Team leader Zhang personally stood in front of the basket and distributed flatbreads to everyone.

"Comrade Lu, here you go. You just said you were hungry, so I brought this to you first."

Lu Fangfang took it without expression.

Looking down, I saw that what she was holding was a fist-sized black ball with green vegetable leaves on it.

She could tell at a glance that these were dough cakes made from bran and wild vegetables, and probably mixed with some other coarse grains to make them easier to shape into balls.

If this were in the countryside, the production team would use it to feed pigs.

"Comrade Lu, you've worked hard this morning. You must eat more. This is a meal to remember the hardships of the past. You must finish it all and not waste any."

Team Leader Zhang reached into the basket, took out a dark, round cake, and placed it in Lu Fangfang's hand.

Lu Fangfang looked at the pancake in her hand, then at Team Leader Zhang, who was wearing glasses.

She reached into the basket, took one out, and said, "Comrade, I have a big appetite, can I have another one?"

"Would you...have one more?"

Team Leader Zhang's smile froze.

After a long pause, he nodded, which was considered his agreement.

"Thank you, comrade."

Lu Fangfang took another bowl of murky wild vegetable soup before going downstairs.

Looking at the bran cake in her hand, she took a small bite.

Hmm, the taste is alright, no musty smell, no big grit, but it's a bit harsh on the throat, and tastes somewhat bitter and astringent.

But this was much better than eating raw wild grass when she was fleeing famine; at least this was cooked and could stave off hunger.

She picked it up and slowly chewed it.

On the podium, Team Leader Zhang couldn't help but turn around and look at Lu Fangfang, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey..."

What is this thing?

Next to me, a woman had just taken a bite when she immediately spat it out.

"Keep your voice down, this is how you eat 'bitter rice'."

"Xiuhong, take this and go quickly, don't say anything more."

Team Leader Zhang turned his head and glanced at them. The women immediately fell silent, and he continued distributing the flatbreads.

Soon, it was Wang Shufen's turn in line. She took a pancake, carried a bowl of soup, and quickly walked to Lu Fangfang's side and sat down.

She also came from the countryside, so she knew what it was.

She took a bite of the pancake, chewed for a long time, pounded her chest, but still couldn't swallow it; it was too dry.

Holding the wild vegetable soup, she wanted to take a sip, so she rinsed it with water.

But as soon as she put it in her mouth, she almost spat it out. After struggling to swallow it, she gasped, "My goodness, is this salt free? It's so salty it's killing me!"

Seeing this, Lu Fangfang took off the water bottle hanging around her neck and handed it over.

"Sister Shufen, have some of this."

Wang Shufen took a sip, and her eyes lit up immediately.

This sweet taste makes even the bran cake in my mouth taste better.

After glancing at the three pancakes in the girl's hand, she quickly returned the water bottle to her.

"No need, Sister Shufen, you drink it."

Lu Fangfang took a sip of the salted vegetable soup and continued to gnaw on the bran cake.

Since coming to the family compound, she's been eating either butter or small fish, and later she learned to hunt, so she hasn't eaten this kind of thing again. To be honest, she thinks this flatbread is alright, and it reminds her of those two months when she was fleeing famine.

It was tough, but it was also an unforgettable memory.

Just as she was thinking about the past, her sisters-in-law next to her started arguing.

"Comrade, we can't be the only ones eating this 'bitterness-remembering meal,' can we?"

"Yes, your investigation team also has to eat the 'bitterness meal' with me, otherwise it means you don't have a high level of ideological awareness."

"That's right, everyone has to eat together for it to be called a 'bitterness-remembering meal'."

...

The women surrounded the person carrying the basket, each one saying their own thing, preventing him from leaving.

They ate the "bitter memories meal," but the investigation team members didn't. Bah! There's no such thing as a free lunch; we can't let these people get away with it.

Team Leader Zhang waved his hand, calling the person back.

He took a pancake from the basket, took a bite, and chewed it slowly.

Seeing this, the other members of the investigation team also took one.

The military wives snorted and then dispersed.

The women returned to the bench, eating pancakes made of bran and wild vegetables, glaring at the investigation team members. Only after seeing that they had all swallowed them did they look away.

Inside the auditorium, the two groups kept an eye on each other, and they ate all the bran dumplings in their hands, leaving none behind.

While others had one pancake, Lu Fangfang held three in her hand.

She didn't waste any of it, chewing it down bit by bit and even drinking a bowl of the extremely salty wild vegetable soup.

It's just bran, pigs will gain weight if they eat it. Apart from being hard to digest, it doesn't do any other harm. Anyway, we're not eating bitter food every day. Eating some coarse grains is good for your health.

After finishing the meal to remember the hardships of the past, Lu Fangfang was called up again.

Holding the red book, she continued to lead her sisters-in-law in studying, loudly reciting quotations.

Lu Fangfang is fine; her voice hasn't changed much.

The women below were in a much worse state. After drinking a bowl of salty soup and eating a bran cake, their voices were sore that they could no longer speak properly.

Some of the women from well-off families, who eat refined grains every day, have become so hoarse that they can no longer speak.

There was nothing they could do; the investigation team was determined to get them, so they had no choice but to put up with it.

They kept shouting until it got a little dark before Team Leader Zhang waved for them to stop.

"Comrades, after a day of study, I believe that each of you has raised your ideological awareness. Tonight, go back and think carefully about who among you is a counter-revolutionary bad element. Report to me separately tomorrow..."

"Our investigation team is here today, and we won't rest until we've brought them to justice!"

...

Lu Fangfang walked out of the auditorium, exhausted.

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