True Love Waits novel Chapter 142

To get to the Southon Village, Debbie and her schoolmates had first taken a two-hour ride on a high-speed train. Then they transferred to a bus, which took them seven hours. By the time they arrived, it was already dark. The bus had bumped all the way along the rugged mountain roads, jolting the passengers on it badly. Debbie never had carsickness, but this time, she couldn't help but feel dizzy. She bent down on the roadside and retched a few times, but didn't vomit.

A few of her schoolmates had begun vomiting as soon as they got off the bus.

The pungent smell of vomit and the disgusting sight of it only made things worse for Debbie. Just when she felt she was safe, her stomach churned violently, and in one loud retch she threw up.

Dixon opened the lid off his water bottle and handed it to Debbie to wash her mouth. "There's no hot water right now. Just take a few sips of this bottle of water first," he said.

Debbie took the bottle and rinsed the taste out of her mouth with the water. Now that she felt much better, she was finally in a mood to appreciate the scenery.

As they stood up high and looked around, the students could see the small village in the distance—dozens of houses lined up at the foot of the mountain. Most of the houses were smallish one-storey houses, with the tallest standing only three-storey up.

Still feeling exhausted from the journey, Debbie stretched herself. It was refreshing to finally breathe the clean air of the countryside.

But the biggest problem was... the piercing coldness in the mountain area.

A gust of cold wind blew over, threatening to freeze them into icy stumps sticking out of permafrost.

Although they all came in warm clothing, they were not prepared for biting cold. The girls soon began to complain. Even some of the boys found it worse than they had expected.

Once the villagers learnt of the students' arrival, many of them, especially children, stood at the entrance of the village to welcome the group. As Debbie and her schoolmates walked towards the villagers, they were shocked to realize that the children's faces and hands were turning red from exposure while they waited. And it really gripped Debbie's heart that the kids wore old, worn-out cotton clothes, which were far from enough to keep them warm in such harsh weather. Worse still, some of the children wore thin, baldly beaten shoes.

With wide eyes, the children stared curiously at the visitors from the big city. Expectation and eagerness to learn about the outside world were obvious on their faces.

Behind the children, there stood a group of old or middle-aged women, wearing genuine, welcoming smiles on their tanned faces. They raised their gnarled hands and waved enthusiastically.

The scene moved most of the students close to tears. Born and brought up in affluence, they were jolted, coming face to face with such abject poverty for the very first time.

Even though they had already mentally prepared themselves before they came, the squalid living conditions here were way too unsettling.

The donated relief supplies would arrive at the village tomorrow, so the students would start their work from tomorrow. After greeting the students, the village head led them to the host families, where they would spend the night.

Since there were fifteen students in total, they were assigned into smaller groups for accommodation in different villagers' houses. And some were in individual rooms. When Debbie saw the room that was arranged for her, she gave a helpless sigh.

But she didn't want to complain, because she had seen Jared's and Dixon's rooms too. Compared to their rooms, hers was much better. The conditions were indeed terrible. The room was simple with only a wooden bed, a rickety table, a chair, a broken desk and an old wardrobe. Everything was seen at a glance.

The only thing to comfort Debbie was that there was a new and clean set of bedding. She counted herself lucky for that.

It was getting darker outside. After dropping off their own luggage at their different rooms, the group gathered at the village head's house and had dinner together.

The village head had prepared enough food for the guests. On the long table, various dishes were served, everything from fresh farm ingredients. There was rabbit meat, turkey, pork and fish. All generously provided by farmers across the village. Although the dishes didn't look all that decorated, the aroma aroused Debbie's appetite.

After a moment of hesitation, Gregory finally picked his chopsticks and took a bite. But the other girls sat still, sipping at their cups of hot tea, to get some warmth. Gus and Jared, both born into aristocracy, kept killing time by playing games on their phones, without even lifting their chopsticks. Debbie couldn't help but nudge Jared, and persuaded in a hushed voice, "Jared, eat something. Show some respect to the villagers!"

Debbie knew sacrifice it must have taken the women who volunteered to prepare the meals. 'The villagers would find it insulting, if we don't eat, ' she thought.

Reluctantly, Jared pursed his lips, put his phone aside and grabbed his chopsticks to pick a few slices of meat.

However, Gus didn't care. He remained glued to his phone. Unimpressed by his aloofness, Debbie rolled her eyes, but she didn't want to wheedle him.

As the team leader, Dixon, realized it was incumbent on him to address Gus' indifference and maybe discourage anyone who might have similar thoughts. So when all the villagers went outside, he rose up to speak. "Hey, guys, listen to me! The villagers have devoted a lot of effort to prepare this meal for us. Maybe these foods are not good enough for you guys, but for them, these are the best. Probably, they will only have the chance to enjoy such a big meal once a year, on Spring Festival. So let's be considerate enough, just like what Debbie said. Eat some and show respect to the villagers, okay?"