The sharp-faced man was caught off guard and stumbled backward. His vicious gaze landed on Yu Yangyang, and he raised his hand and slapped her.
Smack!
The blow landed squarely across Yu Yangyang’s face. Her head buzzed, and she felt slightly dizzy.
Yu Jin froze for a moment before exploding.
“Fuck your father! You think you can bully people?!”
At the same time, someone else jumped out of the darkness and joined Yu Jin.
Although Yu Jin was thin and small, perhaps because he had eaten well for the past two days, he had quite a bit of strength. The sharp-faced man was already weakened by hunger, so Yu Jin actually managed to pin him down and start beating him.
Bai Lan’s eyes turned red as she held Yu Yangyang protectively.
Yu Shanghua joined Yu Jin in beating the man.
After all, the Yu family had three men. The sharp-faced man was alone, and although the other refugees had plenty to say, none of them were willing to intervene once a real fight broke out.
In the end, the man was beaten badly. He screamed repeatedly, his face swollen and bruised.
Yu Yan pulled the furious Yu Jin away.
“Enough. Stop.”
Then he lifted his foot and kicked the man in the chest.
“Don’t kill him.”
The man: “?”
Hadn’t these two brothers always seemed to hate this girl?
But right now, he only wanted to survive.
He hurriedly begged for mercy.
“I was wrong! I shouldn’t have gotten greedy. Please let me go!”
Yu Jin kicked him in the butt.
“Get lost!”
The man scrambled away, taking his belongings with him as he fled the rocky area where they had been resting.
Yu Yangyang knew that the man had been badly injured. During a famine like this, he probably wouldn’t survive for long.
What Yu Yangyang hadn’t expected was that the Yu family, who normally seemed so quiet and mild-mannered, could actually become quite fierce when angered.
That meant that, at least on their journey as refugees, they probably wouldn’t die too quickly.
Yu Yangyang believed that as long as she kept feeding them until they were strong and healthy, with the way they had just beaten someone without hesitation, they would surely make it safely through the famine.
This beating wasn’t a loss at all.
Yu Jin turned around angrily and saw Yu Yangyang staring at him blankly.
He instinctively said, “What are you looking at? You were the one who ran out there yourself. Don’t blame me again!”
Who needed her to stand up for him?
She was just meddling.
Yu Yangyang pursed her lips and softly said, “Don’t worry, Second Brother. I definitely won’t do it again next time.”
She said it with such sincerity.
Yu Jin: “…”
Why did that sound so strange?
Was Yu Yangyang blaming him?
But he hadn’t said anything wrong. He absolutely wasn’t going to apologize.
Yu Yangyang had no idea about the turmoil going on inside Yu Jin’s head.
She had simply meant what she said.
She definitely wouldn’t do something like that again.
It had hurt too much.
Bai Lan gently touched Yu Yangyang’s cheek.
“Don’t mind your second brother. He’s just an idiot! Yangyang, does it hurt?”
It hurt terribly.
But Yu Yangyang still said, “It doesn’t hurt, Mother. Let’s eat the roasted sweet potatoes. They’ll taste bad if they get cold.”
She pulled Bai Lan down to sit and dug the sweet potatoes out of the ashes.
Then she looked toward the man standing nearby, who seemed hesitant about whether he should leave first.
“Thank you for helping us.”
Only then did Bai Lan and Yu Shanghua remember that someone else had helped them.
“Yes, yes! Thank you so much!”
The man was the husband from earlier that day who had come to ask them for water.
Hearing the Yu family’s gratitude, he looked embarrassed.
“Please don’t say that, Madam and Sir. If it weren’t for the water you gave us earlier today, my child would have died of thirst.”
Yu Yangyang spoke softly.
“One thing is one thing. You’re a good person.”
She took two roasted sweet potatoes and put them into the man’s hands.
“We don’t have anything else to thank you with. Take these as a token of our gratitude.”
The man hurriedly waved his hands.
“How can I accept this?”
They were far too precious!
Yu Yangyang calmly said, “Take them.”
The man’s eyes suddenly reddened.
He knew he shouldn’t accept them. In times like these, whose family had an easy life?
But…
The sweet, fragrant smell of the roasted sweet potatoes reached his nose.
He thought of his starving, emaciated son and his increasingly weak elderly mother.
In the end, he reached out and accepted them.
“My name is Li Zhong. If you ever need anything in the future, as long as I can help, I definitely will!”
Bai Lan looked at the two roasted sweet potatoes, feeling a little pained at giving them away.
But the man had stepped forward without hesitation to help them, and Bai Lan was someone who understood gratitude.
She waved her hand.
“No need, no need. Go back quickly.”
Li Zhong looked complicated.
After hesitating for a moment, he finally left, looking back several times as he walked away.
After Li Zhong left, the Yu family dug through the glowing ashes and pulled out all the remaining sweet potatoes.
Yu Yangyang had originally roasted six sweet potatoes, intending to give everyone one.
Now only four remained.
Fortunately, everyone had eaten porridge, so they weren’t terribly hungry. Only the men with bigger appetites were still eyeing the sweet potatoes eagerly.
Yu Yangyang only broke off half a sweet potato for herself and gave the rest to her family.
The sweet-potato skins had been roasted dry and crisp by the charcoal.
When they broke open the sweet potatoes, the rich, sweet fragrance was even stronger than before.
The roasted sweet potatoes were steaming hot, and the moment they were split open, thick syrupy juices oozed from inside.
The Yu family’s eyes lit up.
They ate enthusiastically, praising the taste again and again.
Footsteps sounded once more in the darkness.
It seemed that another group of refugees had arrived to make camp.
And this group was actually setting up camp properly. Yu Yangyang even saw someone putting up tents.
There were quite a few of them.
While chewing on her sweet potato, Yu Yangyang observed the newcomers.
She saw some of them talking with the people nearby.
Not long afterward, someone walked toward the Yu family.
Yu Yangyang looked him over.
He was a middle-aged man dressed in gray. He had a proper, dignified appearance and the fatigue of someone who had been traveling for a long time.
But unlike most people during the famine, his face wasn’t gaunt with hunger at all.
His clothes were also clean.
At a glance, it was obvious that he came from a relatively well-off family.
The man gave a slight bow, his manner neither servile nor arrogant.
“People nearby said that you have roasted sweet potatoes here?”
The Yu family instinctively frowned.
After all, one person after another had been eyeing their belongings today, and they were already getting rather irritated.
The man hurriedly explained.
“My young master has been traveling for many days and refuses to eat. He says he wants something sweet.”
“My master heard that you have roasted sweet potatoes, so he specifically sent me here to buy a few.”
The Yu family’s expressions softened somewhat.
As long as they weren’t here to steal their food, that was fine.
Although the man’s attitude was polite, Bai Lan knew that during a refugee journey, food was far more valuable than silver.
She was about to refuse when Yu Yangyang suddenly spoke.
“Yes.”
Bai Lan glanced at Yu Yangyang, her eyes filled with disapproval.
But then she remembered that these were Yangyang’s own sweet potatoes, so she kept quiet.
Yu Yangyang thought to herself:
Just when I was wondering how to make money, an opportunity comes knocking.
One of her current system tasks was precisely to earn some money.
Yu Yangyang said, “We can sell you the sweet potatoes, but you’ll have to roast them yourselves.”
The man agreed without hesitation.
When Yu Yangyang handed over the sweet potatoes, he also slipped a small money pouch into her hand.
After he left, Yu Yangyang opened the pouch and counted the coins.
There was a full half a tael of silver inside.
Hmm. Quite generous.
Yu Yangyang happily put the money pouch away.
When she looked up, however, she was met with the strange gazes of her entire family.