Chapter 31: Mud Figures

After finishing the chicken drumstick, Zhou Huaishan took a few sips of stream water and grinned at Zhou Ping, "Ever played with mud figures?"

Zhou Ping gnawed on a chicken bone. "Of course."

"Have you played 'mud fight' before?"

Zhou Ping sat up straight, looking at Zhou Huaishan.

Splat!

With a lump of mud already in his hand, Zhou Huaishan slapped it directly onto Zhou Ping.

After that, he turned and jumped away, laughing loudly.

Zhou Ping...

Is my second uncle crazy?

Meanwhile, Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Ping's playful antics quickly attracted other children from the village.

The two-person battle immediately turned into a melee.

...

As the sun set and darkness fell.

Without light, farm work in the fields could no longer continue, and the villagers began to return home one after another.

However, by dinner time, the impatient little kids who usually rushed home upon smelling food were nowhere to be seen.

"Run, come home for dinner!"

"Daqiao, come home for dinner!"

"Tiedan, come home for dinner!"

"Second Brother, Ping, come home for dinner!"

...

Among the numerous calls summoning the children home, Zhao's voice was mixed in.

But no matter how the parents called out, there was no sign of the children. Worried, the parents mobilized and began searching.

Almost half the village turned out for this search.

"Your child hasn't come back either?"

"Yours neither?"

"Where could the kids have gone?"

"Maybe they went to the mountain behind."

"Heavens! There are wolves and venomous snakes in the mountain."

"Hurry, let's go quickly."

Chattering and worried, the villagers, led by the clan leader, headed towards the back mountain with torches.

Zhou Qing sat on Zhou Huailin's mule cart, watching the spectacular procession of torches approach from a distance, her eyes twitching. "Third Uncle, is our village celebrating Torch Festival?"

There was no such festival in her memory.

Zhou Huailin shook his head. "Maybe someone lost something, and everyone is out searching."

The crowd and carts soon met.

As soon as Zhao saw Zhou Huailin, she rushed weakly towards him. "Second brother and Ping are missing. They said they might have gone to the back mountain."

Zhao's sudden rush startled Zhou Huailin.

However, her words made Zhou Huailin jump off the cart.

"What?"

Zhao cried, "Several children in the village are missing. What if... there are wolves in the back mountain!"

Zhou Huailin immediately turned to Zhou Qing. "..."

Before Zhou Huailin could speak, Zhou Qing had jumped off the cart. "I'll go search with third uncle."

After saying that, Zhou Qing turned to Shen Li. "Can you manage driving both carts back on your own?"

Shen Li nodded. "Go ahead, I'll send the carts back and join you."

They split up and took immediate action.

Following the villagers, Zhou Qing was filled with anxiety.

In the crowd, men shouted their children's names with grim faces, while women couldn't help but cry.

If they really encountered wolves...

Everyone hurried towards the back mountain, almost reaching the small river at the foot of the mountain, when they heard loud noises.

It was the children's voices.

Upon hearing the lively voices of the children, the anxious parents breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, a new wave of anger rose.

"Hahaha, Ping, if you didn't talk, I wouldn't recognize you."

"You too, haha, you're covered in mud, a real mud figure."

"Only Uncle Huaishan can recognize you, no one else can tell."

...

In the darkness, the children stood by the small river, happily smearing mud on themselves.

At a glance, they were a mixed group of tall and short mud figures. If they stood still, they looked just like the eighteen bronze figures in a temple.

Among the short mud figures, Zhou Qing immediately spotted Zhou Huaishan.

It seemed impossible not to see him with such a tall figure, standing out among them, scooping mud and smearing it on his own arms.

Zhou Qing was so angry she almost fainted.

The parents approached with torches, startling the children, who stared wide-eyed at their parents.

The parents...

Seeing their kids covered in mud like little mud monkeys, they couldn't contain their anger, wanting to rush over and kick them back to the mountains to be eaten by wolves!

Just as they had been worried and scared, now they wanted to punish someone.

However...

A group of mud monkeys stood in front of them, making it impossible to distinguish whose child belonged to whom.

The clan leader stood at the forefront, looking at the scene, his beard trembling with anger. Unable to scold the many children, his rage directed toward the silly big one among them.

"Whose child are you? You're so grown-up and you didn't follow your parents to the fields. What are you doing here causing trouble! And you didn't even think about the danger of coming to the back mountain!"

Zhou Qing hurried forward, dragging Zhou Huaishan out of the mud pit.

"Sorry, sorry, clan leader, this is my father."

Zhou Huaishan bowed his head, allowing Zhou Qing to drag him out. As soon as Zhou Qing spoke, everyone was shocked.

What?

Who?

Zhou's family second son, that blockhead?

This...

Looking at the mud figure in front of them, everyone found it hard to connect him with the honest man Zhou Huaishan.

As soon as Zhou Huaishan came out, Zhou Ping also came out with a bamboo basket on his back, standing beside Zhou Huaishan.

Seeing Zhou Ping, Zhou Huailin came over and kicked him. "I told you to stay at home and learn from your second uncle, you came here to feed the wolves! Are you tired of living?"

He kicked him and saw what was in the bamboo basket. Zhou Huailin immediately followed up with another kick.

"This is the gift from your senior brother to your second uncle. Why did you bring it out?"

Zhou Ping was aggrieved. "It was second uncle who told me to bring it out. He was afraid while we were away, grandma and aunt would take it."

Everyone...

Could it be that Zhou Huaishan came here to fool around with the kids to avoid Sun and Wang?

Could he no longer bear to stay at home?

After all, Zhou Huaishan is an honest man, and everyone would rather believe that he came out to play with mud because he couldn't stand being bullied by Sun and Wang at home, rather than believe that he came here willingly.

Otherwise, why would he bring the apprentice gift out with him?

Everyone looked sympathetically at Zhou Huaishan.

The clan leader coughed. "You should know this place isn't safe. The kids are too young to understand, but you should know better! Okay, I'll go talk to your father. From now on, stay at home and focus on your studies from now on."

Since it was Zhou Huaishan, he couldn't scold him too harshly. After all, he was an adult, and the kind of adult who was honest.

Zhou Qing smiled apologetically at the clan leader. "Sorry for troubling you, Third Grandpa."

The clan leader said nothing, turned to look at the nearly identical mud monkeys.

"Why are you standing there? Go to your parents now, or do you want to wait to get beaten at home?!"

Hearing this, the mud monkeys moved towards their respective parents.

Their steps were reluctant.

As if they could really avoid going home to be beaten by dragging their feet.

Each parent found their child, and instead of waiting until they got home, they immediately started a public beating.

For a while, the foot of the back mountain echoed with cries of pain.

Zhou Qing looked coldly at Zhou Huaishan, gritting her teeth. "Do you know what I want to do right now?"