As the group drew closer to the city god temple, they discovered that most of the people on the streets were worshippers who had come to offer incense in the temple. There were many stalls on either side of the street, selling all types of wares, such as food and children's toys. Chen Ping'an bought Li Baoping and Li Huai a tanghulu each, and the two children immediately began to compare whose tanghulu was bigger. 

As it turned out, Li Huai was the luckier of the two children, and there were a total of six hawthorn berries on his stick, and overall, he had beaten Li Baoping four times. After claiming his victory over Li Baoping, Li Huai began to rush in circles around Chen Ping'an and Lin Shouyi while holding his tanghulu high above his head.

Meanwhile, Li Baoping was eating her tanghulu in silence, and she suddenly extended a leg forward in a sneaky fashion. Li Huai was caught completely off guard and tripped over her leg, falling face first onto the ground, while his tanghulu fell out of his hand and rolled away into the distance. 

Thankfully, his bamboo bookcase was strapped quite securely to his back, so it didn't fall off, but that was no consolation to Li Huai, and he began bawling his eyes out as he sat on the ground.

Li Baoping raised her head, feigning an oblivious expression as she looked around in an innocent manner. Chen Ping'an was both exasperated and amused by her actions, and he gave her a firm flick on the forehead, then helped Li Huai to his feet before buying the distraught boy another tanghulu. 

Li Huai's tears immediately gave way to a wide smile, and he accepted the clean tanghulu, then picked up the dirty tanghulu from the ground, holding one in each hand. This time, he made sure to stay far away from Li Baoping as he waved his tanghulus around in a gloating fashion.

Li Baoping rolled her eyes at him as she scoffed, "You're so immature!"

What was rather interesting was that no matter what Li Baoping did to Li Huai, he had never held a grudge against her. In fact, he had never even gotten angry at her, and at the very most, he would only feel saddened or indignant.

This was something that Chen Ping'an and Lin Shouyi had never been able to understand, and Lin Shouyi could only explain that certain things were simply meant to be, and it seemed that Li Huai was simply destined to suffer in silence at Li Baoping's hands.

Cui Chan had separated himself from the group quite a while ago, stopping on his own in front...