"Oh, you..." The child’s tears instantly extinguished the anger in Yang Yufeng’s heart. Her hand, clutching the stove poker, fell to her side. She turned to Little Lingdang and said, "Don’t cry. Your uncle is still here."

"It’s alright, it’s alright," Zhao Jun quickly interjected. He suddenly remembered something and pulled a package wrapped in Butter Paper from his satchel. He opened it, only to find another package wrapped in Butter Paper. After unwrapping two more layers, four large biscuits were revealed. Zhao Jun had bought them that morning, originally intending to save them for Du Chunjiang, but after eating Jiang Jinyou’s dumplings for lunch, the biscuits were left over.

"Don’t cry, little one. Look, Uncle has something yummy for you," Zhao Jun said, patiently coaxing the little girl.

He remembered that in his previous life, after returning to the village in disgrace, he had been missing his son one day. His heart heavy with sorrow, he went to the riverbank alone to fish.

Coincidentally, he sat there all morning without a single bite.

Zhao Jun grew stubborn, even refusing to go home for lunch, and just kept sitting by the river.

Just then, Little Lingdang happened to pass by. She called out, "Uncle Zhao," and explained she was back to see Yang Yufeng. She had bought a few pounds of flaky pastries and insisted on giving Zhao Jun a bag full of them.

Unable to refuse, Zhao Jun sat by the river and started eating. After two pastries, his mood suddenly lifted, and then he caught three crucian carp in a row.

...

Seeing that Zhao Jun had calmed his daughter down and that his wife’s anger had subsided, Zhang Yuanmin sat up. He looked at Little Lingdang and said, "This kid’s got quite a temper. Takes after her mother."

The words had barely left his mouth when three pairs of eyes—Zhao Jun’s, Yang Yufeng’s, and Little Lingdang’s—all turned to stare at him.

"Brother," Zhao Jun chided him. "You really need to listen to Sister-in-law. If something were to happen to you in the mountains, what would she do? What would become of Lingdang?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, brother," Zhang Yuanmin said, shaking his head. "I’ll listen to you all. I won’t go messing with Black Bears anymore."

"There, that’s more like it," Zhao Jun said. "It just so happens the teamster went home, and it’ll be a few days before he’s back. You can rest up at home for a few days, then come with me to the Logging Camp. Doing some work and earning some money is a much more stable plan."

"Yeah, yeah." At this point, Zhang Yuanmin would have agreed to anything Zhao Jun said.

Seeing Zhang Yuanmin was finally being sensible, Yang Yufeng shot Zhao Jun a grateful look before going to the outer room to cook.

By the time Zhang Yuanmin finished dinner, it was almost seven o’clock. Zhao Jun said his goodbyes to the family of three and left the Zhang family’s home to head back to his own.

He walked at a brisk pace, and after a while, he saw two figures ahead of him, staggering along with their arms slung around each other’s shoulders.

The shorter man on the left was none other than his father, Zhao Youcai. The one on the right was Li Baoyu’s father, Li Dayong.

One look was all it took to see that the two of them were drunk.

Zhao Jun hurried to catch up, intending to support them. But as he got closer, he heard Zhao Youcai say to Li Dayong, "Dayong, how’s your Ruhai doing?"

"He can get out of bed now," Li Dayong said. "But I’ve got him confined to the house. Xiaomei’s been watching him these past couple of days; we don’t dare let him out."

"That’s the right move," said Zhao Youcai. "You have to watch him closely. If he gets out and tells everyone about our... I mean, *your* hidden money, think how much face you’d lose."

"Mmm," Li Dayong grunted in response.

Zhao Youcai added, "Brother, you have to take this seriously. You just became a leader. If word gets out, what authority will you have left?"

"Damn!" Li Dayong was suddenly taken aback. "You’re right. That little brat’s mouth is as loose as they come..."

Hearing Li Dayong cursing, Zhao Jun felt a sense of helplessness. But then he saw his father’s foot slip and his body lurch, so he rushed forward to steady Zhao Youcai.

"Hey, my son!" Zhao Youcai seemed half-drunk, his spirits unusually high.

With Zhao Jun in the middle, supporting Zhao Youcai on one side and Li Dayong on the other, they slowly made their way home.

As they were nearing his front door, Zhao Jun remembered something and asked Li Dayong, "Uncle Li, you’ve read a lot of books. Do you know who Wei Yan is?"

"Wei Yan?" Li Dayong laughed. "He was just an idiot."

"Huh?" Zhao Jun was stunned.

Li Dayong waved his arm in a circle and chuckled. "He was over there, making a big racket, shouting, ’Who dares to kill me? Who dares to kill me?’ and then some guy comes up from behind and chops his head off with one swing. I mean, what do you call that?"

"Well..." At that moment, Zhao Jun could only think, ’This doesn’t sound like what Big Pants told me at all.’

Meanwhile, Zhao Youcai piped up from the other side, "See? Just an idiot."

With that, the two drunken old friends burst out laughing.