But this rice can only last for two days at most, and you can only eat until you are three-quarters full. After these two days, there is still no sign of Baixing Town, so how can you reach it in two days?

Lin Changfa and his three sons felt even more guilty. If it weren't for Yu Lanhua causing this incident, the entire clan would have to face the danger of starvation due to lack of food.

He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to everyone, tears streaming down his face: "We are so sorry to everyone!"

Lin Changhe yelled at Zhang Dacui and asked his two daughters-in-law to pull their mother-in-law up: "Why are you crying? Why are you crying? Let's think of a solution!"

Lin Changtai and Lin Changshou also pulled Lin Changfa and several nephews up: "It's not your fault, you also..."

Lin Changxi also sighed.

Lin Rui looked at the almost empty grain bags that everyone had placed on the ground and felt that he should do something.

He knocked on the frame of the oxcart with a wooden stick and said, "Everyone, be quiet and listen to me!"

His voice was not loud, but everyone immediately fell silent and looked at Lin Rui.

Lin Rui continued, "After that, we will implement a new method of food distribution. I call it public food. It will last until we enter the city."

"What is public grain?" Lin Zicheng asked.

Lin Rui explained, "If you all trust me, you can pool all your food and hand it over to me so I can allocate the daily food allowance to each person."

Lin Changfa said, "Chief, it's not that I don't trust you, but the food we have won't last two days!"

Lin Pingmao also looked at Lin Rui: "Yes, Chief, most of our food... has been snatched away by the disaster victims. We can hardly... survive. Is there any point in implementing a public food system at this time?"

Lin Pingmao has been particularly pessimistic since his food was stolen, and his energy and spirit are visibly declining.

The two sons, Lin Changshou and Lin Changtai, moved their lips but could not say anything. They squatted beside the ox cart, feeling extremely depressed.

The two brothers Lin Ziming and Lin Ziren looked at the serious atmosphere and didn't know what to say. They could only look at Lin Rui. Now in their eyes, their cousin Lin Rui was a capable person who could solve all problems.

"I'll figure out a way to handle this," Lin Rui said.

Looking at the two brothers from the Xiaoxifu family and the Gao family who came to help, Lin Rui also asked, "You two have both been affected by this disaster because of us. Are you willing to join our public grain implementation plan?"

Gao Yuliang and his brother Gao Yumin looked at each other and shook their heads with a wry smile: "We don't need it."

They had also heard about the Lin family's situation and knew they were running out of food. The clan leader's proposal for a public ration wasn't just about using those with more food to subsidize those with less. Because their family was large, their food supply had barely been affected by the struggle. They hadn't lost any of the food they'd saved fighting the disaster victims, so they couldn't afford to use it to subsidize the Lin family.

In order to avoid embarrassment, the Gao family drove their ox cart a little further away from the Lin family as if to avoid suspicion.

Lin Rui nodded, did not force it, and asked about his young wife's family.

Fang Bing planned to refuse like the Gao family did. Now the situation was almost clear. The Lin family was almost out of food. Using their own food to fill this bottomless pit would be tantamount to committing suicide!

The young wife, Xiao Cui, responded loudly, "Okay! Our family will also join the public grain distribution."

Fang Bing was shocked when he heard this and immediately covered Xiao Cui's mouth: "Wuwuwu!"

Xiao Cui wanted to say something but couldn't. She bit Fang Bing's hand and turned around to glare at him fiercely: "What are you doing!"

Fang Bing ignored everyone and started arguing with Xiao Cui: "What's the point? They're almost starving. Are you stupid enough to use your own food to supplement their food?"

Xiao Cui, however, had great trust in the Lin clan leader: "Don't worry, I promise you won't starve to death. If the clan leader doesn't give you anything to eat, I can cut some meat to feed you and your son, right?"

"You!" Fang Bing was speechless after being retorted by her.

Mr. Fang, who was lying on the car, was also shouting: "Misfortune for our family, misfortune for our family!"

Finally, at the strong request of their young daughter-in-law, the Fang family joined the Lin family's public grain plan.

The public food plan is not just about eating from the same pot. That would not motivate others. Lin Rui weighed the food of each family one by one in front of the Lin and Fang families.

The food allowances for Lin Changfa, Lin Pingmao and Lin Changhe's families are 3 jin, 10 jin and 8 jin respectively. Such a small amount of food reserves can't even sustain a large family for three days.

The Fang family looked unremarkable and poor along the way, but they still had 40 kilograms of brown rice and 10 kilograms of dry biscuits in stock, a total of 50 kilograms. If they saved a little on food, it would not be a problem for them to survive until Huangmo Pass.

Fang Bing looked at Old Man Fang in disbelief. He hadn't expected his family to still have so much food. Hadn't his father always been crying poor in his ears? Turns out they weren't poor after all. The situation was far better than he'd expected.

Old Master Fang felt uncomfortable being stared at by his son: "What are you looking at? If I hadn't told you this, could we have saved enough food to make it to Huangmo Pass? Now, thanks to your prodigal daughter-in-law, we've lost everything. Just wait for us to starve to death."

After Sanliang finished weighing, Lin Rui had a clear understanding of the grain situation of each household. The next second, he asked Sanliang to open the camphorwood box that he had hidden tightly and usually did not allow anyone to approach.

The other members of the Lin family all stared with wide eyes, looking at the box full of fine grains, swallowing their saliva continuously. Even Zhao Qing and Lin Changxi were shocked by Lin Rui's amazing move.

"This, this, this..." Lin Pingmao was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

It is indeed shocking to see a total of 200 kilograms of rice placed here. These are what Lin Rui has accumulated in the past few days using the upgraded house. Now the house is still updated with new rice every day. If he was not afraid of being regarded as a heretic, he would directly tell everyone not to worry about starving to death.

Lin Zicheng and Lin Ziyang ran to the camphorwood box and grabbed the smooth rice with their hands, saying happily, "Mom and Dad, it's rice, real rice, fine grain!"

“So many!”

"We don't have to worry about going hungry anymore!"

A glimpse of light in the darkness reveals the excitement of the heart.

Lin Rui began to lay out three rules for everyone: "We only have the last stretch of the journey left. This rice is enough for us to get to Huangmo Pass, but let's be pragmatic. My family's grain and the Fang family's grain are more than enough to get us to Huangmo Pass, but now we're lending this grain to the Lin family to save their lives. As the saying goes, what you borrow must be repaid, and borrowing again is not difficult. Each member of the Lin family will be allocated the debt for the grain according to the number of people in each family and the existing grain reserves. When we reach Huangmo Pass, whether we work as laborers or do business, we must return this life-saving grain!"

Lin Pingmao couldn't help but ask: "Then how do we calculate this debt?"

Lin Rui: "According to the previous market prices, brown rice costs 300 wen per jin, and fine grains costs 500 wen per jin. After deducting each family's existing grain reserves, we'll distribute it to everyone!"