Lu Yun denied, "It shouldn't be. Sister-in-law isn't a celestial being, and even if she were, she couldn't possibly know everything. She probably just...mistook us for going out to fight with someone, and furthermore, losing that fight."
Tian Dou lay down again, "Yes, it must be like that. Because when we returned, we looked like we'd been in a fight. A button on my clothes was missing, and my hair was messy."
"I have nail marks scratched on my forehead," Lu Yu also said.
"A piece of my clothes was torn," Tian Ya added.
Tie Zhu touched his mouth, "My mouth was punched, it's a bit swollen."
Listening to his younger brothers, Lu Yun said solemnly, "Sister-in-law is right. We should reflect on our actions today. Tell me what you all think."
Tian Ya immediately said, "Brother Yun, I think from now on, we can't lie to Master and Mistress anymore. We are all children, and lying is wrong."
"Then tomorrow we'll go and confess to Sister-in-law about Uncle Cripple and Uncle Fool?" Xiao Yu asked excitedly, he didn't want to lie to Sister-in-law.
Tian Ya quickly said, "No, except for this matter! Uh, actually, I... I don't mean for everyone to completely stop lying. It's just that if we can avoid lying, we should try not to. Unless it's something that's inconvenient to say."
"Tian Ya is right," Lu Yun concluded, "People can't avoid lying entirely. We only tell 'white' lies. From now on, we will try not to lie to Sister-in-law." He felt like a liar himself today, with a heavy stone weighing down his heart.
"What is a 'white lie'?" Lu Yu tilted his head and asked.
"A white lie, Sister-in-law told me before, is a lie told to avoid making someone sad, to not cause trouble for others, or to protect one's privacy."
Tian Ya rejoiced, "Then the matter of Uncle Cripple and Uncle Fool is a 'white lie'! Because I don't want to cause trouble for Master and Mistress."
Lu Yun nodded, "You could say that."
Tian Ya immediately felt relieved. He felt guilty about lying to his Mistress because of Uncle Cripple and Uncle Fool.
The other children also felt a lot lighter.
Today, they had told too many "white lies."
Lu Yun suddenly sat up and said sternly, "There's one more thing I think we did wrong."
"What is it?"
The other four children also scrambled up and sat in a circle.
The candlelight flickered dimly, casting five small shadows on the wall, overlapping into undulating dark shapes.
Lu Yun stroked his chin and said, "We went to take revenge on those hooligans today, and it was too rash."
Tian Ya was full of guilt, "Brother Yun, it's all my fault. You went for revenge because of me."
Lu Yun smiled, "Brother Ya, that revenge had to be taken, but we were too rash today. We only prepared ourselves, but we knew nothing about the enemy. If those three were all martial arts masters, and they brought a large number of thugs, we would have been in danger today. Moreover, although they are just hooligans, they have been causing trouble on West Street for so long, they likely have powerful figures behind them supporting them. What if we provoked those powerful figures, wouldn't that bring danger to our family? Before taking revenge, we should have investigated the enemy's situation thoroughly. Didn't Big Brother teach us? 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles.' But this time, we only knew ourselves, not the enemy."
Hearing Lu Yun's words, the children fell silent.
Looking at it this way, today was really dangerous!
Tian Dou said, "One more thing, Brother Yun, we didn't think about a fallback plan at the beginning. We got our revenge today, but we didn't consider eliminating them. What if they find out it was us later and come back for revenge?"
Lu Yun agreed wholeheartedly, "So, what Jianzi said today stumped me. Because I really hadn't considered the possibility of them retaliating against us later."
Lu Yu patted his thumping little chest, "Fortunately, Uncle Cripple appeared later."
"I wonder what Uncle Cripple did to those scoundrels," Tie Zhu said with a worried expression.
Tian Ya comforted him, "Uncle Cripple has a dagger, and he throws stones very accurately. I've personally seen him knock someone unconscious with a stone."
Lu Yun took a few deep breaths, "We'll find out early tomorrow morning. From now on, whatever we do, we must not be like today. It was really... very dangerous."
"En," the four children's hearts pounded, and they all nodded in agreement.
In the afternoon, as Lu Yun led the children away from the Tu Niangniang bridge culvert, they took the smelly socks from the hooligans' mouths. They had only borrowed the socks for temporary use and had to return them eventually. To prevent the hooligans from yelling, Uncle Cripple directly cut out their tongues. Then he sat leisurely to the side, drinking water, and watching the hooligans writhe in agony, he grinned menacingly, "The eyes of the heavens are indeed blind! Scum like you don't deserve to be human, let alone live in this world. No! All of you who frame others for your own gain, who climb over the corpses of others to get ahead, you all deserve to die! And those who repay kindness with enmity, the ungrateful white-eyed wolves, all deserve to die! All of you deserve to die!!" Uncle Cripple muttered to himself like a madman, as if scolding the hooligans, but also not just the hooligans. The hooligans looked at his ferocious face, his vicious, angry eyes, and all showed expressions of despair. They could only hope that this crazy cripple would give them a quick end later. As dusk began to settle, Uncle Cripple made the hooligans crawl towards the riverbank. Anyone who didn't move, he would not grant a quick end, but would first cut off their lips, then their nose, ears, fingers, genitals, and then slice off their flesh piece by piece. The hooligans all thought this crazy cripple was a pervert. If they didn't move, he would definitely torture them in every possible way. Therefore, the hooligans, their hands and feet bound, all crawled towards the riverbank like maggots, inch by inch. Beneath the Tu Niangniang bridge was a small river, narrow but quite deep. The hooligans guessed that the crazy cripple would kill them all and throw them into the river. Indeed, their guess was correct! Because they then witnessed with their own eyes, the crazy cripple pick up a dagger and swiftly and skillfully slit the throat of one of the hooligans. Bright red blood splattered across Uncle Cripple's face, and he grinned, revealing a row of yellow teeth, and said with a sinister smile, "How about that? I keep my word, right? Look, how quickly he died!" The other hooligans trembled with fear, and two of them urinated themselves. This cripple was a madman who killed without batting an eye! They were truly unlucky! How could they have provoked those inconspicuous little brats and ended up in this situation! Thinking back to yesterday, they were still swaggering on the streets. Who on West Street didn't look to them for orders?