Her almond-shaped eyes widened instantly, and she frantically turned to look for Jiang Chi: "Brother! Just now, something was licking me!"

Jiang Chi, who was bending over to plant rice seedlings, turned around upon hearing the sound. At that moment, the little dumpling, stuck in the mud and unable to move, looked as pitiful and helpless as the rice seedlings next to her.

Chaochao held her "licked" little hand and stared down at the few small bubbles rising in the water.

The little dumpling immediately looked up in alarm, pleading for help: "Brother, it's still watching me!"

Jiang Chi mentally scanned the animals in the field and guessed, "It should be a loach."

He had seen two of them five minutes earlier.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Chi, who had already walked up to Chaochao, quickly pulled the loach out of the water and showed it to her: "Here, this is it."

Chaochao opened her mouth in shock: "What a huge earthworm!"

"..."

Jiang Chi spent a while explaining the difference between loaches and earthworms to the little dumpling. The little dumpling seemed to listen attentively, but in the end, she nodded and summarized—

"I know! The big, bearded earthworm that lives in water is a loach!"

Jiang Chi: "..."

Once something lurking in the water is brought to the surface, it's not so scary anymore, especially since it looks so much like an earthworm.

The little dumpling curiously reached out to touch it.

Jiang Chi glanced at her, "You really are fearless."

When the slippery loach landed in her palm, Chaochao nervously pulled her hand away, and the loach immediately swung its tail and slid into the water.

Chaochao stared at her empty little hands, her eyes narrowing.

Meanwhile, the other friends also discovered something in the water.

Leo cried out in a panic, "Daddy, there's a snake!"

Teng Yi said helplessly, "It's not a snake, it's a loach."

"I caught one! Hehehe!"

From afar, Xiao Qing, who had long since transformed into a little mud figure, shouted loudly and swung her right arm wildly, trying to stun the mudfish.

From a distance, it looks like a mud monster with tentacles.

The fathers all turned to look at Xiao Qing's father, who was working hard. Teacher Peng Peng faced the camera with a helpless smile: "This is just my daughter's nature."

"Dad, look!" Leo excitedly called to Teng Yi as he turned around, a loach hanging around his neck. "Dad, look at my new scarf!"

This is what Uncle Hao just caught for him. Uncle Hao is truly a good uncle.

Teng Yi's eyelids twitched as he looked at it: "..."

Lei Bao was afraid of all soft-bodied creatures like snakes, and cried out in fear, trying to avoid attacks from his father.

Sitting alone on the edge of the field, Changchang watched everyone laughing and playing, her fingers twirling. The obstacles in her heart were now violently shaking.

He... also really wants to play with his friends...

Recently, Xiao Qing noticed Chang Chang's loneliness, and holding the unconscious Mud Loach, she walked over to his side.

"Changchang, let me show you, it can turn into a heart."

Xiao Qing arranged the unconscious loach into a heart shape.

"It can also be turned into a circle."

"Would you like to try it?" Xiaoqing presented the listless loach to Changchang.

Changchang hesitated a bit.

He cautiously glanced at his father in the distance, and Wu Shang shook his head slightly at him.

Changchang knew that this was something his father didn't want him to touch.

But he's never touched a loach before... It's a little dirty, but that's okay, right?

Conflicted and torn, Changchang ultimately chose to ignore his father's hints and curiously stuck out a finger to touch the loach.

"Oh, don't be afraid, it's already passed out."

Xiao Qing directly stuffed the loach into Chang Chang's hand.

The boy was instantly terrified and at a loss for what to do. His little hand slipped, and the loach fell into the paddy field and swam away in an instant.

Xiao Qing's eyes widened: "You were faking fainting?!"

Xiao Qing immediately chased after the loach, leaving Chang Chang standing there helplessly.

He lost Xiaoqing's loach. Will Xiaoqing blame him?

He didn't do it on purpose...

Just then, Chaochao happened to pass by and saw Changchang looking dejected. He thought Changchang was upset because he didn't have any big earthworms, so he generously picked out one of the four loaches he was holding tightly in his small hand and put it into Changchang's hand.

"Don't be sad, Changchang brother, Chaochao will give you another one."

Last time, at least the fish pretended to be unconscious and didn't dare to move, but this time Chaochao gave her a real, lively loach.

The robust loach, completely subdued and held captive in the little boy's hands, immediately unleashed a powerful tail swish the moment it landed in Changchang's grasp, splattering mud all over the boy's face. "..."

Changchang was struck dumb, frozen into a stone statue, and the giant mudfish took the opportunity to escape.

Changchang's mouth opened and closed silently, and finally her eyes welled up with tears: "I... am... dirty..."

But worse was yet to come.

Lost in her reverie, Changchang slipped and slid straight into the paddy field, stirring up the muddy water.

Rumble rumble—

Changchang, whose psychological defenses had crumbled, was about to burst into tears.

Suddenly, something cool and smooth jumped into her hand. Changchang instinctively grabbed it and looked down at it.

It was a small loach.

She was resting in the water when the boy suddenly kicked her up.

Changchang became even more upset after seeing what she was holding, "Wah—"

Woohoo—

"Wow, Changchang, you're amazing! You caught it on your first try!"

A crisp sound rang out in front of me.

The mud on the little girl's face had dried and turned into sludge, but that didn't stop her from looking at Changchang with shock followed by admiration. "Even my brother can't do that! That's amazing!"

Overwhelmed by the little dumpling's endless, flattering praise, Changchang was so stunned she forgot to cry, clutching the loach tightly in her hand, "Is it alright..."

He's not that... amazing?

But looking into Chaochao's sincere and bright eyes, he couldn't help but wonder, could he really be some kind of genius at catching loaches?

Chaochao: "Changchang must be really good at planting rice seedlings too!"

Changchang said uncertainly, "I...have never planted them before, but I've memorized how! I'll try it now!"

Then Wu Shang saw his son, who refused to get out of bed, crawling in the paddy field, his face flushed as he planted rice seedlings. Beside him, Chaochao was catching loaches while praising them, so many that one small hand couldn't hold them all.

Wu Shang: "?"

Jiang Chi soon captured the wandering Taoist priest Chao Mou, who was catching loaches, and brought him back to the fields, reminding her not to forget the little rice seedlings by Daming Lake.

On the other side, even without the little dumpling, Changchang gradually entered a state of complete absorption in planting rice, not caring at all about the mud on her body.

Looking back, a row of rice seedlings swayed in the wind.

At that moment, six-year-old Changchang understood.

He was born for this farmland.