized one person might not be enough to handle a rabbit, so afterward, two people worked together—one holding the rabbit down while the other tied it with vines.

Teaming up like this, the three of them finally managed to tie up all the rabbits.

"Whew—" Though they were sweaty and worn out, they were still pumped.

The three of them couldn’t help but laugh as they looked at the pile of rabbits on the ground.

They had caught a total of eleven rabbits—how could they not be thrilled? This was all meat!

"How do we split these?" Mother Sui asked.

"Tell you what—you two get four each, I’ll take three. I’ll pick the fatter ones, so it’s Even-Steven," Mother Lin suggested.

Auntie Li and Auntie Sui thought for a moment and nodded. "Hmm, this way of dividing things sounds good. Alright, we'll go with your suggestion."

They’d each brought a basket strapped to their bikes when they came.

Auntie Li glanced at the sky—it was still early. "What say we check out that hill over there for any wild greens?"

They weren’t sure what wild greens might be available in autumn but decided to try their luck. After all, they’d already had a great haul today, and even if they found nothing more, they’d be more than satisfied.

Indeed, the hill was quite barren, but wild greens were all over the place. Though some were old, there were still tender ones like ferns and purslane.

Auntie Lin’s group was plenty satisfied with these findings.

For lunch, they ate the homemade flatbreads they’d packed—they hadn’t planned to return home midday, as it wasn’t easy getting out here.

Besides, their haul was substantial, and hauling all this back on bikes wasn’t gonna work.

So, they figured they’d better split up later—one of them would ride the bike carrying the bag of rabbits, while the other two would take the bus back with the wild greens.

They were mainly worried about being noticed with the rabbits on the bus, so they opted to separate.

"Are you sure you can manage alone?" Auntie Lin asked Auntie Li.

"Don’t you fret, Auntie Lin, I’ve got plenty of strength!" After all, it was her strength that had helped her get elected as the "neighborhood manager" back in the day.

Auntie Sui wasn’t worried one bit—she knew full well how strong her old friend was.

"Auntie Lin, you can bet she lacks many things, but strength isn’t one of them."

"Alright, then be careful on the road." Seeing their confidence, Auntie Lin didn’t press further.

"Got it!" Auntie Li parted ways with them first, took off on her bike.

Since the bike might be slower than the bus, they figured if Auntie Li rode fast enough, they’d arrive around the same time.

Just like they’d figured, Auntie Lin and Auntie Sui, taking the bus, arrived slightly faster than Auntie Li on her bicycle, even though she’d left earlier.

Auntie Lin and Auntie Sui waited at the intersection. They’d gotten some looks and questions on the bus but had brushed it off.

"Over here!" Auntie Lin called out to Auntie Li as she rode toward them.

"Whew—made it at last." Auntie Li was pumped the whole way.

"Should we just head back like this?" Auntie Sui asked, eyeing their load nervously.

Auntie Li took a look and agreed that might not fly.

Seeing hardly anyone around, she waved to Auntie Lin and Auntie Sui. "Come on, let’s duck into that alley." She remembered it was a dead end.

The three of them moved cautiously, keeping their eyes peeled, as they hurried into the alley.

"Quick, quick, dump out the greens," Auntie Li instructed.

Auntie Lin and Auntie Sui obeyed, quickly tipping out their baskets.

"Open the sacks you brought, put your rabbits inside, then line the bottom with greens. Place the sacks on top and cover them with more greens."

Following Auntie Li’s directions, they soon had everything packed. From the outside, the baskets now looked like nothing but greens.

"Alright, now we can go." Auntie Li hefted her basket up.

Seeing this, Mother Sui also hoisted it onto her back.

Mrs. Lin did the same, but Mother Li quickly stopped her, "Mrs. Lin, don't carry it, don't carry it! That's way too heavy. Just put it on the bicycle and push it!"

"Yeah, exactly!" Mother Sui chimed in quickly.

Mrs. Lin felt like she'd gotten so excited that she almost forgot about that.

"Alright!"

...