Chapter 32 Flood
However, seeing the officers' uniforms and the shining swords in their hands, no refugees dared to rob the grain carts.
Although no one dared to take action, they all followed the team.
"What should we do?" Li Dayong whispered to Liang Jiamin, "How about using a knife to scare them? Drive all these refugees away."
Liang Jiamin glanced at the refugees and said, "Don't panic for now, let's see what happens first."
We walked until it was completely dark before we finally found a place to shelter from the rain.
This is a very dilapidated Taoist temple that can only barely provide shelter from the rain.
The officials went outside to pick up some wet firewood and brought it back together with the broken wood blocks taken from the Taoist temple to make a fire and cook.
That night, Jiang Tangtang didn't dare show off her superb cooking skills and only made some simple meals.
But even so, many refugees gathered around.
Seeing the officer's fierce appearance, they dared not say anything and surrounded Jiang Tangtang. One of the women, holding her child, knelt before Jiang Tangtang and said, "Sister, please be kind and give me something to eat and save my child!"
Looking at the sick child in the woman's arms, Jiang Tangtang felt very uncomfortable.
But she didn't dare to give them food, and said, "Auntie, I am a weakling, I can't even protect myself, how can I help you?"
The woman naturally noticed the prison uniform on Jiang Tangtang. Normally, she would not have dared to come into contact with these prisoners.
But this year, due to continuous rain, the dam upstream collapsed and their entire village was flooded. In order to save her and her child, her husband was washed away by the flood and his life or death is still unknown.
The child her husband had risked his life for was now starving to death.
She placed the child on the ground and kowtowed to Jiang Tangtang, saying, "Please, please be kind and help me! I don't want to eat, but just give my child something to eat. Please save my child! As long as you are willing to save my child, I will work like a slave for you to repay you!"
"Mom! Don't cry, I'm not hungry..." The child looked about the same age as Lu Tiantian, but thinner than Lu Tiantian. Jiang Tangtang's heart, which had been hardened with great difficulty, was instantly broken.
She handed over her share of the multi-grain dumplings and said, "For the sake of the child, I saved my rations for your child, but there won't be any more. I'm just a prisoner helping the adults cook."
Seeing Jiang Tangtang give in, the remaining refugees all knelt before her like women, begging, "Sir, please save us too! We haven't eaten for three days!"
"My dear, please save my child..."
Jiang Tangtang knew that if she was soft-hearted and saved one person, countless refugees would flock to her, but she was still shocked by the scene before her.
Fortunately, Liang Jiamin raised the whip in his hand and said, "Everyone, step back! If anyone dares to come forward again, I will kill him with my sword!"
Seeing Liang Jiamin with a ferocious look on his face and a big knife in his hand, the refugees retreated in fear.
Lu Shiyan escorted Jiang Tangtang back to their donkey cart.
It was raining today, so Jiang Tangtang didn't cook in the carriage. She packed up everything inside and asked Madam Lu and Su to squeeze onto the donkey cart.
However, there were already so many things in the donkey cart, and adding two more people would instantly make it even more crowded.
Neither of them could straighten their legs in the carriage.
When they arrived at the dilapidated Taoist temple, Madam Lu and Mrs. Su wanted to get out of the car to stretch their arms and legs.
But there were so many refugees outside, staring at them like wolves, that they didn't dare come down.
For dinner in the evening, everyone squeezed into the donkey cart and ate together.
However, because the Taoist temple was full of refugees, Jiang Tangtang did not dare to make meat porridge for the children alone. The children followed them and ate multi-grain dumplings.
The Taoist temple was full of people today, and with so many eyes watching, Jiang Tangtang couldn't find a chance to add feed, and she didn't dare take out the flour in the carriage to cook.
The taste of this multi-grain dumpling is almost the same as the dry rations that the officials initially gave to the prisoners.
Although the child's health improved after this period of conditioning, the multi-grain dumplings were sore on the throat that everyone ate them very slowly.
Afraid that the children would upset their stomachs if they ate too much whole grains, Jiang Tangtang took the whole grain dumplings from the children and said, "Don't eat these. I'll make you some sweet soup."
Lu Tiantian looked at Jiang Tangtang with sparkling eyes and said, "Mom, is there any candy?"
The last time Jiang Tangtang went to the city, she took out two jars of candy from the space, saying that she bought them in the city and shared them with the children.
However, after being away from the city for so many days, Jiang Tangtang had already used up the two jars of sugar by cooking food for the children.
Jiang Tangtang said, "I can make sugar water without sugar and a sugar mother, believe it or not?"
"How can you make sweet soup without sugar?" Lu Tiantian stared at her curiously with her big eyes.
Lu Jingcheng had a cold expression on his face, but his hands betrayed his inner feelings at the moment.
After spending some time together, Jiang Tangtang discovered that the little guy always had a cold face, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
But when he thinks about something seriously, he will subconsciously pick his nails.
Jiang Tangtang glanced at her eldest son, who had a cold expression on his face, and deliberately kept him in suspense, saying, "You'll find out in a moment."
As she spoke, she took out a few sweet potatoes from under the carriage.
This was what she took out from the space when she was resting last night.
The sweet potatoes have been washed. Jiang Tangtang cut them into small pieces and put them into the casserole.
Then she took out the sea buckthorn she had picked on the mountain from her bag, carefully removed the thorns on it, cut it open with a knife, removed the seeds inside, and threw it into the pot.
Finally, pour the water in the water bag into the casserole, light the charcoal fire, and slowly boil it.
Looking at the charcoal basket Jiang Tangtang was carrying, Madam Lu sighed, "You wouldn't have guessed this basket looks small, it actually holds quite a lot! It's a good thing it can hold so much, otherwise the children would have to suffer again."
Jiang Tangtang said a little guiltily, "Maybe the charcoal I bought this time is good and lasts longer, so it's used up slowly."
In fact, at the rate they were using up the charcoal, the basket should have been empty long ago.
It’s just because they secretly take two pieces from the space and add them in every night before going to bed.
That's why the charcoal in the basket seems to be used up very slowly.
Sweet potatoes are naturally high in sugar, and the ones in the space were especially sweet. Soon, the carriage was filled with the unique sweet aroma of sweet potatoes.
Although the doors and windows of the carriage were tightly closed, some smells could still be smelled from the gaps.
"What's that smell?" A refugee sniffed. "It smells so good!"
"It seems to be coming from over there."
Although the refugees could not tell what food the fragrance came from, they all knew it was food.
The people who smelled the scent immediately ran towards the donkey cart.
Lu Shiyan held a long stick as thick as a baby's arm and said, "Everyone, step back!"
"Brother, please be kind and give us something to eat!"
"Everything in our home was washed away by the flood. We haven't eaten for many days. Please save us!"
"Just give my mother a bite to eat, just one bite."
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