Every unintentional sound Song Wei uttered struck a nerve with Granny Niu, who felt a pang of unease. Granny
Niu desperately wanted to cover Song Wei's mouth.
The team leader's face grew increasingly dark.
Song Wei lit the fire and ran, her legs moving with incredible speed.
The other women stared in disbelief; this educated youth, Song, was truly formidable, managing to make Granny Niu suffer a great loss without any recourse.
They would never dare to provoke Song again.
After running a distance, Song Wei switched to walking, strolling leisurely back to the educated youth compound.
The first thing she did upon returning was to take out the mushrooms she had picked in the mountains the day before.
Mushrooms with thinner flesh were suitable for drying into dried mushrooms, while those with thicker flesh were suitable for making mushroom sauce.
She carefully selected the thicker ones, keeping the rest and drying them on the flat ground in the backyard, along with pine nuts, pine cones, and chestnuts.
Finally, she found a wooden board, wrote a few words on it with a piece of charcoal, and forcefully planted the board in a conspicuous spot.
"Alright, we still need to get the brigade leader to confirm the private plots and yards as soon as possible."
The wooden board boldly proclaimed: 'Whoever takes it is a dog!'
In later generations, those with a more advanced mindset would probably bark a few times and happily take the things.
But in today's world, it still has a certain impact on people who care about their image.
After finishing all this, Song Wei stared at the thick, fleshy mushrooms, trying to turn them into mushroom sauce on their own.
Because she didn't know how…
she gave up, deciding to steam the steamed buns first. She'd wait for Li Juan to come back and ask her if she knew how to prepare the mushrooms.
Of all the food, she only cooked some simple, natural dishes and steamed buns, because she had a strong hand and the dough was elastic enough.
Although it was coarse grains, Song Wei didn't mind at all, rolling up her sleeves and working very hard, even making a few cornbread buns.
The steamed buns and cornbread buns were quickly ready. She stuffed one into her mouth, found a bag to put the rest in, and, like the previous two days, carried a basket and burlap sack to head up the mountain.
But today's ascent wasn't so smooth.
On the way, they stumbled upon a bullying scene in Old Jujube Village.
"No father to raise him, no mother to care for him, Blackie is a hapless bastard..."
"Hit him! He dared to steal food from home! Blackie is a thief!"
Blackie, surrounded and beaten by several children, loudly retorted, "I didn't steal it! This was given to me by my great-grandfather!"
His voice trembled with tears, yet also held a touch of stubbornness.
Hearing Blackie's name, Song Wei paused, turned, and walked towards the group of children.
"What are you doing? What are you doing? A bunch of big kids bullying little kids, have you no shame?"
The children were startled by the adult's voice, but upon seeing Song Wei, they were no longer afraid, making faces at her.
One chubby little boy arrogantly declared, "I'm teaching him a lesson for Grandma! He's a thief!"
Song Wei raised an eyebrow: "What did he steal from you? Did you see it with your own eyes? Tell me the exact time, place, and how it happened."
Lin Youcai was only eight years old; how could he possibly explain it clearly? Besides, the story of Blackie stealing was fabricated by him.
He stammered and couldn't get a straight answer, but he resorted to unreasonable arguments: "Mind your own business, this is my family's affair and has nothing to do with you!"
"Who is Black Egg to you?"
"He's my cousin!"
Song Wei feigned shock. "Heidan is your cousin? If I didn't know better, I'd think he was your enemy! What kind of respectable relative would lead a fight against their own brother? Would you kids lead other kids to beat up your own cousin?"
The other children shook their heads.
"See? That's what relatives are like. You... leading other kids to beat up your own brother, was that your own idea or your family's? That's something only bad kids do."
"We're not bad kids!"
The children were still very concerned about what others thought of them.
Song Wei squatted down, looking seriously at the group of children in front of her: "But good children don't bully the weak. Look at Heidan, he's already starving and poorly clothed, much thinner and shorter than all of you. How can you bear to bully him?"
"But...but Lin Youcai said Heidan is a bad child, that his parents died when he was born, that he brought bad luck upon them."
"Nonsense, Heidan isn't a bad child. His father went to the mountains to gather herbs so he could see the world healthily.
But the mountains are dangerous, even though you're young, your parents have told you that, right? That's why his father had an accident. But his father was willing to risk going to the mountains for the unborn Heidan, which means he loved him very, very much.
And his mother, even in a very, very sad state, desperately tried to give birth to Heidan. She loved him very, very much too. It's just that she missed his father so much that she went with him."
Song Wei spoke slowly, trying to use simple and easy-to-understand language so the children could understand.
Behind Song Wei, Hei Dan stared blankly at her, his large, dark eyes brimming with tears.
He hadn't thought of crying when so many people were beating him, but now, hearing Song Wei's words, he cried.
This was the first time he'd heard such an explanation. Everyone said he was the one who killed his parents, and over time, Hei Dan had come to believe it too.
But this was the first time someone had said that his parents loved him, that they had done so much to bring him into this world out of love.
Song Wei took out a few candies from her pocket.
"Hey, admitting your mistakes and correcting them makes you a good child. Will you still scold and hit Hei Dan in the future?"
Except for Lin Youcai, all the other children shook their heads.
"No more." The children all stared at the candies in her hand.
Song Wei: "Good boy, take the candies and apologize to Hei Dan. A real man takes responsibility for his actions, and so does a kind little beauty."
With those constant calls of "good child," "man," and "little beauty," these easily swayed children immediately grabbed the candies and proudly went off to be real men.
"Black Egg, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you or scolded you."
"Black Egg, I'm sorry..."
Lin Youcai huffed, "I don't want your candy! Black Egg is just someone who eats our food for free!"
Song Wei chuckled, "Your grandma and mom probably didn't tell you that Black Egg sends money back every month, right? That money was meant to support Black Egg, but with Black Egg like this... Why don't you go back and ask your grandma and mom where all that money went?"
Lin Youcai roared, "I don't believe you! You're definitely lying to me!"
He ran away.
The other children surrounded Song Wei, calling her "sister" sweetly.
Of course, sweet words come from sweetness.
Song Wei patted Black Egg's head and secretly slipped him two candies where the other children couldn't see.
Black Egg sniffed, wiped away his tears, and looked at her with bright, dark eyes.
Because of the sparse population in her previous life, children were the hope of the future, a concept that had always influenced her, so she was very patient with these lively little children.