Chapter 2: Seeking Trouble

  On a late evening when night was falling, behind a dense thicket of trees, two people were hiding secretly, one of whom stuck out his little head and carefully looked outside.

  A middle-aged woman whispered to a ten-year-old girl in purple clothes beside her: "Have her parents left?"

  "Hmm, she hasn't left yet, her father is chopping firewood at the door, and her mother is probably cooking for her in the house!"

  "Ugh, this Sweeping Star actually has a good father and mother, they were all driven up the mountain, and she's still so spoiled."

  "Girl, be quiet, be careful not to get caught. We can go find her and settle the score after her parents leave." The little girl pulled on her mother's sleeve, stopping her loud voice.

  "If your father hadn't been killed by that disaster, the two of us wouldn't be in this situation now, being driven away and having no home to return to..."

  As she spoke, this middle-aged woman suddenly became sorrowful and whispered:

  "...used to rely on the money earned by your father, now sitting warmly on the kang with a happy family of three eating dinner together, but now she's being driven out to the mountains, it's really too easy for her"

  A middle-aged woman wearing a padded jacket was indignant about her experience and her anger grew more and more intense.

  "So, mom, we must teach her a lesson before we leave."

  "We'll just wait then, until she's alone, and make her cry out for her father and mother. Let's see if she can still be stubborn then." the middle-aged woman said gritting her teeth.

  ……

  At three quarters past dusk, the sky had already darkened. The mother and daughter finally waited for an opportunity when someone was alone in the house.

  Two people rubbed their sore and numb feet, heading towards that old broken mountain hut.

  With a "bang", the two of them pushed open the door heavily, and inside they saw a young girl with a single braid, also around ten years old, wearing red clothes, twisting a towel to wipe her face. Due to the sudden noise of the opening door, she was startled and turned her head back to look.

  Before the red-clothed girl could speak, the purple-clothed girl who came with her mother rebuked loudly: "You disaster star, you killed my father, come and accompany my father in death!"

  With a loud shout, he jumped up and was about to rush forward and fight with her, but fearing that he would not be able to beat someone of the same age as him, he frequently turned his head back to signal to her mother for help.

  Before she could even open her mouth, her mother had already rolled up her sleeves and was coming at her to hit her.

  Only after someone burst in the door, the girl who was coldly staring at the mother and daughter pair tossed the handkerchief in her hand to the ground, straightened up, and with a proud and unruly attitude, one hand on her waist and the other pointing at the purple-clothed girl, she said with hatred:

  "Hmph." She stomped her foot on the ground, "I thought it was someone else who dared to come and find fault with me. It turns out it's you two shameless mother and daughter. What's wrong? Your mother got caught by me being intimate with Li Daizhuang, and now you're getting angry because of that? You think I told that foolish Xiucai man about it? And what about you?"

  No matter how angry the middle-aged woman was after hearing the truth, her face turned red with rage, and she pointed at the little girl who was looking at her mother in shock and disbelief.

  "You're not a good person either, stealing other people's things and framing me for it. You think I don't know that the golden earrings from Liu's house were stolen by you? They're hidden in the lining of your undershirt, aren't they? What's wrong, are you too afraid to wear them?"

  The last sentence, in a light and determined tone of voice, came with a giggle, thoroughly infuriating the shameless mother and daughter.

  "You little oil mouth, I'll let you speak, see if I don't tear your mouth to shreds." The purple-clothed girl suddenly raised her arm and was about to slap the red-clothed girl in the face.

  The girl in red dodged nimbly and laughed, "How about it, really angry? Do you dare to take off your clothes and see? The ones who shout 'thief' are you!"

  As if she wasn't afraid of having already infuriated this mother and daughter pair, she turned her head towards her mother and said:

  "I really pity that teacher of yours, he can't even rest in peace. Nobody stood up for him to clear his name. Only I, this little troublemaker, understand the whole story. What's going on with you two? You're ganging up on me because you have something on me, and now you're spreading rumors in the village? And still dare to come after me? A pair of shameless accomplices, a couple of scoundrels who frame the innocent."

  Seemed to be pleased with himself for secretly learning idioms from Jia Xiucai, and nodded in approval of himself. He also rolled up his sleeves, ready to take on the robust mother-daughter duo without any fear.

  "Come on, let's go together! Today we must teach this gossipy and talkative girl a lesson!" The purple-clothed girl had already forgotten the painful experience of being taught a lesson by the red-clothed girl before. She lifted her skirt and rushed forward with big strides.

  A red figure flashed, one foot kicked onto the table, and the other foot kicked towards the waist of the purple-clothed girl who was about to pounce on where she had just stood, then quickly jumped down and turned to face the woman whose face was flushed with anger.

  The girl in purple was kicked to the ground, but she couldn't get up, lying on the ground and crying loudly, "Mother, help me beat her severely."

  At the moment when the girl in purple fell to the ground, this woman's eyes were already red with anger. Now she only has her daughter to rely on, and today's lesson is enough for this unlucky star. She and her daughter are going back to their hometown, how can they be outdone by this unlucky star at this moment? She doesn't care whether what the servant girl said about her daughter taking someone else's golden earrings is true or false. If she really took someone else's golden earrings, that would be even better, as they will need some traveling expenses on the road anyway.

  The girl in red and the woman were at a stalemate for a while, neither able to gain an advantage over the other, both dodging each other's moves with agility.

  The girl in red was furious because of the unusual behavior of this mother and daughter, knowing that if she didn't get rid of these two people today, she would definitely be at a disadvantage. She was secretly anxious, thinking about how to immediately deal with this woman and then pick up her daughter who was lying on the ground unable to move.

  Two eyes glanced at the firewood piled up together on one side, squatted down, picked up a thick and suitable firewood stick, and was about to heavily hit the woman's body, but didn't notice that the purple-clothed girl lying on the ground secretly stretched out a leg to trip him.

  With a loud "bang", Zhi Xiao, due to losing his balance, fell down unexpectedly and hit the leg of that square wooden table. Instantly, he didn't show any of his previous bravery again, lying on the ground, stretching out his legs twice before not moving anymore.

  "What's going on? I haven't even touched her yet, how did she end up falling to the ground by herself?" The woman rushed over and saw that the ground was already covered in a large patch of blood. Her own daughter was sitting on the ground with a pale face, trembling lips, and a body that was shaking violently...

  The girl in purple clothes was trembling with fear, asking her mother beside her, who had also turned pale with fright: "Mother, is she already dead? Will we become murderers?"

  The woman wanted to take a peek at her breath, but because the girl in red was facing down, she couldn't find a way.

  After catching his breath and calming down for a while: "What's there to be afraid of? It wasn't us who pushed her, she fell by herself. What does it have to do with us?"

  The purple-clothed girl hesitated for a moment, sniffling, but still didn't plan to mention what had just happened when she stretched out her foot and kicked her. "What do we do now?"

  The woman thought for a moment, then looked out at the pitch-black night sky again. "Get up quickly, while no one is around. Let's go back home and pack our bags. We'll leave this village tonight."

  The girl in purple clothes asked worriedly, "What if her mother comes tomorrow and suspects us? Let's just help her onto the bed and wipe away the blood on the ground to cover it up."

  "Come on, get up quickly." The woman seemed a bit anxious, urging him repeatedly.