Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 69 - 61: Who’s the Boss?

Chapter 69: Chapter 61: Who’s the Boss?

Although I don’t know why we have to run when we get to the big peach tree, seeing the two little boys with faces full of fear, Xiao Xian still "understands" and pretends to agree obediently.

It’s only been a short time since the beginning of early spring, with Tomb-Sweeping Festival still a ways off. The trees in the Southeast Mountain Village and Ge Village, sitting hundreds of meters above sea level, have only just sprouted leaves, and not a shadow of a bud can be seen.

At the foot of the mountain, however, a springtime panorama has already unfolded: the wild azaleas along the mountain road, the buds on the mountain trees stretching out, beside the rushing stream following the path downward. To Xiao Xian’s eyes, spring has colored everything, only when seeing the big peach tree in front of the temple does the word "rousing spring" come to mind.

Butterflies the color of rapeseed yellow flutter around the branches full of peach blossoms, green leaves densely crowded beneath the petals. A gust of wind blows by, and pink petals drift onto the surface of the stream. Such an ancient peach tree, truly thriving unseen in the deep mountains.

While Xiao Xian is enjoying the scenery, the two little boys beside her have no time for such leisure. Little Hai looks left and right, checks front and back, and after making sure, exchanges a glance with Mingsheng and gestures towards the peach blossom tree with a pursed mouth.

"Xiao Xian, stop looking. This peach tree blooms for a long time; there will be plenty of opportunities to see. When I say ’one, two, three,’ we run," Little Hai kicks his legs, his not yet strong arms clutching his lunchbox tightly, and takes a deep breath, the two greenish snot trails below his nose gone.

"I’m going to say ’one, two, three,’ run," Little Hai and Mingzi start running, like two small unbraked trains, they dash towards the temple more than a hundred meters away from the big peach tree. Xiao Xian curls her lips, is just about to lift her legs, when she notices a glint of brightness under the big peach tree.

There are a few snickering little boys hiding under the big peach tree, wearing Miao family clothing. Following their smile, looking downwards, Xiao Xian senses something wrong and shouts: "Little Hai, Mingsheng, come back."

At about fifty centimeters up the big peach tree, a transparent thin kite string used for flying kites down the mountain is tied. In broad daylight, the string becomes invisible in the sunlight; if someone were to run straight through, they’d surely trip head over heels.

Xiao Xian sees her shouting is in vain, her legs muster up energy, the small backpack on her back is thrown to the ground, her knees bend, and she pushes off with both legs. The children hiding under the tree only see a figure flash past; the little girl who had been left behind has already rushed to the tree, managing to grab Little Hai and Mingsheng just a few centimeters away from the thread.

It appears that among the children who study in the temple, there are two factions, one of the Han Clan and one of the Miao Clan. The children from Miao Village are generally older and bully the Han Clan children who have just arrived.

The bullying often takes place under the big peach tree outside the temple. After it happened many times, the children from the village learned from it.

Little Hai and Mingzi, being honest and not knowing how to complain to adults, are often bullied under the big peach tree. The two kids conspired to come up with the idea that every time they get to the big peach tree, whether going to school or leaving class, they must run so that the group of Miao Clan children can’t catch up and that’s the end of it.

"Why are you so mean-spirited," if Xiao Xian were a little slower, or if she were just a normal six-year-old girl without enough strength, she wouldn’t have been able to stop Little Hai and Mingsheng. If they had tripped, they would surely have broken their front teeth.

"Who are you, new here, huh? Carrying some foreign thing," the Miao Clan boys, eight or nine years old, bullying Little Hai, speak. The talker has a longevity lock around his neck. When Xiao Xian ran over, they had snatched her backpack and now had dumped out all of her things, with the lunchbox and pears all scattered.

Xiao Xian gets angry looking at it and doesn’t care about the bullies outnumbering her as she rushes up and slaps the leader of the boys hard. She doesn’t hold back with these two slaps, startling the few accomplices, "Quick, go inside and get Yezi and the others, say that Xiunan has been hit, by someone from the Han Clan."

"You dare to hit me, I’m going to tell my cousin," Xiunan covers his face, wailing loudly.

Hearing the cry, a few older boys rush out of the temple, with Yezi leading the way.

Yezi, bored in the temple, understands that the temple is not big, most of the attending children are from nearby villages. Besides Ge Village and Dongnan Miao Village, there are a few children from more distant villages who board at the temple. Last year there were fourteen Han Clan children, and fourteen Miao Clan children, the numbers are evenly matched, so there shouldn’t be any bullying.