During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

"Clang..."

The shimmering divination sticks appeared before my eyes, and after a few shakes, golden characters appeared:

[Xiao Ji: On the southern slope of Qiushan, there is a rabbit burrow with four rabbits inside. You can go and catch them.]

[Zhongji: A lone roe deer has been spotted in the bushes on Qiushan Mountain. Hunting it will yield its hide and meat.]

[Extremely unlucky: A lone wolf has caught a roe deer, which is still lurking nearby. Without a foolproof plan, leaving will be extremely dangerous.]

Ye Qingqing's eyes lit up.

The little lucky charm looks pretty good.

Wild rabbits at the beginning of winter not only have thick, shiny fur, but they also haven't lost much weight, making them the most plump and delicious.

If we find a way to dig up the rabbit hole, we can not only get meat to eat, but also exchange it for money!

Although Zhongjiqian is a lone roe deer, she doesn't know how to hunt. Roe deer are faster than people, so even if she finds one, she might not be able to catch it.

As for the ominous sign, she doesn't have the ability to fight the wolf yet, so she'll just have to be thankful if she doesn't encounter it.

Ye Qingqing reached out and removed the lucky charm, then got up, looking refreshed.

Smoke rose from the rooftop, and a pot of thin millet porridge was simmering on the stove. Some finely shredded chicken and dark dried vegetables were bubbling in the porridge. The eldest sister-in-law had already prepared breakfast.

"Second daughter, you're up so early?"

Li Chunyan was surprised to see that she had gotten up so early in the morning.

Her sister-in-law was spoiled by her parents since she was a child, and she never woke up until the sun was high in the sky.

Good morning, sister-in-law.

Ye Qingqing greeted them and saw that Ye Dali had already filled a water vat in the house with water and was chopping wood with great effort. Cui Cui, her neck hunched over from the cold, was sweeping the yard with her hands red from the cold, holding a broom.

Even five-year-old Huanhuan sat obediently in front of the stove, helping her mother to tend the fire.

She cursed the original owner of the body in her heart, saying that she didn't have to do anything and yet she could get up and have a hot meal.

Fortunately, we had a hearty meal last night, and the pale and thin faces of my family members regained some luster.

"Hey, I mean..."

Li Chunyan slipped over to Ye Dali, poked his lower back, and whispered, "What's wrong with Er Yatou?"

"What's wrong?"

Ye Dali was completely dumbfounded.

"She went to town to see a play, and this is the first time she's ever taken a bath like this. She even greeted me just now..."

Li Chunyan took a deep breath, her expression strange. "Could it be that the Erlang River ruined her brain?"

Ye Qingqing, "..."

You two are the ones who gossip behind people's backs, can you at least stay away from them?

Ye Youliang was leaning against the headboard twisting hemp rope when he heard her coming and quickly greeted her.

"It's cold outside, come inside and have some hot porridge."

He lost a leg, but his hands never stopped.

The only job I can do now is twist hemp rope. A thick roll of hemp rope can be sold for seven or eight coins in town, which is equivalent to half a pound of mixed grain flour!

"They're here."

It was indeed cold. Ye Qingqing wrapped her old cotton-padded coat tighter around herself and slipped into the house in a flash.

Cotton is a precious commodity. The cotton-padded clothes in my family were all made from old cotton that I had bought and exchanged, mixed with reeds and thatch. They were so thin that they could be easily blown through by the wind and were not resistant to the cold at all.

She wondered how much food the four rabbits could be exchanged for, but it certainly wouldn't be enough to buy a cotton-padded coat. She started thinking about the lone roe deer.

If we can catch one, we'll have enough winter clothes for the family.

Ye Qingqing sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and immediately asked, "Father, have you ever hunted roe deer before?"

"A silly roe deer? I've fought one before!"

Ye Youliang paused, stopping his rough, cracked hands. "Why are you asking this?"

"Nothing much, I just dreamt last night that a big roe deer was jumping around in front of me, and I almost caught it!"

Ye Qingqing found an excuse and asked eagerly, "Father, are roe deer easy to hunt? How do you hunt them? If I can't shoot arrows, can I catch them by setting traps or snares?"

Ye Youliang raised his cloudy eyes to look at her, and gave a bitter smile.

"Silly girl, you actually took a dream seriously? Speaking of roe deer, although they may seem silly, they have sharp ears and run fast, so they're not easy to catch."

"For hunters like us, we definitely need arrows to hunt roe deer, but if we can find traces, we can set up a snare with a sinew along its path and catch it by catching its leg."

Ye Qingqing's eyes lit up. "Father, do you have a cowhide lasso? Teach me how to set one!"

Li Chunyan brought in a ceramic pot of steaming millet porridge and couldn't help but smile.

"Second Girl, that's just a dream! You really want to catch roe deer in your dreams?"

"I'm going up the mountain anyway; if I spot any roe deer, maybe I can catch one?"

Ye Qingqing tugged at her father's sleeve with a grin and said coquettishly, "Father, please teach me, okay? I really dreamed of a big roe deer last night, and it was making me so itchy!"

A hint of hesitation flashed in Ye Youliang's eyes. His eldest son was clumsy and rough, and even after several years of going up the mountain with him, he still hadn't learned how to be a hunter.

Unexpectedly, Er Yatou is so eager to run up the mountain. Could it be that she wants to become a female hunter?

In the mountains, there is no distinction between men and women in hunting, but the job is too hard and tiring. If you encounter wolves, bears, tigers, or leopards, you might lose your life. He couldn't bear to let his daughter become a hunter!

However, I guess Er Yatou caught a pheasant yesterday, and that's why she suddenly felt like going up the mountain again.

Prey is not so easy to find.

Once she couldn't catch anything, she gradually became too lazy to go anymore.

Ye Youliang then coaxed his daughter, saying,

"Sure, what's wrong with that? Setting a lasso isn't hard to learn, it's just that roe deer aren't easy to find..."

Just treat it as a fun exercise; don't get angry if you can't get it right, okay, girl?

Ye Qingqing grinned and said, "Okay, I'll listen to Father!"

As long as you learn the old hunter's skills in setting traps, the lone roe deer on the divination slip won't be able to escape!

Ye Youliang twisted his neck and shouted outside, "Dali, go and get my cowhide rope."

As expected of an experienced hunter, Ye Qingqing watched as her father twisted the cowhide rope in his hand a few times and made a rope loop.

Then bend a flexible branch into an arc shape and attach it to the loose end of the lasso; that's it.

Ye Youliang lightly touched the broom he used to sweep the kang (a heated brick bed), and with a "snap," the lasso tightly gripped the broom.

He tugged at it with his hand, demonstrating, "See? As long as you put the leggings on, the more the prey pulls, the tighter the leggings become."

"Daddy is so amazing!"

Ye Qingqing's eyes lit up, and she quickly grabbed the cowhide rope and tree branch, fiddling with them a few times, just like her father had done.

I never expected she would actually succeed!

"I'll do it! I'll do it!"

Xiao Huanhuan snatched the broom and poked it into the rope loop. With a snap, the rope loop caught the broom.

Her eyes widened immediately, and she clapped her little hands happily and shouted.

"Auntie is amazing! Auntie is going to catch a roe deer!"

"Once Auntie brings back the roe deer, Huanhuan will eat roe deer meat every day!"

Ye Qingqing affectionately rubbed her little head and carefully tucked the cowhide rope into her bosom.

In her own time and space, she was a top-level diviner who had cultivated three personal divination slips.

No one who can be a fortune teller is a fool.

After drinking a bowl of thin porridge, Ye Qingqing couldn't wait to go up the mountain to catch the whole family of wild rabbits!