Chapter 68: The starved girl
The cold water from the mountain spring poured from the leather water sack and wet the towel.
Shu Huan used the wet towel to wipe the girl’s face. As a result, a childish, delicate and pretty face was revealed from under the mud. She looked like the same age as Gu Xihe.
The girl no longer struggled, but when people approached her, she would subconsciously curl up shivering. Only, those eyes of hers were staring at the weaved basket next to the fire. Inside there was the leftover of the roasted rabbit.
Shu Huan sighed secretly. Could it be that this girl continuously sneaked inside in the middle of the night just to find a chance to steal something to eat? What exactly had happened to her family? Why was a child of about ten years wandering alone in a forest and starve till she was only skin and bones?!
While she was thinking, she saw that Ji Danqing had already taken out the rabbit meat from the basket and roasted it on the fire. It didn’t take long before the meat was overflowing with a delicious scent.
In fact, roasting things in the middle of the night was a very dangerous thing. No one knew if this would attract hungry wild animals. But everything grew in the summer. There was sufficient food. The probability of such a thing happening was very small. Hence, Du Qiu only frowned slightly but didn’t stop Ji Danqing.
Shu Huan clearly saw that when the delicious scent appeared, the girl’s eyes lit up. There was also a flame of hunger and eagerness leaped inside of those eyes. Her body trembled slightly as if she was enduring her hardest. Finally, she couldn’t hold back anymore, reached out and wanted to snatch the roasted rabbit in Ji Danqing’s hands.
Gu Xiran was sharp-sighted and deftly slapped her hands away. He reprimanded, “Are you not afraid to burn your hands?”
The girl looked once at him while biting her lips. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes revealed seventy percent of disappointment and thirty percent of anger. She looked like a little beast whose food had been taken from her mouth. She only lacked revealing her teeth and claws and growl at Gu Xiran.
Gu Xiran laughed, “You want to bite me?”
While talking, he took the roasted rabbit meat from Ji Danqing and waved it in front of her, “First, tell me your name, where you live and why you are alone in the mountain. You can eat after that.”
The girl looked at the roasted rabbit meat. Her eyes drooled at it, but when she looked at Gu Xiran, it turned into hatred. In the end, she turned her head and still bit her lips. She didn’t want to say a word. She had been like this from the beginning. No matter what they asked, she refused to answer. Now, she even refused the food she longed for. They didn’t know what kind of pain she was concealing in her heart that she was unable to say.
“Don’t bully a little child,” Shu Huan sighed once again. “If she doesn’t want to talk, then wait a bit more.”
After the words fell, she looked down and saw the girl twist her hands. She grabbed the girl’s hands and used the water from the leather water sack to clean them.
The washed water was muddy like oil. Her hands were several times dirtier than her face. Her nails were full of black dirt. It was difficult to clean it at once. Shu Huan could only casually wash it for her a bit and then handed her the roasted rabbit.
The just roasted rabbit was a bit hot, but that girl didn’t care. The moment, the roasted rabbit was handed to her, she took a bite. When the teeth were exposed, they shone brightly under the light of the fire.
Gu Xihe looked frowningly at her eating appearance and muttered, “How come she is like a hungry wolf…”
She was really like a hungry wolf. The leftover rabbit meat was wolfed down by her in just a moment. Even the cartilage had been chewed and swallowed into her stomach. Even like this, she still had a look that she wasn’t sated. While she licked her fingers, she looked around to see whether there were still things to eat.
It seemed that she had starved for a long time. She shouldn’t have eaten too greasy things and shouldn’t eat too much at once. Shu Huan handed her the leather water sack that Du Qiu had filled once more. “You can’t eat any more. Drink some water.”
The girl looked once at her. She wasn’t willing to give up and continued to search with her eyes. Until when she discovered that there was nothing more to eat here did she disappointingly take over the leather water sack. She raised her head and poured all the water into her stomach. Only now did the ferociousness of the wolf fade away and restored her calm look. She sat constrained at the fire and stared at them with vigilance.
“Hey!” Gu Xihe used a twig to point at her. “You are done eating. Can you talk now?”
The girl ignored him. She lowered her head and didn’t even look at him.
Gu Xihe was a bit angry, “What is this? It is as if we are bad people and have bad intentions towards you. We gave you food and you aren’t even willing to answer some questions!”
The girl lowered her head even more. In short, she didn’t open her mouth no matter what.
Ji Danqing looked at the clothes on her body, shook his head and said, “She presumably had stayed alone in the mountain for several months. She still wore the lined jacket of early spring.”
While he talked, he got closer to her and said warmly, “Little girl, can I take a look to see whether you are injured?”
Ji Danqing was a gentle and warm person like jade. When speaking, he usually gave the feeling of peace and tranquility. No matter whether you looked at him from the top to the bottom or from the bottom to the top, no one would classify him as someone bad. However, when this girl heard him talking, it didn’t eliminate her vigilance instead she clung on her clothes and moved backwards. The raised eyes were full of fear and disgust, making the heart of the people go cold.
For the time being, it seemed that they wouldn’t get anything out of her.
Shu Huan thought for a moment and said, “Forget it. You all go to sleep. I will look after her.”
Previously, she referred to herself as big sister when she talked to the girl and revealed her identity of a female. Hence, the girl slightly accepted her approach and didn’t show a strong disgust and resistance.
Gu Xiran frowned and said, “You already kept watch for half a night. Can you still take it?”
“I’m good. If I get really sleepy, I will wake you up.”
While Shu Huan talked, she reached out and gently grasped the girl’s hand. She felt the girl’s body trembled a bit, but she barely resisted herself from struggling. Hence, Shu Huan also didn’t speak and accompanied her next to the fire.
After Gu Xihe lay down, he pulled a face at that girl. As a result, his head was knocked by Gu Xiran. Hence, he could only obediently lay on his back and close his eyes. However, he felt very excited that there was a strange and mysterious girl here. How could he still fell asleep? From time to time, he would sneak a peek at that girl. When their gazes accidentally met, he would raise an eyebrow, glare at her and deliberately used his hand to fan in front of his nose with a look of disgust. It was obviously that he was trying to embarrass the girl for being dirty and stinky.
Naturally, the girl wouldn’t bother with him. She only lowered her head and bit her lips silently.
Shu Huan couldn’t stand it anymore. She very unladylike gave Gu Xihe the middle finger. The meaning of the contempt was very obvious. It happened that Gu Xihe didn’t care about being despised and excitedly asked her, “Second sister-in-law, what is the meaning of giving one the middle finger?”
“…”
How could Shu Huan know he would ask that? Her tongue was immediately tied. Then, she saw that Gu Xiran reached out and pressed Gu Xihe’s head to the ground. He warned Gu Xihe fiercely, “The meaning is that if you don’t sleep now, we will leave you alone on the mountain to feed the wolves!”
This explanation…
Shu Huan was embarrassed again and looked speechless at the sky. She didn’t notice that the corners of the girl’s lips curled up slightly. The fisted hand that had been forcibly grasped by Shu Huan also relaxed slightly.