"What’s there to be scared of? I’m not stealing or robbing anyone, so what’s the big deal about raising a few rabbits? Stop worrying over nothing. Hurry on back now, and ride carefully." Raina was completely unconcerned and shooed Frederick Thorne away.

(PS: In the 1970s, besides poultry and livestock, farmers were not allowed to raise other animals for profit. There were also limits on the number of pigs, sheep, and chickens they could keep. Private plots had similar restrictions—everything, from the number of chickens and pigs to the number of pumpkin vines, had to follow the rules. Exceeding the set limits would lead to confiscation and fines, and in serious cases, public criticism. Raising rabbits was strictly forbidden, but some farmers did it secretly. As long as no one reported them, it was fine.)

Jim Thorne had caught the rabbits on the mountain. In the spring, the wild grass was lush, and the wild rabbits grew sleek and plump. Many of the villagers hunted by digging pits on the back mountain, and from time to time, they’d have some success. Wild rabbits and pheasants were common, and if you were lucky, you could even catch a muntjac!

(PS: A muntjac is a bit like a deer, but smaller. An adult one weighs around twenty to thirty pounds.)

Though Felix Thorne was an expert butcher, he was terrible at hunting. He had gone up the mountain with others to dig pits a few times, but while everyone else had a catch, Felix came back empty-handed every single time. In a fit of pique, he simply stopped going up the mountain.

Goldie Thorne, however, was a master in this domain. Hunting in the mountains, catching fish in the river, feeling for swamp eels and loaches in the paddy ditches—he excelled at it all. Once spring arrived, the Thorne family’s dinner table was never without these wild delicacies. Jim and his two brothers had learned all sorts of useful skills from their youngest uncle.

Now that Goldie Thorne was older, he was no longer interested in such things; he had loftier ambitions. Howard Thorne and Patrick Thorne were completely focused on their studies, so the mantle had passed to Jim Thorne. As soon as school let out, he would head for the mountains to catch wild game, the fields for eels and loaches, and the river ditches for small silver carp. He would bring them home to be dried, and they would have enough to eat for a year.

Jim Thorne was the one who had caught these little rabbits. Their whole family had been wiped out; Jim caught every last one. Once spring arrived, the wild rabbit population on the mountain would explode, becoming a plague. Experienced mountain folk always took this opportunity to hunt them—first, for pest control, and second, to add meat to their tables. It was killing two birds with one stone.

(Wild rabbits gnaw on tree roots and turf and dig holes everywhere, disrupting the forest’s ecological balance. So, the rabbit population on the mountain has to be controlled. The best way is to put them in your belly, haha.)

The two large rabbits had long since ended up in the Thorne family’s bellies. The remaining little ones didn’t have much meat on them, and Jim Thorne had originally planned to kill them, but Tang Xiaonan stopped him, saying she wanted to raise them. Phoebe Huxley, however, was against it. She complained that rabbit droppings reeked and that all they did was eat, poop, and eat some more. She was too lazy to clean up after them.

So, Tang Xiaonan took the rabbits to Raina’s place. Every day after school, she and Amanda Chapman would go up the mountain to cut wild grass to feed them. There were six little rabbits in total, and in less than a month, they had grown plump and round. In another two months, they’d likely be ready for the stew pot.

Frederick Thorne was still a bit worried. "In that case, don’t mention it to anyone," he cautioned. "You can know a person’s face, but not their heart. Who knows if someone might report you." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

He and Lana Steiner were kind to others and didn’t even live in the village, but that bitch Phoenix Golding still tried to viciously harm them. He was even less willing to trust other people now. Smiling to your face while holding a knife behind their back—the human heart was too unpredictable.

"Got it, now hurry back!"

Raina shoved Frederick Thorne, still not taking his concerns to heart. In her eyes, it was a trivial matter. When it came down to it, there were hardly any families in the village who *weren’t* violating policy. Plenty of families had more pigs, chickens, and ducks than the limit allowed. Heck, some were even raising three pigs! And here she was, with just a few rabbits. If bad luck was coming, it would come for everyone at once. What was there to be scared of!

Tang Xiaonan’s heart skipped a beat. ’You’re not allowed to raise rabbits?’

"Momma, why can’t we raise rabbits?"