MTLNOVEL Chapter 358: 358. Rescue
Da Liu gave a weak smile and lifted his emaciated hand slightly, "I'm not hungry, you all eat this, eating will give you strength."
These words made the children's tears fall even more fiercely.
"We still have some, Brother Da Liu, you eat..." Gouzi didn't want to shed tears for fear of making Da Liu sad, but no matter how he controlled it, the tears kept falling.
The other children nodded one after another, even though their stomachs ached from hunger.
Seeing the sad looks on his younger siblings, Da Liu eventually nodded reluctantly, using all his strength to sit up, attempting to hold the bowl himself, but his arm fell weakly as soon as he lifted it.
"Brother Da Liu, I'll feed you," Gouzi quickly said.
Then, with trembling hands, he brought the bowl to Da Liu's mouth, feeding him carefully.
Da Liu only drank two sips before a violent cough interrupted him, and the wild vegetable soup he had just swallowed was all spat out the next moment.
In the moment he spat it out, he instinctively turned his face away, avoiding the younger siblings nearby.
Even in such a state, he was still thinking about his younger siblings. This scene touched Huajin deeply, and she felt her nose sting, though she thought her heart had become hard.
These children...
No longer able to hold back, she lifted the tattered tent and went in.
In the panic, none of the children noticed her. At this moment, all their attention was on Brother Da Liu, who was coughing violently, including the other children lying on the ground, too weak to move.
"Brother Da Liu..." The children were anxiously worried, wanting to approach but were stopped by the hand Da Liu raised.
"It's... nothing, I'll be... fine..." Then, looking at the wild vegetable soup on the ground, he gave a bitter smile, "I just wasted all that wild vegetable soup..."
This... must have been all the wild vegetables his younger siblings could find.
"It's okay, Brother Da Liu, there's still some in the pot, and plenty left in the bowl, stop talking, drink some water to moisten your throat..."
Gouzi handed the bowl of soup to nearby Caogen, intending to continue feeding with a broken bowl that had warm water.
"No need," Da Liu waved his hand, "I'm not thirsty..."
"Brother Da Liu..." Gouzi pouted, looking sadly at the older brother showing signs of mortality.
"Let me have a look..." Huajin stepped forward softly, yet the children were still startled, forgetting to cry for a moment.
Ignoring them, Huajin took out an infrared thermometer from her space and placed a thin layer of spiritual power on it, then put it on the boy's hand.
Forty point five, my god... So high, and still, this boy could endure it and say these things to his siblings.
Huajin admired this boy. Such willpower was something many people couldn't match; it would be a pity to just let him die like this.
Huajin moved quickly and by the time she put away the thermometer, the children, including Gouzi, finally reacted and wanted to shield Brother Da Liu.
Looking at the oddly dressed older brother in front of them, despite their fear, they bravely stood ahead.
"Who are you... What do you want to do?"
"Never mind who I am, if you want to save your older brother, step aside."
Huajin glanced at the boy in tattered clothes and took out a few pills from her bag.
"Open your mouth," she said to the still-surprised teen.
"What, you're still afraid in this condition?" Seeing the teen not opening his mouth, Huajin deliberately provoked him.
"No, I... just think... it's a waste on me..." Da Liu said with difficulty.
He could see there was no malice in the young man's eyes, and frankly, among their group of little beggars, there was no one who would view them as anything other than food, especially now that they had caught the plague.
"Whether it's a waste or not is for me to decide, eat if you don't want to die..." Huajin held up the pill in her hand.
If he could live, who would want to die? Ultimately, the desire to live made Da Liu open his mouth, and Huajin took Gouzi's bowl, pouring a sip into it.
Huajin wasn't a doctor but knew that in such a condition, getting the fever down was crucial; otherwise, even a Divine Doctor couldn't save him.
Seeing that the youth swallowed it without spitting it out like before, she was relieved. As long as he didn't expel it, there was hope; otherwise, even the best medicine would be useless if he couldn't keep it down.
Then she no longer concerned herself with the youth and took out the thermometer from her bag again, checking the temperature of all the children in the tent.
There were three children with fevers of over thirty-eight degrees... One could say there wasn't a single child in the tent who didn't have a fever, even those who could still move had low-grade fevers, and yet they still managed to take care of the children inside the tent.
It couldn't help but make Huajin compare them to modern children, who simply couldn't compare, the latter being like suckling infants with no self-care ability.
Sighing, she once again took out fever reducers and antibiotics, sharing a few pills with each child.
"Take this, it's for the fever, it'll make you feel better."
"Big brother... is this medicine?" The children had never seen such medicine before, such a small pill, and some didn't even know what it was made of, soft to the touch.
"Yes" Huajin nodded.
Knowing it was medicine that could bring down a fever, their faces immediately lit up with a hope, swallowing it dry even if the bitterness made their mouths tremble.
Only then did they truly believe that this was medicine indeed; only medicine tasted this bitter. The eyes they now cast upon Huajin were filled with expectation.
This big brother with handsome eyes whose face they couldn't clearly see... was he here to save them?
Watching the children swallow the pills without exception, Huajin nodded; as long as they could take it, that was good, but seeing their skin-and-bone bodies made her heart soften once more.
Well, since I'm already here, might as well see it through.
Reversing the backpack she had used for cover from her back, these children seemed so frail as if they'd close their eyes at any moment; they simply couldn't go on without nutrition.
Opening it, she took out a small bag of millet, about ten pounds in weight.
This would nourish their stomachs and health, especially suitable for someone sick.
Thinking it over, she took out a small bag of white flour, to make small dumpling soup that also nourishes the body, with the last cloth bag containing ten eggs, then considered their symptoms and took out ten doses of medicine she had stockpiled for plagues, enough for children in this situation. She could only hope it would help.
The children just watched as this big brother kept taking things out.
"Come here..." Huajin beckoned to Gouzi, who seemed to be in the best condition to stand and was the oldest one.
At this moment, Gouzi's wariness had diminished significantly; anyone who would give them such precious medicine couldn't be a bad person, and he had already stepped forward as Huajin called.
"I... what do you need me to do?"
Monkey looked at his thin body, asking without much confidence.
Huajin nodded, opening the cloth bags she had taken out.
"Millet..." Gouzi's eyes lit up sharply, lifting his head to look at Huajin in astonishment.
Even at his young age, he knew this was top-quality millet, golden without a trace of impurities.
Such good food... it couldn't be what he thought, could it?
Gouzi could hardly believe it as he looked at the big brother in front of him.