Every time Song Wei spoke up, she seemed to hit Aunt Niu’s nerves. Aunt Niu looked like she wanted to rush over and clamp Song Wei’s mouth shut.

The team leader’s face was darkening by the second.

Having successfully stirred the pot, Song Wei darted off, her legs moving like a blur.

The other older women stared in amazement—Song Wei had bested Aunt Niu without breaking a sweat. It was clear that Song Wei was not someone to mess with.

After putting some distance between herself and the scene, Song Wei slowed down, making her way leisurely back to the youth settlement.

The first thing she did when she got back was take out the mushrooms she’d gathered in the hills the day before. The thinner mushrooms would be good dried, while the thicker ones would make a hearty mushroom sauce.

She carefully sorted the mushrooms, laying the thin ones out to dry in the backyard and saving the thick ones. Pine nuts, pinecones, and chestnuts also needed to be dried.

Finally, she grabbed a wooden board and, using a piece of charcoal, scrawled a few words across it, then planted it in a prominent spot in the yard.

“Alright, I still have to find the team leader to finalize the private plot situation,” she murmured to herself, looking at the sign, which read: “Whoever takes it is a dog!!”

She knew that in the future, people would probably just bark a few times and happily take the things.

But nowadays, it is still a bit lethal to those who care about face.

With that done, Song Wei eyed the plump mushrooms she’d kept, wishing them to magically turn into mushroom sauce. She wasn’t quite sure how to make it herself.

“Guess I’ll wait and ask Li Juan when she gets back,” she sighed, giving up for now. Instead, she put some steamed buns on the stove. She only knew how to make basic foods, so the buns were as close as she’d get to a real meal.

She rolled up her sleeves and made a few millet buns as well. When the food was ready, she stuffed one into her mouth, packed the rest in a bag, and headed back out with her basket and sack, prepared for another day of foraging in the mountains.

But today didn’t go quite as smoothly.

On the way, she stumbled upon a scene of bullying.

A group of kids were chanting, “Orphan! No parents! Heidan is cursed!”

“Get him! He stole from us!” one boy shouted. “Heidan’s a thief!”

Surrounded, Little Heidan protested, “I I’ll didn’t steal anything! My grandfather gave it to me!”

His voice trembled with tears and a stubborn sense of defiance.

Hearing Heidan’s name, Song Wei changed direction and headed toward the scene. “What’s going on here?” she called out. “A bunch of older kids picking on a younger one—aren’t you ashamed?”

The kids froze at the sound of an adult’s voice. But when they saw it was just Song Wei, they relaxed, pulling faces at her. A chubby boy even retorted with a sneer, “I’m teaching him a lesson on behalf of my grandma! He’s a thief.”

“Oh?” Song Wei raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly did he steal? Did you see it yourself? Where, when, and how? Tell me.”

Lin Youcai, the chubby boy, hesitated. He couldn’t come up with an answer because he’d made it up. “Mind your business!” he barked. “This is family business—it has nothing to do with you!”

“Family business?” Song Wei feigned surprise. “So Heidan is actually your cousin? I’d never have guessed, seeing as you’re treating him like an enemy. Who beats up their own family? Would you lead other children to beat your cousin?”

The other kids glanced at each other and shook their heads.

“You see?” Song Wei continued. “That’s not how real family behaves. So tell me, did your grandma actually tell you to bully your cousin? Or is this your own idea? Because picking on someone smaller than you is something only a bully would do.”

The children, especially the ones who’d been dragged into this, fidgeted uncomfortably, embarrassed to be seen as bullies.
“We are not bad kids!”

Song Wei squatted down and looked at the group of children in front of her with a serious expression: “But good children will not bully the weak. Look at Heidan, he already has insufficient food and clothing, and he is much thinner and shorter than all of you. How can you still have the heart to bully him?”

“It’s because… Black Egg is a bad kid!” Lin Youcai stammered. “They say he cursed his parents—that’s why they died.”

“Nonsense! Hei Dan isn’t a bad kid at all. His father went up the mountain to gather herbs so that Hei Dan could be born healthy and see this world.

But the mountains are dangerous, and even though you’re young, the adults at home must have told you that, right? So that’s why something happened to his father. But his father was willing to risk going into the mountains for the sake of his unborn child, which shows just how much he loved him.

And his mother, who tried her best to give birth to Heidan despite being extremely sad, loved Heidan very much. She only followed his father because she missed him so much.”

Song Wei spoke slowly, carefully using simple words so the children could understand.

Little Heidan, listening from behind her, stared with wide, tear-filled eyes.

He didn’t think of crying when he was beaten, but now he cried when he heard Song Wei’s words.

It was the first time he heard such an explanation. Everyone said that he was the one who killed his parents. Over time, Heidan also thought so.

But for the first time someone said that his parents loved him and they did a lot of things for him in order to bring him into this world.

Song Wei pulled out some candies from her pocket. “If you’re willing to say sorry to Heidan, you can each have a candy. Real kindness means apologizing when you’ve done something wrong, and showing respect for others.”

Except for Lin Youcai, the kids all quickly took a candy and murmured, “Sorry, Heidan… we shouldn’t have called you names or hit you.”

Lin Youcai, however, scoffed. “I don’t want your candy. Heidan is just a freeloader!”

Song Wei sighed, unfazed. “Your grandma and your mom definitely didn’t tell you that Heidan brother sent money back every month. Originally, the money was used to support Heidan, but Heidan is like this…why don’t you go back and ask your grandma and your mom where the money went?”

Lin Youcai’s face reddened as he stomped his foot. “You’re lying!” he yelled before running off.

The other children crowded around Song Wei, calling her “Sister” and thanking her eagerly. She ruffled Little Black Egg’s hair, sneaking two extra candies into his small, dirt-streaked hands. His big, dark eyes blinked up at her, shining with emotion.

Because of the sparse population in her previous life, children are the hope of the future. This concept has always influenced her, so she is very patient with these lively children.