Seeing that the discussion was over, Li Jiakang turned to other things. "I heard that Lao Lu from our factory wants to marry his daughter off. He doesn't want any betrothal gifts, but a 200 yuan dowry."

Sun Xiu thought about it and said, "This is not surprising. There are so many things going on right now. The Lu family can't hold on any longer. He wants to find a way for his daughter to survive."

There are too many of these things happening now.

Many families, knowing they can't hold on any longer, will marry off their daughters. Not only will they not ask for anything, but some well-off families will even give a lot of dowry like Lao Lu did, as long as the other party can provide them with food and keep their daughter alive.

Li Jiakang continued, "But Old Lu is stubborn. We tried to persuade him to marry his daughter off to a country boy, but he refused and insisted on finding someone from the city."

Now everyone was speechless.

You know, the situation in the countryside is much better than in the city now. I have heard of people in the countryside taking on this matter over the years, but I have never heard of it in the city.

After a long while, Sun Xiu said, "Then you should try to persuade him again. If he still doesn't listen, then his life or death will be in the hands of fate."

It was impossible for her to use her own food to support Lao Lu. All she could do was ask Li Jiakang to persuade him again. If he still didn't listen, there would be nothing she could do.

Now you can see new paper money on the streets almost every day. Some people don’t even hold ceremonies, but simply drag the deceased family members to the hillside and bury them hastily.

Everyone has long been numb to the idea of ​​death.

So Li Jiakang nodded in agreement.

Then everyone started talking about other things.

The next morning, Li Xu's family had dry rice. While eating, Li Xu thought of fried rice with egg.

It’s a pity that fried rice uses too much oil, so they can’t afford to make it now. But there’s no regret, as everyone enjoys eating white rice.

After eating, Li Xu put some rice into the lunch box and took it to the motorcade.

At noon, Li Xu and Liu Gang took out their lunch boxes. After seeing Li Xu's meal, Liu Gang's eyes widened. "Good boy, the rice you brought doesn't even contain any whole grains?"

Li Xu was stunned, then looked at the food Liu Gang brought.

Only then did he realize that the rice Liu Gang brought was not only less than what he brought, but also mixed with sweet potatoes, vegetable roots and other things.

So he said embarrassedly, "The whole grains in my family are all made separately. They don't taste good when mixed together."

Liu Gang glanced at him sideways, then laughed, "You kid never speaks a word of truth. I didn't expect your family can still eat like this at this time."

Li Xu chuckled, "Uncle Liu, let's eat first. You can teach me how to do it."

To be honest, I only had lunch with Liu Gang at noon. If it were someone else, he would never bring rice.

"It's simple. Just pour hot water in, close the lid, and let it sit for a while before eating." He gave a demonstration after saying that.

Li Xu did the same.

After waiting for a few minutes, the two of them took off the lid of the box. Li Xu stirred it with chopsticks for a while, and only started eating when the temperature was just right.

After taking two bites and chewing them for a few times, Li Xu frowned slightly, "Uncle Liu, this isn't good. The outer layer is softened by soaking, but the inside is still a little hard."

Liu Gang was eating with great relish, swallowing in big mouthfuls. After hearing this, he put down the lunch box in his hand and said, "It's okay. You'll get used to it after eating it a few times."

After saying that, he started eating again.

Li Xu shook his head, and then started eating as well, but at a much slower pace.

Although he felt that the taste was not very good, Li Xu still ate it all, and he got used to it a little later.

After eating, the two of them squinted their eyes and chatted while basking in the sun.

While chatting, Liu Gang said he wanted to go to the bathroom. Unexpectedly, when he came back, his face looked a little ugly.

Li Xu was still laughing and teasing him, "Uncle Liu, are you constipated or did you poop on your pants? Why do you look so bad after going to the toilet?"

"They just told me that no one in our motorcade went to the cafeteria for lunch yesterday, and no one else will eat today either."

"If you don't want to eat, then don't eat. What does it have to do with you?"

Liu Gang said unhappily, "The key point is that the director is not eating today either."

Damn, Li Xu couldn’t laugh anymore.

Sitting up straight, he quickly asked, "Is she not eating for the same reason as us, or is she unable to afford it?"

"How would I know that?" Liu Gang spread his hands, "You're still laughing."

"Stop laughing, let's talk it over." Li Xu said with a shy face.

"How else can we discuss this? Let's wait for now. I'll try to find out more during this time. If all else fails, I'll go find her directly."

"Go directly to her? What do you say?"

"I just asked her directly if she was short of food. Okay, I won't say anymore. I'll take a nap." After saying that, Liu Gang closed his eyes.

Li Xu looked at him in confusion, not knowing whether what he had just said was true or false. But now seeing that he was unwilling to say more, Li Xu stopped asking, shook his head, and closed his eyes.

At dinner time, Li Xu asked Sun Xiu and the others, "Mom, how did you feel at noon?"

"It's okay. I'm a little hungry, but it's okay."

"It's okay. Just drink more water when you're hungry." Li Ping also replied.

Li Jiakang gave the same answer as Li Ping.

Then Sun Xiu asked Li Xu, "How was your lunch?"

"It's okay. I was a little uncomfortable at first, but it got better later."

"That's fine. This is what we'll do in the future." Sun Xiu nodded.

Li Xu and the others had no objection.

After dinner, Li Xu went to Du Hong's house.

As soon as she entered the house, Du Hong asked questions in a panic, "Why didn't Auntie and the others eat lunch today? Is there not much food at home? Otherwise, don't give it to me and save it for your family."

Yang Li also quickly agreed, "Yes, there were too many people in the factory, and I didn't ask. I was thinking of going to your house to ask later, but I didn't expect you to come first. Xiaoxu, if it really doesn't work, don't give my family any food. Keep it for yourself."

Du Ming and Du Feng also meant the same thing.

No matter what they were thinking, Li Xu felt a lot warmer in his heart since they could say this, so he hurriedly explained.

After hearing this, everyone in the Du family breathed a sigh of relief.

Yang Li still had a smile on her face. "Xiao Xu, we were really scared today. We thought your family was short of food. But you are right. Starting tomorrow, we will do the same. We will eat something good in the morning and skip lunch."

The others who heard this were hesitant to speak, but didn't say anything and just nodded in response.

Now that they knew there was no problem with food, everyone started chatting happily again.