"Living Buddha! Please save my grandson... He's only five years old..." Another old woman, holding a child who was also barely breathing, desperately moved closer to Jiang Shou.
"What a great benefactor! A living bodhisattva!" Upon seeing this, the other disaster victims immediately joined in the crying and shouting, using the most flattering words and the most pitiful descriptions to roast Jiang Fu and Jiang Shou on the fire.
Jiang Fu's face went from smug to deathly pale, and cold sweat instantly poured down his face.
He tried to pull his foot away, but the old man held him tightly.
Jiang Shou panicked and looked to his elder brother for help.
Liu and Wang screamed in terror, "It's gone! It's gone! Don't come any closer!"
"A great philanthropist..."
"Living Buddha... I beg you..."
Desperate pleas and insincere flattery intertwined, like a giant net, tightly binding the Jiang brothers.
Jiang Fu's hand trembled as he reached for the bundle, then withdrew it, his facial muscles contorted.
Give him food? Food is his life!
Refuse to give? This "great philanthropist" label has barely been put on, and it's about to be smashed to pieces?
In those few seconds of his hesitation, more people on the riverbank saw hope, struggling and crying out, like sharks smelling blood, staggering towards him...
Jiang Fu's face turned completely ashen.
He looked around at the growing number of eyes gleaming with hungry green light, at their outstretched, withered claw-like hands, and a huge, cold fear instantly gripped him.
The villagers of Liushutun, just a moment ago filled with sympathy and hesitation, were about to take out the meager amount of dry food from their bundles.
The next second, seeing more hungry and frantic people rushing over from the other side of the ditch, and seeing the tragic scene of Jiang Fu and Jiang Shou being surrounded and killed instantly, everyone's hands felt like they had been branded with hot irons, and they quickly pulled them back!
"Quick! Hide it well!" Li Laosan's face turned pale. He pulled his hand back from the edge of the cake and quickly stuffed the package containing the family's food into the deepest part of Li's body, then tied it tightly with a rope.
Without saying a word, Butcher Zhang immediately pressed the bag of grain firmly to the bottom of his luggage.
Old Wang shakily stuffed the cloth bag in his arms into the basket.
Almost everyone, without prior arrangement, hid their food-filled bundles in the most concealed part of their luggage as quickly as possible, protecting them tightly, their faces showing only fear and vigilance.
Aunt Zhao was also stunned.
She was still clutching the unbroken pancake in her hand.
She subconsciously glanced at her equally dazed son and husband beside her, and finally, she abruptly looked at Jiang Chan.
Jiang Chan stared coldly at the out-of-control scene at the Jiang family's place, her eyes showing no surprise, only icy understanding.
Aunt Zhao's heart skipped a beat, recalling Jiang Chan's hurried words, "I can't give it to you."
Without further hesitation, she steeled herself, quickly stuffed the flatbread back into her bundle, and, like the others, hid it at the very bottom of her luggage, using her body to shield it tightly.
After doing all this, her palms were covered in cold sweat.
At this moment, the Jiang family members, who were surrounded in the center, were completely dumbfounded!
Jiang Fu felt countless hands scratching at his body, and countless desperate and crazed faces pressed against his face, snot and tears smearing all over him.
The flattery he had just received, which had made him feel so proud, now sounded like a death knell that was sucking his marrow dry!
"Let go! Let go of me!" Jiang Fu finally reacted, screaming in a hoarse voice, "There's nothing left! There's really nothing left! We gave you all the food! We're starving to death ourselves!"
Jiang Shou desperately shoved the person grabbing his bundle, yelling, "Get out of the way! Get out! Don't try to take it! If you try again, I'll hit you!" His earlier smugness vanished, replaced by fear and anger.
Liu and Wang were terrified, letting out piercing screams: "Ah! Get away! There's no more food! Get away!"
Their rejection and screams were like cold water poured into a pot of boiling oil.
Those who had begged, seeing the "great philanthropist" turn his back on them, instantly turned their flattery into even more frantic wailing and accusations:
“Great philanthropist! You can’t abandon us! You were just…”
"Your bag is bulging! There must be more! You're so kind! Please give me some more!"
"My child is starving! Please have pity on the child!"
"Living Buddha! Please have mercy! Give us a bite, just one bite..." The disaster victims who arrived later also joined in the pleading, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing desperately, regarding the Jiang family as their only saviors.
Jiang Fu felt his head buzzing, as if it was about to explode from the noise.
He just wanted to shove all those compliments back into these people's mouths!
food!
That's his fate!
"No! I said no, and that's final!" Jiang Fu completely lost his temper, roaring with a ferocious expression, "Anyone who dares to touch it again! I'll beat them to death!"
"Get out! All of you, get out!" Jiang Shou roared, his eyes red.
Desperate pleas were brutally rejected, and hypocritical flattery was utterly torn apart.
The withered old man who had been kneeling at Jiang Fu's feet, hugging his calves, suddenly raised his head.
In his bloodshot eyes, the last trace of humble pleading vanished, replaced by a madness and ferocity that seemed to be willing to risk everything.
He suddenly opened his throat, using all his strength to let out a hoarse, raspy roar:
"He's lying! I saw it! His bundle was full of flatbread! Plump and full!"
The old man's withered, claw-like fingers pointed intently at the bundle that Jiang Fu was tightly protecting, his voice carrying a chilling, venomous quality:
"What are you all waiting for?! For the kids! For our lives! Grab it!! If we don't grab it now, we'll all die here today!!!"
These words, like a spark, instantly ignited all the pent-up despair and hunger!
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