Dashi Village.
In the Wang family yard.
When Wang Miaomiao and Wang Yong heard the sound of the door being pushed open, they both looked up towards the courtyard gate, only to see a disheveled woman with a skinny and dark-skinned face staggering in with a child in her arms, and then she fell to her knees and begged on the ground.
"Miss, ahem... please be kind and give... ahem... us mother and son a bite to eat."
She spoke intermittently towards the two of them, her voice weak and the crying of the baby in her arms made everyone who saw it feel pity.
Wang Miaomiao saw this and went over to help the man up from the ground. Frowning, she said, "You... should get up first. Don't kneel on the ground anymore."
The woman originally wanted to kneel on the ground and beg, but she found that she could not break free from the girl's strength, and was pulled up and sat directly on the wooden bench.
When she heard this, tears welled up in her dry and numb eyes: "Girl, please be kind, brothers, ahem...give us something to eat."
"You wait a minute." Wang Miaomiao frowned and waved her hand to stop the woman, then turned and went into the stove at home.
She looked around and found a few remaining coarse grain steamed buns in the pot, covered with a porcelain bowl. It seemed that her mother, Mrs. Li, had made too many and left them behind since she was not at home today.
Wang Miaomiao took two and put them in a bowl, then lit a fire on the stove to warm some hot water and took it out.
The woman watched her come out with two bowls. Her eyes, whose true appearance could not be seen, were filled with desire, but she forced herself to restrain herself from taking action and looked at her.
Wang Miaomiao's heart softened, she pushed the bowl over and said with a smile, "Auntie, eat something quickly."
The woman nodded and said "hmm" when she heard her words. She reached out with a trembling hand and picked up a steamed bun and began to chew and swallow it. Wang Miaomiao reminded her: "There is hot water here. Drink some and don't choke."
She had experienced the feeling of being extremely hungry, so when she met a woman in the same situation, she couldn't help but take better care of her. She also understood the woman's eagerness to eat.
Wang Yong, who was standing nearby, saw this and covered his injured chest with his hands. He sighed weakly, "The situation outside has been getting worse over the past two days. Every family is having a hard time this year."
Wang Miaomiao didn't say anything when she heard this.
Since a few months ago, it has been sunny for several days, and the farmland has cracked and the crops have dried up. Although there are water wheels that can barely keep the crops alive, as the rivers have begun to dry up in recent days, the water wheels are no longer very useful.
The villagers also had a hard life. Most of the people who went up the mountain to hunt at first were from the village who could not make ends meet. They risked their lives to go up the mountain in exchange for food. In the past two days, many families with better conditions also wanted to go up the mountain to hunt together, which was enough to show what the situation was like now.
Thinking of this, she asked, "Brother Dayong, the village hunting team didn't go up the mountain today, right?"
Old Man Wang went to the town to sell his game. She was not here today, Wang Yong was injured, and the other members of the hunting team were inexperienced. If they went into the mountains like before, the team might get into trouble.
"No, Wang Zhuang came to see me and I told them that you had something to do today so I asked them to take a day off." Wang Yong said.
Wang Miaomiao felt relieved after hearing this.
At this time, the woman next to her finished eating the two steamed buns and drinking the bowl of hot water. Her expression recovered a little, and she put down the bowl and said with a smile: "Miss, thank you, thank you."
There was sobbing in his voice.
Wang Miaomiao saw the woman's fluctuating emotions and knew that she was a little excited, so she started talking to her about other things.
The two chatted for a while.
Wang Miaomiao also knew that the woman's name was Yu Niang, and she was from Shanghe Village. Due to the drought, all the crops died, so she had no choice but to flee the famine with the other villagers. She had originally planned to go to Qingshi Town to seek refuge with relatives.
But on the way, Yu Niang accidentally got separated from the villagers. An unarmed woman and her baby had to hide from place to place for safety, which led to her being in this miserable state.
Yu Niang said, "I just arrived at this village and I was so hungry... I had no choice but to come in. Thank goodness you gave me a bowl of rice, otherwise I would have starved to death on the road with my poor child."
As she spoke, her voice became choked with sobs.
Wang Miaomiao saw this and comforted her, "Qingshi Town isn't far from here. How about this: Yu Niang goes to the village entrance to take a bus to town tomorrow, and you stay at my house for the night."
Upon hearing this, Yu Niang's face was overjoyed, but she hesitated before saying, "I'm sorry to trouble you, young lady. I...how can I thank you?"
"It's just a small favor. Since we met, it's fate. You don't have to think about it." Wang Miaomiao said to comfort Yu Niang, allowing her to stay with peace of mind.
She nodded and was about to say something, but the child in her arms started crying again.
Yu Niang glanced at the two of them with an embarrassed look on her face.
Wang Miaomiao reacted and asked, "The child is hungry, but what does he want to eat?"
Yu Niang stammered, "No need, young lady. I...I'll just go over and feed the baby."
Wang Miaomiao didn't realize until she heard this. The child in Yu Niang's arms was still drinking breast milk and didn't need anything else. Yu Niang probably said this because there was a man named Wang Yong sitting next to her and it was inconvenient for her to say it directly.
"Yu Niang, come with me to your room." Wang Miaomiao stood up and took Yu Niang into her room.
Wang Yong, who was not in the know, was sitting in the yard when he saw the two people enter the room. After a moment, he suddenly realized what they meant and a slight blush appeared on his bronze face.
…
The sky gradually darkened.
Old Man Wang and Mrs. Li also returned home one after another. Wang Miaomiao told them about Yu Niang's situation in private. The two were not bad people, and after hearing about their daughter's decision, they didn't say anything.
When Mrs. Li cooked in the evening, she also made a separate portion and asked Wang Miaomiao to deliver it to Yu Niang and her son. She also prepared some water for Yu Niang to wash up.
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