CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 53: THE DISAPPEARING RABBIT MEAT

Gu Chengyu bid farewell to Doctor Li and his wife, declined Mrs. Yao’s invitation to stay, and prepared to return home. If he didn’t go back now, his mother might come to fetch him.

Walking from the end of the village towards the Gu Family’s courtyard, he was halfway when he spotted his eldest brother walking towards him. "Eldest brother, where are you going?" Gu Chengyu quickly stepped forward to ask.

"Oh, Xiao Bao! I was just on my way to Doctor Li’s house to pick you up! Mother is anxious at home, why are you so late?"

"I got carried away learning to recognize herbs at Uncle Li’s house and lost track of time. Did Mom really send you to pick me up? I mean, it’s just within the village. How could I possibly get lost?" Gu Chengyu felt a bit helpless. His mother was just too strict with him, making many things difficult for him to do. It seemed urgent to build a house; during the day, his mother watched over him, and at night they slept in the same room, leaving him no time to enter the space.

Meanwhile, at the Li Family, Doctor Li was preparing some herbs, and after Gu Chengyu left, Mrs. Yao tidied up the kitchen and sat opposite Doctor Li.

"Have you decided?" Mrs. Yao asked softly, looking at Doctor Li.

"What do you think? This fifth child of the Gu Family is clever and talented, composed yet not impulsive, and most importantly, his character is good. He’s a suitable candidate," said Doctor Li, who had been married to Mrs. Yao for many years and understood each other well enough to know what was being asked without it being said.

"That little one is indeed good, and quite likable, I’m also quite pleased with him. Normally, if we were choosing someone, he’d be the clear choice. But I’m afraid our wishes won’t be so easily fulfilled." Mrs. Yao helped Doctor Li sift the herbs off the floor and put them into a sieve.

Doctor Li paused slightly in his work with the herbs and looked up at Mrs. Yao in confusion, "What do you mean by that?" The Gu Family wasn’t well off. Although they could get a few hundred taels by selling ginseng, with such a large family, how much could each person get? A few hundred taels isn’t much in reality. If he proposed this condition, the Gu Family probably wouldn’t disagree.

Mrs. Yao gave a mysterious smile, "Why don’t we make a bet? I bet the Gu Family won’t agree."

"Oh? Haha. My dear wife is in high spirits. Very well, I’ll take this bet with you. But if you lose, what will you do?" Doctor Li was delighted to see Mrs. Yao so interested. Ever since coming to Shangling Village, his wife had been weighed down with worries. She was naturally serene, not fond of going out, nor did she converse much with the local farmwives, making her days cooped up all the more stifling. Having a little child at home would surely brighten her spirits. Today, she had been smiling more than usual.

"Perhaps it will be you who loses, my dear husband? Let’s wait and see!" Mrs. Yao certainly wasn’t one to admit defeat.

As for Gu Chengyu, he returned home, and as soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he was met with a warm embrace from his mother, "You little rascal, you really did dine at Doctor Li’s house! You have quite the cheek, refusing to leave after devouring their mung bean cake? If you really want to eat some, let your father buy you some the day after tomorrow in town." Mrs. Lv assumed that Gu Chengyu didn’t like Cloud Cake but was fond of mung bean cake. As she always indulged him, there was no way she’d deny her youngest son’s craving.

"Mom, it’s not that I wanted the mung bean cake! Have you eaten yet?" Gu Chengyu intended to pull his mother into the house, "Mom, where are yesterday’s bunnies? I still need to cut grass for them! Dad said these bunnies are for me to raise."

"Don’t listen to your father’s nonsense. My son shouldn’t be doing such menial tasks. I’ve already sent Da Lang and the others. Had I waited for you to return, the bunnies would have starved! I had your sister-in-law stew the big one, and since you didn’t come back for a meal, I kept it warm for you in the pot. Let me serve it for you; you haven’t tasted it yet. It’s delicious. Go wait in the room first."

As Gu Chengyu passed by the west wing, he noticed the door was ajar, the room empty. His second brother and second sister-in-law were likely working the fields, but Da Lang and the second son weren’t in the room either. Perhaps they went out to play, or their mother sent them on errands. Gu Mei usually followed Da Ya around, so she probably wasn’t here either. Yet a fragrance wafted from the ajar room, faint yet discernible. Had it not been for Gu Chengyu’s enhanced senses from the Spiritual Spring, he might not have noticed it at all.

After a closer sniff, Gu Chengyu shook his head with a smile; this second sister-in-law. Given a little more time, his mother would definitely start shouting. Sure enough, as soon as Gu Chengyu turned towards the kitchen, his mother’s cry resounded: "Oh my! Where’s my meat? Who’s that shameless creature that dares steal my meat? There’s a thief in the house!"

Gu Chengyu hurried to the kitchen, where he saw his mother slapping her thigh and jumping around. And a peek inside the pot confirmed it—only three pieces were left? Did someone not dare eat it all? In this household, who else could commit food theft but his second sister-in-law!

Lu’s shouting attracted not only Gu Chengyu but also Gu Chenglian. "Mom, what’s going on? What happened?" Gu Chenglian, seeing his mother’s urgency, thought something major had occurred.

"Oh, Old Third! I just stepped away for a bit, and a thief struck at our house! The meat I left simmering in the pot was stolen. Xiao Wu hasn’t even tasted it yet! There were at least ten pieces in one bowl alone, and now only three remain." Mrs. Lv was genuinely dismayed. The rabbit stew was meant to be half the rabbit left for her precious Xiao Bao. To prevent others from nibbling at it, she even had Er Ya keep watch over it.

But where was Er Ya? Could it have been Er Ya who stole it?

"Mom, why make such a fuss? Who would sneak from our family to steal a few pieces of meat? Surely it was consumed by a family member." Gu Chenglian thought his mother tended to overreact. It’s not like money was missing from the family chest. With that, he returned to his room.

"That’s right! Could it be Er Ya who snuck a taste?" Mrs. Lv grew increasingly suspicious, calling towards the east wing, "Er Ya, Er Ya, come out at once!"

"Mom, let it go. Whether Er Ya ate it or not, it’s just some rabbit meat. If it’s gone, it’s gone." Gu Chengyu hurriedly intervened, unwilling to wrong Er Ya over a few pieces of rabbit meat.

"If she didn’t eat it, then who did? I had her watch the pot. You think rabbit meat would grow legs and run off on its own?" Mrs. Lv was fuming, feeling thoroughly disrespected.

"Yes, Grandma, you called?" Er Ya, Gu Lan, jogged anxiously into the kitchen from the east wing. There was no avoiding it when Grandma called. If she didn’t show up immediately, she’d get an earful. Entering the kitchen, she saw the fierce-looking Mrs. Lv and Little Uncle standing aside. Er Ya timidly glanced over at the morning’s pot, realizing the lid was off and the bowl of meat was on the stove. What was once a bowl brimming with meat was now mostly gone. Her heart sank with a sense of foreboding.

Indeed, "Er Ya, didn’t I ask you to watch over the meat? Where’s the rabbit meat? You weren’t watching, did you slack off, or did you steal it yourself?" Mrs. Lv drilled her gaze onto Er Ya’s face, not missing a flicker in her expression.

"Grandma, I wouldn’t dare steal rabbit meat. Smell me if you don’t believe it," Er Ya hastily explained, desperate. She had no such courage.

"If you didn’t eat it, then who did? I told you to watch the stove. Where did you go?" Mrs. Lv, in truth, believed Er Ya hadn’t eaten it; she simply didn’t have the nerve.