"Anmin, is your mouth blessed or something?" Watching the pheasant on the ground struggling less and less, Xia Xingchen exclaimed.
"Xingchen, what nonsense are you talking about? Superstition is not okay; you know that." Ding Anmin reached out to pull Xia Xingchen, cautiously glanced around, and relaxed a bit seeing no one was around.
"But what's up with you today, catching eels, river mussels, and pearls, and now you've even taken down a wild chicken. Are you... okay?" Ding Anmin looked at Yi Roujing with a hint of caution in her eyes.
Just moments ago, Yi Roujing's kick had a hefty punch, usually just arguing with family by mouth, but has she already held back her punch?
"The ones with problems are them. Maybe I'm heaven's favored child." Yi Roujing said calmly, "Or maybe it's because of good deeds. I helped you earlier and got this in return."
"But tonight, we can have some meat." Yi Roujing's eyes fixed on the nearly dead pheasant on the ground, her gaze made Ding Anmin and Xia Xingchen shiver a little.
"Anmin, your stare is a bit scary." Xia Xingchen joked to ease the atmosphere.
"It's a normal reaction for people who haven't had meat in a long time, seeing meat." Yi Roujing deliberately turned her head and grinned at Xia Xingchen and Ding Anmin.
"You, be normal." Ding Anmin suddenly said loudly.
"Oh." Yi Roujing quickly withdrew her expression, moved forward and picked up the pheasant, "Tsk, it seems to be about three or four pounds. After plucking the feathers and removing the organs, excluding the head, we'll only get a few pieces each."
"Half of it should be turned over to the team." Ding Anmin said.
"No one saw us." Yi Roujing didn't care.
"But if someone finds out, the one who sneaks benefits will be criticized."
"Just destroy the evidence; if they can't find proof, they can't say anything." Yi Roujing squinted with a slight curve at the corner of her mouth, "Don't worry, I'm a little good at this kind of thing."
The anatomy class was not for nothing, Yi Roujing considered herself among the best in that area in college. Plus, chicken feathers can be made into a shuttlecock, and chicken bones crushed as fertilizer buried in the garden, haha, perfect!
"You..." If Ding Anmin had a beard, it would be flying right now, seeing this, Yi Roujing pouted slightly and handed the pheasant in front of her.
"Here, it's yours. Deal with it as you see fit." Yi Roujing said.
Ding Anmin's angry expression stiffened, she turned her head with a hum, "First take it down, if seen, bring it out again; if not, we'll eat it all, anyway it's not like others haven't done this."
Yi Roujing slightly raised her eyebrow, "Not bad, can adapt."
"Smarter than you for sure." Ding Anmin put down the basket for pig fodder, took the pheasant, knowing what she was going to do, Yi Roujing quickly stopped her.
"Wait." Yi Roujing looked for a larger leaf on the side, "Don't pull out the blade, or the blood will flow out; wrap it with a leaf and take it down first, pull it out at home, otherwise, if pig fodder gets blood and smell on it, others can guess."
"Anmin is thoughtful." Xia Xingchen said with a grin.
Ding Anmin hummed again, her mouth slightly pouting, "Just a little clever."
Yi Roujing didn't bother with her, the three of them returned with bountiful gains. When descending the mountain, they encountered people working in the fields on the way. Seeing their baskets filled with pig fodder, they immediately praised them.
"Anmin and Xingchen are really capable, and so good-looking too, in the future I wonder which young man will have the luck."
"Exactly, hey, if my boy Anbao was a bit older, I'd have the nerve to ask for a daughter-in-law."
"Haha, your boy Anbao's still just a baby, sister, you're worrying too early."
...
"Such popular girls, huh." Yi Roujing teased as she looked at the two of them.
"Compared to you, everyone's a popular girl." Ding Anmin muttered softly, "Don't you have any self-awareness?"
"Oh." Yi Roujing glanced at Ding Anmin, this girl isn't very cute right now, "As long as your big brother's popular, it's fine. Who doesn't have a 'popular' person at home."
Ding Anmin's eyes widened in anger, "You, you..."
"Pfft—" Xia Xingchen burst into laughter.
"Xingchen, look at her."
"Anmin, sister-in-law is praising your big brother." Xia Xingchen watched the sister-in-law's banter, and found it quite amusing.
"Quick, we need to stop by home first." Yi Roujing briskly led the way, the other two quickly followed.
The rare few brick houses on the Dingping Production Team, and the courtyard was also walled with mud bricks. Ding Anmin took out the key and opened the main gate. After the three entered, they bolted the door, pulled away the pig fodder to take out the pheasant, eels, and river mussels, along with some of the pig fodder with a leftover scent, taking everything to the kitchen.
Yi Roujing swiftly pulled out the blade, Ding Anmin took it and started seriously handling it, wedging a thin piece of wood between the blade and wooden handle, hitting on the ground to secure the sickle, washed the traces of blood clean, drank some water, and then hurried to the team.
"Xiaojing, mind helping us weigh this?" Ding Anmin smiled as she greeted Ding Xiaojing upon reaching the warehouse.
"Bring it all here." Seeing the baskets filled evenly with pig fodder, Ding Xiaojing couldn't say anything even if dissatisfied with Yi Roujing.
"Just like before, one and a half work points, with a full day filling four baskets, each of you gets six work points." Ding Xiaojing said.
"Hey, thanks Xiaojing, we'll continue gathering pig fodder then."
The sun was setting, Yi Roujing exhausted, followed them to the team to return the sickle and slumped on a chair upon reaching home.
Ding Anmin followed Li Hongying into the kitchen to get busy, and upon seeing the pheasant, eels, and river mussels, Li Hongying was startled, "Where did these come from?"
"Got them while gathering pig fodder today." Ding Anmin explained briefly and then called out to Yi Roujing, "Hey, didn't you say you're good at evidence elimination, what're you sitting there for?"
"I'm not called 'hey'." Yi Roujing slightly lifted her eyelid.
"Humph—" Ding Anmin continued watching her without changing the address.
"Really..." Yi Roujing rose sluggishly and walked into the kitchen.
"What do you plan to do, don't waste good stuff." Li Hongying glanced at Yi Roujing.
Indeed, mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law always find each other displeasing to the eye.
"If I hadn't gotten these, you'd not even see their shadows." Yi Roujing replied flatly, glancing around the kitchen, a clay stove, a long wooden board set up as a countertop, a cupboard, several jars, then a square table with six chairs in the middle.
Yi Roujing picked up the knife on the countertop, feeling the blade with her thumb. It's sharp enough, though a bit large, but it'll do.
"Anmin, heat some water and pluck the feathers, I'm only in charge of deboning." Yi Roujing said, turning around with the knife.
"No need for you to tell me." Ding Anmin lifted the pot lid, steam wafted over, she scooped water into a basin, placed the pheasant in, ensuring each side was scalded evenly. Once done, she quickly began plucking the feathers.