The group walked for another two days and passed by a small county town. They were running low on food and wanted to get some supplies, so Liu Juntao wanted to go and check it out first.
Liu Juntao came back after walking for half an hour and said, "It's time to enter the city. Today, the Japanese took the second Japanese to mop up the surrounding areas. There are not many Japanese in the city."
A few people quickly packed up their luggage and went into the city. There was no one guarding the city gate, so they quickly went to buy things, fearing that the Japs would come back later.
Passing by a steamed bun shop, Wang Li bought twenty steamed buns, gave one to each person to eat while walking, and put the rest in a backpack.
Han Ya held the bun in her hand, but she was reluctant to eat it. She swallowed her saliva and looked at the bun. Wang Li felt sad. She thought the girl was afraid that she would have nothing to eat on the way. Wang Li said, "Hurry up, girl. Auntie still has some. Don't wait until it gets cold and then you won't be able to eat it.
Han Ya quickly stuffed the bun into her mouth. If you didn’t know better, you would think someone was snatching the bun from her. Wang Li ate one herself, and then felt like eating more, so she ate another one.
Although people were poor in that era, the buns were big and filling, and two were enough to fill them up. Wang Li gave each of them another bun and prepared to go find a grocery store, which had a relatively complete range of goods in that era.
Finally, I asked the owner of the steamed bun shop and found out that if I went straight ahead from here and headed west from the intersection, there would be a Chengji grocery store.
When I went in, I saw a row of large vats against the back wall, containing soybeans, red beans, mung beans, rice, millet, white flour, black flour, sorghum flour, corn flour, and buckwheat flour. In front were bamboo baskets, bamboo baskets, and bamboo mats, each with a piece of paper with the price written on it. On the left hand side of the door were soybean oil, sesame oil, and vinegar. Ropes, sickles, hats, and scarves were hung on the wall, and there were a few rolls of oilcloth next to them. Although the grocery store was small, it had a complete range of items.
A waiter saw a few people coming in and quickly ran over to ask, "Do you want to buy anything?"
Wang Li hurriedly said, "Two catties of vinegar, beat with bamboo tubes, two catties of millet, ten catties of rice, ten catties of flour, two catties of oil, one ounce of chili pepper, one ounce of star anise, ten feet of oilcloth, four umbrellas. I see you have scarves and hats here, so I'll give you two of each. After Wang Li finished buying, she asked them what they needed."
Wang Hao asked: "Boss, do you have a crutch? I sprained my leg and it's inconvenient for me to walk." Unexpectedly, there really was one. The place is not big, but there are a lot of things.
Since no one else wanted to buy it, Wang Li asked the boss how much it cost. After Wang Li paid, she piled up the items in Liu Juntao's backpack.
Everyone prepared to leave the city, fearing that if they delayed too long the Japanese would return.
Passing by a pancake shop, Wang Li bought another twenty pancakes. She met an old man selling dried shrimps on the roadside and bought another pound of dried shrimps.
When I walked outside the city gate, I saw an old lady struggling to carry a basket of eggs.
Wang Li asked if she was selling them. The old lady happily said yes, and added that she didn't dare go into the city for fear of being robbed. At that moment, Wang Li also wanted to eat eggs, so she thought of finding a place to cook them and eat them on the way. Eggs are very convenient to eat on the way.
Wang Li gave the old lady a silver dollar and bought the basket.
The old lady kept saying, "My dear wife, I gave you too much. You won't be able to use it all." Wang Li thought that she had a lot of money in her own space anyway, so she would help as many people as she could.
The four people walked and stopped, and when the sun was setting, they saw a dilapidated kiln factory in front of them. Everyone looked around, afraid of the Japanese and bandits. It was better to be careful in this era, as there was a river next to the brick kiln.
Everyone found a place with a wall and put down their things. Han Ya went out to take things out. Wang Li asked Liu Juntao to collect firewood. After dinner today, they would burn some ashes to wash the dishes, hands and feet. They didn't dare to wash their heads for fear of catching a cold.
Wang Li's hands and feet were numb. She built a place to put the pot, cooked some millet porridge, scooped two bowls of white flour, beat four eggs, poured some oil, kneaded the dough with warm water, and scalded a pot of pancakes.
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