Chapter 384: Chapter 199 A Battle to Fame_1
For seventeen days in a row, working double shifts, I’m begging for a little pink.
...*******......
In the twelfth lunar month, each day was colder than the last. Another heavy snowfall had fallen. Coupled with good spirits, careful recuperation, and naturally strong health, Old Master Lian’s health gradually improved. Even though he was still taking medicine due to the insistence of Lady Zhou and his sons, his daily activities, including sitting and lying down, had returned to normal.
The Lian Manman family remained devoted to their breakfast stall, seeing the money box full of Copper Coins dissipated any fatigue they felt each day.
Lady Zhou had her eye on Lady Gu and had no extra energy to pick on anyone else. It was unclear what Lian Shouren’s family was thinking, but other people, including Lian Manman and Lady Zhang, felt their days were going extremely smoothly.
That afternoon, after eating lunch in the stall, Lian Manman packed up a box of food, wrapped it well with cotton padding, and headed to the old house.
Lian Yeye had also eaten lunch in the stall and accompanied Lian Manman back.
Several snowfalls had already occurred, often before the previous snow had melted, a new layer would accumulate. Some of the melted snow would turn into water during the noon sun, and failing to evaporate completely, the cold night would arrive, freezing the water into ice. Therefore, one had to be especially careful when walking, deep snow was not much of a problem, but stepping on the ice hidden beneath the snow could easily lead to a slip.
But the children of the tenant farmers didn’t care about this; even if Lian Manman was carrying a food box, she would deliberately step onto a large icy patch, push forward forcefully, kick up a fine mist of snow with her heels, and slide from one end of the ice to the other in an instant.
Used to sliding, she didn’t even need to stretch out her arms to maintain balance, a skill that could be considered a stunt. Of course, there were also those who were clumsy, timid, who would stagger after just a couple of steps, or not dare to step on the ice at all.
In their rural area, this kind of play by the children was called "ice sliding."
However, the occasional patches of ice on the road were hardly enough to be satisfying. Surrounding Thirty Mile Camp was a small river, with a particularly wide section of water that had already frozen solid, becoming a playground for the village boys. Wu Lang had taken Xiao Qi to play several times.
Lian Manman wanted to go, but Lady Zhang stopped her.
"Manman, you should learn to do needlework like your sister, instead of behaving like a tomboy," Lady Zhang had said.
For the time being, there was no chance to go and play, so Lian Manman deeply treasured the rare icy paths on the road, sliding back and forth twice before reluctantly continuing forward.
"Sister Manman, when can we go play by the river?" Lian Yeye asked.
"Sure," laughed Lian Manman. If Wu Lang and Xiao Qi wouldn’t take her, she could go with Lian Yeye.
The sisters talked as they walked down the snowy street.
Suddenly, a cold wind whizzed by their ears, followed by a yelp from Lian Yeye.
Lian Manman quickly stopped to check on Lian Yeye. Lian Yeye’s head had been hit by a snowball, her hair was covered with snow, and, worse still, a chunk of snow had fallen on her neck and snuck inside her collar.
"Who, who’s the shameless jerk who did this? Come out if you dare," Lian Manman shouted in the direction from which the snowball had come.
Those who did such things were definitely the type of annoying youngsters, so Lian Manman didn’t hold back. It seemed as if from ancient times, some boys just enjoyed bullying little girls. Such boys didn’t dare to offend strong girls of the same age.
In front of the village boys of roughly her own age, Lian Manman always tried to portray herself as a fierce country girl.
And in truth, nobody dared to mess with her. She was fierce not only by herself but also had brothers. When necessary, she also used her brothers, Erlang and Sanlang, to scare others away.
Any slightly sensible boy wouldn’t dare to provoke a little girl with a group of older brothers.
So, this was the first time Lian Manman had encountered an attack, which made her very angry and determined to find the assailant and teach him a proper lesson.
The street was lined with farmsteads, with walls of varying heights. Lian Manman looked around and, if she wasn’t mistaken, the snowball must have come from behind a low wall to the right. She knew the household that lived there, a Wang family with two boys, one eleven, one ten.
"Could it be those two little bastards, Wang Xiaosan and Wang Xiaosi!" Lian Manman thought to herself.
"I saw you," Lian Yeye, shaking the snow from her head, pointed behind the low wall where a small dark head had peeked out for a moment before quickly hiding again.
