It was another day of fleeing from famine. From time to time, there were many more refugees who walked down the slope or from a small road onto the main road to join the large group fleeing from famine.
Old Man Xu gritted his teeth and held on. During this period, he only took everyone to stop and rest once. He didn't dare to stop for more. He didn't stop until the sun was high and the sun was so intense that people's hair was dizzy.
But even so, I couldn't go very far in this half day, because my physical strength was weak and I couldn't go any faster.
The Zhou family and the Shi family had already run out of dry food. As soon as they stopped and rested for a while, they went to peel off tree bark and look for grass roots nearby.
Mrs. Xu also rested for a while, then hid behind the cart, untied the sacks and began to distribute the dry food.
Xu Yinyin put her right hand far away on the soil and watched Xu Dajun come back with the dough head.
Today is a steamed bun with corn noodles. It looks better in color than before and is much smoother. For women, half is smaller and for men, half is larger.
When Xu Dajun took it back, he consciously divided the dry food into four equal parts.
One piece was handed to Zhang Xiulan, the other to Xu Chunshan, and the other to Xu Yinyin. Xu Yinyin shrank back with a bitter look on her face: "Mom, feed me!"
In fact, she had no appetite to eat after thinking about the terrible things she had done last night, but she had to eat so little in a day, and it was even more unbearable not to eat.
Zhang Xiulan almost wanted to laugh, but she held it back, nodded, didn't say anything more, didn't mention what happened last night, took the dough and put it to her daughter's mouth.
Xu Yinyin took a bite with her mother's hand. The steamed bun with corn noodles tasted much better than the previous one. One-third was not much, so she finished it in a few bites.
Over there, Mrs. Xu curled her lips when she saw this scene. Why are these four girls starting to act pretentious again? They fell down and cried a lot last night. Why do they have to be fed even if they eat today? They fell down.
Not successful?
But she didn't say anything, mainly because she didn't have the energy to do so.
Besides, the third child and his wife have always loved this girl, and no one listens to her even if she says it, and it's a thankless effort.
If you want to feed me, just feed him. She doesn’t need to feed him anyway, it’s all a trivial matter.
Mrs. Xu was also thinking about other things. She could save the corn noodles and divide them into three meals like today. The rest was still an untouched sack.
Squeeze the buckles, save a little, and you can eat them all the way to Qingzhou.
Well, dry food will be distributed tomorrow, so I have to save some more.
It’s impossible not to save it.
Half of the wotou was gone after a few mouthfuls. Mrs. Xu licked her lips and turned to look towards her elder brother's house.
The Zhou family had just recovered some edible grass roots and the chewy innermost layer of tree bark. The family was dividing their portions and swallowing them in small bites with great difficulty.
The two little babies, Fu Bao Zao Ni'er, couldn't chew the bark grass roots and couldn't swallow them. Their mother was choosing the best part to chew, chewing it in her mouth, breaking it into pieces, and then spit it out to feed them.
Can grass root bark be delicious?
The little baby's throat is so tender that after eating it, he curls his lips and feels like crying. He is also hungry and cannot eat without eating.
Old Mrs. Xu sighed, looked at Old Man Xu beside her, opened her mouth, and closed it again.
Old Man Xu knew what she wanted to say, and he sighed. After a long while, he opened his mouth and said, "Take out a wowotou and divide it into two halves. Give half to the eldest brother's family and half to the Shi family."
Adults can grit their teeth and endure hardships, but little kids can’t stand it right now.
The Zhou family has two little children, the older one is four years old and the younger one is just two years old.
The Shi family has three little children.
Unfortunately, these two families had no dry food at all, so they could only eat bark and grass roots.
When Mrs. Xu heard what the boss said, she didn't hesitate. She immediately picked up the small sack on the trolley, took out a steamed bun and broke it open.
Then he told Xu Sanlang to send him there.
The Zhou family and the Shi family received the steamed buns. They knew that the Xu family had specially squeezed out the dough for their little baby, and they were very grateful. Old man Zhou smiled far away at his sister and brother-in-law, and the eldest and second son of the Shi family directly asked his son and daughter-in-law to hold the child.
He knelt down and kowtowed to this side.
Everything was said without words, they remembered this kindness!
After eating, I can rest for half an hour.
Xu Yinyin was leaning against the tree trunk, not asleep. She took a piece of hard mud and rubbed it with her hands. The fine crumbs of mud got between her fingers, making her hands dirty, and she couldn't see the original color of her flesh clearly.
Dirty, dirty, no matter how dirty you are, dirt can wash your hands.
Xu Dajun stood next to hers and watched her rubbing and playing with the lump of mud. Her hands turned into dirty claws, and his eyelids jumped.
In the past twenty-four years, he never thought that his sister, who always loved beauty and cleanliness, would one day look like this.
Look at the chicken coop, the hair looks like braids, there are bunches of it, there are grass clippings, mud and everything on it, it's so slovenly that you can't even see it.
Not to mention the clothes on his body, now looking at those hands, it’s even more...
Xu Dajun lowered his head and looked at his hand. Fortunately, he didn't pull it out last night and didn't kick it. At least he can still eat the wowotou by himself today.
But he was not sure, it would be his turn tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
His hearing was so good that he could no longer look at some of the people in the families walking together, especially when he saw them eating with their hands.
well……
Brother Water, why don't you let me see you?
After a short rest, everyone set out on the journey again.
When the sky was dark and they had occupied a place to settle down, the Zhou family and the Shi family rushed to find food and save it to make dry food for tomorrow.
There are too many bark and grass roots in this area, so if you slow down a little bit, you will almost miss it.
The Zheng family and the Deng family also joined the large team looking for food.
Ma and Zhou asked Zhang Xiulan to go with them, and Xu Chunshan followed.
Xu Yinyin's legs were no longer her own. At the end of the day, the blisters on her feet seemed to have worn out and stuck tightly to her socks. They were excruciatingly painful and swollen.
So she didn't even dare to take off her shoes, for fear that she wouldn't be able to put them back on after taking them off.
It was almost dark, and she couldn't see anything. Tongzi was so quiet that she didn't even bother to move, so she was too lazy to move. She should rest. If she didn't rest, she wouldn't be able to walk tomorrow.
Zhang Sanlang came over and asked Xu Sanlang to pee in the woods together, and also look for grass roots and other things.
Xu Sanlang asked Xu Dajun if he wanted to go with him.
Xu Dajun went to school in the town before. He walked twenty miles and walked back and forth every day. He was used to walking. Although he was tired, he was not to the point where he could not lift his feet, so he went into the woods with Xu Sanlang and Zhang Sanlang.
.
When the sky darkened completely, the six people who were to keep vigil tonight all stood up. Xu Dalang, on behalf of Old Man Xu, went to count the number of the six families one by one to make sure that everyone was present, and then they all had a rest.
After counting, everyone else who left came back one by one, but Xu Dajun, Xu Sanlang and Zhang Sanlang did not come back!
This time, people are extremely anxious.
Old Mrs. Xu was the first to be unable to sit still, "Didn't Liulang and the others go to pee? Why haven't they come back after such a long time? Did any of you go out and look at them just now? Where have you been?"