MTLNOVEL Chapter 373: 373. Guilt
Returning empty-handed was expected by Hua Jin. Normally, it takes several strong men to lift such heavy beams, let alone just the three of them, immature children. Even if there were ten more, they couldn't move it.
"There's a pile of straw over there. You guys tidy it up first," Hua Jin pointed to a corner of the yard. As she spoke, a pile of wheat straw appeared out of thin air in the corner.
Whether it's reasonable or not wasn't her concern anymore, and these children wouldn't consider it either.
Hearing that there was something to do, Da Liu and Gouzi ran over happily, while Hua Wan'er, along with her younger siblings, started to unload the things they had brought from the cart.
Hua Jin made several trips to bring over all the timber, then called Da Liu and Gouzi to help, and began to construct a simple house for them.
What seemed difficult for these children was quite easy for Hua Jin; she had plenty of strength and some cheating tools.
But before that, the walls needed to be repaired and evened out, filling in the missing parts.
This process certainly took some effort, mainly in the repairs. After a full hour of fixing and drying, and after laying all the timber, it was already past midnight. By the time the boards were laid and the wheat straw spread over the two roofs, the sky gently brightened with a corner of colorful dawn stretching from the east.
Aside from Hua Jin, Da Liu and Gouzi, all the other children couldn't hold out any longer and fell asleep on the straw mats.
The few people, except Hua Jin who was surrounded by spiritual power, were all covered in dirt, looking quite disheveled.
Although they were in a sorry state, looking at the house they had built, Da Liu and Gouzi couldn't help but feel a thrill in their hearts.
They finally had a home again, one they participated in building. This feeling was indescribable in words, just excitement, happiness, and anticipation.
Hua Jin was also very satisfied with her masterpiece.
This was her first time building a house. Although it was a bit shorter than a regular house and was just a flat house, it was a real house, a place that could shield from the wind and rain.
As for the doors, Hua Jin wandered around the village and came back with two reasonably sturdy wooden doors, saying she found them in the village.
When it was fully bright, the doors were also installed, marking the task done; observing all this, Hua Jin felt an overwhelming sense of achievement, justifying a night's hard work.
After working all night, she was tired too, standing up and patting the nonexistent dust off her body.
... It was time to leave.
Seeing their benefactor get up, Gouzi and Da Liu hurriedly stood up too, with Grassroot already dozing off to the side.
It wasn't clear at night, they just thought their benefactor's eyes were brighter than the stars in the sky. Precisely because they were so bright, they dared not scrutinize. Now it was their first time clearly seeing their benefactor, though only limited to a pair of eyes.
Forgive their lack of words, looking at those long and slightly upturned eyes, there was only one feeling — these were very beautiful eyes, with dark pupils under a long row of curved lashes, blinking like two fans flapping, stunning the two of them.
"What's the matter?" Hua Jin raised an eyebrow.
"Benefactor…"
"You can call me Hua Jin," Hua Jin interrupted Da Liu.
Indeed, she saved them, deserving the word 'benefactor,' but Hua Jin didn't like being addressed that way.
Da Liu was stunned for a moment, then showed a happy expression, quickly calling out, "Young Master Jin."
Gouzi followed suit, calling, "Young Master Jin."
Though they didn't know why the benefactor elder brother dressed so strangely, judging by his demeanor, he definitely wasn't an ordinary family's young master.
Moreover, they were even more grateful, the young master didn't despise them at all, even in the face of such a deadly plague!
Not only did he disregard the danger and dare to approach them, save them, but also delivered medicine and food, helped them build a house, and gave them seeds.
There was even a look of admiration in Gouzi's eyes, which made Hua Jin couldn't help but avert her gaze, feeling for a moment like a grandchild looking at a grandfather.
"Ahem..." she lightly coughed, originally just to break the mood, only to be startled by the sudden large teardrops in Gouzi's reddening eyes.
Hua Jin: "..."
Really felt baffled like a monk reading a headless scripture, why started crying suddenly.
"What's the matter?"
"Kind elder brother... Young Master Jin, you coughed, it's all our fault, if it wasn't for saving us, elder brother wouldn't cough... wailing..."
The guilt in his heart made Gouzi, so a strong child, suddenly burst into tears as he faced the fact that his siblings were gone.
Or maybe the long-repressed fear in his heart was finally uncontrollable.
Even Da Liu beside him had red eyes, evidently having the same thoughts as Gouzi, making Hua Jin feel both exasperation and a surge of warmth inside.
Her judgment was as good as ever, she hadn't wasted the trip to deliver medicine and food.
"No, no, I coughed on purpose, just as a prelude to speaking, I haven't caught any plague, don't worry…" Seeing how worried the children were about her, Hua Jin quickly reassured them, with a gentle smile on her face.
In just a blink, Gouzi was already tears and snot all over, with the thick snot mixing with the mud on his face, it was really... disgusting to look at directly.
Only Hua Jin knew how difficult it was not to look away.
"Rea...lly, not... infected..."
Maybe because he cried it out, his heart felt a bit better, Gouzi used his tattered sleeve to wipe his face and nose. Seeing the elder brother's face turn pale, he didn't know why, he wanted to cry again, the recently closed tears burst open "wailing" and cried again.
His face turned white, but still claimed not infected.
The kind elder brother was too good-hearted, just didn't want them to worry!
Gouzi's tears poured down even harder looking at Hua Jin, if not fearing his own sickness and some shame, he would have stepped forward to hug the benefactor.
Hua Jin: "..." One deep dark line.
Children's feelings are really hard to fathom!
Wasn't he done crying before? How did he immediately start crying even harder?
Feeling a headache, Hua Jin pinched her eyebrows, especially seeing him even messier with tears and snot all over.
"Stop..."
A loud shout startled the crying to a stop, Gouzi opened his tear-smeared eyes wide with his mouth open, momentarily forgetting to cry, staring dazed at the benefactor elder brother.
"I said I'm fine, did you hear clearly?" Hua Jin frowned at Gouzi, enunciating each word, then pulled out a cloth from her pouch. "Wipe yourself, just look at how messy you are."
This time, Hua Jin didn't hide her little obsession with cleanliness, she didn't look at Gouzi again.
Gouzi: "..."
Even if he was slow, seeing the cloth in the elder brother's hand he understood, a line of snot running down as he was about to wipe it with his sleeve, suddenly remembered and blushed, not caring how clean the elder brother's cloth was, hurriedly receiving it and carefully wiping his face. The tears and snot mixed with dirt, instantly the blue cloth lost its original color, Gouzi bowed his head in embarrassment.
... It turned out he misunderstood, then his mood suddenly dropped, whimpering and wanting to cry again, looking at the cloth imagining his dirty appearance.