Xue Bao returned with Han Mingjiang and Han Zhaoxiong.
The old village chief and the others sat by the campfire, waiting for them to return and inquire about their scouting trip.
Li Lanzhen quickly had Xue Nizi bring over three bowls of wild vegetable porridge and six wild vegetable pancakes.
He said to the three people sitting by the campfire, "You've worked hard, hurry up and eat something."
Han Zhaoxiong felt embarrassed to eat the wild vegetable porridge from Li Lanzhen's house.
The Goddess of Locust Flowers quickly brought over some wild vegetable porridge that her family had made for her eldest grandson.
Han Zhaoxiong took the earthenware bowl from his mother's hand.
Li Lanzhen looked at the bowl and saw that it was full of water, but it was so thin that you could see your reflection in it.
She knew that the old village chief's grain had all been sent back to his parents' home by his youngest daughter-in-law, but at this moment she didn't want to give any more grain to other families.
Once you find a water source, there should be wild vegetables nearby. If you're quick and nimble, you can find something to eat.
The villagers of Liujia Village stayed here for nearly 20 days, stubbornly surviving on the porridge provided by Youzhou City every three days.
On the day the rice porridge was distributed, people of all ages from Liujia Village lined up outside Youzhou City before dawn, and each person received more than half a bowl of porridge and a palm-sized wild vegetable pancake.
They stipulated that each person would only drink half a bowl, and then carry half a bowl of rice porridge and a wild vegetable pancake over the mountain back to this side.
Then gather all the rice porridge together, crumble the vegetable pancakes, and put them inside.
What they added next were edible tree bark and dried thatch that they collected around the mountain.
They ground the dried thatch and tree bark into powder with stones and added it to the rice porridge and wild vegetable cakes they brought back to make new wild vegetable cakes.
Although the processed wild vegetable cakes contain a lot of tree bark and thatch powder, they can be quite harsh on the throat.
But it was with these things that they not only survived, but also had food reserves.
The three children went out to scout the way, running ten miles back and forth, which was very tiring, so Li Lanzhen wanted to make sure they had enough to eat.
He then poured his own thicker wild vegetable porridge and vegetable pancakes into Han Zhaoxiong's bowl.
"Eat quickly, we still have to travel tomorrow and scout ahead."
As he spoke, he stuffed two wild vegetable pancakes into his hand.
Han Zhaoxiong lowered his head, his eyes slightly red.
The old village chief and Han Shunde also looked at Li Lanzhen with gratitude.
Aunt Huaihua raised her sleeve and kept wiping away her tears.
The people of Dongjiazhuang and Liujiacun all witnessed this scene and were very glad that they had made the right decision to continue fleeing the famine with Li Lanzhen.
Xue Bao and Han Mingjiang quickly finished the porridge in their bowls and the wild vegetable pancakes in their hands.
Han Zhaoxiong fed the half-bowl of porridge he had left in his bowl to his daughter Ruyi, who was leaning against him. He also gave one of the two wild vegetable pancakes in his hand to the old village chief.
They wiped their mouths and began to talk about their scouting trip.
Xue Bao said, "Old village chief, when we went out, we followed that narrow stream all the way into the depths of the mountains."
Just as my father had predicted, the stream's flow increased in strength and width as it flowed upstream, and the vegetation on both sides grew lush and dense. After walking about six miles upstream, we turned back.
Han Shunde said excitedly, "The higher Grandpa goes, the more food he gets. Even in the dark, I can still see a lot of wild vegetables by the light of my torch."
As he spoke, he emptied a basket of fresh, tender wild vegetables from the basket on his back.
Han Mingjiang and Xue Bao also pulled over their baskets, and the three of them poured out a pile of wild vegetables, which shimmered with a glossy green light in the firelight.
The old village chief laughed heartily as he looked at Li Lanzhen.
Li Lanzhen knew what he wanted to say and nodded proactively.
“These wild vegetables are so fresh! We haven’t had fresh wild vegetables in a long time. Old village chief, why don’t we cook some fresh wild vegetables and dark flour porridge tomorrow morning? Then the people from all three villages can have their fill and head into the mountains.”
The old village chief looked at Li Lanzhen with gratitude and praise, "Lanzhen, thank you so much! We've been so fortunate to have you along the way. You're our lucky star!"
The people of Hanjiacun were secretly delighted. Back in Hanjiacun, Li Lanzhen was an extremely annoying old woman. After fleeing the famine, she became a lucky star for Hanjiacun, bringing more good fortune to the villagers.
The next morning, before dawn, the women from the three villages gathered their pots together, lined them up to boil water, washed the fresh wild vegetables, chopped them up, and put them into the pots.
The pot contained the black flour that Li Lanzhen had taken out. Today's paste was a bit thicker; a pair of chopsticks inserted into it wouldn't tip over.
Adults and children alike are satisfied and happy with their drinks.
After packing their belongings, Han Shunde shouted, "Let's go!"
The fleeing group continued their journey deeper into the mountains.
After having a meal with Han Mingjiang, Han Zhaoxiong, and three other young men, Xue Bao led the way.
They marked the way, and Xue Laohu walked at the front of the group, following the marks left by Xue Bao all the way into the mountains.
Walking along the stream was fine at first because the riverbed was relatively flat, but the further you went in, the more winding and difficult the road became, especially for vehicles.
Li Lanzhen first told her family to abandon all the cars and stop using them.
She secretly packed some heavy items into her space, leaving the rest to be carried by the big blue mules and donkeys.
Three donkeys and a big blue mule, each carrying a basket, would put the children in the baskets when they got tired, and let the donkeys carry them.
That day, Zhang Yueniang was frightened and her pregnancy was threatened. Li Lanzhen found some medicine to help prevent miscarriage and gave it to her for a few days. Her condition improved significantly.
Two other pregnant women in Hanjiacun and the daughter-in-law of the village chief of Lujiazhuang were also pregnant and were frightened. Li Lanzhen gave them all medicine to help prevent miscarriage.
Of course, it was mixed into brown sugar water. Watching them drink it, after two days, the condition of these pregnant women improved significantly.
The biggest change is in Zhang Yueniang; she felt full of energy as soon as she woke up this morning.
She followed him up the mountain, carrying a walking stick that Li Erhan had polished for her.
I wasn't tired at all from walking; I only felt a slight sweat.
Li Lanzhen had been observing her since early morning.
Because the night before, 20 small pills the size of mung beans were added to the wild vegetable porridge.
Logically, each person should take one pill, but she couldn't possibly put a mung bean pill into everyone's bowl after filling it with water.
It would be troublesome if others thought it was poison.
So as soon as she got up this morning, she observed everyone in her family, her parents, and the two families of her in-laws.
Before she could discover them one by one along the way, she heard children and adults unconsciously revealing their situations.
"Why don't I feel tired at all today?"
Han Yinan and Gou Dan were still shouting about the competition.
"Grandma, I feel so strong today. I walked for so long and I'm not tired at all."
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