CHAPTER 590: CHAPTER 583: ANOTHER HYPOTHESIS

Seeing someone backing him up, Rong Ziqi’s voice grew much louder: "I won’t come out. If you have the guts, why don’t you roll over here yourself?"

Du Du was about to angrily march his chubby legs over there, but it seemed he remembered something. His eyes rolled around, and he smiled smugly.

"Hmph, Rong Ziqi, you think you can provoke me with reverse psychology? Psh, I won’t fall for that trick!"

Sisi and Zhong Anmei couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, even a little kid knew about reverse psychology.

The girl standing in front of Rong Ziqi looked about seventeen or eighteen, petite and slender, with short hair cut to ear-length, her skin a bit dark, and her appearance quite plain. Her only remarkable feature was her bright, black eyes; there was nothing else noteworthy about her.

Turning around, the girl patted Rong Ziqi on the head, signaling him to shut up, then she talked reason with Tie Dan and the others, her voice neither high nor low but very soft, making it very pleasant to listen to.

"Ziqi was wrong about what happened last time. I’ll have him apologize to you all in a bit. Please don’t stoop to his level, okay?"

Rong Ziqi seemed unconvinced and opened his mouth to argue back, but the girl glared at him fiercely, and he obediently closed his mouth. It was clear that the girl held a lot of credibility in the young boy’s heart.

Tie Dan and Du Du were the kind of people more amenable to a soft approach than a hard one. As soon as they heard the girl’s gentle words, they generously agreed not to hold a grudge against Rong Ziqi.

The girl smiled slightly and continued, "Could you guys be friends with Ziqi in the future? Actually, Ziqi really wants to play with you all. It’s just that he did something wrong last time and felt too guilty to join you."

Rong Ziqi was about to speak, but this time he shut his mouth without waiting for the girl to chastise him. The feeling of isolation during this period had been unbearable; although he pretended not to care on the surface, only he knew how much he wanted to play with Tie Dan and the others!

Sisi and the others had walked up behind Du Du and Tie Dan. The girl saw them, started to greet them but Sisi shook her head slightly, signaling not to make a sound.

The girl smiled and didn’t look at Sisi and her friends anymore. Smiling, she said to Du Du, "Ziqi made a mistake and has been punished for it during this time. Can you forgive him?"

Tie Dan and Du Du looked at each other for a few seconds, exchanging glances that only they understood. Tie Dan then said, "Rong Ziqi likes to stab people in the back. My dad says that such a person is a scoundrel and cannot be considered a friend."

Du Du also nodded emphatically. Rong Ziqi’s face changed dramatically, seeming ready to explode, but was suppressed by the girl. The girl sighed and patiently said, "The ancient sage Confucius said, to recognize and correct one’s error is the best of virtues. Can you give him a chance to correct his mistakes?"

The girl’s expression was very sincere, and Rong Ziqi looked at Tie Dan and Du Du eagerly. The two kids frowned in hesitation. They had heard from great-grandpa about Confucius; he seemed to be a very formidable figure, so what he said should be correct, right?

After a few minutes of indecision, finally, Tie Dan and Du Du nodded at the same time.

"Alright, we can give Rong Ziqi a chance to rectify himself, but he must follow our rules. I’m the big brother, my little brother Du Du is the second brother, Da Long is the third brother, so he can only be Little Four," said Tie Dan decisively.

Rong Ziqi glared; why should he be Little Four? He was much older than that fatty Du Du.

The girl held back her laughter and nodded; these young kids weren’t very old and were already forming sworn brotherhoods!

"Okay, Ziqi will be Little Four. You older brothers need to take good care of Little Four from now on!"

"Of course, what kind of big brother would I be if I didn’t look after my little bro!" Tie Dan proudly stated, thumping his chest.

Then the girl had Ziqi bow to Du Du to apologize, stating that if Ziqi made a similar mistake again, there was no need for Tie Dan and the others to act; she would discipline him herself.

Sisi couldn’t help but nod slightly. This girl must be Ziqi’s half-sister from the same father. Unexpectedly, the bad stock produced a fine shoot; the Rong family’s daughter was quite well-mannered and also adept at educating children. With such a sister looking out for him, Ziqi would likely not go astray in the future.

It seemed that just now, Mao Dou and Huahua mistakenly thought that Ziqi’s sister was going to harm Tie Dan and the others, and that was why they hurried back to find help.

Having resolved the issue, Ziqi’s sister, Rong Zishan, saw her brother playing with Tie Dan and the others again and smiled contentedly.

Although she didn’t like Lu Yunfei, she still cared for her brother who shared the same blood. She had spent the past few years in the countryside, only recently returning to her father’s side in the city. She had hoped to develop a good relationship with her brother, but found that Ziqi had already gone astray. If left unchecked, he would either become a despicable person or a criminal.

So Rong Zishan was determined to change her brother. It’s a fine line from good to evil, but a difficult journey from evil back to good. After two years of hard work, she had managed to reform her brother slightly, but had not anticipated that upon arriving here, Ziqi would make such a big mistake.

Rong Zishan had mixed feelings for this brother, both love and hatred. Still, after Ziqi had been beaten so badly, although she felt sorry for him, she didn’t sympathize with him at all and scolded him harshly, saying he got what he deserved.

But who would have thought that Lu Yunfei, who normally didn’t care for the child, had a brain snap that day and actually dragged Ziqi to seek what she called justice at someone else’s house? Rong Zishan was almost fuming with rage at her stepmother’s lack of intelligence.

So later, when she saw that Ziqi was being ostracized by the children of the courtyard, she toughened her heart and didn’t intervene, intending to let her brother learn his lesson.

After half a month of disciplining Ziqi, Rong Zishan finally came over to plead on her brother’s behalf to Tie Dan and the others. After all, she knew that if Ziqi continued to be ostracized, it might backfire.

Sisi had a good impression of this girl and after chatting with Rong Zishan for a few words, she headed home with Shangguan and the others.

Once back home, Sisi remembered the topic that had been interrupted earlier by the children and brought it up again.

"Feifei, what were you going to say just now?" Sisi remembered that Shangguan was about to speak before being interrupted.

Shangguan pondered for a moment, as if weighing the accuracy of what she was about to say. She was like that—either she didn’t speak at all, or she only spoke after careful consideration, never haphazardly.

"About that man who was washing his hands, my previous assumption was that he had taken a fall and went to the stream to wash the mud off his hands, but I think there might be another possibility."

Shangguan, having been led astray by Yang Shu, was playing coy, leaving Sisi dying with impatience and urging her to speak quickly.

Zhong Anmei, on the other hand, looked completely bewildered, not understanding what they were talking about at all, but she wasn’t too concerned with these things. If she didn’t understand, then so be it; she got up and walked to the kitchen to tend to the soup on the stove.

After Sisi urged several times, Shangguan finally said slowly: "The other possibility could be bloodstains."