Xie Zhuo was quick as well; almost at the same time as Xu Yan ran outside, he put down the kitchen knife in his hand and rushed outside.

Da Bao is still crying, but Xiao Bao isn't, which means the situation isn't too serious.

When Xu Yanren ran to the gate, he quickly made a judgment in his mind.

But this judgment didn't last more than a few seconds before Xiao Bao started crying.

Xu Yan was extremely flustered by the crying. Before she even reached him, her voice drifted over, "What's wrong?"

"Third Aunt," Xiao Bao cried even louder when he saw Xu Yan arrive, "Brother, Da Bao, Da Bao was bitten by a puppy."

"What?"

Da Bao and Xiao Bao were squatting some distance from their house. Not far away, Wu Yuzhen's chubby son and several other mischievous kids were standing. When they saw Xu Yan arrive, they all took a few steps back.

Xu Yan found these kids annoying; they were always running around and causing trouble.

The week before last, he was playing with fire and almost set fire to a haystack in the brigade. Song Guangming was so angry that he scolded him for a long time during a general meeting.

A couple of days ago, I chased an old cat belonging to an aunt at the east end of the village until it died from exhaustion.

I heard from that aunt that the cat was already in bad shape; she had raised it for over ten years, but she never expected it to die like this.

When Xu Yan heard Li Aihua tell her about this, she frowned deeply and asked, "Didn't that aunt go and cause trouble for Wu Yuzhen?"

“Hey, it’s just an old cat, what trouble could it possibly cause?” Li Aihua also felt that Pangdun’er had gone too far, but it didn’t seem really necessary to cause trouble for the child over a cat.

“Besides,” Li Aihua said, “everyone knows what kind of person Wu Yuzhen is, there’s no need to go looking for trouble.”

After Li Aihua finished speaking, Xu Yan still felt uncomfortable for a long time, but he didn't say anything more.

In this day and age, life is tough for everyone, so who has the energy to care too much about a cat?

Because Xu Yan already had some issues with these kids, he didn't really like Da Bao and Xiao Bao playing close to them. Now that he saw them standing not far away, he felt that this matter might be related to Pang Dun and the others.

“Da Bao was bitten by a puppy,” Xiao Bao explained clearly this time.

Xie Zhuo also ran to Da Bao's side, and then saw that Da Bao's hand had a red mark from being bitten. He grabbed Da Bao's hand and looked it over, and only felt a little relieved when he saw that there was no bleeding.

"Tell Uncle, where else were you bitten?" Xie Zhuo lowered his eyes and touched Da Bao's leg as well.

Da Bao shook his head, crying.

He was probably terrified, because he cried and clung to Xie Zhuo's neck, refusing to let go. Xie Zhuo then stood up while still holding him.

"They set dogs on you?" Xie Zhuo asked in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on the chubby boy and the others without any emotion.

People who are tall and strong naturally have a sense of oppression. Even Xu Yan, who was standing next to Xie Zhuo, holding Xiao Bao's hand and checking the red marks on Da Bao's hand, could feel a fleeting sense of ferocity from Xie Zhuo.

She looked up at Xie Zhuo.

Xie Zhuo was still staring at Fatty.

"I, I didn't," Fatty was also frightened, stammering and pouting as if he was about to cry, "We were having a good time, and he came over to meddle."

The other kids were also terrified, their voices trembling like little chicks.

"That's right, we're just playing, we're just playing. Xie Dabao ran over and got bitten by a dog, it's none of our business."

As soon as he finished speaking, he puffed out his sleeves and ran away.

He didn't even dare to turn his head.

When Xu Yan saw Fatty running, he wasn't looking where he was going and fell to the ground with a thud. As he ran forward crying, he reached out and pinched Xie Zhuo's arm.

Xie Zhuo looked down at her.

"That's amazing. He scared away a group of 'bullies' with just one look, and even made the leader cry," Xu Yan said.

Xie Zhuo looked at her for a few seconds, then put away his previous expression and couldn't help but laugh, "It's so annoying, no one cares about her all day long."

Xu Yan and Xie Zhu checked Da Bao again and, seeing that he had no other external injuries, asked him what had happened.

"They threw stones at the puppy," Da Bao said, probably having come to his senses a bit by now. Feeling embarrassed for crying from fright, he wiped the tears from his eyelashes. "The puppy got hurt."

Xu Yan frowned.

“Exactly,” Xiao Bao chimed in, “Tiedan took a super big clod of dirt and threw it, but missed. Then Song Jiabao told them to drive the puppy to the corner of the wall and then throw it again. My brother saw this and said he wanted to help the puppy.”

Xie Zhuo looked around but didn't see any puppies.

“The puppy ran away before we even got there,” Da Bao continued. “I saw it burrow into the grass. I tried to pick it up before Song Jiabao and the others could, but it bit my hand.”

Xiao Bao sniffed, looking a little aggrieved.

He went to help the puppy, but he ended up getting bitten by it.

Xu Yan understood now.

"Then you cried," she said, reaching out to pinch Da Bao's cheek. "Does it still hurt?"

“It doesn’t hurt,” Da Bao shook his head.

Then, as if remembering something, he raised his hand and pointed to a pile of dry grass nearby, "It ran inside."

“Hmm,” Xie Zhuo glanced in the direction he was pointing, “In a little while, your third uncle will find it and avenge you… give it a bite on its claws too.”

When Xu Yan heard the first half of Xie Zhuo's sentence, he wanted to frown, thinking that he shouldn't educate his child like that. But when he heard the crazy second half of his sentence, he couldn't help but laugh.

Da Bao probably didn't expect his revenge to be so extreme. He paused for a few seconds, then frowned. "...No, maybe it's just too scared."

Xiao Bao also disagreed, biting his head and saying, "Its paws are very dirty."

Xie Zhuo watched as the two of them explained things to the puppy for a while, wanting to laugh but trying hard to hold it in, "So you just forgive it like that?"

“Yes,” Da Bao nodded, “It’s pitiful. It has no home and is bullied.”

“Xiao Bao and I have new clothes, but it doesn’t,” Da Bao continued. “It was shivering with cold when I hugged it just now.”

Xie Zhuo patted Da Bao's head.

After returning home, Xu Yan washed Da Bao and Xiao Bao's hands. She glanced to the side and saw Xie Zhuo had gone out again, and she understood what was going on.

Sure enough, not long after, Xie Zhuo returned with something in his hand. At first, Xu Yan thought it was a mouse, but after hearing a very faint bark, he realized it was the dog that had bitten Da Bao's hand.

The puppy is very small.

It doesn't even feel as big as Xie Zhuo's hand.

He was soaking wet, covered in mud and bits of grass, and kept shivering.

When Xie Zhuo let go, it didn't run away, but instead snuggled closer to his warm palm.

Xu Yan couldn't bear to see this kind of scene. Seeing the little thing pitifully sidling up to people always made her want to cry.

She quickly stood up, grabbed a clean towel, warmed it by the stove, and then wiped the water off the puppy.