Lin Changhe and Lin Changxi, who was standing beside him, were so frightened by their son/nephew's fainting that they immediately stopped the car and rushed over to ask what happened: "What happened to Chengzi?"
Lin Rui glanced at Lin Zicheng, who had been woken up by being pinched on the Ren Zhong point. "He must be hungry. Auntie, do you have any bread at home? Let him fill his stomach first. He can't starve like this. It will hollow out his insides, and he won't be able to make up for it even if he eats too much later."
After he said that, Zhang Dacui no longer cared about the food. She hurriedly took out a palm-sized cake from the bag of food and stuffed it into Lin Zicheng's hand with tears in her eyes: "Chengzi, eat it, eat it quickly!"
After getting the biscuit, Lin Zicheng finally regained some energy and stuffed it into his mouth. However, he had walked too much and had no water to drink or food to eat, so his mouth was dry and bitter. He couldn't swallow it at all if he ate it so hastily. He just used his lips to wipe off the flour on the outside of the biscuit and licked it bit by bit.
"Oh my god, I'm so thirsty that I can't eat." Lin Zicheng took a bite and chewed it for a long time, but the biscuit in his mouth was still dry and he couldn't swallow it. He was so thirsty that even saliva was difficult to secrete.
Lin Zicheng bit the pancake in half and gave the other half to Tan Ying and her daughter: "You two should eat some too."
Zhang Dacui sulked and licked her dry lips: "Chengzi, this is for you."
Lin Zicheng shook his head: "Mom, half of it is enough for me."
Lin Rui sighed and said to San Liang, "San Liang, go get me a bowl of water."
Lin Changhe thanked him repeatedly: "Brother Rui, Third Uncle thanks you, thank you!"
Yu Lanhua held Dunzi and Douzi's hands, and opened her mouth eagerly, looking like she wanted a bowl to drink too.
The water in the house is not a problem. The real problem is how to get it out with a reasonable reason. We can't rely on Lin Rui to get it back every time.
"Rui'er, look..." Yu Lanhua finally couldn't help it and stepped forward to ask for it with a shameless face.
Before he could finish his words, Lin Rui retorted, "What are you looking at? Who in your family is dying of thirst? The water I found is rationed. Counting the more than 30 people in our Lin family, we can only barely last for two days if we save and drink frugally. If Chengzi drinks one more bowl today, Third Uncle's family will have one less bowl when the water is distributed for cooking tonight. No room for negotiation."
"If anyone wants to take advantage of you like you do, then we should all stop living and stop traveling. We can just sit here and split the water. I'll drink it all in one gulp and wait for death, okay?"
He said this without any mercy. Everyone has this mentality. After watching others succeed, they also want to copy it, even people from the same clan will do so. If he gave the water to Yu Lanhua today as he said, perhaps the next person to ask for it would be Chen Zhi, Chen Mei and other female relatives. Once this point is made, it will be difficult to make up for it. Unless he gives it to every household, otherwise he will offend everyone no matter who he gives it to or who he doesn't.
Seeing Yu Lanhua being ruthlessly retorted by Lin Rui, Lin Pingmao also cursed: "Woman, how could our Lin family marry a shallow-minded woman like you? Rui'er, don't listen to her. Wait until Chengzi is well and then we can continue on our journey."
As the beneficiary, Zhang Dacui didn't dare to arouse public anger and explained, "Yes, Lanhua, Rui Ge'er gave us some water now, but our family will have one less bowl of water to cook porridge in the evening. It's all the same!"
Lin Rui looked at Yu Lanhua and said, "Aunt, how about I give you all the water your family has today, or fetch you all the water that should be in this batch?"
Yu Lanhua was a little tempted: "Rui Ge'er, will this work?"
Lin Changfa grabbed Yu Lanhua's clothes and pulled her to his side: "What are you talking about!" He looked at Lin Rui with an apologetic look: "Rui'er, don't listen to your aunt's nonsense, it's not true."
Lin Rui glanced around at everyone and said, "I shouldn't have said such harsh words. As the old saying goes, it's not the lack of water that's worrying, but the inequality of distribution. I was the one who found the water and shared it with everyone, but it ended up being my fault, making me feel like a nobody. I think we should stop doing this. Let's just keep doing it like before, each family contributing to their own needs and living behind closed doors. That's fine."
Lin Pingmao immediately stood up and said, "This won't do. Without Rui Ge'er, we're still alive. In the past, we could have built a longevity temple for Rui Ge'er. But I'm making this clear today. Whether Rui Ge'er likes it or not, the position of patriarch of our Lin clan will be Rui Ge'er from today on. Everyone should respect him as they would me. If anyone dares to betray or harm the interests of our clan, the patriarch has the right to expel him from the clan immediately."
Lin Changxi and Feng Zhenniang were shocked by Lin Pingmao's decision. They didn't expect that he would announce his son as the patriarch so suddenly. Besides... besides, their Lin family has never had such a young patriarch!
"Uncle, the village head, your decision is too sudden. Rui Ge'er is only in his twenties. How can he take on the responsibility of being the clan leader?" Lin Changxi said in panic. In his eyes, his son had just turned over a new leaf. How could he take on the responsibility of the survival of the entire clan?
Lin Changtai and Lin Changshou stood up to support him: "Brother Changxi, Rui Ge'er's ability is stronger than all of us. I would be the first to accept him as the clan leader. As the old saying goes, heroes emerge from youth. Rui Ge'er is the hero of our Lin family. He is worthy of being the clan leader now."
Lin Changfa and Lin Changhe also nodded repeatedly: "Yes, our four branches are of the same blood. If anyone disagrees with Rui Ge'er being the clan leader, please come and talk to us first."
Be the clan leader? Not impossible. Before, he was afraid of trouble, but now he wanted to be the clan leader to have absolute control. A large team without a leader or with a chaotic leader is a disaster. So, it's better for me to take the position, Lin Rui thought bluntly.
"I'm willing to accept the order to be the clan leader in this critical moment. I will try my best to lead all four of our families to Huangmo Pass, but the prerequisite is that no one can go west if I say east, and no one can disobey any decision I make. If you can do these two things, I agree to be the clan leader." What he wanted was absolute obedience.
Lin Zizheng muttered softly, "Isn't this just like a one-man show?"
Lin Rui glanced at him in affirmation, looking at everyone sincerely: "Yes, it's a one-man show. You must be absolutely obedient and submissive."
"This..." This is too overbearing. Even though this is what he meant, he could have expressed it in a more tactful way! When Lin Pingmao took over as the patriarch of the Lin family, he never said these arrogant words.
This Rui Ge'er really doesn't act according to common sense!
Finally, everyone thought about how Lin Rui had decisively led them into the mountains to escape the disaster, how he had defied all odds to build a sturdy rain shelter, thus preventing widespread food loss, and how he had found a water source in the woods, where the scorching soil was nearly turning to sand...
Young people always have the ambition of young people. Lin Rui will definitely be the head of the Lin family!
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