“Could there be a rabbit den here?” he muttered to himself, then began searching through the grass.
Hearing this, Jiang Tangtang’s eyes lit up. “Daddy, I’ll help you!”
The father-daughter duo began to search. Just as they were about to give up, Jiang Tangtang spotted an opening. “Daddy, I found something!” She quickly called Jiang Jianguo over.
After inspecting it, Jiang Jianguo exclaimed, “It really is a rabbit den! Tangtang, let’s keep searching nearby; there should be other openings. This must be the main entrance.”
Knowing a nest of rabbits was waiting for them, the fatigue vanished, and they continued searching within a radius of twenty or thirty meters. “Daddy, I found another hole!” Tangtang shouted.
Jiang Jianguo checked it and confirmed it was another exit. He found large stones to block the opening and then fetched some water to mix with mud, sealing the hole shut. The two continued searching separately, soon finding two more openings, which they sealed with stones and mud in the same way. After circling the area once more to ensure no other exits existed, they were ready.
Jiang Jianguo gathered some semi-dry weeds and leaves, lit them at the main entrance, and used his clothes to fan the thick smoke into the burrow. He then grabbed a sack from his basket and stood guard at the opening.
Before long, the rabbits inside, unable to breathe, scrambled out of the hole and directly into Jiang Jianguo’s sack. There were four of them—two large and two small. Combined with the one he had caught earlier, that made three large and two small rabbits in total.
“Daddy, we can raise these rabbits and have baby bunnies!” Jiang Tangtang said, excited by the thought of their rapid reproduction.
After the excitement passed, she realized a problem: they had nowhere to keep them. “Daddy, where will we raise them?”
Jiang Jianguo pondered for a moment before replying, “Your daddy has a plan.”
He decided to cook the rabbit he had just stunned. Carrying it, he skillfully grabbed his wood-chopping knife and headed toward the small creek. With the rabbit, there was no need to cook wild vegetable soup. Jiang Tangtang played nearby, waiting for her father.
Soon, Jiang Jianguo returned with the cleaned rabbit and the pelt. They had their small iron pot, some seasonings (though only salt and sugar), and even two potatoes. He chopped the meat and potatoes, added them to the pot with a bit of water, and began to simmer them. Soon, the fragrance of meat filled the air. Jiang Jianguo stirred the pot with a clean stick to prevent the food from sticking. Once the liquid reduced, he took the pot off the fire and extinguished it.
Jiang Tangtang looked at the meat, drooling—it smelled amazing. The father and daughter ate more than half, leaving the rest for Lin Wanting to bring home.
Packing their things into the basket and taking the sack with the rabbits, they prepared to descend the mountain. Once they reached the foot, Jiang Jianguo didn’t head toward the village, but instead walked toward an isolated area. Before long, they reached a dilapidated, low wooden hut.
The hut was in ruins—extremely low, drafty, and looking as if it might collapse at any moment. There was a downward slope leading to the entrance, the door frame was warped, the door wouldn’t close properly, and the yard fence had mostly fallen over.
Jiang Jianguo carefully pushed open the broken door. Jiang Tangtang was amazed; no wonder the house looked so short—it was partially dug into the ground! Was this the legendary “half-dugout” home?
“Daddy, whose house is this? Why is it so broken? I’ve never been here before,” she asked curiously.
Jiang Jianguo surveyed the interior and answered, “A hunter used to live here. He didn’t like dealing with people, so he built his house far from the village. The hunter passed away years ago, and the place fell into disuse. I haven’t been here for years; I only came once as a child.”
He set down the sack of rabbits and added, “We’ll raise the rabbits here for now. Almost no one ever comes this way.”
He told Tangtang to step out while he released the rabbits. Once finished, he stepped out and used a piece of scrap wire to secure the door. Estimating that the others would soon be finishing their work, they headed home.
Back in their room, Jiang Jianguo salted the rabbit skins and hid them in the kang (heated brick bed) to dry, planning to buy some alum in town tomorrow to tan them.
Just as he finished, Lin Wanting returned from work. Jiang Tangtang remembered they had originally planned to look for a house near the village, but catching the rabbits had distracted them. Still, the little wooden hut wasn’t bad—aside from being run-down, its advantages were clear: it was far from the crowd and offered plenty of space.
“Daddy, we forgot to check where we’re going to live later today. Are we going to stay in the little wooden hut?”
Jiang Jianguo mentally reviewed the ownerless houses in the village. Either they had already collapsed, or they were teetering on the verge of ruin. Even those that were barely habitable were in terrible locations.
His family had a few little secrets and didn’t want to be too close to neighbors. Thinking about it, there really wasn’t a place better than that little wooden hut.
Lin Wanting, having just finished her shift, looked at the father and daughter with a confused expression. “What’s going on? What little wooden hut?”
Jiang Jianguo proceeded to explain the father-daughter duo’s achievements from the day.
When she heard that her daughter had discovered an entire nest of rabbits and had kept them at the little wooden hut at the foot of the mountain, Lin Wanting was stunned by her daughter’s luck. Every time they went up the mountain, they came back with something; they never returned empty-handed!
She tried to recall which wooden hut it could be, but nothing came to mind.
It was no wonder Lin Wanting didn’t know about it; she had married into the village from elsewhere, and since the hut was far from any dwellings and had been abandoned for years, it was perfectly normal that she had never been there.
Jiang Jianguo confirmed the door was bolted shut, then brought out the remaining rabbit meat from their harvest for Lin Wanting.
As she ate the spoils of their day, Lin Wanting squinted her eyes in bliss. The rabbit meat was delicious, and the potatoes inside were so fragrant.
“We had meat buns yesterday, and today there’s rabbit meat. Half a month ago, we had pork belly, wild pheasant, wild rabbit, and eggs. We’ve eaten more good food this past month than in the entire year prior.”
Looking at the two of them, she felt deeply moved and incredibly happy—so much so that tears began to stream down her face.
Seeing Lin Wanting crying while eating the rabbit meat, Jiang Jianguo felt a pang in his heart. They really had lived through such hardship all these years.
But it didn’t matter. Good days were right around the corner. Once they separated from the main family, they would be able to eat meat openly and honestly.
That little wooden hut really was a great spot—far from the crowd. The aroma of their cooking wouldn’t waft over to others, so they could eat with peace of mind.
Besides, they had a massive fortune of 2,100 yuan in their hands. Once they moved out, every day would be a good day.