Chapter 29: Eating Meat

Li You generally did not hit children, unless he could not hold back.

The most hateful thing was that Hei Liuzi, while being beaten, still stuck out his neck and said:

"Isn't what you wanted a bucket?"

"Isn't what I'm holding a bucket?"

"What I'm holding is indeed a bucket!"

"Xiao Juzi, look, is what I'm holding a bucket? Why is my lord still beating me? Ah-ya-ya, stop quickly, my Huang Yanzi is swollen from your beating... wuwuwu..."

Xiao Juzi stared blankly at the bucket for a long time, then turned to Li You and said, "Brother Xianggong, Brother Hei Liuzi is right. You wanted a bucket, and what he is holding is a bucket. Why are you still beating him?"

Li You, who was about to stop, stiffened his body, took a deep breath, and his tiger frame shook once more; he unleashed another storm of blows before finally stopping, thinking to himself, no wonder Yu Zhengchun told him that Hei Liuzi's mind was unusual. Li You had thought at the time that he meant clever and quick-witted, but who could have known it was unusual in this way?

There was no choice; the hunt had to continue. Li You found a large stone to seal the cave entrance first, then went to gather some dry grass and firewood. Only then did he remember he had no flint or mugwort floss... Hei Liuzi, wiping away tears and rubbing his buttocks, ran off again to find Liu Longjin.

Taking advantage of this gap, Li You prepared to climb the persimmon tree to pick the remaining few persimmons first.

He first had Xiao Juzi sit in front of the persimmon tree because there were not many persimmons, all located at the treetops, so someone was needed to direct him in picking them.

Once up the tree, Li You picked the persimmons quite roughly; relying on his immense strength, the persimmon tree branches were brittle, and he basically snapped them along with the tree bones.

When only two persimmons remained to be picked, Hei Liuzi had already come running happily, as if the one who had just been beaten was not him at all, with not a shred of sadness.

Li You climbed down the tree, struck the flint to ignite the mugwort floss, then used the dry grass to build up the fire. He moved the stone aside and stuffed it into the badger den; thick yellow smoke began to rage. For safety, Li You blocked most of the cave entrance, leaving only a small gap three fingers wide, and stuffed dry grass inside to smoke it out.

At first, there was still some movement inside, but in the end, there was complete silence within.

Li You smoked it for a while longer, then moved the stone aside, cleared out the burnt dry grass and ash remaining inside, and stuffed Hei Liuzi into the hole headfirst like an inverted green onion.

He made him pull out the smoked badger, and finally, he grabbed Hei Liuzi by the feet and pulled him out.

This badger was not small in size.

An autumn badger had thick layers of fat, estimated to be around twenty jin. Between smoking and burning, the fur on its body had curled up quite a bit, and inside were several handfuls of wild fruits like hairy chestnuts, walnuts, and hawthorns.

Li You was extremely delighted; he made Hei Liuzi run to fetch the arrows, and the hairy mice were skewered in the middle like lamb skewers.

He had also finished organizing the picked persimmons here, totaling sixteen, which he had the two of them hold. Inside the badger den, there were still many hairy chestnuts, walnuts, and hawthorns, which Hei Liuzi took off his clothes to wrap up.

With a full harvest, Li You carried the badger on his shoulder, and the three of them headed back. The two little rascals, because they were happy, talked much more...

"Why doesn't Brother Xianggong want the persimmon leaves?" Xiao Juzi asked happily, looking at the persimmons in her arms.

"What's the use of tree leaves?" Li You, carrying the chubby badger cub on his shoulder, said, "The leaves on the tree have no stems; they all fall off with just a shake."

"If there were leaves, the persimmons would think they were still growing on the tree, and they could be kept for a long time, until winter when we could eat them... Last winter, Sister Xiao Lan starved to death; if we had had these persimmons then, we could have survived the winter and eaten licorice roots, thorny berry stems, and wild vegetables!"

Xiao Juzi hugged the persimmons in her arms tightly, speaking with a serious expression.

Li You felt inexplicably tearful in his eyes, sniffed hard, and said, "Little glutton, if you want to eat, just eat! This winter, with your brother here, none of you will starve to death!"

"Hehe, that's good. Then when we get back, let's share a few and eat them first!"

A radiant smile instantly spread across her small round face. Her cute appearance made Li You really want to take a bite out of her little cheek. But a promise weighed heavily in his heart, making him feel a bit burdened!

"Brother Xianggong..." Hei Liuzi spoke up.

"Don't call me brother!"

"Then... Lord Li, why didn't you crawl into the badger den just now?" Hei Liuzi started talking.

"I am my lord; I cannot fit inside."

"You could make the hole bigger!"

"Too much trouble... Besides, I don't want to; I just wanted you to crawl in. So what?"

"Nothing. It was just dry grass ash inside, still red and hot; it burned me to death. From now on, you can just beat my buttocks to pieces; I won't crawl in anymore!"

Hei Liuzi's face and arms were red, and a few small blisters had even formed.

"Then I'll let you eat a pork knuckle later!"

"Hey, okay. Then... then... then from now on, I'll still be the one to crawl in... Just using leaves to protect my arms and face will be enough."

"Then can we wait until the ash cools down? Can we wait until it cools down before we crawl in?" Li You asked expressionlessly.

"Oh, right... Hey, hey, hey, that's true. Then... then Lord, why... why didn't you wait until the ash cooled down before rushing me to crawl in?"

"Shut up. Your voice is really grating; it's disturbing me."

Li You bickered with the two little rascals all the way, and before he knew it, they arrived at the small flat slope where Liu Longjin was. From far away, they all smelled the scent of meat. Hei Liuzi and the others were so hungry that their drool flowed like a waterfall.

"Whoa... a badger cub!"

Liu Longjin, who was flipping the meat, looked at Li You's shoulder, jumped up in surprise, took the badger down with a look of wonder, and laughed heartily, saying, "Heavy, truly heavy!"

While he was speaking, Wa Qingyun also returned, but he could be said to have returned empty-handed. He certainly hadn't found any rabbits, and he hadn't even caught a single hairy mouse.

Yu Zhengchun held a handful of bamboo shoot worms and grasshoppers in his hands, black, red, and yellow; especially the bamboo shoot worms, which looked somewhat terrifying.

Wa Qingyun held a handful of silkworm pupae in one hand, and in the other hand were some red hawthorn fruits and walnuts, all shriveled, as if they had been dug out of a mouse hole.

"Oh my mother, in these times, when jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards have nothing to eat and are running down the mountain to catch people to eat, how did you, my lord, manage to catch such a fat badger? You are even more formidable than tigers and wolves!"

Wa Qingyun looked at that fat badger and looked at Li You with awe.

Although he could not recognize a cartload of characters, he knew that "luck," this invisible and intangible thing, always existed, and Li You undoubtedly possessed it.

You see, last year around April and May, Nanzhai also faced a food shortage. In the deep ravines and hollows of the nearby mountains, which places had they not searched and hunted? Yet which time had they managed to catch a single badger?

Actually, never mind a badger; even catching a single hairy mouse was very difficult, because the animals were also suffering from the famine and were simply not to be found!

"Haha, just good luck. Hurry up and eat, hurry up and eat. If we don't eat soon, their drool alone will extinguish the fire."

Li You looked at Yu Zhengchun, Xiao Niang, and the other children, who were already sitting in a circle around the fire pit, with the sound of swallowing saliva rising and falling.

Even so, even the youngest, Xiao Juzi, did not reach out; they were all waiting for Li You to eat first.

Li You had no choice but to sit down, tear off a small piece, and put it in his mouth first.

Then he took the already roasted rabbit meat, cut it into pieces with a knife for them, and handed it into their hands; only then did they begin to wolf it down.

Especially Xiao Niang, holding a piece of belly meat with a bit of fat, gently peeled it open to reveal the white and red meat inside. The oily juice flowed out and spread instantly. The steam rose onto her small flower-like face, wafting into her nose, and immediately made her saliva gush forth like a spring. She hurriedly stuffed the whole thing into her mouth...

Perhaps it was too hot; she sometimes chewed with her cheeks puffed out, sometimes opened her mouth to exhale, and sometimes shook her head left and right. Her eyes were half-closed the whole time, and her body trembled continuously... As the children's shoulders kept heaving, Li You suddenly realized that the vast wilderness was filled with the sound of swallowing everywhere.

"Eat!" Li You invited Liu Longjin and Wa Qingyun to join him, and he began eating as well.

Liu Longjin gave him the best cut of meat from the hind leg, rubbing it several more times against the salt brick; Li You made no pretense, for his hunger had worn the tendons on his belly nearly smooth.

No matter what, he must ensure he had a strong body; this was his greatest reliance for protecting himself and those around him.

Hearing the swallowing sounds of the children around him, since his transmigration, his heart finally felt no more anxiety, but instead a sense of accomplishment spread within his chest.

This feeling lasted for a moment; upon noticing it, Li You could not help but smile: eating and drinking, this was life.