Chapter 16 Mistaken Identity

As soon as Shen Nian’s voice fell, she saw the man sliding into the river. She instinctively ran over and grabbed his hand, pulling him up with all her might.

The man was a slightly overweight adult. Shen Nian was small. If it had been another child, they wouldn’t have been able to pull the man up, and they would have been dragged into the water. But Shen Nian pulled him up easily, threw him to the shore, leaving only his feet in the water.

The man weakly opened his eyes and saw Shen Nian’s youthful face. He only glanced at her before closing his eyes weakly.

“Nian Nian, Mother said the river is dangerous and we can’t get close to it. Ah? He’s dead!” Chen Sanshui and the others ran over anxiously. They didn’t see Shen Nian saving the man. They only saw a person lying on the shore and screamed in fright.

When the adults came over, the children had stopped screaming and were gathered around watching the commotion.

“Nian Nian, why are you hitting the dead man’s chest? Stop it. Let’s go find the adults! It’s so scary!”

“There’s blood on his head and on that rock. Did he hit his head on the rock?”

Chen Sanshui and the others kept chattering, but Shen Nian sat on the man, pressing down with her little hands.

As soon as Wei Shi arrived, she saw this scene and screamed in fright, “Nian Nian, get down!”

She ran over to stop Nian Nian, and the other women and girls also shouted.

Chen Sanshui and the others scattered when they saw the adults arrive.

Shen Nian remained seated on the man, her little fists pounding, “Wake up!”

“Pfft!”

Wei Shi reached out to hug Shen Nian, and the man on the ground suddenly coughed up a mouthful of water and woke up.

“Ah! He’s come back to life!” Chen Sanshui and the others screamed and hid behind their parents.

Wei Shi hugged Shen Nian and protected her in her arms, looking at the man on the ground warily.

“Who is this man? Why is he here?”

Shen Nian raised her little head from Wei Shi’s arms, “Mother, the uncle was washed down by the river. He hit his head on the rock. I was saving him just now.”

Wei Shi tapped her little forehead, “You little girl are so reckless! You’ve got guts! You dare to touch a stranger, and you even sat on him. Your clothes are all wet!”

Chen Sanshui’s mother also said, “Nian Nian, you weren’t saving him just now. You were clearly hitting him!”

The adults all gathered around the man. The man sat up groggily from the ground, looking around at the people around him.

Seeing that he was alive and had a shadow on the ground, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

An older woman asked, “Big Brother, where are you from? How did you fall into the water?”

“Is your head okay? Oh, it’s still bleeding! Do you need us to find a doctor for you?”

The man didn’t say anything. He stared blankly at everyone present, then his eyes suddenly fixed on Shen Nian.

Wei Shi quickly pressed Shen Nian’s little head into her arms.

As soon as the man saw Shen Nian, his eyes lit up, and he chuckled. He had a pair of drooping moustaches under his nose. This kind of smile made him look like a creepy, perverted old man.

Wei Shi hugged Shen Nian and took two steps back, “This man is strange. Everyone be careful.”

The women present quickly protected their children behind them.

The man suddenly stood up from the ground and ran towards Wei Shi.

Wei Shi hugged Shen Nian and ran, “Don’t come closer. What do you want? Help!”

Everyone present rushed to help.

Splat!

The man fell to the ground because of dizziness, his face buried in a puddle of water, covering his face with mud.

He raised his head, stretched out his hand towards Shen Nian, and cried pitifully, “Zhen Zhen, don’t leave. Woohoo, don’t leave your father! Bad guy, give my daughter back to me!”

His tone was like a child who had been robbed of his candy.

Everyone present was stunned.

“Who is this big brother calling?  Nian Nian?”

“Why is she calling Nian Nian ‘Zhen Zhen’?  And saying that Nian Nian is his daughter?”

“This guy isn’t a kidnapper, pretending to be stupid to trick children, is he?”

While they were discussing, the man saw Wei Shi holding Shen Nian tightly and wouldn’t let go, so he sat on the ground, slapping his thighs  Znd wailing loudly: “Waaaa!  Give me back Zhen Zhen!  Zhen Zhen doesn’t want her daddy!  Wuuu!  I won’t live!  Zhen Zhen, don’t leave!  Daddy will make you good food, daddy is very strong!  Wuuu!  Where is this?”

As he cried, he suddenly became confused, looking around blankly: “Who are you all?”

He looked down at his hands: “Who am I?  Siss!  My head hurts so much, wuuu!”

He cried again, shouting towards Shen Nian: “Zhen Zhen, daddy’s head hurts, daddy can’t remember anything!”

Everyone present: “…”

Shen Nian said to Wei Shi: “Mother, this uncle seems to have hit his head and is confused, he’s mistaken me for his daughter!”

Soon, other people from the village were called by the man’s cries.  Among those who came were several strong men, one of whom was Zhou Cunzhang’s youngest son, Zhou Hao.  He admired Shen Dong the most and treated Shen Nian as his own niece.

As soon as they saw the men from the village, the women rushed to tell them about the silly man on the ground.

Learning that he came from upstream, hit his head, was knocked unconscious by Shen Nian’s punch, and woke up chasing after Shen Nian calling her daughter, claiming to be her father, the men from the village strode over and surrounded the man.

As soon as he saw them, the man wailed in terror.

“Help!  Help!”

He was too emotional and fainted.

Zhou Hao shrugged innocently: “We didn’t do anything, he fainted on his own.”

Someone asked: “What do we do now?”

Zhou Hao, a resourceful person, said: “He came to our village and got injured. We can’t just ignore him. We have to take care of him, lest he die here and his family comes looking for him and blames us. Then we won’t be able to explain ourselves. Let’s take him to my house first and ask Doctor Liu to take a look.”

Lanhua Village didn’t have a doctor, only Liu Jiacun did. Doctor Liu was a local from Liu Jiacun and a barefoot doctor.

Zhou Hao found two people to help him carry the man to his house and then went to Liu Jiacun to fetch the doctor.

Wei Shi carried Shen Nian back home and changed her clothes first.

Her dirty clothes were left by the river, with Chen Sanshui’s mother watching over them.

Seeing Shen Nian being carried back by Wei Shi, soaking wet, Shen Laotai, who was feeding the chickens, immediately became anxious: “Didn’t you go to wash clothes?  Why is Nian Nian like this?”

Wei Shi said: “A strange man fell into the water and was washed ashore. This child is so bold, she said she wanted to save him, so she climbed on top of him and punched him.  He woke up, and she got her clothes wet too.”

After hearing Wei Shi’s words, Shen Laotai tapped Shen Nian’s little head with her finger: “You little girl, don’t do this next time!”

She asked Wei Shi: “How is that man?”

Wei Shi said: “Zhou Hao took him home.  His mind seems to be a bit abnormal.”

She told them about the man mistaking Shen Nian for his daughter after he woke up.

Shen Nian put on her clothes and thought about the man’s situation.  The man’s head looked like a superficial injury, but it seemed like he had injured his insides.  With Doctor Liu’s abilities, he wouldn’t be able to diagnose it.

After Shen Nian changed her clothes, Wei Shi went back to the river to continue washing clothes.  When she came back, she cooked lunch with Shen Laotai, and Shen Nian helped too.

At noon, the children who went to school all came home for lunch.  The private school didn’t provide meals.  Shen Feng and the others had just arrived home, and Shen Laotou and Shen Nan and the others had also returned from the fields.  Shen Dong was still in town and wouldn’t be back until evening.

Everyone listened to Wei Shi’s story about what happened by the river and couldn’t help but sigh.  Then they lined up to educate Shen Nian, all thinking that she was too reckless.

It was fine for adults to save people, but she was only three years old, a little girl.  Why was she saving people?  Don’t get yourself involved!

After educating Shen Nian, everyone started eating lunch.  They had just picked up their bowls when there was a loud commotion outside.