Daniu waved his hand: "No, no way! Don't waste such a good thing. Thank you, Uncle, I...I don't even know what to say..."
Xu Daniu felt warm in his heart and was extremely moved! Uncle Dashan cared for him as if he were his own child. He drank such precious ginseng soup as he was told, without feeling any distress at all.
The old man said: "What are you still here for?! Hurry up and drink it while it's hot!"
Daniu's mother and Daniu's wife were touched and grateful. The Xu Family truly did not treat them as outsiders. They had heard of the price of ginseng roots—they weren't something ordinary people could afford.
Daniu's wife lifted the bowl and started feeding her husband.
Daniu was genuinely nervous: "Be careful, don't spill it. My hands can move—I'll drink from the bowl myself."
Xu Daniu carefully took the bowl from his wife, lowered his head, and took a sip. He savored the taste, feeling that ginseng-infused soup really was quite delicious. And so, he began drinking one mouthful after another.
Mrs. Wang said: "It's still hot! Drink it slowly!"
Xu Daniu nodded.
The entire bowl was emptied by Xu Daniu without a single drop left—so much so that he nearly licked the bowl clean. To waste even a single drop of such a precious substance would be sinful.
The old man placed the bottle of medicine he had brought with him on the table and said: "Wait until later to give Daniu one pill, this medicine is very effective for pain relief and healing injuries. If you take one pill every day, it will help your wounds heal faster."
Daniu's mother took one look at the medicinal pills and knew it couldn't be cheap. She said: "You've already given us ginseng soup and medicine, not to mention paid us our wages as usual. I don't know what words of gratitude are sufficient." With that, she wiped away tears from her eyes.
Mrs. Wang replied: "What gratitude? As long as Daniu's health improves!"
Xu Daniu also chimed in: "Uncle, Auntie, once my leg has recovered, I'll work hard!"
The old man said: "In the future, you mustn't force yourself anymore—do only what you can handle, and allow yourself time to learn from this experience."
Xu Daniu said nonchalantly: "Yes, uncle, I know, I won't do it again next time."
The old man said: "Then you rest first, and we will go back."
"Okay, uncle, just go back. Don't worry about me."
Qibao waved goodbye too, saying: "Goodbye, Uncle Daniu, I'll visit when I have some free time."
Xu Daniu nodded with a smile.
After the Xu family left, Daniu's mother said: "Daniu, we cannot accept this ginseng soup for free. Once you recover, you must work diligently, understand?"
"Mom, I know, Uncle Dashan treats me so well, I will definitely do a good job."
By the time the old man returned home, lunch had already been served.
At the dinner table, the old man said: "First, second, and third sons, you must all pay more attention to the safety of our villagers from now on. Even if it takes longer, don't do anything dangerous just to save yourself some trouble; make sure to keep a close eye on everyone else as well. The incident with Daniu should not happen again."
"I know, Dad, we will definitely pay attention to it in the future." Xu Dabo spoke.
The old man nodded without another word, leaving only the sounds of the family eating filling the table.
With that, the eldest Xu brothers would remind the villagers to pay attention to safety every time they did their work, and the Xu family would also send bone soup to Daniu to drink on a daily basis every now and then.
For these past few days, the weather was peculiarly stormy, with heavy rain and strong winds preventing the villagers from working outside. They could only stay indoors, huddled together inside their homes.
The old man stood in the corridor, gazing at the gray sky overhead, and spoke with concern: "This rain has fallen nonstop for five days already, growing colder by the day. I heard from the village chief that many houses have flooded, but what will we do if someone's house collapses?!"
Qibao suggested: "Tell everyone not to sleep too deeply these nights, it would be bad if it collapsed and crashed into someone."
The old man nodded: "I wonder how long it'll take before every household can move back into their new homes."
Qibao responded: "It is estimated that it will take a long time. There are more than 80 households in the village. Fortunately, there are many strong laborers in the village. However, it is estimated that it will take one or two years to complete the project."
The old man was somewhat worried, but luckily, after another night of heavy rain, the rain stopped the next day.
The villagers also rushed out. Xu Dabo thought about how heavily it had rained last night and wondered if their vegetable crops were still safe, so he hurried over to check on the situation.
Seeing that many villagers were already hard at work, some oil paper had been blown off the ground by the wind, and the vegetable seedlings were now crooked from the storm.
After Xu Chunsheng saw Xu Dabo, he said: "Brother Xu, it's all my fault. It would be great if I could come over in the middle of the night and take a look. I could've called everyone else for help sooner."
Xu Dabo replied: "This is a natural disaster—how can you blame yourself? The seedlings weren't snapped by the wind, so we just need to straighten them up later, laying down more oil paper will suffice as well. There's not much to lose."
Without another word, Xu Chunsheng began working diligently alongside others.
Recalling his father waiting anxiously back home, Xu Dabo quickly headed towards the village.
After returning home and relaying the situation to his father, the old man finally let out a sigh of relief: "As long as there is no problem with the vegetables, it will be fine. If this cuts off the supply of Zuixianlou, things will become troublesome."
In the past, the white wolf was often away from home and rarely came back at night. These days, when it rains, he runs home and brings back a lot of prey.
The old man had always been fond of his pets, so after several days away, he'd even gone as far as to roast two chickens for them. Xiaoba was jealous enough to whine about it.
Qibao took them into space at night, but they had always been somewhat at odds with Xiong Da and Xiong Er, as if they still held a grudge against Xiong Da for injuring them in the first place and occupying their lair.
However, Xiong Da and Xiong Er never confront the white wolf head-on. Every time they see the white wolf entering the space, they either hide behind Qibao or Xiaoling.
When Kui Wu delivered his brothers back from town, he spoke to the old man: "I went into town today and noticed government officials going in and out of the slums in small groups. Upon inquiry, I learned that most of the houses in the slum have collapsed due to the heavy winds and rain these past few days and many people were injured."
The old man thought of the last time he went to the slums to invite Mr. He, the scene in the slums was still fresh in his memory. They were much worse than the houses in Xujia Village. At least the houses of the villagers were still intact.
In some slums, half of the roofs have fallen off. When the weather is bad, collapse is inevitable.
Mrs. Wang said: "How wretched. They've finally managed to find some shelter, only for it to vanish without a trace, leaving them nowhere to live."
The old man pondered for a long time before saying: "Wife, why don't we help these people through this crisis?"
Mrs. Wang was surprised and asked: "How can we help?"
"I'll go to town and see what I can do to help! We're doing some good after all." the old man said.
"Sure! Go ahead! I agree!" Mrs. Wang said.
When Qibao came back at noon, the old man told Qibao about his decision.
Qibao didn't stop him. Since it was what grandpa wanted to do, let him do it.
Qibao said: "Go ahead, Grandpa, as they say, 'Be kind to others when you're in a fortunate position, and be kind to yourself when you're in a difficult situation.'"
Her grandfather nodded approvingly, his granddaughter was just like him. He had his own considerations in doing this. Of course, he was more sincere about helping these poor people.
After dinner, Qibao went to town with the old man.
As soon as Qibao and her grandfather stepped out of their carriage, they saw that the streets leading to the slum were filled with people sitting on the ground, and officials were managing the crowd.