Chapter 46 Face to Face
As soon as the school bell rang, the children stood up and said goodbye to Mr. Zhuang respectfully. After Mr. Zhuang waved his hand, everyone ran out happily.
Of course Manbao was not far behind and rushed out holding her book. Shanbao was even faster than her and when she ran outside she met Datou who came to pick up Manbao.
Liu found out yesterday that after school, each family's children went home on their own, and the Bai family's house was not far from the school.
She knew that if Shanbao wanted to integrate into the school quickly, he couldn't get any special treatment, so they all agreed not to pick him up today.
Shanbao was overjoyed and told his classmates that he would go out and play with them.
So at this time Liu did not send anyone to pick him up, but sent her servants to watch the river. If Bai Shanbao went to the river to play, they would catch him and bring him back.
Seeing that Manbao still needed someone to pick her up, Shanbao became very proud and said that she was still a child who had not been weaned.
Manbao said, "You are not weaned. I stopped breastfeeding at eight months old. Humph, Datou is here to help me get the book."
"Yes, I came to get a book for my aunt."
That’s what she said, but Manbao had also decided that when she got home in the evening she would tell her mother and ask Datou and the others not to pick her up from the school anymore.
Manbao felt that he was being looked down upon, so he ordered Datou as dignifiedly as possible, "We are going to dig lotus roots. Datou, you lead the way!"
Datou thought that his aunt was just a child after all, and she would act on impulse. With her small stature, was she digging lotus roots or burying herself?
But he glanced at Bai Shanbao next to him and felt that he couldn't embarrass his aunt in front of her classmates, so he rolled his eyes and said, "Aunt, let's take the books home first. We still have to go back to get the hoe."
Manbao paused for a moment, scratching her head, trying to recall, and asked, "Do I need a hoe to dig lotus roots?"
Big Head said confidently: "Yes, the lotus root is in the mud."
Bai Shanbao looked at Manbao with contempt, thinking she was so stupid. Even though he didn't farm, he knew that things in the soil had to be dug with a hoe.
He felt that he was of the same generation as Manbao and was also Datou's elder, so he waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's go."
Bai Erlang, who was watching them from the side, saw that they went in another direction and couldn't help scratching his head, "What should I do?"
Bai Erlang gritted his teeth and said, "Follow us. If it's just the three of them, we won't be afraid. We are bigger than them."
The other two friends also thought that they could definitely beat the three of them, so they dragged the sacks forward together.
Datou led them back to Zhou's house. After putting the book down, he walked around the house and found that all the adults were not at home. He knew that grandma must have gone to the vegetable garden because the family was harvesting autumn cabbage today. Usually, grandma had to make the decision on such important matters at home.
Manbao and Shanbao were both urging them to do it. After all, they were children and they were very anxious.
Datou had no choice but to find Erya, who was cooking in the kitchen, and ask her to go to the field to find Fourth Uncle and go directly to the lotus field by the river to find them.
Erya took a look at the rice that was being cooked and ran over.
Datou took out a thick stick and said, "The hoe has been taken away by the family, let's go get the stick."
Manbao and Shanbao will have no objection, as long as they can go, it's fine.
So everyone walked towards the river and walked along the river bank. A little further out of the village, there was a river beach. The river washed out a large wetland here, then made a circle and continued to flow down. The children didn’t know where the river would flow, but they heard that it would flow into the mountains.
Manbao wanted to follow the river more than once to see where it went. Datou obviously knew that Xiaogu had such a dangerous idea, so he warned her as they walked, "You can't follow the river, or you'll never see us again. You can't get close to the water, or you'll fall in, and I can't catch you."
Manbao didn't know whether he heard it or not, but he just nodded.
When he arrived at the place, Shanbao looked up and found that there were a lot of tall weeds and sparse withered lotus leaves on the river bank.
Although it was called a river beach, the soil near where they were standing was actually hard, and because it had rained yesterday, there were still many small pits filled with water. The water was very clear, and one could clearly see the bottom of the pits.
Bai Shanbao squatted down curiously to take a look, and even reached out his hand to measure the small hole.
Datou only took one look and said, "It must have been left here by the village chief's cows that came here to eat grass."
He sighed, "The grass here is so green, so long, and so delicious."
Bai Shanbao asked him curiously, "Have you ever eaten it?"
Datou thought he was stupid, "Grass is eaten by cows, have you ever eaten it?"
"Then how do you know it tastes good?"
Big Head was choked.
Shanbao and Manbao were attracted by the puddles of various sizes on the ground and temporarily forgot to dig lotus roots. Datou certainly didn't remind them and let them play there.
Anyway, the river water has receded now, and this large area is dry land. No matter how hard they fall, they will not fall into the river as long as they don't run into it.
The two little friends who had never seen the world were running around in the tall reeds, and they exclaimed when they saw small fish swimming around in the small puddle.
The servant of the Bai family who was sent by Liu to keep an eye on the young master looked at the two children squatting on the ground from a distance, their two little heads almost touching each other, chatting like this around a small puddle, so he decided not to go forward for the time being.
Anyway, this place is indeed a long distance away from the river.
I don’t know what the two kids talked about, but they started playing hide-and-seek with their eyes covered. However, Big Head was obviously not participating in it, he just watched from the side.
So the servants saw their young master just squatting in the bushes, and the big head pointed him to the young lady of the Zhou family, and then their young master was found.
Servant: ...How shameless. But this kid is good. He knows not to participate in the game and just watch them.
So the servant decided to forgive them. He looked around and found a high ground so that he could observe the situation below more comprehensively.
He could only let them play for another three quarters of an hour at most, and after that he would say they had to go home no matter what.
Just when the servants moved their positions and temporarily left their sight, Bai Shanbao had already guessed that it was Datou who informed Manbao, so he expressed serious opposition. He said that if this continued, he would not play anymore.
Manbao said that this would never happen again, so the two children reconciled. Because Manbao cheated, this time it was Shanbao who hid and Manbao who found it.
Manbao knew that the grass here was too tall and it would be difficult to find anyone, but she knew the benefits of startling the enemy, so she randomly chose a direction and rushed in and started shouting, "I see you, I see you, don't move..."
So Bai Shanbao moved guiltily, and Manbao found his position immediately.
Bai Shanbao was so angry that he turned around and ran to the side before Manbao even came up to him...
There were three kids squatting there. They were still planning how to put Bai Shanbao in the sack, but before they could finish their plan, someone rushed up to them.
Bai Erlang's actions were much faster than his brain. Before his brain could react, he grabbed the sack and put it over Bai Shanbao's head.
Two friends: …We’ve seen the face, so is there any difference whether it’s covered with a sack or not?
