Chapter 6: The Little Rascals

Unfortunately, the fork missed, and the fish slipped away.

Jiang Chunyu was undeterred. “It’s okay, I’ll try again.”

He held his breath, waiting for the fish to approach, then attempted to spear it with the bamboo fork…

But the fish escaped once more.

“It’s alright, I’ll try again,” Jiang Chunyu gritted his teeth.

The fish slipped away yet again.

“I’ll try again!” Jiang Chunyu persisted.

Once more, the fish evaded his grasp.

Jiang Chunyu exclaimed, “This fish is really frustrating!”

Frustrated by his repeated failures to catch the fish, Jiang Chunyu angrily tossed the bamboo fork on the ground.

“If the fish were easy to catch, Sanpang wouldn’t have flaunted his catch in front of you,” Jiang Mixia said with a suppressed smile.

The thought of Sanpang’s smug expression made Jiang Chunyu even more upset.

Meanwhile, Song Jingyun, deep in thought, picked up the discarded bamboo fork from the ground, carefully examined it, and even made a few stabbing motions.

“Do you want to give it a try?” Jiang Mixia inquired.

“Mmm,” Song Jingyun nodded.

“Then give it a try,” Jiang Mixia helped Song Jingyun roll up his sleeves and pants.

The best way to understand this world is through experimentation. Jiang Mixia believed that it was okay to provide some practical education to her young husband, especially when the cost of trial and error was relatively low.

Following Jiang Chunyu’s lead, Song Jingyun walked into the river, stopping when the water was knee-deep.

As he stopped, the water quickly calmed, and the fish approached.

Song Jingyun squinted slightly, gripping the bamboo fork tightly and aimed it into the water.

Suddenly, a stone flew over.

“Splash!”

The splashing water landed on Song Jingyun’s face, blurring his vision. Startled, the fish darted away.

“Who’s there?” Irritated by the interference, Jiang Chunyu looked around.

The culprit was crouched on the riverbank, laughing at the success of their mischief.

It was a group of children aged eight or nine, led by a boy named Sun Ergou. They were known for bullying younger children, snatching snacks, and stealing radishes and persimmons from others’ fields, with Sun Ergou being particularly notorious.

Sun Ergou had also raided Jiang Chunyu’s apple tree in the past, so when Jiang Chunyu realized it was him, he became furious. “What are you doing? You scared off my brother-in-law’s fish!”

“Brother-in-law? You mean that son-in-law?” Sun Ergou sneered. “Come on, even without scaring him, he wouldn’t catch anything. He’s foolish enough to become a son-in-law in a fool’s family. I’ve never heard of a fool catching fish.”

“My sister-in-law is not a fool!” Jiang Chunyu retorted.

“A fool is a fool. Can a fool change? A few days ago, I saw her carrying a millstone around the village,” another boy named Sun Zhuzi laughed heartily, slapping his thigh.

“That was in the past! It’s different now!” Jiang Chunyu’s face turned red.

“Once a fool, always a fool. Your sister-in-law is a fool, a fool, a fool!” Sun Ergou and his friends laughed and taunted.

“You…” Jiang Chunyu was so angry he stamped his foot.

“What, you wanna fight?” Sun Ergou spat out a piece of grass and walked up to Jiang Chunyu, sneering. “With your small frame, you’re not even a match for one of my fingers!”

With that, Sun Ergou suddenly shoved Jiang Chunyu.

Caught off guard, Jiang Chunyu stumbled and plopped into the water, splashing water everywhere, thoroughly drenching himself.

Sun Ergou relentlessly pressed down on Jiang Chunyu’s head, attempting to submerge him in the water, all the while cursing, “I’ve had it out for you for a long time. Last time I picked apples from your tree, and it led to trouble in my house. I got whipped because of you. Tell me, are you still up for it?”

Jiang Chunyu struggled as he was being choked by the water.

At such a young age, resorting to such ruthless bullying and oppression—was this acceptable?

Jiang Mixia, with a grim expression, walked over.

Sun Zhuzi reached out to intervene, “What’s the matter? Are you looking to be—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Sun Zhuzi felt his collar being grabbed and his feet leaving the ground.

Jiang Mixia had also seized Sun Ergou, dragging them both into deeper water.

In a swift and decisive move, she pressed their heads into the water.

Despite their struggles, Sun Ergou and Sun Zhuzi couldn’t break free. It wasn’t that they were weak, but rather, Jiang Mixia was incredibly strong.

As Sun Zhuzi had mentioned earlier, Jiang Mixia used to carry a millstone around the village. Due to the care and affection of Jiang Youcheng and Liu Shi, she had always been well-fed and had developed a strong physique from being teased and bullied by other children, constantly made to climb trees, lift heavy objects, and even carry others, which inadvertently honed her physical strength.

At that moment, Jiang Mixia felt like she was handling two little chicks.

“Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…”

The more Sun Ergou and Sun Zhuzi struggled, the more they lost their balance, making it easier for them to ingest water. They were almost out of breath, feeling half-drowned in no time.

“Release them, you fool!” Other children rushed in, urgently surrounding the scene. “It will be a disaster if you drown them again!”

“They’ve called me a fool and a fool doesn’t measure the severity of things. Whether it becomes a disaster or not, it doesn’t matter,” Jiang Mixia smirked. “You didn’t say a word when they almost drowned Chunyu. Why the hurry now? Don’t worry, your turn will come.”

Indeed, a fool doesn’t measure the severity of things. Moreover, a fool doesn’t care much. Having drowned those two, she would do the same to the others later!

The remaining children, increasingly frightened, scattered and ran away, paying no attention to Sun Ergou and Sun Zhuzi.

Observing that the two had nearly had enough, Jiang Mixia lifted them slightly, allowing their heads to emerge.

“You fool, how dare you try to drown me…” Sun Ergou angrily shouted.

It seemed that the drowning wasn’t sufficient.

Once again, Jiang Mixia pressed them back into the water.

After a moment, she lifted them up again.

“You impudent fool, I…” Sun Ergou’s words were cut off by more gurgling.

After being pressed underwater a couple more times, Sun Zhuzi felt extremely miserable.

Sun Ergou, who had stopped swearing after being submerged, couldn’t understand why he was being drowned again.

Following Sun Ergou today had turned out to be incredibly unlucky!

After being pressed underwater twice more, Sun Ergou, who had earlier been cursing, finally started pleading for mercy.

Once Jiang Mixia felt it was enough, she lifted the two out and threw them onto the bank.

As Sun Ergou and Sun Zhuzi gasped for air, their expressions had changed from sneering contempt to pure fear and dread when they looked at Jiang Mixia.

“What are you looking at? Still not satisfied?” Jiang Mixia rolled up her sleeves. “Well, let’s have a little more then.”

“No, no, no…”

Sun Ergou and Sun Zhuzi scrambled backward in a hurry.

They didn’t want to be submerged again.

The feeling of being unable to breathe, with water continuously filling their mouths and noses, unable to scream, and feeling their strength slowly ebbing away, left them with a terrifying sensation of emptiness. They absolutely did not want to experience it again.

“Do you dare to bully others in the future?” Jiang Mixia glared and asked.

“No, no, we won’t dare. We won’t dare,” Sun Ergou hastened to reply. “Not only will I stop bullying, but from now on, I’ll be the first to stand up against anyone bullying others!”

“My Sun Zhuzi is the second!”

Fighting fire with fire proved to be effective.

Jiang Mixia was pleased with the transformation of these two individuals and then turned her attention to Song Jingyun’s fishing lesson. Meanwhile, Sun Ergou and Sun Zhuzi were busy apologizing to Jiang Chunyu, nodding and bowing, repeatedly saying, “We won’t dare to do it again” and “Sorry.”