"Brother, don't be mean to Grandpa! If you're mean to him, he won't let me eat the candied hawthorns!"
The chubby little brother who was protecting Han Chengda was the first to betray him. He pushed him aside, trotted over to Han Fei, and stood in front of Han Fei with his little body, arms outstretched, in the posture of an eagle protecting its chicks.
The atmosphere was strange; Old Xu wanted to laugh but dared not.
Han Fei's feelings were complicated. To be honest, he was angry when Han Chengda acted like a wolf cub and yelled at him. After all, Han Chengda genuinely wanted to be good to the seven children, but the child kept questioning him. Anyone would be unhappy in that situation. But when the chubby boy stood in front of him to shield him, he felt gratified. It wasn't that he didn't remember Han Chengda's kindness.
Xiao Qi staggered up to Han Fei, clearly having run too fast. The little girl was panting, and her sweet, childlike voice cried out urgently, "Don't be mean to Grandpa!"
Xiao Qi puffed out her cheeks, holding a half-eaten flat candied hawthorn in her hand. Her fierce and cute posture made it seem as if she was holding a gourd knife, ready to slash anyone who dared to step forward.
Protected by Xiao Wu and Xiao Qi behind him, Han Fei felt a warm glow in his heart and was deeply moved.
In stark contrast is Han Chengda, whose face is stiff at this moment. He did this to protect Xiao Wu and to avenge Xiao Wu, but who knew that Xiao Wu would betray him first? Now Xiao Wu and Xiao Qi even regard him as an enemy!
Han Rou whispered in Han Chengda's ear: "Brother, it was him who made Xiao Wu cry, it has nothing to do with Grandpa."
Following Han Rou's finger, Han Chengda's gaze met that of Old Man Xu, who shrank back and said, "Who knew he was such a crybaby!"
I'm innocent! I was just joking, who would have thought the little fat boy would burst into tears!
"I'm not a crybaby, you bad old man!" Han Chengwu waved his fist at Old Man Xu in a show of force. When the brat got fierce, he bared his teeth and glared, which was quite intimidating.
Old Xu said with a mournful face, "Old Han, you have to do something about them! The big and small kids all hate me!"
It was one thing to be met with Han Chengda's wolf-like gaze, but now that the little boy was glaring at him, Old Man Xu was a little scared.
Han Fei reached out and patted Han Chengwu's head. The little boy, who had been baring his teeth and glaring at Han Fei just a moment ago, looked up at Han Fei with smiling eyes and said in a childish voice, "Grandpa, I want to eat candied hawthorns, okay?"
Han Fei felt a chill: "Boys, don't act like a baby."
Little Wu got even more excited, grabbing Han Fei's sleeve and shaking it, mimicking her younger sister's usual way of begging for candy, her voice sweet and childish: "Grandpa, my dear Grandpa, can I have a flat candied hawthorn, please~"
Han Fei turned and left.
This trick doesn't work? But Grandma always gives her candy when she begs for it! Little Wu lowered her head in disappointment, thinking: Grandpa must hate me, that's why he won't give me any.
Just as Xiao Wu was feeling down, Han Fei returned with a flattened candied hawthorn in his hand. "Hey kid, here, have some! Stop acting all cutesy with me. A boy should be tough!"
"Okay, my dear Grandpa, I love you, mwah!" Han Chengwu took the candied hawthorn and once again acted cute and charming: "I knew Grandpa liked me the most~"
Han Fei: "..."
He rubbed his forehead, once again realizing the difficulty of educating children.
Han Chengda stood silently to the side. He knew he had misunderstood his newly adopted grandfather, but he couldn't bring himself to apologize. Deep down, he felt this grandfather would never be good to them. Even if he was good now, he would abandon them when he ran out of money. After all, he had abandoned his grandmother before, letting her grow old waiting and grow disappointed to the point of despair.
Such a person is not trustworthy.
Han Chengda silently clenched his fists, thinking that he wouldn't go to school tomorrow and would go out to find work. He vowed to earn money to support his younger siblings and would never let anyone separate them.
Grandma, Dad, Mom, Uncle, and Aunt are all gone. He is the eldest, and as the eldest brother, he is the head of the family for his younger siblings. He must support this family!
Han Chengwu was happily eating candied hawthorn when suddenly a hand snatched it away from him. Turning around, he saw it was his third brother, who loved to steal his things. Han Chengwu was furious but dared not say anything, only glaring angrily at his third brother.
Han Chengshan took a bite and nodded in satisfaction: "It tastes good."
Han Chengwu reached out to take it back, but Han Chengshan took another big bite, biting off two candied hawthorns.
Han Chengwu was furious. He turned his back and stuffed his mouth full like a little hamster, afraid that if he was a step too slow, his third brother would come and snatch it away again.
Han Fei made several candied hawthorns for the children. When the gluttonous Han Chengwu was about to eat his third one, Han Chengda grabbed his traitorous younger brother by the back of his collar and dragged him away, scolding him all the way: "Eating so many candied hawthorns at night, don't you want to lose your teeth!"
Han Rou coaxed Xiao Qi: "Good little sister, don't eat anymore. Let's eat again tomorrow, okay? If you eat any more, your teeth will turn black and you'll become very, very ugly!"
Upon hearing that she would become ugly, the beauty-conscious Xiaoqi finally put down the candied hawthorn. The little girl came to Han Fei's feet and stretched out her arms for a hug.
Han Fei wiped his hands clean and picked up Xiao Qi: "Xiao Qi, are you going to sleep?"
Xiao Qi yawned sweetly, nodded her head, leaned closer to Han Fei, and placed a light kiss on his cheek: "Grandpa, goodnight~"
Han Fei was melting. His sweet and soft granddaughter, his sweet kisses, he would buy a big house for the little cutie no matter how hard or difficult it was!
Han Fei handed the exhausted Xiao Qi to Han Rou, told the children to go to sleep, and turned to Old Man Xu, saying, "Old Xu, do a good job!"
Immediately afterwards, Han Fei seemed to be injected with chicken blood, full of fighting spirit, and skewered three hundred candied hawthorns in two hours.
Old Xu's hands were sore from pressing candied hawthorns, and with a long face, he sat down to rest: "This kind of work is not suitable for old people."
"Think about your soon-to-be-born grandchild, what right do you have to slack off?"
Old Xu had barely sat down when he sprang up and began pressing the candied hawthorns even harder.
The next morning, Han Fei and Old Man Xu went to the entrance of the primary school to set up a stall to sell candied hawthorns.
The elementary school students passing by the stall blinked their big eyes, very curious as to why the candied hawthorns here were flat.
Is this candied hawthorn skewer spoiled?
"I don't know, do you want to try some? It smells so good."
Don't buy it!
"Why?"
"I saw these two old men picking up trash a couple of days ago. Maybe these candied hawthorns are the bad ones they picked up, which is why they're flat."
"Ugh, so disgusting! The candied hawthorns made by that garbage-collecting grandpa must be really dirty. I don't want to eat them!"
"My mom always said that food from street vendors wasn't hygienic, and it turns out she wasn't lying!"
The elementary school students were talking quite loudly. Perhaps they thought they were being quiet, but their childish chatter still reached Han Fei and Old Man Xu's ears. Old Man Xu was extremely anxious: "Old Han, what should we do? We can't sell them at all!"
Han Fei frowned. He hadn't expected that his and Old Xu's identities as garbage collectors had become so well-known. Just as he was feeling a headache, he saw a familiar little figure striding over.
Han Chengshan, carrying his schoolbag, swaggered around, displaying an arrogant and domineering demeanor that he seemed to have no regard for family or friends since childhood.
Elementary school students passing by would all call out, "Brother Shan!"
"Brother Shan, this is your breakfast."
"Brother Shan, this is sesame paste my mom made for me. It's so delicious, you can have some!"
"Brother Shan, a glass of Ovaltine, here you go!"
"Brother Shan..."
"Wow, it's Brother Shan!"
Old Xu nudged Han Fei, suppressing a laugh: "Is your third grandson a popular figure at school?"
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