Crossing the Unknown Country

The next day, Su Pei and Su Che came early in the morning to call Su Pei and the others to go up the mountain. When they arrived, Su He had not finished her meal yet, so she called her brother to eat together.

Su Che smiled and said, "Come on, sister! We are full. After we finish eating, let's go up the mountain together."

Su He nodded and quickly lowered his head to eat. The two brothers were not idle either, busying themselves with Su Feng and Su Run. Su He's mother told them to sit for a while and stop working. It was just a small job, and Su Feng and the others could finish it in a short time.

The two brothers shook their heads to indicate that it was okay and that they would work faster together. The four brothers finished the work quickly. Su He also packed up and took his small backpack to go up the mountain with them.

Su Che came over and handed the basket in her hand to her elder brother Su Pei, and squatted down to let Su He come up and carry her to go up the mountain. Because it was always like this, Su He heard from her brother that she loved to let Su Che carry her, probably because Su Che loved to tease her.

The four brothers said goodbye to Su He's parents and went up the mountain. Along the way, Su Che carried Su He steadily on his back, and he didn't look tired at all, and it was obvious that he was used to it. Su He saw a lot of wild vegetables, so she wrote them down and picked them slowly when she came back. When she came back, she had to carry a lot of things, so Su He had to walk down slowly by herself. When she was tired, the eldest brother would hold her for a while, but usually she would walk by herself.

This time they walked up, where the trees were taller and more luxuriant than those below, and the undergrowth under the trees was more luxuriant, and there were more snakes, insects, ants and rats. Everyone tied their trouser legs with straw ropes, and knocked around with a long stick in their hands, using this method to scare them away.

Suddenly, Su Feng called everyone to stop him. He found a bird's nest on the tree in front of him. This was a good thing, bird eggs, which could be cooked and eaten at home. He asked everyone to wait, and he climbed up like a monkey, holding the tree trunk with both hands and pulling the tree fork to climb to the bird's nest. There were five bird eggs in the nest, and he took three and came down. He couldn't take all of them, or the mother bird would be sad to death.

People here all know that they should not catch small fish, small birds, or young trees, or they will be gone the next year. So for so many years, people have gone up the mountain to chop wood and hunt, but the mountains are still lush with trees and animals. People here don't understand big principles, but they know that all life needs roots, and they can't let them lose their roots.

He gave them to Su He and asked her to put them away and cook them at home. Su He looked at the three bird eggs, which were too few, so she could only break them up and put them in the porridge at home. They walked a little further and stopped at an open space, and began to act separately. The two big ones chopped wood, and the small ones picked them up and tied them up. Su He began to pick wild vegetables. If she saw wild vegetables that could be used as medicine, she would pick more. If she couldn't eat them all, she would dry them and try to sell them in the town when she had time.

Just as she was picking wild vegetables, she saw a rabbit hole, because she saw a rabbit running out of it.

She shouted, "Brother, there are rabbits here."

The four brothers came together, and there were just enough people to go and look for the cave entrance. Su He and Su Feng guarded one, Su Run and Su Che guarded one, and Su Pei guarded one. Su He lit a fire to burn the wormwood, and Su Feng fanned the fire with a large leaf, and the smoke went into the cave through the entrance. They all pointed their baskets at the cave entrance, and Su Run and his group ran over to one. Soon Su Pei caught one. Several people tied the rabbits' legs together and put them in Su Feng's basket. These two rabbits were just right for each family, and the family had meat to eat today.

The five of them packed their stuff and went down the mountain together. Today they had a great harvest. This was the first time they caught rabbits together. In the past, they only saw them catching rabbits with adults. This time they learned very well and caught two at a time. However, they were all newly grown rabbits, not very big. The big rabbits were probably out looking for food.

The five people first went to Su Pei's house, which was close to their home. When they got home, their grandmother was alone at home. Seeing the children coming back, she told them to sit down and rest. When she saw the rabbit Su Pei took out of the basket, she was overjoyed. These children were so lucky to catch a rabbit.

They all said that it was Su He who discovered it. Grandma praised Su He: "Our Niuniu is a little lucky star. Look, she can even help find the rabbit."

She asked the children to sit down while she killed two rabbits. The skins could be sold for money, one for each family. She washed the meat, chopped it into pieces, took it out and wrapped it in lotus leaves, and asked Su Feng to take it and go back to let her mother stew the meat. After everything was done, Su He followed her brother home.

Su Pei picked up Su He, and Su Che carried her small backpack, and sent the three of them home. Su Pei smiled and said, "Our sister Su He is the hero today. It is her credit that we can eat this rabbit meat."

Su He smiled and said, "It's not all my credit. It was just a coincidence. If you weren't here, I wouldn't have caught it."