A little boy named Ergou brought his posse to get revenge on Xue Rui.

But now, he and his posse were the ones being chased by Xue Rui.

His boys had described Xue Rui as terrifying, but he’d assumed they were just exaggerating.

It was like when a group of people saw a slightly large sparrow. Later, when talking about it, one person would say it was the size of a fist, and another would say it was as big as a head...

The story would get passed from one person to the next, growing more and more exaggerated with each telling.

The bird’s actual size would blur in everyone’s memory, transforming from a fat sparrow into a legendary Kun Peng that blotted out the sun...

But Ergou had underestimated Xue Rui’s ruthlessness and overlooked the financial power of an adult. Xue Rui would throw down several boxes’ worth of poppers at once.

He himself usually only threw poppers one at a time, or splurged on a rare occasion by throwing a whole box.

This was because his usual allowance was only half a yuan or one yuan. He’d get a little more for the New Year, maybe a dozen yuan or so...

Yet here was Xue Rui, throwing away several days’ worth of his allowance in a matter of seconds, leaving him completely stunned.

Most importantly, the other guy wasn’t even scared of the firecrackers he threw...

...

"You’re the naughtiest one! You’re Ergou, right? Don’t run!" Gu Muxue shouted, using her height advantage to chase him from the village’s small store all the way to the village committee building.

In truth, Gu Muxue alone wouldn’t have scared those kids at all. In fact, she’d probably be the one startled by the small firecrackers, like Black Cyclones, that they threw.

But Xue Rui was always there to instantly stomp out any firecrackers near Gu Muxue, or just kick them away.

"Hee hee." Gu Muxue beamed. With Xue Rui protecting her, she could focus on scaring the kids without any worries.

Xue Rui was like an invincible shield, clearing away all danger around her.

Just then, the driver returned from his "restock." He drove the Audi slowly behind the two of them, the trunk wide open to provide them with fire support.

"They’re too much! What do we do?" many of the little boys cried, their faces long.

They had never seen someone so extravagant, or such a despicable older kid!

To have an adult driving a car behind them, providing an endless supply of firecrackers so they never had to stop and reload...

In contrast, all they could do was flee in disarray.

"Hahaha, you little rascals! So you finally met your match, huh?" a passing villager called out with a laugh.

"Go get ’em, little girl! Teach these brats who don’t know their place a good lesson!" someone else encouraged.

Xue Rui cheerfully greeted the villagers.

Everyone could see they were just playing with the children and that no one was getting hurt.

It was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the ruckus in the alley had drawn many people out to their doorsteps. They sat watching the spectacle, each with a handful of sunflower seeds, smiling as they enjoyed the show.

Soon, the chase led them to the gate of Gu Muxue’s family home, where Xue Rui saw his own dad and Gu Qingshan sitting and smoking.

Xue Jianfeng and Gu Qingshan exchanged a look. ’What are they up to now?’

"This must be your boy’s idea," Gu Qingshan said.

His daughter was never this wild before. Now her face was smudged with black marks, all dusty and grimy. She really looked like one of the wild village girls.

"Aren’t they having fun?" Xue Jianfeng said nonchalantly.

"True," Gu Qingshan chuckled. He figured it was good for Gu Muxue to play with Xue Rui in the village; it would help his daughter get in touch with her roots.

"Xue’er, slow down!" Gu Qingshan called out.

When Xue Rui ran up, he stopped, nodded, and greeted him, "Happy New Year, Uncle Gu."

"Hello, Uncle Xue," Gu Muxue said, pausing to wipe the sweat from her forehead and greeting Xue Jianfeng politely.

"Muxue, come here. Uncle will give you a New Year’s money packet," Xue Jianfeng said, beckoning her over.

Gu Muxue hesitated. Seeing that the group of kids was about to disappear, she felt torn.

"Dad, there are two of us. Uncle Gu would have to give out two packets, we can’t let him take a loss. Besides, we’re too old for New Year’s money, aren’t we?" Xue Rui said with a smile.

With that, he grabbed Gu Muxue’s arm and pulled her along. "Let’s go!"

"You little brat, get out of here," Xue Jianfeng said gruffly.

"Yeah, they’ve grown up in the blink of an eye..." Gu Qingshan mused.

...

"Brother Ergou, I don’t think we can win. I want to go home," a little boy suggested.

"Pathetic! It’s because you’re all a bunch of cowards, getting chased by a girl."

"Anyone who hides at home is a coward!" Xue Rui shouted as he ran.

When he was little, playing hide-and-seek, there were always kids who didn’t play by the rules and would sneak home for dinner in the middle of the game...

If these kids hid in their homes, there wasn’t much he could do. But kids were suckers for being goaded.

As long as a few of them agreed with him, the majority would follow the crowd and not run home mid-chase.

"You’re the coward!" a little boy yelled, turning to spit at Xue Rui.

Seeing Xue Rui dodge to the side, the children spotted his weakness and immediately stopped running.

Gu Muxue’s brows knitted in anger. ’These village kids are horrible! Way worse than Xue Rui used to be!’

The worst Xue Rui had ever done as a child was chase her with a caterpillar. But these kids were trying to scare her by wiping snot on her, and now they were spitting at Xue Rui.

Xue Rui frowned. ’These kids are playing dirty. Trying to gross me out?’

He took a small step back and spotted a long-handled dung ladle leaning against the side of the road—probably a farming tool someone used for carrying manure.

Steeling himself, Xue Rui grabbed the wooden handle. The handle itself was pretty clean, but the scoop... that was a different story.

The little boys’ eyes went wide, and they started cursing in a slew of nasty-sounding local dialect.

"Big brother, we were wrong!" one of them quickly apologized, terrified that Xue Rui would smear the dung ladle on him. He was wearing brand new clothes for the New Year...

Xue Rui was just too ruthless! Even more ruthless than their recognized leader, "Brother Ergou."

Not only had Xue Rui stomped out their firecrackers, now he was about to beat them with a dung ladle...

Gu Muxue’s eyes widened. ’Those kids were so arrogant a moment ago, why did they suddenly chicken out?’

’What is that thing in Xue Rui’s hand? Does it really have that much of a deterrent effect?’

"Let me play with it," Gu Muxue said with a grin, reaching for it.

"It’s for scooping manure," Xue Rui said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Ah?" Gu Muxue’s face fell. She quickly pulled her arm back. "Throw it away and wash your hands! Now!"

As she spoke, Gu Muxue grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the trunk.

Xue Rui waved his hand. He’d already touched it, so washing his hands could wait. It was mostly psychological; people assumed the whole thing was filthy from top to bottom, but the top of the handle didn’t actually touch anything dirty.

Besides, wasn’t it just a normal farming tool? If an old farmer could touch it, why couldn’t he?

"All of you, get over here. Who was it that scared this sister from your village? Come and apologize, or don’t blame me for what happens next," Xue Rui said, adopting a thuggish tone.

Because Gu Muxue was there, Xue Rui had been speaking Mandarin the whole time. Since the kids understood Mandarin and he understood their dialect, communication wasn’t an issue.

Hearing they had to apologize, the kids hesitated, as if saying sorry was the most shameful thing in the world.

"I bought out all the firecrackers in the surrounding villages. Come over, apologize, say a few nice things about Sister Muxue, and I’ll give you some to play with," Xue Rui said with a smile.

The lure of firecrackers was too much for the little boys to resist. They had already discovered that all the firecrackers in the area were sold out...

If they didn’t give in now, they wouldn’t have any firecrackers to play with for the rest of winter break.

"Follow me." Xue Rui waved, signaling for the kids to follow him. The driver had parked the pickup truck in the village committee’s grain-sunning ground.

The group of kids instinctively looked at the tallest among them, "Brother Ergou," and then back at Xue Rui.

After a moment, one kid gritted his teeth and followed Xue Rui.

Once the first one went, the rest felt less pressure. Lured by the promise of firecrackers, the whole group followed along...

"Sister, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have scared you with firecrackers."

"Me too..."

...

In the end, only the boy named Ergou was left, standing all alone.

"A bunch of traitors!" Ergou cursed through gritted teeth.

He felt so wronged. Why did someone like Xue Rui have to show up? In an instant, he had stolen all of his thunder.

And that girl... she used to be so easy to scare, but today she’d suddenly become a force to be reckoned with...

The little boys trailed after Xue Rui like a swarm of ducklings. Gu Muxue took some mineral water from the car’s trunk and handed a bottle to each of them.

One kid who couldn’t get his bottle open didn’t ask for help. Instead, he stuck the cap in his mouth, bit down on it, and twisted the bottle with both hands...

Xue Rui paid it no mind. Most of the village kids were raised in a free-range style. They were used to not getting much attention from adults and figured out how to solve problems on their own.

"Alright, alright! Say something nice first, and then you get your firecrackers. Use Mandarin, or Sister Muxue won’t understand," Xue Rui called out, standing in the bed of the pickup truck.

A smile played on Gu Muxue’s lips. If it weren’t for Xue Rui, these naughty boys would never have backed down and apologized.

"Sister Muxue, you’re so pretty! You look just like... someone on TV," a little boy complimented.

Afterwards, he received a huge pile of firecrackers from Xue Rui—at least a hundred boxes.

"Thank you, big brother!" the little boy said, his face lighting up.

Xue Rui smiled and ruffled the boy’s hair. He had no use for these firecrackers himself; giving them to well-behaved kids was the best way to use them.

"Big brother, did you not wash your hands after touching that stick?" the little boy asked.

Without batting an eye, Xue Rui replied, "I did."

"How come I didn’t see you?"

Xue Rui thought to himself, ’If there was anything on my hand, I pretty much just washed it on your head.’

...

Seeing that someone had been rewarded, the others all started spouting flowery praises, squeezing out every last drop of literary ink they had. One boy, unable to think of anything new, simply recited an ancient poem for Gu Muxue...

Gu Muxue was laughing happily. These kids were so amusing. Now she could even pinch their cheeks without any resistance.

"Tell me, why did you try to scare Sister Muxue?" Xue Rui asked.

With Gu Muxue’s disposition, she naturally had an unapproachable, high-class aura. No matter how dense these kids were, they should have known she was like a young heiress and understood the principle of keeping a respectful distance, right? So why would they go up and scare her?

Someone must have instigated it, and the other kids just followed the crowd.

"I thought Sister Muxue was too pretty... I was afraid to talk to her..."

"And then Brother Ergou said we should go scare Sister Muxue. He called us cowards, so we got mad and went along with it," one little boy explained.

"Don’t say that! Ergou will beat you up if he hears you!" another boy quickly interjected.

Xue Rui glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw half a head peeking out from around a corner. It had to be the boy named Ergou.

’So he’s hiding in the corner, eavesdropping?’

’They’re all traitors!’ Ergou thought as he watched the crowd surrounding Gu Muxue. He felt like she had stolen all of his followers.

He sat on the ground dejectedly, getting angrier the more he thought about it. His face flushed red as he clutched a rock in his hand, scraping it back and forth against the ground.

He peeked his head out, glanced at Gu Muxue, and then, gritting his teeth, threw the rock.

Xue Rui’s gaze had been fixed on that corner, so he saw the boy throw the rock immediately. Judging by its trajectory, it was headed straight for Gu Muxue’s back.

BEEP—

The driver, sitting in the car, was frantic. He had also seen the boy’s action, but he didn’t have time to get out. He instinctively honked the horn as a warning.