Soon after arriving at Hutubi , the children became familiar with the elderly in the nursing home. Uncle Shuangguai raised many rabbits, which aroused the children's curiosity. The child pulled a lot of grass every day, fed the rabbits, and happily walked around the rabbit cellar to watch the rabbits eating grass. He pointed with relish and asked Uncle Shuangguai many weird questions. Uncle Shuangguai patiently answered the children's questions, taught them how to identify male and female rabbits, told them to gently lift their ears when catching rabbits, and also shared some common sense about what grass rabbits like to eat.
One evening at dusk, the children went for a walk with the adults and walked into the Gobi Desert not far away. They came to an abandoned adobe house. Looking at the ruins, the children talked a lot. Some people suspect that the house was destroyed by bandits; some say that there is no water and it is uninhabitable, so the owner demolished it himself; some argue that the smokey walls were destroyed by an accidental fire. Everyone was in great interest when suddenly a little wild rabbit sprang out from the ruins. The brother, with his quick hands and quick eyes, immediately rushed over, grabbed it, and held the little rabbit lovingly in his arms. Everyone was very excited and rushed to pet and watch. The little guy has soft and smooth heather gray fur and dark eyes. He looks alert and a little panicked, but he lies quietly and honestly in his brother's arms.
The children got up very early the next day and rushed to see their new friend, the little wild rabbit. They imitated Uncle Shuanggua’s rabbit cellar and dug a rectangular rabbit cellar in front of the house. The children didn't have time to take a breath, so they ran to tell Uncle Shuangguai the good news of catching the little wild rabbit.
After hearing the news, Uncle Shuangguai limped over to the children's newly dug rabbit cellar to see what was going on. The children were particularly proud. Uncle Shuangguai pondered for a moment and said, "It's difficult for a single seedling to survive. After all, it is a wild thing and it is still very young."
The children's eyes widened, "What should we do?"
Uncle Shuangguai frowned and tried, "How about I exchange two domestic rabbits for your wild rabbits? Besides, wild rabbits won't play a big role here. There are many rabbits in my place, and the little hares adapt easily and have a high survival rate. In the future, I plan to pair wild rabbits with domestic rabbits to have beautiful babies. I will give you a few more then."
The children were hesitant, and Uncle Shuangguai kept talking, "I want to combine a hare with a yellow domestic rabbit, maybe a red rabbit will be born. If combined with a black flower white rabbit , it may give birth to a blue-purple rabbit, but if combined with blue-purple blue rabbit , it may not necessarily give birth to a rabbit with a more wonderful and beautiful color, and the new rabbit breed will definitely grow big and strong." The children were attracted by Uncle Shuangguai's ambitious plan. Everyone jumped up happily and agreed to Uncle Shuangguai's request.
Uncle Shuangguai led the children to his rabbit cellar and said, "Except for the two red rabbits, you can choose any two little rabbits." The children discussed catching a pure yellow male rabbit and a snow-white long-haired female rabbit. The child carefully put the little hare into the cellar.
In an instant, the rabbit cellar was like a pot. All the rabbits saw an invading enemy. The old rabbits chased and bit the little hare. The little hare jumped high in the cellar, hid in the cellar, squeaked and screamed. It hit the wall everywhere, got into the hole, and was bitten out of the hole again, scurrying around in a state of embarrassment. Uncle Shuangguai said with a smile, "You'll get used to it over time." In fact, Uncle Shuangguai made a fatal mistake. He should not have mixed young hares and old rabbits in a cage. A few days later, Uncle Shuangguai told the child with regret, "I haven't seen the little hare for a long time. It may have been bitten to death by an old rabbit in the hole."
With their own rabbits, the children's positive personalities are extremely high. In addition to competing to pull weeds in the fields every day, they pick out the fresh and tender seedling grass and milkweed that rabbits like to eat most, and bring them back to feed the rabbits. Because rabbits are very hygienic, the children had no choice but to get into the narrow rabbit cellar and clean up rabbit droppings and residues without any complaints. The children also secretly took out carrots, corn kernels, dried steamed buns and other vegetables and fruits at home to feed their beloved rabbits.
The child was very happy and excited as he watched the rabbit wash its face with its two front paws and carefully arrange its two long ears.Rabbits grow up so fast. In a few months, the little rabbit turns into a big rabbit and makes a deep burrow in the cellar. Another month later, the child was surprised to find that several more little rabbits appeared in the rabbit cellar, including snow-white, oil-black, and ephemeral yellow. They were so cute.
The little rabbit just came out of the nest and heard unusual noises, so he quickly ducked into the hole. The children waited quietly and patiently, holding their breath, and secretly watched what was going on in the cellar. After a while, the clever little rabbit listened vigilantly from the hole, found an abnormal sound, and immediately got into the hole, making the children laugh.
Rabbits breed very fast, with one litter almost every month, ranging from three or four to seven or eight. The rabbits in the cellar quickly overpopulated, and the children were overwhelmed, unable to control and manage them. They dug a slope next to the cellar and allowed the rabbits to go out and run into the wild to feed themselves. The rabbit flapped its short tail and erect its long ears, running around in the surrounding fields and vegetable fields, saving the children any more trouble and effort.
Killing the first rabbit is hard to spoil the child. The skinny monkey Chongyang was so brave that he forced the rabbit's head into the water basin, but failed to choke the rabbit to death. The rabbit struggled, sneezed and kicked its legs randomly. Fatty Kunyang picked up an iron rod and beat the rabbit violently. The rabbit squeaked and howled, and finally died. I cut open the intestines and skinned the rabbit, and there were traces of congestion on the rabbit's body, which was too cruel to look at. The adults cooked rabbit meat , but for some reason, the children couldn't taste the flavor and found it hard to swallow.
Later I learned that killing a rabbit is actually very simple. Just lift the rabbit's two hind legs, and then hit the rabbit's back ears twice, and the rabbit will die. Then lift the rabbit up, use a knife to peel the skin from the triangular mouth while it is hot, peel it over the head, pull down the rabbit skin with both hands, and the rabbit skin will be completely peeled off.
To catch a rabbit, you need to hold two long ears in one hand and hold the rabbit's butt in one hand, so that it will be docile. In summer, the grass is collected, cooled and dried, and then stored for winter feed. Children often feed rabbits. Rabbits do not avoid children when they see them, but are willing to come to them to beg for food. Xinjiang has a long winter, and after every heavy snowfall, there are always strings of wild rabbit footprints left on the snow in the wilderness. The life of the rabbits raised by children is no worse than that of others. The rabbits have smooth, soft fur and thick velvet, and they look very proud.
In the spring, female rabbits are preparing to give birth. They chase and bite off handfuls of down from other companions, and often bite down from their own bodies to help cushion the nest and give birth. If a hole is blocked by soil, it means that the rabbit has given birth. The female rabbit will strictly guard the hole and will not allow any rabbits to enter. After a while, the hole will open, indicating that the cute little rabbit has left the nest. After more than a year of hard work, the children's total number of rabbits has far exceeded Uncle Shuangguai's rabbits. They are very proud. Uncle Shuangguai often visits the children's rabbit cellar and praises their rabbits.
Later, my family left Hutubi. In other places, I still have a unique love for rabbits and have raised rabbits for many years. When I returned to Shaanxi, I never raised rabbits again. I heard that Shaanxi lame children like dogs to chase rabbits. I have been in the Qin Dynasty for decades, but I have never been there in person. It is a pity to experience such a shocking scene. Occasionally flipping through a magazine, I learned that Austria was once overrun with rabbits and caused disasters. The locals were miserable and I was filled with emotion.
When I was studying abroad, classmate xx got a white rabbit from somewhere and asked me cryptically if I could kill it. At that time, the food in the school cafeteria was poor and the smell of meat was rare. When I heard his words, I couldn't help but salivate. My eyes lit up and I said, you have found the right person, it is a piece of cake. After dark, we were in front of everyone, under the back window of the student dormitory, and with the dim light, I held a peeling knife and effortlessly peeled off the rabbit skin very skillfully. It was really like a cigarette without anyone noticing, and the battle was solved.
On the second day, we took out the fragrant rabbit meat from the steamer in the experimental workshop, ate the meat and drank the wine. It felt really refreshing. In my interest, I suddenly stopped my chopsticks and asked in confusion, "No, why do you smell something fishy?" XX said vaguely, "Stop talking nonsense and eat it quickly. It tastes pretty good." Then he took a big piece of Doji and laughed.This was the first time I drank alcohol. I felt dizzy. I returned to the dormitory and fell asleep. I did not leave the workshop for the entire afternoon to participate in the internship. Instead, I felt excited and happy afterwards. Now that I think about that time, I feel how stupid I was, how childish and ridiculous I was.
In the decades since then, I have never touched a rabbit again, and I have never even dreamed of a rabbit tail. The Year of the Rabbit is approaching, and I am grateful. Fortunately, the plague tiger has come to an end, and everyone is "sheep (yang)". There is no need to talk about the change of color of the tiger, let alone the change of color of the "sheep". Suddenly looking back, I have been in a state of uneasiness for three years, with no real dangers. I casually wrote down these trivial things, not knowing how to express my complicated mood.
I wish you good luck in the Year of the Rabbit and God bless China.
