Chapter 128: Let Me See Who Dares

“You’re talking nonsense!” Zhuzi shouted, “We saw them first! If we hadn’t piled up stones to cover the watermelons, wild pheasants and rabbits in the mountain would have eaten them by now.”

Zhuangzi angrily retorted, “Exactly! When we were moving stones to build the shelter, where were you all claiming the watermelons? Now that we got them, you’re jealous and insisting you saw them first. Have you no shame?”

These words caused Bai Xi to involuntarily glance towards one of the stone piles.

In truth, there were many stone piles around here. If it weren’t for Xiao Shanzi and Xiao Liuzi standing there, Bai Xi probably wouldn’t have noticed that one spot had two watermelons.

Unexpectedly, these kids were quite clever.

She thought about how they hadn’t been pestering her lately — turns out they were guarding these watermelons.

The children from Xiaxin Village contending for the watermelons showed a flicker of panic on their faces, but quickly shouted out, “Who believes that? There are piles of stones everywhere — here and there. You say you made these piles now? Who saw that?”

Zhuangzi and Xiao Shunzi’s eyes reddened with anger as they shouted back, “We made them! All of us saw it!”

“That doesn’t count! How do we know you’re not lying just to steal our watermelons?”

“It’s not true! They’re our watermelons!” shouted Xiao Shitou, his voice cracking with anger.

They were both furious and aggrieved — they had never seen such shamelessness. These watermelons were theirs; they had spotted them first and hidden them.

Every day, they came from far away carrying water to sprinkle on the melons, fearing they wouldn’t grow without enough moisture. Last time, they accidentally trampled their aunt’s watermelon seedlings, and after so much effort, finally found a few watermelons and tended to them carefully, just waiting for them to ripen to offer as a gift to their aunt.

Now, to have them snatched away like this — who could swallow that grudge?

If Bai Xi hadn’t spoken up, Xiao Shunzi and the others were on the verge of charging forward to fight the kids from Xiaxin Village.

“Hey, who’s shameless here? It’s you folks from Niuluo Village who have no shame!” came the retort.

“Exactly! You from Niuluo Village are the bullies here. These watermelons are ours — don’t even think about taking them away!”

The insults escalated rapidly, young and old, men and women, all shouting together.

The people from Xiaxin Village refused to back down, and neither did those from Niuluo Village.

“What nonsense are you spouting? It was clearly discovered by us from Xiaxin Village. You have no shame coming here trying to steal them!”

“You’re the ones talking rubbish! Shameless! These watermelons were spotted by our village kids and carefully guarded for two months. How could it suddenly be that you saw them first?”

“Exactly! If you keep this up, don’t blame us for being rude,” the Xiaxin villagers warned, already raising their voices.

“Rude to us? How dare you be rude to us?” came a mocking laugh.

“Hahaha! Did you hear that? They say they’ll be rude to us,” said the Xiaxin villagers. Their village had over a hundred households, mostly wealthy, while Niuluo Village only had about eighty. It was obvious who had the upper hand.

“With just this few of you? Haha, are you joking?”

Not everyone recognized that the large white tiger was no ordinary dog. Seeing Bai Xi merely sitting atop the black beast, seemingly frightened and silent, someone from Xiaxin Village sneered, “Don’t think bringing a big wolfdog will scare us.”

“What wolfdog? I’ve seen wolfdogs — they don’t look like this. This is just a strange-looking big dog.”

What?

Wolfdog?

Xiao Hei was idly listening to the quarrel, unaware until he heard this. Instantly, he became furious.

He turned sharply towards the speaker, his tiger-like eyes glaring fiercely. Opening his mouth wide, a tremendous tiger roar thundered out.

“You’re the wolfdog! Your whole family’s wolfdogs!”

Frozen under Xiao Hei’s glare and deafened by the roar, those who had mocked him felt their legs weaken and collapsed to the ground, pale-faced and staring incredulously, stammering, “Th-this… this tiger? Is this a tiger?”

Everyone else was equally stunned, unable to breathe, let alone insult.

Nonsense! Zhou Dahhu wanted nothing more than to kick him, this useless creature. Why provoke a tiger when you could say anything else?

Meanwhile, Xiao Hei lowly growled at Bai Xi with frustration, “Master, I want to tear him to pieces. How dare he insult me!”

Bai Xi lightly tapped Xiao Hei’s head, annoyed: “Enough noise.” She was still sitting on his back, and that deafening roar nearly burst her eardrums.

Seeing Xiao Hei’s anger and Bai Xi’s displeasure, the people from Niuluo Village immediately quieted.

With their aunt here, they weren’t afraid even if their village had fewer people.

Originally, Chen Daliu wanted to pull Bai Xi aside — after all, if a fight broke out, it wouldn’t be good for their aunt to get hurt. But seeing the scene now, he felt much more at ease.

With Xiao Hei here, no one could lay a finger on their aunt.

After Bai Xi’s reprimand, Xiao Hei obediently lowered his head, whining in submission. His gentle demeanor made it impossible to associate him with the fierce beast ready to tear someone apart moments before.

Perhaps seeing Xiao Hei calmed, Zhou Dahhu finally gathered courage to speak: “Well, well, both sides have suffered losses. It’s just a fight between kids. Let’s both back down for today. There are two watermelons — each village can take one. That’s fair.”

“No!”

“Why? We took care of them,” Xiao Shanzi and Xiao Liuzi immediately protested.

The Xiaxin villagers wanted to argue, confident in their numbers, but looking at the large white tiger, they swallowed their words.

“Adults are speaking, kids keep quiet!” Zhou Dahhu scolded the two boys, then turned to Chen Daliu: “So, one watermelon per village. Whoever takes the other village’s watermelon, that village takes their people away, and we call it settled.”

Zhou Dahhu thought Chen Daliu would agree — after all, fights cause injuries, and it wasn’t worth it over two watermelons.

But Chen Daliu shook his head and sharply refused: “That’s unfair. The watermelons were found by our Niuluo villagers. You from Xiaxin Village came to snatch them and beat up our people. Where in the world is that fair?”

“If you don’t agree, what do you want?” Zhou Dahhu deliberately avoided looking at Bai Xi and Xiao Hei, bolstering his courage as he angrily asked, “Do you really want a bloody fight?”

Xiao Shitou shouted, “Fight if you want! We’re not afraid!”

“Yes, we’re not afraid!” Xiao Shunzi and the others nodded in agreement.

“These are for us to honor our aunt. Let’s see who dares take them away.”