Chapter 157 Chapter 157 Flood
A sumptuous meal was served on the table, including vegetables, meat and eggs. Just the aroma in the air made one's mouth water.
Only Su Guizhi was unhappy because the vegetables and meat came from the pre-made meal kits she had just rejected the day before.
A fierce look like a predatory beast stared at the chef Miao Yueze. The man's body stiffened. He looked up, down, left and right, but he didn't dare to look at his own mother.
He even shamelessly hid behind his wife to ask for protection, winking at his younger brother and saying silently: Xiaoxing, help me!
"Okay, eat your noodles. Why are you hiding? I can't eat you."
Su Guizhi picked up the bowl of noodles and gave her eldest son a look, but she refused to use a spoon to scoop up the hot pre-prepared dishes on the table.
She has her persistence!
Pre-prepared meals are unhealthy, unsafe and unhygienic!
Miao Yueze stuck his head out and said, "Mom, just eat some. I just tried it and it tastes very good."
"No."
"Eat a little."
“No!”
Miao Yueze argued with his mother for several rounds, and finally he decisively picked up a spoon, scooped a spoonful of spicy chicken that should suit his mother's taste, and threw it into her bowl.
Su Guizhi: ...
Su Guizhi stared at the bowl of glistening spicy chicken and peanuts and swallowed involuntarily. Her brain, starved of oil and water, sent a craving to her body for a quick meal.
Miao Yueze probed: "Try it?"
Su Guizhi ignored him and rolled up the noodles and diced chicken with chopsticks and stuffed them into her mouth. The long-lost aroma of meat and oil brought her taste buds the ultimate bliss.
Su Guizhi was silent for a few seconds and then said, "It's quite delicious, Lingyu, you should try it too."
Miao Yueze and Wei Lingyu smiled at each other.
The family had a sumptuous dinner. After eating and drinking their fill, they lay contentedly on the sofa, half-closing their eyes and chatting from time to time.
They were comfortable, but the families living on the rooftop were suffering.
There is a dish of stir-fried pork with chili peppers on the left, a dish of braised pork with preserved vegetables on the right, and a dish of spicy diced chicken underneath, with the sound of hot stir-frying in the middle.
They were craving the aroma of chili peppers and grease, but they could smell it but couldn't eat it, which tortured their rumbling stomachs and tasteless mouths. Children also cried incessantly, clamoring for delicious food.
"Cry, cry, cry, just cry."
Hong Dancui pointed at her eldest grandson who was crying non-stop and scolded him, "What's the point of crying? Do you think others will give you food if you cry? You are so ignorant!!"
"If you want to blame someone, blame your parents for not being able to support a greedy child like you. If you don't have anything to eat, just starve."
I don’t know if she was born with a loud voice or if she did it on purpose, but her cursing was so loud that everyone in the entire building could hear it, and it was especially obvious against the crying of the child.
Su Guizhi heard the sound of children being scolded and beaten on the rooftop. She paused and said hesitantly, "How about I go and bring some food to that kid Chenchen?"
After all, they are old neighbors, and it is hard to bear to hear the child crying for food.
"no."
Miao Yueze flatly refused: "Mom, don't blame me for being cruel. There are six families living on the rooftop. Wouldn't it be offensive if you only gave it to Chenchen's family?"
"You sent Chenchen off this time because he cried, but what about next time? And the time after that? You can't just send him off every time he cries."
"And there's more than just Chenchen in this building. There's also Akang, Shuishui... almost every household has a child, and we can't even send them all off."
"You know how much food we have at home. There are four adults in the house, and it's not enough for us."
Su Guizhi was so blocked that she couldn't speak.
She pinched Miao Yueze's arm angrily: "You use this tone to talk to your mother. Can you please talk properly?"
Miao Yueze nodded at He Junxia.
You see, that's how women are. If they can't win an argument with reason, they will find fault with your tone and attitude.
He Juanxia smiled gently: "Mom, don't blame me for my bad tone, he is telling the truth."
"Even if we send them this time, if the child cries again next time and we don't send them, will they thank us?"
Of course not
Not only will they not feel grateful, they may even feel resentful about the last time you gave them food.
Su Guizhi answered in her heart, and her mind gradually calmed down: "I was thinking too much."
Wei Lingyu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
As a daughter-in-law, it was not easy for her to refute her mother-in-law's opinion on such matters, but she strongly agreed with her husband and brother-in-law.
She also felt that Chenchen's mother-in-law said this, seemingly to scold the children, but actually she said it on purpose for them to hear, just waiting for them to send something up.
If you give gifts to such a self-righteous "smart" person, she might think she is so capable and won't thank the person who gave her the gifts at all.
Su Guizhi was still a little hesitant: "But they are almost out of food, we can't just watch them starve to death."
"Don't worry, Mom. We won't starve to death." He Juanxia was confident: "The four of us brought back so many things. They are all watching. Just wait and see. Someone will definitely knock on the door and ask to borrow the boat soon."
“It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.”
"But if some people just want to stay in a safe place and would rather starve to death than find food, there's no point in helping them."
This is He Junxia’s true thought.
The help that a person can provide is very limited. He is not the national government and can only give opportunities to those who are willing to help themselves.
Su Guizhi understood what he meant.
She remembered how anxious she was at home when her youngest son went out boating, and the red marks on his shoulders and back when he came back, and she increasingly agreed with what he said.
Why should we give the food that our children risked their lives to those who are hiding in a safe place?!
"But every time someone comes to borrow a boat, do you have to go along?"
Su Guizhi was worried.
He Junxia thought for a moment and said, "I went along the first few times."
Although he and Miao Yueze were young and strong, and their fighting ability was decent, if everyone in the entire building joined forces to deal with them, they would still be outmatched.
He plans to find some allies.
However, there is no need to tell your family about this in advance. They still think in a peaceful society and will not believe it no matter how much you tell them.
He Juanxia simply said, "One is to save more food for the family, as it gets harder to find later in the day. The other is to see if the other people's character is worth making close friends with."
"For example, Wang Weicai's temper is not very good."
Miao Yueze recalled what the busybody had said downstairs and frowned, "Did you have a conflict?"
He Junxia: "It's not a contradiction, but he's spoiled, petty and has a bad temper."
Su Guizhi interrupted: "The Wang family couple had a child in their old age. They were in their forties when they had a precious son. It would be strange if they didn't spoil him to the point of genius."
"Whoever wants to pamper him can do so. Our family will not have any dealings with him in the future." Miao Yueze made the final decision and looked at He Junxia: "Little brother, let's take turns."
As the eldest brother, five years older than his younger brother, he should shoulder the burden of the family. He couldn't just sit at home and watch his younger brother take risks.
The air suddenly became quiet
Su Guizhi and Wei Lingyu remained silent. This kind of thing should be left to the brothers to discuss between themselves. If they spoke up, it would only damage their brotherly relationship.
He Junxia held his chin and said, "Brother, I know what you mean, but after you complete the full 20-day training, we can rotate."
What's the meaning? !
Look down on his elder brother's ability? !
Miao Yueze opened his mouth to refute, but his eyes followed the direction of his younger brother's finger and saw a wet snakeskin bag.
His face flushed instantly, and he couldn't get the words out. How could a scholar compare to a physical monster?
Miao Yueze nodded and said, "Okay, wait until I finish a full set of training, then we'll take turns. You can't stop me then."
He Junxia nodded: "Of course."
…
Soon after the family finished dinner, people began to come to the door one after another. They had only one intention, which was to borrow the boat.
He Junxia gathered all the people who wanted to borrow the boat to go out and look for something, and counted them, there were ten people in total.
He said directly, "I will take the boat out once a day. There is space for three people on the boat. Please arrange your time. Only one person per family can go."
Some people are unhappy.
Aunt Zhang on the fifth floor said, "Yuexing, it's so inconvenient for the family to have only one person go. Look at me, I'm old and don't have much strength."
He Junxia smiled and said, "I remember Deyou is 18 years old this year. He's very strong, so you can let him come."
"Aunt Zhang, I'm not picking on you. There are only two of you in your family, so you can only take up two seats. But some people have three or four people in their families."
"I don't set this rule. If I go out tomorrow and all three seats are occupied by a family, what will happen to other families?"
Aunt Zhang was still unwilling to give in: "Please be flexible. Our situation is special. We are all neighbors."
He Juanxia's tone remained unchanged: "The people in this building and I are all neighbors. It's better for everyone to be fair."
"You're a neighbor. Xiaoxing's house and ours are right across the street. We'll see each other sooner or later."
Sister Zeng from the sixth floor echoed, "If you want to give special treatment based on relationships, then our family is closer, so we deserve special treatment."
"Yes, yes, it's better to be fair, Mrs. Zhang, please stop making trouble."
Seeing this, the others all supported He Junxia. At least doing things fairly would ensure that no one suffered any loss.
Seeing this, Aunt Zhang could only say reluctantly: "Forget it, just listen to Xiaoxing's arrangements."
The group discussed for a while, and half an hour later, Sister Zeng found He Junxia with the arranged travel schedule.
"Xiaoxing, do you think it's suitable?"
He Juanxia took the schedule and glanced at the names on it: "Okay, let the first group of people wait for me downstairs at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning."
Zeng Qiaoyun hesitated to speak, and after enduring for a moment, she said, "Xiaoxing, everyone feels that going out once a day is not enough. Can you add one more trip?" Her tone was pleading, without any order to the younger generation.
He Junxia did not refuse directly.
He thought for a moment and said, "First, follow the plan on the table for one round, and then see if the specific situation warrants increasing the number of rounds."
…
In the following time, He Junxia would row a boat and take people out to collect food every day.
Because it was the early stages of the flood, the county had a lot of food reserves and almost every trip back was filled with food.
However, except for the first day, He Junxia only carried a backpack and a handbag every time, and occasionally went to the hospital to deliver some food to the nurses and doctors there.
Compared to other people who always came back with large amounts of supplies, no one even glanced at He Junxia's two small bags.
This went on for two weeks. He Junxia had dealt with every household in the building several times and had a clear understanding of who he could cooperate with and who he should stay away from.
One afternoon, He Junxia gathered everyone in the building on the rooftop for a meeting.
He said: "Kayaking has become an important tool for everyone to find food. In order to allow everyone to collect food better, I decided to rearrange the travel schedule."
“Our family also participates in the scheduling.”
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