Xue Mingliang saw that the two children also found it very amusing, so he said, "Warm yourself up, I'll make you some ginger soup."

He looked at Lin Lan's chopping board and knives, which were neatly arranged. The green onions, ginger and garlic were in a small basket nearby. He took them out directly, peeled and sliced ​​them, then lit the fire, boiled water in a pot, and helped to make the ginger soup.

While he was busy, Lin Lan came running back from outside with Mai Sui.

As soon as she entered the door, she saw an unfamiliar handsome young man helping to light the fire, and she couldn't help but be stunned.

Xue Mingliang immediately stood up and said to Lin Lan, "Don't worry, auntie. We two brothers are fine."

Lin Lan nodded to him, thinking he was a brave young man in the village, and thanked him before going into the house to look after the children without saying hello. She climbed onto the kang and held the two sons in her arms, including the quilt. Just as she was about to speak, she burst into tears of heartache.

Xiaowang stretched out his hand to touch Lin Lan's face, but he felt cold all over and did not move.

"Mom, I'm fine."

Lin Lan wiped her tears and choked up, "The riverside is very slippery after it thawed. How can you two kids go there to play?"

She and Mai Sui played outside for a while, but she didn't know why she always felt tired and unmotivated. Seeing that she was not in the mood, Mai Sui told her to go home, saying that there were too many people and nothing fun to do, just waiting in line. Caihua and Yanyan finally got the chance to go out and play, so they naturally didn't want to go home, and they strongly invited them to play for a while.

Lin Lan was panicking, so she went to find a village woman to take the girls home, and she would bring the wheat ears back first.

As soon as we entered the village, we met a child who said that Xiaowang and Sanwang fell into the river and were rescued by Liu Guifa.

When they heard the news, they ran home as fast as they could. Fortunately, the children were fine.

Sanwang wanted to say something, but then he remembered that he had spitted and couldn't say anything. He hesitated for a moment and then heard Xiaowang say, "Let's go wash the grass..."

Xiao Wang played with him and accepted the rules of the older children: if you spit, you are not allowed to tell the adults. He was just a child and didn't know the severity of the matter. He just thought that if he couldn't say it, he couldn't say it. If he did, the family would be the bad one. He also thought that he was exchanged for the big cake and his third brother was picked up. If his parents knew that his brother went to the river to swim, they would definitely send them back. He didn't want to be sent back and didn't want to leave his parents.

Lin Lan said distressedly: "Silly child, the water is icy cold at this time, how can you wash vegetables there?"

Mai Sui: "Sanwang, what's going on? Tell the truth!"

Sanwang wanted to tell the truth, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something and he couldn't open his mouth.

He spat, and he didn't want to be sent away.

Xiaowang: "Mom, sister, my brother and I... are washing vegetables." He thought they were just washing vegetables and he was not lying. However, while they were washing the vegetables, his third brother went down to the river to swim.

Xiaowang never lies, so after hearing what he said, Lin Lan and Mai Sui believed it without a doubt. Mai Sui even felt a little guilty for worrying too much and was afraid that Sanwang would get into trouble.

Lin Lan heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that the child was fine. Then she remembered the young man who was lighting the fire. She hurriedly went to thank him and asked him to sit down. She let Mai Sui light the fire and continue to cook the ginger soup.

Xue Mingliang introduced himself and thanked Lin Lan again and again. His mother had not seen Lin Lan before and kept saying that she would let him come and thank her in person when her son returned home in the next two days.

Lin Lan also thought it was a coincidence. "It's fate. Don't mention thank you or not. It's always like this for easy things."

She also thanked Xue Mingliang for helping to rescue the children. She now believed that the two children accidentally fell while washing vegetables and were rescued by Liu Guifa and Xue Mingliang.

Xue Mingliang naturally didn't say much when he saw Sanwang's expression, so he let him speak for himself. He smiled and said, "My aunt also said it was a piece of cake." After chatting for a few words, he praised Sanwang again, "He is like a big brother. He was not afraid of cramping his legs to save his brother, and he even remembered to bring his glasses."

Mai Sui cried when she heard this, wiping her tears, "Sanwang, I will never scold you again."

Sanwang lowered his head even more, so Xiaowang touched his face and said, "Little San brother..."

Sanwang began to shed tears again, and tears fell on his hands.

Lin Lan and Xue Mingliang exchanged a few pleasantries and invited him to have dinner.

Xue Mingliang naturally refused. He just wanted to get acquainted with the family and meet them. He didn't want to disturb them when they had something going on at home. "Auntie, you go and do your work. I'll go home first. I'll come back to visit after I get to know the family."

Lin Lan didn't want to keep him. After all, her son had fallen into the water and she had no mood to entertain guests, so she sent him out.

Soon Liu Guifa came with a barefoot doctor. He had the same idea as Lin Lan. He was afraid that the child would fall into the river and get frightened, so he added cold water to the child. It would be troublesome if he caught a cold or had a fever.

The barefoot doctor took a look and said slowly, "It's okay, as long as you don't have a fever."

Lin Lan was a little worried: "What if he gets a fever?"

"Let's talk about the fever when it comes. Just take half a tablet of Analgin when the time comes. But it's not safe. Be careful not to get too feverish, don't..."

Lin Lan interrupted him quickly. The barefoot doctor spoke slowly and liked to use inflection sentences. Even if what he said was correct, it was uncomfortable to listen to.

Liu Guifa saw that there was nothing to do, so he took the barefoot doctor and said goodbye. "Qingsong and his men are working on the southeast slope, which is far away. I will go and tell them to finish work and go home early."

He accompanied the barefoot doctor out and complained to the doctor for not being able to speak. The doctor smiled good-temperedly and did not get angry.

After Mai Sui made the ginger soup, Lin Lan stirred two eggs and poured them directly into the soup, then added a spoonful of sugar and let them drink it while it was hot.

Drinking this would make her sweat and drive away the cold, and prevent her from catching a cold. At that time, there was no effective medicine, and the infant mortality rate was high, so she really didn't dare to relax at all.

After drinking the ginger soup, Xiaowang fell into a drowsy sleep, while Sanwang kept his head down and said nothing, his body shaking violently as if he was afraid.

Lin Lan held him in her arms and asked sympathetically, "Are you still cold?" She touched his forehead. Although it was warm, he didn't have a fever. His body temperature was a little high. She touched his hands and feet. They were not cold either. He probably didn't have a fever.

I guess he was scared.

Lin Lan hugged him, touched his head and back, hummed nursery rhymes to him, and let him relax and sleep for a while.

Sanwang lay in Lin Lan's arms, feeling his mother's pity and love. His tears flowed even harder, and he prayed in his heart that he would not be sent away.

He felt that he should admit his mistake, but he was not sure if his mother would forgive him if she knew that he jumped into the river and caused Xiaowang to fall into the water. It would be no big deal to beat him up, at most he would suffer for a few days, but he was afraid of being kicked out of the house.

He felt guilty, self-blaming, scared and panicked. He sobbed silently for a while and then fell asleep. He was really too tired.

Lin Lan thought that the child was really frightened. Sanwang seldom cried normally, but now he was like a frightened bird. He must have been very frightened.

Mai Sui: "Mom, let's ask my aunt to come and call her back." Xiuyun's mother knows how to call back souls.

Although Lin Lan didn't believe it at first, she didn't care about it at the moment. With the mentality of having an extra insurance, she let Mai Sui go and shout.

Xiuyunniang and Mai Sui came over quickly. She walked into the house quickly and looked at the child. "Good children will have good fortune in the future."

She asked Lin Lan to get some paper money, offer a bowl of millet, and burn three incense sticks, and then she would call back the soul.

Rural children are easily frightened, so they always look for someone who knows how to yell at them, whether it works or not, but just for psychological comfort.

After calling out, Lin Lan didn’t know whether it was of any use or not, but Sanwang finally fell asleep, and Xiaowang also slept soundly.

Lin Lan talked to Xiuyun's mother, and Xiuyun's mother comforted her and told her not to get anxious or angry, saying that even children of this age are naughty, how many of them are not naughty?

"Don't even mention children of this age who accidentally fall into the river. There are also many adults like us who fall into the river. There are also many women who wash clothes and members who collect insects."

During the Great Leap Forward, the brigade built water conservancy projects and dug many canals, ditches and wells, right in the fields, without any guardrails. In the summer flood season, the wells were full of water, looking green and blue, which was scary. Sometimes people accidentally stepped on the edge of the wells, and there were children and women working in the fields to catch insects, and they took two steps back and fell in accidentally.

Seeing that the child was sleeping soundly, Xiuyun's mother said goodbye and went home to go to work.

Lin Lan went to bed and watched over the two children. Xiao Wang was fine, sleeping soundly and not having nightmares. San Wang, however, was not very at ease. He frowned, clenched his fists, curled up into a ball, twitched from time to time, and sweated on his forehead. Lin Lan felt his forehead, but it was not feverish, but rather cool.

She asked Mai Sui to pour some hot water, and used a handkerchief to wipe his forehead, palms, and soles of his feet, making them warm. Then she patted Sanwang gently to make him feel safe and avoid nightmares.

Sure enough, after a while of patting his body slowly calmed down and he no longer trembled so frequently.

Mai Sui also added more firewood to the stove to make the kang warm so that the two of them could sleep more soundly.

At this time, there was a noise coming from the street outside, and someone was shouting: "What a bully, relying on your family being the director to bully others——"

Han Qingsong is the only director in the village. Is he scolding her family? Lin Lan frowned and asked Mai Sui to go out and see what was going on.

When Mai Sui came back, she was confused. "Mom, Zhao Guilian and Dawei's mother said that my eldest brother bullied their children and insisted on kicking him into the river."

Lin Lan: "Kicked into the river? Why?"

She asked Mai Sui to look after her brother at home while she went out to take a look. As soon as she went out, she saw two women crying and wailing outside. One was Zhao Guilian, and although the other was from the same village, they seldom interacted with each other in daily life, so she looked unfamiliar.

Dong Huaihua ran over and said, "Zhao Guilian, Sun Aifeng, what are you doing? Aren't you ashamed?"

The two women immediately ran over to pull Dong Huaihua and said, "Director, please help me. Director Jia Dawang insisted on throwing our child into the river."

Dong Huaihua pulled her arm free and said in disgust, "What nonsense are you talking about? Why would you throw it into the river? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Zhao Guilian cried loudly. She was not tall but had a loud voice. The other woman was just her foil.

Lin Lan immediately felt something was wrong. Could it be that the two children fell into the river without washing the vegetables?

She ignored the two women and went to the place where Sanwang and Xiaowang fell into the water, and found that there were already quite a few people standing there.

Some people shouted that they would go to the director of public security to solve the problem. Some people said that the director of public security and Lin Lan's family were in cahoots and that the custodian was biased, so they said they would go to the team leader and the branch secretary to judge. But the team leader and the branch secretary took people to the far southeast slope to cultivate the land and would not be back until the evening.

When they saw Lin Lan and Dong Huaihua coming over, they immediately shut up and looked like they were just enjoying the fun.

Lin Lan walked over and saw Da Wang standing by the river with two half-grown children sitting on the ground. They looked to be about ten years old.

Lin Lan: "Da Wang, what are you doing?" Da Wang never bullies children, and when he fights, he always picks on those older than him, so she thought something must be wrong.

Da Wang turned his head and glanced at her, "We're settling the bill."

Da Wang pointed at Da Wei and Xing Fu who were sitting on the ground and said coldly, "Do you want to take off your clothes and get off, or do you want me to kick you off?"

He already knew the whole story, so he would definitely not let these two bastards off.

When Dawang was at work, Zhuzi ran to tell him that Sanwang and Xiaowang fell into the river while washing vegetables. He didn't rush home after hearing the news. He first asked what happened, and then went to ask the boy who usually played with Sanwang. Based on his understanding of Sanwang, he would never take his brother to wash vegetables honestly.

He looked for the hammer first.

Hammer was terribly scared when he left the river, and when he happened to meet Liu Guifa, he quickly told him that Sanwang fell into the river while washing vegetables. Now Dawang came to him to ask, and he didn't need to be beaten at all. He glared at him and sniffed his big nose and confessed everything. Dawang's intimidation over him exceeded the restraint of spitting, and he also explained clearly that Xingfu and Dawei had provoked each other, and that the three of them had agreed to compete, but in the end they didn't go into the water to trick Sanwang.

However, he didn't know that Xiaowang fell into the water, and thought that it might be to save Sanwang.

Da Wang went to find happiness and Da Wei.

The two were easy to find. They were so scared that they were asking whether Sanwang had drowned. Later, they were relieved to hear that Liu Guifa had rescued him. They also said that the boy was really lucky.

As a result, I was blocked by Da Wang on the way home.

Da Wang was not polite to them. He thought they were his peers and were not children. He went up to them and kicked them to the ground one by one.

The two of them wanted to work together to subdue Da Wang, but they were no match for him before, and now Da Wang has many tricks up his sleeve, and they are no match for him.

The two men refused to admit it at first, but were kicked several times and forced to the place where Sanwang fell into the water.

They were just ignorant country boys, a little cunning at best, not very smart, and they provoked Sanwang just to take advantage and vent their anger, without considering the consequences. Now that Dawang was right in everything he said, they thought it was Sanwang who was complaining, and they could no longer make excuses.

Da Wang saw a stick in the water and guessed that Xiao Wang had fallen into the water to save his brother, but he didn't think much about it. He asked them to fulfill their promise with San Wang and jump in to swim a circle, but the two of them naturally refused and cried for mercy.

In the end, he couldn't beat him, and he was unwilling to beg for mercy.

"Woo woo..." When facing Dawang, the originally arrogant Xingfu and Dawei suddenly became intimidated.

Dawei sobbed and muttered, "Why don't you go and settle the score with my brother?" Isn't it said that if the younger brother makes a mistake, the older brother will be beaten?

Da Wang sneered, "How old are you?"

A man of this age is capable of taking responsibility, why does he need a brother to take the blame?

Xingfu turned around but didn't see his brother and cousins. He was being bullied by Dawang, but they didn't even come to support him. "Wuwu..." he cried very sadly.

Da Wang slowly raised his feet and said, "If you want to compete, why don't you go down?"

"No, Uncle/Brother Dawang, please spare our lives!" The two children hugged his legs and cried and refused to let go.

Da Wang kicked them hard to the ground, "Ten counts, take off your clothes and roll down. If you don't roll down, I'll kick you down!"

"Wuwu..." The crying became louder.

Da Wang: “1...2...” He counted neither too fast nor too slow, but very evenly.

"Dad, Mom, help!" The two children cried and tried to escape.

As Xingfu just got up and tried to run, Dawang kicked him to the ground. Dawei thought that Xingfu would not be able to take care of him if he was kicked, so he ran in another direction. However, Dawang kicked him so hard that his teeth started bleeding.

The two were so scared that they cried loudly.

The onlookers said all kinds of things, but no one stepped forward to break up the fight. What's the point of breaking up a fight? What's the point of watching the excitement after it's over?

There were also uncles and aunts of the two children who wanted to stand up for them, but Da Wang glared at them coldly and said, "Are you going to take his place?" The man immediately fell silent.

Some people even accused him: "Da Wang, why are you so overbearing? You can't bully others."

"If you don't know, shut up!" Da Wang bluntly blocked back, without showing any mercy. The man felt ashamed and could only mutter that the director's son was bullying others by taking advantage of his power.

Some people know what's going on. They keep praising Da Wang for being a good brother and ask why they themselves are not so lucky.

"Time's up!" Da Wang snorted coldly, and without caring that the two men had not taken off their cotton coats, he kicked them into the river one by one.

"Ah--" the two screamed, unable to stop in time, and rolled into the river.

Because the place where Da Wang was climbing was quite steep and not a gentle embankment, the two of them fell directly into the river.

The people watching the excitement on the shore were stunned. How dare he do that? They originally thought that Da Wang was just venting his anger by beating, scolding and threatening him, but they didn't expect it to be true!

Da Wang, you are so cruel!

Happiness and Dawei fell into the water and began to struggle. Although they could swim, it was cold and the water was icy, and they were wearing cotton clothes. It seemed as if countless hands were trying to drag them to the bottom of the water.

When Zhao Guilian and Sun Aifeng saw their son being kicked off, they lay on the shore crying heartbreakingly and swearing nonsense.

Some of the onlookers shouted for help, some went to find sticks, and some said they would go down and grab the person, but no one took action. After all, Da Wang was watching, and they also wanted to see what this guy was trying to do.

Seeing that Xingfu and Dawei were so excited that they were about to sink, Dawang started to take off his clothes.

He was wearing a coat, a padded jacket, and a shirt with numerous buttons. He unbuttoned them slowly and methodically, then took off all three pieces at once. He then unbuttoned his trousers and took off his jacket, leaving only a pair of trousers in his clothes.

Everyone found that this boy was really strong. Although he was young, he had a muscular body.

They watched as Da Wang, the boy who seemed unafraid of the cold, dived into the water and picked up the two people who were struggling.

The two men were not unconscious yet. When they were rescued, their survival instinct made them want to cling to the life-saving straw.

However, Da Wang slid away like a loach and did not let them entangle him. Instead, he grabbed one of them and used his hands to tear off the buttons of his cotton jacket. Then he simply stripped the man's cotton jacket and threw it ashore, and after pulling off one, he pulled off the second one.

The pants are easier to say. Just pull off the belt and the baggy cotton pants will float down with the water.

Their trousers were not as fancy as the ones made by Lin Lan, with their own ties. The belts were torn open, and the trousers were flying and the trousers fell off, leaving them completely naked, just like when they made the bet with Sanwang before.

The two men were about to die, but it got even colder and they were frozen back to life, screaming for help.

"Ah - help me... I'm frozen to death..."

After being freed from their restraints, the two men regained consciousness, felt lighter, and subconsciously paddled towards the shore.

Da Wang grabbed the two men by the neck and pushed them further away.

"Ah - I don't dare anymore, I don't dare anymore, please spare my life..." the two men begged.

Da Wang said nothing. There was no point in begging for mercy or discussing things. He would just do what he decided to do to the end.

He pushed and kicked the two men forward, forcing them to swim to the other side. He pushed and kicked them like this until the three of them swam to the other side, and then kicked them back.

Halfway through the journey, the two of them got leg cramps and cried out in pain, begging for mercy, but Da Wang was like a cold-blooded iron man, remaining indifferent.

Watching the two people struggling in the water and finally sinking to the bottom of the water, the people on the shore shouted, "Cramps, cramps!" "Don't drown, don't drown!"

Seeing that they were not floating up, Da Wang dragged them ashore one by one, leaving their lower bodies in the water and their upper bodies lying outside.

He grabbed Xingfu and made him lie down, punched him in the stomach and slapped him on the back, and Xingfu "poofed" and started to spray water. Then he did the same to Dawei.

When the two woke up, he dragged them to shore, one by one, and threw them on the ground like dead fish. Their legs were still cramped, curled up, and they looked so pitiful.

Da Wang's voice was colder than ice. "If you dare to gamble, you must dare to do it. Don't be a coward!"

Those watching the excitement were speechless.

The air seemed to freeze and the wind stopped blowing.

Brother Da Wang, you are so cruel!