Making hand warmer sleeves is relatively simple. Just sew a cylinder, stuff it with cotton, and sew it up. Then you can use it to warm your hands.
Zhou hired five more embroiderers to make hand warmer sleeves. The fabric, cotton, and needles and thread were all provided in fixed quantities, and they were supervised at all times to prevent them from taking a single piece of fabric or a wad of cotton.
The better scraps of fabric were in their own hands, especially the scraps of curtain fabric; none of them were distributed.
Zhou planned to sew three, using scraps of curtain fabric for the outer layer and scraps of bed sheet fabric for the inner layer of hand warmer sleeves.
The curtain fabric is quite thick, and the bed sheet fabric is quite soft, so the hand warmer sleeves made from them will definitely be very comfortable to use.
Making cotton-padded clothes by hand is really time-consuming, requiring slow and careful sewing stitch by stitch, unlike modern clothes which can be sewn up in a few strokes with a sewing machine.
Therefore, even though it takes two or three people to sew a cotton-padded coat, not a single finished garment has been produced to this day.
The village chief's wife borrowed three catties of cotton from Zhou and is also sewing cotton clothes.
Those who received the cloth borrowed needles and thread to sew clothes, and those who felt they could afford to repay it later also borrowed cotton from the Chen family.
The fifth brother was bored, so he called Gou Sheng out and smoked a lot of stuff.
Food: 1 carton of milk, 1 packet of milk candy, 1 cup of milk tea, 1 packet of preserved plums, 1 grilled sausage, 1 ice cream, 1 packet of salt, 1 bottle of chili powder.
The following items were used: 1 lip balm, 1 tablecloth, embroidery thread and needle, notebook, 8 resealable bags, 1 stainless steel knife, 3 boxes of soap, and 1 trash can.
For medicinal use: 1 thermometer, 50 face masks, 9 packets of cold medicine granules per box, 10 cold pills per box, 1 box of ibuprofen, and 20 packets/packets of cold medicine granules.
The biggest gains were these medicines and five lucky draw cards.
Winter is here, and people are most susceptible to catching a cold. Colds are a terrifying disease for them, as they are highly contagious and can easily lead to death.
Old Man Chen and his family treasured all the medicine they received for treating colds.
The second son's wife suddenly spoke up: "Two babies in our team caught a cold, and they haven't gotten better even after taking medicine..."
The second son's wife didn't continue speaking, and everyone fell silent.
Zhou thought of the baby who died on the road, and finally sighed and said, "Tiger, go and bring them here."
The fifth brother opened the ibuprofen bottle, followed Gou Sheng's instructions, shook the liquid well, and then measured out the amount according to the 1-3 year old dosage using the cup markings.
When the two babies were brought over, their voices were hoarse from crying, and the two women were also very haggard, with swollen eyes from crying.
Ibuprofen has a sweet taste, and the two babies didn't resist it; they wanted more after drinking it.
Helpless, Zhou gave each of them a sugarcane, saying, "Go back and boil some hot water for them to drink. We're out of medicine. Whether they get better or not depends on their fate."
The two women said gratefully, "Thank you, thank you!"
Old Chen thought of the several seriously injured people in the team, sighed, took out 10 packets of cold medicine, and handed them over to the team.
They didn't have much medicine, and they needed to keep some for backup, so this was the only option.
The medicine, salt, and chili powder were put away by the fifth brother, and the rest were distributed.
The next day, after packing their things, the group continued their journey.
The donkey carried two bamboo baskets on its back, each half-filled with sugarcane, and a quilt was stuffed on top of the baskets.
A freshly tanned sheepskin was placed on the donkey's back; this sheepskin needed to be dried before it could be used.
As soon as they left the rest area, they discovered that in several other teams, many people were digging holes listlessly, with rows of people lying next to them covered with dry grass.
The adults called the children back, telling them not to look around. Some were curious, but they just muttered, "They didn't survive the cold and hunger, and they died."
Drought, cold, hunger, and disease... Every day, large numbers of people die on the road to escape famine.
Don't be fooled by the fact that there are quite a few of these groups.
People die every day, and new people join every day.
Some of those alliances named after places are not just for fun; the people of an entire county or town really are reduced to such a small number.
On the mountain, there were many people lying half-dead, weakly calling for help.
Some people were already dead, and the smell of their rotting corpses attracted carrion-eating birds to peck at them.
Some refugees also stayed near the rotting corpses, waiting to hunt birds that would eat the carrion.
Scavenging birds eat carcasses, and humans eat scavenging birds...
It's simply a matter of choice in the natural environment; no one can guarantee that humans will stand at the top of the food chain.
A man carrying a recently deceased vulture approached the group from Anping Village and asked, "Do you have any water? Could we exchange some with you?"
The guards pointed stone spears at him warily and said, "Nothing!"
Then he added, "The Chen family ancestor has appeared and warned that it will rain on Laba Festival. Prepare containers and wait to collect the rainwater on Laba Festival."
The man was completely bewildered. "It's been almost two years of drought, and you're telling me it's going to rain? Are you kidding me?"
The guards ignored him and continued walking forward.
After discussing it, the three village chiefs decided to spread the word that it would rain on Laba Festival, regardless of whether the villagers believed it or not, since they believed it anyway.
Chen Kai, wearing a straw cloak and holding a bamboo tube of hot sand, was about to go up a slope when he was startled by the chubby boy's scream and almost fell over.
Chen Kai: "Fatty, what's wrong?"
The chubby boy trembled and said, "There are corpses in the woods..."
Er Ya said speechlessly, "It's just a corpse... ah—"
Er Ya turned her head and saw something that startled her.
The corpse's head was bitten to pieces, its stomach was gnawed clean, leaving only bones, and there was hardly any flesh left on its legs...
Old Man Chen sighed, "Don't bother looking anymore. This is what happens to corpses that are left unburied; they'll be eaten by wild animals."
Along the way, faint cries for help could be heard from time to time, and each time they heard one, their hearts ached.
They are not saviors, they cannot save us; they can barely save themselves, they really cannot save us.
But some people couldn't help but stop and give the weak person a sip of hot water and a bundle of grass roots.
The Xu family was the first to stop; that's just how they are—both foolish and kind.
When they're stupid, you can't help but want to slap them a few times; when they're kind, you're left speechless and grateful.
The two weak children, after being fed some hot water and eating some grass roots, had the strength to stand up. Even though they could only walk unsteadily, they still followed behind their group.
The guards couldn't bear to drive them away, so they let them follow.
Seeing that the village chief didn't scold them, the children from Xutai's family took two bamboo tubes of hot sand, ran to the back, and gave them the hot sand.
"You can borrow it for now, but you have to return it to us later."
The two children were very happy, which meant they could follow behind without being chased away.
The two said gratefully, "Thank you!"
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