Returning the rabbit, there won’t be any talk of being indebted for food.
It’s just that the two brothers didn’t have good luck today.
Li Yuzhu dug a basket full of wild vegetables and herbs, but they didn’t even see a rabbit’s fur.
"It’s midday, shall we head home?" Li Yuzhu straightened up and shouted to them aloud.
These two, not young anymore, are still roaming and playing like children in the woods.
She weighed the shovel in her hand.
Whenever they have money, she should buy a few more shovels and assign tasks to the brothers to dig herbs for her!
"Let’s go back, my stomach is hungry too, let’s return for lunch," said the third brother Li Xing’an, feebly.
The two returned empty-handed and ended up with hungry stomachs.
Second Young Master walked towards Li Yuzhu, saw her basket, and said in surprise, "Third sister, you’re amazing, dug up so many herbs?"
Li Yuzhu replied with a smile, "More than half of them are wild vegetables."
Second Young Master took a few herbs to look at, "Wild vegetables? What are they used for?"
"Stir-fry them as dishes! Eating only meat and rice every day without some vegetables will make your stomach feel bloated and uncomfortable." Li Yuzhu took the wild vegetables from him and put them back in the basket.
She dug up quite a bit of purslane.
In early spring, it is the season when purslane grows wildly.
This vegetable tastes slightly sour yet is quite refreshing; it is also a medicinal herb which helps clear heat and detoxify, treat dysentery.
Second Young Master widened his eyes in surprise, "What? Third sister, this grass is edible?"
Li Xing’an sighed, "I remember this grass is for horses."
Li Yuzhu was speechless, "Poor people’s lives are just ! Whenever early in the year food is scarce, families without stored grains would go up the mountains to the woods and dig wild vegetables. In northern regions with fewer mountains and trees, when there are no wild vegetables, people, to survive, would even eat dirt. Those who can afford wild vegetables are considered fortunate among the poor."
She glanced at the two brothers, "With our current situation, are we still wealthy?"
"We’re poorer than the poor now," sighed the brothers in unison.
Although people in nearby villages are poor, they at least have houses.
Yet here they are, noble ones from the Prince Mansion, without even a dilapidated house!
The three siblings walked out of the woods and met Mu Yuanxiu returning.
A rabbit hung around his waist, with an arrow piercing its neck.
Li Xing’an’s eyes fixed in a stare.
He quietly tugged Second Young Master’s sleeve, "Second brother, look, that guy has a rabbit hanging from his waist! So plump!"
"I am not blind! I saw it long ago!" Second Young Master gritted his teeth.
Li Xing’an murmured softly again, "Second brother, maybe we went to the wrong place; we didn’t even see a shadow of a rabbit in this woods, but that guy went to a place with rabbits!"
"If only we knew earlier, we should’ve gone where he went," Second Young Master regretted too.
Mu Yuanxiu had come to stop in front of them, nodding to the three, "Are you heading back to Niu Tou Mountain too?"
Li Yuzhu was about to speak but was interrupted by Second Young Master, "No, we’re going elsewhere."
With that, he and Li Xing’an pulled Li Yuzhu and left.
Not wanting Li Yuzhu, who was smaller to walk slowly, the tall Second Young Master simply carried her and ran.
Li Xing’an carried Li Yuzhu’s basket, clutching the shovel, running behind.
Watching the three siblings running away in the distance, Mu Yuanxiu couldn’t help but smirk.
The three siblings returned to the mountain, and Prince Luling immediately called them to his side.
"Your elder brother has already mentioned the matter of choosing a location to build a house; we’re just waiting for you to return to discuss together. What do you think, should the house be built on the mountain or at the mountain’s base?"