Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“That slap is to make you remember, ‘wild children’ isn’t a term just anyone can throw around.” After striking, Yan Xue turned to Wei Siao and said, “Go get the wooden stick from the kitchen for mom.”

Wei Siao didn’t hesitate, quickly running to the kitchen and bringing the stick to Yan Xue.

That wooden stick used to be what that woman used to punish him and his brother. It seemed it wouldn’t be anymore, he thought.

“You’re crazy! You dared to hit me! What right do you have to hit me?”

Liu Hui was actually someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Seeing the coldness in Yan Xue’s eyes, she immediately clutched her face and cried, flailing and slapping her thighs.

“Did you all see that? How can this person stay in our village? Her child stole something, and she still dares to hit people!”

“Shut up, stop shouting,” Yan Xue said, annoyed, as she pushed Liu Hui, who had already stepped into her courtyard, back out with one hand.

She paused, then, protecting her two children, she addressed everyone, “If my children stole the book, I will certainly educate them, and I will pay Dapang for the money and the book.”

“Hmph, easy for you to say. You’ll educate them? Who knows how you’ll educate them? Besides, you hit me! Does that just get a free pass?”

Liu Hui looked around, expecting everyone to side with her, but the noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

Even Zhang Xiaoqiao, the Zhang family’s wife who had come with her, averted her eyes and said nothing.

What Liu Hui didn’t know was that her usual behavior already made the villagers dislike her. Everyone wanted to make things difficult for Yan Xue, but no one wanted to stand up for Liu Hui.

“If my children stole the book, I’ll let you hit me back,” Yan Xue swept her gaze over the crowd, a cold sneer in her heart, then shifted her gaze to Dapang, changing her tone.

“But if my children didn’t steal the book, you and your son will bow and apologize to my two children, and promise to stay far away from my children from now on.”

“Hmph, if your children didn’t steal it, did the book grow legs?” Liu Hui was confident of victory. She smirked, seemingly already envisioning Yan Xue getting knocked flying by her slap.

Dapang, at the side, nervously tugged at his mother’s hand, only to have it irritably thrown off by Liu Hui.

Seeing this, Yan Xue said nothing more. After confirming the book title with the two little ones and Dapang, she led the crowd out of the gate.

Along the way, everyone had different thoughts.

The two little ones followed Yan Xue attentively. Liu Hui loudly sneered and scoffed the whole way. Dapang kept his head down, not daring to look up. The people behind them were simply enjoying the drama.

After walking for almost ten minutes,

Liu Hui felt increasingly uneasy. When she finally looked up, she was instantly furious.

“Yan Xue, what do you mean by this? Why are you bringing me to my house? Have you gone crazy and brought it to my house?!”

Yan Xue quietly raised her head and gestured. “Open the door. The book is in your house.”

“What nonsense are you talking about, you—”

Dapang’s small eyes darted around. He grabbed Liu Hui’s clothes and shouted, “Mom, you can’t let them in our house! Why should they come into our house, mom! Don’t let them in!”

Yan Xue scoffed, thinking it was a good thing Dapang hid the book in his own courtyard, otherwise, this matter would be impossible to explain, even with ten mouths.

“What? Are you feeling guilty?”

Yan Xue’s words seemed directed at Liu Hui, but they were actually for Dapang.

Such a young brat, already so malicious. What would he be like when he grew up?

As the two sides faced off, someone in the onlookers spoke up.

“Exactly, what’s wrong with taking a look? What if you really wrongly accused them? They haven’t been here long, they can’t bully you…”

Yan Xue turned and saw that the speaker was a young woman, slender and small, leading her own daughter. Her voice was also soft, making her a stark contrast to Liu Hui.

Yan Xue didn’t know the woman’s name yet, but for now, it seemed she wasn’t aligned with Liu Hui.

Once one person spoke up, several others then chimed in with their agreement.

Liu Hui couldn’t stand the provocation. Besides, she didn’t actually know where the book was. She immediately used her key to open the main gate.

“Fine, look! If you don’t find it today, just you wait.”

Yan Xue walked in unhurriedly, heading straight for the corner of the courtyard. Behind her, Dapang’s face was already crumpled with anxiety.

He had hidden the book himself. How could anyone possibly know? He didn’t want to apologize to Wei Siao and Little Xiang.

The more anxious he became, the more frantically he chased after Yan Xue’s steps. When Yan Xue approached the abandoned water basin, his heart pounded in his throat.

Yan Xue, out of the corner of her eye, glanced at Dapang. She brushed the unmelted snow off the basin and retrieved the half-damp book from inside.

“What is this?”

Seeing the book had been taken out, Dapang turned and ran, only to be blocked by the people at the doorway.

Liu Hui, still with her hands on her hips, was stunned. She truly hadn’t known the book was actually in her house. She knew her son must have done it, but she hadn’t expected her son to be so stupid as to hide the book at home.

“You little brat! Didn’t you say the book you lent them wasn’t returned? How is it in our house? Huh?”

Liu Hui, having lost face, immediately changed the subject, grabbing her son as if to hit him.

Of course, someone like her, who doted on her son to such an extreme, wouldn’t actually hit him.

Yan Xue asked with a cold face, “Didn’t you say my children stole your son’s book? How is it now ‘lent but not returned’?”

“I…” Liu Hui only then realized she had let something slip, and her face flushed with shame in the dead of winter.

In truth, this incident wasn’t a big deal. Liu Hui and her son just wanted to use it to get everyone to cause trouble for Yan Xue’s family.

Now that it had escalated this way, everyone wasn’t stupid. They immediately understood what Liu Hui and her son were plotting.

Instantly, the tide turned completely in favor of Yan Xue’s family. Even Zhang Xiaoqiao, the Zhang family’s wife who had come with Liu Hui that morning to demand an explanation, switched sides.

Zhang Xiaoqiao had originally stood at the front, intending to seize the opportunity to criticize Yan Xue.

Seeing how things turned out, she quickly changed her tune.

“Sister Liu, you really are something. How could you wrongly accuse someone first thing in the morning, and drag us along too? Isn’t this making us lose face? We are all reasonable people.”

Seeing this, Liu Hui’s face turned red with exasperation.

“Zhang Xiaoqiao, you, if it weren’t for you—”

“Me what? What about me? Don’t drag me into your own affairs.”

“What do you mean my own affairs? If it weren’t for you liking that refined—”

Liu Hui didn’t finish her sentence before Zhang Xiaoqiao lunged forward and covered her mouth.

The two instantly began to wrestle, leaving the onlookers who had hoped for a spectacle completely bewildered. They couldn’t understand what was happening.

Why were these two, who usually interacted so often, fighting?

Only Yan Xue, holding her two children, stood far away, watching them fight.

Others didn’t know, but she was very clear about it.

Zhang Xiaoqiao’s husband only returned twice a year. The lonely Zhang Xiaoqiao had fallen in love at first sight with the male teacher who had come to the village.