When the team rested, Jiang Chan skillfully took out a pancake from her "packet" and cut it in half.
"Reach out your hand."
Xiao Tao obediently stretched out her hands.
When those dusty little hands were laid out in front of Jiang Chan, her gaze suddenly sharpened.
Xiao Tao's palms were a shocking red! Especially the area between her thumb and forefinger and near the base of her fingers, which was not only shiny red, but also had several small, shiny blisters!
Several blisters had even broken open, revealing tender pink flesh underneath, with a little bit of tissue fluid seeping from the edges, mixed with dust, making them look disheveled and pitiful.
These are marks left from excessive friction when pushing the cart earlier.
Previously, Xiao Tao was so emotionally agitated and confused that she hadn't even realized it herself. Only now, with Jiang Chan staring at her, did she feel a burning pain, and she instinctively tried to pull her hand back.
Jiang Chan grabbed her wrist with a light but firm grip, making it impossible for her to break free. She looked at the red marks and blisters, her brows furrowing tightly, and the suppressed frustration in her heart surged up again.
Foolish kindness! A pointless sacrifice! And what did it bring? Vicious curses and hands full of wounds!
"Does it hurt?" Jiang Chan's voice carried a softness that she herself was unaware of.
Xiao Tao bit her lower lip, enduring the pain, and nodded gently.
Jiang Chan remained silent for a few seconds, then turned around and took out a sterile cloth from her space. She moistened it with some water and, while not gentle, quickly wiped away the dirt around Xiao Tao's wound. The water touched the broken skin, causing Xiao Tao to gasp in pain and shiver slightly.
"Don't do anything stupid again!" Jiang Chan said while dealing with the situation. She paused, thinking of the more cruel natural and man-made disasters foreshadowed in the book, and her tone became even colder. "In this world, it's hard enough to just survive. Take care of yourself and don't think about becoming some kind of bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas can't save people; they'll only get themselves killed and die the fastest!"
She thought these cold-blooded survival tips would, like before, silence or frighten Xiaotao.
However, Xiao Tao raised her head. In her large, still swollen eyes, the previous confusion and fear were gone, replaced by a strange, stubborn light.
She looked at Jiang Chan, her voice not loud, but exceptionally clear:
“But… Sister Jiang… I didn’t do anything stupid…” She paused, seemingly mustering a lot of courage, “Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou… gave me steamed buns before… I helped them push the cart because… I wanted to repay them!”
Her eyes were clear, with a childlike, almost innocent logic: "Grandma said that when you receive kindness, you should remember to repay it..."
"Ha—you'd do this with half a rotten steamed bun? You're not stupid, are you?!"
“But… Sister Jiang, didn’t you only agree to take me along because of the cakes and steamed buns Grandma gave me?” Xiao Tao’s voice was clean and pure.
Jiang Chan's hand, which was wiping her wound, suddenly stopped!
Xiao Tao's words were like a bolt of lightning that struck straight into her frozen heart!
Old Mrs. Sun handed over a half-eaten sorghum cake that was black, hard, and even had mold spots on it!
She didn't even want that half-piece of cake!
But it was precisely this insignificant, even "toxic" charity that became the shackle that prevented her from completely abandoning Xiaotao!
This has become the original sin that forces her to carry this "burden" with her at this moment!
Repaying a debt of gratitude?
What ridiculous yet heavy words!
She wanted to argue, but when she looked into Xiaotao's clear eyes, which seemed to say, "Look, you're the same way," she couldn't utter a single word!
For the first time, a very subtle, almost disheveled crack appeared on that perpetually frozen face.
She opened her mouth, but something seemed to be blocking her throat, and she could only let out a short, ambiguous gasp.
She abruptly lowered her head, avoiding Xiao Tao's gaze, and quickened her movements to treat the wound, but unconsciously increased the pressure, causing Xiao Tao to let out another suppressed cry of pain.
"This little brat..." Jiang Chan spat inwardly through gritted teeth. "She looks silly, but her brain works pretty fast!"
...
Just as Jiang Chan was speechless after being choked by Xiao Tao's "theory of repaying kindness," a new commotion began at the group's resting place.
Holding an empty, chipped bowl, Zhang Laowu anxiously weaved through the crowd, pleading.
He first walked up to Jiang Fu and Liu Shi, his face plastered with a fawning smile, "Brother Jiang, sister-in-law... please have mercy, give me some water, my throat is parched... I really can't take it anymore..."
Jiang Fu didn't even lift his eyelids. Holding his earthenware jar, which still had a little less than half full of muddy water, as if protecting his lifeblood, he waved his hand impatiently, "Aren't you going to fetch water from the river yourself today?"
"I'll go, I'll go. I don't have any large earthenware jars at home... I can't store much..."
"Then you should just accept it... Go away! We don't even have water to drink ourselves! How could we possibly have any extra for you!"
Zhang Laowu walked away sheepishly, then approached Jiang Shou again, "Second Brother Jiang... have pity on me, give me some water to soothe my throat..."
Jiang Shou leaned against the earthen bank, closing his eyes to rest. Then he lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. "Hey, Zhang Laowu, weren't you one of the first to rush when we got water this morning? What, you drank it all? If you're out, just bear with it! Who isn't thirsty?"
After saying that, she glared at him fiercely, which frightened Zhang Laowu so much that he quickly backed away.
After repeated setbacks, Zhang Laowu's despair deepened. He licked his dry, bleeding lips, his gaze sweeping through the crowd before finally settling on the place where Aunt Zhao's family was resting.
Zhang Laowu cried out as if grasping at a straw, "Sister-in-law Zhao! Great philanthropist Zhao! Please, save my life! Just a sip of water! I, Zhang Laowu, will repay you in my next life by serving you like a cow or a horse!"
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