The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

The mountain path became increasingly steep, and Bai Ci's physical strength was depleted much faster than expected.

Seeing this, Xiaoqi immediately exchanged some strawberry candies for him to replenish his energy. "Bye-bye, your points will be determined by your presence here. Make the most of this opportunity to turn things around and transform yourself. The better things get, the more points you'll accumulate!"

"Um."

Bai Ci unwrapped the candy, popped it into his mouth, and the candy melted on his tongue. The sweetness slid down his throat, and the stuffy feeling in his chest seemed to ease a little.

After driving for about ten minutes, another car came out from the bend in the mountain road.

This time it was a red sedan, the engine making a muffled sound, mixed with the metallic scraping noise.

The car slowed down and finally came to a stop, crooked and uneven, on the shoulder of the road. A wisp of white smoke rose from under the hood, standing out conspicuously in the twilight.

Bai Ci approached, and Xiao Qi said that the car was a luxury brand, but the model was outdated, the paint had lost its luster, and there were several scratches on the tires.

A middle-aged man in a dark suit climbed out of the driver's seat, slammed the car door shut, went around to the front of the car, and lifted the hood.

White smoke billowed out, choking him and forcing him to take two steps back, muttering a curse under his breath.

The passenger door opened as well.

A woman emerged, wrapped in a deep purple shawl, her satin dress reflecting the twilight.

She carefully avoided the pebbles on the road, her perfume wafting on the mountain breeze, so strong it was almost pungent.

She clutched the collar of her shawl to block the wind with one hand, and held a handbag with a fake designer logo in the other. Her lips were pursed into a thin line, and her expression was as if she was enduring something that shouldn't have happened to her.

"Are you even capable?" Her voice was shrill and high-pitched. "I told you not to rent this place! You insisted on trying to save money!"

"I'm greedy for a bargain?" The man poked his head out from behind the hood, his face flushed. "Didn't you think it was too expensive and insist on saving money? Now you're blaming me?"

"I told you to save on car rental fees, not to save on towing fees! Now look what's happened, it's not being towed at the foot of the mountain, it's stuck here halfway up the mountain—"

"Alright, alright, call a tow truck!"

The woman's perfume wafted over from more than ten meters away, so strong it was like a whole bottle had been spilled in the air, mixed with the smell of car air freshener and exhaust fumes, creating a peculiar, itchy mixture.

Bai Ci sniffed and walked along the roadside, intending to go around it.

The woman looked up and saw him.

She glanced at Bai Ci from head to toe: a children's sweatshirt, dinosaur pants, old sneakers, a jacket tied around his waist, and a cheap plastic bag in his hand.

She immediately made a judgment: this is not someone of high status; he is most likely the child of some contractor in the mountains, or a relative of some servant.

She gestured with her chin at Bai Ci: "Hey! You! Come and help!"

Bai Ci paused in his steps.

The woman pointed at the car: "What's wrong with this car? Do you even know how to look at it? If not, go to the back and put that warning triangle further away so other cars don't hit it." Her tone was like she was instructing a handyman.

Bai Ci looked at her but didn't move.

The woman noticed Bai Ci was still standing and frowned: "I told you to put the sign down, didn't you hear me?"

Bai Ci looked at her, her tone calm: "Are you talking to me?"

The woman was taken aback, probably not expecting this "child in a circus costume" to dare to ask a question.

"If it wasn't you, who else could it be?" Her tone worsened. "Besides you, is anyone else walking in these mountains?"

Bai Ci glanced at her, then at the man who was rummaging through the engine compartment.

"Are you deaf?" the woman raised her voice. "Come help! Hold this hood up; my husband can't handle it with all his hands!"

The man was still cursing the car rental company: "This piece of junk! If I rent from this company again, I'll change my name!"

"Did you hear me!" Seeing Bai Ci still didn't move, the woman raised her voice, taking a step forward with her high heels. "I called you over to help, to hold up a cover, not to fix a car! You're just standing there like a block of wood!"

Bai Ci slowly asked, "Is your hand broken?"

The woman was taken aback.

Her hand was still suspended in mid-air, her false eyelashes trembling twice, as if checking if there was anything wrong with her ears.

"Your hands," Bai Ci glanced at her hands, which were painted with bright red nail polish and were clutching her handbag, "if they're not broken, you can hold on yourself."

The woman's face flushed instantly, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her shawl: "What kind of attitude is that! Do you know who you're talking to?"

The man behind the hood straightened up, frowned, looked at his wife, then at Bai Ci: "What's going on?"

"That brat!" The woman pointed at Bai Ci, her finger trembling. "I asked him to come and help, and he cursed me, wishing my hand would break!"

The man's face darkened. He sized Bai Ci up and down, his gaze sweeping from the "Tiger Descending the Mountain" shirt to the old plastic bag, his contempt undisguised.

"Whose family are you?" he asked, approaching her in an interrogative tone. "Who brought you up here?"

Bai Ci did not answer.

"I'm asking you a question!" The man's voice rose, and he took a step forward, his finger almost poking Bai Ci's face. "Whose child is so ill-mannered? Dressed like this and wandering around on a mountain road, do you even know where you are?"

Xiaoqi exploded: "He's talking to you about manners? He's practically shoving his finger in your face! Talking to him about manners? Goodbye, don't hold back."

Bai Ci looked at him calmly: "Do you even know you stepped in dog poop?"

The man subconsciously glanced down at the soles of his leather shoes.

Very clean.

He realized he'd been tricked, and his neck instantly turned red: "You—"

Xiaoqi couldn't help but laugh and said, "Pfft—hahahahaha! He looked down! He really looked down! There was nothing on the sole of his shoe!"

"A car breaking down is bad luck, but taking your anger out on pedestrians is rude," Bai Ci said calmly. "Which do you think is more shameful?"

The man's mouth opened and closed repeatedly; he never expected this boy in children's clothes to dare speak to him like that.

In his worldview, the rich can always talk loudly to the poor, and he, Lao Zhou, is a person of standing in Yunliu City. How could he be publicly challenged by a mere brat?

"You little bastard—"

Bai Ci raised her hand and gently brushed aside the finger that was poking his face, then walked around him and continued up the mountain.

Watching Bai Ci leave.

Mrs. Zhou's scream rang out, startling the birds in the woods, who flapped their wings and scattered in all directions.

"Stop right there! You dare try to leave! Zhou Jianguo! You're just going to let him go like that? Didn't you hear him cursing me and saying my hand was broken!"

"Stop!" Zhou Jianguo shouted, but he didn't move forward for a long time.

He watched Bai Ci's retreating figure, wanting to chase after her but feeling it would be beneath him, yet unable to swallow his anger if he didn't.

Xiaoqi couldn't help but think to herself, "If you can just stop like that, what's the point of talking about turning things around? Let's just keep moving forward. If we turn back, I'll admit defeat."

The woman, enraged, shoved Zhou Jianguo hard, her anger flaring: "Are you even going to do anything about this, Lao Zhou? He just cursed me, saying my hand was broken!"

Bai Ci didn't stop walking at all, her cool voice drifting in on the evening breeze: "I didn't swear, I was just asking casually."

Xiaoqi was overjoyed: "Bai Bai, you've got such a good sense of proportion! You've clearly provoked her to the point of rage. She's probably so angry she'd stomp her heels to pieces right now. Remember to use this skill more often in the future."

Bai Ci turned straight around the corner of the mountain path and disappeared into the woods.

Mrs. Zhou stomped her feet in anger, her sharp, angry shouts ringing out: "You just wait! If we run into you again, you'll be in big trouble! Don't you even know who we are?"

"Stop yelling!" Zhou Jianguo snapped irritably. "They're long gone. Who are you going to hear you yelling at the top of your lungs?"

"Did I get insulted for nothing?"

"What did he say to you? You insulted him first!" Zhou Jianguo kicked a tire in frustration, utterly impatient. "I'm here for the Bai family banquet today, can you please stop causing trouble?"

These words instantly enraged Mrs. Zhou, who glared at him and began to argue.

"I'm causing you trouble? Zhou Jianguo, you dare say I'm causing trouble? Who was cowering like a quail when he was cursing at you just now? Huh? Why didn't you keep cursing? Why didn't you go up and hit him?"

Zhou Jianguo was speechless.

The two blamed and accused each other, their quarrel echoing through the mountains and forests for a long time before slowly dissipating into the twilight.