Song Zhi was stunned for a moment, then looked back and saw Ran Qiu limping towards him on the muddy road with a hurried look on his face.
He was still wearing the washed-out white shirt, a patched black jacket draped over it, and a pair of trousers that had been washed to a grayish color.
It was obvious that he was in a hurry to get here. His trouser legs and shoes were covered with mud, and his forehead was covered with sweat.
He looked anxious.
As soon as Ran Qiu arrived, the crowd automatically dispersed, leaving him a path.
Song Zhi was finally able to see what was happening inside.
All I saw was a middle-aged woman wearing a flowered shirt and a blue headscarf, pulling a little girl's ear and scolding her fiercely.
"You little bastard, you dared to steal the chicken, but you don't dare to admit it, right? The village cadres will come soon, and I'll see how you can keep your mouth shut!"
"Wow, wow, I didn't. I didn't steal it!"
When the little girl heard the words "village cadres", her face turned pale with fright, and she cried and shook her head, refusing to admit that she had stolen the chicken.
The middle-aged woman twisted her ears and cursed even more harshly.
The little girl couldn't struggle and was forced to stand on tiptoe to relieve the pain.
Song Zhi then saw clearly that the little girl with a bruised face and nose was San Ya!
The two little boys next to her, whose hands and feet were tied with straw and forced to kneel on the ground, were Dabao and Erbao.
Dabao and Erbao also had some bruises on their bodies, and were covered in mud. Their patched clothes were torn, revealing the yellowed old cotton inside.
There was a dead hen in front of them.
Chickens at that time were indeed precious, and each family could only raise three at most, not to mention hens that could lay eggs. But even so, asking people to kneel before chickens was too much!
Song Zhi's brows were tightly knitted together, and when he saw the three little guys' bruised and battered faces, his face immediately sank.
When Ran Qiu saw their miserable condition, his face changed drastically and his pupils shrank suddenly. He limped over quickly and pushed the crowd away, his voice filled with uncontrollable anger.
"Who beat them?"
His cold gaze swept through the crowd one by one, finally landing on the middle-aged woman who was twisting San Ya's ear.
He was thin and looked gentle. Moreover, he came in a hurry and his face was pale. Even if he was angry, he didn't look very intimidating.
Wu Caijuan was not afraid of him at all.
Even when she met his angry eyes, she did not let go. Instead, she straightened her chest, raised her chin and admitted it directly.
"I was the one who beat them, so what?" Wu Caijuan's face was grim. "They were so naughty at such a young age that they actually stole chickens and came to my house. My old hen can lay two eggs a day, but they killed it. I beat them lightly!"
She felt heartbroken whenever she talked about the chickens at home.
The family relies on this chicken to lay eggs!
"Let him go first."
Looking at San Ya, whose ears were twisted red and whose face was wrinkled in pain, Ran Qiu spoke in a deep voice.
Wu Caijuan was still unwilling to let the chicken-stealing girl go so easily, but the other party's parents had arrived. Even though she was reluctant, she still let go after cursing and pushed her back to Ran Qiu.
"Teacher Qiu, please don't say that I don't give you face. She stole my chicken, so it's only right that I teach her a lesson." She put her hands on her hips and said arrogantly.
Ran Qiu clenched his fists and stood in front of the three little ones without saying a word.
He had his back to her, and Song Zhi couldn't see the expression on his face, but she could tell from his tense body that he was really angry at the moment.
He looked down at the chickens on the ground, then looked at Dabao and the others who had hung their heads and remained silent since he came over.
Seeing the wounds of varying degrees on their faces, he clenched his fists even tighter. He took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and asked, "What's going on with this chicken?"
Without waiting for the three little ones to speak, he added, "Don't be afraid, tell the truth."
He raised these three children and he understood them. Even though they did have some bad habits of stealing, they were not bad people by nature and would not steal other people's chickens.
Wu Caijuan understood the meaning of his words, sneered, and glared at the three little bastards hiding behind Ran Qiu.
"Don't try to quibble."
The three little ones were so frightened that they immediately shrank their necks, with fear written all over their faces.
"explain."
Until Ran Qiu's cold voice came again.
Dabao looked at Wu Caijuan timidly, then mustered up the courage to speak while sniffing his nose in grievance.
"Brother Qiu, we really didn't steal this chicken..."
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Wu Caijuan, who was full of anger.
"How dare you lie? If you didn't steal it, how did the chicken end up in your hands?"
She raised her finger and pointed at them, it seemed that the beating was not enough.
The three of them were so frightened that they instinctively shrank back behind Ran Qiu.
Ran Qiu protected them behind him, looked at Wu Caijuan, and said, "Let them finish their words."
"Okay, I'll see what they can come up with!"
Wu Caijuan glared at them with a stern face and reluctantly gave Ran Qiu some face.
Ran Qiu's gaze fell on the three little ones again, encouraging them to speak.
After a while, San Ya finally spoke while crying.
"We found this chicken in the cotton field. It was already dead when we picked it up. We really didn't steal it..."
San Ya cried so aggrievedly, her face was covered with snot and tears, and her little body was trembling with crying.
"fart!"
Wu Caijuan roared angrily.
"My chicken was lost this morning. I've been looking for it all morning. How could it have been dead long ago? You must have stolen it. How dare you make up such nonsense? You're so young and yet you're still lying. I'll beat your mouths to pieces!"
Wu Caijuan had a bad temper and slapped Ran Qiu who was standing in front of the three little ones.
Since her husband passed away, all the housework, big and small, fell on Wu Caijuan's shoulders, which made her develop brute strength.
Ran Qiu was limping on one leg, and he staggered after being slapped by her.
Seeing that she couldn't hit those three damn bastards, Wu Caijuan swung at them again, but she was unexpectedly stopped by Ran Qiu again.
Meeting Ran Qiu's gloomy eyes, she was stunned for a moment, anger burning in her heart, making her face look even more distorted.
"Ran Qiu, you are a teacher after all, and now you are protecting these thieves?"
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