After the exquisite and gorgeous carriage slowly left and the sound of horse hooves gradually faded away until it disappeared from everyone's ears, the guard who had been standing at the city gate and silently watching all this suddenly had a look of pride on his face.
He puffed out his chest, cleared his throat, and said to the village chief and the others with a hint of pride, "Hey, did you see that young lady in the carriage just now? She's the eldest daughter of our county magistrate!"
The guard's eyes were filled with unconcealed admiration and respect as he continued, "Our eldest daughter is truly renowned for her kindness! She does so many good things. Take this porridge distribution, for example; it was all orchestrated by her. Every time she sees those suffering refugees, she feels so sorry for them and always tries to find ways to help them."
The village chief listened to the guard's introduction, his eyes filled with admiration and gratitude. He nodded repeatedly in praise, saying, "Oh, she's truly beautiful and kind-hearted! Look at this young lady. Not only is she so pretty, but she's also so kind-hearted. She's truly a kind person you'd never find even with a lantern. We refugees are truly blessed to have such a kind young lady giving us porridge."
The surrounding villagers also echoed, praising the eldest daughter of the county magistrate one after another, their words full of gratitude and respect for her.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with the guards, the village chief said sincerely, "Thank you so much for informing us of this situation today. We apologize for taking up your time. We will now go and line up for the porridge."
After saying that, the village chief took Su Wenjun and others and walked quickly towards the long porridge-distributing team.
Everyone's pace seemed quite anxious. After all, their stomachs had been growling with hunger for a long time. Now they were all looking forward to drinking the hot porridge as soon as possible and feeling the warmth and kindness given to them by Ping'an County.
More than half an hour passed slowly as everyone waited anxiously and expectantly, and finally, the villagers of Sujia Village received the long-awaited porridge.
Yao Qingshuang, who stayed behind to look after the luggage and livestock, stared at the bowls in the villagers' hands.
The so-called porridge looked like watery soup.
It would be more appropriate to call it rice soup rather than porridge.
More than half a bowl was filled with crystal clear water. On the slightly swaying water surface, a few grains of rice were floating sparsely, like a few lonely boats drifting in the sea, looking so lonely and pitiful.
Yao Shuang couldn't help but frown slightly, with a look of disgust on her face.
She thought to herself, can this be called porridge?
On weekdays, even the worst-cooked porridge at home is much thicker than this.
How would this taste? Would it fill my stomach?
However, when her eyes swept over the faces of the refugees, she was stunned for a moment.
She saw that none of the refugees had any look of disgust on their faces. On the contrary, their eyes were full of gratitude and cherishment.
Some refugees even held the bowl of porridge carefully, as if they were holding the most precious treasure in the world.
Yao Shuang suddenly came to realize that, yes, for these refugees who have been displaced and suffered from hunger, this seemingly bland porridge is their hope of survival!
Even if there are only a few grains of rice, even if the porridge is as thin as water, as long as they can drink it into their stomachs, it can slightly relieve the ever-present hunger and give them the strength to keep going.
Thinking of this, Yao Shuang couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of her disgust just now.
She silently told herself that she must never think like this again. In this difficult world, it is a great blessing to have something to eat.
Su Wencheng carefully held the bowl of porridge in his hands and handed it to her, saying, "Mom, please eat some while it's hot. You must have been exhausted on the journey. Eating this porridge will at least help you catch your breath."
Yao Qingshuang watched as Su Wencheng handed over the bowl of porridge he had finally obtained. She quickly reached out her hand, gently but firmly blocking his way, waving her hands repeatedly and saying, "Eat this porridge yourselves. I've had some dry food and I'm not hungry. You guys eat quickly."
Just when everyone was rushing to line up for porridge, Yao Qingshuang seized the opportunity and took out bread from the supermarket.
She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to her, so she crouched down and hid behind her own ox cart.
She carefully tore open the bread wrapper, and the aroma of the bread wafted out instantly. Although the aroma was quickly diluted in the messy environment, it still made her swallow her saliva.
She ate the bread in just a few bites. After the bread went down her stomach, it really helped her a lot. Her stomach, which had been growling with hunger, now calmed down. She felt full and had some strength in her body. At least she could hold on for a while without worrying about being hungry.
So, when faced with the porridge handed to her by Su Wencheng, she firmly refused, thinking that the porridge should be left to someone who needed it more.
Seeing that she firmly refused the bowl of porridge, everyone knew that she was not a person who would tell lies, so they stopped refusing.
He picked up the bowl, sat on a stone nearby, and began to drink in big gulps.
Although the porridge was watery and had few rice grains, it was still enough to comfort Su Wencheng's empty stomach.
He drank up the porridge in the bowl in just a few mouthfuls, and licked his lips with satisfaction, as if he wanted to keep the only bit of porridge fragrance in his mouth.
On the other hand, Su Mingfan was young and got hungry quickly, so that bowl of porridge was far from enough to fill his stomach.
He held his small bowl tightly in both hands, tilted his neck back, and gulped down all the porridge in the bowl into his mouth. After drinking it, he stuck out his tongue and licked the edge of the bowl, for fear of missing a drop of porridge.
But even so, the little belly only felt a little full.
He blinked his big watery eyes, covered his still flat stomach, looked pitifully at his grandmother who was sitting beside him, and said with a hint of tears in his voice, "Grandma, I'm still hungry!"
Anyone who sees that little thing would feel heartbroken.
Yao Qingshuang looked at her little grandson's pitiful appearance, and then glanced at the other family members around her.
After everyone finished drinking the porridge, they all looked unsatisfied. Some of them even looked at the empty bottom of the bowl from time to time. It was obvious that this little bit of porridge was not enough to fill their stomachs.
Her heart tightened. She knew that everyone had traveled all the way and had been hungry for so long. How could a bowl of porridge be enough?
So she quickly turned to look at her daughter-in-law and said, "Daughter-in-law, go and boil some water. We have some fried noodles in our luggage. If you haven't eaten enough, wait until the water boils and make some fried noodles for everyone to fill up. We can't go hungry. We still need energy to continue on our journey."
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