Chapter 138 Bullying? Sugarcane, Injured, "Borrowing Money"
After lunch, Ray and Lamb went into the woods.
Wandering around, I saw many wild fruits that were about to ripen, as well as edible wild vegetables.
The two also dodged two waves of wild Gulu beasts that charged at them recklessly. These wild Gulu beasts were very fierce.
Because villagers often come to hunt, adult Gulu beasts sometimes attack humans, especially females with cubs, in order to protect themselves.
However, Ray and his group's purpose today was not to hunt, so they would simply dodge any attacks that came their way.
They wandered around the woods for a long time, trying to avoid the ginkgo trees, and didn't encounter any elves, thus avoiding the trouble of chasing them back.
Finally, the two picked some wild fruits and vegetables, cut a dozen or so sugarcane stalks, and went back.
This amount of sugarcane isn't enough for much, I just brought it back to check the quality.
Sugarcane is alright; there aren't many insect-eaten pieces, so you can always find some good ones. But wild fruits are the worst affected.
The wild berries we picked looked big and good on the outside, but after washing them and breaking them open, they were full of insect droppings inside. Several of them were like this. On the other hand, the ones that looked ugly and small had nothing inside, but they didn't have any amazing taste either. They were a bit mealy and you couldn't even taste anything.
"Let's throw these into the circle. There are still some fruits that Guge gave us a few days ago in the storage room. They taste very good, but they're not very fresh anymore."
"good."
Lamb threw the worm-infested wild fruit into the pen. Lai washed the fruit and came back, then found a basin and placed it in front of him to catch the worms. He then sat in the living room peeling sugarcane.
"There's freshly washed fruit on the table; take some and eat it yourself."
"Um."
Lamb munched on the melon, watching as Ray peeled the sugarcane with a knife.
The sugarcane isn't in season yet, but it's already growing very well. It's sweet and juicy, and every bite is bursting with sweet juice, unlike the creamy texture of honey.
"Brother, give me a piece!"
Ray cut off a piece of the peeled sugarcane and gave it to him. Lamb put down the half-eaten melon and began to chew on the sugarcane.
Sugar is scarce in the village; Hagrid's family keeps the sugar in bread or jam, and only the two younger children occasionally get to eat sugar cubes sold in town.
Lamb himself hadn't eaten anything this sweet in a long time.
"Brother, where do you spit out the sugarcane pulp?"
"Just put it in the basin, we'll throw it all away later."
"OK."
Rye also peeled a section for himself, and the two of them sat in the living room eating sugarcane, stopping after only one stalk. Rye then cleaned a few more stalks, cut them into long sections, tied them with string, and gave them to Lamb to take home and eat.
It was getting late, so Lamb helped Ray put the red rockbirds back in the shed and then headed home with the sugarcane. On the way, he ran into Neil, who was coming home from school.
I wanted to say hello, but seeing Neil walking home with his head down, I had no choice but to give up.
Lamb noticed two mud stains on the knees of Neil's pants, but didn't think much of it and continued strolling home.
Which of the village's monkey kids didn't often come home covered in dirt? When he was little, he would tear a pair of pants every few days. The knees and buttocks of his pants, as well as the elbows of his clothes, were the worst affected areas, and Linda had to patch them for him countless times.
"Brother, I'm back."
"Yes, there's peeled sugarcane in the living room. Help yourself."
"good!"
Lai sat under the eaves processing the remaining sugarcane and the wild ginger he had dug up that day.
Sugarcane leaves and the older parts near the roots can be used to feed mules; they have a slightly sweet taste, and mules love to eat them.
The ginger has a spicy flavor and a unique taste. Lei has only seen it in the potions shop in town. It's a bit pricey, so it's not worth buying to eat.
After winter sets in, wild ginger becomes hard to find, but Lai still needs to add ginger to her dishes to remove the gamey smell of meat, so she takes advantage of the current situation to pick more.
The tender ones can be made into pickles, while the older ones can be washed, dried, and stored in a well-ventilated place for several months.
Ray noticed the mud stains on Neil's pants, but since Neil didn't explain, Ray didn't press the matter further.
Neil hurried back to his room, clearly not wanting him to know what had happened.
He quickly finished what he was doing and started preparing dinner.
Neil endured the pain and went upstairs. When he got home, he was afraid that his brother would find out something, so he deliberately ignored the marks on his legs and pretended that nothing had happened.
He closed the door tightly, sat on a chair in the bedroom, and carefully pulled his pants down from the trouser legs to his thighs, exposing his knees.
When I fell, I only felt a rock hitting my knee and it hurt a lot, but I didn't expect it to be a real injury. There's a cut the size of a fingernail on my knee, and blood is still gushing out.
Neil frowned slightly, found a clean handkerchief, and pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding.
He rolled up his left trouser leg to check the wound as well. His left knee was in okay condition; the skin was cut, and the damaged skin was hanging on the wound. There was dust on his knee, and the dust got into the wound as well, with a little blood seeping out.
It didn't look as bad as his right knee, but the pain was much worse. Neil didn't even blink, and just ripped off the dead skin. Luckily, there was no bleeding.
The injury on my knee is manageable, but there are definitely two holes in my pants.
Neil was very unhappy looking at the hole in his pants.
The pants were bought by his older brother, and he has always cherished them. Although the hole can be mended, the thought of how the pants got torn in the first place still makes him very upset.
It's been a long time since something like this has happened.
Just because they're from the same village doesn't mean there won't be conflicts; there are quite a few villagers who fight each other.
When his parents had just passed away and his brother was lying in a coma, Neil was bullied by the village children.
Uncle Hagrid and Aunt Linda took good care of him and his brother, but there were always times when they couldn't see them. The bad kids in the village would take advantage of the adults' inattention to call him a jinx and a child without parents.
Some people even urged him to give them his family's valuables in exchange for helping him find a powerful wizard to revive his brother...
At that time, Neil felt that the sky was gray.
He stubbornly argued back against those who bullied him, often getting into fights with them until his body was covered in bruises and small wounds.
Neil never told Hagrid or Linda about these things; he didn't want to cause them any more trouble. His aunt and uncle had to support a large family, plus him and his brother, and buy medicine for his brother's illness.
On many aimless nights, Neil would cover himself with a thin blanket, quietly nestled next to his brother, and count his brother's heartbeats with his eyes open until he fell asleep.
God still favored him; his brother finally woke up after lying there for a long time.
My older brother used to spend most of the year studying away from home.
When he came back, he preferred to stay in his room reading. Occasionally, he would follow his mother outside to collect herbs, but she rarely accompanied him to play.
After that terrible thing happened, the older brother shouldered the burden of life with his thin shoulders, and they gradually started to communicate more, but he still didn't know what kind of person his brother really was.
Then, after his brother woke up from his injury, everything changed. Things gradually started to improve. Fewer children in the village bullied him, and eventually no one dared to provoke him anymore.
Of course, Neil never told Rye any of this.
But today...
Neil removed the handkerchief and looked at the wound on his right leg. The bleeding had stopped, but there was a large bloodstain on the handkerchief.
Neil took off his pants, wet a handkerchief with water from the glass on the bedside table, wiped the dirt off his knees, and then applied the medicine to his knees.
The medicine was prepared by Ray. Ray thought that children Neil's age would inevitably bump into things from time to time, so he kept some medicine at home in advance.
These medicines did come in handy.
The medicine dried quickly, and Neil found a clean pair of pants to change into.
He still needs to feed the livestock and collect the bird eggs, otherwise the other children in the village will take them.
The weather was hot, and the smell was strong.
During the day, the red-billed ravens will flock to the opposite grassland and set up a enclosure there. Some of their eggs will be laid there, so you have to collect them in time.
After eating, I still have to wash the dirty clothes.
"Brother, is the water in the vat outside from today's sunshine? Can I use it to wash clothes?"
"It should still be warm after being in the sun all day. Go ahead and wash it; you don't need to ask me."
"good!"
Neil moved the large basin for washing clothes to the yard, scooped up some water, soaked the light-colored clothes in it, and then went to do other things.
After dinner and laundry, another day has passed.
The next day, it was time to leave school again, and this time Neil kept a close eye on the people around him as he walked home.
Yesterday, he was careless and was outmaneuvered by Buz's son, Gris.
The fat, goofy-looking Gris gave him a hard shove from behind as he was walking.
Grisby was a head taller than all the other children his age in the village, and he was also much stronger. Neil was lost in thought on the way and was caught off guard when Grisby ambushed him, causing him to fall hard. His hands and knees were injured.
Neil had no idea how he had offended him. To avoid causing trouble for Ray, he always avoided Gris. He never expected that Gris would actually approach and bully him.
He planned to ask for clarification, and although he was afraid of causing trouble for Lai, he would not back down in such a situation.
Past experience told him that constant forbearance would only provoke more terrible violence. Rather than hoping for sympathy and help from others, he should rely on himself.
Sure enough, on a road with few people, Gris pulled Neil into the woods next to it.
“Neil, I heard your brother gave you a lot of pocket money. Can I borrow some?”
Gris approached Neil, using the height difference to create a sense of intimidation, looking down at Neil.
Gris means "warrior, hero" in Common, and this chubby guy, considering all the bad things he's done in the past, is clearly not worthy of the great name that Boots gave him.
Gris's eyes weren't very big to begin with, and the fat on his face made them look even smaller.
Because he was afraid of the heat, he didn't grow his hair long; instead, he cut it very short. He often played outside, which made him very tanned. This made him look fierce, dark-skinned, and fat.
"No, I won't lend it to you."
"You're lying! My dad said your brother made a lot of money selling things. There are only two of you in your family, why wouldn't he give you money to spend?"
As he spoke, Gris reached out and pushed Neil's shoulder.
"No, if you want money, go home and ask for it yourself."
"No? If you don't have any, I'll beat you up!"
Seeing Neil's tough stance, Gris raised his voice and shouted at Neil.
Neil's thoughts were wandering, and he paid no attention to Gris's little tricks. When Ray was sick, even more serious things happened.
But he was horrified to find that Griss was so excited that he was about to spit in his face, so he quickly backed away.
Seeing this, Gris assumed that Neil was scared and wanted to run away, which made him even more smug. He began to bully Neil further, pushing and shoving him.
Danny crouched behind a bush, watching in fear what was happening in the woods.
He wasn't very talkative and always preferred to be alone, so very few of the village children could play with him.
Neil, on the other hand, was different. Although he was also not very social, he was very popular with girls, and boys from the village would also ask him to play.
Although he was a year older than Neil, according to seniority, he should call Neil "Uncle".
Since they studied in the same place and had this connection, Danny naturally paid more attention to Neil. And then, he witnessed this today.
"Give it to me sooner, and you'll get beaten up less. If you piss me off, you'll be in big trouble."
Gris was still shouting loudly; it was obvious that he had learned this behavior from the adults around him.
"No, I don't have any."
Neil repeated the same few words, which completely enraged Gris. The situation changed, and he actually started to make a move.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-04-24 21:18:18 and 2024-05-05 22:30:51!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Orange is not grapefruit 20 bottles; Today I'm also looking for articles 13 bottles; Kasha 12 bottles; Today I'll eat meat, tomorrow I'll eat vegetables 10 bottles; Mu Mu is mumu 8 bottles; Don't be wronged! 5 bottles; A Xing 4 bottles; Yuan Xu 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
