She would never play with them again!

They didn’t keep clean, had lice, and passed them to her, and now her sister had to shave her head too. Xiao Zisu felt guilty and hugged Xiao Bai Guo tightly.

“Sister, I’m sorry. I made you shave your head.”

“Sister, I’m not a bad sister. Don’t hate me. I love you the most.”

Xiao Zisu no longer resisted shaving her head.

She silently decided that in the future, she would only play with children who were clean.

This had been a lesson for Xiao Zisu.

Even at such a young age, she had learned an important lesson: don’t choose friends carelessly, or you might harm yourself and your sister.

This time, it was her fault that her sister had to shave her head. She wouldn’t make this mistake again.

As expected, Li Qiurong found lice in her hair too.

She thought about Bai Ji’s thick and glossy hair and figured she couldn’t escape either.

The two adults were fine. Bai Zhi could prescribe medicine to treat them. After washing their hair, they could sprinkle the medicine on and cover their heads with towels overnight.

The lice eggs would fall out with a good wash.

That afternoon, Bai Zhi took the two children to the barber shop and shaved their heads.

Xiao Bai Guo was still fascinated, touching her little scalp from time to time.

After shaving, it felt like the bad dad who shaved his beard—it even felt a bit rough to the touch.

She kept touching it.

With no hair, the lice were gone too, and she didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore.

For the first time, Xiao Bai Guo didn’t mind having her head shaved.

She couldn’t walk yet and didn’t care about looking good or bad—she was at home, and no one could see her. It didn’t matter.

Besides, hair would grow back, so there was nothing to be afraid of!

To Xiao Zisu, it was like Xiao Bai Guo didn’t want to lose her hair.

She felt even more guilty and kissed her sister again.

“Sister, I’m sorry.”

Bai Zhi led the two little bald heads home.

“Xiaozisu, I’m coming to play!” Li Wuzhen came over.

Seeing her with a bald head, Li Wuzhen was shocked. “Where did your hair go?”

Xiao Zisu glanced at her coldly.

Not only was her hair gone, but Xiao Bai Guo’s was gone too.

She would never play with unhygienic children again!

Though she thought that, Xiao Zisu was still a kind child and couldn’t bring herself to say anything too hurtful.

She simply replied, “I won’t play with you anymore. Don’t come to my house.”

With that, she turned and ran into the house.

Li Wuzhen stood stunned in the yard. Li Qiurong, who had just washed her hair, was sitting under the eaves. She softly asked, “Grandma Bai, why won’t Xiao Zisu play with me anymore?”

Li Qiurong replied, “If she won’t play with you, don’t play with her either.”

Li Wuzhen couldn’t understand.

After standing for a while in Bai’s yard, she walked home dejectedly, still looking upset.

Li Da Ma, seeing this, asked, “Aren’t you going to play next door? Why did you come back so soon?”

“Xiaozisu won’t play with me anymore,” Li Wuzhen said, feeling wronged. “She might be angry with me…”

“What did you do to make her angry?”

“I just went to her house and saw that she had shaved her head. I asked where her hair went, and she wouldn’t talk to me. She said she won’t play with me anymore.”

“…”

There was a moment of silence in the Li family yard.

Li Wuzhen didn’t understand, but did Li Dama not understand?

Their neighbors spoiled their children, Xiao Bai Guo wasn’t even walking yet and was dressed in a cute skirt.

Xiao Zisu had her hair tied in cute red ribbons every day.

The adults in the family loved to dress up their children with care, so how could they suddenly shave their heads?

There was only one explanation—they had lice!

This realization made Li Dama’s face turn red with embarrassment, as she felt ashamed in front of the neighbors.

“I’ve told you not to disgrace yourself. They’re not on the same level as us,” Li Dama shot her a glance. “Tell your kids not to go next door anymore. Those people are clean and meticulous in how they raise their kids, unlike us—we just raise them like pigs.”

Isn’t that right?

They raised kids like pigs, just enough to keep them fed and alive. Forget about teaching them how to keep themselves neat.

The neighbors didn’t outright say their children were dirty, but they did leave them a little face by simply saying they wouldn’t play with their children anymore.

One should know one’s place and not keep pushing themselves into other people’s lives.

Li Dama added, “Stop overthinking. Instead of trying to latch onto other people’s families, educate your own children. Raising your own kids to succeed is more useful than getting close to anyone else.”

Li Da Ma’s face was burning with embarrassment, and she lowered her head, unsure of what to think.

Bai Ji and Lin Yongcheng got off work and returned home, only to find that both of their children had turned into little bald-headed kids.

The couple exchanged confused glances, not knowing what had happened.

They then noticed the slightly downcast expression on Xiao Zisu’s face.

The couple immediately felt heartbroken.

Though they were heartbroken, they also knew that Li Qiurong and Bai Zhi were not people who acted recklessly.

It was impossible that they had shaved the children’s heads for no reason, but they couldn’t figure out the reason either.

Bai Ji gently stroked the smooth little heads of their two daughters.

“Why did you shave their heads? It’s not good for girls to have bald heads, they can’t dress up.”

Li Qiurong didn’t speak, but Bai Zhi, with a stern expression, replied, “They had lice on their heads. Kids don’t care about beauty, so I took them to the barber to get it shaved.”

Bai Ji: “…”

Lin Yongcheng: “…”

The couple looked completely confused.

They were a family that prided themselves on cleanliness and never imagined something like this. Hearing that their two daughters had lice on their heads shocked them beyond belief!

They never expected it to be this kind of outcome!

Xiao Zisu rubbed her red nose and took the initiative to confess.

“It’s my fault. From now on, I’ll make sure to choose clean friends. I made friends who aren’t hygienic, and that’s why my little sister and I both ended up with shaved heads. I won’t do it again.”

“It’s not your fault, darling, I’m not mad at you.” Li Qiurong hugged her gently and patted her, “It was a mistake made by Grandma. You’ll still make friends, don’t be too afraid. Just be more careful, and don’t treat just anyone as a friend.”

“Grandma…” Xiao Zisu’s eyes turned red again.

“Be good, don’t be sad.”

“Bai Ji and Lin Yongcheng, looking at their daughters, were also beginning to worry.”

“Will I have lice too?” Bai Ji started to worry about herself, looking at the two daughters, then touching her own head.

“I have them, so who knows, maybe you do too?” Li Qiurong responded coldly. “Your dad applied medicine and wrapped it up for a night; it’ll be fine.”

The family, except for Bai Zhu and Lin Yongcheng, who had very short hair, couldn’t escape.

They had been careless. Since they had always kept clean, they never worried about lice. If Xiao Bai Guo hadn’t pulled on her hair, they wouldn’t have noticed.

Sigh… they really were careless.

“Now I can relax.” Bai Ji let out a long sigh.

She wasn’t a compassionate person; she didn’t want to have little creatures living on her head. Lice were terrifying!

Bai Ji then looked at Lin Yongcheng’s head and playfully slapped him on the head.

“You’re lucky. With that little hair of yours, lice can’t even grab on.”

“My hair…” Lin Yongcheng scratched his head.

He had a buzz cut, so his hair was too short for lice to get on.

Bai Zhi told them about Xiao Bai Guo pulling on her hair.

The couple nearly died from heartache.

Lin Yongcheng promised, “Next time, I’ll catch a few small fish from the river for you. Small fish are easier to raise than big ones. I’ll keep them for Bai Guo to play with.”

Xiao Bai Guo was finally satisfied.

Hmm, this is fine.

When the fish grew up, they could eat them, and by that time, the small fish would be grown too.

The “bad” dad was a good person today!!

After Xiao Zisu’s first attempt to make a friend failed due to lice, Li Qiurong no longer boasted about it.

Bai Zhi wasn’t boasting either.

So Lin Yongcheng and Bai Ji were still unaware that their youngest daughter could talk.

…

Xiao Zisu was a little girl who loved beauty, and after she got her head shaved, she refused to go out. Luckily, Bai Zhu had free time all day, and started teaching her again.

Xiao Bai Guo was almost lulled to sleep by the sound of Xiao Zisu reciting medical books every day.

In addition to reciting medical books, Xiao Zisu also had to learn characters from Li Qiurong.

To Xiao Bai Guo, her sister was so pitiful!!

At such a young age, she had endless things to learn and didn’t have time to play outside.

Xiao Bai Guo sympathized with her for only a short time before she became disillusioned, because Xiao Zisu came to her side chattering nonstop, saying that learning well now was to teach her younger sister in the future.

This made Xiao Bai Guo unhappy and she almost wanted to get rid of her sister!

Time passed. After her failed attempt to make friends, Xiao Zisu lost motivation for a while.

The other little girl in the neighborhood didn’t come out either, so she had no friends for the time being.

Until a month later, when Lin Yongcheng went to the Lin family village to pay the pension, he also brought back a large basket of medicinal herbs, collected by Lin Zhijun and his sibling.

Besides the herbs, he brought back a piece of news.

They had many camellia trees planted on the mountain in the south, and after the cold dew season, it would be time to pick the tea seeds.

Since Bai Zhi and Li Qiurong were registered in the Lin family village, they needed to return for important farm work like picking tea seeds and harvesting.

Picking tea seeds was a tough job. Everyone, old and young, had to join in, and it was as important as the autumn harvest and other big farm tasks.

The oil they consumed at home was camellia oil, which wasn’t suitable for stir-frying because of its bitter taste. But since pork lard was too expensive, not every household could afford it.

How much oil they could get depended on picking the tea seeds.

Upon hearing about picking tea seeds, Xiao Bai Guo became very curious.

What was it? Was it edible?

She looked at Lin Yongcheng and Bai Zhi, expecting them to explain.

“What’s picking tea seeds?” Xiao Zisu asked for her.

“Picking tea seeds for oil extraction,” Lin Yongcheng rubbed her short hair, “You and Bai Guo don’t need to go. Stay with me and go to the mine.”

Picking tea seeds required going up the mountain.

The mountain paths weren’t easy to walk, and it was different from harvesting in the fields.

No one would have time to look after the two kids.

Xiao Zisu asked, “The oil we eat at home, is it from the tea seeds?”

“We also have camellia oil at home.”

“Oh…”

Xiao Zisu lost interest, and Xiao Bai Guo did too. If it was something tasty, maybe she’d be tempted, but don’t even talk about the oil in the kitchen.

She had never been to the mine and didn’t know what it was like.

The little salted fish had a tiny bit of expectation.