Just as Ye Yutong finished cooking, Ye Mingzhe and Li Yunze also came back.
Ye Mingzhe carried a small bundle of firewood, enough for them to cook twice.
Li Wenxiu took out four bowls from the basket on his back, each filled a large bowl of paste, and told them, "Eat quickly."
Ever since my daughter started cooking, there have been several children hanging around here.
There are those from Yejia Village and those from the other two villages.
I don’t know if it was taught by adults or if I came here on my own. No matter which one it is, it is very disgusting.
Any sensible family would not let their children hang out in front of other people's pots.
What year is it now? A mouthful of food is so expensive that even my own family can’t get enough to eat, so how can I have extra to feed other people’s children? Really thinking about good things.
The four of them picked up the paste in the bowl and ate it as if no one else was watching, without even looking at the children next to them who were drooling at them.
After eating, I wiped the bowl with plant ash and put it in the backpack.
The rice left for Ye Mingxuan in the casserole was placed on the trolley, and Li Yunze was watching there.
Li Wenxiu and Ye Mingzhe sat on the ground knitting straw sandals. This journey would take at least a month or two. I don’t know how many pairs of straw sandals I need to wear.
I made some at home some time ago, but it was far from enough. Now I make it when I am not in a hurry.
Ye Yutong had nothing to do, so he walked around nearby. The place where they rested was not far from the official road.
There was a wide river nearby, but its bed was now dry and cracked.
The willow trees planted on both sides are almost dead in the sun. People have taken off the leaves and eaten them, and the branches are hanging there.
Ye Yutong looked at this scene and sighed in his heart.
This kind of drought covered many cities and lasted for three years. The rich and powerful people all moved to the capital or to places where there was no drought.
But where can the people go? Just traveling alone will cost a lot of people.
She remembered that the book mentioned that there had been a few light rains and snowfalls in the past three years, but they were all of a drop in the bucket.
"What are you looking at?"
She was so lost in thought that Li Yunze didn't even notice when he was standing nearby.
Hearing his question, he smiled and said, "I didn't see anything. I was just thinking about when it would rain."
Li Yunze said nothing because he didn't know how to talk. This topic was too heavy.
During the drought last year, the master calculated that this disaster would last for several years, followed by man-made disasters. He said that this disaster was destined and unbreakable.
"Stop standing here. Go back. Don't walk around alone in the future. It's very dangerous." His calm words were filled with concern.
Ye Yutong knew he was right, so he responded with a smile, and the two of them returned to their cart together.
"Come back, come back, those looking for water are back!" Someone shouted, and everyone looked over happily.
Some of the impatient ones were already running to greet them. Ye Yunzhe also put down the straw sandals in his hands and ran over there with the crowd.
The people looking for water sources came back, but the results were not satisfactory. Dozens of people went and only brought back a few buckets of water. I heard that they bought them with money, a bucket of water costing one hundred pence.
Those who paid were there to share the money, and those who didn't paid could only watch helplessly.
The Li Zheng family and the rich families in the village each bought a barrel, and the Ye family's old house also bought half a barrel. There were also some in the village, but they were all bought by several families.
Ye Mingxuan and Yongchang each came back with an empty barrel, but neither of them bought it. I still have some water at home, which will last a day or two.
Yongchang was ready to move forward. He didn't have much money at home.
I spent most of the few taels of money I had saved in the past few years to avoid joining the army last time. If you start buying water now, what will you do next?
Ye Mingxuan wouldn't even buy it. Everyone knew that their family had no money.
If you use money to buy water now, doesn't that attract people's attention? Besides, they still have some water at home, so if you save some water, you can still last for a day.
Although Li Zheng bought a bucket of water, there were more than a dozen adults and children in their family, as well as a mule. It would only last a day or two at most without drinking this bucket of water.
He discussed with Li Zheng from the other two villages and decided to leave immediately to see if he could find a water source ahead.
Li Wenxiu quickly poured out the porridge from the casserole and let her eldest son drink it. She and Mingzhe packed the things on the cart.
Ye Yutong sat next to his elder brother and wiped the sweat from his forehead. When no one was paying attention, he threw a few rice balls into his bowl.
The rice balls she makes are very small and can be eaten in one bite. The rice balls are filled with salted duck egg yolk and meat floss, which makes them very resistant to hunger.
Ye Mingxuan didn't even raise his eyelids, he used chopsticks to put it into his mouth. In a short while, he drank a large bowl of paste.
After everything was almost packed, someone from the front shouted: "Let's start on our way."
I was walking very anxiously today and wanted to go faster to find water.
After walking for two consecutive hours, the team moved slower and slower. The elderly and children could no longer walk, and Li Zheng only told them to take a quarter-hour break.
Seeing more and more escapees on the road, the atmosphere in the team became tense.
Whether everyone is drinking water or eating, it is not as blatant as in the past few days.
Li Wenxiu's family's cart and Yongchang's family's cart were parked together, with Dapo and his family in front.
After traveling for so long, everyone was so thirsty that they all sat down on the ground casually, took out their own bamboo tubes and started to drink water in small sips.
Some people who don't have much water can only hold a little in their mouths to moisten their throats.
Ye Yutong felt that just as he sat down, the team started to move forward again.
Li Yunze got off the cart and said, "Mother-in-law, I'm going to come down and walk for a while. Let Tongtong and the second brother rest in the car!"
"No, you're just a little better, what if the injury gets worse?
You and Tongtong go up and let your second brother walk. He has been running up and down the mountain all day, so this little bit of road is nothing to him. "
It's not that Li Wenxiu doesn't care about her children. She has escaped from famine before and knows that the future will become more and more dangerous.
If the son-in-law's injury gets worse, it will really be more harm than good.
Ye Mingzhe also said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, just sit on it. What's this distance? I used to run in the mountains for a whole day without feeling tired."
He was not lying. Although he had been gone for two hours, he seemed to be in good spirits.
I used to work all day long at home. I was either busy in the fields or going up the mountain to cut grass and dig wild vegetables. Anyway, I was never idle.
Li Yunze sat helplessly on the trolley again. Ye Yutong really couldn't walk anymore, so he got on it too.
Li Wenxiu was pulling in the front, and his two sons were helping to push.
Ye Yutong reached into her satchel, groped inside for a while, and took out a handful of tomatoes from the space.
Other fruits are inconvenient to eat. This small tomato can be eaten one bite at a time without being discovered easily.
She stuffed a few into each of her two brothers. The two quickly put it in the secret pockets in their sleeves, preparing to eat it when no one was paying attention.
Not only did they have two hidden pockets in their sleeves, but they also had a small one on their waistband, which their ex-wife had sewn for them.
The secret pockets on the sleeves contained biscuits and dried meat given by their sister, all wrapped in things they had never seen before. The sister said they were given by gods and would not spoil after being stored for half a year.
There were a few gold beans and some broken silver in the hidden pocket on the waistband of his trousers.
The golden beans were stuffed in by my sister, and the scraps of silver were prepared by my mother. Everyone in the family has them.
