Chapter 559 - 559: Vying to Feed

"What?"

The news took Zhao Yuan by surprise. He straightened up and looked ahead, and sure enough, he saw a group of people by the side of the road—it was the passengers from the earlier accident.

A bus was parked behind them. It was clear that the bus company had sent a vehicle; for some reason, the passengers had chosen to stay put instead of leaving.

"What are they doing here?" Zhao Yuan was puzzled.

At the same time, the passengers waiting by the road saw the Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV approaching and grew excited.

"They're here! They're back!"

"Is that the one?"

"That's right, this is the one. I remember it clearly!"

The passengers chattered amongst themselves, waving at the Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV.

Seeing this, Zhao Yuan grew even more confused and instructed, "Stop the car. Let's see what they want."

The Bone Woman immediately pulled the Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV over to the side of the road.

Before Zhao Yuan could even open his door and get out, the passengers swarmed the Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV, surrounding it completely. They meant no harm, though. Instead, they all started talking at once, showering Zhao Yuan with thanks.

Zhao Yuan began to understand, but he could hardly believe it. "You all waited here, you didn't leave, just to thank me?"

"That's right!" said the middle-aged man who had helped carry the three people with broken bones to safety, chuckling. "You were in a rush to get the injured to the county hospital, so we didn't get a chance to say anything. We all decided to wait here for you to come back."

"I don't know what to say. This is too much."

Zhao Yuan was incredibly moved. He never would have imagined that these people had waited here for over three, almost four hours, just to say thank you. A profound warmth spread through his heart. He felt that risking his life to save them had been absolutely the right thing to do, and it was all worth it.

The father who wanted to be a hero to his child chuckled and said, "You saved our lives. Of course you deserve it."

The two middle-schoolers declared that Zhao Yuan was their new idol. They said that when they took their college entrance exams next year, they were going to apply to medical school and try to become doctors, just like Zhao Yuan and Su Chi.

As for the others, even though they hadn't been brave enough to help earlier, their gratitude toward Zhao Yuan was no less sincere.

After all, he had saved their lives!

An old woman saw the bread still in Zhao Yuan's hand and said with concern, "Child, you haven't even had lunch yet? How can you just be gnawing on bread? There's no nutrition in that. Here, Grandma has some boiled eggs. I made them this morning. They're cold, but they're much more nutritious than bread!"

As she spoke, she pulled a few boiled eggs out of her bundle and pressed them into Zhao Yuan's hands, giving him no chance to refuse.

The other passengers on the scene quickly followed her lead. They felt bad that Zhao Yuan had been so busy saving people he hadn't eaten, and they also wanted to use this method to repay him and show their gratitude.

"Buddy, I've got some braised meat here. Bought it from the market first thing this morning. Eat this!" a young man said, and without another word, he shoved a large bag of braised meat—which he'd bought to take home for his New Year's Eve dinner—into Zhao Yuan's arms.

"I have a roast duck, eat this, it's delicious," a woman said, forcing a plump, tender roast duck on Zhao Yuan.

In the blink of an eye, Zhao Yuan's arms were piled high with all sorts of cooked food. There was everything from eggs, roast duck, and braised meat to various biscuits and buns.

Zhao Yuan's attempts to decline were useless. Even though he kept saying he had already eaten lunch in town, no one believed him. They all thought he was lying.

One woman's words summed up everyone's thoughts: "If you really ate in town, would you be so hungry you're gnawing on bread in the car? Child, you have a kind heart, but we're not ungrateful. We don't have any other way to thank you, so we can only give you a little food. Please, just accept it."

"Yes, yes, just take it!" the crowd urged in unison.

Zhao Yuan never imagined he'd find himself in such a bewildering situation, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. However, even though the food wasn't worth much money, it was a token of everyone's heartfelt sincerity. He couldn't bring himself to refuse, so he could only accept it all.

Seeing him agree to accept their gifts, the people grew even more excited and started giving him even more food. In the end, it wasn't just cooked food; the back seat of his Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV was also stuffed with live chickens, ducks, seasonal vegetables, and more from the passengers...

After finally getting all the passengers onto the bus, Zhao Yuan got back into his Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV.

The Bone Woman drove past the slow-moving bus, and the people on board all waved at Zhao Yuan.

Zhao Yuan rolled down his window and waved back until they had completely overtaken the bus. He glanced at the trunk, which was stuffed full of various vegetables, chickens, and ducks, and shook his head with a wry smile.

Just then, the Bone Woman, who was driving, suddenly asked, "Master, do you know what you looked like just now, when everyone was surrounding you and giving you food?"

Zhao Yuan was taken aback and asked subconsciously, "What did I look like?"

The Bone Woman smiled. "Like visitors at a zoo feeding the star attraction."

Zhao Yuan thought about it for a moment. 'Well, now that she mentions it, the scene really did look a bit like that.' He couldn't help but chuckle.

Because of this unexpected delay, it wasn't until around four in the afternoon that Zhao Yuan finally returned to Jinhua Village.

The village roads were too narrow for the Mercedes-Benz G55 SUV, so he had to park at the entrance. Hearing that Zhao Yuan was back, the villagers all rushed over.

The villagers had come to congratulate Zhao Yuan.

They had also seen the television news and knew that a few days ago in Huashang, Zhao Yuan had defeated a renowned doctor from Japan who had come to issue a challenge. Now, they saw Zhao Yuan as the pride of Jinhua Village. More than one family was already using him as an example when teaching their children, telling them they had to learn from Zhao Yuan and become a great figure of their generation.

Zhao Shiquan, Shen Lijun, and Zhao Ling hurried over as well.

Seeing Zhao Yuan, Zhao Shiquan puffed out his chest and began to lecture him pretentiously, "Son, you did very well on your trip to Huashang. You showed those Little Japs the strength of us Chinese, and you've brought honor to our Zhao Family! But you can't get arrogant or complacent because of this. You must remain humble and cautious, watch what you say and do..."

Before he could finish, Shen Lijun cut him off. "Alright, alright, stop putting on an act. Our son knows much more than you do! Son, you must be exhausted from your trip to Huashang, right? Hurry home, I've made all your favorite dishes."

At this point, she suddenly noticed the Bone Woman standing to one side. She froze for a second and asked, "And who is this young lady?"

Everyone's eyes fell upon the Bone Woman.

Her stunning beauty and extraordinary presence left them in awe, and they couldn't help but wonder what the relationship was between this beautiful woman and Zhao Yuan.