"Yes, yes," an elderly man nearby quickly agreed, nodding his head. "I really don't know the owner's last name. If I knew, I'd carve a longevity tablet for him to express my deepest gratitude for his kindness. This truly saved the lives of our entire village. At this desperate time, to find so much food is truly a blessing from heaven."
As he spoke, he wiped the sweat from his forehead due to excitement with his rough big hands, his eyes full of admiration for the owner of the manor whom he had never met.
"Oh, it would be great if we could have so much food in our village." A young wife couldn't help but sigh, her eyes slightly red. "If that were the case, we wouldn't have to suffer the hardship of fleeing famine. We could live a stable life in the village, guarding our own homes and cultivating our own land. We wouldn't have to run around with our families like we do now, living in fear."
She gently patted the back of the child in her arms, as if expressing her nostalgia for her once peaceful life.
"Hmph, if we have food but no water, we still have no way to survive." At this time, a burly man muttered in a low voice, frowning with a hint of worry on his face.
His words made everyone's heart sink again, and the joy that had just surged up in them because of the discovery of food was instantly diluted a lot.
A strong sense of homesickness appeared on everyone's face, and the appearance of their hometown involuntarily emerged in their minds, with the familiar houses, fields, and the smiling faces of relatives and friends.
It is hard to leave one's hometown. If there is no way to make a living in the village, who would be willing to leave their hometown?
At this moment, the room was so quiet that only a few soft sighs could be heard occasionally. It was everyone's reluctance to let go of their past lives, as well as their confusion and worry about the future.
The village chief was very anxious when he saw that everyone was so lively just now but now looked sad and lonely.
He knew very well that everyone had experienced too many hardships along the way and their spirits were already low. He couldn't let this sadness continue to spread. He had to find a way to cheer everyone up as soon as possible.
The village chief quickly cleared his throat, raised his voice, and said, "Hey, everyone, don't be so sad. We have so much food now, which is a great thing! We will distribute it to every household so that everyone can fill their stomachs and have the strength to continue on their journey!"
When everyone heard this, their originally dim eyes instantly brightened up again, and brilliant smiles bloomed on their faces, and they danced with joy.
"Oh my! We can really get some food! This is so great! This is so great!" An elderly woman with gray hair was so excited that her hands were shaking slightly. As she kept muttering, she wiped the tears of excitement from the corners of her eyes with her wrinkled hands. "I've been worried about not having enough food to eat. Now I can finally rest assured."
"Yes, yes, I've been looking forward to it so much! I'm really scared of the days when there's no food!" A tall man was like a child, jumping up and down with excitement, and kept shouting, "With food, there's a way to survive. We won't have to go hungry anymore, haha!"
Several women nearby also gathered together, chattering, "That's right. It was not easy to go hungry all this time. The children cried with hunger, and we adults felt so bad watching them, but there was nothing we could do. Now it's good. We can get some food, and the children can have their fill. We've finally made it through!"
For a moment, the whole house was filled with laughter and joy. Everyone was immersed in the joy of getting their share of food. The previous sadness was completely washed away by this wave of joy.
Seeing that everyone had stopped sighing, the village chief quickly sent someone to count the weight of the grain.
After the village chief got the statistical results, he thought about it and decided to distribute the grain according to the number of households.
He picked up the gong and struck it hard.
"Dangdangdang..." The clear and resounding sound of a gong echoed throughout the village. The village chief shouted at the top of his voice, "Listen up everyone! The grain has been counted. Now hurry up and line up over here. The grain distribution will begin soon. Don't dawdle, hurry up!"
This shout made everyone very excited.
Villagers poured out from everywhere, with uncontrollable smiles of excitement on their faces.
Soon, a long line formed in the open space. Everyone was chatting with each other and laughing.
At this moment, the village chief, with a happy face and a heavy-looking sack tightly in his hands, strode to the front of the crowd.
The village chief's eyes were shining with uncontrollable joy, as if he had discovered some rare treasure.
Then, the village chief carefully placed the big sack on the ground and slowly opened the mouth of the sack.
As the sack opened, the contents gradually came out.
The village chief suddenly became excited. He stood up straight and shouted to everyone, "Everyone, come and see! We've made a great discovery in the cellar this time! Look, there's a big sack full of salt. And this isn't just coarse salt, it's very fine refined salt!"
The village chief's voice echoed in the air, and everyone could hear the excitement in his words.
When the villagers heard the village chief's call, they quickly gathered around with curious and anxious expressions.
They stretched their necks one by one, put their heads forward, and cast their eyes into the opened sack.
The sacks were filled with salt of an extremely pure white color, just like the first snow in winter, delicate and dazzling.
The villagers' eyes were instantly filled with shock. The salt they usually saw was nothing like this.
Poor people like them who deal with the soil all day long have always bought the cheapest coarse salt.
That kind of salt is in the form of large, dark gray granules, and you have to pick it carefully every time you use it to avoid eating impurities mixed in it.
But they had never seen salt as pure and white as the one before them.
In their limited knowledge, perhaps only wealthy families and high-ranking officials are qualified to use such highly refined salt.
Now, these peasants can actually see with their own eyes this salt that is as precious as snow and as fine as a treasure. It can be said that it has broadened their horizons and increased their knowledge.
"Wow, this salt is so white, it must be very expensive, right?" Mrs. Li couldn't help but widen her eyes and spoke first with a look of amazement on her face.
As she spoke, she moved closer to the sack of white salt, staring at the snow-white salt grains without blinking, as if she wanted to see what was inside the salt.
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