The two people in the water were Mo Xiaosu and, of course, her dear cousin Huang Baoshan.
It was hard to say whether they had specifically targeted Xiao Man and Qiuyan, or if it was just an unlucky coincidence, but they had maliciously decided to launch a sneak attack.
There were three rivers of varying sizes near Gongdao Village, and a reservoir had been built in the eastern mountains. As a result, none of the local children couldn't swim. A half-acre fish pond wasn't deep enough to drown Huang Baoshan and Mo Xiaosu. However, the pond's owner—whether to deter fish thieves or for some other reason—had tossed in many bamboo canes cut from the riverbank. They weren't densely packed, but they lay scattered in a crisscross pattern, mixed with rotten leaves, duckweed, and roots. The pond water was a murky green, and the two of them, soaking in it, had probably swallowed a fair amount, which was certainly miserable enough.
