Chapter 15

Inside the room, Chuchu pressed his back tightly against the door, his little face flushed red, not from the warmth of the room, but from anger.

The moment he saw Qin Caiyun and her two younger brothers, he knew they were up to no good.

If they had good intentions, they wouldn’t have waited until his sister wasn’t home to come over.

A memory flashed rapidly through Chuchu’s mind—last year when Zhu Hongxia and a few of his aunts came to borrow supplies when his sister wasn’t home.

It seemed that today the same thing was about to happen again.

He absolutely, absolutely would not open the door to these deceitful people!

His small hand, lacking in strength, patted his chest in an attempt to calm himself. Chuchu quickly ran to the window and peeked outside to the gate.

His anger grew even more when he saw that Qin Jianming had already climbed over the gate and into the yard, attempting to open the gate.

Seeing Qin Caiyun and her siblings about to enter his yard, the boy panicked, his mind spinning.

Then his gaze landed on two geese in the corner of the room.

His sister had told him that geese could guard the house!

With trust in his heart, Chuchu released the geese and opened the door.

The two geese, having gotten used to being walked around, rushed out as soon as they saw the door open.

Their excited calls made it clear how eager they were, and they quickly found themselves face-to-face with Qin Caiyun and her two younger brothers.

“Big sis, the geese! Found the geese!”

Seeing the geese from Chuchu’s house, Qin Jianming immediately displayed a greedy look, almost drooling.

“Catch them!”

Qin Caiyun had come to Chuchu’s house with her brothers while Qin Qingman was away, carrying out an order from Zhu Hongxia.

Previously, Zhu Hongxia had believed she could take advantage of Qin Qingman and had sent a large amount of supplies, but things had gone awry.

Now, seeing it had all been in vain, she wanted to try the same trick again and come to “borrow” supplies.

Hearing Qin Caiyun’s command, the already eager Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun rushed toward the geese.

“Da Bai, Xiao Bai, peck them!”

Chuchu, peeking through the crack in the door and seeing what the two brothers were doing, no longer cared if they were family; protecting the food in the house was his priority.

The two geese, who were naturally aggressive, flapped their wings and charged as soon as they saw the two brothers coming at them.

Without hesitation, they attacked the strangers who had intruded on their territory.

Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun had never expected the geese to be so fierce. Initially, they thought that two nearly adult boys could easily handle the geese, but their confidence quickly crumbled as they were pecked, screaming and fleeing in a panic.

“Brother, something’s wrong. These geese look like the ones Aunt Ah Yun has.” Qin Jianjun said. Despite being two years younger than Qin Jianming, he was faster and more agile than his elder brother, who rarely moved around much. Because of his quick reflexes, he managed to dodge the geese’s bites more often, though it didn’t mean he was entirely spared. Each painful peck still felt unbearable.

The two geese, upon encountering these unfamiliar intruders in their yard, became fierce and aggressive.

Qin Caiyun, who entered Qin Qingman’s yard a step later, hadn’t been pecked yet, but she wasn’t about to let things go.

Every time she recalled the look Liu Hechang had given her before he left, her resentment toward Qin Qingman grew deeper.

As she stepped back out of the Qin family’s yard and closed the gate, Qin Caiyun began giving orders to her two brothers, who were still being chased by the geese.

“Elder Brother, Little Brother, find something to fight back. Get tools and hit those geese!” she commanded.

Inside the house, Chuchu overheard Qin Caiyun’s words. Furious, his cheeks puffed up in anger.

He quickly scooped up a ladle of hot water and splashed it out toward the yard.

The extreme heat met the icy winter air, instantly transforming into a misty frost, creating a sudden, beautiful icy rain.

The brothers, Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun, were momentarily dazzled by the sparkling frost rain as they had just been about to grab sticks.

Their vision obscured, their running slowed, and they quickly fell prey to the relentless pecking of the two geese behind them.

They were now crying out in agony, cursing their parents for not having given them an extra pair of legs to escape faster.

“Qin Yunchu!” Qin Caiyun shouted angrily at Chuchu, seeing that the geese were clearly winning.

Startled, Chuchu flinched but held his ground, calling back loudly, “If you dare steal from my house, my sister won’t let you get away with it when she returns!”

“Who’s stealing from your house? Don’t talk nonsense.” retorted Qin Caiyun, unwilling to admit they were up to any mischief. She ran back to her own yard, grabbed two sticks, and tossed them over to her brothers in the neighboring yard. “Elder Brother, Little Brother, use the sticks and hit the geese!”

But Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun, ducking and darting, didn’t dare stop to pick up the sticks.

Desperate to avoid the painful pecks, they ran frantically, too terrified to slow down.

The commotion in the Qin family’s yard drew the attention of several nearby families.

Third Uncle’s son, Qin Defu, along with Qin Zhenzhu, Fourth Uncle’s children, Qin Anping and Qin Huihui, and Cousin Jiang Dongmei from Auntie’s house, all gathered in their own yard to watch.

Seeing the sorry, humiliating sight of Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun being chased and pecked by the geese, the spectators, lacking any sympathy, pointed and laughed heartily at their misery.

“Sister, Sister, open the door, open the door, let us out!”

The brothers shouted desperately to Qin Caiyun, their faces flushed with embarrassment.

Behind them, the fierce geese continued their relentless chase; around them, their relatives’ laughter rang out. Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun, humiliated and frustrated, stumbled and scrambled as they yelled out to Qin Caiyun.

Had she not locked the gate, they’d have bolted out of the yard long ago and spared themselves the spectacle.

Seeing that her two younger brothers had backed down without causing any loss to Qin Qingman, Qin Caiyun was unwilling to let things end like this.

With a quick idea, she turned to her cousins and shouted, “Brother Defu, my mother said that if we catch the geese, we get to eat the meat—whoever helps will get a share.”

The mention of goose meat instantly brightened Qin Defu and the others’ expressions as they looked eagerly at the geese.

The two geese, well cared for by Aunt Ah Yun, had been brought over to the Qin family in excellent shape. Qin Qingman had also fed them generously, and over the past two weeks, each goose had gained a little over a pound of meat.

One goose could provide a hearty meal for seven or eight people.

With this enticing thought, Qin Defu and Qin Anping finally grabbed sticks and charged into Qin Qingman’s yard.

Even Qin Zhenzhu, Qin Huihui, and Jiang Dongmei, the three girls, ran to Qin Caiyun’s side, cheering and encouraging their cousins.

As Qin Defu and Qin Anping swung their sticks, Chuchu, worried about his geese, grabbed a pair of fire tongs and dashed out of the house to defend them.

But Chuchu was too young; not only did he fail to help his geese, but Qin Caiyun seized the chance to grab and restrain him.

Malnourished and small for his age, Chuchu had run out without putting on a coat, so his light body was easily lifted off the ground by Qin Caiyun, who was used to farm work.

Dangling in mid-air, he felt entirely helpless, his feet barely grazing the ground.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Chuchu shouted angrily, his face reddening even more.

The two geese had been handling Qin Jianming and Qin Jianjun with ease, even driving them to tears.

With enough energy left to take on the new challengers, Qin Defu and Qin Anping, they had been holding their own quite well—until they noticed Chuchu suspended in mid-air by Qin Caiyun.

The geese became furious.

Flapping their wings fiercely, they created gusts of wind strong enough to make Qin Defu and Qin Anping lose their grip on their sticks.

No longer holding back, the geese jabbed forcefully with their beaks, tearing into Qin Defu and Qin Anping’s coats and sending cotton fluff flying.

As the cotton filled the air, one of the geese, wings flapping, ran and launched itself toward Qin Caiyun.

The power of its charge was intense; though the day was windless, the huge wings created a gust that felt like a level seven or eight gale.

The snow on the ground scattered, swirling up in a frothy spray aimed straight at Qin Caiyun, enveloping Qin Zhenzhu and the others standing nearby.

Before she could brush the snow off her face, Qin Caiyun dropped Chuchu and bolted.

She’d seen firsthand how vicious Chuchu’s two large geese could be and had no intention of sharing her brothers’ humiliating fate.

Thinking she’d fled quickly enough, she suddenly felt a sharp tug on her scalp, followed by a searing pain. With her screams ringing out, a clump of hair, along with a patch of her scalp, was wrenched away by the airborne goose’s claws.

The weather was bitterly cold, and the patch of scalp that had been torn from Qin Caiyun’s head began to bleed immediately, but the frigid air quickly froze the blood.

Droplets of blood formed on her head, like small, ugly tumors.

Faced with Chuchu’s ferocious geese, everyone in the Qin family was stunned, and even the villagers who had hurried over to watch the commotion gasped in shock.

Liu Sangunzi, particularly alarmed, reached up and patted his own head, still protected by his Lei Feng hat.

He’d been viciously pecked by these two geese before, but compared to Qin Caiyun’s miserable state, he suddenly felt incredibly lucky.

He heard Qin Caiyun was already betrothed; otherwise, with her current appearance, he doubted anyone would want her.

“Ptui, ptui—”

Chuchu, having been thrown onto the ground by Qin Caiyun, didn’t have time to cry out in pain.

He quickly scrambled to his feet, spat out the snow that had gotten into his mouth, wiped his face, and looked toward the two geese that was still in the yard.

These two geese, facing the four terrified Qin family members, had not backed down one bit.

They only grew fiercer, their proud honks loud and piercing, their wings flapping with increasing vigor.

Amid this man-made blizzard, Qin Jianming and his brothers trembled as they struggled to climb over the fence, desperate to escape. The triumphant goose stretched its neck to peck at their backsides, ripping holes in their cotton trousers and scattering tufts of cotton into the air.

Seeing how ferocious the Qin family’s geese were, everyone fell silent.

Had these geese gained supernatural intelligence?

One goose fearlessly chased down Qin Jianming and his brothers, while the other stood guard in front of Chuchu, vigilantly watching the crowd. It honked threateningly, as if warning everyone that if anyone dared to step forward, it would launch an immediate attack.

Seeing the geese had driven away the troublemakers, Chuchu, freezing and shivering, closed the gate and ran back inside the house.

His two guardian geese followed closely behind him.

The moment he got inside, Chuchu hugged the two geese tightly, tears streaming down his face. He missed his sister deeply.

—o—o—o—

Far from home, the very sister Chuchu missed, Qin Qingman, had just found a small shack to take shelter in with Wei Ling.

They had fled in a hurry, and in her nervous rush, Qin Qingman had perspired heavily.

Now, she had to dry her sweat-soaked inner clothing; if she didn’t, the damp fabric would freeze into a solid block in the cold.

Wei Ling, who had lived in this region for over a year, was well-versed in surviving these harsh conditions.

Upon finding the shack, the first thing he did was light the dry firewood piled inside. Then, with his back to Qin Qingman, he said, “Young Lady, you go ahead and get yourself sorted. I’ll be back in a bit.”

His words slipped out in his nervousness, using a term of address that didn’t quite fit with his current role.

Hearing herself addressed as “Young Lady.” Qin Qingman looked at Wei Ling’s back, filled with surprise.

—o—o—o—

T/N: I love Da Bai and Xiao Bai so much!!!