The children continued playing.
After playing for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the children got tired and it was time to go home for lunch, so they stopped playing.
Zhuzhu put away her nine-sided ball, hugged it, and walked towards Zhou Lei. "Hehe, Third Uncle, we can split these things equally."
Zhou Lai shook his head, "Third Uncle, don't want them. Give them all to Zhuzhu."
Seeing that Zhuzhu's face was a little dirty, he reached out and wiped it off with his sleeve before taking her hand and preparing to go home.
"Stop! None of you are allowed to leave. Explain yourself who hit our DouDou!" At this moment, DouDou's mother, Xiao Zhao, returned with DouDou. DouDou's upper lip was a little red and swollen.
The children were surprised that Dou Dou had called his mother, and they were all a little scared. Some of them wanted to leave, but Xiao Zhao blocked the alley and wouldn't let any of the children leave.
The people in the alley were doing their work at home, and they were at ease letting their children play in the alley, but they didn't expect to hear a woman cursing. Because they were worried about their children, they all came out.
"What's wrong?" Aunt Lin Cai beckoned her son to her side and asked.
Zhou Tingting then whispered the situation to his mother.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhao turned to Zhuzhu and shouted, "It's you again, you wild girl! Did my son kill your father or your mother? Why do you always bully him?"
Zhuzhu was completely terrified by Xiao Zhao's aggressive and ruthless behavior. The child was four years old and had never encountered a woman who was so shrewish and unreasonable from the start.
"Sister-in-law, it was your son who tried to snatch Zhuzhu's toy. He fell down on his own. What does it have to do with Zhuzhu?" Zhou Lei, who was next to Zhuzhu, immediately retorted angrily when he heard the woman's words.
"Come on, try falling flat on your face and make your lip look like this!" Xiao Zhao pointed at Dou Dou's lip and yelled at Zhou Lei.
“That’s the truth. If you don’t believe me, ask these dozen or so kids. All of them saw it. Our Zhuzhu was several steps away from him. It was your son who rushed up to grab the ball from Zhuzhu and that’s why he fell down.” Zhou Lei insisted that her son fell down on his own.
"What, are you bullying us because we're small? So what if you have many brothers? Do you think we're afraid of you? Give me the money for my son's medical treatment, or nobody's leaving today!" Little Zhao shouted deliberately.
At this moment, Zhou Quan and Li Mai also came out of the courtyard.
When Zhuzhu saw Limai, she rushed to her and hugged her waist, bursting into tears. "Waaah, Mom, that DouDou is here again! He tried to steal my ball, but he fell down. And his mother came and scolded us, even saying my parents are dead."
Upon hearing this, Li Mai exclaimed, "What? In the middle of the Lunar New Year, they're cursing me and Zhou Quan?"
Li Mai patted her shoulder comfortingly, helped her stand up straight, and then walked step by step towards Xiao Zhao Shi.
"Come on, say it to me, let me see how you cursed me and Zhou Quan? There are all kinds of birds in a big forest, and I never thought there would be such a scumbag as you in a big village."
“It’s understandable that you’re upset that your son fell, but shouldn’t you first ask him why he fell and how he fell?” Li Mai said coldly, arms crossed.
“My son is five years old, how could he fall on such a flat road?” Little Zhao shouted at Li Mai.
"Really? Even an adult can trip and fall if their brain is damaged, let alone a five-year-old child." Li Mai said, glancing at her indifferently, then took a few steps back, distancing herself from her.
The next moment, Xiao Zhao, who had been standing perfectly still, suddenly slipped and fell to the ground.
Xiao Zhao was stunned and sat on the ground in disbelief.
"Ha, I didn't expect you to experiment on yourself just to convince yourself? What a good mother," Li Mai said coldly.
"Your son's lip is swollen from a bump. When you get home, cover his lip with a cool cloth and the swelling will go down in a while. Remember, don't use a hot cloth, otherwise it will cause congestion and make the swelling worse."
"Also, remember to go back and teach your son properly: what belongs to others will always belong to others. Only what others give you is yours; if they don't give it to you, it will never be yours. If you try to take it by force, that's robbery."
"If you take something secretly when no one is looking, that's called stealing!"
After saying this lightly, Li Mai glanced at her coldly and looked at the other children, "Children, it's noon, go back to your mothers!"
"Thank you, Auntie!" a group of children said, then turned and ran away.
Xiao Zhao sat on the ground, stunned, thinking about what Li Mai had just said. What did her last sentence mean? Did she know something?
As if confirming her suspicions, Li Mai asked Aunt Lin Cai, "Auntie, I remember during the floods, Aunt Da Niu had a bag of silver stolen, didn't she? Was it found?"
Aunt Lin Cai wasn't stupid. She looked at Xiao Zhao Shi and then at Li Mai and instantly understood. She said, "I heard there seems to be some progress. We're just waiting to go over and confront them in a few days!"
Li Mai smiled and said, "Then let's hurry up, otherwise the money will probably be spent."
When Xiao Zhao came today, she was wearing an embossed silver bracelet on her wrist. That bracelet was worth at least three taels of silver. Her family was not willing to buy such expensive things.
The silver distributed by the village last time was only five or six taels per family, so Zhou Shu probably wouldn't let her spend most of it on buying bracelets.
She said that just now to test Xiao Zhao's reaction, but her face turned pale instantly. It seems that she was right.
That's a terrible person; no wonder he raised a child with a personality like DouDou.
It's a pity about that child. If he doesn't have a proper teacher, he'll only go astray as he grows up.
The children in the alley all went home, Zhou Quan's family went home, and Aunt Lin Cai also took Zhou Tingting home.
Other families also took their children home and closed their doors.
For a moment, only DouDou and XiaoZhao were left in the alley.
When Li Mai returned to the house, she comforted Zhu Zhu, "Don't be afraid, Zhu Zhu. Go wash up. This afternoon, Mom will make you a new toy so you can switch between them."
"Okay, thank you, Mom!" Zhuzhu was overjoyed when she heard about the new toy and went to wash up happily, completely forgetting her earlier unhappiness.
Li Mai approached Zhou Quan and asked softly, "This Zhou Shu's wife isn't a decent person. She has ulterior motives, and I always feel that she's hostile towards me. Do you know why?"
Zhou Quan thought for a moment and shook his head: "I don't know. Although she shares the same surname as my mother, she is not from Zhao Family Village. She is a woman that Zhou Shu brought back from outside."
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