You Said It Yourself

Huo Huan stepped outside and saw a whole group of children, the ones who usually played with this child.

Seeing Huo Huan obediently come out when called, the children thought he was fairly obedient. How could he have gained the adults' attention before them? There was clearly nothing remarkable about him.

His own father did not like him. When he arrived, he had been dressed in tattered clothes and covered in injuries. If he had not returned to the Huo Household and put on the clothes they had prepared for him, he would have been no different from some country kid.

"Let's play leapfrog. It's fun. Put your hands on the ground, and then we'll see if we can jump over you."

Before Huo Huan could answer, another child's voice spoke first. "You can't bully him."

The children looked at Shen Zhuo, who was dressed very nicely, and all said they were not bullying Huo Huan, only playing. Had he never played leapfrog before?

Shen Zhuo truly had never played it before, so he told them to demonstrate it for him. Only then would he know whether it was really a game.

After returning to the Shen Household, everyone had spoiled Shen Zhuo, and he had become much bolder. So even surrounded by so many children, he was not afraid.

The children laughed and demonstrated for him. After jumping several times, they said, "See? We told you it was just a game."

Shen Zhuo was not fooled. "Then why did you call him to be the hurdle as soon as he came over? You didn't play rock-paper-scissors like you did just now."

"Were you planning to keep making him be the hurdle? You wanted to bully him, didn't you? You can't bully him."

Huo Huan looked at the child standing in front of him. He was even shorter than him, yet he still dared to come out. Was he not afraid of being beaten? Besides, Huo Huan did not need anyone's help.

"Go away." Huo Huan walked in front of Shen Zhuo as he spoke. He did not need anyone standing in front of him to shield him.

Shen Zhuo had not expected Huo Huan to be so annoying. He was clearly helping him, yet Huo Huan was telling him to leave.

Shen Zhuo said angrily, "I'm not leaving. You can't fight or cause trouble. I won't let them bully you, and you can't get angry either."

Huo Huan frowned. This kid was really bossy. He was even telling him he could not get angry. He could get angry if he wanted to, all right? What did it have to do with him?

Before they could finish arguing, the children suddenly ran away. When he saw the big dog charging out, Huo Huan understood what they were planning.

Leapfrog had merely been a pretense, something that really looked like a game. Their true purpose had probably been to let this dog out to bite him.

Perhaps they were even more vicious than that. Maybe they had planned to forcefully press him to the ground while playing leapfrog so he would have no chance to run.

They just had not expected that he would not play with them at all. Huo Huan glanced at the short-legged, short-armed child beside him. "Run already."

Shen Zhuo was a little stunned. How could they release a dog to bite people? That was too awful. Even if Huo Huan released a dog to bite them someday, they would deserve it. They were so bad.

Shen Zhuo and Huo Huan both ran as fast as they could. Suddenly, Shen Zhuo slipped and fell, rolling several times. Fortunately, he rolled down to a lower spot, and the dog did not come after him.

Shen Zhuo remembered Huo Huan. He was still being chased. Enduring the pain in his foot, Shen Zhuo stood up, picked up stones, and threw them at the dog. He deliberately chose big ones, determined to knock it unconscious.

Huo Huan knew Shen Zhuo had fallen, but he did not know him, and the dog was chasing him, so he focused on escaping first. He would deal with Shen Zhuo later.

But then he suddenly heard the dog yelp, along with the sounds of stones striking something and hitting the ground.

When he turned around, he saw Shen Zhuo standing at the bottom of the slope, constantly throwing stones at the dog. Enraged by the blows, the dog headed toward Shen Zhuo.

Shen Zhuo was furious. Why would this dog not get knocked out? Seeing it come toward him, he wanted to run, but his foot hurt. He felt that he might be done for.

Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncles, Zhuozhuo is going to be bitten by a big dog, sob... Shen Zhuo lowered his head, tears pattering down.

"What are you crying for?" Huo Huan's voice suddenly sounded. Shen Zhuo wiped his tears, and once his vision was no longer blurry, he saw Huo Huan standing above him.

Shen Zhuo looked around and asked where the dog was. Huo Huan said he had knocked it out while folding the folding fruit knife hidden behind his back.

Shen Zhuo held out his hand to Huo Huan, asking him to pull him up. Looking at Shen Zhuo standing below, Huo Huan asked, "Why did you follow me out? Why did you throw stones at the dog?"

"I couldn't let them bully you. The dog was still chasing you. If I didn't throw stones at it, it would have bitten you soon." Shen Zhuo still spoke with the choked voice of someone who had been scared into tears.

Huo Huan looked at Shen Zhuo for a long while. "From now on, you won't let anyone bully me? You'll stand up for me and stay by my side like you did today?"

Shen Zhuo thought about it, then nodded heavily. It was so pitiful when Huo Huan was bullied. Then he would turn bad again. Getting revenge on the person who bullied him would not be enough; he would have to take revenge on that person's entire family, and in a terrifyingly cruel way.

"You said it yourself." After saying that, Huo Huan reached down and pulled Shen Zhuo up, then carried him on his back toward the banquet hall.

When Shen Zhuo had said earlier that no one was allowed to bully him, Huo Huan had thought he was being ridiculous. What use could such a little brat possibly be?

Besides, it might have just been a passing interest. Once he realized he could not manage it at all, he might feel embarrassed and perhaps even blame Huo Huan instead.

Huo Huan had not expected him to dare throw stones at the dog. He could have just hidden there. He and Huo Huan had no relationship and did not even know each other.

He had heard that family call him Little Zhuo or Zhuozhuo, while his uncle was generally called Young Master Shen. They must be members of the Shen Household, so the one on his back should be called Shen Zhuozhuo.

Shen Zhuozhuo had said himself that he would not let anyone bully Huo Huan anymore and would stand by his side. Then he had to keep that promise in the future, no matter the circumstances or their ages.

After today, his knife would be confiscated. He had painstakingly smuggled it in, hiding it in the inner compartment of his schoolbag. He had only intended to use it in the face of extreme danger, but at least it had saved Shen Zhuozhuo, so it was not a loss.

In any case, he was decent at fighting. He had to thank the chaotic environment where he used to live for teaching him these things.

If he had not been afraid of causing trouble and being driven out, he would have fought back that afternoon. Although there were many of them and they were fat, he might not have won, but he would not have lost either. At the very least, he could have made every one of them hurt badly.

That dog belonged to the main family's great-granduncle. Though he had only stabbed it, he would probably have to pay some sort of price.

Who told him to secretly bring a knife? He did not know what the situation would be like in a moment. Before Huo Huan could finish thinking, he ran into the Shen family members who were searching everywhere for them.

Shen Zhuo was usually very obedient and never ran around. He was also a child of the Shen Household, so no one would bully him.

Shen Can had not expected Shen Zhuo to run off. Su Nanxing and he had merely gone to speak to someone and intended to return right away. They had even asked someone to watch him, yet this still happened.

Not only was Shen Can deeply guilty, Su Nanxing felt terrible as well. When would there not have been another chance to meet someone? He truly had lost his mind. No matter what, he should have taken the child back to Xu Qingqing first.

Xu Qingqing and Shen Yu also felt they had done wrong. Every time, they habitually left the child with Shen Can before going off to socialize, but Shen Can had matters of his own too.

They had also always thought that Shen Zhuo was obedient, but had forgotten that no matter how obedient he was, there would always be bad children.

The Shen Household's search caused quite a commotion, and most people noticed it. Once they noticed, how could they not help search? They would surely feel too embarrassed not to.

So everyone joined in the search. Now, seeing Shen Zhuo being carried on someone's back and looking as though he had cried, everyone felt that something serious was bound to happen today.