Seeing his expression, Xia Hua said speechlessly, "Alright, stop making that face and hurry up and take the steamed buns over."
"Okay, thank you, sisters-in-law!" After saying that, Village Chief Lin hurriedly led the eldest brother and a few others to distribute steamed buns to the villagers. The eldest brother and the others were in charge of distributing the buns, while he was in charge of explaining the matter to the villagers. In no time, the resting place was bustling with activity.
Some clansmen even came to thank An Shuyi and Xia Shi. These were white flour steamed buns. Although they could eat them during the New Year when they were not fleeing famine, they thought they wouldn't be able to eat white flour steamed buns this year because they were fleeing famine. But unexpectedly, An Shi and Xia Shi made sure that they could eat white flour steamed buns even while fleeing famine.
They gave one to each person, including the children. There were 245 people they had taken with them during their escape from famine. No wonder they saw An and Xia's resting place bustling with activity this morning; they were steaming buns for them.
When the clansmen came to thank them, An Shuyi and Xia Hua simply smiled and said there was no need to thank them. In fact, apart from the hard work of steaming buns, the grains were not worth much money in their eyes.
These were bought through An Shuyi's trading system. However, three copper coins could buy a pound of steamed buns. Although more than two hundred steamed buns sound like a lot, the amount of flour used was not much, and the copper coins were even less.
Actually, they didn't have to do these things. After all, they had helped these people a lot along the way. But this was their first year in this world, and everyone was having a hard time, so they decided to steam some buns to share with their people.
That night, everyone ate steamed buns. More than two hundred people sat together, chatting and laughing, talking about the funny things that had happened to them. An Shuyi and Xia Hua sat in the crowd, listening very attentively. When they heard something funny, everyone laughed heartily. It was very late when the village chief, Lin, finally sent them all to rest, knowing they had to travel the next day.
When we woke up in the morning, even though it was still the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone was happy to be on their way.
Boom*
An Shuyi and Xia Hua lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked up at the sky in the distance. The sky, which had been bright and sunny at noon, was now covered with dark clouds and darkened. The two looked at each other and wondered if it was finally going to rain after a year.
The tribespeople were also looking at the sky, and they all shared the same thoughts as An Shuyi and her companion: it was going to rain. Although they still had water, how could that water compare to the life-saving rain? Everyone took out their water containers and waited for the rain to fall.
At the same time, many people were looking at the sky, and they all had the same thought: it was raining, and they were saved.
And the heavens did not disappoint them; raindrops began to fall from the sky, and then more and more raindrops fell, eventually turning into a downpour. But everyone disregarded everything else and rejoiced in the rain.
Only An Shuyi and Xia Hua looked solemn, their hearts heavy with unspeakable sorrow. It seemed that fate was not giving them a way out. At least once they found a place to settle down, they would have shelter even if it rained.
Looking at the tribesmen still frolicking in the rain, even the most composed people put everything aside and ran in the rain. Even the women were jumping around in the rain with their close friends.
After they calmed down, An Shuyi said to Village Chief Lin, "Wood, find a place to take shelter from the rain, somewhere on higher ground."
Unfortunately, Village Chief Lin didn't understand the other meaning behind her words. "Okay, sister-in-law," he said, and then asked the villagers in front to lead the way to find a place to take shelter from the rain.
An Shuyi whispered to Xia Hua, "Hua Hua, I misunderstood before. I thought there was some blueprint and that the next thing would be locusts, but it's not. It's floods. Judging from the rain, I don't know how many days it will last."
If it were just a lack of water and food, she and Huahua could still buy more. But with the flood, besides needing shelter from the rain, they also had to be careful about getting sick. It's only spring now, so they just hoped the weather would stay abnormal and not get too cold.
Xia Hua comforted her, "Shu Shu, don't worry. There's no use worrying now. Let's find a place to take shelter from the rain and see how things go. Maybe it's not as bad as you think."
An Shuyi nodded, "I hope so!"
Soon, the tribesmen ahead discovered that the place to take shelter from the rain was a dilapidated temple. Although it was in ruins, now was not the time for them to choose.
The tribesmen who were driving the oxcarts got off and led the oxen toward the dilapidated temple. Although it was still raining, they did not immediately go into the temple to take shelter from the rain. Instead, they took the grain and their luggage into the temple.
The elderly and children were first taken to the dilapidated temple. An Shuyi asked the eldest son to take his two grandsons to the temple first, and then come to pick up Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi. Because they were sitting in the carriage and hadn't gone out when it rained, they were still dry, unlike the other children of the clan who had already run out to play in the rain.
After the eldest and second eldest brothers took the sixth and seventh children to the dilapidated temple, An Shuyi took a bamboo hat and placed it on the fifth child's head.
Xiao Wu tilted his head and refused, "Mother, you wear it. I run very fast, I won't get wet." This is the only straw hat on this carriage; neither his mother nor his aunt have one yet!
“No need,” An Shuyi heard footsteps outside. “Your older brother is here. He’ll carry you over. Don’t make Mother worry.”
"No need, Mother, I'm fine now. A little rain won't hurt me." After saying that, Xiao Wu refused his older brother's offer to carry him, jumped off the carriage, and ran into the dilapidated temple.
He's fifteen now, it wouldn't be right for his older brother to carry him, and he believes his health isn't as bad as it used to be, so he won't get sick.
An Shuyi was extremely anxious when she saw him run out, but she didn't know what to say. She and Xia Hua got off the carriage one after the other and headed towards the dilapidated temple.
The sons were responsible for moving the things into the dilapidated temple, since they still had a lot of food and other things.
Seeing the pile of things in the eldest brother's house, she asked Xia Hua to tidy up her house. She hurriedly went to tidy up, but the first thing she did was to ask Xiao Wu to change his clothes. Although it was only a short walk, the rain was too heavy and his clothes were already a little wet.
Knowing his mother's worries, Xiao Wu took the clothes handed to him, took off his outer robe and changed, but didn't change his inner clothes.
The other children's clothes weren't wet, so they didn't need to be changed. Let the fourth child come over and start a fire, as we'll need to dry the clothes and cook later.
Although the dilapidated temple wasn't very crowded, there was still a place to put things and for people to rest. Everyone tried to stay in places where it didn't rain, and those places where the rain wasn't too heavy were used to put things that could get wet.
After the tribespeople brought all their belongings in, the horses, cattle, and mules were tied up where they could see them, and everyone returned to the dilapidated temple.
The rain continued for a day and a night, and didn't stop until the next day. Even though the rain didn't lessen, the tribespeople weren't worried at all, as if the rain was supposed to last this long.
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