"Landlord's spawn, get the hell out of our village!"
"Traitor, bah!"
"Qin Du, hurry up and take your mother away. Our village doesn't welcome you."
The boy ignored the people standing on the field ridge. He stood in the dirt, mud splattered across his body. The scorching sun baked him red, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat.
Seeing him stay silent, the children carrying satchels grew even more arrogant.
"Qin Du, you are nothing but a landlord's remnant. Your family has no right to claim this land."
"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you deaf, or just too ashamed to speak?"
Ji Zhaoxi was squeezed among the group of children, occasionally chiming in with a few words of agreement.
"Landlord's remnant!"
She looked at Qin Du, who remained silent not far away. They came to curse at him almost every day, but he never reacted, just quietly continued his work.
Seeing that he wouldn't speak, a few boys picked up stones and threw them at Qin Du. Ji Zhaoxi hurriedly followed suit, tossing a few onto the ground.
A flash of malice crossed the lead boy's eyes. "Qin Du, I heard from Aunt Lin in the village that your mom is getting married? Her husband is dead, yet she's still so restless."
"Yeah, exactly! The older one is restless, and the younger one is too."
The lead boy was the village chief's eldest son, a commanding presence among the village children. If anyone disobeyed him, their family would suffer.
Chen Yiping squatted down, looking down at Qin Du in the field from his high vantage point. He narrowed his eyes and smiled, "If your mom is really that desperate for a man, my second uncle happens to be missing a woman. How about I have my dad show some mercy and help your family out?"
Looking at Qin Du's wretched state, he felt exceptionally good. Back in the day, the whole village had to listen to the Qin family, but now? The tables had turned.
He whistled a few times, calling out to Qin Du like he was calling a dog. "Come, come, come, take your mom to meet my second uncle."
Everyone in the village knew that Chen Yiping's second uncle was the village idiot.
Ji Zhaoxi was tired of standing and wanted to squat down for a bit, but she tripped over a branch on the ground. The person next to her quickly caught her.
Chen Yiping noticed the commotion behind him and cast a disgusted look at Ji Zhaoxi.
If it weren't for the fact that her older sister had a good relationship with his family, he really wouldn't have wanted to bring her along.
Qin Du calmly walked over holding his hoe. Chen Yiping laughed even harder. "Come quickly, you're due for a new daddy too."
Ji Zhaoxi looked at Qin Du's expression. She felt that there was something wrong with his eyes. She looked at the children around her; they were all laughing along with Chen Yiping, seemingly oblivious.
Then, the unexpected happened.
Qin Du climbed up onto the ridge expressionlessly and walked up to Chen Yiping. Just as Chen Yiping was about to speak, Qin Du, radiating a fierce hostility, punched him hard in the face.
Caught completely off guard, Chen Yiping instantly fell back into the field. His back slammed against a rock with a loud thud. He immediately let out a miserable shriek of pain, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
The surrounding children were stunned with fear and immediately fled. Ji Zhaoxi was so terrified that she quickly ran away with them.
Hearing the screams behind her, she couldn't help but turn her head for a glance.
Qin Du seemed to have lost his mind, pinning Chen Yiping against the rock and beating him. His fists grew heavier and heavier. His eyes were frighteningly red. Chen Yiping's screams grew weaker, and he was thrown to the ground by Qin Du like an inanimate object.
Ji Zhaoxi hurriedly ran home. Her older sister was sitting at the doorway, chatting with a passerby.
Seeing Ji Zhaoxi running up out of breath, her sister scolded her while wiping her sweat. "Running so fast again, what if you fall?"
The woman holding a baby smiled. "Kids are all like that. Mine is always running around everywhere too."
Ji Zhaoxi rushed into the house and gulped down a few mouthfuls of cold water. Her sister's voice rang out from the doorway. "Drink what's on the stove."
Ji Zhaoxi looked at the bowl on the stove, took a sip, and her eyes instantly lit up.
Sweet!
The baby in the woman's arms cried again. The woman expertly coaxed the child and looked at Ji Zhuxin. "Aren't you going to find someone? It's still easy for you to find a match now, but in a few years, you won't be able to."
Ji Zhuxin used a twig to scrape the mud off her shoes and smiled self-deprecatingly. "I won't bother. Taking care of my little sister keeps me busy enough."
The woman gave Ji Zhuxin a meaningful look and lowered her voice. "Do you like that guy from the West Village? I can introduce you."
The expression on Ji Zhuxin's face stiffened for a moment, but she forced a smile. "No, no, I'm not thinking about that right now."
The woman wanted to keep persuading her. Ji Zhuxin kept smiling, but cursed in her heart.
Damn busybody, trying to use her to do someone a favor. That guy from the West Village was such a loser, yet she actually dared to suggest him.
The sun went down, and Qin Du returned, carrying his hoe on his shoulder.
Seeing that the woman still wanted to talk, Ji Zhuxin opened her mouth and started cursing.
"Blind things! The father is blind, and the son is blind too. You've gotten mud all over the ground in front of my door."
"It's bad enough your class status is poor, but your character is terrible too. Living next to you is just bad luck."
Ji Zhuxin kept swearing, but Qin Du said nothing, as if he hadn't heard a thing, and went straight home. Not satisfied, Ji Zhuxin spat on the ground a few times.
The woman seemed to realize something, and her face turned a bit ugly. But since Ji Zhuxin wasn't pointing at her nose and cursing her directly, she couldn't say anything.
"I'll be going then, I need to head back and cook."
Ji Zhuxin pretended to ask her to stay. "No, no, don't leave today. Stay and eat at my place, it's been so long since we had a good chat."
The woman also smiled. "If I don't go back and cook, my man will lose his temper again. Let's chat next time."
The moment the woman turned around with her baby, Ji Zhuxin started cursing behind her back again.
"Such a black heart, the future kids won't be any good either. Shameless. Next time you dirty the front of my house, I'll curse you every time I see you."
The woman held her baby and quickly walked faster.
She was so angry her face turned red. This Ji Zhuxin was just a shrew, completely unreasonable.
She kindly offered to introduce her to a match, and there she was, making veiled curses at her.
Ji Zhuxin watched the woman's retreating back and gave a cold snort.
She walked into the house, found that the bowl of sugar water on the stove was still more than half full, and started scolding again.
"Ji Zhaoxi, you're so picky now, huh? You won't even drink sugar water. What rich family's pampered daughter do you think you are?"
Ji Zhaoxi lay on the wooden plank bed, drowsy. "I did drink it. You didn't drink any, sis."
Ji Zhuxin pulled her up. "Never mind whether I drank it or not. Hurry up and finish it all. You never give me any peace of mind."
"I won't drink it." Ji Zhaoxi turned her head away.
Ji Zhuxin sneered. "You won't drink it, huh."
She put down the bowl and immediately went to the door to grab a stick. Terrified, Ji Zhaoxi quickly scrambled up and downed it in one gulp.
"I drank it, I drank it! Sis, what are you doing!"
Ji Zhuxin put down the stick and scolded, "All day long, you just do things to upset me."
Raising Ji Zhaoxi was already tiring enough. If she had to give birth to another one, she would definitely die of exhaustion in this lifetime.
A sudden bout of coughing came from next door. Ji Zhaoxi recognized it as the sound of Qin Du's mother. For as long as she could remember, Qin Du's mother had always been in very poor health.
