Having successfully stolen the fragrance, Cheng Baidong curled the corners of his mouth into a triumphant smile.

Fang Qiao blushed, touched her mouth, and subconsciously glanced in the direction of the flatbed cart.

Fortunately, the old lady and her four children were still asleep, and no one saw what happened.

Fang Qiao's heart was pounding.

She's shy; even though she's had three children, she's still too embarrassed to get close to Cheng Baidong outside of home.

"Stop fooling around."

She pushed against Cheng Baidong's chest, but couldn't budge him.

He moved closer again: "Wife, one more time, I didn't get a taste just now."

Fang Qiao's face immediately turned even redder: "You're so annoying..."

A sudden breeze swept across Fang Qiao's face and rippled the surface of the spring water.

*

After waking up from their afternoon nap, the family played by the lake for a while before heading home.

Since returning to her hometown, Tian Tian has never traveled this far. On the way home, she clapped her hands and sang happily.

The old lady smiled and clapped along to the rhythm of her singing.

An'an clapped her hands and hummed along, but she was too young and her singing was out of tune; her babbling was just a nuisance.

Chuan Chuan and Yue Yue listened intently with their big eyes wide open.

The two children kept glancing at Tian Tian and then at An An, looking adorably dazed.

Accompanied by the innocent singing of children, the flatbed cart swayed along the road; the sun shone brightly, and a gentle breeze blew...

After passing the brick kiln in Songzhuang and crossing the bridge, Chengzhuang Village is just ahead.

Back in familiar surroundings, Cheng Baidong slowed down his movements as he pulled the cart.

An'an lay on the frame of the flatbed cart, pointed to a spot not far away, and called out "Mama!" She then said, "Baa~"

Fang Qiao looked closely and, sure enough, there was a flock of sheep on a hill by the river not far away.

Fang Qiao praised An An: "An An is so great, she saw the sheep from so far away."

"Come on, let's see the sheep!"

An'an pointed in the direction of the sheep, wanting to go and see.

Fortunately, the direction the sheep were heading was the road back to the village, so there was no need to take a detour. Cheng Baidong quickened his pace again.

From a distance, you can only see a flock of sheep on the mound, but when you get closer, you can see that there is also a group of people below the mound.

However, it turned out to be a group of five- or six-year-old children throwing clods of dirt at an adult.

The adult, dressed in patched and tattered clothes, lay on the grassy mound. His face was obscured, but he neither dodged nor flinched, letting a group of children pelt him with clods of dirt.

Fang Qiao frowned.

Even if it's a group of children surrounding an adult and throwing things at him, it's still too much bullying!

What if children see something and imitate it?

Afraid that the children would see this and it would spoil their temper, Fang Qiao shouted loudly in that direction, "Hey! What are you doing? You can't throw clods of dirt at people!"

Hearing someone shout, the children who were throwing things turned around and looked in this direction.

Seeing that it was an unfamiliar adult, he ignored him and continued to bend down to pick up clods of dirt and throw them at the person.

Fang Qiao thought that after a few words of reminder, the group of children would disperse, but who knew they would be so bold as to openly bully people even when someone was in charge!

At only five or six years old, he's already such a troublemaker. What will he be like when he grows up?

Fang Qiao was angry. Seeing that talking was useless, she simply got off her bicycle, ran over, grabbed the most aggressive boy, and demanded, "Which village are you from? Who are your parents?"

When Fang Qiao pulled him, the boy panicked, turned around, twisted Fang Qiao's arm away, shoved her hard, and then ran away.

Seeing one of them run, the other children also ran.

Fang Qiao was pushed down and fell on her butt. Luckily, the ground on the hill was soft and covered with a layer of grass, so it didn't hurt when she fell on it.

Although it didn't hurt, Fang Qiao was angry.

How old is the child? Why is he already so bad?

Are you alright?

A man's voice came from beside me.

Fang Qiao turned her head and realized that the person was someone she knew.

"Zhou Xueyi, it's you."

She looked at the flock of sheep around her and said, "You're herding sheep here?"

The first time I saw him was when Xiao Jing jumped into the river; the two of them rescued her together.

On that occasion, he was also herding sheep in this area.

Zhou Xueyi nodded and hummed in agreement.

Since they were acquaintances, Fang Qiao couldn't help but ask a few more questions: "These kids are the most bullying of the weak and afraid of the strong. If they throw clods of dirt at you, just throw them back. Do you think a bunch of kids can beat an adult like you? Why do you let them hit you?"

Zhou Xueyi didn't care and said in a cold tone, "It's nothing, just a bunch of kids playing around."

Fang Qiao said seriously, "This is no joke. They're just bullying you because they see you're not fighting back!"

Who says only adults bully children, and no children bully adults?

Don't underestimate this group of children. Children are very good at reading people's expressions and are born knowing how to bully the weak and fear the strong.

If they don't fight back the first time, they'll know this person is easy to bully, and they'll bully them again next time!

Moreover, they don't know how to hold back; even hitting you with clods of dirt hurts a lot.

Zhou Xueyi's head was covered in red marks from being hit.

"So what if I know it's intentional bullying? Can I fight back?" Zhou Xueyi shook his head with a wry smile. "I don't care about myself, but what about my family, with their elderly and young children? What if people come to our door while I'm not home?"

Fang Qiao understood Zhou Xueyi's predicament.

His family used to be landlords, and they were already discriminated against in the village. The whole family lived in fear and dared not cause any trouble.

And forbearance is the best way to resolve trouble.

The feeling of punching cotton is soft and yielding. People who are looking for trouble will find it boring, and perhaps the authorities will take pity on them and let them rant.

So Zhou Xueyi thought they were just a bunch of kids, and he could just bear it and it would pass. After all, they were just minor wounds with limited pain.

But if we fight back, things will get much worse.

The child's parents will not let it go easily and will inevitably make a scene at his home. Even if the child was in the wrong first, he will be the one punished for hitting someone.

If it's just a beating, it's fine to let them beat us up.

But they not only want to fight back, they also want compensation.

Whether they wanted grain or ration coupons, they always managed to extort some money from them.

There's never enough food at home, how can we withstand this?

Fang Qiao sighed: "If you can't hit him, you can at least scare him, right? It's not a solution to keep enduring this. I see your forehead is all red from being hit by clods of dirt."

Zhou Xueyi gave a noncommittal reply. Fang Qiao knew he hadn't listened.

There was a moment of silence.

Zhou Xueyi took the initiative to speak, saying, "Go back and don't let your relatives send anything to my house anymore. My family is in this state, and it wouldn't be good for them to be associated with us."

“That won’t do.” Fang Qiao shook her head: “A life-saving grace should be repaid with the greatest gratitude. If you want to talk to them, you should go and tell them yourself. I can’t pass on this message from inside.”

My aunt's family is willing to repay their kindness; what right does she have to interfere?

Zhou Xueyi smiled wryly: "What life-saving grace? It's just that I jumped into the water a step earlier than you. Even without me, you could have saved the person."