When they reached the foot of the mountain, Shuqi avoided the villagers and made her way into the woods, guided by pure instinct. The morning breeze rushed toward her, carrying the scent of fresh grass, and she unconsciously stopped in her tracks to take a deep breath. Then, pulling a tree branch she had just picked up from the ground out of her back basket, she walked over to a pine tree a little to her left and behind her. Brushing the grass aside with the branch, she was greeted by a large cluster of porcini mushrooms. Perhaps because people rarely came this way, they had grown exceptionally well. A wave of joy washed over Shuqi, and she immediately picked up her tool and started digging into the cluster.
Just as Shuqi was digging away with enthusiasm, an ill-timed voice rang out from behind her.
"Are you that good-for-nothing from Granny Yu's place?" It sounded like a question, but the tone was certain, and her voice carried a trace of contempt. Shuqi turned her head to look at her. It was a little girl of about seven or eight, with a sallow complexion and a scrawny build, wearing extremely ragged clothes. Following closely behind her was another little girl, also around seven or eight, with a timid expression. After a moment of thought, realizing she did not know the girl at all, Shuqi simply went back to digging up the porcini mushrooms nearby.
"I'm talking to you. Why are you ignoring me?" Seeing that Shuqi was ignoring her, the girl grew somewhat angry, and her tone turned hostile—though, truth be told, it hadn't been very pleasant to begin with.
Sensing that trouble might be brewing, the little girl beside her hurriedly tugged at her sleeve and shook her head to stop her. Unexpectedly, she was shoved so hard by Wang Erya that she stumbled.
"Wang Xiaoya, what are you doing? Don't you want to play with us anymore?"
Though Shuqi looked like she was just picking mushrooms, she had actually been keeping an eye on the commotion nearby. She hadn't seen what Wang Xiaoya did, but hearing Wang Erya snap like that made her raise her eyebrows. Well, well, it seemed this girl made a regular habit of bullying the weak. She was just about to stand up and deliver some spontaneous justice.
Only to hear that same Wang Xiaoya anxiously deny it: "No, that's not it. I was just afraid of wasting time. You know I'm a bit cowardly, and besides, I heard she's really fierce."
Shuqi was dumbfounded. She desperately wanted to say, "Oh, thank you so much." Good grief, she had been making a fool of herself over nothing! All her righteous passion had gone to waste. People really needed to calm down first no matter what happened; there might just be a plot twist waiting.
She might as well just get back to her mushroom picking. Wasn't food delicious? Who had time to dispense justice? Did justice even approve of it?! And so, taking advantage of the other two being caught up in their bickering and failing to notice her previous movement, Shuqi went back to earnestly harvesting mushrooms.
"Fine, stay out of my business and stand aside."
Wang Xiaoya: "......" She obediently stepped aside, trying to make her presence as small as possible.
Seeing that her younger sister was being somewhat obedient, Wang Erya felt quite satisfied. But when she turned her head and saw the little girl under the pine tree digging away as if no one else was around, the anger she had managed to suppress flared right back up. She took a few steps toward Shuqi, and seeing her picking mushrooms, her eyes rolled. She raised her foot, aiming a vicious stomp. But Shuqi seemed to have known what she was going to do all along; the moment the foot came down, Shuqi paused her digging, leaned slightly to the side with an air of oblivious innocence, and dodged it. Then, wearing a look of sheer panic, she reached out with her right hand, grabbed the other girl's ankle, and gave it a violent downward wrench.
"Ow..."
"Thud." Along with that loud crash came the miserable screech of that scrawny girl, Wang Erya. She had landed flat on her rear...
Shuqi closed her eyes for a second. *Sigh, that sound alone hurt to listen to. Who knows if her bone cracked? So tragic.* That was what she thought inside, but on the outside, she still had to put on an act.
Shuqi let out a sharp "Hiss!" then slowly got to her feet, brushed the dirt off herself, and looked at Wang Erya with a wronged expression, refusing to say a word.
Seeing this, Wang Erya rubbed her sore backside, her face flushed red with anger as she pointed at Shuqi and started cursing, "You abandoned little bastard, how dare you play tricks on me!"
"You bet I did," Shuqi replied in her head, while outwardly keeping up the expression of *you've hurt me and you're a bad person*.
Wang Erya: "......" *Ah, why is this so infuriating? Especially after seeing that look on her face—I really want to tear her apart.*