After dinner, Li Lanzhen and the others discussed it carefully and decided to go and check how to build a bridge at Hukou in the mountain stream the next day.

There shouldn't be any problem with timber; there are plenty of trees in the mountains. You just need to use a machete to cut down the trees and transport them there. The key is that the ropes used to tie the trees must be strong.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside, with loud voices shouting, "Li Lanzhen, get out here!"

Li Lanzhen stood up and smiled. "What's meant to happen will happen. Let's just settle it all at once."

She said to Han Mingjiang, Xue Bao, and the other young men, "You guys go out and make them line up. I'll give them food. Anyone who doesn't line up can get lost."

Li Lanzhen planned to mix black wheat bran with a small amount of black flour and distribute it to them.

She was in a corner of the thatched shed, where their belongings were piled up: sacks, baskets, farm tools, bedding, and the like.

She went there and pretended to rummage around for a while, then pulled out a sack of wheat bran and half a sack of rye flour, and then pretended to lift the cloth covering it.

He shouted, "Eldest brother and your brother-in-law, carry these out!"

She placed the grain at the entrance of the thatched shed, then took a large black earthenware bowl, intending to give each family, regardless of the number of people, only one bowlful.

The villagers of Hanjiacun, who had been standing outside cursing, lined up happily when they heard that Li Lanzhen was really going to distribute grain to them.

When Han Yanyan saw that the grain Li Lanzhen distributed to them was actually black wheat bran, she started grumbling in the crowd again, "Sister-in-law Lanzhen is really something. I don't know why she hid all that white rice and white flour. Was she going to eat it secretly? She didn't even share some with us. We all have elderly people and children in our families."

After hearing what she said, Li Sanya turned around, put her hands on her hips, pointed at her nose and scolded, "Shut up, you troublemaker! Have you seen us eat white flour? We haven't seen a single grain of white rice, nor have we eaten a single handful of white flour. We've been eating the same rye and black flour porridge. What nonsense are you spouting? You're just stirring up trouble everywhere."

Li Lanzhen glanced at Han Yanyan and called out to Li Sanya, "Sanya, come back. What's the point of reasoning with unreasonable people? It only lowers your own standards. Those kinds of people are no good."

When Han Yanyan heard Li Lanzhen scolding her, she gritted her teeth, stomped her foot, and turned to leave.

At this point, some people objected, saying that the distribution was unfair. They argued that a family with only four members would receive a bowl, while their family of more than ten members would also receive a bowl.

Li Lanzhen said slowly, "If anyone feels it's unfair, just put it down and I'll distribute it to those who need it. I didn't beg you to come here. Besides, this is my food. I'm giving it to you because I, Li Lanzhen, am kind and considerate of the whole village."

Those who were thinking lowered their heads and remained silent.

The villagers received the grain and went home happily, though a very few grumbled and swore as they carried the grain home with envious eyes.

Seeing these grumbling and unhappy people, Gu Yuli followed behind and said, "I know where Li Lanzhen's family stores their grain?"

Looking at these people again, he continued, "On this side near the flood, Li Lanzhen's family lives there. I saw a corner of the sack and some other things. They must be good things given by Jin Fulai, the young master."

The group of people exchanged glances, shook their heads, and left without saying a word.

Gu Yuli watched their departing figures and smiled. She was certain that they would steal grain from Li Lanzhen's house tonight. She decided that she would also go out at night and prepare a tinderbox. Once they had stolen the grain, she would set fire to their shed. They wouldn't even let her family stay there. Humph, then nobody would stay there either.

By evening, the rain had lessened a bit, but it was still drizzling.

The wild vegetables, leaves, and even tender branches on the ridge where they lived were all picked by the people of Hanjia Village and taken home to eat.

Seeing the people of Hanjiacun living like this, Li Lanzhen felt very sad. She had to leave. She had to leave. Once people ran out of food, the dark side of human nature would be revealed, and she didn't want to risk her entire family's lives to test humanity.

Xue Nizi asked Li Lanzhen, "Mom, we're not doing any heavy work, so why don't we skip dinner tonight? We'll save a meal if we can."

Li Lanzhen said, "No, we must eat, and we must eat our fill. We still have to do hard labor tomorrow."

Two large iron pots, each filled to the brim with a thick porridge.

Of course, Zhang Deshui's family, Xue Laohu's family, and Han Shunde's family all added dried vegetable bits to the pot.

Otherwise, they would feel really embarrassed to continue eating Li Lanzhen's food; she was an orphan and a widow, and they were just begging for her money.

In the dead of night, the shed belonging to Li Lan's family caught fire, starting from where Li Lanzhen was living.

After Li Lanzhen discovered it, she sat up and shouted, "It's on fire!"

Her shout woke up everyone in the thatched hut, and when they stood up, they found that half of the hut was on fire.

After Li Lanzhen got up, she quickly put everything she could into her spatial storage and called for everyone to hurry out, because thick smoke had already begun to fill the thatched hut.

She checked the straw shed where she used to store grain and found that someone had dug a hole in it, and there were traces of things being pulled out.

Li Lanzhen didn't care, since the grain wasn't there anyway; what she stole were just some dried vegetables or farm tools.

However, we must find the arsonist and the person who took the items. Even if they're worthless, they're still mine, and you can't refuse to steal them.

Although it was raining and the branches outside the shed were soaked, the straw inside was dry, so the fire started quickly.

After Li Lanzhen and her family's thatched hut caught fire, the thatched huts of Gou Dan's family and the butcher Han Dazhong's family also caught fire. Later, more and more huts were burned, and Li Lanzhen realized that it was truly a case of fire spreading from one camp to another.

The families in the thatched hut quickly packed up their belongings and came out. Han Mingjiang called to Xuebao to hurry up and lead out the mules and donkeys.

When they built the thatched shed, they also built a simple shed for these livestock so that they wouldn't get wet in the rain and catch a cold.

In less than half an hour, all the temporary sheds where Hanjiacun was staying were burned down.

People stood in the rain, clutching their belongings. Many women and children wept, cursing the heavens for oppressing the common people. They had no food, no water, and had to endure such misfortune on their journey to escape famine.

At this moment, Han Yanyan jumped out again, "I think the fire that started just now started in Sister Li Lanzhen's thatched hut. It must have started because they didn't put out the firewood when they were cooking yesterday, which slowly caused the fire to burn down and destroy our thatched hut. They should compensate us."

Those who didn't understand were all looking at Li Lanzhen.

Li Lanzhen chuckled inwardly and said, "With your dog eyes, you saw that we set this thing on fire ourselves. I would have thought it was you and your troublesome girl who started it."

She looked around and said, “Now that our house has lost things, the thief and the arsonist must be the same person. Everything in my house is marked with colors. If someone touches anything in our house, their hands will turn purple. Everyone, stick your hands out and take a look.”

Li Lan glanced at the crowd and noticed two men acting suspiciously, their hands clasped behind their backs and not moving forward. She had a general idea of ​​what was going on. Out of the corner of her eye, she also saw Gu Yuli jumping around, running from one house to another, saying something.

Li Lanjuan shouted, "I'll say it again, make it clear now, why did you set fire to our house? Continue to follow us on our journey of fleeing famine, otherwise I would never have taken you with me. You go your way, I'll go mine."

Moreover, we need to build a bridge over this flood at daybreak, then cross it and head east. I absolutely cannot take you with me.”

After waiting a while, the two men came out carrying the things. They placed the things in front of Lin Dan, lowered their heads and said, "We were bewitched and came to steal your family's grain. Gu Yuli said that your family's grain was stored there, including rice and flour. So, we thought that since there are old and young people in the family, we wanted to steal some to supplement their diet."

The elderly people and women in the family were furious when they heard this. They grabbed the perpetrators and beat them up. Then they turned around, bowed their heads, and apologized to Li Lanzhen, asking her to forgive them and not hold a grudge.

Li Lanzhen ignored them, looked up at Gu Yuli, and shouted, "Gu Yuli, come here! Did you start the fire?"

Caught off guard, Gu Yuli was startled and quickly cried out, "No, you're wronging me! It wasn't me!"

"Just stretch out your hand and let us see. If it's not purple, I'll let you go. If it is purple, I won't be so polite."

Upon hearing this, Gu Yuli was so frightened that she quickly hid her hands behind her back and slipped behind the village chief and his wife.

As everyone had already guessed, because Gu Yuli's behavior was too obvious, the village elder blushed and stood up, "Yuli, how could you do this? We're all neighbors, how could you think of setting fire? That could kill people."

Gu Yuli continued to argue, holding her head high and saying, "Who told them to have white flour and white rice but not share it with us, not give us any to eat, and even hide it from us?"

Han Yinan, a child, stood up and said angrily, "We've never eaten white flour, only black flour. And there's not much black flour left now. Yesterday, we mixed it all with black bran and distributed it to you all."

Li Lanzhen looked at Gu Yuli and said, "There are two options. First, slap yourself in the face and tell me you're wrong ten times. The other option is that you're not allowed to follow me from now on."

Gu Yuli continued, stubbornly insisting, "If we don't want to follow you, we don't want to follow you. Do you think we won't flee the famine? Who do you think we are? Right? Grandpa, my grandpa will lead us."

She turned to look at the village chief, but the village chief lowered his head and said nothing.

Gu Yuli felt isolated and helpless at this moment. She looked at everyone blankly, but no one spoke and kept their heads down, refusing to look at her.

Aunt Huaihua walked over and kicked her in the back of the knee. With a thud, Gu Yuli knelt down in front of Li Lanzhen.

"Hurry up and admit you're wrong."

Gu Yuli had no choice but to slap her mouth and say, "I was wrong."

She hit him ten times and said it ten times. With each word, the hatred in her heart grew stronger.