When Tian Cai was about to reach home, he happened to see several young boys from the village shouting and throwing snowballs at someone. The person being thrown snowballs also looked like a child, curled up on the ground.
Tian Cai felt that the little boy in the lead looked familiar. She took the big bag in her hand and walked forward a few steps before she realized that the boy was Dabao from Li Dasheng's family, and the rest were also famous naughty boys in the village.
They threw snowballs at the thin figure and shouted, "She's a bastard! We're going to beat that bastard to death!"
"Yes! Kill the bastard!"
After hearing what they said and seeing that they were still throwing snowballs at him, Tian Cai quickly stepped forward and shouted, "Stop it!"
Li Dabao was about to curse back when he heard the voice, but turned around and saw that it was Tian Cai. He quickly put his hands behind his back, secretly threw the snowball in his hand to the ground and crushed it with his feet, "I, we didn't do anything wrong, we were beating up the bastards..."
Although he said this, he felt a little lacking in confidence.
Tian Cai had rescued him from the ice hole before. Although the boy was still as naughty as before, he was much more obedient in front of her. Now, seeing Tian Cai's gloomy face, he felt a little panicked.
"Yes, we did nothing wrong. My mother said they were bastards, and bastards are meant to be beaten!" Another little boy also stood up.
Tian Cai looked over and saw that the child's face was chapped and his cheeks were red from the cold. He raised his chin slightly and spoke confidently.
He looked familiar, and she thought for a moment, "Is your father Zhou Lao Er?"
The little boy nodded.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Manyi." The little boy Zhou Manyi didn't want to say it at first. He didn't think this matter had anything to do with him beating the puppy. However, when he thought about the bitter pills and long needles in his sister's hand, he decided to be sensible.
"Is your father's head healed?"
"alright."
Tian Cai then asked, "Did your father feel pain when his head was broken?"
Zhou Manyi knew this all too well. His father had been lying on the kang for over a month. "Of course it hurt. There was such a big hole on my father's head. There's still no hair growing there."
Tian Cai pointed at the little girl who was still squatting on the ground and said, "It will hurt if you hit her. She's still a little girl and will cry if she gets hurt. You are all little men now and you have so much strength. If you hit her head, it will make a big hole. She's not as strong as your father. Who knows how long it will take for her to heal!"
"Well," Zhou Manyi hesitated, "but my mother said she was a bastard, and bastards are meant to be beaten."
Tian Cai took a deep breath, reminding herself not to get angry. She continued to reason with the child, "But your father doesn't have a good reputation outside. They say your father is a second-rate person. Do you think your father is like that?"
"Of course not!" Zhou Manyi immediately replied. His father was very good to him and his mother, so how could he be a second-rate son?
"So, you can't just believe everything others say. You have to watch and listen for yourself. Only after spending more time with others can you know whether what they say is right or not."
Zhou Manyi was not convinced by Tian Cai yet. "But this is what my mother said. My mother can't be wrong."
Tian Cai rolled her eyes in her heart, silently telling herself not to get angry. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Your mother doesn't even know her. She must have heard someone else say that and believed it. Your mother has been deceived by someone else!"
"Is that so?" Zhou Manyi scratched his head in confusion. Although he didn't know what was wrong, he felt that what Sister Tian said made some sense. "Then I won't hit her."
Seeing that Zhou Manyi had changed sides, Li Dabao quickly said, "I won't hit her either!"
Then he called the other kids to the threshing ground and said, "Let's go play Fight the Japs!"
"Let's go! Let's fight the Japs!"
"I won't be a Japs today! Let Li Dabao be one!"
"I don't want to!"
…
After they all ran far away, Tian Cai helped the curled up little girl up, brushed off the snow and grass leaves on her body, and seeing that her braids were crooked, he helped to straighten them up.
The little girl raised her head with red eyes. She had heard Tian Cai scolding those children just now. Knowing that they had all left, she looked at Tian Cai cautiously.
Tian Cai saw that there were tears in her eyes, her face was dirty, and there were several red marks, but she bit her lips and said nothing.
She sighed, gently touched the little girl's hair, and asked softly, "My name is Tian Cai, you can call me Sister Tian, what's your name?"
The little girl hesitated for a moment, then decided she was a good person, so she answered softly, "My name is Tingting."
"Tingting," Tian Cai praised, "What a nice name!"
After the two talked for a few more words, the little girl felt that Sister Tian was different from the people in the village.
Moreover, when they first arrived, it was Sister Tian who examined their bodies, so they had a better impression of her, and with a better impression, they became a little bolder.
"Sister Tian, are you the village doctor?" the little girl asked with her big, clear eyes.
Tian Cai nodded and picked up the big bag he had just put on the ground. "So why don't you come home with me to wash your face and get to know the place. If you feel unwell in the future, you can come to me."
The little girl thought about it for a moment, nodded, then lowered her head, patted the grass leaves on her body, and followed Tian Cai to her home.
Tian Cai looked at the little girl's fair and tender cheeks, which were not obscured by dirt, and thought of the various news reports he had seen in his previous life. He couldn't help but remind her, "From now on, no matter who says they want to take you to their house, don't go directly. Go home and ask your grandfather. Only if he agrees can you go. Remember?"
Although the little girl didn't understand why, she nodded obediently and said, "I'll remember."
She felt very comfortable around Sister Tian, so she was willing to listen to what she said.
Tian Cai untied the hemp rope hanging on the door and pushed it open. She looked into the yard and saw that Mimi was not at home. She opened the door of the main room and put the big bag and bamboo basket into the pharmacy.
When I came out, I saw the little girl was still standing at the door.
"Come in quickly, I'll pour you some water to wash your face."
Tingting tugged at her clothes and realized belatedly that it was a bit rude to come to someone else's house like this, but since she was already there, she reluctantly went in.
Tian Cai took his washbasin, scooped a ladle of cold water from the water tank, opened the thermos and poured some hot water into it. He reached out to test the temperature and found it was just right. "Come on, do you know how to wash your face?"
The little girl nodded, reached out to roll up the sleeves of her cotton jacket, revealing her slender wrists, then lowered her head and slowly began to wash her face.
"There's another one here." Tian Cai saw that she couldn't reach the mark next to her ear after several attempts, so she simply pointed it out to her.
After making sure she was clean, he took a towel and wiped her face, and also offered his own facial cream and re-braided her hair.
Tian Cai felt like she was dressing up a doll. You know, she used to like watching hair braiding tutorials online, but she couldn't use them because of her short hair. However, the girls of several colleagues had been tortured by her.
But she also knew that it would not be good for Tingting to be too conspicuous, so she simply tied two small braids for her.
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