The sudden question startled Ding Sheng. He wiped his tears and turned to see a woman about his mother's age. She was wearing a blue flowered headscarf and looked unfamiliar. Although dressed like a village woman, she gave him a rather eerie, unremarkable vibe.

He stood up and prepared to leave, but the woman stepped across to block his way. "Hey, I'm asking you a question out of kindness, why are you ignoring me?"

"Who cares about your kindness?" Ding Sheng said to her in a muffled voice, and raised his foot to leave again, but ended up bumping into the woman's arms. He was so embarrassed that his face turned red, but the woman giggled.

The branches and flowers are shaking.

"Little brother, is that your father lying in there?" After laughing, she pointed at the grave behind him and asked.

"Who is this person and what does it have to do with you? I don't even know you, so why do you keep blocking my way?" Ding Sheng clenched his fists, anger surging in his eyes. "Everyone wants to step on me. Do they think I'm easy to bully?"

"You're wrong to think so. I don't know about others, but I'm a kind-hearted person and I can't stand seeing others being bullied."

"If anyone bullies you, tell me and I'll help you get revenge." She said, putting a hand on Ding Sheng's shoulder. "People live on their breath, trees live on their skin. You can't stand being bullied. I'll kill anyone who bullies me! If I can't kill him, I'll bite a piece of his flesh off! Otherwise, what's the point of becoming a human? You might as well be a pig, a dog, or a beast!"

She spoke with righteous indignation and even spat, as if she wanted to stand up for Ding Sheng.

Ding Sheng slumped his shoulders, shook off her hand, took a step back, stared at her and said, "How can you help me? You know martial arts, can you beat her?"

"Only fools resort to violence. You don't have to fight to the death to vent your anger. Smart people wouldn't do that. Look, what is this?" She pulled out a small white porcelain bottle from her bosom and shook it. "See? Just one drop, whether it's in your drinking water or your food, and you can instantly watch your enemy suffer unbearable pain and die with a broken heart."

"Little brother, tell me, is there anything more satisfying than watching your enemy die in agony right before your eyes, without having to endure any pain yourself?"

Ding Sheng stared at the small porcelain bottle in her hand, his heart pounding. He swallowed hard, "Is this really as effective as you said?"

"Of course I have. This medicine is very difficult to refine, and I wouldn't be willing to give it to anyone else. But you and I are destined to be together. I wanted to take a shortcut back home today, otherwise I wouldn't have run into you. Since I've run into you, and I'm a kind-hearted person, I have to help you."

"Here, this is for you, keep it well."

She grabbed Ding Sheng's hand and placed the porcelain bottle in his palm.

Ding Sheng had no idea how he'd gotten down from the mountain. When he got home, his heart was still pounding, and it took him a long time to calm down. He changed his clothes, took the small porcelain bottle, and went to the Ma family's yard.

"Where is Ding Cheng? Did he go back?" He didn't see Dabao when he went there. He was disappointed but also secretly relieved.

"He's gone to study with my brother Xiaomi at his own house," Ma Xiaomai asked him. "Are you going to study too? That's so boring. We finally have a day off today. Why don't we go to the mountains to shoot sparrows? Okay?"

"Okay, okay, Brother Xiaomai, let's go!" Sanniu didn't wait for Ding Sheng to express his opinion. She was the first to clapped her hands and jumped up, very excited.

"You guys are too young to go with us." Ma Xiaomai said, pointing at Ma Xiaodou. "We won't take Xiaodouzi with us either, so Ding Sheng and I will go. We're going to catch them alive and bring them back for you to raise."

When Ma Xiaodou heard that they were not going to take him with them, he just lay on the ground and howled.

"It's boring. I won't go. I'm going back to get my schoolbag and go to Ding Cheng's house to review my lessons with them. The teacher asked us to try to write a policy paper on hybrid grains. I'll discuss it with him first, so I won't accompany you up the mountain."

Ding Sheng said this and turned and left.

Daya said she wanted to go back to water the vegetable garden and catch insects, and she took Xiaoya and her brother back with her.

Ding Sheng went home to get his schoolbag. When he arrived at Jian Ning's house, he ran into Chang. Chang was carrying a bucket of charcoal to the clinic. When she saw him coming, she glanced at the schoolbag on his shoulder and walked straight to the clinic without saying anything.

She ignored Ding Sheng, and Ding Sheng didn't call her. Ever since Ding Sheng signed the agreement, he'd been sending his message to Chang, much to Chang's chagrin. Mother and son had been ignoring each other.

Ding Sheng glanced back at Chang, feeling inexplicably angry. They were both human, so why should his mother have to work for Dabao's mother? And his mother was working so hard!

The evil fire in his heart grew stronger and stronger. Holding this energy, he went to the east room and saw Dabao walking slowly around the room with a book in one hand and the other hand behind his back, while Ma Xiaomi was sitting at the table fiddling with straw sticks and doing arithmetic.

Ding Sheng stood at the door, his eyes fixed on the teapot on the table. He clutched the strap of his schoolbag and walked towards the desk. Ma Xiaomi, noticing him, moved her chair to the right and cleared the space for him to sit on.

He sat down, took a book from his bag, opened it, and stared at it, not reading a single word. From time to time, he glanced at the kettle on the table, his heart pounding uncontrollably, even his breathing became heavy.

"Brother Sheng, are you feeling unwell?" Ma Xiaomi noticed his heavy breathing and glanced sideways, noticing that he didn't look well either. "Do you want me to ask my aunt to come and see you? You seem ill."

Ma Xiaomi stood up.

"What's wrong?" Dabao also looked at him.

Although Ding Youtian had told Dabao to stay away from Ding Sheng, he still walked over and reached out to touch his forehead when he saw that Ding Sheng's face was not very good.

"I'm fine." Ding Sheng turned his head to avoid his hand. "My mother said something to me when I came in just now. I'm upset. It's okay. I'll be fine after a while."

"Hey, what's the big deal about your mother scolding you? My mother often beats and scolds us." Ma Xiaomi patted his shoulder calmly, "It's okay. Look at my brother, he gets beaten and scolded the most. When have you ever seen him take it to heart? We don't care."

"Don't be angry with your mother. Her life is not easy. Study hard and when you become an official in the future, your mother will feel relieved." Dabao is a few years younger than him, but he speaks like an older brother. Ding Sheng wants to retort him, your mother never beats or scolds you, let alone ignores you. How do you know what it feels like to be beaten, scolded and ignored by your own mother?

However, he held back the words when they came to his lips, because he saw Dabao put down the book. "Where are you going?" he asked him, and his voice couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"But we're going to the toilet?" Ma Xiaomi also stood up. "Let's go together, Brother Sheng, do you want to go pee?"