Siheyuan (traditional courtyard house): Don't touch my parents!

"Okay, okay, I'll cover my mouth right now." Xu Damao quickly stretched out his hands and covered his mouth tightly, his eyes wide open.

Seeing his comical yet nervous appearance, He Yuzhu couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Actually, he had a simpler and easier way to catch birds, but he just wanted to take this opportunity to practice his slingshot accuracy.

This skill might come in handy if some special situation arises in the future.

Although the original owner had seen how to use a slingshot many times, he had never actually practiced it. He had a lot of theoretical skills, but lacked actual muscle memory.

So when it came to actually hunting living creatures flying in the sky, he wasn't very confident and could only patiently wait for the sparrows to land and forage for food.

Sure enough, the flock of sparrows circled warily in the air a few times before tentatively flying down slowly.

He Yuzhu held his breath, aimed at the target, and tried to pull the rubber band a few times, but unfortunately his accuracy was not good, and he missed several shots in a row.

Xu Damao watched anxiously from the side, scratching his head and wishing he could snatch the slingshot and shoot it himself.

He Yuzhu actually handed him the slingshot, but who knew that this kid couldn't even stretch the rubber band. The lead bullet didn't even go five meters. Xu Damao's face turned red with embarrassment, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

He Yuzhu fired five or six more shots and gradually got the hang of it. His accuracy became more and more stable. He knew in his heart that this was the effect of his "pistol proficiency" skill working in secret.

After a while, the sparrows pecked up all the scattered grains, and the two of them caught a total of five sparrows.

He Yuzhu scattered some more grain crumbs, and Xu Damao immediately ran over to pick them up like a little tail, his smile almost overflowing, his eyes curving into two crescent moons.

He kept praising, "Brother Zhu, you're amazing! Brother Zhu, doesn't this roasted sparrow taste delicious?"

"Just try a bite later, and you'll know!" He Yuzhu replied with a smile.

"How much longer will it take us to finish?" Xu Damao asked anxiously, rubbing his hands together. He was clearly impatient and couldn't wait any longer.

"You'd need at least twenty or thirty to fill a tooth gap, this little bit isn't enough for anyone to eat!" He Yuzhu teased him on purpose.

"Oh, let's continue playing!" Xu Damao perked up immediately upon hearing this.

"Why are you hitting the sparrows before they've even landed? By the way, can you count? How many are there now?" He Yuzhu glanced at him.

"Of course! I counted them clearly when I picked them up, there were five in total!" Xu Damao puffed out his chest, looking smug.

The next few rounds of shooting yielded an exceptionally rich harvest, with a total of twenty-eight sparrows shot down. Xu Damao could barely hold them all in his hands and almost took off his cotton-padded coat to hold them, but He Yuzhu slapped him on the back of the head to stop him.

"If you want to lie in bed and drink bitter medicine for three days, then go ahead and take your clothes off!" He Yuzhu glared at him, trying to scare him.

"How are we going to get these sparrows back?" Xu Damao asked with a worried expression.

"You're so stupid! Just go home and grab a piece of cloth, isn't that enough?" He Yuzhu said irritably.

"Hey, hey, I'm going right now!" Xu Damao turned around and ran towards the Central Court, not going back to his own home, but heading straight for the He family's house.

"Da Mao, why did you come back alone? Where's Brother Zhu?" Chen Shuxiang asked quickly, assuming that her son had slipped out again when she saw that only he had come in.

"Brother Zhu is still in the front yard! Auntie, where did you put the bundle that Brother Zhu used to pack his things at noon?" Xu Damao asked breathlessly.

"Look, it's just perched on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed)." Chen Shuxiang breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her son hadn't run around, and pointed to the edge of the kang.

"Oh, thank you, ma'am!" Xu Damao took the bundle and turned to leave.

"What are you going to do with that bundle?" Chen Shuxiang asked curiously.

"Hehe, I caught a lot of sparrows with Brother Zhu, and he said he'd roast them for me!" Xu Damao smiled expectantly.

"Wow, you two are really good. How many did you catch?" Chen Shuxiang thought to herself. She knew her son's abilities best; he could only catch three or five at most. She didn't expect him to catch so many this time.

"Twenty-eight! I counted them one by one, there's absolutely no mistake!" Xu Damao said with a smug look on his face, which made Chen Shuxiang blink repeatedly in surprise.

"So many? Did Brother Zhu shoot them all? With your broken slingshot?" Chen Shuxiang was a little incredulous.

"Okay, okay! Auntie, I'm leaving now. I'll tell you more when I get back!" Xu Damao was thinking about the roasted sparrows, so he clutched his bundle and rushed out.

"This child..." Chen Shuxiang shook her head and smiled helplessly as she watched his retreating figure.

In the front yard, He Yuzhu didn't rush back. He was worried that Xu Damao couldn't keep an eye on things by himself, and if Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongxu came over to cause trouble, that would be a real problem.

"Brother Zhu, Brother Zhu, bring the bundle!" Xu Damao ran back, his voice so loud that he was afraid no one would hear him.

"Why are you making such a fuss? Are you afraid the whole hospital won't know what we're doing?" He Yuzhu teased irritably.

"So what if they know? Let them see how powerful we two brothers are!" Xu Damao really had this desire to show off.

The two brothers packed the sparrows into their bundles and had just stepped through the hanging flower gate of the central courtyard when they saw Jia Zhangshi pretending to pick vegetables at her own door. However, her triangular eyes didn't fall on the vegetables at all; they were all glancing in their direction.

Seeing the two boys approaching carrying bulging bundles, Jia Zhangshi immediately put on a fake smile: "Da Mao, what are you carrying? Here, let me help you carry them."

As he spoke, he threw the vegetables in his hand onto the snow and came over to greet them.

He Yuzhu almost blurted out, "Your surname isn't Zhang, it's clearly Yan!"

When Xu Damao saw Jia Zhangshi's body, which was as big as a vat, rushing towards him, he was so frightened that he quickly hid behind He Yuzhu.

"Aunt Jia, what we take is none of your business!" He Yuzhu raised his voice and retorted directly.

"How can you talk like that, child? You don't know any manners! I'm just worried you'll do bad things outside!" Madam Jia Zhang pretended to be concerned.

"Why don't you go back inside and pick your vegetables? We two brothers haven't even left the yard, what bad things could we possibly be doing?" He Yuzhu retorted firmly.

"No, how can I believe you just by listening to you? You saw what happened with that black dog the other night. What if you secretly took something you shouldn't have, and that black dog comes knocking on our door again?"

As Jia Zhangshi spoke, she tried to bypass He Yuzhu and reach out to snatch the bundle from Xu Damao's hand.

He Yuzhu stepped to the side and blocked her completely.