At dusk, the wooden gate at the entrance of the village was gently pushed open, and a hunchbacked old woman walked out of the yard, holding a large pile of neatly stacked clothes in her arms.
The clothes were washed white, but not even a stain on them. Her hands were shaking a little, but she still held the clothes carefully in her arms, as if she was holding something important.
As soon as she reached the end of the path, she saw another familiar figure coming from the opposite direction. It was also an old woman, carrying a thick pile of clothes in her arms.
"Hey, Sister Li, you brought some clothes too?"
"Oh, yes. Aunt Chen, you should get ready quickly too."
The two old ladies stood on the grass by the roadside, smiling a little tiredly, but also with some relief.
"My grandson tore this dress last night, saying that the children's feet were blue from the cold. I thought, shouldn't I send it over quickly?"
"That's right. My grandson at home was also shouting loudly. He said that when he saw those people, they were covered with rags. They were all rescued from the forest. They were just little kids, but they were shivering from the cold."
"Oh, what a curse! Why are people three hundred years from now living such a miserable life?"
"That's a disaster. You didn't see it. They said the trees in that forest are as tall as a person and can swallow a person in one bite!"
"Yes, my grandson told me that there was a kid who tried to eat some moss with his hands, but he was almost bitten by a foreign plant. He was so scared that he kept crying."
As the two old ladies spoke, tears welled up in their eyes.
"Alas... there's not much we old bones can do. We can only send some clothes over, which would be our contribution."
"That's right, my grandson said that if we can send these clothes over, the kids won't have to worry about freezing."
The two were silent for a moment, then smiled at each other, picked up their clothes, and walked towards the clothes collection place.
The sky was dark, and the lights in the small houses on the roadside were dim.
An old man in his seventies was squatting on the ground, repairing a small wooden cart in his hands beautifully.
The wooden cart is a bit old, but it has been polished to a smooth and shiny state, as if it had just been made.
His hands were full of cracks and old ropes, but he still carefully installed two small wheels on the wooden cart.
Outside the house, a voice came: "Brother Yang, are you repairing things again?"
An old lady with white hair poked her head in from the doorway, holding a small cloth bag in her hand. The bag contained several small toys, including a spinning top, clay figurines, and a few old but clean rag dolls.
"Hey, Auntie Li, are you here to give me toys again?"
"You're right. I heard that those kids don't even have anything to play with. They only have clothes to wear, so they still need something to play with."
"That's right! I spent the whole night repairing this wooden cart. I'll send it over when it's done so that the kids can push it and play with it."
"I found a few old rag dolls in my house. I sewed them up and stuffed some cotton into them. I think they should still be playable."
"You are really attentive. Why didn't I think of the doll? Hehe..."
"You are good at carpentry, and those children will be very happy to have a wooden cart to push. By the way, I heard that some children just came out of the woods with pale faces. I guess they cried a lot."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... If I still had the strength a few years ago, I would have gone in to save them no matter what. Now I can only rely on these things to coax them."
"Don't say that. The kids have these things. When you see them smile, you know it's worth it."
Old Man Yang stood up, carefully placed the wooden cart into a wooden box, and patted the sawdust off his hands.
Old Man Yang: "Let's go and send them off together. These kids are worth the effort."
In the kitchen at the entrance of the village, the firelight illuminated half of the wall red.
An old woman with gray hair was busy. The fire in the stove was burning brightly and steam was bubbling in the pot.
Her hands were very deft. She stirred the porridge in the pot with a long spoon while putting the steamed buns into the bamboo basket beside her.
A voice came from the door: "Hey, Aunt Zhao, what are you busy with?"
A neighbor came in with a small bowl of pickles.
"I'm busy cooking some porridge and steaming some steamed buns. I heard those kids haven't had anything to eat for three days, so I'm rushing to prepare some food for them."
"Oh, that's right. Yesterday I heard about a kid who was so hungry that he was lying there and couldn't even speak. Tsk tsk... so pitiful."
"Yeah, it's not enough that we have no clothes to cover our bodies, we can't even get enough food to eat, let alone the food in the forest."
"Well... I made this pickled vegetable at home. It's perfect to eat with rice porridge. The kids might smile when they see something to eat."
"That's great. My pot of porridge is almost ready. I can also steam a basket of steamed buns and send them over."
As they talked, they filled the bamboo basket.
"Aunt Zhao, why are people three hundred years from now so miserable? They don't even live as well as people of our time."
"Alas, no matter how hard life is, as long as we survive, there is hope. If we old guys do a little more, we can help those kids suffer less."
"It's a matter of fact. The most important thing is that the children are well fed and clothed and survive."
Aunt Zhao picked up the bamboo basket and handed a full cloth bag to her neighbor.
"Let's go, let's send it over quickly so that the kids don't go hungry anymore."
"Come on, I'll help you carry the bucket."
The two of them, one in front and one behind, carried a lot of food and walked towards the relief point in the village. Their figures gradually disappeared into the night.
All kinds of materials flow out from the lights of thousands of homes, converge into one place, and then flow through this place to three hundred years later.
Flowing into the hands and hearts of the children of the last days.