Chapter 3: Song Little Cat

  "This is terrible, once Amu spreads it in the village with his big mouth, my old man will definitely nag me again tonight."

  Song Hu looked at Shen Chunhua's receding back and said with a sigh of regret.

  "Who told you to kill someone's pet duck?" Song Wen said with a smirk.

  "Wasn't it you who said it was a big bird that I shot?"

  "What's flying in the sky isn't a bird, how do I know the ducks in our village can fly that high? I rarely come back, okay? You little brat is always in the village, don't you know there are ducks that can fly so high? Your eyes aren't even bright, look again before hitting, being scolded is what you deserve."

  "Just now I didn't think so much..."

  Song Hu was left speechless by Song Wen's words, and then he thought to himself, this matter seemed like it was his fault too, how did it all become his mistake now, and for a moment, his eyes widened in surprise.

  "Hmph, in the end it's all my fault, you're completely innocent, you banana! If I don't beat you up today, my surname Song will be written backwards."

  As he spoke, he rushed towards Song Wen, who hastily ran away.

  Two people laughed and joked all the way to the village clinic.

  The owner of the clinic is called Ah Xi, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner who has inherited his skills from his ancestors.

  Two people arrived at the clinic, where a woman was busy examining a child.

  Song Wen rushed in and saw her, hastily calling out: "Elder sister."

  "Ah Fen responded with a sound, seeing Song Wen's arm was stained with blood, and asked: "What happened.""

  "He fell down," said Song Wen.

  "You're so big now but still so careless, sit over there, I'll wash it for you later."

  When they were young, Song Wen and Song Hu were regulars here. Sometimes they would get into mischief, breaking skin or getting their feet crushed by stones, or else they would shamelessly come to the store to beg for some dried tangerine peel or licorice root to make tea. They had become familiar faces around here. Ah Fen was already married, but she still came back to help out at the store from time to time. She had a younger brother who didn't come back often after joining the army a year ago. Her parents were old and there were many sick people in the family, so she couldn't bear to see her parents work hard, and simply worked at the family's own store instead.

  It turns out that Ah Fen is also a relative of Song Wen, but he doesn't know which specific branch of the family she belongs to. Anyway, he has to call her "Auntie", and sometimes when people get married or have weddings, he can see her face, it should be within the five degrees of mourning.

  Song Wen sat on a chair beside him waiting, Song Hu looked around bored.

  Just then, a loud shout came from outside: "Song Xiaomao..."

  Song Hu's legs trembled with fear as he glanced around, only to see a young girl on the street looking around, seemingly searching for someone.

  He took a look and shrunk his neck, quickly running up to the clinic building.

  Afeng finished watching the child, took the medicine bottle and came over to Song Wen to clean his wound. Seeing Song Hu rushing upstairs in a flurry, he couldn't help but ask: "What's wrong with him again? Is he causing trouble again?"

  "No... nothing!"

  Song Wen's eyes flickered as he replied.

  Afen took one look at him and knew something was amiss, but she didn't expose him. Instead, she took some anti-inflammatory medicine and began to clean his wound.

  Song Xiaomao

  At this time, the girl who was searching outside finally found her way in and asked Afen as soon as she entered the store: "Afen sister, have you seen Song Hu?"

  When he saw the girl coming in, Song Wen hastily sat up straight and seriously watched Ah Fen washing his wound, while Ah Fen couldn't help but laugh at the side.

  "What do you want him for?"

  "That guy actually killed my family's old wooden duck with a slingshot. If I don't beat him up, my name isn't Song Shuyan."

  Song Shuyan was so angry that she said, her eyes almost spitting fire.

  "Is it that duck that often bites people, flies high and often flies into other people's homes to steal food?"

  Song Wen didn't think that this duck was still so notorious, thinking to himself that Ah Hu had really hit the nail on the head, and this time it could be considered as getting rid of a scourge for the people.

  "Uh, Sister Afen, do you know where he is? Someone saw him coming into the store."

  "This..."

  Afeng hesitated and looked at Song Wen, unsure whether she should speak or not.

  Song Shuyan came in without looking around and saw Song Wen, immediately shouting at him: "Awen, where did Atiger go?"

  Others may not know, but she knows that the two of them have been in cahoots since childhood, and whenever one gets into trouble, the other is always present.

  Song Wen looked at Song Shu Xian, speechless. This woman was just like her mother, extremely hot-tempered, no wonder she was called Little Chili Pepper. When they were young, she would always follow behind him and Song Hu's buttocks, but after growing up, she wouldn't even give them a glance, instead looking at them with disdain, who knows if it was because of the "Girl's Puberty Syndrome".

  "How am I supposed to know."

  Song Wen would never say such a thing, but his eyes quietly glanced towards the staircase leading to the second floor, where he saw Song Hu was peeking out and looking around.

  Her eyes happened to catch Song Shuyan, and following her gaze, she saw Song Hu. Song Hu seemed to have seen her too, and suddenly ran away without a trace. Song Shuyan chased after him in an instant.

  After a while, the sound of "ping ping pong" came from upstairs; after a while, Song Shuyan walked down with a proud and satisfied expression, without even looking at Song Wen, and nodded to Ah Fen before leaving; it wasn't until later that Song Hu walked down slowly, his eyes were dark purple, his hair was messy, his face looked like it had been scratched, with blood oozing out, looking miserable.

  Looking at him like that, Song Wen almost burst out laughing and suppressed his smile, asking very enthusiastically: "What's going on?"

  "What else can I do, being hit by that little chili pepper Song Shuyan. If she weren't a girl, I would have kicked her to the ground and made her pee on my head. With such a savage and rough personality, she'll definitely be unable to get married in the future, and even if she does, she'll be a disaster for her husband's family. Ah, sister, help me wipe this off too. This little girl's hands are really vicious."

  He said, and with a swollen face, he leaned over to let Afen apply the medicine for him.

  Afen wiped it away with force.

  "Oh no, gently, sister, are you trying to murder me?"

  "I'm like this, otherwise you wipe it yourself." Ah Fen said with a glare.

  "That's it then."

  Song Hu's humble response: When a person is under the eaves of a house, he has no choice but to lower his head.

  Song Wen watched from the side with great amusement. Ah Fen was clearly doing it on purpose. This kid also needs someone to discipline him, or else he'll be lazy all day.

  After applying the medicine, he came to Song Hu's braised noodle shop on the street. The business of the braised noodle shop was not very good, and it could even be said that it was bleak.

  Nanzhou braised noodles are the most famous, and they're also very easy to make. It's just a matter of cooking sliced meat, shrimp, golden needles, fresh mushrooms, bamboo shoots, pork skin, and dried tofu in water, then seasoning it, thickening with egg whites and sweet potato starch, and finally adding some bean sprouts and scallions when eating. Everyone in Nanzhou knows how to make this dish.

  Song Hu's shop would probably do better if it were in the city, where people can eat braised noodles as a meal. But since it's in the countryside, it won't work. Moreover, there's a euphemism for death in the countryside - when someone dies, they say he went to "eat braised noodles". So some country folks aren't too fond of braised noodles either. Tourists who come here don't care about eating braised noodles, so his business is getting worse and worse. But he can't do anything about it, just muddling along like this.

  When Song Hu came into the store, his wife Huang Wenfeng was playing with their two-year-old daughter Qi Qi. Seeing Song Wen coming over, she hurriedly asked him to sit down.

  These past few days, Huang Wenfeng has been helping her mother-in-law prepare for her father-in-law's funeral, and she's been so busy that she's felt dizzy. The shop hasn't opened yet, but today is relatively quiet, so she finally opened the door to do business.

  Song Hu picked up his daughter who was being spoiled in her mother's arms and pointed at Song Wen saying: "Call him uncle."

  "Uncle." Qiqi called out obediently.

  Song Wen glanced at Song Hu and smiled, saying: "You should call him Uncle."

  "Are you older than me?"

  Song Hu listened and asked with wide eyes.

  "It's much better." Song Wen said in a bad tone.

  "That's what you call uncle, come on, call uncle."

  But his daughter was unwilling and struggled to open her arms, shouting loudly at Huang Wenfeng beside her: "Mom hug, mom hug."