"Hahahaha, Lan Yan, you must be scared. After eating the roast rabbit, I will watch you work."
Chujiu was leaning forward and backward with a smile, and I could see that he was actually trying his best to hide his expression of being frightened by my sudden outstretched hand.
"You are very good. Master always told me that you are smarter than me. Didn't you see the ceramic jar at the door when you came in? The honey has been packed long ago."
Lan Yan sat back on the small wooden stool, rolled his eyes at Chujiu, and scolded Chujiu unconvinced.
"How could I have you? Guo Guo just made up a story full of loopholes and scared you."
Lan Yan was speechless for a while, saying that the story was not scary at all, but when he was imagining his future college life, he was frightened by my sudden move.
"Indeed, you will go to university in two years. Remember to take the exam to the medical university next to our school, so that we can see each other often."
Chujiu acted like a big brother and told Lan Yan about the medical university that I had climbed over the wall twice to get into.
Lan Yan listened carefully. It seemed that he was really interested in the outside world.
"Brother Chujiu, are college exams really difficult? I feel fine going to high school in the town."
Chujiu laughed and told Lan Yan that every school is different. At least our school is not as scary as Guo Guo’s story. Many subjects are open-book exams. You can find the answers by yourself with the textbook.
As soon as Lan Yan breathed a sigh of relief, he continued to talk about how things would be different in Medical University. He heard that the total number of books he had to memorize was as high as two floors.
Lan Yan turned over the rabbit on the stand in frustration and muttered in a low voice. It seemed that he couldn't get rid of the annoying exam.
The three of them chatted until the skin of the rabbit on the stand became a little burnt and the fragrance began to fade.
Lan Yan poked the surface of the rabbit with his finger, sprinkled some salt on it, rotated it evenly for a while, and then took the roasted rabbit off the stand.
"I'm going to get a knife. I just have to wait a little while."
When Lan Yan walked out of the cave, I found a simple wooden cabinet at the door, which contained some daily necessities.
Lan Yan took out a small knife with a five-color stone inlaid on the handle. When he picked up the knife, a steaming rabbit leg appeared in his hand.
"Brother Chujiu, wipe off your saliva first, and I'll give you this leg to eat first."
Lan Yan handed the cut rabbit leg to Chujiu. Then he inserted the knife diagonally along the rabbit's back. As the knife slowly slid, a piece of golden rabbit meat fell off.
"Brother Feng, try it and see how it goes."
Lan Yan picked up a piece of rabbit meat with the tip of his knife and handed it to me. As early as when I was telling the story, my stomach started to growl when I smelled the aroma, so I caught it and stuffed it into my mouth.
"Slower!"
"Be careful!"
Chujiu and Lanyan spoke at the same time, but it was already too late.
The moment the rabbit meat entered my mouth, I bit it down lightly with my teeth. As the crispy skin on the surface cracked, a stream of hot meat juice splashed out in my mouth.
I immediately grinned because I was so hot that I couldn't bear to spit out the pieces of meat in my mouth.
Under the stunned gazes of Chujiu and Lanyan, I finally endured the pain. After swallowing the meat piece, I started blowing air.
"This guy, I really didn't expect that even though it doesn't look very hot outside, it's so hot inside."
Chujiu curled her lips helplessly, kept blowing on the rabbit legs in her hands, and bit into them.
Only then did I understand why Chujiu said that Lanxi, which cooks excellent food, does not cook roasted rabbit as delicious as Lanyan.
The rich aroma of meat suddenly emitted from his mouth, and even between his teeth there was an indescribable aroma. It should be the aroma of spices sprinkled by Lan Yan.
Apart from remembering that the skin was extremely crispy, I couldn't even remember the feeling of the meat when biting into it. I just thought about burning my mouth.
Lan Yan saw me staring at the stand, smiled and said that his roasted rabbit was really good, cut another piece and handed it to me.
This has to be the best barbecue I've ever had.
When Chujiu ate, his mouth and hands were covered in grease. Lan Yan made fun of him for looking like this, and he would definitely not be able to find a wife in the future.
Not long after finishing the roast rabbit, Chujiu looked at the sky and asked me, was it supposed to be twelve o'clock? I looked at my pager and it was indeed just past twelve o'clock.
The ceramic jar containing honey looked like it could hold a lot of honey. Lan Yan tied the ceramic jar into a knot with a thin rope and picked it up to weigh it.
"Five kilograms of honey, just a little more. Hurry up and leave, otherwise I won't be able to let you go after a while. We only come here once every few years. You will probably forget the marksmanship I taught you, right?"
Chujiu did not take the honey handed over by Lan Yan, but picked up the shotgun standing by the wall of the cave entrance, pulled the bolt, loaded the gun, and fired a shot at the tree in the distance.
"Who said I forgot? What do you think?"
Chujiu proudly pointed to a dry branch that had fallen from the tree.
"You can get me a branch just for a bullet? It's not even enough to make soup."
With a tone of disgust, Lan Yan took the shotgun from Chujiu's hand and put it aside, then threw the honey jar to Chujiu.
"Brother, you wait until I get up at school. I will be here in two years."
No matter how reluctant he was to leave, Lan Yan still said goodbye to us simply, saying to be safe when going down the mountain, and telling Grandma Jian Shu that he would send herbs to the village in ten days, and then turned back to the cave.
When Grandma Jian Shu lived downstairs, it was just past two-thirty. The door to the first floor opened and Grandma Jian Shu was standing in the room, staring at a portrait on the wall in a daze.
When she saw us coming in, Grandma Jian Shu turned her head. Chujiu and I were stunned. Grandma Jian Shu's eyes were red. It was obvious that she had cried not long ago.
"Grandma, what are you doing?"
Chujiu put the honey on the table, ran to Grandma Jian Shu, held her arm and asked.
"It's okay, Xiao Yu just woke up for a while, and now she's asleep again."
Grandma Jian Shu stretched out her hand to wipe away her tears, raised her head and glanced upstairs, laughing and saying that it is easy for people to remember the past when they get older.
"Grandma, what's wrong? If you don't tell me, I'll feel uncomfortable." Chujiu asked reluctantly.
Grandma Jian Shu chuckled and touched Chujiu's hair, pointing to the portrait on the wall: "This is the voodoo girl from the previous generation, who is also my master. I just saw her again."
"What? Grandma, please stop crying. What you are saying makes me miss my old man's old man."
On the ninth day of the lunar month, I helped Grandma Jian Shu to a chair aside. I poured a cup of hot water and handed it to Grandma Jian Shu.
It can be seen that Grandma Jian Shu still has something to say later.
Grandma Jian Shu picked up the water cup and sipped the water in small sips. Just as she was about to put the water cup down, Chu Jiu obediently reached out to take it.
"Xiaoyu woke up half an hour ago. After she woke up, she stared at me for a long time and said: Shuwa'er, you have changed."
Grandma Jian Shu's tears fell again, and she sobbed that this was how the voodoo girls of the previous generation called her.