CH 35

Chapter 35 – Green plum beats bamboo horse

Mr Zhuang was teaching The Analects, and he had hand-copied a copy for Man Bao. Now, Man Bao have two “books” including the earlier hand-copied version of the Thousand Character Classic.

She was filled with joy as the was first time she was able to sit in the classroom and attend class with her classmates. She was very excited, shouted and answered all questions actively.

Mr Zhuang felt the atmosphere in the class was a lot livelier, so he said praised Man Bao successively, which made Bai Er Lang angrier.

He decided he and his pals would look for bugs after class. He must make his disgusting cousin and the annoying Man Bao fight with each other!

He just didn’t expect that before he had time to execute his plan, Man Bao got into a fight with his cousin.

As the students who attended school were not only from Qili Village, but also from two neighbouring villages, Mr Zhuang dismissed class at 4pm so that the children could go home safely.

The kids from the neighbouring villages rushed home, while those who lived in the village could play with their friends before going home for dinner.

Of course, Man Bao didn’t go straight home. She packed her book and ran out. The Zhou family loved her so although the school was in the village, they would definitely send someone to pick her up.

Today was nine-year-old Da Tou’s turn to send her to school and pick her up.

As Man Bao dashed out, she heard screams. Immediately, the little girl forgot all about looking for her eldest nephew and going home. Carrying her little bundle of books, she rushed to join the fun!

When she squeezed through the crowd of onlookers, she saw her second nephew was being pinned down and beaten by a stranger.

She was incensed! A stranger dared to come to their village to bully others, and even bullied her nephew. This was unacceptable!

Man Bao put down her books, pounced on the stranger, pinned him down and fought back for her second nephew. She was shouting away the entire time.

Bai Shan Bao had just won the fight, but before he had time to celebrate, he was caught off guard and pinned down.

He was furious, but before he could even see who the shameless sneak was, he was slapped.  

He was enraged. He turned around, flip Man Bao under him, and hit her.

Man Bao tried to fend him off with her arms, but the opponent was too strong, and she felt she couldn’t win. In anger, she grabbed his arm and bit him!

Yet before Man Bao could give him a nasty bite, Bai Shan Bao felt pain and cried, “Owww!” The little girl paused when she heard his shrill cries.

When she saw Bai Shan Bao crying away with his eyes closed, she couldn’t help shouting, “Don’t cry anymore, I won’t bite you.”

At this point, the little boy couldn’t hear what others were saying to him. He felt he was bitten, he must be bleeding to death, and he would die from pain.

He was crying so loudly that his cousin, Bai Er Lang couldn’t help laughing at him, and sneered, “Shameful! A man can’t even beat a little girl!”

Although Man Bao didn’t like the fat boy she bit, she hated the tone of Bai Er Lang’s voice even more. So, she waved her fist at him and commanded, “Don’t you dare laugh at us, or I’ll beat you up!”

Bai Er Lang was taken aback, and then angrily asked, “Can you defeat me?”

“If I can’t defeat you, I’ll get my eldest nephew to beat you up!”

The two children bickered away. Bai Shan Bao finally felt something. He opened his eyes and looked at Man Bao through his tears. He pulled up his sleeves and was relieved to see that he wasn’t bleeding.

Then he glared at Man Bao angrily, as if he wanted to bite her too.

Man Bao turned her attention back to him, and asked pre-emptively, “Why did you beat my nephew?”

Er Tou complained first, “Little aunt, he grabbed my stone.”

Bai Shan Bao said angrily, “I saw it first, you snatched it from me!”

“You’re not from our village. The stones in our village are all ours. You’re not allowed to pick up the stones in our village.”

Bai Shan Bao turned red with anger, but before he could speak up, he saw Man Bao smacking the back of Er Tou’s head while scolding him, “So, you’re the bad guy. I’m not going to be friends with you.”

Er Tou was shocked, and then said aggrievedly, “He was the one who bullied me!”

“Why did you snatch his stone?” Man Bao said, “Anyone can take something that doesn’t have an owner. If he takes it, it’s his.

“You grabbed the stone because he picked it up in our village. So, when you go to the county in the future, and pass-through other villages, would others stop you from going through their villages?”

Bai Shan Bao nodded repeatedly, “There is no such unreasonable person.”

Man Bao, “You’re absolutely right!”

The two kids who were just fighting away are now united.

Er Tou looked at Man Bao with an aggrieved expression.

Man Bao asked him to return the stone to Bai Shan Bao.

Er Tou reluctantly returned the exceptionally smooth stone.

Bai Shan Bao took it and snorted. Although Man Bao spoke on his behalf, he decided to dislike her because she was a bad person.

He stared at her.

Man Bao patted her buttocks, got up, and asked Er Tou to go home.

Bai Shan Bao didn’t hear her apologize, so the unhappy little boy grabbed her arm, “You haven’t said sorry to me yet.”

Man Bao felt Bai Shan Bao was a strange kid, “Why should I apologize?”

“You hit me!”

Man Bao, “That’s because you hit my nephew.”

Bai Shan Bao, “Your nephew was in the wrong.”

Man Bao was rude and unreasonable, “Even then, you shouldn’t hit my nephew. I hit you because you hit my nephew. Anyway, I won’t apologize.”

“You’re treacherous, you sneaked up on me!”

“I’m not treacherous. As long as I can win the fight, who cares if I sneak up on you?”

Bai Shan Bao, “Anyway, you are in the wrong. A man will never go for a sneak attack.”

Man Bao, “I’m not a man, I’m a girl…”

The more they quarrelled, the angrier they became. Finally, Bai Shan Bao dropped the stone and said, “Do you dare to have a fair and square fight?”

“Dare? Do you think I’m afraid of you?” Man Bao stretched out her hand and shoved him.

Bai Shan Bao didn’t expect that she acted so quickly and flared up. He was slightly taller and fatter than Man Bao. He was pushed back two steps, and then, he hugged her and dropped to the ground. In an instant, the two kids entangled into a ball.

Er Tou’s eyes widened in shock, he quickly rolled up his sleeves as he prepared to get into the fight to help his little aunt.

His eldest brother asked him to pick up Man Bao. If his grandparents and parents knew that he allowed his little aunt to get into a fight, they would be punished.

Although Bai Er Lang didn’t like his cousin who appeared out of the blue, he disliked Man Bao even more. When he saw Er Tou getting ready to join the melee, he stepped forward, and the fight between two kids turned into a group fight.

Finally, someone went to the school and alerted Mr Zhuang. He ran out and separated the children.

Mr Zhuang was very angry. He checked the four children’s condition and found that Er Tou and Bai Er Lang’s faces were slightly red. Perhaps they were scratched. Luckily, there were no other issues.

Man Bao and Bai Shan Bao, who seemed to be embroiled in a nasty fight, had no injuries. Their clothes, thought, were very dirty as they were rolling on the ground.

Mr Zhuang was lucky. It was not easy for Man Bao to join the school. He didn’t want to make matters worse, but there was no way to hide the fact that Bai Er Lang had been beaten.

He hesitated and then, led the four kids back to school. He asked his students to call for the kids’ parents.

It was better to be upfront about the fight rather than trying to hide the matter. This way, if there was a problem, they could talk about the matter and resolve it.