CHAPTER 584: CHAPTER 577: THE BATTLE FOR BIG AND SECOND BROTHER

Shangguan might seem careless, but she possesses strong observational, reactive, and analytical abilities. It’s just that this person generally prefers not to use her brain too much, but her fists. Even so, Shangguan always manages to spot the unusual in the ordinary at first glance.

With this photo, for example, both Sisi and Mrs. Yang saw its overall beauty and ambience. However, Shangguan noticed the changes in the color of the stream and deduced what the man had been through before.

"It rained that day, remember? The path was a bit slippery. If it weren’t for your dad grabbing me, I almost took a fall," said Mrs. Yang, who still felt a chill when recalling the near-fall from the plank walkway and gently patted her chest.

This photo was just a minor incident. They quickly changed the topic, and the photo was soon forgotten by everyone.

"I need to call the kids back. They’ve been playing outside for over an hour in this heat. We can’t have them get heatstroke." Sisi suddenly remembered the children who went out to play and hurriedly stood up, ready to call them back.

"Right, it’s so muggy here in City G, the kids aren’t used to it on their first visit," Mrs. Yang said as she also stood up but was held back by Shangguan, who told her to stay at home and went out with Sisi.

No matter how big the courtyard, it didn’t take long for Sisi and Shangguan to find the soccer field, where a few older kids were playing soccer. Du Du and the others were also on the lawn, but instead of playing, they were fighting—Tie Dan, Du Du, and two other boys were all tangled up, while Maodou and Huahua stood by, shouting loudly in cheer.

Sigh!

Sisi felt overwhelmed. Could it be that all her kids are roosters? Why were they all so fond of fighting?

Shaking her head, Sisi was about to step forward, but Shangguan held her back, "Don’t rush, Du Du and the others are about to win."

Just as Shangguan finished speaking, Tie Dan sidestepped and threw the boy he was scuffling with onto the grass. Meanwhile, Du Du leaped up, perching on the shoulders of the boy he was fighting against, hands clutching the boy’s head, remaining steadily astride despite the boy’s attempts to throw him off. Ultimately, the boy ran out of energy, sticking out his tongue panting heavily, and begged for mercy.

Du Du laughed triumphantly and hopped off the boy’s shoulders with a jaunty movement, lifted his chin, and haughtily declared, "You think you can be the big brother with just this much skill? From now on, whenever you see my brother Tie Dan, you call him big brother, and I’m the second brother. Got it?"

The boy beaten by Tie Dan looked about seven or eight years old, with a stocky build, Tiger Head was his nickname. He was brave and owned up to his actions, shouting loud and clear to Tie Dan, "I, Zhao Dalong, a man of my word, if I’ve lost the fight, then you’re the big brother."

Sisi found it amusing, big brother, second brother—they were making it sound like they were the heads of a household!

This boy named Zhao Dalong was quite endearing. Keeping one’s word is a good virtue indeed.

Hearing this, Tie Dan and Du Du both laughed, thinking Zhao Dalong was pretty good. Tie Dan patted the boy on the shoulder, offering, "Here’s an idea, when my little brother Du Du is gone, you can be the second brother. Just be the third brother for a month."

Upon hearing he only had to be the "Third" for a month, Zhao Dalong grinned widely, completely pleased with the arrangement.

The three kids quickly became friendly after the fight, but the other boy who lost to Du Du kept a sullen face, glaring fiercely at Du Du and the others.

This boy had delicate features, roughly the same age as Tie Dan but lacked Tie Dan’s sturdiness and was a bit shorter.

Since the kids had made up on their own, Sisi pretended not to notice and approached with a smile, ready to call them back for a bath, considering their dirty appearances.

But a sudden turn occurred. The delicate-looking boy picked up half a brick from somewhere and hurled it viciously at Du Du. The brick flew toward the back of Du Du’s head—if it struck, it would "bloom" his head.

Terrified, Sisi’s heart skipped a beat. She rushed forward to save her son, but she was no speedster and couldn’t possibly make it in time, watching in horror as the brick flew towards Du Du.

Shangguan saw it too, her eyebrows furrowing in anger, she quickly slipped off the shoes she was wearing and hurled them with all her might at the brick.

’Pop’

Shoes colliding with bricks in a fierce clash. A boy’s strength was naturally not great, and certainly no match for Shangguan’s. With this collision, the brick was immediately stopped short, falling to the ground a foot away from Du Du, alongside Shangguan’s canvas shoe.

Sisi’s heart finally settled down, her hands trembling. She really wanted to rush forward and thrash that wicked-hearted boy, but as an adult, if she really hit the child, it would certainly provoke criticism.

Yet her heart was truly unwilling!

However, Sisi didn’t dwell on it for long. The children, enraged, pounced on the boy as one.

"You sneaky little villain! I’m going to dish out justice on behalf of heaven!" said Tie Dan, full of valor.

"How dare you ambush me? I’ll beat you to a pulp!" exclaimed Du Du, who was ambushed.

"You’re a baddie, I’m going to avenge brother Du Du!" Little Maodou chimed in.

"Turtle egg, I could crush you with just one finger!" declared Boss Hua Hua.

....

Pitter-patter, five minutes later, Tie Dan emerged from the battlefield with four younger siblings, leaving the boy lying on the ground in a piteous state.

Simply because of his earlier sneak attack, the other children looked at him with disdain. Even Zhao Dalong, who was originally part of his crew, felt it was disgraceful, and no one sympathized with him.

Du Du picked up Shangguan’s shoe and fawned over him by putting it on his foot, sweetly saying, "Aunt Fei, you are so kind, you’re my favorite."

Shangguan proudly tilted his chin at Sisi then rubbed Du Du’s head as if he were petting Da Hei, with Du Du seeming to enjoy the caress, rubbing his head against Shangguan’s hand, only lacking a tail like Da Hei.

Sisi went over to pick up her son, kissing him several times on the face, which finally made her feel settled. She simply carried Du Du, not willing to put him down, though the little guy was reluctant to be held by Sisi and insisted on walking by himself.

On their way, Sisi found out from Tie Dan the reason for the fight, which turned out to be just a normal quarrel among children.

Zhao Dalong and the boy named Rong Ziqi, who ambushed Du Du, were both new arrivals. Zhao Dalong, upon hearing that the courtyard kids followed Tie Dan’s lead, was not satisfied and wanted to challenge Tie Dan to a fight. Only by defeating him could he become the leader, and so a fight broke out.

"How did you end up fighting with Rong Ziqi?" Sisi asked, puzzled.

"I just couldn’t stand him. Zhao Dalong originally didn’t want to challenge Tie Dan, but it was all because of Rong Ziqi’s incessant babbling in his ear that Zhao Dalong was persuaded to," huffed Du Du.

"So, you were the first to throw a punch?" Sisi looked at him with a half-smile.

"As if I’d be that dumb, he was the one who hit first; I was just defending myself," Du Du said proudly.

As for why Rong Ziqi threw the first punch, Sisi found out later from Maodou that Du Du, this little rascal, had been calling Rong Ziqi ’pretty boy’ and ’sissy’—whatever derogatory terms he could think of, and that’s how he managed to provoke Rong Ziqi into striking first.

Sisi was truly at a loss for words with her son. She wondered how Old Man Yun had taught him, how he ended up with such character.

Mr. Yun laughed: "There’s no one more invincible than a shameless person!"