The little boy stopped, staring longingly at the rabbit but not picking it up.
He turned to look at Song Wei.
Song Wei walked over and picked up the wild rabbit by its hind leg, clearly seeing the disappointment in the little boy's eyes.
He pursed his lips, glanced at the wild rabbit, and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute, do you know how to roast rabbit?"
Half an hour later, in a secluded spot.
Song Wei was using a stick to knock down large pine cones. She didn't know what kind of pine trees were here, but the pine cones were bigger than an adult's hand.
The pine nuts were also quite large; the pine cones that had opened were easily knocked off by the stick.
After knocking down the pine cones, she tossed them aside, and a thin, dark little hand picked them up and threw them into the fire.
Above the fire, he was diligently roasting rabbit meat.
The rabbit meat had been roasting for a while and was sizzling.
"What's your name?"
the little boy mumbled. "Black Egg."
"How old are you?"
"Five."
But Black Egg looked more like a three-year-old.
"You don't have anyone at home anymore?"
Otherwise, why would he be dressed like this?
"Yes, grandpa and grandma, my uncle's family, and my younger uncle's family."
"But they don't like me."
He didn't mention his own family, and Song Wei had a rough idea.
But Song Wei hadn't expected that even his grandparents wouldn't like him and would raise him like this.
The pine cones in her hands were almost all knocked down; that big sack only yielded about five pounds.
Tsk... thick skin and thin meat, the extra-thick kind.
But she was satisfied; these pine nuts smelled really good.
The aroma of roasted rabbit was already wafting out, and the two of them squatted by the fire, watching longingly.
"It's a pity there's no oil. If only we found honey in the forest."
They wondered how fragrant it would be if they smeared sweet honey on it.
They smeared a kind of sour wild fruit on the rabbit meat, stuffed some wild onions into the rabbit's belly, and sprinkled some salt on the surface.
The salt was brought by Song Wei. She had planned to hunt something in the mountains to roast, but she was so lucky to find wild rabbits so soon after arriving.
She also hired a little child laborer.
"It smells so good~"
Song Wei seemed even more hungry than Hei Dan.
The little boy's stomach was growling, but he didn't act as cowardly as she did when he smelled the rabbit meat.
But... it really smelled so good.
After an agonizing wait, the rabbit meat was finally ready.
Song Wei tore off a huge hind leg and handed it to him.
"Here, eat it. This is your reward."
Hei Dan sniffed, his eyes a little red. He couldn't even wait for the rabbit meat to cool down before taking a bite.
The meat was very hot, but he didn't want to spit it out after it swished around in his mouth. He just blew on it and ate it.
"No one's going to fight you for it. If you burn your tongue, you won't be able to taste such good flavor."
There wasn't much seasoning, so the roasted rabbit meat didn't taste very good.
But for both Song Wei and Hei Dan, the meat was quite delicious.
Blackie was small and didn't have a big appetite, and since he often went hungry, his stomach was practically tiny.
A rabbit's hind leg was enough to fill him up, and he was even a little stuffed.
Song Wei wasn't worried that his stomach couldn't handle it.
Rural children are naturally very strong, especially Blackie, who would go out to find food if he wasn't full at home, stuffing anything edible into his mouth; his stomach was quite resilient.
After finishing the rabbit meat, Blackie eagerly helped Song Wei gather pine cones, mushrooms, chestnuts, and other similar items.
The pine forest was teeming with matsutake mushrooms, and the area where they were was already quite deep inside. The village children had been warned by their parents not to come, and the adults were too busy with work to come either, which meant Song Wei and Heidan had a good chance.
"There's a patch of matsutake here!"
Heidan's excited voice rang out. Song Wei, carrying her basket, strolled over leisurely, picking up two rather attractive porcini mushrooms along the way.
Matsutake mushrooms are highly nutritious, and there were plenty in this forest; they could be dried and preserved for a long time.
Song Wei saw Heidan putting the matsutake mushrooms he had picked into his own basket.
"You can take yours back yourself."
Heidan said, "No, I won't be able to eat them myself."
He just kept his head down and carefully placed the mushrooms he had picked into Song Wei's basket, quite stubborn for a moment.
But Song Wei didn't say anything more.
If he couldn't eat them or protect them, then it was indeed better to give them to her.
Perhaps because he had eaten Song Wei's rabbit meat, Heidan was stuffing whatever good stuff he found into her basket.
"What are you doing up this mountain?"
"Looking for food, and I need to gather firewood to take back."
Hei Dan came carrying a basket on his back, so tall that it was almost as tall as his small frame. "
They don't feed him properly and make him do heavy work; that family is really heartless,"
Song Wei thought to herself, but her movements as she gathered things were surprisingly fast.
After picking almost all the mushrooms in the basket, Song Wei started picking pine cones and stuffing them into a sack, planning to harvest them later.
Harvesting them now would be too slow.
The other sack was filled with chestnuts; they had already removed the spiky shells.
Hei Dan's fingers were pricked, but he didn't complain.
Most importantly, he wasn't wearing shoes, and his feet were injured too.
Song Wei shooed him aside, grabbed his feet, and removed the thorns.
"Are you stupid? Why did you go over there without shoes?"
Hei Dan pursed his lips, not saying a word, only staring blankly at her with his dark eyes.
"Tsk... stay here quietly. If you really can't stand it, then go and crack some pine nuts."
After that, she went to pick chestnuts herself.
On the way home, Song Wei carried a full basket of mushrooms, two large sacks across it, her left hand easily dragging a dry tree trunk as thick as yesterday, her right hand carrying Hei Dan's full basket of firewood, her steps light and swift.
Hei Dan, empty-handed, followed behind, his black toes dangling, dumbfounded.
"I... I can carry it myself."
Song Wei: "If you carry it, you won't be able to keep up. It's getting dark; do you want to stay in the mountains and feed the wild animals?"
Although her tone wasn't exactly friendly, Hei Dan could still feel Song Wei's concern.
Hei Dan's eyes were a little red, looking like he'd been crying.
"Why are you crying? Where is your home?"
Hei Dan pointed to one of the roads, the opposite of the educated youth compound.
He sniffed: "You remind me of my mother."
Song Wei: ...
Can't you speak properly!
She said irritably, "Fine, you carry it. Is it far?"
Hei Dan shook his head.
"Don't be so silly next time. If you can't protect what you find in the mountains, find a place only you know to hide it. And don't collect too much firewood; you'll just tire yourself out and won't even need it."
"I know."
Blackie nodded, his voice trembling with tears, and left, carrying the firewood, turning back every few steps.
Song Wei watched him leave before taking her things back to the educated youth compound.
When everyone saw her bring back such a large dry tree and all that she was carrying, they were immediately stunned: ...
This slender, seemingly delicate girl was carrying so much on her back; the visual impact was simply too great.
This was the second time, but they still weren't used to it.