A jinx, me? But I bring good fortune to my whole family!

Xiao An froze, too frightened to move.

Not far behind him, five teenagers approached. The one leading them was named Wang Hu, who was on friendly terms with Gu Xiaoyong. He was tall and strong with a menacing face, and the others behind him were also idle, troublemakers from school.

Xiao An was familiar with these people. Back in school, they, along with Da Yong and Xiao Yong, often bullied him. They would steal his lunch, tear up his books, and even make him do chores.

If he disobeys or is even slightly slow, he will be punched and kicked.

They also warned themselves not to tell their parents.

Xiao An was timid and knew that her grandmother sided with her second uncle's family, so she dared not tell her parents.

Several people walked up to Xiao An. Wang Hu stared intently at the pheasant in Xiao An's arms and licked his lips.

Now that the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, the people are starving, so many people are going up the mountains to try their luck, but very few actually manage to catch any wild animals.

"Well, Gu Xiaoan, you're not so unlucky. You actually found such a big pheasant. We're all starving, so you can have it."

As Wang Hu spoke, he reached out to snatch it.

Xiao An took a step back in fright, but the pheasant hugged her even tighter, its voice soft but its tone firm, "This is mine!"

"Yours?"

Wang Hu gave a mocking laugh, and the men behind him joined in the commotion, "Gu Xiaoan, you say he's yours, then call out to him and see if he answers!"

"Whatever's on the ground belongs to whoever finds it, but we're taking this chicken today!"

The men looked fierce and were itching to fight. Xiao An was scared, but she remembered that her sister had found the chicken, so she absolutely couldn't give it away.

"No!"

Xiao An took off running, knowing he was no match for them.

Although he was quite tall, he was thin and weak, no match for the children. In the blink of an eye, he was caught up by them, and Wang Hu punched him.

"Hey, haven't seen you in a few days, you've really gotten better at things?"

"You won't even listen to what I say!"

Xiao An was hit in the face, and his nose was bleeding profusely, but he still held onto the pheasant tightly with both hands and refused to let go.

Several other thugs surrounded Xiao An and began punching and kicking him. Tears streamed down Xiao An's face from the pain, but he still wouldn't let go.

Nuannuan was still sleeping in when suddenly the terrified cawing of a crow echoed in her mind.

[Baby, wake up! Your brother got hit!]

[So much blood!]

The old crow flew back and forth anxiously, wanting to go down and help, but there were too many bad people down there.

His eyes darted around, and he quickly flew home to find someone.

Nuannuan opened her eyes abruptly, didn't even put on her clothes, put on her shoes, and rushed into her mother-in-law's kitchen.

Su Xiulan was cooking when she looked up and saw her little daughter, her tiny hands gripping the kitchen knife tightly, stumbling and running outside.

"Don't you dare bully my brother!"

The little girl's voice was both cute and fierce as she rushed out of the yard.

"Stop, you bad guy!"

The village was quiet in the morning, but Wang Hu still managed to hear the little girl's voice.

The group turned around and saw a little baby running out, wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket and holding a kitchen knife that was half her size.

"Hahaha, where did this little brat come from?" Wang Hu laughed. "Gu Xiaoan, your sister? Who are you trying to scare with a knife?"

They were laughing when a dark shadow pounced down from above.

"ah--"

Wang Hu screamed in pain, felt a sharp pain on his scalp, and touched it to find it covered in blood.

It was Xiao Hei! Its claws scratched Wang Hu's head, and its sharp beak pecked at his face.

Behind Nuannuan, a tall figure appeared out of nowhere.

It is Da'an.

He didn't say a word, he just stood there, protecting his younger siblings behind him.

"Second brother!"

Nuannuan ran to Xiao An's side and saw the injury on his face; tears welled up in her eyes.

She shoved the kitchen knife into the ground, raised her little fist, and yelled at Wang Hu, "You bad guys! You hit my brother! I'll kill you all!"

Wang Hu, having been pecked by a crow and then threatened by a little brat, lost face and roared, "Beat this idiot and this little brat together!"

Five thugs rushed toward the three children.

The area outside the courtyard was in complete chaos.

Wang Hu reached out to grab Nuan Nuan, but Xiao Hei slapped him across the face with its wing. Another thug tried to kick Xiao An, but Da An grabbed his ankle and gave him a gentle push, sending him sprawling on his back.

Nuannuan was small, and she grabbed a thug's leg and bit him.

Xiao An also got up, wiped the blood off his face, picked up a stone and rushed towards it.

The three siblings, along with a crow, got into a fight with the five boys.

"Stop! Stop it, all of you!"

Hearing the commotion, Su Xiulan rushed out carrying a basin of rice-rinsing water. When she saw the scene in the yard, she loosened her grip, and the basin fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Da'an! Xiao'an! Nuannuan! What are you doing!"

She rushed over and pulled her child away.

When the thugs saw the adults arrive, they immediately stopped and lay on the ground groaning in pain.

Wang Hu and his parents also rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

"Su Xiulan! Look what your child has done! He beat my son like this!"

Wang Hu's mother rushed up and started cursing at Su Xiulan, pointing her finger at her nose.

"Exactly! This is outrageous! The eldest is stupid, the youngest is wicked, the whole family is bad! They need to pay compensation!"

"Pay up! The medical bills, the nutritional supplements—it won't be over until it's at least ten yuan!"

A group of people surrounded Su Xiulan, chattering away and spitting everywhere.

When Su Xiulan saw that her child was also injured—Xiao An's face was swollen and blood was flowing from the corner of her mouth—she was so scolded that she couldn't lift her head and could only apologize.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we were wrong, the child was just being immature..."

"Mother!"

Nuannuan tugged at Su Xiulan's sleeve, tilted her head back, and shouted, "It wasn't our fault! They hit Second Brother first! They tried to steal our chicken!"

She pointed to the plump pheasant on the ground, the evidence was conclusive.

Those women are not reasonable people at all.

"Bullshit! Pay up! It was clearly your kid who hit my son, he assaulted someone, what excuse are you making?"

"That's right, stop talking nonsense and pay up now, or we'll go to the brigade leader and report you to the commune."

"You idiot, you've picked up another jinx! And there's a living dead in the house too! Hurry up and pay up!"

Gu Jianguo straightened himself up on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and struggled to sit up.

The sounds of arguing outside drifted in intermittently. Although he couldn't make out the details, words like "idiot," "living dead," and "jinx" still reached his ears.

He felt a tightness in his chest!

He clenched his fist tightly and slammed it hard on the kang (a heated brick bed), his knuckles turning white!

These people are going too far!

They're taking advantage of the fact that no one in their family can handle things!

Now his wife and children are being bullied, and he, a grown man, can only lie on the kang (a heated brick bed), watching helplessly as his wife and children are humiliated, without even the strength to stand up and speak.

Gu Jianguo felt a burning anger inside him, unable to rise or fall.

He was not reconciled.

Gu Jianguo gritted his teeth and tried his best to sit up, but his arms went limp and he fell heavily back onto the kang (a heated brick bed).