Chapter 80 I don't believe she would dare starve us to death.
Du Ruoxia looked away and quickly went to deal with Gao Songbai, whose body temperature was very high.
"Quick, add more torches, the fire is too small!" Du Ruoxia shouted to Xu E.
Upon hearing this, Xu E immediately took action, and their actions woke up Aunt Gao.
"What are you doing? You're not going to kill Gao Songbai, are you?!" Gao Aijin came over.
Du Ruoxia shot her a cold glare, and Gao Aijin shivered, took a step back, and walked away cursing.
As dawn broke, Gao Songbai's condition showed no improvement, and his grandfather also woke up.
Seeing that Du Ruoxia and Gao Dongchang were busy, he wanted to ask them something but was worried about disturbing Du Ruoxia.
Tie Niu's mother and Tie Niu prayed to the sky together, and the others followed suit.
"Grandpa Gao Songbai, don't worry, we'll keep an eye on things. If anything happens, we won't let this woman off the hook!" Gao Aijin said, leaning close to Gao Songbai's grandfather.
The old man's tense expression suddenly broke down, and he pointed at Aunt Gao and started cursing.
"You wicked woman, you really want something to happen to my Gao Songbai!"
"You heartless bastards! My Gao Songbai wouldn't have been in this mess if he hadn't been saving you!"
"He shouldn't have come back. I shouldn't have called him!"
"It's all my fault!"
Grandpa Gao Songbai spoke while crying, and Du Ruoxia stopped what she was doing and looked over.
"Grandpa, if you cry like this, people who don't know the situation will think it's a case of an elderly person burying their child!" Her tone carried a hint of reproach.
Sure enough, Gao Songbai's grandfather stopped after Du Ruoxia said one sentence. He glared at Aunt Gao and spat at her before walking away.
Du Ruoxia continued to tend to Gao Songbai's wounds, and only breathed a slight sigh of relief when she saw his complexion gradually return to normal.
"His fever has subsided a bit; we need to find a way to get him out of here," Du Ruoxia said, looking at everyone.
“It’s all a vast ocean down there, unless you can fly!” Aunt Gao said again.
Du Ruoxia ignored them and looked at Tie Niu, who had already woken up. "Are you hungry? Let's go dig sweet potatoes while the rain isn't too heavy."
With Tie Niu leading the way, many children quickly joined the team.
"Dig them all up and put them in bags," Du Ruoxia shouted at them.
Xu E gave her a thumbs up when she heard that she was going to dig it all up, and Du Ruoxia smiled.
"Can you build a boat?" Du Ruoxia asked, looking at Dapeng.
Everyone shook their heads. "Gao Da should have been able to do it, but he went to work in the provincial capital."
Du Ruoxia looked down at Gao Songbai lying on the wooden board, "This leg, if we want to save it, we have to go to the hospital for medication!"
Du Ruoxia spoke of a cruel yet realistic problem: her abilities had already bought Gao Songbai a lot of time, and the rest was up to fate.
"Comrade Du, please think of a way to save my grandson!" Grandpa Gao Songbai immediately grabbed Du Ruoxia and pleaded.
Du Ruoxia shook her head helplessly. She knew her own abilities, and she had truly done her best.
It's already a miracle that Gao Songbai could achieve this with just one painkiller; for her to utter such unpleasant words was already a desperate situation.
"We must wait for rescue and trust our country!" Du Ruoxia comforted Grandpa Gao Songbai.
Grandpa Gao Songbai, his back hunched, sat down beside Gao Songbai and reached out to touch Gao Songbai's head. Du Ruoxia sighed softly and went to look at Tie Niu.
Gao Aijin also walked over, holding a hoe and looking at the winnowing basket.
"Aunt Gao, what are you doing? Have you forgotten that you already sold these sweet potatoes to Comrade Du?" Xu E shouted.
Aunt Gao stumbled and nearly fell while walking. She turned around and glared at Xu E.
"What's it to you! If they can dig, why can't I? We're digging for everyone to eat!" Gao Aijin glared at Xu E and shouted back.
“Didn’t you see that Comrade Du ordered the digging? She didn’t say you couldn’t dig unless she told you to!” Xu E immediately retorted, hands on her hips.
"Besides, Comrade Du didn't say he would give you any to eat, so don't be so presumptuous!" Xu E added disdainfully.
Gao Aijin was so embarrassed by Xu E's words that she couldn't bear it anymore. She had originally wanted to take advantage of the large number of people to dig out some roasted food, but now that this had happened, she was too ashamed to continue participating.
"You've all seen it, I'm not the heartless one, don't blame me for not having anything to eat!" Gao Aijin said angrily as she returned to her shed and threw down her tools.
"I never intended to give you any, didn't you know that?" Du Ruoxia said calmly, her tone as indifferent as stating a fact.
Du Ruoxia's words immediately changed the expressions of everyone present. They had eaten sweet potatoes last night and assumed that the sweet potatoes that Du Ruoxia had paid for were for them!
The most unsightly of them were those who had previously made things difficult for Du Ruoxia; now they glared at Xu E, blaming her for meddling.
"See? Comrade Du wasn't planning on giving you any!" Xu E said directly, ignoring their expressions.
Du Ruoxia looked at Xu E with admiration, then called out to the children who were working.
"I'll make sure you don't go hungry after you dig up any sweet potatoes. Dig well, and don't miss a single one!"
Du Ruoxia completely extinguished their last remaining hope, and they didn't get a single thing.
Seeing that she had run out of the little food she had brought with her, Aunt Gao couldn't sit still any longer.
"She's lying, she can't possibly eat all these sweet potatoes by herself!"
"Let's each take a little and fill our stomachs first."
"I don't believe she would dare to starve us to death!" Aunt Gao shouted loudly at the crowd.
Du Ruoxia looked at the crowd; some people remained unmoved, while others were already itching to make a move.
She remained silent, watching to see what they would do.
"What are you all standing there for? There aren't many left!" Gao Aijin took a couple of steps and, seeing no one around, turned to look at the others.
Grandpa Gao Songbai stood up and glared at those people. "What, are you planning to rob me?"
"At my age, I've never seen such shameless people. I've never seen such banditry even during the Great Famine!"
Grandpa Gao's scathing rebuke made everyone lower their heads in shame.
But he still had no intention of stopping. He beat his chest in anguish, saying, "If word gets out that my Gaojia Village will be known as a village of bandits, how can I face my ancestors!"
Gao Aijin's face finally turned red; her originally sallow complexion turned a dark red, and she didn't dare to look at anyone else.
Du Ruoxia smiled faintly and looked at her, "If you return the money, I'll consider giving you the sweet potatoes back, how about that?"
"Once you take your sweet potato back, you can do whatever you want with it, you can distribute it to everyone however you like!"
Du Ruoxia's words once again drew everyone's attention to Gao Aijin, throwing the choice back to her and giving her the opportunity to showcase her good persona.
Everyone was scrutinizing her, waiting for her to make a choice.
"How can we return something we've already paid for, especially since you've already eaten so much!" Gao Aijin said weakly.
“How much? We’ve only eaten less than a fifth!” Tie Zhu’s mother, Xu E, immediately replied.
Many people ate something before going up the mountain the day before, and didn't eat much at night, but they still couldn't keep up with the demand for food during the day.
"That won't do either, I've already sold it to her!" Gao Aijin replied weakly, her voice low but everyone heard her.
Upon hearing this, everyone started to murmur amongst themselves. They had just said they would grab the food if they couldn't finish it, but now that it was her turn, she disagreed. This made everyone even more disgusted with Gao Aijin's behavior.
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