Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

"Gu Niannian, you stop right there!"

A loud shout, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, resounded at the noisy school gate after school.

Gu Niannian stopped in her tracks.

She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.

That voice contained a mixture of a child's sharpness and spoiled arrogance.

It's Zhao Xiaohu.

He rushed over like a gust of wind with two henchmen, forming a triangular shape, and cornered the petite Gu Niannian against the wall.

The afternoon sun was blocked by their tall figures, casting a shadow on Gu Niannian's face.

"What do you want to do?"

Gu Niannian raised her head, her voice completely calm, as still as a deep pool.

Zhao Xiaohu was enraged by her calm and fearless demeanor.

What he hated most were her eyes—dark and deep, as if she knew everything but cared about nothing.

"What are you doing?"

Zhao Xiaohu laughed maliciously and snatched the homework book from Gu Niannian's arms.

The cover of that exercise book was specially wrapped in kraft paper by her father, Gu Yanqiu, with all four corners pressed flat.

Inside the notebook were her neatly written characters, stroke by stroke.

"I'll teach you to be more capable! I'll make you number one in the exam!"

Zhao Xiaohu grinned maliciously, raised his arm high, and then swung it down sharply!

"Splash—"

The brand-new exercise book, like a butterfly with a broken wing, drew a sad arc in the air and fell straight into a muddy puddle by the roadside.

It had just rained yesterday, and the ditch was filled with yellowish-black mud.

The notebook fell in and was instantly soaked in the sewage. Several pages quickly became soft and rotten, and the clear handwriting on them blurred into smudges.

The students watching the commotion gasped in surprise.

Several timid girls couldn't bear it any longer and covered their eyes.

Zhou Xiaomei was so angry her face turned pale. She rushed forward to argue with Zhao Xiaohu: "Zhao Xiaohu! You've gone too far! How could you just throw other people's things around like that!"

One of Zhao Xiaohu's henchmen immediately stopped Zhou Xiaomei.

"Zhou Xiaomei, this is none of your business! If you say another word, I'll throw yours away too!"

Zhao Xiaohu didn't even look at Zhou Xiaomei; all his attention was on Gu Niannian.

He just wanted to see her cry!

She was like any other bullied country girl, sitting on the ground throwing a tantrum, rolling around, and wailing loudly!

That's the only way to appease his anger!

However, Gu Niannian's reaction disappointed him once again.

She simply glanced at the notebook slowly sinking into the mud puddle.

Then, she raised her eyes, her gaze passing over Zhao Xiaohu, and looked at a middle-aged man not far behind him, who was leaning against the gate of the commune compound, smoking and looking in this direction.

The man was wearing a slightly worn blue khaki cadre uniform and had his hair slicked back in a parting.

With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he watched everything unfold with great interest, as if watching a good show.

Gu Niannian recognized him.

This person would occasionally come to the school to see Principal Wang.

Zhou Xiaomei once pointed at him and whispered to herself.

"That man is Zhao Xiaohu's father, Zhao Youfu. He's a clerk in the commune, and he's very powerful!"

Zhao Youfu, a commune official.

In Gu Niannian's mind, the invisible net instantly became clearer.

My maternal grandmother's family lived in Zhao Family Village.

Zhou Ming from the Civil Affairs Bureau is a relative of the Zhao family.

Zhao Xiaohu's father, Zhao Youfu, is Zhou Ming's cousin.

Therefore, Zhao Xiaohu's grandmother, or maternal grandmother, also had the surname Zhao.

They are all poisonous gourds that grew from the same vine.

Gu Niannian pursed her lips, her expression extremely indifferent and cold.

She finally understood.

Zhao Xiaohu's hostility towards her was not only due to jealousy of her grades, nor was it solely because she was "from the countryside".

The deeper reason lies with the family behind him.

It was those adults who, at the dinner table or during casual conversations, made those unintentional murmurs filled with contempt and malice.

"That Gu Yanqiu's daughter is a jinx."

"I heard that her mother died in childbirth, and that she was the one who killed her."

"Her ungrateful father dared to sever ties with the Zhao family; he must have a death wish!"

These words, like poison, seeped into Zhao Xiaohu's immature heart, which was already filled with prejudice and arrogance.

Therefore, bullying her became a matter of course, and even something that could be used to curry favor with the adults.

Having figured all this out, Gu Niannian withdrew her gaze.

She stopped looking at Zhao Xiaohu and the destroyed homework.

She bent down and squatted down beside the mud puddle, oblivious to everyone else.

She stretched out her thin little hands and, little by little, fished the pages of paper covered in mud out of the sewage.

Her movements were slow and gentle, carrying a solemnity beyond her years.

It was as if she had retrieved not a destroyed homework assignment, but a rare treasure.

Muddy water dripped through her fingers, soiling the cuffs of her new cotton-padded jacket.

But she didn't care at all.

She picked them up page by page, one after another.

Carefully unfold the papers that were still recognizable and place them on a relatively clean stone next to them.

She remained silent throughout the entire process.

She didn't cry.

There was no cursing.

He didn't even glance at Zhao Xiaohu again.

This extreme calmness, this feeling of being completely ignored, filled Zhao Xiaohu with an unprecedented sense of panic and anger.

He felt as if he had punched cotton with all his might, soft and yielding no force.

"You...you're mute!"

He roared in exasperation.

Gu Niannian finally finished picking up the last page.

She stood up and gently patted Zhou Xiaomei's shoulder with her hand that was still clean of mud, signaling her not to worry.

Then, she turned her head and looked at Zhao Xiaohu again.

Her eyes remained calm.

But beneath that calm lay a chilling aura that sent shivers down Zhao Xiaohu's spine.

"Zhao Xiaohu".

She called his name softly.

"Your father is Zhao Youfu, a cadre in the commune."

"Your uncle is Zhou Ming from the county civil affairs bureau."

"Your maternal grandmother's family is the Zhao family in Wangjia Village."

With each word she spoke, Zhao Xiaohu's face paled a little more.

Everyone in the commune knew about these things; they weren't secrets.

But when this five-and-a-half-year-old girl spoke in a factual, emotionless tone, it filled him with a strange sense of fear.

It felt as if all of his cards had been laid bare.

"I've got it."

After saying the last three words, Gu Niannian ignored him, turned around, and pulled Zhou Xiaomei, who was still in a daze, towards home.

She walked very, very slowly on her way home.

The setting sun stretched her shadow long.

She kept her head down, her small figure appearing somewhat lonely.

She went through this clue in her mind again and again.

Zhao Shi, Liu Cuihua, Song Jianguo, Song Jianjun... This is a lineage from my maternal grandmother's family.

Zhou Ming from the Civil Affairs Bureau, Zhao Youfu from the Commune, Zhao Xiaohu from the School... This is another line they extended by using their power and kinship.

These two lines, like venomous snakes, intertwined to form a huge, invisible net that surrounded her and her father from all directions.

The enemies in your life will not necessarily appear in front of you in person.

They will lurk in the shadows, using their children, their relatives, their power, to harm you in all sorts of ways.

Gu Niannian raised her head, looking at the sky dyed red by the sunset, and spoke softly, as if she were telling someone.

"Mom, look."

"Bad people always end up together."

At that moment, this five-and-a-half-year-old girl fully understood the cruel rules of the adult world.

But what's the use of just understanding?

The Zhao family's connections continued to exert an invisible influence within the commune.

She's just a second-grade elementary school student. How can she protect herself at school?

At the same time, how can we avoid being dragged into a deeper quagmire by this dark and tangled thread?