After Ding Dawei finished speaking, he stared at Li Jiakang's face nervously.

The same went for his wife. Both of them were afraid that Li Jiakang would say no.

They were now certain that the Li family had plenty of food, otherwise they would have refused outright.

In fact, Li Jiakang agreed in his heart, but his opinion alone would not count, so he wanted to discuss it with Sun Xiu and others.

But he couldn't say it directly since the Ding couple were sitting here, so he just looked at Sun Xiu while drinking water.

Sun Xiu had been his wife for so many years, so she naturally understood what he wanted to say, and nodded in agreement.

Then Li Jiakang looked at Li Ping and Li Xu. The two of them also understood his thoughts very well. After looking at each other, they nodded.

Li Jiakang spoke after everyone signaled, "Old Ding, we've been neighbors for so many years. I can lend you some, but not much. There's another condition you need to agree to."

Upon hearing Li Jiakang's agreement to lend them grain, Ding Dawei and his wife excitedly stood up and said repeatedly, "We know that lending us grain right now is a huge favor. We didn't expect to borrow much. Let alone one condition, as long as it's something we can do, we'll agree even if it's ten."

Li Jiakang waved his hand. "Just don't tell the other neighbors that I'm lending you grain. To be honest, the grain in my family is also provided by my second brother from the countryside. We don't have much to begin with, and we only wanted to help out because we see you're filial to the elderly. If other people also ask us to borrow, we really won't have any grain left."

Upon hearing this, Ding Dawei and the others quickly agreed, "Of course, even if you don't tell us, we won't spread it to anyone."

They also knew that if this matter got out, the surrounding neighbors would definitely come to the Li family to borrow grain, and it would be troublesome whether to lend or not.

"That's fine. I can only lend you 10 kilograms of food. If it's not enough, there's nothing we can do."

Ding Dawei was even more delighted. "That's enough, that's enough. We can buy food in two days. From now on, these 10 kilograms of food will be used as life-saving food. When everything at home is gone every month, I will eat this. It will last for several more months."

When Ding Dawei and his wife saw the grain, they were so excited that tears came to their eyes. They originally thought that it would be all coarse grains, but they didn't expect that there was also a small amount of fine grains. In the end, they even kowtowed to express their gratitude.

Li Jiakang and others also hurried to stop them.

It was only at this time that Li Xu realized that the middle-aged man Ding Dawei was completely light, and he only needed to use a little effort to help him up.

After the Ding couple left with many thanks, everyone in the Li family breathed a sigh of relief.

They do have food, but they really don't dare to borrow too much. To be realistic, even 10 kilograms of food is a considerable amount nowadays.

Just looking at Ding Dawei's expression at the time, you could tell that they never thought they could borrow so much food.

Li Jiakang really couldn't bear to see such a filial person starve to death, so he mentioned this number.

What's more, since I have decided to help, I might as well help more. Now the Ding family's food supply can't last until the end of the month. It's useless to borrow only two or three kilograms. They still can't last after two months.

If they borrow a little more now, they can hold on for a while longer, and maybe there will be a turning point next year.

The fine grains were put in by Sun Xiu. They were for nourishing the body and their purpose was to make them last a little longer.

This is all Li Jiakang and others can do at the moment.

Three days later, early this morning, Li Xu and his family heard heart-wrenching cries coming from the Ding family next door.

Everyone was startled at first, then hurried to the next room.

As soon as I entered the Ding family's house, I saw Ding Dawei and his wife lying on the bed crying, and their son and daughter-in-law were also sobbing.

Li Xu and others looked at each other in surprise. They didn't expect that the old lady of the Ding family would die at this time.

At this time, other neighbors also came in. Li Jiakang and others hurried forward to help Ding Dawei and his wife up, and comforted them well, fearing that they would get sick from crying.

It took a long time for the two of them to calm down.

Ding Dawei looked at his old mother's body on the bed with pain, and then talked about the funeral arrangements.

He kept everything simple. He asked his eldest son to buy a coffin and find a cart, and then take the coffin directly to the burial site. He didn't do anything else.

Li Jiakang and others waited with them for a while, and soon they saw Ding Dawei's eldest son coming back with a cart and a coffin, followed by several people.

The eldest son of the Ding family told Ding Dawei that those people were there to help carry the coffin. Ding Dawei did not refuse because he knew that with their current physical condition, they would definitely not be able to lift the coffin.

Ding Dawei and his wife carried the body into the coffin, and then refused the neighbors' offer to join them to help. The family just walked away, supporting the coffin on the cart.

The neighbors stood there and talked about it, but Li Xu's family didn't say anything and went straight home.

After returning to the house, Li Jiakang sighed, "It's good that Mrs. Ding is gone. With such a filial son and daughter-in-law, she can be said to have enjoyed a happy life."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Sun Xiu said, "Old Mrs. Ding passed away peacefully, which is much better than those who died of starvation. The Ding family can now rest a little easier."

When she saw the expressions of the people in the Ding family just now, she felt sorry for them.

Although the deceased old lady Ding was thin, her complexion looked normal. However, almost all the members of the Ding family had swollen faces and walked lightly. Their appearance made people feel that they would die at any time.

Now that the old man has passed away, his family can make do without eating things like tree bark, which may be a good thing.

"I just don't know if Uncle Ding and the others think so." Li Ping said.

"It doesn't matter what you think. They're dead now, and they'll have to live on in the future."

Li Xu's words also ended the topic. Everyone sighed at the same time and turned to talk about other topics.

After arriving at the motorcade, Li Xu heard a lot of people talking.

It is said that several people died outside the black market last night and the food they had with them was lost.

Li Xu knew that yesterday was the day for issuing bills. It seemed that some people could not bear it anymore and wanted to go to the black market to see if there was a chance to exchange for more food.

Although they knew that the hope was slim and that they might lose their lives, those people still went.

Now he no longer wants to comment on this. To be more precise, he feels that he is not qualified to judge whether these actions are right or wrong.

He has no worries about food and drink, and he can also make sure his relatives and friends have good food. He really cannot understand the feelings of those who are hungry.

But he understood that as long as the disaster did not disappear, there would always be people who would take risks.