In her previous life, this child had drowned on this very day.
To protect the children of his own village, the village chief covered up the incident and ruled it an accidental drowning while the boy had been playing in the water.
The child already belonged to a “black element” family. His own family could barely protect themselves, let alone expect anyone else to stand up for him.
However, when Hehua watched the cycle of fate unfold, she often forced herself to look away from these scenes because they were too painful.
Later, the boy’s family was politically rehabilitated.
None of the children who had taken part in this incident ended well.
Even the village chief eventually went to prison.
Even the parents of those children met unhappy endings.
Compared to those children who had truly committed evil, Hehua pitied this little boy far more.
He had been sent down with his family when he was only three years old.
Not to mention all the suffering during the journey…
Even during the past two years in the village, he had endured endless hardship.
Despite being only three years old at the time, he had still been forced into labor reform.
The fact that he hadn’t lost his mind after everything he’d experienced showed just how resilient he was.
For an ordinary child, today’s incident would have been a terrible trauma.
For him…
It was just another ordinary day.
Seeing Hehua treating a “black element” so kindly made Santou unhappy.
“Sister Hehua, why are you helping this stinking black element? Aren’t you from our village? How can you help him instead of us? Believe it or not, I’ll report you to the commune!”
He lifted his chin proudly.
His father had told him that whenever someone bullied him, he should make up a reason and threaten to report them to the commune.
People would definitely get scared.
Hehua shot him a sideways glare and kicked him.
“You want to report me? Go ahead. Let’s see whether they arrest me or arrest you.”
Then she kicked him in the backside again.
“They’re ‘black elements,’ but their punishment is labor reform—not death. If they really deserved to die, they wouldn’t have been sent here in the first place. You’re practically killing someone. Who do you think the Public Security Bureau would arrest—me or you?”
“I’m not trying to kill him! I was just teaching him a lesson! My dad said this is how they treat black elements in the city! I was just criticizing him, I…”
Hehua’s eyes turned cold.
Under her gaze, Santou gradually fell silent.
He was scared…
Completely intimidated.
Hehua was furious.
That idiot of a father…
Couldn’t he teach his child something worthwhile?
Santou was the son of Wang Laizi, who lived at the end of the village.
Wang Laizi used to beat his wife.
After giving birth, she ran back to her parents’ home.
Since they had never officially registered their marriage, she soon remarried another man as a widow.
Her new husband was a large, burly fellow.
Even though Wang Laizi knew where she lived, he didn’t dare go looking for her.
When Wang Laizi’s mother was still alive a couple of years ago, she had helped raise Santou.
Back then, Santou had been an adorable, well-behaved child.
After the old woman passed away, Wang Laizi’s older brother stopped helping him.
To survive, Wang Laizi finally began working to earn work points while raising his son, acting somewhat like a father.
But Wang Laizi wasn’t a decent man.
While raising Santou, he naturally passed on his rough, thuggish behavior and his habit of bragging and lying.
That was how Santou had gone astray.
Over the past six months, the little brat had led a gang of children as their self-appointed king, bullying anyone who refused to follow him.
Later, after being disciplined twice by the adults in the village, he improved somewhat, but he still remained the leader of the children.
Knowing that the village kids all had parents backing them up and weren’t easy targets…
He shifted his attention to this child from the cowshed.
Hehua hadn’t expected Wang Laizi to tell Santou everything.
Were the things the Revolutionary Committee did in the city really something you should teach a child?
Holding the child from the cowshed with one arm, she grabbed Santou by the back of his collar with the other.
“You’re coming with me to the brigade office.”
Knowing nothing good awaited him there—and that he’d probably get beaten—Santou struggled.
“I’m not going! I’m not going!”
Hehua tightened her grip and dragged him away.
“You’re going whether you want to or not.”
Then she turned to the other children who had followed Santou.
“You all come too. Walk in front. Nobody runs. I’ve memorized every one of your faces. If anyone runs away, I’ll make one beating turn into ten.”
One beating into ten?
Who would dare run after hearing that?
No matter how unwilling they were, the children obediently lined up in front of Hehua as she herded them toward the brigade office.
…
The moment the village chief saw the way Hehua entered the office, his temples started throbbing.
Those little troublemakers must have caused another incident.
“Hehua, what did they do this time?”
Hehua glanced at the child in her arms.
“I stepped in because I couldn’t ignore what I saw.”
She set both children down.
“Santou, you all stand over there. Little one, go sit on that stool.”
After arranging everyone, she walked closer to the village chief.
“Second Uncle, I’m not trying to criticize you, but even if you’re the brigade chief of Xiangyang Brigade, you can’t ignore the people living in the cowshed. They may have made mistakes, but the higher authorities ordered them to undergo labor reform—not to be bullied to death.”
She pointed at Santou.
“This little brat led all these kids in bullying the child from the cowshed. Do you know how they bullied him? They held his head underwater in the river ditch. He was nearly unconscious, and these little rascals were discussing making him drink urine. Is that something a human being should do?
“If I hadn’t gotten there in time and frightened them, he would’ve been dead before they even had the chance.
“If nobody disciplines these children now, next year they’ll be living in the cowshed themselves.
“What is this?
“This is attempted murder.
“The law cannot tolerate it!”
The village chief was stunned.
These children were so young.
How could they do something like this?
Seeing his shocked expression, Hehua rolled her eyes.
“Second Uncle, pay more attention, will you? Don’t think I don’t know your personality. If this had really ended in tragedy today, you’d definitely have protected these little brats and declared it an accidental drowning.
“You might fool the child’s family—or maybe not—but these children? Someone would’ve died and they’d still have gone unpunished because you covered for them. Why would they ever be afraid? Next time they’d dare do something even worse.
“And what about the boy’s family? How do you know they won’t be politically rehabilitated one day? Plenty of people have already been rehabilitated over the years—even from our own brigade.
“When his family returns to the city with power, don’t you think they’ll seek revenge?
“Do you think you’ll be safe after covering this up?
“It’s one thing to protect our own people, but we can’t throw away our sense of justice. If we tip the scales too far, everyone loses.”
Liu Changsheng understood every word she said.
Looking at Hehua putting on such a serious face, he snorted.
“Get out of here. You’re actually lecturing me now? Out of everyone, I’ve spoiled you the most all these years.”
Hehua straightened her neck proudly.
“Even so, I have my principles. Besides, if you hadn’t always treated me well, I wouldn’t bother saying any of this to you.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically.
Liu Changsheng couldn’t help laughing.
“All right, I get what you’re saying.
“Take this child from the cowshed to the clinic. If he needs medicine, let them prescribe it. Tell Uncle Wang to keep track of the expenses, and later we’ll divide the cost among these children’s families.
“After that, take the child home and explain everything to his family.
“As for these kids, leave them to me.
“Later, I’ll make all of their parents bring them to apologize in person.”
Hehua pointed at Santou.
“He’s the leader.
“Santou’s still young, and he wasn’t a bad child before. Just now, when he argued with me, I realized he only did this because Wang Laizi filled his head with stories about what happened in the cities. He copied what he heard and honestly thought it was right.
“Even him becoming the king of the children and bullying anyone who didn’t follow him—that all came from Wang Laizi.
“You should have Elder Wang San take a broom over to his house and beat Wang Laizi in front of Santou until he jumps around screaming.
“Let Santou see exactly what kind of coward his father really is.
“Once he realizes all his father’s big talk is nothing but nonsense, it’ll work better than anything else.”
Santou: “…”
His entire worldview collapsed.
Liu Changsheng: “…”
That was a viciously effective idea.
Having said everything she needed to say and stopped the wrongdoing before it could grow any further, Hehua picked up the little boy from the cowshed and headed toward the village clinic.
…
On the way, Niuniu, who had been holding back for a long time, finally couldn’t stay silent anymore.
【Hehua… this child carries the nation’s fortune! You’ve struck gold!】