Chapter 29 Beware of Retribution for Gossiping
Yang Zeyan's gaze suddenly fixed on Du Ruoxia's neck.
A long scratch mark stood out starkly against her fair skin on her delicate, slender neck.
Yang Zeyan frowned and silently rummaged through his bag for a tube of ointment.
As Du Ruoxia was lost in thought, a pair of well-defined hands appeared in her line of sight, offering her ointment.
Du Ruoxia looked up in confusion.
"You have a neck injury."
"Huh?" Du Ruoxia looked down in confusion to check. The scratch was on her side and behind. Du Ruoxia turned her head with difficulty to different angles but still couldn't see where the injury was.
In the end, she gave up looking for the wound and shrugged: "I guess I scratched myself accidentally during the day. The wound shouldn't be deep, it's nothing serious."
Yang Zeyan sighed almost imperceptibly, walked behind her, unscrewed the ointment, and dabbed a little on his hand.
"Hiss." Du Ruoxia shrank her neck in fright at the sudden touch.
"itch……"
"Don't move." Yang Zeyan's deep, magnetic voice rang in Du Ruoxia's ear. He held her shoulder with one hand and gently applied ointment to her slender neck with the other.
Du Ruoxia's neck was extremely sensitive. She bit her lip tightly, feeling the places Yang Zeyan had touched burning up, feeling both itchy and numb.
"alright."
Du Ruoxia only snapped out of her daze when Yang Zeyan's voice rang out. A faint blush rose to her cheeks, making her delicate face appear exceptionally charming and adorable. She stammered, "Thank you, thank you."
The next day, Du Ruoxia went to the county to get her exam admission ticket. She was taking the exam the day after tomorrow. On her way home, someone called out to her—
“Du Zhiqing!” Wang Fang called out.
Wang Fang smiled warmly and said with gratitude in her eyes, "Du Zhiqing, I'm here to thank you! Thanks to you last time, when I went to the hospital for a checkup, the doctor said that it was fortunate that you rescued him in time, otherwise our Gou Dan would not have survived. Thank you so much."
She couldn't help but sob again as she spoke.
"I'm so sorry, I even tried to stop you. I was really blinded by greed. I'm so sorry, Du Zhiqing."
Standing next to Wang Fang was a kind and honest man. He patted Wang Fang's shoulder reassuringly and turned to Du Ruoxia, saying, "Thank you so much. We don't have anything good to repay you with, but here's some pork and fish, and five yuan. We hope you won't mind."
Du Ruoxia quickly declined, "No need, no need. It's good that the child is alright. Remember not to give him large pieces of food next time, as children can easily choke if you're not careful."
"Yes, yes, I understand, Du Zhiqing." Wang Fang nodded quickly.
"Please accept these, Du Zhiqing. These things are nothing compared to Gou Dan's life. You are our family's benefactor." The man said urgently, his eyes a little moist, as he stuffed the things into Du Ruoxia's arms.
He happened to be away from home when the accident happened. He was later told by a fellow villager that his son was in the hospital, and he panicked, feeling like the sky had fallen. He was relieved when he saw that his child was safe and sound. Later, when his wife mentioned that Du Ruoxia had saved their child, he was extremely grateful.
Du Ruoxia still refused to accept it. She saved the child not for anything in return; life was more important than anything else, and she only wanted the child to be safe.
But Wang Fang clearly misunderstood, her wrinkled face filled with shame: "Du Zhiqing, are you upset that your older sister said bad things about you before? It's all my fault. I really shouldn't have believed the rumors! Du Zhiqing is clearly such a good person."
Although she had never met Du Ruoxia, the people around her kept talking about how Du Ruoxia was being treated favorably by the brigade leader and how she had forged a letter of introduction to say that she was going to work as a doctor at the county hospital. In addition, Du Ruoxia rarely went out, so with so much gossip, Wang Fang joined in spreading a few rumors.
"I told you long ago not to listen to the villagers' gossip, but you just wouldn't listen!"
Seeing that the two were getting more and more agitated, Du Ruoxia quickly comforted them, "No, no, I really don't blame your older sister. I didn't even take it to heart."
"Really?" Wang Fang raised her tear-streaked face.
"Mmm." Du Ruoxia nodded sincerely.
"Then you should accept these things!"
Du Ruoxia sighed helplessly, "Then I'll just take one fish. You can take the rest back."
"No!" Wang Fang shoved the bamboo basket full of food into Du Ruoxia's arms. "Just accept it, Du Zhiqing. Only then can our consciences be at peace."
Fearing that Du Ruoxia would refuse again, she quickly grabbed her husband and ran away, not forgetting to leave with the words, "Come to my sister's house for dinner next time!"
"Huh?"
Du Ruoxia was left standing there with her hand outstretched.
Wang Fang was walking home with her husband when they came across a group of women eating sunflower seeds.
"Hey, Fang's back! How's Gou Dan? Is everything alright?" one of the women asked, waving her over.
Wang Fang stopped and replied, "It's nothing, I can jump and bounce around now."
"That's good. I heard it was Du Ruoxia who saved your son?"
Just as Wang Fang was about to say something, another woman eagerly chimed in.
"Tch, you believe that? He's just a little kid, he's only read a few more books, how could he know anything about healing and saving lives! It was clearly Comrade Yang who lent him a car in time to take Gou Dan to the hospital for emergency treatment."
"Yeah, I don't believe it either. Du Ruoxia can save people, pigs can climb trees."
Wang Fang's face grew increasingly grim as she listened; it was this group of people who had been gossiping and misleading her all day long.
"Let me tell you, it was Du Zhiqing who saved my son. Without her, my son would have gone to see the King of Hell long ago. Du Zhiqing is such a good person, and you're spreading rumors about her. If you're so idle, do some more work and stop gossiping. Be careful you don't suffer retribution!"
"Hey, what are you saying...?"
Ignoring the unpleasant looks on everyone's faces, Wang Fang pulled her husband away.
When Yang Zeyan returned home, he saw Du Ruoxia squatting in a corner, looking at a bamboo basket full of ingredients in front of her, looking somewhat troubled.
"What's wrong?" Yang Zeyan asked.
"It's that lady from yesterday. She brought a lot of meat and vegetables today, stuffed them into my hands and ran away. I couldn't stop her."
Du Ruoxia rested her chin on her hand and said with a slight pout.
Looking at the girl's troubled face, Yang Zeyan's eyes flashed with a barely perceptible smile: "Take it, that way they'll be at ease."
"But I don't know how to do it."
Upon hearing this, Yang Zeyan rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll cook. My cooking skills aren't great, so please bear with it."
Du Ruoxia's eyes lit up. "You call this not good enough? If you really became good enough, you'd have to meet the standards of a master of state banquets."
"You flatter me, you flatter me, I'll start the fire and make the soup."
Wang Fang gave him a large crucian carp, which was perfect for making fish soup.
Yang Zeyan marinated the crucian carp in cooking wine for ten minutes, then added a spoonful of oil. After the oil was hot, he put the crucian carp in and fried it until both sides were golden brown. Then he added an appropriate amount of water to stew it.
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