As dawn broke, the rain outside gradually subsided.
When people woke up in the morning and saw that it was still raining outside, they all sighed.
A few people went down to check on the village and came back saying that the floodwaters had reached halfway up the walls of the houses, and there were chicken and pig carcasses floating in the water.
Several women from families that raised chickens and pigs lowered their heads and wiped away tears upon hearing this.
They fled in such a hurry last night that they didn't have time to bring the pigs and chickens with them; the whole family escaped with only some clothes and food.
Zhao and Old Man Zhou also went out to talk to the people. Zhou Quan practiced for an hour and then went to bed.
Zhou Tao and Zhou Leizhu had also woken up and were quietly sitting to the side eating eggs.
Li Mai was eating half a sugar cake. She silently looked outside. Judging from the weather, the rain should be stopping soon, and the weather was visibly brighter than it had been a few days ago.
Aunt Wangcai and Aunt Lincai were also feeding their children. Some of them had made vegetable pancakes, some had made sweet buns, and others had steamed buns.
Suddenly a child's voice rang out in the tent, "Mom, I want to eat boiled eggs too."
Li Mai looked up and saw a woman shyly trying to cover the child's mouth. "Dou Dou, be good. Mother only made vegetable pancakes. Shall we eat this?"
"No, DouDou wants to eat boiled eggs." The child shook her head, clamoring for boiled eggs, and secretly glanced towards her own house.
Li Mai didn't recognize her and looked at Zhou Tao.
Zhou Tao whispered, "It's Zhou Shu's child, sister-in-law, should I send one over?"
Li Mai glanced at the other families in the tent and noticed that almost every family had a child under ten years old. The only one who had asked for boiled eggs and was staring intently in their direction was that child.
This week, the Shu family had no prior contact with our family.
Li Mai whispered to Zhou Tao, "Just wait for his mother to come looking for you. Then you can tell her you'll trade an egg for one of her family's vegetable pancakes."
Zhou Tao responded softly.
Yes, these are all neighbors and acquaintances. If we give to one family but not another, it's not good. Besides, if we give to them, our own family might go hungry.
If they come to us on their own initiative, we could do as my sister-in-law suggested and exchange a vegetable pancake with them. That way, they won't go hungry, and we'll also repay the favor of their request.
Zhou Tao suddenly felt that she had learned a little bit about how to conduct herself in the world from her sister-in-law. Before her sister-in-law spoke, she was thinking that she had cooked more than twenty chickens and one egg, which could be given to Dou Dou.
But now she understands, it's not about an egg.
DouDou's mother glanced at LiMai and the others, and saw that LiMai and Zhou Tao said something to each other and then went back to eating in silence. She pursed her lips. Her own DouDou had already said it. Didn't they hear it?
The fact that she lowered her head suggests she doesn't want to give it.
"Dou Dou, would you like to eat some vegetable pancakes?" Dou Dou's mother, Zhao, coaxed her son in a low voice.
DouDou cried, and deliberately raised her voice, wailing, "No, I want to eat boiled eggs, Mom, I want to eat boiled eggs!"
His loud crying immediately woke up the few people who were still resting in the tent.
Zhou Quan groggily opened his eyes and sat up. Li Mai was sitting next to him. He glanced at the crying child and asked Li Mai in a low voice what was wrong.
Li Mai whispered something in his ear.
Zhou Quan understood and whispered to Zhou Tao, "Do as your sister-in-law says."
Zhou Tao nodded in agreement; she had figured it out now.
Zhao was holding a little girl of about one year old in her arms and was feeding the child water. She ignored Dou Dou's crying, but just pursed her lips and frowned.
In his heart, he thought that Zhou Quan's family was really clueless. Hearing the child crying like this, they didn't even bring him a boiled egg. Did they think their eggs were golden eggs?
Sitting next to Zhao was Wang Chun's family. Aunt Wang Chun took out a sweet bun and handed it to her, "Dou Dou, would you like some of Auntie's sweet buns?"
"I don't want it, I want to eat boiled eggs." Dou Dou turned her back and didn't even look at the steamed bun in Aunt Wangchun's hand.
Zhou Shu and his eldest son Feifei, who were outside, heard their second son crying and came in to comfort Dou Dou. "Dou Dou, what's wrong?"
"Dad, I want to eat boiled eggs, not vegetable pancakes. Mom's vegetable pancakes aren't good." Dou Dou is four years old this year. Seeing that his mother was ignoring him and only feeding his younger sister water, he rushed towards Zhou Shu.
Zhao lowered her head and gritted her teeth in anger.
Zhou Shu subconsciously looked up into the tent and saw Zhou Quan's daughter quietly eating an egg near Zhou Quan's house. He glanced down at his second child, picked him up, and said helplessly, "When we get home, I'll have your mother cook one for you, okay?"
"No, Dad, I want to eat it now." Dou Dou wriggled in Zhou Shu's arms, her eyes fixed on the egg in Zhu Zhu's hand.
Zhuzhu looked up at him, then quickly put the last bite of egg in her hand into her mouth.
Li Mai was afraid she would choke, so she quickly fed her a sip of water.
Zhuzhu, having a moment to spare, glanced at Dou Dou, who was crying and fussing, stood up, and suddenly said, "My family's eggs are cooked by my grandma for my parents and grandparents. If you want to eat my family's eggs, you can trade them for your family's pancakes."
My mother just told my aunt, and she heard it all.
Although Zhuzhu didn't know how valuable a boiled egg was, she knew that if she gave it to someone else, she would have less and might go hungry.
Everyone inside the tent stared at Zhuzhu in surprise. The daughter Zhou Quan brought back was quite sharp-tongued. She was only three years old, yet she could talk so well.
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