The next morning, Zhao Jun got up and had breakfast. It was still early, so he decided to head to the storeroom and check on Cyan Dragon, Black Dragon, and the two black bear cubs.

But the moment he stepped outside, he heard faint, wretched screams coming from next door.

It was followed by a BANG! The Li Family’s door flew open, and Li Ruhai’s squeals, like a pig being slaughtered, echoed from inside.

Then came a loud clatter, and Li Ruhai stumbled out of the house. He was a complete mess, his padded cotton jacket and pants covered in shoe prints.

"Brother Jun, save me!" The moment Li Ruhai came out, he spotted Zhao Jun. He immediately vaulted over the wall and scrambled toward him, yelling as he ran.

Before the words were even out of Li Ruhai’s mouth, Li Dayong burst out of his house, chasing him with a club.

Seeing this, Li Ruhai’s face drained of color. He scrambled toward Zhao Jun’s house, still shouting, "Uncle, save me! Uncle!"

Zhao Jun sighed softly. ’If that guy hadn’t been stirring the pot yesterday, your dad wouldn’t be beating you today,’ he thought. ’That Zhao Ergudong... he’ll even screw over a kid.’

Just then, Li Dayong vaulted over the wall. He chased Li Ruhai right into Zhao Jun’s house. A moment later, Wang Meilan’s voice could be heard from inside, trying to break up the fight.

Zhao Jun shook his head with a sigh. Just as he was about to go inside, he saw Li Baoyu emerge from the Li family’s house.

"Brother," Li Baoyu said, his face alight with excitement. "Did those two just run into your house?"

Without waiting for an answer, Li Baoyu vaulted over the wall just like Li Ruhai had. His face beaming with excitement and anticipation, he grabbed Zhao Jun and pulled him inside to watch the show.

Once inside Zhao Jun’s home, they found the east room in utter chaos. Li Ruhai was sprawled at the edge of the kang, desperately clinging to Zhao Youcai’s legs and wailing for him to deliver justice on his behalf.

But Zhao Youcai sat on the kang, motionless and silent, like an old monk deep in meditation.

Luckily, Wang Meilan was there. She was desperately holding on to Li Dayong’s arm, shouting as she pulled, "Dayong, you can’t beat him like this! You’re going to seriously hurt him!"

"Sister-in-law, don’t hold me back." Pulled by Wang Meilan, Li Dayong could only lean to one side, raising his club to point it at Li Ruhai. "This brat needs a beating! He dares to blab about every little thing that happens in this family. How can anyone be so stupid?"

Wang Meilan, who knew the whole story, was exasperated. ’How could he run around telling people, as if it were a joke, that his own father got disciplined by his mother for hiding a secret stash of money?’

’The entire family would become a laughingstock.’

’A kid like that deserves a spanking, but Li Ruhai only just got well enough to get out of bed yesterday. Beating him like this again could seriously injure him.’

’Besides, school started a few days ago. He can’t keep missing class, can he?’

Just then, Zhao Jun walked into the room. Looking at Li Ruhai, he felt the boy was both pitiful and infuriating.

However, Zhao Jun was of a younger generation. Wang Meilan could physically stop Li Dayong, but he couldn’t.

So, Zhao Jun walked over to Li Ruhai. "Ruhai," he said, "hurry and tell Uncle that from now on, we won’t go around blabbing when we’re outside."

"Brother Jun," Li Ruhai said, his voice choked with sobs. "I’ve been holding it in for days! I can’t help it!"

Zhao Jun: "..."

’This kid was brutally honest.’

Zhao Jun was speechless. Just yesterday, he’d witnessed the thickness of Zhang Yuanmin’s skull. Today, it was the looseness of Li Ruhai’s lips.

"Ruhai," Zhao Jun said, "do you have to talk about your own family’s business? Why can’t we talk about other people’s business?"

"Huh?" At this, Li Ruhai’s tears stopped instantly. He stared blankly at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun leaned in and whispered a few sentences in Li Ruhai’s ear. As Zhao Jun spoke, Li Ruhai’s eyes grew brighter and brighter until, slowly, a strange smile crept across his little face.

By now, everyone in the room could tell something was afoot. Li Dayong lowered the hand holding the club. Li Ruhai had started to snicker foolishly.

"Alright, Uncle, don’t hit him anymore." Having finished his whispering, Zhao Jun stood up to persuade Li Dayong. "You can’t keep him locked in the house his whole life. Just make him promise not to talk about your family’s affairs. Let him go talk about other people’s affairs instead."

Hearing this, Li Dayong raised his club again and pointed it at Li Ruhai. "You little bastard, I’m warning you! If you act like an idiot and blab about family business again, I’ll break your legs for real."

"I know," Li Ruhai muttered, shooting a resentful glance at Li Dayong. He sniffled a couple of times, but finding he couldn’t suck the snot back in, he wiped his nose with the back of his hand and casually smeared it on Zhao Youcai’s pants.

"This kid!" For the first time since Li Ruhai had burst in, Zhao Youcai finally spoke. But it wasn’t to mediate the fight—it was to scold Li Ruhai for wiping snot on his pants.

"Alright, don’t scold the boy," Wang Meilan said, stepping forward to help Li Ruhai up. She reminded him sternly, "Ruhai, you must remember this: no matter what, you cannot talk about family matters outside. If you do, that’s just being a fool."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh." Li Ruhai nodded vigorously. "I won’t talk. I won’t say a word about their stupid business anymore."

Li Dayong’s face flushed with anger and embarrassment. He pointed at Li Ruhai and barked, "You little brat, what was that you said?"

"That’s enough, that’s enough," Wang Meilan said, quickly getting between them. "The boy said he won’t talk anymore, so let it be."

As she spoke, Wang Meilan dusted off Li Ruhai’s pants. "Go on, son, hurry home now. And stay put, don’t just run around all the time. Take one more day off today, and go to school tomorrow."

"Okay, Auntie, I got it." With that, Li Ruhai darted out of the house.

Zhao Jun glanced out the window and saw that Li Ruhai hadn’t vaulted the wall to go home. Instead, he had gone straight out the main gate.

’Looks like the kid really was about to burst from being cooped up.’

After that delay, Zhao Jun no longer had time to check on the puppy and Little Bear. He put on his coat, grabbed his tools, said his goodbyes, and left the house, heading out of the village.

He hadn’t gone more than a few steps when he ran straight into Xu Changlin. Zhao Jun had barely managed to call out, "Master Xu," before the old man yanked him behind a large tree.

"Ma... Master Xu, what are you doing?" Zhao Jun asked, his heart pounding with apprehension.

Xu Changlin glanced left and right. Seeing that no one was around, he lowered his voice and asked Zhao Jun, "Hey, my boy, I heard that nephew from your mother’s side—the fella who bought my dog—is fooling around on the side?"

’News sure travels fast.’

But Zhao Jun couldn’t very well admit that he was the source of the rumor. In response to Master Xu’s question, he could only feign surprise. "Huh? Really? This is the first I’m hearing of it."

Hearing Zhao Jun’s denial, Xu Changlin only grew more serious. He nodded gravely and said, "It’s most likely true, then. I heard it from Ruhai. I know that kid. Whatever he says is usually right on the money."

’Who would have thought? Li Ruhai’s big mouth actually had a high credibility rating in the village.’

At that moment, Zhao Jun made a mental note: ’From now on, I can’t let that kid Li Ruhai get wind of any of my business.’

Seeing that Zhao Jun genuinely seemed to know nothing about Wang Dalong’s affair, Xu Changlin went off to ask someone else. The old man was getting on in years, but he was still an incurable gossip.

Watching the old man’s retreating figure, Zhao Jun thought, ’I still need to deal with that Du Chunjiang.’