Chapter 35 Part 2

Qiao Ning didn’t know much about cars, but after all those years in the city he’d at least developed an eye. This SUV was obviously not cheap.

He was a little curious. Plenty of people in the countryside drove cars, but such an expensive off-roader was truly rare. And the thing was undeniably imposing and beautiful—as it drove past, Qiao Ning couldn’t help sneaking a few extra glances.

What a gorgeous car.

As for the driver? He couldn’t see. The windows were pitch black—privacy film, maybe.

Looked, admired, done. Cool as the car was, Qiao Ning still felt his little tricycle was more practical.

He drove on into town, arriving within minutes, and pulled up to the parcel pickup point with practiced ease. The young guy there saw him and came out to greet him. “I figured you’d show up this afternoon. You’ve got eight packages.”

Qiao Ning smiled sheepishly. He’d just moved into a new place—there was so much to buy.

Among today’s arrivals, for instance, were paper towels and foil trays for his air fryer. He was planning to try roasting his own chicken wings. He could cut wings himself, and the marinade was store-bought—that way his cooking skills had minimal room to sabotage things, and the odds of success shot way up.

The guy fetched Qiao Ning’s packages and loaded them into the cargo bed, then couldn’t help asking, “Sure you won’t reconsider my cousin? She’s got a great personality, and she’s also pretty—”

He met Qiao Ning’s smiling peach-blossom eyes, and his confidence crumbled. “…pretty okay…”

Honestly, his cousin really was quite pretty—a little beauty since childhood. But this guy was handsome to an almost unreasonable degree.

No wonder his cousin had met Qiao Ning once and couldn’t stop thinking about him. Even he, another man, felt like he’d been slapped in the face with sheer good looks. Every time Qiao Ning came for packages, he wanted to sneak extra looks himself.

Qiao Ning declined politely as always. The guy was used to it by now; he patted the tricycle’s roof. “Fine, fine. Packages are all loaded, then…”

Qiao Ning thanked him and drove off, stopping at the incense shop for candles and joss paper. He bought two sets of incense and candles and extra yellow paper—he meant to burn plenty of spirit money for both his grandpa and Grandpa Ji.

Then he drove to the noodle shop to buy noodles for dinner. Passing a steamed bun shop, he noticed they were selling big round buns—huge and plump, each marked with a red dot. Something for ancestor offerings, apparently.

Qiao Ning stopped and asked. Sure enough, they were for the rituals. With Qingming approaching, buyers were numerous; the shop had only started making them these past couple of days—normally they wouldn’t, unless a customer preordered.

Whatever other families’ ancestors had, his grandpa and Grandpa Ji would have too. Qiao Ning bought two.

Buns acquired, noodles acquired, everything on the list—Qiao Ning drove home.

Twenty minutes later his tricycle entered the village, where the lanes were narrower, so he slowed down. Suddenly he thought he heard someone calling him.

Qiao Ning stopped. In his side mirror, a small figure came chasing after him—Little Tangyuan.

“What’s up, Little Tangyuan?” Qiao Ning popped open the door, curious. “Why are you home at this hour? No school today?”

The group of kids Little Tangyuan played with were all about the same age, all elementary schoolers at the town’s primary school. Today was neither Saturday nor Sunday, and it wasn’t remotely time for school to let out.

“We’re off for Qingming!” Little Tangyuan said urgently. “Uncle Little Qiao, can you take me to the Back Slope?”

Tomorrow was Qingming; he hadn’t expected school to give the day off early. Qiao Ning didn’t dwell on it. “What do you need to go to the Back Slope for?”

The Back Slope lay at the east end of the village. It had once been a large stretch of woodland, but when the village ran short on firewood, the trees there were gradually cut down. Later, the national reforestation program replanted it, and over the years the trees had grown back—just sparser than before.

The Back Slope was close to the village, and children sometimes ran off to play there, digging around in the woods. Nothing dangerous about it, really.

Little Tangyuan was hopping with anxiety. “I made plans with Chenchen and Taotao and Wang Zi and Dong Xinyue, but my granny insisted on dragging me along to visit relatives and we only just got back. I’m gonna be late!”

Seeing how frantic he was, Qiao Ning lifted him into the cab.

The driver’s seat was single, but it was roomy for one person—one small kid more didn’t crowd it at all.

Once aboard, Little Tangyuan stopped fretting and watched Qiao Ning start the vehicle with wide-eyed curiosity, looking left and right. “Uncle Little Qiao, your ride is so cool. When my dad comes home, I’m gonna make him buy one just like it.”

Qiao Ning held back a laugh. “Your dad will buy you a better one.”

Little Tangyuan pursed his lips and launched into a rambling speech about his dad—how his dad wouldn’t buy one, but his mom definitely would, his mom had been wanting a car forever.

Qiao Ning hummed along absently. The village was only so big; before long, he’d delivered Little Tangyuan to the Back Slope.

The boy hopped down and immediately bolted for the woods. Qiao Ning, seeing no other children in sight, grew uneasy and called him back. “I’ll walk you to find them.”

Little Tangyuan’s eyes darted around, and he refused over and over. “No need, Uncle Little Qiao! You go on home!”

Children can’t hide anything. The moment that guilty expression appeared, Qiao Ning sensed something was off. He pulled the keys and got out, shutting the door.

“What exactly did you all agree to do?”

Little Tangyuan turned and ran—but what could a stubby-legged kid do against Qiao Ning? Two steps in, he was caught by the collar and hauled back.

“Tell me, or I’m taking you home to your granny,” Qiao Ning threatened.

“How can you do this?!” Little Tangyuan’s eyes went round. “And I thought we were on the same team!”

“Same team, what team.” Qiao Ning put on a fierce face. “If you’re out doing bad things, I want no part of your team.”

“It’s not bad things!”

Little Tangyuan flailed his arms, baring fangs and brandishing claws. “We’re going to fight the monster!”

“Monster? What monster?”

Qiao Ning’s unease deepened. Little Tangyuan clenched his teeth and refused to say more, so Qiao Ning pulled out his phone, ready to call Second Aunt Yang—and the other kids’ parents too. They had to be told.

The moment the phone came out, a chorus of wailing rose suddenly from the woods. Qiao Ning whipped his head around, and his soul nearly left his body.

Several children were running toward him, crying as they fled—and behind them, a swarm of bees hung tight to their heels, launching attack after attack.

Wang Zi was the youngest. Mid-run he took a tumble, and a sting welled up on his head almost instantly.

Nothing else mattered. Qiao Ning shoved the phone back into his pocket, dumped Little Tangyuan into the cargo bed, and barked, “Don’t move!”

Then, stripping off his jacket and throwing it over his head, he sprinted over, scooped up Wang Zi and Chenchen—the two slowest runners—wrapped them in the jacket, and tossed them into the cab. Taotao and Dong Xinyue were faster; by the time Qiao Ning turned to fetch them, they’d almost reached the vehicle.

He lifted the kids aboard and roared, “Hold on tight and sit still!”

Then he flung the door open, started the engine, and fled at top speed.

By the time the motor caught, the fastest bees were already thudding against the glass. He had no idea whether any of the kids had been stung—the wailing behind him was a wall of sound—but the cab could only hold so many; stuffed full, he couldn’t have driven at all.

It was the fastest Qiao Ning had ever driven in the village. He kept checking his mirrors, and mercifully shook off the main swarm; only a few stragglers followed.

When the tricycle barrelled into the village, a chorus of children’s crying quickly drew villagers out of their homes.

One or two kids crying might mean mischief and a parental scolding, but this many children sobbing at once? Anyone who heard had to come take a look.

And what a look it was—Wang Zi had truly become a little prince: three bumps lined up in a neat row on his head.

The other children had stings scattered across their faces and bodies to varying degrees. Only Little Tangyuan’s exposed skin looked more or less intact—but the sight of his friends’ misery had terrified him, or maybe he’d simply predicted the beating to come, because he was bawling the loudest of all.

Qiao Ning stopped the vehicle, explained the situation briefly, and asked where the kids should be taken—was there a clinic at the Village Committee? He thought there was a medical room.

Some villagers went off to notify the parents; others swatted down the honeybees that had chased them all this way.

An experienced villager examined the swarm carefully and relaxed. “Not hornets—those are honeybees. Nothing serious. Just have the village doctor pull the stingers and dab on some soapy water.”

By then the parents had all been summoned. They came rushing over, and seeing the state of their children—angry and aching for them at once—they grumbled and cursed as they lifted the kids down from Qiao Ning’s tricycle, then turned to thank him.

Qiao Ning was still shaken. He’d heard Second Aunt Yang grumble about Little Tangyuan and company being little terrors, but he’d never felt it—had found the kids rather well-behaved, far more adorable than the brats he used to meet.

Who knew that the moment this pack of children decided to act up, they’d go big—attacking a beehive as a “monster”? Whose stroke of genius had that been?!

One by one the children were collected by their parents. Second Aunt Yang arrived leading a howling Little Tangyuan and came to thank Qiao Ning.

Little Tangyuan’s luck had held: his lateness had kept him out of the actual hive-poking, then he’d been the first one tossed into the cargo bed, and the pursuing bees hadn’t landed a single sting on him. Of all the children, he alone walked away unscathed.

Whereupon he was soundly spanked on the spot by Second Aunt Yang. The children who hadn’t yet left, seeing their friend beaten so thoroughly, lowered their own crying a notch out of sheer terror.

That beating was precisely why Second Aunt Yang had come over last.

“We owe you big today, Little Qiao.” Second Aunt Yang was still trembling at the thought of it.

Honeybees were less venomous than hornets, true—but without Qiao Ning, who knew what state the children would have been stung into? Enough stings could cause real harm.

Qiao Ning exchanged a few polite words, feeling wrung out body and soul, and was just about to take his leave when he raised a hand—and belatedly realized his right hand hurt. Badly.

He lifted it to look and found a big welt on the back of his hand. Probably stung while running over to grab Wang Zi—he’d been too frantic to notice at the time.

“Oh my, Little Qiao, you got stung too!” Second Aunt Yang frowned deeply at the sight. Such a beautiful pair of hands, marred by a huge swollen bump—it hurt just to look at.

The villagers still gawking perked up at that. “Quick, go to the village doctor, have him pull the stinger!”

Second Aunt Yang’s mind worked fast, and she boomed, “Why bother the village doctor? It’s just Old Wang there, and his eyes are going. He’ll be busy for ages just pulling stingers out of that pack of children. If Little Qiao goes over, he’ll be waiting till who knows when.”

“Then the town clinic?”

“The neighboring village—the neighboring one’s closer…”

Second Aunt Yang asked, “Little Qiao, can you still drive?”

Qiao Ning nodded. His hand did hurt, but he could manage.

“All right then, drive yourself home.” With that, Second Aunt Yang told a still-sniffling Little Tangyuan to march himself home and behave, then climbed into Qiao Ning’s cargo bed.

Before Qiao Ning could react, she was shouting from behind the vehicle: “Your brother’s back, isn’t he? He’s a doctor—a proper one, trained at university, no less! Pulling out a little bee stinger is nothing to him. Hurry up and get home and let him see to it!”