There are countless people living outside Yiyang Prefecture, and there are also many people picking up wild vegetables. Some of them have gone several miles away to pick up wild vegetables.
Several families moved further away, and when they came back in the evening, they didn't get much.
We stopped eating today. Everyone tightened their belts and went to bed early, planning to queue up early tomorrow morning.
They think this way, and there are many refugees who think the same way as they do.
Before dawn the next day, there was a long queue at the city gate.
Old man Xu opened his eyes and couldn't sit still anymore. He quickly arranged the division of labor. Most of the people went to line up, leaving only the old ones to look at the children and household items.
The group of them lined up in a long line with no end as far as the eye could see.
Xu Yinyin's family of four were also crowded inside, facing the cold morning breeze.
Porridge is definitely not given out so early, but in order to receive the porridge, the refugees rush to be the first in line. Who knows if they can receive the porridge if they are at the back.
When everyone gets tired of standing, they just sit on the spot. In short, they won’t leave their seat easily.
This station lasted for two hours. Xu Yinyin stood and sat again, and she was extremely tired.
Zhang Xiulan asked Xu Chunshan in a low voice again: "Are you watching it come out?"
Xu Chunshan shook his head, "No."
"This will have to wait until later." Zhang Xiulan sighed.
Almost half an hour passed, and it was almost noon, but there was still no movement at the city gate.
Uncle Zhang, who was at the front of the group, couldn't help but ask the people in front, "Hey, brother, were you here yesterday? Did you give out porridge at this time yesterday?"
The man turned his head and glanced at Uncle Zhang, stamped his numb feet and said, "The porridge was almost finished at this time yesterday."
Uncle Zhang looked forward and asked, "What's going on today? No more porridge?"
The man shook his head and said, "I don't know. I've been doing this for several days. Who knows if the wealthy households in the city are still willing."
While talking, there was movement at the city gate. The refugees at the front of the queue were all shocked when they saw the city gate open. They quickly stood up and waited eagerly.
"It's finally here!"
"Quickly line up, the bowls are ready!"
"..."
But as the city gate opened and a group of people came out of the corridor, the refugees were stunned.
What about the porridge truck?
No.
Isn't this a soup kitchen?
Several families had just arrived today and didn't know the situation. They were in the front and middle of the queue, but they couldn't see clearly what was going on at the front even if they stood on tiptoe. They just thought that when the city gate opened, they were here to give out porridge, but
I didn't see the team moving forward for quite a while, but instead I could only hear mutterings from the front, like sighs.
Uncle Zhang jumped up to look, then rushed forward and asked, "What's going on? What's going on?"
The person in front asked the person in front again, and after a while, a message came from behind, "We will not give out porridge today! Many people came out of the city, saying they were buying people with grain. Young girls and boys, each one has a bucket of grain!"
Everyone was disappointed after hearing this. Unable to stand still, Zhou Chuan simply left the team and went forward to see the situation with his own eyes.
Not long after, he came back with a sad look on his face and said, "I really don't want to give out porridge anymore. If you are willing to sell yourself, come forward. If you sign the deed of selling yourself, you can receive the food."
The refugees also started talking about it.
"Just a bushel of grain, this person is too worthless."
"These days, people are the most worthless to begin with. Even if you give them a bucket, you can only survive if you sell them. You will never die of hunger!"
"How's it going? Do you sell it?"
"We won't be giving out porridge anymore. This queue is empty. Let's go. Let's go back and discuss it with my family."
"..."
The queue gradually started to leave.
The families looked at each other, and I immediately decided to go back first.
When I went back and told Old Man Xu and others about the matter, Old Man Xu and others also sighed.
We finally managed to find that there was porridge here, but when they arrived, the porridge was no longer available. What bad luck!
"What should we do?" Zheng Tiechui said calmly.
Old man Zhou glared, "We can't sell our girls even if we starve to death! This one only buys young girls and boys. Who knows what it's doing? If you don't want to sell them, we won't sell them! We won't sell them either!"
Old Man Xu's mouth felt bitter, but he nodded, "No, I've been standing all morning. Let's take a rest first."
There are a few families who are determined not to sell out their family members, but there are also some who, seeing that they have a chance to survive, can’t wait to drag their daughters forward to line up to have their fingerprints pressed. There are also some who are so hungry that they can’t stand it anymore and voluntarily go up and sell themselves to beg for food.
Food to eat.
For a moment, people were crying and shouting at the gate of the city, and there were all kinds of sounds.
Several families just stood there and watched.
There was a family living close to them. In order to prevent the family from starving to death, the daughter of the family wiped away her tears and gritted her teeth and decided to sell herself. She took her father with her to collect food.
This man came back with his daughter's food from selling her body with red eyes. Before he could get back to his family, he was robbed of the food. How can he do this? The man tried his best to protect him, but was beaten to death. At this moment, he was beaten to death.
The family members carried it back crying, and they were so angry that they couldn't get out.
This is really a situation where people can’t get food even if they don’t have it.
It made several families feel sad.
It lasted until mid-afternoon when the movement at the city gate stopped and the city gate was closed again.
Outside the city, the smell of porridge was so fragrant that the refugees stretched their necks, eager to crawl to where the aroma was.
Several families cooked a pot of wild vegetable soup, and each person drank it in two mouthfuls, holding his stomach in his arms and falling asleep.
On the second day, people in the city still came out to buy food for people. This time, more people came forward to put their fingerprints on and sell themselves. Of course, the majority were girls.
After the third day, there were fewer young people visible outside the city.
The daughters-in-law of several families held tight to their daughters, fearing that the parents-in-law would not be able to hold on and would sell their daughters.
Mrs. Xu was the first to glare at Zhang Xiulan, "Why am I so heartbroken? Can I sell my own granddaughter? Please tighten it tighter for me, I might as well tie you up!"
Zhang Xiulan smiled awkwardly and let go of Xu Yinyin's hand.
After Mrs. Xu's incident, Mrs. Shi also scolded her daughter-in-law, "Swallow your hearts back into your stomach, I won't do such evil things! Just be hungry if you're hungry. We're all hungry. You have to take care of yourself."
Hold on tight, don’t drag your daughter to exchange for food if you can’t hold on anymore!”
After the conversation was over, the daughters-in-law coaxed their mother-in-law with shy faces, and the matter was over.
But unexpectedly, Shi Sanya, Shi Laoer's little daughter, stood up and cried to her mother: "Mom, just let me go, I'm really hungry and can't stand it anymore!"
Mrs. Zhong's eyes turned red, "Sanya! Don't be stupid, are you really going? If you go, you will never see your parents again!"
Shi Sanya was heartbroken, "Mom, just let me go! I want to eat enough! Just pretend you never gave birth to me."
Mrs. Zhong cried so much that she looked longingly at Old Mrs. Shi, hoping that her mother-in-law could persuade her daughter to stop.
Mrs. Shi looked at Shi Sanya and said, "Sanya, are you really determined to go?"
Shi Sanya nodded, "Nai, let me go, I don't want to starve to death."
"What a sin." Old Mrs. Shi sighed.
In the end, Shi Sanya went, and Shi Laoer and his son Shi Erlang sent her there together. There were three of them when they went, but when they came back there were only two of them, plus a small bag of grain.
The bag was small, but it was extremely heavy in Old Shi's hands.