Chapter 38: Liu Yu's Husband

  Liu Jian's heart skipped a beat when he heard this.

  These years living in this mountain valley, I've never heard whose mountain it is. If it's someone's property, they should at least send someone to guard the mountain or have people in the village below say something about it, but all these years of living here, I haven't heard any news.

  "There shouldn't be a master, otherwise they wouldn't have driven us up the mountain." Liu Jian said, but his heart was somewhat uneasy at this mention.

  Now their family situation is that they want to plant on a large scale in the mountains, but are worried about being discovered, and it's not even clear if this mountain has an owner. So many mu have already been planted on this mountain, what if there is an owner, and others come to know that this land is a profitable business, I'm afraid it will be used by others...

  Liu Jian's face was stern, and he was somewhat worried. "I think it's better to go to the county town tomorrow and ask around at the yamen. Maybe we can find out if there is an owner or not. It would be better than going down the mountain to ask Liu Gui, which might arouse his suspicion."

  "Alright." Lan Niang nodded, she looked up at the scenery outside the door, which was a lush green due to the warming weather, and turned her head to smile at Liu Jian:

  "Why don't we raise some rabbits on this mountain first, there's plenty of grass everywhere, no need to worry about not being able to keep them alive, and the current weather is also just right, these things breed quickly."

  Lan Niang had always been thinking of using the money in her hands to make more money. Since they couldn't buy land at the foot of the mountain, she had to think of another way. She had heard that other families had raised this thing before, but since their home was limited in space, they didn't raise many and only did it for a year or two to add some flavor to their meals. Now that they lived on the mountain, there was plenty of space and the feed was readily available. Moreover, the weather was great now, what better conditions could they ask for?

  Liu Jian smiled, "This method is also feasible. I'll go ask the mountain first and then say it. I'll bring the money with me now. If there's no master, we can raise some rabbits on the mountain first. Maybe this will make more money than farming." Liu Jian estimated that he would smile at Lian Niang, thinking that her brain was moving fast in terms of making money.

  Zhī xiǎo zài yī páng tōu xiào, zhè niáng shì gè lì hài de, tā yī gè chuān yuè guò lái rén dōu méi kāi dòng chū zhè xiǎng fǎ, tā dào shì…… hěn yǒu zhuàn qián tóu nǎo ā……

  Knowing the heart is full of sighs.

  Ling's daughter was still smiling as she told them that there had been a similar disaster in another place before.

  The gestation period of a rabbit is about one month, and a female rabbit can give birth to around ten baby rabbits. Calculating six or seven pregnancies per year, an adult rabbit can produce sixty or seventy offspring in a year. Adding that young rabbits can also reproduce after two months, this kind of reproductive ability and speed would easily lead to a rabbit disaster if there were no natural enemies and sufficient food.

  Later, large numbers of eagles, foxes and wolves were sent from all over the country to put an end to this ridiculous disaster.

  ……

  Two months later, the whole family was busy on this mountain, thanks to the news brought back by Liu Jian after he went into town to investigate. After they found out that it was an ownerless land, they finally put their minds at ease and started working on it.

  Firstly, a wall was built around the mountain house, and then a large piece of land was cleared behind the house to build a rabbit garden, where rabbits were raised.

  The number of rabbits has increased from the initial twenty or so to nearly a hundred, including young rabbits, after more than a month of breeding. Every day, Zhi Xiao and Mu Tian would exclaim in surprise as they entered the rabbit enclosure, where one misstep could lead to stepping on a rabbit, requiring great care not to tread on them.

  From the beginning of cutting grass on the mountain to feed them twice a day, now some mother rabbits are pregnant and have babies, so Lan Niang is afraid that nutrition can't keep up, and adds another meal for them, so there's more work to do. Sometimes Liu Yu from the foot of the mountain comes up to take a stroll, but maybe they won't even see each other.

  Erni was holding the green grass in her hand to tease the little rabbit that had just been weaned, while Mutian squatted on the ground, picking up one and then carefully picking up another, busy with joy.

  Now I have to feed the three little pigs in the pen next door, and also go to water the pumpkin seedlings in the field every few days.

  Because the green grass for rabbits to eat needs to be cut every day, it's a bit busy for just a few people like Lian Niang, so Liu Jian simply rented out two mu of land at the foot of the mountain and devoted himself to breeding on the mountain with his family.

  ……

  These days, Liu Yu would sneak up here every few days even on hot days. A few times she was scolded and shut out, so she'd run to the backyard to watch the rabbits hopping around inside until it was almost time for her husband to let them out. When she knew they still hadn't returned, she'd slink away with her tail between her legs.

  Liu Yu, who had just returned home, looked down in embarrassment under her husband's smiling gaze and muttered: "I said goodbye to Zhi Xiao today."

  "Alright, now focus on your studies and don't get distracted again." The master sighed, lightly tapping him on the head, and smiled somewhat gloomily.

  It's been about five years since I came to this place from the capital to teach him, and at first, I was lucky enough to be taken in by this family. They gave me a warm meal, and coincidentally, Qin Lan happened to know that her son was close to Zhi Xiao, so she wanted to find a way to discipline him. Just then, a literate gentleman arrived, and both parties had the same goal: one wanted a place to rest, and the other wanted his son to learn more. They quickly came to an agreement and started teaching Liu Yu, who was initially a bit rebellious.

  The trend of being overly strict nowadays seems to have gone a bit too far, which he has only recently discovered in the past year or two. However, he himself has transformed from strict teaching to lenient and benevolent education, but Liu Yu still seems to be stubbornly rigid and hasn't changed his ways, probably due to his mother Qin Lan's close supervision.

  Who let this kid, under his strict teaching and tailored education a few years ago, take the imperial examination as a child prodigy? It's not surprising that his mother has become even more strict in monitoring him.

  These years have not changed at all, still so awkward in his eyes. Just like a cucumber that has been twisted and grown crooked. So he sometimes starts to regret, wondering if he was too harsh from the beginning.

  It's really frustrating...

  "Look at you, all red in the face! And I'm still sweating from the sudden warm weather. Can't blame me for this, you know that. If anyone's to blame, it's yourself. Why did you have to rely on being a child prodigy just once? Now look what's happened - your mother is breathing down my neck even more, and if I want to give you a break, I have to do it behind her back. You think this is easy for me?"

  He rolled his eyes and said, spitting at the young boy, that he would never admit to even a tiny bit of his own mistakes, who let this kid have such a good mother.

  "I just thought that if I could make my mother happy, I would be able to relax a bit after passing the exam. But she... This is his own mother, and he can't say anything bad about her. After all these years, even if he didn't want to take this path, it seems like he has no choice now. He needs to obtain some official title. Does he still think about farming here? First of all, his mother would not agree with that, and neither does he himself."

  "Then let her be happy for now." Wang Fu smiled with a held-back breath, looking at the young man with a mixture of helplessness.

  "No, I'm making myself happy now. I know they're also studying with the books I sent over, and her mother is literate too, she's learning quickly now. I couldn't be overtaken by them."

  "Can your wife read?" Wang Yongming was slightly surprised, raising an eyebrow. A village woman in this mountainous area could fight and scold, but also knew how to read? He became a bit curious, as he hadn't heard of such a thing since arriving here.

  Always living in this village, although also going out and about, but never saw the mother of the famous person in this village. The famous little girl who dominated the whole village had occasionally met a few times on the road before, staring at herself fiercely, looking at him sideways, making herself laugh.

  Actually, this girl is just superficially fierce, the truly fierce one has never been seen before, who would so easily put their unhappiness on their face.

  Wang Yongming couldn't help but smile slightly, took a sip of tea and put it down, composed himself, saw Liu Yu across from him had already opened his book, and began to teach seriously.