Those people hadn’t expected the young girl to ask such a question. They hesitated for a mont before revealing that they were mostly in their thirties or forties.
Zhao Zhitong said with a look of disgust, "Wow, I’m only four and a half years old, and I already know the importance of integrity! You’re all so old, yet you don’t. How shaful!"
Being mocked by a four-and-a-half-year-old child, the villagers’ faces burned with sha.
One of them tried to step forward and grab Zhao Zhitong, but Sun Youwei imdiately shielded her behind him.
Zhao Zhitong wasn’t afraid of them and continued, "The Teacher said that people without integrity cannot be trusted. Now that you’ve shown such a lack of integrity, we can’t do business with you anymore. In the future, my uncle will not buy herbs from your village!"
She then took Sun Youwei’s hand and said fiercely, "Uncle, let’s go to the next village."
Sun Youwei imdiately nodded and began packing things onto the cart.
Those villagers, seeing this, panicked. If Sun Youwei stopped buying their herbs, they would lose an important source of inco.
So they hurriedly tried to stop him, "Doctor Sun, Doctor Sun, don’t go! If you don’t buy our herbs, who will we sell them to?"
"There’s a buyer in the county town; you can take your herbs there to sell," Sun Youwei said, his expression displeased. "I think my little niece is right. People without integrity shouldn’t be trusted."
Seeing that Sun Youwei was determined to leave, the villagers quickly called the Village Chief over.
Finally, after a great deal of apologizing, and after several hot-tempered villagers had even beaten and scolded the deceitful ones, the matter was resolved.
But Zhao Zhitong’s impression of Ya Village was already ruined. She didn’t chat with the locals while collecting herbs and left imdiately after finishing.
As they left the mountain village, Zhao Zhitong said to Sun Youwei, "Uncle, Grandpa Bai said that testing people’s bottom lines is a sign of human weakness. If you keep compromising, they’ll relentlessly try to lower your standards to seek benefits for themselves. So, in the future, we must be more assertive and show them our bottom line cannot be crossed."
Sun Youwei stared in surprise at Zhao Zhitong, who seed like a little adult. He marveled at her wisdom; she was indeed making a lot of sense. So, he nodded. "Alright, Uncle will listen to you."
The pair continued to visit two more villages before finally heading ho under the beautiful sunset.
Having visited nurous villages, four-and-a-half-year-old Zhao Zhitong was exhausted. She had already fallen asleep in the bamboo basket on the cart.
Sun i didn’t wake her up but instead gently carried her into the house and laid her on the bed.
When dinner was ready, Zhao Zhitong woke up by herself. Feeling groggy, she opened her eyes, saw the dim light, and thought it was already the next evening.
So, after a mont of confusion, she shouted, "Oh no, I missed school ti! Mom, Mom!"
Hearing Zhao Zhitong’s cry, Sun i rushed into the room. "What’s the matter? What’s this about school? Are you still sleepy?"
Zhao Zhitong sat on the edge of the bed, still crying and sniffling. Sun Daqing and the others also ca in to tease her, making her even angrier and causing her to bare her teeth at them.
After dinner, the children squatted in the courtyard to play. Sun Daqing and the others wrote the nas of county towns that Zhao Zhitong had taught them on the ground.
Zhao Zhitong, however, was fascinated by a colony of ants at the edge of the vegetable garden.
Thus, driven by imnse curiosity, she called out to Sun i, who was at the kitchen doorway, "Mom, Mom, what are those ants doing, running back and forth?"
Sun i replied, "They’re probably looking for food."
So, Zhao Zhitong took a closer look and indeed saw several ants carrying a grain of rice.
Zhao Zhitong shook her little head and said in a childish tone, "Wow, they’re so lazy. Don’t they cook for themselves?"
Her innocent words amused her aunts-in-law.
At this mont, Grandpa Bai in the space spoke, "Young girl, take a closer look. Are the ants carrying things to higher ground?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhitong leaned her face closer and studied the line of ants on the ground again. Sure enough, she noticed that the ants moving upwards were all carrying things on their heads. Excitedly, she said, "Yes, yes they are!"
Grandpa Bai chuckled. "They are moving house. As the saying goes, ’Ants moving house, snakes crossing paths; heavy rain will soon co to pass.’ This ans bad weather is on its way."
Curious, Zhao Zhitong asked more questions, and Grandpa Bai happily chatted with her, carefully explaining the subject.
Grandpa Bai explained in detail, and Zhao Zhitong listened attentively. Though she might not have understood everything, she felt that Grandpa Bai knew a lot and that what he said was right. Full of excitent and admiration, she happily shared with everyone, "Mom, it’s going to rain!"
Sun i laughed. "Is that so? How did you know?"
Zhao Zhitong looked proud and said mysteriously, "The ants told ."
Upon hearing this, her young cousins rushed over and squatted down to watch. Sun Daqing even put his ear to the anthill and listened.
After a while, Sun Daqing looked doubtful. "Little Cousin, are you lying? Ants can’t talk."
The other young cousins also nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I didn’t hear anything either."
Zhao Yu, however, said, "Hmm, maybe Sister is smarter, and the ants only talk to her."
Sun Daqing looked enviously at Zhao Zhitong. "Little Cousin, is that true?"
Zhao Zhitong shook her head and sighed silently. They’re so silly, she thought. How could ants talk?
Seeing the young girl shaking her head and sighing, Sun i smiled helplessly. "You’re too young to sigh. You’ll sigh all your good luck away."
Zhao Zhitong imdiately smiled broadly.
anwhile, her young cousins kept pestering her to tell them what the ants had said.
Zhao Zhitong tapped Sun Daqing’s little head. "What nonsense are you talking? How can ants talk? It’s because the ants are moving house! When ants move house, it ans it’s going to rain."
The little ones were suddenly intrigued and flopped down on the ground to examine the ants.
Sun Daji said happily, "I know that! My mom told that when ants move house, it’s going to rain. I also know that when swallows fly low, it’s going to rain."
Sun Daqing also chid in, "I know, I know! I also know that when dragonflies fly low, it’s going to rain."
Then the children ran out of the courtyard to find swallows and dragonflies to verify their claims.
"Wow, the swallows are really flying low!"
"The dragonflies are flying low too."
The children beca so excited that they chased after the swallows in the sky, running around cheerfully.
As they ran, they chattered and giggled, and for a while, the courtyard was filled with lively sounds.
"Let’s catch a dragonfly!" Sun Daqing suddenly suggested. "We can put it inside the mosquito net, and it can eat mosquitoes!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)