The families who lost the chickens nodded in agreement and spoke to the team leader.

"Thank you, Captain. Thank you for helping us recover our losses. We agree."

Liu Ping breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the villagers agreed. Fortunately, they had received enough grain this year, and the remaining grain was enough to barely keep them alive. He blamed his son for it.

It's all my family's fault for being greedy. What could we do but compensate them? Otherwise, we couldn't really end up in jail.

After receiving the villagers' reply, Li Dazhuang spoke to Liu Ping,

"There are eight chickens in total. You'll have to deliver them to the brigade by tonight with grain as payment. Then, tonight, the brigade will hold a meeting to criticize your entire family. You all have to be there, understand?"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Ping hurriedly agreed.

"Yes, yes, Captain. I'll deliver the grain to the brigade as soon as I get home."

Then Liu Ping hurriedly grabbed his son and ran home, otherwise he would inevitably get beaten up again.

His face had already been scratched several times by several women, and there was a big meeting tonight, so he was probably going to get another beating.

Seeing Liu Ping and his son leave, the captain said slowly,

"Alright, everyone, quiet down. We've caught the culprit this time, but there might still be weasels and wildcats causing trouble. Be careful when you go back home and keep an eye on your hens."

The villagers nodded in agreement and spoke to Li Dazhuang.

"Understood, Captain. We'll keep a close watch this time."

After the villagers responded, the team leader continued speaking to them.

"Xiao Weimo helped catch the chicken thief this time. You should thank him, you know? Otherwise, you might be the one in trouble next time. If anyone dares to make things difficult for his family again, don't blame me for being rude to you."

Wei Mo hadn't expected to have anything to do with himself. He stood there awkwardly scratching his head, listening to the villagers' praise.

"Well done, Wei Mo! You're amazing! You're practically a prodigy!"

"That's right, that's right. It's all thanks to Wei Mo who helped me recover my lost hen, otherwise it would have been a complete waste."

The children nearby were also chattering excitedly.

"I helped too, I helped too, Brother Wei even gave me toys!"

"Brother Wei Mo also rewarded me."

"Me too, me too."

A group of children chattered away, and the villagers were especially happy to see their own children contributing.

"Good job, you're all great! I'll cook you something delicious when we get home today!"

"Okay, okay,"

As the children cheered, the people also felt happy.

The captain waved his hand and shouted to the crowd.

"Alright, everyone, let's all disperse. We'll handle this in a meeting tonight."

Wei Mo followed his sister Wei Xiaomin toward their home. A group of children, being pulled by their parents to go home, quickly broke free from their parents' hands and followed Wei Mo, calling out.

"Brother Wei Mo, Brother Wei Mo, where's my reward?"

Wei Mo turned around and smiled at the group of children.

"Yes, yes, come with me, I'll give them all to you in a bit."

Seeing how well their children were playing with Wei Mo, the adults felt relieved. After all, Wei Mo was behaving so well and was so smart, so they all went home.

The captain followed Wei Mo back to Wei Mo's house. After meeting the old man, he recounted the whole incident to him. The captain praised him repeatedly.

"Wei Mo was smart enough to scare Liu Wang out; otherwise, his whole family would have been hiding."

The old man was naturally happy to hear the brigade leader praise his grandson, but he still said something to the brigade leader.

"You should pay more attention to things yourself. Don't come to Wei Mo for everything. What's the point of having you as the captain then?"

Li Dazhuang scratched his head awkwardly, feeling somewhat embarrassed as he listened to the old man's scolding. Then Li Dazhuang said...

"Who told Wei Mo to be so smart? How can I compare to him? It's just that he's too young, otherwise it would be better to let him be the captain."

When the old man heard Li Dazhuang still praising his eldest grandson, he stopped scolding the brigade leader, and the two started talking about other things.

Wei Mo also started making spinning tops for the children. Before long, each of them was holding a small spinning top and watching Wei Mo take a large section out of the rope used to weave the fishing net.

Under the watchful eyes of the old village chief and the brigade leader, the ropes were distributed to each of the children, and they were told...

"Go find a stick, wrap it around yourself, and we'll go spin the tops together in a bit."

"Oh, spinning tops! I have a spinning top now!"

Upon hearing Wei Mo's words, all the children's eyes lit up, and they all ran out to look for sticks.

The ice is now half a meter thick, enough to withstand these kids, and there's no problem with winter fishing now.

Wei Mo planned to go to the river to check the situation first. If it was feasible, they could start winter fishing. He could also spend some time playing with the kids spinning tops.

Seeing the children run out, Wei Mo called out to Wei Xiaohui and Wei Xiaomin.

"Big sister, big sister, let's go too, I have even better spinning tops here."

As he spoke, he bought three iron spinning tops from the trading market, the kind that make a buzzing sound when you spin them.

He took two and handed them to Wei Xiaohui and Wei Xiaomin. Wei Xiaomin's eyes lit up when she saw them.

"Little brother, this is really good, much better than that piece of wood."

Wei Mo, however, said to Wei Xiaomin...

"Of course, what can I do? You two are my older sisters."

Wei Xiaohui also held the spinning top with great interest. Wei Mo then found three wooden sticks and made three whips. Then the three siblings walked outside.

Wei Mo called out as he walked, "Let's go spin some tops!"

The children who were looking for sticks outside all gathered around Wei Mo.

"Here I am, here I am, Brother Wei Mo, Brother Wei Mo, wait for me."

Wei Mo is now the king of the kids in the whole village. He can call out to anyone and a whole bunch of kids will head towards the river.

Because of the snowfall, the ice surface was covered with a thick layer of snow, and they needed to clear the snow before they could play. Wei Mo directed the children to start clearing the accumulated snow.

"Shan Zhenhai and Shan Zhenjiang, you take your previous teams to find branches and dry grass. Li Fu and Tian Boguang, you take the third and fourth teams and are responsible for clearing the snow."

"After they bring the branches, we'll all clear a space together and play together."

Following Wei Mo's words, Shan Zhenjiang and Shan Zhenhai found their team members and spoke to Wei Mo.

“Okay, Brother Wei Mo, let’s go collect branches and hay.”

After Shan Zhenhai and Shan Zhenjiang finished speaking, they led a group of children to find tree branches and dry grass to prepare for clearing the snow.

Meanwhile, Tian Boguang and Li Fu led their team to clear the snow from the river with their feet, revealing the transparent ice underneath.

As the children got busy, a large section of ice was cleared away in no time.

Wei Mo looked at the cleaned-up area and spoke to the children.

"You guys look at my spinning top first!"