Rabbit Meat!

Then came his father Li Shan's heavy coughing, each cough tearing at his heart and lungs.

It took a long while before he caught his breath, his voice hoarse:

"Ah... let him be... cough, cough... that unfilial son..."

His younger sister Li Xiuer said in a soft, delicate voice:

"Father, don't get upset... third brother... he might be back soon."

She said it, but there was little conviction in her voice.

Li Xuan stood at the doorway, took a deep breath of the cold air tinged with woodsmoke and poverty, and stepped inside.

In the main room, an oil lamp with a bean-sized flame sat on a chipped wooden table, illuminating several faces with very different expressions.

Wang was stirring a pot of wild-greens gruel so thin it could serve as a mirror.

When she saw him enter, she snorted without even lifting her eyes.

Li Zhong crouched beside the hearth, poking the embers with a stick of firewood.

He glanced up at Li Xuan, his lips moving, but said nothing.

Li Shan leaned against the doorframe of the eastern room, his face a waxy yellow in the dim lamplight.

At the sight of Li Xuan, a flicker of complicated emotion passed through his clouded eyes.

Then he closed them again, as though what he could not see could not trouble him.

Only Li Xiuer timidly called out, "Third brother."

"So you still know your way home?"

Wang knocked the ladle against the rim of the pot with a sharp clink.

At last, she looked him squarely in the face, her gaze sweeping over his clothes, barely dusty, and the battered bow on his back.

Her expression brimmed with mockery.

"Oh, carrying a bow now, are you? You certainly look the part. Where have you been running wild all day? We can barely keep the cooking pot going, yet there you are, enjoying yourself outside..."

Her words suddenly caught in her throat.

Unlike before, Li Xuan neither stiffened his neck and argued back nor pulled an impatient face.

Instead, he walked straight to the rickety wooden table.

He took the bundle in his hand, haphazardly wrapped in a few large, withered yellow leaves.

And set it in the middle of the table with a thump.

The leaves fell loose, revealing a gray, furry, already stiff-wild rabbit.

The room instantly fell frighteningly silent.

There was only the faint popping of firewood in the hearth.

And the tiny crackle of the oil lamp's burning wick.

Four pairs of eyes fixed themselves on the two wild rabbits in unison.

Li Xiuer was the first to react, letting out a soft little "Ah!"

She covered her mouth with her small hands, her eyes bursting with delighted surprise as she stared at the rabbits and murmured:

"R-rabbits! We have meat to eat!"

She could not help edging half a step closer, then timidly stopped.

She looked at Li Xuan, her eyes full of disbelief.

The stick of firewood in Li Zhong's hand dropped to the floor with a clatter.

He shot to his feet, his legs a little numb from crouching for so long.

He staggered, but paid it no mind, reaching the table in a few strides.

Bending over, he widened his eyes and examined them closely.

He even reached out a finger and gingerly poked one rabbit's cold ear.

"They... they really are rabbits?"

He raised his head, his honest face filled with shock and bewilderment, looking from the rabbits to Li Xuan.

"Third brother, where... where did these come from?"

Wang also came to her senses. Before the mockery had fully faded from her face, it was replaced by profound astonishment and suspicion.

She put down the ladle and came over as well.

Her gaze looked ready to bore two holes through the rabbits.

Then she looked Li Xuan up and down, her tone full of distrust:

"You hunted them? You?"

She shook her head, rejecting the idea herself.

"Impossible! You can't even draw the bow all the way! Don't tell me... you picked them up somewhere? Are they completely dead? They'd better not have died of sickness, or eating them will make us ill!"

Li Xuan knew this sister-in-law of his had a knife for a tongue but a heart as soft as tofu.

He could not help smiling.

"Sister-in-law, come take a look. See whether these rabbits were sick!"

At some point, Li Shan had also slowly shuffled over, steadying himself against the doorframe.

He did not look at the rabbits first. Instead, he stared at Li Xuan's face for several seconds, as if trying to discern something.

Only then did he turn his gaze to the table.

The old hunter had a keen eye. One glance at the rabbits' fur, wounds, and stiff postures,

And he was already fairly certain. He coughed heavily twice, his voice raspy.

With a complicated emotion in his voice, he slowly spoke:

"Arrow wounds... fresh. Killed in one shot, hardly any struggle. Their pelts are intact. They weren't strangled in a snare or bitten by a beast."

He lifted his eyes and looked at Li Xuan, his gaze stern.

"You brat... has your luck really reached the heavens? One trip into the mountains, and you managed to 'pick up' two fat rabbits freshly shot dead, with their pelts undamaged?"

That was what he said, but Li Xuan clearly saw it.

Deep beneath Old Dad's stern gaze,

A fleeting, almost imperceptible hint of relief?

Though disbelief still made up most of it.

Hearing his father's words, Li Zhong caught on too, rubbing his hands with an honest grin.

"Who cares whether he picked them up or... uh, having meat is a good thing, anyway!"

Only then did he notice the lingering chill and the few unmelted flecks of snow clinging to Li Xuan's shoulders and hair.

He hurriedly reached out to brush them away, concern entering his voice.

"You must be frozen, right? In weather this cold... hurry over to the hearth and warm yourself up!"

As he spoke, he even made to take off his own tattered padded jacket to drape over Li Xuan.

Li Xuan waved him off and turned sideways to avoid his elder brother's hands.

"Elder brother, I'm fine."

He walked to the hearth himself and held his hands, a little stiff with cold, close to its faint remaining warmth.

As the warmth reached him, he let out a soft breath of comfort.

Wang's attention had already been completely captured by the two rabbits.

She hefted them in her hands, her eyes shining.

"Oh, they're not light! This one's fatter-must weigh more than three jin. The thinner one's still a little over two."

The abacus in her mind began clicking furiously.

"The fur's nothing special, but we can still use it once it's cured... as for the meat..."

She looked at Li Xuan, her gaze growing eager and her tone softening considerably.

"Third brother, listen. These rabbits... let's keep one to eat, satisfy our cravings, and nourish Father a little. Tomorrow, I'll take the other to the market in town and sell it for some rice and flour. We could even buy a length of coarse cloth to make thicker winter clothes for you, your brother, and Father. What do you think?"

She calculated it all, as though she could already see the gleaming white rice and thick cotton cloth.

But Li Shan said nothing.

He simply looked at Li Xuan, waiting for him to decide.

Li Xuan smiled and nodded. "You're right, sister-in-law. We should exchange it for some grain."

Li Xiuer muttered softly:

"Wouldn't... wouldn't it be better to keep both to eat?"

Then she hurriedly lowered her head, afraid her sister-in-law would scold her for being greedy.

Li Xuan warmed himself by the fire, feeling its heat drive away the chill.

It also dispelled some of the excitement and exhaustion from his first successful hunt.

He had already considered this question on the way home.

According to the system's prompts, both killing and eating prey seemed to grant tiny amounts of additional physique experience or points.

He had to eat meat. It was one of the ways to improve his physique quickly.

"Sister-in-law,"

He began, his voice a little hoarse from the cold.

"Keep the fat one for us to eat. Tomorrow, take the thin one and the pelts to town and sell them. Rice or flour, either is fine."

He paused, then added, "Get more grain. It's time we filled the rice jar."

At that, Wang's face blossomed into a smile, and she nodded repeatedly.

"Yes! Good! Good! Our third brother really does know what matters! Don't worry, your sister-in-law will take care of everything! I'll stew the rabbit meat tonight with some Dried Mushrooms. It's bound to smell wonderful!"