Chapter 137 The Book is Missing
Uncle Gu's expression froze. He raised his hand and anxiously asked everyone to stop. He lowered his voice and said, "Don't make any noise. I think I hear someone crying."
When everyone heard this, they hurriedly stopped and pricked up their ears to listen attentively.
"I'm here! Ooooooo, it hurts. Master, I'm here!" The crying voice came from afar. Following the wind, it reached everyone's ears intermittently.
"It's Guawa!" The boy who had been following Gu Jiayue jumped up and down excitedly, his face flushed, and he shouted, "I heard him calling Master."
"I heard it too. It seems to be over here." A villager standing downwind raised his hand and pointed in a direction.
"Let's go." Everyone walked quickly in that direction.
"Guawa, where are you? Can you move? If you can't move, find a way to make some noise or movement." Gu Jiayue shouted loudly as she hurried on her way.
At this time, Li Guawa was curled up in a hidden pit, holding his bloody legs tightly with his hands.
His consciousness was already fading, and he was convinced he was going to die. But then he heard the Master's voice. He was afraid it was just hallucination, but at the same time, he was overjoyed that someone had finally come to find him.
He shouted and yelled, but no one came for a long time. But the teacher's voice was getting closer and closer, and he was finally sure that this time it was not an illusion.
Hearing the Master's words, he forced himself to endure the severe pain. He looked around and saw a stick. He quickly reached out to pick it up and shook it vigorously in the air. He shouted, "Master, do you see a stick that keeps shaking?"
Gu Jiayue couldn't hear it clearly, she only vaguely heard words like "stick" and "shaking".
"There!" A sharp-eyed villager pointed his finger into the distance and saw a small tree swaying violently.
Ten minutes later, everyone finally found Li Guawa in a pit.
His leg was caught in a trap set by a hunter, and he had already lost a lot of blood. At this moment, he was so weak that he could hardly move.
As soon as she saw Gu Jiayue, Li Guawa could no longer hold back her tears and cried out, "Master."
Gu Jiayue quickly stepped forward, gently hugged him in her arms, and soothed him softly. "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, the Master is here."
"Wow, Master, am I going to die? I have lost all feeling in my legs. Wow, it hurts so much." Guawa snuggled tightly in Gu Jiayue's arms, the fear and grievance in his heart bursting out all at once, and he couldn't stop crying.
"It's okay, it's okay. The teacher is here and will definitely not let anything happen to you." Gu Jiayue whispered softly, trying to give him the greatest comfort.
Some villagers knew about this type of trap, so they squatted down and carefully tried to remove the obstacles around the clamp.
The clamp was covered in sharp thorns that dug deep into Guawa's flesh. Pulling it out with brute force would undoubtedly cause heavy bleeding. However, if it wasn't removed, it would be difficult to carry Guawa.
"Let me try." Hua Qingzhu strode forward and volunteered.
As a hunter, he is more familiar with these things, so it would be more appropriate for him to handle them.
"Okay, thank you." Gu Jiayue nodded slightly. Then she covered Guawa's eyes to prevent him from seeing the bloody scene. Then she turned to look at Uncle Gu and said, "Uncle, take the uncles and go find two trees as thick as your wrists, and get some vines."
"Okay." Uncle Gu responded and hurried away with his men.
Everyone worked separately and soon found everything Gu Jiayue needed.
Hua Qingzhu held a sharp scimitar in his hand. With his deft technique, he easily dismantled the tightly secured trap into several pieces, leaving only the piece of wood with the spikes. "I don't have any hemostatic powder, so I can't move this piece of wood for now."
"Okay, that's good. Come here and help me hold Guava."
At this time, Guawa had fainted due to unbearable pain.
Hua Qingzhu carefully took Guawa and, imitating Gu Jiayue's posture, held him firmly.
Gu Jiayue, who had some free time, took some skillful villagers to make a stretcher.
They used vines to tie branches as thick as wrists tightly together, then covered them with a thick layer of straw, and finally placed a piece of clothing on the straw, and a simple stretcher was completed.
"Get two strong men, one in front and one behind to carry it. It's okay to walk slowly, but it must be steady. And get another one who can run fast, go to the school to find Hu Zi or my eldest brother first, and ask them to harness the carriage and wait for us." Gu Jiayue arranged things in an orderly manner.
"Okay, Qingzhu and I will carry it, we are strong. Shuzi, you run fast, go find my son. Heishi, go and inform everyone that he has been found." Uncle Gu then made the division of labor arrangements.
Everyone had no objection to this and each went about doing what they were best at.
Because they were afraid of aggravating Guawa's injuries, they moved very slowly. When they reached the road, the villagers were already waiting there.
As soon as she saw Guawa, Guawa's mother burst into tears and rushed over to him. "You damn child, where have you been? Do you know that you scared me to death?"
Even though Gu Jiayue and the others were extremely careful, the bumpy and rugged ridges on the field still woke Guawa early in the morning. Seeing his mother, he couldn't hold back his tears any longer and said, "Mom, wuwuwu, the book is gone. My second uncle took it and sold it."
"He said I was a fool and that studying was useless. I might as well sell the books and gamble to make a profit."
"I want to go to the county town to find my second uncle and ask him to return the book to me. I wanted to take a shortcut, but accidentally stepped on a trap. Mom, it hurts so much, am I going to die?" When the child saw his mother, the grievances in his heart poured out like a flood that broke through a dam.
Everyone was stunned. They originally thought that the child had lost his way due to playing around, but they never expected that this was the reason.
"Isn't this Li Ergou going too far? He actually stole children's books and sold them!"
"Just sell it, but you still say the child is a fool with no future in studying. Is that something a second uncle can say? No wonder he hasn't had any children in all these years. He's so wicked that even God wants him to be childless."
Everyone started to accuse indignantly.
Guawa's mother was already filled with anxiety and anger, mad at her child for being disobedient and running around everywhere, causing the whole village to have to worry. She had already decided to find the child and give him a good beating to teach him a lesson, to see if he would dare to do it again.
But when he saw Guawa's miserable appearance, especially the wound on his foot, the anger in his heart instantly turned into endless anxiety.
After hearing Guawa's account of the whole process, he went crazy and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Li Dagou! Look at how badly we, mother and son, have been bullied! How long are you going to keep being a coward?"
Li Dagou hugged his head in pain, his face full of guilt and helplessness.
Seeing this, Gu Jiayue sighed helplessly and said, "Aunt, now is not the time to talk about this. The most important thing right now is to send Guawa to the county town to see a doctor."
Every family has its own problems. Gu Jiayue is really unable to take care of these trivial household matters. She only hopes that Li Dagou can cheer up and protect his wife and children.
"Yes, yes, wuwuwu, thank you Jiayue. I really don't know what to do without you." Guawa's mother held Gu Jiayue's hand tightly, as if she had grabbed the only life-saving straw.
Her parents-in-law were completely partial to their youngest son, a man known for his extravagant lifestyle. Her husband was a coward, unable to protect her and her child from the elements. Today, they had nearly lost their only son. Zhang Wan was truly devastated. If she hadn't been concerned about Guawa's injuries, she would have collapsed long ago.
She was really fed up with such days and had had enough.
"It's okay, the carriage is here. Let's take Guawa to the county town to see a doctor. Here's one or two taels of silver. Take it with you for emergencies. If it's not enough, let my eldest brother go to Jixiang Cloth Shop to get some." Gu Jiayue said, and stuffed the only one or two taels of silver she had on her to Zhang Wan.
Looking at her distraught appearance, it really doesn't seem like she can afford the money. If the treatment is delayed because of money, it will really ruin the child.
"Wuwuwu, Jiayue, your kindness will make your mother serve you like a slave in the next life." Zhang Wan said as she was about to kneel down.
Gu Jiayue quickly helped her up and said, "Go quickly, Guawa can't wait any longer."
After seeing Zhang Wan off, Gu Jiayue hurried to the school.
The villagers who came to help gradually dispersed, but everyone was still whispering about the Li family.
"Village chief!" Li Dagou, who had been silent all the time, suddenly stood up.
When he spoke, everyone stopped and turned around, some with puzzled expressions, some with doubts, and some looking at him with gossip.
His eyes were red, filled with pain and anger. He bent his knees and knelt on the ground. "Village Chief, I want to divide the family."
Li Dagou's mother, who had remained silent the entire time, flew into a rage upon hearing this. She pointed her finger at Li Dagou's head and shouted, "What did you say? Divide the family? Your father and I are still alive, and you want to divide the family?"
"Your second brother is still young and hasn't started a family yet. Did you send him away because you wanted to see him die?"
Father Li quickly stepped forward to chime in, "Yeah, Guawa said Ergou took the book, so Ergou took it? Did anyone see that? I think he dropped the book himself and was afraid of being punished, so he lied and wrongly accused his uncle."
"Exactly. How could someone as capable as me, Ergou, steal a book? How much are a few pieces of paper worth?"
The couple sang the same tune and refused to believe that Li Ergou could do such a thing.
But living in the same village, everyone knows who is who. This Li Ergou has loved stealing and robbing since he was a child. Who doesn't know that he is a bad person?
"Li Ergou is still young? I remember he is the same age as my Shi Ping, right? My Shi Ping already has two children."
"Yes, I'm already 22 years old this year, and I can't even find a wife."
"Last time, he tried to steal fish from my farm, but I caught him red-handed. Do you know what his mother said? She said her son Er Gou was giving me face by eating my fish? Damn it, did I need his face? I beat him up on the spot."
"Oh my god, I was saying there were fewer fish in my fields. Could he have eaten them? My fields are right next to his!"
Everyone spoke one after another, exposing Li Ergou's various misdeeds.
Listening to everyone's discussion, Li's mother put her hands on her hips and yelled like a shrew, "You gossipers, shut up! My Ergou is not that kind of person at all. Didn't he just eat one of your fish? Why are you accusing me of stealing? It's just a fish, what's the big deal?"
"I tell you, my Ergou won't get married because your daughter is not worthy of my son."
"My son is the best. The greatest. You can't even reach him."
She wanted to continue throwing a tantrum, but she saw her eldest son, who had been taciturn and honest since childhood, stood up, snatched the knife from Hua Qingzhu's hand and walked towards the village entrance.
"Big Dog, where are you going?" The village chief hurried forward and grabbed him, looking helpless.
Hey, what is going on?
Li Dagou's eyes were bloodshot, and the hatred in them seemed tangible.
He stared straight at his parents and spoke slowly, "Split up the family, or I'll go to the county town and find Li Ergou right now, chop him to death, and then I'll strangle myself with a rope to make sure you have no descendants."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
