“Waaah, you bullies! You’re bullying me, bullying me! I’m gonna tell my mom and dad. I’ll tell them three girls and one stinky boy bullied me... waaah... you even threw sand at me... you jerks.”
Pitiful and infuriating at the same time, Zhang Xiaohua sat collapsed on the ground, surrounded by several little girls and one little boy.
“Who bullied you? You were obviously the one trying to bully us. Hmph. The teacher said if someone bullies you, fighting back is self-defense.”
Xie Jinxia planted both hands on her slim little waist and argued loudly.
“If you dare badmouth An Qing again, I’ll beat you to death.”
Xu Yuting held the boy’s little hand, her pretty face cold as she shouted at Zhang Xiaohua.
“Don’t come bother us again. Or deal with the consequences yourself.”
Chen Ziqing had never liked this classmate of hers, and spoke in an icy tone.
“...”
The boy didn’t dare make a sound. The courage he’d had just now had long since vanished. Right now, he was just a timid little child.
“Y-you just wait and see. I’ll tell my big sister. She’s in third grade in elementary school. Just wait. She’ll definitely avenge me.”
Zhang Xiaohua rubbed her aching butt, glaring at them with resentment, yet still didn’t forget to throw out a threat.
As she spoke, she tried to move her legs and make a run for it.
“Calling your sister, huh? Being a bad kid, huh?”
Xie Jinxia went pat-pat-pat chasing after her, grabbed Zhang Xiaohua by the hair, and scolded her with a fierce little face.
“Aaaah... it hurts! Don’t pull my hair!”
Zhang Xiaohua bared her teeth in pain and let out a miserable scream on the spot.
“Hmph. You still gonna call your sister? Bad kids deserve a beating.”
Xie Jinxia was a fierce little tiger of a girl. She didn’t let go at all, only gave a cold snort.
“I won’t, I won’t! It hurts!”
Zhang Xiaohua was almost in tears from the pain. She didn’t dare keep acting tough and caved without a shred of backbone.
“If you come make trouble again, I’ll beat you to death, you bad kid.”
Only after hearing her give in did the round-faced girl finally let go of her hair.
“......”
Zhang Xiaohua didn’t dare throw out any more threats. She ran off in a flash, all the way into the distance.
“You bastards! The humiliation you made me suffer today, I’ll make you repay it someday!”
Once she was finally a fair distance away, Zhang Xiaohua stopped her panicked steps and shouted another threat at the group in the distance.
There was no way a grade-schooler could come up with words like that on her own. She was just copying a villain line from TV dramas.
“Huh? Why does what that bad kid said sound kinda familiar?”
Xie Jinxia made as if to chase after her again, scaring Zhang Xiaohua so badly she disappeared for good.
“Jinxia, come back quick. We’re about to start our little meeting.”
Xu Yuting called out to the round-faced girl and told her to come back.
“Coming!”
Several little girls, plus one timid little boy, began a meeting among friends.
“Just now, a whole gang of bad kids tried to bully us, and we battled them for three hundred rounds.”
“In the end, the heroic boy An Qing stepped forward and helped us drive the bad kids away.”
“Everyone, give An Qing a big round of applause!”
The children formed a circle. As the leader, Xu Yuting spoke with an excited face.
“Clap clap clap! An Qing is so brave. He’s the bravest boy I’ve ever seen!”
The round-faced little girl kept clapping with both hands. Her watery big eyes looked at the boy as if she were looking at some priceless treasure.
“An Qing really is a very brave boy. He could step forward when his friends were in danger.”
Chen Ziqing clapped too. On her usually calm little face, a faint smile rarely appeared.
“Clap clap clap. An Qing, say something. Everyone’s looking at you.”
Xu Yuting clapped the hardest. By now, Zhao Anqing, hearing his friends’ sincere praise, had already lowered his head in embarrassment and started acting like an ostrich.
He was happy, unbelievably happy. Their praise was like spoonful after spoonful of honey, sweet all the way into his heart.
He was also glad for the courage he’d found back then, that he’d been able to step out boldly instead of hiding in a corner and watching his friends fight.
“An Qing, say something. Don’t be shy. You’re a bold boy!”
Xie Jinxia patted the boy on the shoulder with her little hand, wanting him to say a few words.
“I... I’m actually not brave at all, but... but when I saw my friends being bullied... I just felt like I had courage... Thank you... all of you, for giving me courage.”
The boy finally raised his head. With all those eyes on him, he fought down his embarrassment and said everything in his heart.
He wasn’t bold at all, much less brave. He was only a timid little boy. It was just that his friends had given him a brief burst of courage.
“You’re lying. An Qing is a brave kid!”
Xie Jinxia was a bit slow on the uptake and didn’t really understand what he meant. She insisted that An Qing was the bravest boy.
“You dummy, Jinxia. If you don’t know what to say, then don’t say anything.”
Xu Yuting held the boy’s little hand and shared a smile with him, then turned a fierce face on the round-faced girl to stop her from making trouble.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Xie Jinxia looked innocent and aggrieved. She secretly grabbed the boy’s other little hand, then stayed quiet in satisfaction.
“Actually, Zhang Xiaohua came to pick a fight this time because of me. She’s my classmate. She often doesn’t do her homework, and I told on her for it, so she’s always coming to trouble me.”
Seeing that a little girl stood guard on each side of the boy and she could only watch, Chen Ziqing’s brows faintly drew together for a moment. She suppressed that uncomfortable feeling and spoke lightly.
“Oh, so she really is a bad kid. She doesn’t even do her homework. She deserves a beating.”
Xu Yuting didn’t blame her friend at all. Instead, she criticized Zhang Xiaohua.
“Exactly. Good kids all do their homework. She doesn’t, so she’s a bad kid.”
Xie Jinxia chimed in too, though judging by her little expression, she looked a bit guilty. Who knew if she often skipped homework herself?
“I’m worried she’ll get her third-grade sister to come after us.”
The short-haired girl was the most mature of the three. She thought farther ahead, and more carefully too.
She remembered Zhang Xiaohua’s threat and started preparing for precautions.
“Oh right. Are third-grade elementary schoolers really scary?”
The not-so-bright round-faced girl only now started feeling afraid.
In elementary school, lower-grade kids were naturally afraid of the older students.
“Hmph. What’s there to be scared of? If she dares bully us, we’ll beat her up. Who’s afraid of who?”
Xu Yuting was the boldest of them all. She didn’t take Zhang Xiaohua’s sister seriously at all.
“Yuting... will it really be okay?”
The boy had been listening quietly, and now asked worriedly.
“Aww, An Qing, don’t worry. She’s just a third grader, right? She can’t be that much taller than me. If it comes to a fight, I’m not scared of her.”
The girl gave the boy a soft smile and comforted him gently.
“Jinxia, Yuting, be careful. If something happens, find your parents or a teacher. If we fight older girls, we won’t be able to beat them.”
Chen Ziqing was the most rational one, and seriously warned them.
“Alright, alright, let’s stop talking about this. Let’s go get ice cream. My treat.”
Seeing the worried look on the boy’s face, Xu Yuting didn’t want to keep talking about it and suggested they go eat ice cream.
“Yay, ice cream!”
Xie Jinxia was the first to cheer.
