Chapter 8: A Bowl of Rabbit Meat

Chen Xiaohu carried a cloth bag filled with five pounds of sorghum rice and started walking towards Chen Jie's family.

He hadn't gone far when he saw Chen Sanliu's family just finished eating, basking in the sun under a big tree.

"Uncle."

Chen Xiaohu nodded in greeting.

Chen Sanliu replied with an indifferent nod to Chen Xiaohu, while a young man in his twenties next to him spoke up, "Xiao Hu, what are you doing with that bag of rice?"

Chen Xiaohu answered, "Jiu Si's family has run out of food. I'm taking some over to them."

"Oh, you child, you're being foolish!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Sanliu, who had been silent until now, stood up and said, "That boy, Jiu Si, is hopeless, addicted to gambling. Everyone avoids him like the plague, and here your family is, delivering food to him. Is it because you've got too much to spare? Go back, go back."

Chen Sanliu spoke to Chen Xiaohu with a sense of heavy importance.

But Chen Xiaohu responded, "Uncle San Liu, my dad said that Jiu Si has mended his ways."

"Mended his ways, my foot. If he could change, I'd be a monkey's uncle. Listen to me and get yourself home. Otherwise, your bit of grain—they'll take it and you'll never see it again."

"Yeah, Xiao Hu, don't be a fool. Chen Jiu Si deserves to starve. We should steer clear of him. Last time he came knocking on our door asking for food, we pretended we weren't even home. Now you're sending him food? Are you out of your mind?"

The twenty-something-year-old also tried to persuade him.

Looking at his uncle and cousin giving advice, Chen Xiaohu hesitated and eventually said, "Alright, I'll go home and ask my dad."

After speaking, Chen Xiaohu turned around and headed back home.

Watching the departing Chen Xiaohu, Chen Sanliu glanced at Chen Erba's house and said, "That cripple Erba is also foolish. Our granduncle is dead, there's no benefit to reap, so why bother with that outsider."

Chen Sanliu shook his head as he spoke.

"Back in the day, our great-uncle passed all his medical skills to you, and it didn't have to end up like this today."

The young man added.

The two of them shook their heads, filled with indignation.

They couldn't understand why their great-uncle, having no sons, chose to pass his medical skills to a nephew and what use there was for a son-in-law. That son-in-law only gave birth to an unworthy child who knew nothing but ruining the family business.

In their hearts, they cursed Chen Jie, the reckless wastrel, but never once did they consider that it was this very cousin who first led Chen Jiu Si into gambling.

Once Chen Jiu Si was hooked, that cousin quit playing, and afterwards, Chen Jiu Si's family fortunes declined, leading to the current situation.

And the root of all these issues was because their great-uncle refused to pass on the medical skills to their father; even when their father knelt in front of the great-uncle, offering to take care of him in his old age, the stubborn old man wouldn't agree.

Chen Xiaohu returned home and seeing that he had come back so quickly, Chen Erba asked, "The grain, did you deliver it?"

Chen Xiaohu shook his head and replied, "I ran into Uncle San Liu on the way."

Upon hearing that, Chen Erba put down the half-woven basket he was working on and queried, "What did he say?"

"He said that Jiu Si is a bottomless pit, and advised us not to waste our grain on him."

Chen Erba frowned at this and asked, "Do you think he's right?"

Chen Xiaohu was taken aback and quickly answered, "I don't know, so I came back to ask dad."

Chen Erba relaxed his expression somewhat and said, "Chen Sanliu may not cherish the favors owed, but I cannot imitate him. Deliver the grain, but take a detour."

"Alright!"

Chen Xiaohu set off again, and Chen Erba sighed. At that moment, his wife also came out and said, "Erba, Chen Sanliu doesn't care about all the favors our granduncle granted him, and you certainly received less than him. Why bother with such matters?"

Chen Erba gave his wife a sharp look and chided, "You woman, what do you know? Just go and cook."

Saying this, Chen Erba continued to weave the baskets; each basket earned him two cents. The more he wove, the more he would earn.

In reality, his wife was quite right compared to Chen Sanliu, Chen Erba received far fewer benefits from their granduncle.

Chen Sanliu was born with the gift of gab, and during their granduncle's lifetime, he would often go to butter him up. The granduncle was a well-known doctor for miles around and made good money. Moreover, with only one daughter, in this world, it was as if he had no successor.

Consequently, he was very kind to his nephews, such as when Chen Sanliu got married, his uncle paid to build him a new house and also gave him three mu of paddy fields as a foundation to start his business.

One could say that this was the treatment one would give to his own sons.

And as for Chen Erba, who was not adept at speaking and not very favored by the uncle, his uncle saw his clumsy speech and physical disability and helped him learn a craft, teaching him bamboo basket weaving with the Old Bamboo Weaving Master from the neighboring village.

It was because of this that he had a bowl of rice to eat today, and for this kindness, he remembered the uncle for a lifetime.

As for Chen Jiusi, despite being born to a husband who had married into the Chen family, he had also been entered into the Chen family's ancestral records and would call him "uncle," so he never treated him as an outsider.

In the past, he was notoriously addicted to gambling. He was difficult to discipline, and indeed beyond his control, but now that he was showing signs of improvement, he couldn't help but give his nephew a hand.

Chen Xiaohu took the longer route to the Chen family's home, knocked on the door, and soon someone came to open it, and to his surprise, it was Su Yunjin.

Chen Xiaohu immediately greeted her, "Sister-in-law, hello."

Su Yunjin had a good impression of Xiao Hu and asked, "Xiao Hu, what brings you here?"

Xiao Hu said, "My father sent me to deliver some sorghum rice to your family."

Xiao Hu gestured towards the rice sack, upon hearing this, Su Yunjin was unsure whether to decide on her own, but just then, Chen Jie's voice came from inside the house, "Who is it?"

Su Yunjin said, "It's Xiao Hu. You're in luck, your brother is home. You can give the grain to your brother."

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Hu, upon hearing this, went into the yard to find Chen Jie.

Xiao Hu used to get along quite well with Chen Jie, but unfortunately later on, as Chen Jie became addicted to gambling and drinking and would beat people, Chen Erba forbid Xiao Hu from playing with Chen Jie.

Xiao Hu had seen his father's hardships from a young age and understood that he couldn't squander his family's limited resources, so he stopped playing with Chen Jie.

When Chen Jie saw Xiao Hu, memories related to him surged in his mind, and overall, he considered him a sensible child.

Chen Jie asked Xiao Hu, "Hu Zi, what is it?"

Xiao Hu replied, "My dad said your household ran out of food, so he sent me to bring over some sorghum rice."

Touched by his words, Chen Jie remembered this timely help and smiled, "Great, Jin, take it. We'll make a pot of sorghum rice. By the way, Hu Zi, I caught a fat rabbit today and it's stewing right now. Why don't you join us for a bit?"

Rabbit meat?

Gurgle!

Hearing these three words, Xiao Hu swallowed his saliva but still shook his head, "No thanks, Jiu Si, I have lots of baskets at home that still need to be woven, so I shouldn't stay any longer."

As he spoke, he was about to leave, but Chen Jie immediately said, "Wait a moment."

He went over to the pot, saw that the rabbit meat with wild vegetables was ready, and ladled a big bowl.

"Here, Hu Zi, take this back as a thanks to Uncle Erba."

"Ah, this, I can't, Jiu Si, I really shouldn't."

Hu Zi tried to refuse; a bowl of rabbit meat was worth much more than five pounds of sorghum rice. This was meat, after all!

Chen Jie insisted, "All right, no more refusing, just take it, or your brother might get angry."

Unable to refuse, Hu Zi took the bowl and brought it home. Upon his return, his mother's wild vegetable dumplings were ready, and she was surprised to see Hu Zi carrying a bowl of meat, "Where did this meat come from?"

Hu Zi replied, "Jiu Si gave it."

"This..."

The wife didn't know quite what to say.

Uncle Erba returned home and saw the bowl of rabbit meat just as Hu Zi sensibly said, "Dad, Jiu Si gave it. Should I return it?"

Uncle Erba paused and then replied, "Keep it and eat it. It was Jiu Si's kind gesture."

"It doesn't seem right, as if I was after his bowl of meat... Hu Zi, take six of the wild vegetable dumplings that your mother made. They're good, she added half a bowl of sorghum flour to them. You're just in time to return the bowl, take them back with you."

"Ah, I'll go now."

Hu Zi poured the meat from the bowl into another bowl at home, and the wife picked out six of the larger wild vegetable dumplings to send back to the Chen family.