After this filtration, most of the elm bark flour was reduced, but it was still edible.
If only they had flour, they could try making elm bark noodles, but they've run out of flour.
"I'm hungry, I'm hungry, waaaah—"
Some of the children in the line were crying because they were so hungry.
The woman took out a small piece of roasted Smilax glabra from her bosom and gave it to him. "Bear with it for now. We'll go up the mountain to find something to eat while we rest."
Their family had long since run out of food and water. Every time they went out to rest, they couldn't find much food because it was so scarce.
If they were lucky, they could find some food, and everyone in the family could get a bite. If they were unlucky, they couldn't find anything and could only eat non-toxic plant roots and stems with water to fill their stomachs.
Inside the carriage, Zhou Kai and the others were so hungry their stomachs were rumbling and they were thirsty, but they had run out of water.
Chen Nong sighed and brought over a small bundle of cogon grass roots. "Eat this first."
Fearing that the donkeys would die of thirst and hunger, and that there would be no means of transportation in the future, they even gave them priority over the grass roots they dug up.
Now, in their group, you could count on one hand the number of families who still have water and food.
At this moment, Xiao Bao climbed onto their carriage and said, "They used grass roots to extract juice."
Chen Nong murmured, "It's good that I've squeezed it all out."
Because of the lack of water and food, the women with breastfeeding babies had no milk, and one of the babies in their group couldn't hold on and died.
This was the first casualty in their team. The wounded had all stubbornly pulled through, but the baby ultimately couldn't hold on.
Now, several babies in the group are sickly, and the women are unable to produce milk, which is very worrying. They can only squeeze juice from the roots of grass to treat the babies first, and then kill a donkey for the women to eat so that they can recover.
Juicing hairy grass roots yields a very low juice rate, as they contain very little water. To extract juice, you would need a large quantity of hairy grass roots.
Two days later, the Chen family, the only family in the group who still had food, also ran out of food.
Chen Nong's steamed buns were empty; they contained only the most important household tools.
Xiao Bao clung to the car window and shouted, "So many people have died outside!"
There are more and more corpses on the official road now, either from thirst or from starvation.
There used to be corpses on the road, but they were few and far between. Adults wouldn't let children see them, so the children only heard about them and rarely saw them. But now, there are corpses every few blocks on the main road, and sometimes there are even groups of them.
"God has no way to save people!" an old woman said, looking at the corpses by the roadside.
During the midday break, everyone went to the fields to find food.
Seeing that the grass was full of potholes and the turf had been peeled off, Zhou sighed and said, "Let's go to the foot of the mountain and take a look."
"Ah—there's a dead person! There's a dead person here!" A child ran out of the bushes not far away, his face turning deathly pale with fright.
The village chief's wife said, "Everyone, move away and don't go near that side."
A boy said to the child, "You're so timid. Didn't you see a dead body on the road?"
The child said fearfully, "He...he's rotten and smelly, it looks so scary, and it's embarrassing, he has no clothes to wear."
The boy sighed, "Alas! I wonder if we'll die of thirst or starvation someday."
Once they reached the foot of the mountain, everyone started looking for food.
Dazhuang saw a small bamboo grove not far away and said to Chen Nong, "Let's go search in the bamboo grove."
It's already November, time to dig for winter bamboo shoots.
Several children saw that they were going to the bamboo grove and followed them.
This bamboo grove is not big, it's very small, but experienced bamboo shoot diggers like them know that winter bamboo shoots can be found even in a small bamboo grove.
Many people mistakenly believe that only large bamboo groves produce winter bamboo shoots, while smaller groves do not. This is not true; in fact, smaller bamboo groves are more likely to produce winter bamboo shoots.
To dig for winter bamboo shoots, you first need to learn how to find them. Unlike spring bamboo shoots, which grow above ground, winter bamboo shoots grow underground. Therefore, you need to look for cracks and other clues to locate them.
Dazhuang said to the children, "Try digging around in the cracked ones, but be careful not to cut yourselves."
Chen Nong quickly found a cracked spot and started digging; he wanted to dig up a big bamboo shoot to take back!
I dug for a long time, but found nothing!
Undeterred, he continued searching for places to dig.
Dazhuang has already dug in three places, but there isn't a single bamboo shoot. It's really hard to find one.
When we were digging in the fourth spot, after a few strokes of the hoe, we found it!
"I have one here!"
"Wow!" Chen Nong and the others gathered around.
With a few strokes of the hoe, Dazhuang dug up the winter bamboo shoot. This winter bamboo shoot wasn't big, but it was still food!
Seeing that Dazhuang had dug one up, Chen Nong gained confidence and continued digging with his small hoe.
Not long after, a little child over there also dug one up.
Chen Nong dug in several places but couldn't find anything. Seeing that everyone else was digging in the bamboo forest and most places had already been dug out, he had no choice but to go to the edge of the bamboo forest and start digging, hoping to get lucky.
Chen Nong dug for a long time at the edge of the bamboo forest before finally finding one.
After that, they turned over the soil in the bamboo forest but still couldn't find any bamboo shoots.
"Sigh! It's gone!" Chen Nong sighed.
Dazhuang: "Let's look again to see if we can find any bamboo worms."
They continued searching for food, and Dazhuang found a dry bamboo stalk and chopped it at the base.
With a squeak, the bamboo fell down.
Chen Nong stared eagerly, and after the bamboo was cut, he saw worms fall out of the bamboo tube. He exclaimed excitedly, "There are bamboo worms!"
Chen Nong happily picked up the small insects that had fallen on the ground and put them into a bamboo tube.
Bamboo worms are white and plump, spindle-shaped, round and cute.
However, some people love what they like, while others hate it.
Most of the girls in his village didn't like to eat bamboo worms, but he thought they were delicious, fragrant, and very tasty.
Once the bamboo worms in the root section of the bamboo are removed, they will be gone.
Dazhuang said to the children, "Find some dry bamboo and cut it down to the base. Bamboo worms love to hide at the base of bamboo."
Bamboo worms typically live inside bamboo tubes, feeding from the tip of the bamboo down segment by segment, and eventually hiding at the base.
Finally, the children all found the bamboo worms and happily went home.
"Grandma, Grandma, I dug up bamboo shoots and found bamboo worms too."
As soon as he returned to his resting place, Chen Nong shouted with joy.
Zhou praised, "Chen Nong is truly remarkable."
Zhou Kai ran over and said, "Chen Nong, let's roast bamboo worms!"
Zhou said, "If you want to eat it, then grill it and eat it."
Having received permission, Chen Nong and the others excitedly shouted, "Yay! We're going to eat roasted bamboo worms!"
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