The custom of taking turns to keep watch while sleeping has been maintained since the Lianshan Mountains. On the mountain, they are on guard against wolves, and on the road, they are on guard against hungry victims who might try to rob others.
When people are extremely hungry, they can do anything. This wilderness full of disaster victims is much more dangerous than the deep mountains and forests.
The Gao family, whose youngest son was on the night watch, nodded and offered a friendly greeting to Lin Ziren, who was also on the night watch. Both sides spoke with a broken Linjing dialect, but conversation wasn't too difficult.
Tonight, the father and son who had bought a wife were sleeping soundly on the ox cart. The snoring made Lin Rui unable to sleep at all. He secretly decided to stay away from the father and son when he set up camp tomorrow night.
He finally experienced what a chainsaw-like snoring sound was. He swore that his father and uncles' snoring was not as loud as theirs.
In the evening, each family ate a few dry, hard biscuits from their bundles. Fearing that Second Sister would run out of milk again, Feng Zhenniang followed Lin Rui's instructions and prepared powdered milk for three meals a day. She didn't give any to Mu Tou, Niuniu, and the others. She said it was enough for the children to try something new; everyone had it every meal. If Qingqing hadn't been too young to eat, even Lin Zao Zao wouldn't have gotten any.
After all, the second sister Lin Zaozao is Feng Zhenniang's daughter. It would be a lie to say that she doesn't love her. She feels guilty about her daughter marrying into such a family because of Lin Rui's previous misdeeds. She gave birth to a daughter after going through countless hardships on the way to escape famine. She didn't even have a good confinement period before fleeing with the large group. She was so tired that she even lost her milk. Lin Zaozao had two more pieces of pickled meat or bacon in every meal than others, just to make up for the greasy smell.
After these few days, Qingqing finally no longer has to cry out of hunger because she can't suck her mother's milk.
Lin Rui was also sighing. He felt like he was guarding a mountain of gold and silver but had no legitimate reason to move out. His cheeks were sore from chewing on the dry and hard biscuits. He missed the soft buns and steamed buns of modern times so much.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you kids doing rummaging around in your uncle's boxes? Come down quickly!" Lin Changxi urged the children who still had the energy to laugh and play at night to run around and rummage through the two large camphor wood boxes that Feng Zhenniang had given to Lin Rui.
Knowing that these two camphorwood boxes contained something extremely important to Lin Rui, it was more important for him, as their father, to keep an eye on them than anything else.
"Ahhh, run away, grandpa is beating someone!" Niu Niu left with a frightened laugh.
Mu Tou Niu Niu and Dun Zi Dou Zi, who were playing around, were pulled back by their mothers and slapped each of them, cursing, "You unlucky kids! It's already this late, are you afraid that no one will notice you?"
The child cried weakly for a few times before being coaxed into silence by the adults.
I have to say something that I am very proud of, that is, the owners of the ox carts, horse carts and donkey carts who came here and slept in the open air may not be as energetic as Lin Rui and his friends. The adults and children are a little tired, but none of them are weak and their lips are not dry.
Due to years of drought and the difficulty in finding water, everyone has to save water. Some people are so thirsty that their skin is peeling, but they are reluctant to touch a drop of water, waiting for the critical moment to save their lives.
Lin Rui didn't have to worry about the Lin clan members' night watch. Ever since Lin Rui became the clan leader, his position of night watch was replaced by others. How could he let the clan leader who was in charge of the clan's strategy have to bear the burden of night watch?
The disaster victims lying not far away looked at the camp where the ox carts and donkey carts were stationed, their eyes full of longing. They knew that those people could have enough to eat. They also heard the children's full-bodied cries and laughter. Their parents must have fed them well.
Lin Rui slept restlessly all night with his snoring like a chainsaw. When he woke up in the morning, there was a dark spot under his eyes. The others slept soundly and started packing up to set off in high spirits.
In the morning, Feng Zhenniang added two more grains of rice while everyone was boiling water, so that Lin Rui and the others could have a meal of porridge. It was very delicious when paired with dry biscuits and pickled vegetables.
Lin Changxi came over, caressing her belly, and said to Feng Zhenniang, "Zhenniang, let's add more oil tomorrow. I haven't been able to poop for the past two days, and I even had bleeding right after I pooped. Now it hurts so much that I can hardly walk."
Feng Zhenniang immediately looked at Lin Rui: "Rui'er, what about you? Can you come down?"
Of course Lin Rui could. When he took a break on the road, he would always find time to go to the refrigerator to find food. Now the refrigerator was replenished every day. He could not eat it all by himself, so he transferred the leftovers into the camphorwood box. The box was not big enough now, but after the house was upgraded, it could provide 200 kilograms of rice a day, which was enough for the Lin family to not starve to death.
Cao'er and her two sons, who lived downwind from Lin Rui's house, greedily sniffed the rice fragrance in the air. The eldest son, Daniu, tugged at his mother's sleeve and said, "Mom, I smell it! They're drinking rice porridge!"
Ermao, the little son lying listless in Cao'er's arms, also sniffed and skillfully took his dirty little hand in hers to suck on: "Mom, I want to drink rice porridge too."
Cao'er, her son, and her two children all had yellow faces from hunger due to lack of food. Their faces were dry and hanging on the bones of their faces. Their eyes had sunken into two holes, their cheeks were sunken into pits, and they were so thin that they didn't even have two pounds of flesh on their bodies. They looked like walking human skeletons.
There are many people like them. This wilderness where people are fleeing famine is full of such poor people.
Cao'er patted her two sons' hands and said, "Everyone is short of food. Who would be willing to give it to them? I'm afraid I won't be able to have this bowl of porridge."
Da Niu and Er Mao licked their lips. Da Niu grabbed Cao'er's hand and said, "It's okay, Mom. When we get to Huangmo Pass, I'll be able to find a job to support you and your brother."
Cao'er was relieved: "Hey, Mom, wait. We can't starve to death here. We'll get up and look for any groundworms or grass roots."
Ermao frowned and said, "Brother, Mom, please eat more. My butt still hurts."
"What can I do if I don't eat? I'm just going to starve to death. Just bear with it a little longer. If you can't poop, I'll dig it out for you. Eating this is better than eating Guanyin soil and getting a bloated stomach. That will really kill you."
Lin Rui and the others packed their luggage after finishing their meal. The Gao family and their father and son, oh no, now it was the father, son and young wife, who lived next to him, saw that the thirty or forty people from the Lin family were preparing to leave and hurriedly packed up their own house. It seemed that they were going to follow the Lin family on the journey.
Lin Rui's group was definitely a distinguished force among the famine-stricken refugees, standing out among the starving refugees. Though they looked thin and exhausted, both men and women had flesh on their bodies and strength in their legs, walking with a firm, steady gait. Even the baby in Lin Rui's arms had fleshy arms and legs, and cried with a powerful cry. Unless they were seeking death, no one dared to pay them any attention.
The Gao family has quite a few people, but compared to Lin Rui and the others, they are nothing. It is definitely a wise move to follow them. The hoes and sickles in the hands of the men and women of the Lin family are all sharpened to a shine, and they are not easy to mess with.
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