Nightfall
Song Pingping tossed and turned in bed, covering her rumbling stomach with her hands, tears of grievance welling up in her eyes.
After not eating for a day, her stomach ached from hunger, her belly shrank, and she kept refluxing acid.
Unable to bear it any longer, Song Pingping quietly opened the basket and tiptoed to search. After searching for a long time, she only found the persimmon wrapped in rotten vegetable leaves.
If it were before, she would never eat something like this. But now she had been hungry all day, and the taste of persimmons had never been so appealing as it was now.
Zhou Pingping had not eaten or drunk anything, and had walked such a long way through mountains and rivers, so her lips were cracked. The juice that she once despised seemed to be waving at her.
Finally, Zhou Pingping couldn't resist the temptation and started to bite it.
The persimmons had been left out for a whole day and were no longer fresh, but Zhou Pingping couldn't stop. She greedily licked the persimmon juice off the leaves, not wanting to miss a drop, and didn't notice that Grandma Zhou behind her had sat up.
Persimmons didn't satisfy her hunger, so Zhou Pingping ate them along with the vegetable leaves, tears of grievance streaming down her face.
Just as she was sobbing and about to go back to sleep, she turned around and found Grandma Zhou looking at her.
"Grandma, you..."
Grandma Zhou sighed, "Now you understand how precious food is?"
Zhou Pingping pouted, "Grandma, you did it on purpose."
"Yes, I did it on purpose. I wanted you to know how precious food is to us. Don't even mention that the persimmon you broke was a whole one. Even a crushed persimmon can be life-saving food when people are hungry."
"If Pingping doesn't eat, will grandma starve to death?"
"I don't want to starve you, I just want you to understand this."
For Zhou Pingping, Grandma Zhou’s earnest teachings were reduced to just a few words: Grandma no longer loved her.
In the past, grandma never let her go hungry. She would always leave food for her even if she didn’t eat it herself. But now everything has changed.
Zhou Pingping wanted to cry and make a fuss, but she was afraid of going hungry again, so she could only apologize aggrievedly, "Grandma, Pingping knows she was wrong, Pingping will never do it again."
Grandma Zhou just wanted Pingping to learn a lesson. How could she bear to let her own granddaughter go hungry? Seeing that Pingping knew her mistake, Grandma Zhou regained her former kindness. She touched Pingping's head and said, "Okay, we have to travel tomorrow, go to sleep."
"But I'm still very hungry. I haven't eaten enough."
Zhou Pingping hugged Grandma Zhou's arm and acted coquettishly, wanting her to bring her some more food, but Grandma Zhou was very insistent on this matter. "In order to make you remember, we can't eat anything else except persimmons today. Grandma will give you cakes tomorrow morning."
After hearing what her grandmother said, Zhou Pingping felt that her grandmother had changed more and more, but she could do nothing about it and could only lie down on an empty stomach again.
Zhou Pingping, who couldn't sleep, stared in the direction of Su Man. Su Man was sleeping soundly with her arms around Zhou Anan. Zhou Anan leaned in Su Man's arms with full of attachment.
Seeing her brother being so intimate with that evil woman like a mother and son, Zhou Pingping's stomach ached even more. She turned away angrily, not even looking at Su Man again.
-
next day
After a short rest, the villagers set out again.
Zhou Pingping, who finally had a full meal, came back to life, but she still didn't want to pay attention to Su Man. Zhou Anan, who was in the same group as Su Man, was also ignored by her.
At the same time, at the back of the team, Qin Mosheng was looking for food everywhere.
They had no food to eat this morning, and the wild vegetables they had last night could not last until now. Several of them looked pale.
Since he had agreed not to rely on others, he had to find food on his own.
But if food were that easy to find, there would be no famine.
Even experienced villagers may not have a harvest every day, let alone him, a scholar who has never done any housework.
After searching for the entire morning, I found nothing except making myself hungrier.
During the lunch break, everyone was eating dry food, and the three of them could only watch helplessly.
Now, not to mention food, even the water has been drunk by them.
Qin Wanru took out a dirty silk handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her face. "Mom, is there anything else to eat?"
Widow Song sat down on the ground. "There's nothing left to eat. We ate all the small handful of wild vegetables we had last night. If this continues, I think the three of us will starve to death sooner or later."
As she spoke, she looked at Qin Mosheng, obviously wanting him to speak to Wang Xiuxiu.
I'm used to a comfortable life and don't want to work hard to find food.
Before Widow Song could open her mouth, Qin Mosheng stood up.
"Hey, Mo Sheng, where are you going?"
"I'm going to find something to eat."
Looking at Qin Mosheng's back, Widow Song became more and more annoyed. "Why is this child so stubborn? He is a scholar, he can't carry anything on his shoulders or hands, how can he find food?"
"Mom, what should we do then? Are we really going to starve to death?"
"Or, you can go to Wang Laosi to borrow some food."
"ah?"
Qin Wanru refused, "His wife Zhang Fengxi is like a shrew. I am afraid of her. I dare not go."
"Oh, you wouldn't sneak in when no one is around. Didn't he send you clothes before? Why wouldn't he send you food?"
"But..."
"Stop complaining. Look at how beautiful you are. Those crude girls in the village can't compare to you. If you just say a few nice words, won't they rush to send you food?"
Although Qin Wanru was unwilling to deal with Wang Laosi's family, she was really hungry.
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