When Xie Lin saw Xie Songlin, his eyes suddenly lit up. He raised the big rabbit in his hand high and said loudly, "Dad, look, this is the big rabbit I caught!"
As he spoke, he trotted over to Xie Songlin, handed the rabbit to him, and continued excitedly: "Dad, there are many rabbits like this on the mountain. Brother Ergou and the others took me to find them. Brother Ergou is very familiar with the roads on the mountain and knows where there are many rabbits, so he took a group of us there. At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to catch any, but I didn't expect that I would actually catch this big one in the end, hehe."
When the other children heard Xie Lin's words, they followed suit, each holding up the rabbits in their hands. Xie Songlin then noticed that Xie Lin was not the only one who had caught a rabbit. Many of the children were holding or hugging rabbits, and there were quite a few of them, big and small.
I was worried that the children would run out and get into trouble or encounter some danger, but I didn't expect that these young boys were so capable and could catch so many rabbits in just one trip.
Xie Songlin looked at his son's excited and proud expression, and his smile grew even wider. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "Alright, alright, you're awesome, you clever boy. Take it to Aunt Li and have her cook it for you. We'll have the rabbit you caught tonight."
"Okay!" Xie Lin's eyes lit up when he heard it. He became even more excited after receiving his father's praise.
He turned around with the rabbit in his arms and was about to run to the kitchen, but after just two steps, he seemed to remember something and quickly stopped. He turned around and shouted to Xie Ning in the tree, "Brother Ning! Look at the rabbit I caught. It's a huge one! Come down quickly, we'll eat rabbit meat together tonight!"
He shouted and waved the rabbit in his hand vigorously, as if he was afraid that Xie Ning on the tree couldn't see it. Xie Ning was lying on the tree with his eyes closed to rest, but after Xie Lin's yelling, he had no choice but to open his eyes. He stared at Xie Lin, who was jumping up and down excitedly, for a while.
Then he lightly jumped up and flew down from the tree like a light feather, landing steadily on the ground. This scene stunned the young boys in the village. Their eyes were wide open, their mouths opened wide enough to fit eggs, and their faces were full of disbelief.
It took a while for everyone to come back to their senses. In an instant, they were in an uproar and surrounded Xie Lin, starting to curry favor with him crazily.
"Wow! Xie Lin, this is your brother?"
"Xie Lin! Your brother can fly! That's amazing!"
"Can you ask your brother to teach us too? Xie Lin!"
Listening to the envious tone of the crowd, Xie Heng snorted and said loudly: "Huh! This is also my brother!"
After saying that, he immediately rushed over and hugged Xie Ning's arm: "Brother Ning, we are having a rabbit tonight. My second brother and I caught this rabbit together."
Xie Lin immediately rushed over with the rabbit in his hand and hugged Xie Ning's other arm, forcing the rabbit into Xie Ning's hand. Xie Ning could only grab the big fat rabbit helplessly. He found that he had been becoming more and more indulgent towards these two guys recently.
Xie Lin looked at the group of friends across from him who were staring at him eagerly. After a while, he raised his head and looked at Xie Ning with a hint of expectation and a little pride in his eyes. He said loudly, "You guys go home first! My brother still has to teach me kung fu first! You can see that my brother's kung fu is amazing. I can only teach you after I learn it!"
Although the friends were reluctant to leave, they all knew that they couldn't learn from them right away.
So, they could only hang their heads, muttering words like "Okay" and "Remember to teach us", and then turned around one after another and slowly walked towards their respective homes.
The courtyard gate, which had been bustling just now, had returned to calm. Xie Ning was still tightly held in the arms of Xie Lin and Xie Heng. The two little guys were hanging on him like two little koalas. Step by step, the three of them walked side by side towards the kitchen in the yard.
Xie Lan also picked up a rabbit from somewhere and followed them slowly. The rabbit struggled in his hands from time to time, but Xie Lan held it steadily, looking quite calm.
"Brother, you are going to catch rabbits too." Xie Wanxing really couldn't believe that her elder brother, who had become more and more calm recently, would actually follow Xie Lin and the others to do this kind of thing of catching rabbits.
Xie Lan smiled a little embarrassedly when he heard Xie Wanxing's words, and then quickly walked into the kitchen in the yard.
Xie Wanxing raised his head slightly, looking at Xie Songlin standing beside him, and asked doubtfully, "Dad, are there so many children in this village? Didn't Uncle Shunzi say before that there are not many married people in this village? There seem to be quite a lot of children here."
Xie Songlin said, "Indeed, there are indeed a lot of children here. I'll ask Lin Jian about the situation later. If they are children from other villages, we should ask Lin'er and the others to pay more attention to them."
It happened that Lin Jian came to deliver something before dinner, so Xie Songlin asked him about it. However, what he learned from Lin Jian was far beyond his expectations.
After hearing his question, Lin Jian sighed solemnly and then slowly said, "Songlin, these children are indeed from the village, but their life stories are really pitiful."
Xie Songlin asked, "How do you say that?"
Lin Jian said, "These are the orphans of soldiers who died on the battlefield. Their fathers are gone, and their mothers have returned to their parents' home and remarried, so they couldn't take them with them. Your Highness was kind and righteous, and after learning about the situation, he sent them all to our garrison village."
"The prince's housekeeper would come to the village regularly to deliver money and support the children. My father hired two young wives from the village to cook for them, so that the children could at least have a hot meal. The village's conditions were limited, and there was only so much he could do for the children. The prince actually had a hard time. With so many soldiers, how could he possibly manage them all? Moreover, the court was always in arrears with military pay, and even the pensions for soldiers who died in battle were delayed. Often, the prince had to use his own private property to pay for them. The court had even less care for these children."
The expression on Xie Songlin's face grew increasingly heavy. He was silent for a moment before asking, "What about when they grow up?"
"It's better for boys. After they come of age, the court will allocate land to them according to their household registration. Although it's not much, at least they have these few acres of land, and they can support themselves by farming in this village." Lin Jian shook his head. "It's just hard for the girls. They have no parents, and as women, they can't get any land. They can only rely on my parents to help arrange marriages in and outside the village, hoping to find a good family for them to marry into, so that they can have someone to rely on and not end up on the streets. But this is easier said than done. It's not easy to find a suitable family after all."
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