Gu Nian took over the task of cooking and started calling out, "Sanshui, Sanshui, come and help me light the fire."
"No need for Sanshui, your mother will light it for you," said Mrs. Jiang, sitting at the back and starting to light the fire, while reminding, "You're still young, if there's something you can't manage, just call for me, don't try to handle it alone, understand?"
The food not being well-made is a minor issue, but for a girl, getting a burn would be bad.
Before Gu Nian could respond, she heard Lin Sanshui yelling outside, "Dahu's mother, hurry and come over!"
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Jiang put down the firewood she hadn't lit yet, stood up and went outside.
Just then, Sanhu came in and seamlessly continued Mrs. Jiang's work.
In the main room, Lin Sanshui was pointing at a neatly arranged pile of big peaches on the table, asking her, "What's going on here?"
Mrs. Jiang was dumbfounded, "How would I know what's going on? Didn't we come back from the field together? I haven't even had time to enter this room yet."
After saying that, Mrs. Jiang walked to the door and peeked outside, just in time to see Little Hu, yelling, "Little Hu, do you know where the peaches on the table came from?"
"I know, we picked them from the mountain," Little Hu replied with a proud smile, "Dad, Mom, we also found some red berries, they're sour and sweet, very tasty. My sister said they're strawberries, but they look much bigger than strawberries and taste even better. We also caught a rabbit..."
As soon as Mrs. Jiang questioned, Gu Nian pricked her ears to listen to the outside conversation. Luckily, Little Hu was talking about "us," not just herself.
Gu Nian sighed in relief, hopefully, she wouldn't be suspected now?
After Little Hu finished speaking, Lin Sanshui quickly went to the chicken pen to see the rabbit they caught, a plump, pure white rabbit, weighing at least four or five pounds.
Only then did Mrs. Jiang notice the basket under the table with those red berries. Judging by the fruit, they didn't look like the wild strawberries that grow on the mountain, but the leaves mixed in looked quite similar.
Mrs. Jiang took one from inside and asked, "Have you eaten them yet? No stomach aches?"
Little Hu shook his head vigorously, "Not a bit. My sister said she has eaten them before, so I tasted them, they're not poisonous."
Mrs. Jiang took a bite, and sure enough, they were sour and sweet as Little Hu said, very delicious.
Lin Sanshui came in from outside, grinning widely, "Hey, these kids really had good luck, stumbling upon a heavy rabbit like blind cats finding dead mice; I haven't had such luck in decades."
Mrs. Jiang gave him a playful eye-roll and casually asked Little Hu, "How did you catch this rabbit?"
The little critter with four legs runs quite fast, hard to catch.
"The little rabbit ran into my sister's legs and knocked her down. As she fell, she pressed the rabbit down..."
Listening to Little Hu's proud tone, the Lin couple thought he personally witnessed this scene, marveling once again at the kids' good fortune.
Little Hu hugged Lin Sanshui's leg, "Dad, come with us to the mountain. There's lots of great stuff up there; we even found some mushrooms but couldn't carry everything back, so we didn't pick them."
Listening to Little Hu's coquettish tone, Lin Sanshui and Mrs. Jiang exchanged a glance, then smiled and nodded, "Alright, this afternoon we'll make another trip to the field, we should be able to finish weeding that patch. Tomorrow, Dad will go to the mountain with you, I really want to see how good your luck is!"