This spring, after Li Ye and a few other Miao family children joined, the children of Miao Village turned the tables completely, and the status of Han Clan children plummeted as a result.
The monk in charge of the temple has morning classes from six to eight every day, so that was the time when the children were most unrestrained.
Xiunan, who is actually Li Ye’s cousin, took advantage of the fact that Yezi was his cousin and bullied Little Hai and other children of the same age. The Han Clan children in the temple couldn’t bear to watch, but they also didn’t dare to openly resist.
As soon as they heard that Xiunan was beaten, all the children in the temple ran out.
"Who dares to hit Xiunan?" Yezi stormed out of the temple gate furiously. He failed to notice Xiao Xian, who was squatting on the ground picking up his school bag, and first saw Little Hai, who was stunned to the side, "Was it you, kid?" Li Ye swung his fists and aimed them straight at Little Hai, ready to strike.
"It’s a clear debt with a clear creditor, it was me who hit him," Xiao Xian said as he noticed his school bag dirty with vegetable juice and footprints, getting even angrier.
"You... Zhu Xiaoxian, what are you doing here? Why did you hit Xiunan?" Li Ye was both happy and annoyed. Happy because coming to the temple to study brought some joy, but just seeing Xiao Xian’s bag and the mess around it, he knew that it must have been Xiunan who provoked the people from Ge Village first. As the king of the children in Dongnan Miao Village, when a Miao family child made a mistake, he, as a leader among the children, had to turn the situation around.
"He bullied Little Hai and trampled on my school bag, so of course I had to fight back," Xiao Xian gritted his teeth in anger.
"Why is it your business if they bully them? It’s just a broken school bag, what’s so great about it?" Yezi felt it didn’t seem right. What did Little Hai have to do with Xiao Xian, and even worse, Little Hai and the others were holding Xiao Xian’s shoulders. Don’t Han people value the propriety of men and women not touching each other? Yezi felt infuriated just watching.
"Why does it matter to you if I bully him? Do you think you can really do anything to me, don’t forget the last time you..." Xiao Xian hadn’t finished speaking when Yezi covered his mouth. Without having to finish, Yezi knew what Xiao Xian was going to say, the incident of dropping trousers last time was unknown to the other students in the temple, if Zhu Xiaoxian mentioned it, it would be a laughingstock.
"If you dare say it, I’ll never let it go," Yezi grabbed Xiao Xian and headed back into the temple. Xiunan was not pleased: "Brother Yezi, you haven’t stood up for me yet."
"Are you embarrassed, picking on a little girl, all of you get inside, keep arguing and I’ll beat you," Yezi pulled Xiao Xian to the front Buddha hall and then let go of his hand, "In this temple, I’m the boss, if you really study here, behave yourself and don’t cause trouble," Yezi thought, wanting Zhu Xiao Xian to recognize who really was the boss.
"Why are you the boss, based on being bigger or louder, I don’t accept that," Xiao Xian also figured out the rationale, to live a stable life here, he must completely subdue Yezi the bully.
"What, Yezi, are you going to compete with that new girl?" In the temple classroom, several older boys sitting in the back were talking.
"Mm, to keep the group of Han people from being dissatisfied," what Yezi meant by the group of Han people, essentially referred to Zhu Xiao Xian. Just as Yezi heard that Zhu Xiao Xian was going to compete, his mouth gaped open wide enough to fit a boiled egg.
There’s a saying among the Han Family, "A man doesn’t fight with women," Yezi didn’t think twice and declined. But Zhu Xiaoxian insisted and wouldn’t give up, even threatening to go complain to Yezi’s mother after school if he didn’t agree. Yezi later thought, the saying from the Han people should be changed to "A man doesn’t fight with good women," against someone wicked like Zhu Xiaoxian, that phrase doesn’t hold.
The temple’s classroom was converted from a side hall, a rectangular room six meters long and three meters wide. Inside, there were five rows of desks, with seats divided according to the different levels of education of the children.
Having just joined the class and being only seven years old, Xiao Xian initially sat in the first row. Before attending the primary school, Yezi learned a few years of writing from Yezi’s mother and simple math from Li Quqi, achieving not bad grades, and thus sitting in the last row, equivalent to the fourth or fifth grade in primary school.
Whispers from Yezi’s group in the last row were all heard by Xiao Xian.
"Yezi, you really want to fight with a seven-year-old girl? If it gets out, won’t people laugh at you," several Miao family boys were quite concerned about their image, you can boast about defeating an adult, but beating a crying little girl doesn’t count as anything glorious.
"Who said I want to fight with her, are you guys out of your minds," after hearing these words, Yezi’s thick eyebrows furrowed, "I am not comparing fighting with her, you all don’t understand, stop blocking me, sit back down, the great monk is coming soon, do you want to get punished for copying scriptures again?" Yezi looked at Xiao Xian sitting in the front row, thinking she’s grown taller and her eyes seemed bigger than half a month ago, even her voice when scolding sounded soft and particularly pleasant.
At that moment, Xiao Xian was leaning on her arms, surveying the surroundings, assessing the unique arrangement of this temple classroom. The neck of her clothes slipped down, revealing the tender arms inside, where the engraved plum bracelet shone brightly.
Yezi stared at Xiao Xian’s shiny twin ponytails in a daze, a smile suddenly formed on his lips, then he reached into the desk drawer.
At eight o’clock, a monk in his forties wearing a gray robe walked in. (To be continued. If you work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)