Chapter 44 Daya Rations
In the early morning, the drizzle stopped.
The big fire was not extinguished all night, and the night watchman rang the gong to wake everyone up.
The night passed peacefully, and after everyone had breakfast and packed up their belongings, the village head rang the gong and called everyone over to discuss matters before continuing on their way.
The village head stood in front of everyone with his hands behind his back, glanced at the three members of the Li family before speaking, "It's hard to travel on a rainy day, so I didn't gather everyone to tell them last night. Everyone knows about the incident of the Li family's daughter. As the old saying goes, even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. Every family has children who are beaten and scolded, and your family is the first in Nanlin Village to do so. Since your family doesn't want to raise the child, you have to share the child's food rations."
When Mrs. Zhang heard about the rations, she stood up and said, "The head of the village can't bear it, so your family can take that girl to raise. I didn't even ask your family to pay, and you still want to share my rations!!"
“Aunt Zhang, Daya has grown up, and although she is small, she has done a lot of work! If you don’t share her rations, you will starve her to death! You are still my grandmother! Tsk tsk tsk tsk…” Old Mrs. Yang squinted her eyes and pursed her lips as she looked up and down at the three members of the Li family.
"That's right, no family is as cruel as theirs." Old Mrs. Fang glanced at the Li family with disdain. This family is very vicious.
"I, an old woman, have opened my eyes now after living to an old age. Grandpa, grandma and dad, three adults can't tolerate one child. Everyone can't stand it. To be fair, they have to raise the child for your family. You are so shameless!" Old Lady Wu, the wife of the head of the village, stood up and pointed at the three people from the Li family.
"How can his family have any face! He has been without a wife for so many years and has only one granddaughter. There must be a cause and effect! Now he doesn't even care about the life or death of his only granddaughter. Aren't they afraid of retribution?" Li Juhua blocked Daya behind her and spoke loudly in the direction of the Li family.
Mrs. Zhang put her hands on her hips and was about to yell back, but was grabbed by the clothes by old man Li who was sitting behind her son. Old man Li listened to everyone's chatter and knew that he had offended everyone, so he had to stand up and say to everyone: "Daya was just exhausted from traveling every day. She just needs a few naps. Thank you for your help yesterday. The head of the village will deduct as many work points as he should. How could my family ignore Daya? She is my only child. It's not easy for everyone to take care of their own family. Don't bother taking care of Daya. We will take care of her ourselves."
Everyone couldn't help but sneer in their hearts when they heard what Old Man Li said. Everyone in the same village knew each other, and they were acting out this.
Lin Zisu leaned towards Old Lady Wang and said, "Grandma, the Li family is reluctant to give their rations to Daya, so they said that, right?"
Old Lady Wang snorted and said loudly in the direction of Old Man Li: "That sounds nice! I'm afraid you don't want to give your rations to Daya!"
Mrs. Lu immediately continued, "Now that Daya is in your hands, you can do whatever you want with her!"
Lin Zisu looked at Old Lady Wang with a puzzled look on her face: "Everyone says that Daya's mother was beaten and ran away! Then who saw her mother run away?"
Old Lady Wang: "How would I know? The Li family is so far from my home. If someone sees me, how can I get away?"
Lin Zisu: "Why do I feel this is so strange? Could it be that the person is gone and they told others that he ran away?!"
Old Lady Wang: "What nonsense are you talking about, kid! This happened more than ten years ago. We left our hometown and wandered around. Why are you talking about this?"
"Oh..." She knew it was useless to bring this up now, but she just wanted to cheer everyone up!
Mrs. Zhang and Li Tiedan glared at Daya from time to time. Daya was so scared that she hid behind Li Juhua with her head down, not daring to stick her head out again.
Li Juhua raised her eyebrows, widened her eyes, and shouted, "Li Tiedan, why are you glaring at me?"
Butcher Zhao looked over and said, "What's the matter? You want to do something?" Then he rolled up his sleeves, and his four sons behind him stood up immediately.
"No, no, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. I was just checking on Daya to see if she was feeling better." Li Tiedan quickly waved his hands.
"Ding ding! Ding ding! Quiet! Listen to me!" The village head struck the gong and shouted to everyone.
"It's getting late, let's hurry up after this! You Li's children must be given food rations, or you can leave without them. This is not targeting any family, it's the same for every family, every country has its own laws, and every village has its own rules."
"Everyone must be thinking, there are so many poor people in the world, we can barely protect ourselves, how can we care about the lives of others. Yes, there are indeed poor people everywhere, we can see them everywhere on the road of escape."
"We can't control other people, but we can't just stand by and watch the people in our team die! When we really can't do anything, that's another matter.
Now that everyone is not at the end of their rope, we cannot stand by and watch people die. Everyone will get sick and injured along the way, and everyone will need a hand and help. What if everyone is indifferent and pretends not to see anything that happens? What if one day you faint and fall to the ground, and you can still be saved, but everyone pretends not to see anything and just walks away, okay? Would you feel uncomfortable? To put it bluntly, if a person is dead and falls to the ground with no one to collect your body, and is trampled on and bitten by wild animals, how would you feel? Even if the people in your own village don’t help, you still expect passers-by to dig a pit to bury your body! Only the people in our village can lend a hand to each other, help each other when you are in trouble, help you up when you fall, and help dig a pit to bury the body when someone dies. You help me, I help you, and we should work together as a team, that is the way to survive.”
The head of the village took a breath and continued, "Daya, we can't just watch a living life die like this. The Li family must pay for the food, and everyone should take care of it. Has your family made up their mind? Should we leave or share the food?" The head of the village looked at old man Li, "Make a decision quickly, we still have to hurry."
Mrs. Zhang glared at Daya, then turned around and glared at the head of the village. She was cursing him in her heart, and when she heard the head of the village say that, she was about to say "Pah" in anger.
Old Man Li held Mrs. Zhang tightly and said, "Then listen to the head of the village."
"Okay. Everyone saw it! Daya, can you eat from your own pot from now on?" The head of the village looked at Daya who was behind Li Juhua.
Li Juhua moved aside, and Daya could only bite the bullet and not look at her grandparents, ignoring their gazes. She looked at the head of the village and nodded.
Li Juhua said anxiously, "Speak."
Daya pursed her lips and said, "Okay."
"You bitch! You're just a money-loser! I'll beat you to death!" Mrs. Zhang said as she was about to rush over.
"You dare!" Li Juhua pulled Daya over and hid behind her.
The head of the village pointed at old man Li with a gong hammer and said, "Ding ding ding! All right, all right, you think my words are bullshit, get out of the team!!!"
"I dare not, I dare not. Go and hold your mother back. She is causing trouble all day long!" Old man Li hurriedly stepped forward to pull Mrs. Zhang.
"Daya, if anyone dares to bully you in the future, come to me! I will help you!" Lin Benshu took the gong from his father and said in front of everyone.
"Daya, if you have anything to say, come and see your Master Zhao!" Butcher Zhao stood up and pointed at the three people from the Li family, saying, "What are you talking about? You are a family with no ability at all! You only know how to bully women and children!"
"Daya, if anyone dares to bully you, just tell me or tell your aunt. It's all up to us. We will take care of it for you!" Lin Youcai also stood up and said to Li Jia.
Lin Xianwen stood up, looked at his father with curiosity and asked, "Money-losing goods? Why do you always scold these girls as money-losing goods? Aren't these aunts, grandmothers, and mothers-in-law all women!!"
"Puchi!" Lin Zisu quickly covered her mouth and almost laughed out loud.