Yun Yiyi quickly reached the bottom of the tree. She looked down and saw two people: an older one leaning against the tree, and a younger one lying on the ground.
Yun Yiyi first went to see the man leaning against the tree. She put her hand under his nose for a while and found that he was not breathing at all. Undeterred, she squatted down and touched his arm, which was very thin and stiff.
Yun Yiyi stared at the man's face for a while, and found that he looked more and more familiar. It turned out that this old man was the old man who had stopped Zhang on the road and asked for food. The old man was a little thin at that time, and he looked even thinner this time.
Yun Yiyi found that her face was so thin that it was just a layer of skin, and when she touched her arms just now, they were as thin as a bamboo pole.
Yun Yiyi turned and looked at the child lying on the ground. The child's hair was extremely long, dirty, and messy, covering his entire face. Through the hair, one could see that his face was also dark and thin.
Yun Yiyi was worried, so she put a finger under the child's nose. Fortunately, the child was still breathing faintly. Yun Yiyi clapped her hands in relief.
She stood up and turned around again, only to find a small bundle beside the two people. Yun Yiyi picked it up and weighed it; it was very light. It didn't look like there was any food or water inside.
Yun Yiyi placed her bag on the ground. She smuggled a bowl of water out of the space and also took out a fist-sized steamed bun she had steamed in the space earlier. Yun Yiyi had wanted to steam some for backup, so she could take it out and eat it if she got hungry. Unexpectedly, after steaming it for so long, she still hadn't found a chance to take it out.
Yun Yiyi helped the child up from the ground and gently called him, "There's water. Wake up and drink some."
Yun Yiyi picked up the water and held it to the child's lips. At first, the child didn't respond. Then, Yun Yiyi touched the child's chapped lips with the bowl, and the child finally opened his mouth and drank the water.
The child didn't open his eyes until he finished drinking the bowl of water. His eyes were so beautiful that Yun Yiyi seemed to see the light in them.
The child looked at Yun Yiyi blankly, then made a hoarse sound.
"Did you save me?"
"I just fed you a bowl of water. Here is some steamed buns. Come and eat them. You must be hungry too." After Yun Yiyi said that, she handed the steamed buns next to her to the child.
"Is it for me? Thank you." The child said politely.
"Yes, it's for you, eat it quickly." Yun Yiyi withdrew her arm when she saw that the other person could sit steadily.
The child took the steamed bread and began to eat it in small bites. Although he ate quickly, he was not rude. You could tell he was very polite.
After a few minutes, the child finished eating the steamed bread. Yun Yiyi handed him the half bowl of water that she had just smuggled from the space.
"Come, drink some more water. Eating only steamed bread will easily cause choking."
"Thank you." The child took the bowl and drank all the water.
After drinking the water, the child stood up, walked to the old man, and started crying to him. His cry was not loud, but it broke the heart of the listeners.
"Don't cry. The old lady has passed away. You should accept her loss and mourn her loss." Yun Yiyi comforted her in a low voice.
The child slowly stopped crying and wiped the tears from his face.
"Why are you here?" the child's hoarse voice rang out.
"Oh, you're talking about me. My brother and I came here to collect firewood." Yun Yiyi pointed at herself and answered.
"I was just wondering what's going on with you. Why are you and the old lady here? Did something happen to you?" Yun Yiyi asked repeatedly.
"Yes, we finally made it to the county town the day before yesterday. But when we were sleeping at night, my grandmother noticed a few men not far from us, whispering about how they were going to kidnap and sell me after we went to sleep."
"We were so scared we didn't dare sleep. We had planned to escape after the men fell asleep. But they seemed to be so determined to keep an eye on us that even when we were asleep, they would arrange for someone to watch us."
Yun Yiyi listened quietly.
"When it was almost dawn, I noticed that the man who was watching us had dozed off, so we quietly ran out. But as soon as we ran out of the square, the man chased us out."
"We wanted to run into the mountains and get rid of that man. But we hadn't eaten enough for a long time, so we couldn't run very fast. He caught up with us anyway."
"To protect me, my grandmother hugged the man's legs and told me to run to the mountains quickly. I didn't want to run, but my grandmother said that if I didn't run, no one else could escape."
"When the man saw I wouldn't leave, he kicked my grandmother away and tried to take me back. To save me, my grandmother held him tightly and wouldn't let go."
"The man suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed my grandmother in the back. I was furious when I saw it, so I ran up to him and grabbed him. He caught me in a short while. He grabbed me by the collar and walked back."
"My grandma fell to the ground nearby, unable to get up due to the pain. After the bad guy carried me back a few steps, he suddenly found that someone was holding his legs tightly. He looked down and saw that it was my grandma holding him."
"I told my grandma to go ahead and leave me alone. But she refused to listen and insisted on saving me. The bad guy bent down and put me down, intending to beat her up."
"At that moment, my grandmother suddenly stood up and threw the bad guy to the ground. She snatched the knife from the bad guy's hand and stabbed him hard in the chest. The bad guy just didn't react at first, but after being stabbed by the knife, he became angry. He pushed my grandmother away with both hands."
"As soon as I saw the bad guy trying to get up, I pounced on him and stopped him. He then grabbed my neck. I felt like I was going to die."
"At the critical moment, grandma crawled over and pressed the knife down with both hands. The bad guy died in a short while. I was saved. However, we didn't dare to stay, so I supported grandma and went into the mountains."
"After we entered the mountains and arrived here, I realized that grandma's waist injury was too serious. The blood kept flowing, and her clothes were soaked. I was too nervous before, and it was not bright, so I didn't have time to check her injury." The child's hoarse voice rang out again.
"Grandma told me that we should leave here and look for help after she falls asleep. I agreed and planned to go to the mountains to see if I could find any medicine after she fell asleep."
"I didn't expect that when I came back from the mountains, grandma had already died. If she hadn't protected me, she wouldn't have died." The child's crying became louder again.
Yun Yiyi wiped her tears. This was such a sad story.
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