Chapter 6: Chili Pepper

As the two walked along, Sheng Wanqiu noticed what looked like red juice in the bushes. Curious, she walked over to take a look—wasn't it said that ginseng berries were red?

What if this turned out to be ginseng? If she sold it for money, wouldn't she be rich?

She walked over full of joy, only to see that there was no damn ginseng at all. It was chili peppers—small, red, bird's-eye chilies.

Forget it, she needed chili for the rabbit stew anyway, so she reached out to pluck some.

"Sister, that's poisonous! You can't eat it!" Sheng Huaian hurriedly slapped her hand away, calling out in a panic.

"Poisonous? Are you kidding me?" Sheng Wanqiu was stunned. These were just chili peppers; she would recognize them even if they were burned to ashes!

"Sister, it's true. The big dog in our village tasted one, and its mouth swelled up. Its paws were burning with pain, and it took a long time to go down."

"These are red now, but there are green ones too. They're all poisonous, you have to be careful!"

Sheng Wanqiu: "These are chili peppers! What the hell is poisonous about them? You're just a kid, stop fear-mongering if you don't know what you're talking about!"

"Hurry up and help me pick them. I'll make something delicious for you tonight!"

Sheng Huaian rubbed his head, which had just been knocked by his sister, and could only obediently help pick the "chili peppers." It wasn't until they had picked the entire patch bare that the siblings stopped.

On the way back, Sheng Wanqiu dug up some wild scallions and spotted some mint by the creek, plucking some of that to put in her basket as well.

As the two strolled back onto the village's main road, they saw several aunts sitting under a large tree chatting. As they spoke, their eyes kept scanning the siblings.

Sheng Wanqiu knew with her toes that these people were gossiping about her family.

"Oh! Wanqiu, girl, you went up the mountain! What good things did you find? Let your auntie have a look."

A sallow-faced, thin woman who looked malnourished walked over. Although there was a smile on her face, it didn't reach her eyes, and she reached out to grab the basket on Sheng Wanqiu's back.

"Look at what? What's there to look at!" Sheng Wanqiu spun around, dodging the woman's reaching hand and stepping aside.

"You girl, I'm just taking a look! Would you lose a piece of meat just by letting me look?" The woman was a bit displeased, her expression turning sour.

According to the original owner's memories, Sheng Wanqiu recognized this woman as surnamed Yuan, who was particularly fond of taking advantage of others.

"Aunt Yuan, I caught a rabbit today. If you grab it like that and it runs away, who's going to pay for it? Can you compensate me with one?"

"If you've got nothing to do, go home and cook early, so your old man doesn't come home to no hot meal and beat you again!"

"Huaian, let's go home!" Sheng Wanqiu rolled her eyes at her and turned to leave.

Aunt Yuan was so angry she stomped her feet. Seeing them walk away, she muttered, "No wonder your mother didn't want you! Hmph!"

But then, thinking of her own husband's fists, she hurriedly grabbed her basket and left.

The women under the big tree had heard their entire exchange, and one by one, they covered their mouths and snickered.

"If you ask who the most capable girl in our village is, it's still this Sheng family's Wanqiu. I've never seen her come out on the losing end," a plump aunt laughed.

"That's right! She truly inherited her grandmother's mantle. I wonder which family's boy will be unlucky enough to marry her!" a thin aunt said, her eyes darting toward a woman sitting to the side embroidering.

The woman embroidering with her head down didn't look up at all, just silently stitching, though her eyes were already darting around.

She hurriedly put down her embroidery, picked up her sewing basket, smiled at the surrounding aunts, and walked home in a hurry.

"Looks like the old Bai family is going to have rabbit meat tonight," the thin aunt who had spoken earlier said with disdain.

"You just love to watch the drama. Who told you not to have a good son?"

The aunts under the tree started chatting one after another, the center of the topic naturally being the person who had just hurried away.

"Grandma, we're back!"

Before they even reached the gate of the small courtyard, Sheng Wanqiu shouted toward the yard.

"Back is back, why are you shouting so loud!" Old Mother Sheng walked out of the yard with an impatient look, followed by her little tail, Sheng Huaimu.

"Grandma, let's go inside and talk. Hehe, I caught a rabbit, we're having meat tonight." Sheng Wanqiu immediately grabbed Old Mother Sheng's arm and whispered into her ear.

"You dead girl, what did I say? Didn't I tell you not to go up the mountain? You're treating my words like wind in your ears, aren't you!"

"Grandma, Grandma, it hurts, it hurts! Can't you talk nicely!" Sheng Wanqiu yelped in pain; she couldn't remember the last time someone had pinched her ear.

Old Mother Sheng dragged Sheng Wanqiu into the yard by her ear. This dead girl was just disobedient and far too bold!

Was the mountain somewhere a little girl like her should be going?

If she had been snatched away by a wolf, how would she answer to her second son?

Only when they reached the yard did Old Mother Sheng let go. Sheng Wanqiu clutched her pinched, aching ear with a look of despair.

"My heavens! Did you raid a rabbit warren?"

Old Mother Sheng looked at the basket in surprise; two large and five small rabbits were lying neatly inside.

"Just in time for me to take them to town tomorrow to sell for money to save for your dowry." As soon as Old Mother Sheng finished speaking, she reached to take the rabbits.

"Grandma, I caught these with such hard work, I want to eat meat."

"Don't you even think about taking my rabbits to trade for money. Save for a dowry, my foot! How old am I even!" Sheng Wanqiu snatched the basket back and held it in her hands.

Seeing Sheng Wanqiu's defensive posture, Old Mother Sheng curled her lips. Fine, since she caught them, let her eat!

The family really hadn't eaten meat in a long time; never mind the children, even she was craving it.

"Fine, fine, eat it then! You make it sound like I don't want to give you meat. Why aren't you going to boil water? I'll skin them!"

"Alright! Grandma, I'll go boil the water right now!" Hearing her grandmother agree, Sheng Huaian trotted into the kitchen.

Only then did Sheng Wanqiu safely put down the basket and join Old Mother Sheng to clean the rabbits.

All seven rabbits were skinned. Old Mother Sheng was puzzled—there were no wounds on the rabbits, so how did they die?

Sheng Wanqiu claimed she had used a sedative to knock them out before snapping their necks, which dispelled her suspicions.

Because Sheng Wanqiu used to pester a hunter in the village, hanging on his fence every day to watch him clean his game just to get a taste of meat, the hunter had eventually been annoyed into teaching her a few tricks for catching prey. Thus, Old Mother Sheng didn't doubt the story about the sedative at all.