After receiving the medication, the father and daughter pair thanked Doctor Sun profusely over and over. The two of them then went to the outskirts of town to pick up their sledge. On the way there, Xiaocao bought a few meat stuffed buns from a roadside stall and used the buns to feed the two energetic dogs until they were stuffed full. In addition, she added a couple drops of the mystic-stone water to the dog's drinking water.
The two dogs instantly became lively and full of energy. On the road back home, the two animals pulled the sled at lightning speed. They even caught up and pa.s.sed a fellow who was driving a horse-pulled sleigh. The driver exclaimed in admiration at the speed and strength of the two dogs and even said that his own horse would not be able to catch up with them.
The two st.u.r.dy and brave dogs finished a distance of around twenty-five kilometers in less than an hour. Before they arrived at the entrance of the village, the father and daughter pair took a detour to check on the traps they had set earlier. It was not a surprise to Xiaocao that more than half of their traps had some sort of game to be harvested.
Out of the two large snares, one of them had been damaged while the other one had caught a fat and fleshy roe deer. However, it appeared that too much time had pa.s.sed since the roe deer had been trapped. The animal had already died a while ago and had been frozen stiff. The other smaller traps had mostly caught wild hares and pheasants but one of them had even snapped a badger!
Xiaocao was not familiar with badgers, so she curiously poked the animal a couple of times. A slight smile had finally appeared on Yu Hai's face as he said, "A badger's fur is very warm. After Father finishes tanning its pelt, I'll have your mother make a badger fur vest for you. The meat from the badger is also very tasty and has the ability to nourish the body. We should keep for ourselves to eat. You should take the badger fat so that when Doctor You returns you can use it to brew some burn ointment."
"This badger probably weighs at least twenty or so catties, even if we're estimating on the low end. It could be sold for a couple hundred copper coins. Do you think grandmother will really allow us to eat it?" Yu Xiaocao casually replied without much expectation.
"This badger was caught by us, if I say we eat it, then we shall eat it!" Yu Hai had a much more resolute and determined air around him compared to before.
They had quite a large haul from their traps, and altogether it came out to be around two to three hundred catties worth of game. Yu Hai stacked the prey on top of the sleigh and walked alongside the vehicle. From time to time, he would ask his daughter if she was either hungry or cold.
Yu Xiaocao had been wrapped up until she resembled a large cotton ball. Other than her eyes and nose, everything else was under layers of cloth. She couldn't help but sigh inwardly: 'The way Father treats me, his daughter, is beyond words!'
The father and daughter pair first went to Yu Hai's uncle's home to return the sledge. On the way there, Xiaocao had already convinced her father that he should temporarily not repay the money he had borrowed. With a debt to pay off, he will have an excuse to not give up the money he obtained from selling game. At this time, it was necessary for their own branch to have their own purse!
After the past few events, Yu Hai was very clear on the importance of having some cash on hand. His wife had a poor const.i.tution ever since she gave birth to s.h.i.+tou and even coughed up blood several times. Although his youngest daughter had said she was feeling fine, but he still wasn't completely convinced by her. If he didn't have a single copper coin in his hands, what could he do in the future? Would he be destined to watch the two of them suffer the next time they got ill or encountered a disaster?"
Thus, he didn't say a word when his daughter received the fifty taels note earlier. Furthermore, when his daughter suggested to delay settling the debt, he also agreed to the idea without a single hesitation. In the future he will continue to work hard and expand great effort for the family as a whole but he would never disregard his own branch and be foolishly filial again!
"Dahai, quickly bring the child into the room so she can sit on the kang to get warmed up. It's a cold day, you must be frozen right? How are you Xiaocao? You look pretty wan and listless!" Yu Lichun stooped down to pick Xiaocao and the blankets combined and quickly entered the house.
The warm air from the room hit her immediately and before she could take a good look at her surroundings, Xiaocao had been inserted directly into the blankets covering the kang. The toasty warmth of the covers was incredibly comfortable, and it made her feel drowsy.
"What did the doctor say?" Yu Xiaocao's third uncle, Yu Jiang, asked as he held two bowls of piping hot ginger soup. After giving one bowl to Yu Hai, he carefully cajoled his niece to drink the ginger soup.
