I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

A large rock, as tall as a house, hides a small pool of water that is ten feet long and two feet wide.

This small pool of water was not as large as the large pool they had found when they first fled the famine. It looked like a tiny patch, shallow enough that a bucket couldn't even reach it.

Fortunately, there are fewer people in the team now, so each family can get a share.

As before, people lined up to get water according to their population.

Ning's father went to fetch water, while Zhao Qi was grooming the horse.

Ning's mother took stock of the things in the car, while Zhao Ningning stood guard at the car door.

As Zhao Ningning was sitting on the hood of the car fanning herself, a woman suddenly walked towards them. Upon closer inspection, she recognized her as Wang Xiaohua's mother, Wang Yan.

At first, she thought she was seeing things, but when she got closer, Wang Yan still showed no sign of turning. Zhao Ningning quickly called out, "Mom, someone is looking for you."

She's a child; Wang Xiaohua's mother definitely didn't come looking for her.

Sure enough, Wang Yan walked to Ningning's carriage, smiled at Ningning, and praised her, "Ningning is so clever. I've come to find your mother."

Hearing the commotion, Ning's mother stopped what she was doing and came out of the carriage, asking, "What's wrong?"

Wang Yan got straight to the point: "Our belongings were confiscated when we went to the city a few days ago, and we don't even have a wooden bucket for fetching water. So we were wondering if you have any extra buckets that you could sell us?"

Wang Xiaohua's mother spoke logically and clearly. Seeing that she wasn't there to freeload, Ning Ma asked, "How much silver are you planning to offer?"

"This..." Wang Yan took out a small money pouch from her bosom. The pouch was empty, and she poured out two pieces of silver, which looked to be worth about two hundred coins.

She carefully held it up to Ning's mother, "Will this work?"

A decent wooden barrel usually costs only sixty-odd coins, and even with the price increase during this famine year, it's still worth two hundred coins!

On the road of fleeing famine, every little bit of help is appreciated. After thinking for a moment, Ning's mother told Zhao Ningning to wait there while she went back to the carriage and picked out a wooden bucket of a suitable size that she had previously used to hold water.

Wang Yan never expected that two hundred coins could buy such a brand new wooden bucket!

After thanking Ningning's mother, she handed the money to her and took the wooden bucket to queue up for water.

Those whose homes didn't have water containers had to figure out their own solutions.

Each person received a small ladleful of water; Zhao Ningning's family of four only received half a bucket of water to take home.

Each person received a small ladle, and after that, the pool was completely empty.

Even if you drink this water sparingly, it will only last for five or six days.

Not to mention livestock.

After bringing the water back, Granny Qian carefully scooped two ladles into the pot and used that water to boil the bark of the rice tree.

After boiling the tree bark, the originally clear water turned yellowish-green. Qian Pozi didn't waste it; she extracted the water and gave it to others to drink.

There were no bowls at home, so Granny Qian spent money to buy three. With so many people, the bowls had to be used for the others.

When it was Zhao Huilan's turn to eat, only a few crumbs of rice bark remained in the pot.

The soup had gone cold.

She disdainfully stirred the rice with chopsticks made from tree branches. The hard outer and inner skins of the cooked rice separated, and the floury inner skin crumbled into small pieces when poked with the chopsticks, mixing into the yellowish-green "soup".

Before their carriage was confiscated, their family could at least afford to drink some thin, coarse grain porridge.

Although the porridge contained unpalatable and bitter dried wild vegetables, and although it was as thin as a mirror, at least the taste was normal.

The thought that for the next two meals he could only eat raw rice tree bark, which had a strange taste that made him want to vomit, was something he had no choice but to eat in order to survive.

Everyone says that rice bark tastes better after being boiled, so it should taste better today, right? Zhao Huilan put away her disgust, brought the bowl to her lips, and took a sip.

I almost threw up!

The flavor of the rice bark has all infused into the soup!

It was bitter and astringent, with a strange taste. Zhao Huilan couldn't help but gag.

Seeing her sister-in-law's spoiled appearance, Cao Rouan couldn't help but lean against Zhao Wenyuan and say coquettishly, "Wenyuan, look at your sister. I'm pregnant and I haven't complained, but she's already finding fault."

Although Zhao Wenyuan liked Cao Rouan, Zhao Huilan was also his younger sister whom he had watched grow up. He couldn't offend either of them, so he could only say, "She hasn't suffered much hardship, so it's normal that she can't get used to tree bark."

Cao Rouan pursed her lips, supported her waist, and dragged her heavy body onto the carriage.

She's due to give birth in four months!

Before becoming pregnant, he never expected to encounter these successive natural disasters, nor did he imagine that he would be forced to wander from place to place.

Fortunately, the Zhao family allowed her to ride in the carriage; otherwise, she would have definitely found an opportunity to abort the child.

Touching her belly and then her much thinner face, Cao Rouan felt sorry for herself and leaned against the car to sleep.

Meanwhile, Zhao Ningning's family was worried about a basket full of tree bark.

"Shall we cook it?" Ning's father asked.

"Wait, didn't you say the bark tastes bad?" Ning's mother picked at the bark with her hands. Since she had put it into her space for preservation after peeling it off, the bark was still fresh. With a gentle peel, she separated the inner and outer layers of the rice tree bark.

Following suit, Ning's father picked up a large piece of tree bark and pried along the edge, easily peeling off a complete inner bark!

This job was a good way to relieve stress, and Zhao Ningning and Zhao Qi both wanted to do it.

Ning's mother left the chores to her husband and went with him to set up and light the stove.

In no time, a basketful was peeled, leaving only a small portion of the white inner skin in the basket.

Zhao Ningning took it into the carriage and, using the carriage as cover, took it home to the kitchen to wash it.

After washing them, some were given to Ning's mother to cook, while Zhao Ningning cooked the rest herself in her space.

Ning's mother had already boiled the water. As soon as she threw in the rice tree bark, a pale yellow liquid gradually seeped out. The smell was not right, so Ning's mother immediately scooped the bark out.

"Is this really edible?" Zhao Ningning was very puzzled. She leaned closer to smell it. The bark had no smell, only the yellow liquid that was boiled had a smell.

"It should be edible." Ning's mother quietly changed the water in the pot and cooked it again.

This time, the water in the pot was crystal clear. As the food was cooked until it was quite soft, a delicate aroma wafted out from the pot.

Ning's father closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the aroma wafting in the air, and exclaimed, "It really does look like it!"

So rice trees really do smell like rice!

The overcooked tree bark looked somewhat like boiled sweet potato chips. Ning's mother served some to the group. Zhao Ningning smelled it curiously and, sure enough, there was a faint, rice-like aroma inside.

One sip, and the texture is mealy, but the flavor is rather bland.

After finishing a bowl of tree bark porridge, Zhao Ningning slapped her thigh.

She even cooked a pot of it in her online space!

Busy in the space, Zhao Ningning scooped out the rice bark from the pot and set it aside, then changed the water and started cooking.

The group rested for a whole night, and when they left the next day, the villagers looked up at the sky with hope.

—One less sun!

This news made everyone very happy.

The village head, leading the way, said to the excited villagers, "Let's keep going, and we'll reach the next town tomorrow!"

"Maybe we'll have a place to stay when we get to the next town!"

"Yes! I wish it would rain, so that wherever we go, we can buy land and build houses and stay."

"Do you think we can go back?"

"Go back where?"

"Idiot, of course it's Wang Li Village."

"We haven't gone too far. Once we find a place to settle down and the famine is over, we might be able to turn back!"

"..."

As the sun sets less and less each day, the people of Wangli Village walk with much more energy and quicker pace than before.

When we arrived in town, there were only six suns left in the sky.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but a few days ago I always felt like my back was going to crack from sunburn when I walked during the day. Now that it's been six days with sunshine, it's a little "cooler".

The nighttime hours were also longer than before.

Gaoshan Town.

Once you enter the area of ​​Gaoshan Town, you'll find it sparsely populated.

The farmland was still cracked and dry, and the gates and doors of every household in the nearby villages were wide open, empty and devoid of anything.

There were no shops open in the town, only a few elderly men sitting by the roadside, selling straw sandals they made under the shade of the eaves.

Seeing such a large group of people coming, the old men were not afraid. They leaned against the wall and started selling straw sandals to people who seemed easy to talk to.

The village head took the opportunity of buying straw sandals to inquire about information from the old man.

According to custom, the village head gave him a palm-sized coarse grain cake, which this time also contained dried wild vegetables.

"You know, what about our town..." the old man mumbled, wolfing down his flatbread. "Everyone's run away. There's no water! No food! Nothing at all!"

"Only a few families left, those who are as old as me, stayed behind because they can't walk anymore."

The old man was clever; he even knew how to weave straw sandals and sell them at a stall. Even if no one bought them, a few passersby would always come to him to ask for information.

At this point, he would ask people for food and drinks in exchange for information.

Some people wanted to rob him, but he was an old man with nothing but bones and tattered clothes. He usually ate tree bark and grass roots.

Drink the little water that was hidden away.

"Keep going, and in another five days you'll reach the next town. That town is close to the county seat, only three days' journey away."

After saying that, he pointed in the direction for the kind man who had the pancake.

"Thank you, brother," the village head said, returning to his group.

"Let's rest here for two hours before continuing on."

After a moment of lamentation, the group found a place to rest.

There's nothing in the town except lots of houses. With houses providing shade, it's not so hot.

After settling their belongings in a safe place, the more resourceful people would search the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, after searching the entire town, we only found about ten dry wells.

There wasn't a drop of water inside.

Two families, however, managed to find some grain in a hidden rat hole in their house.

This is a wonderful surprise!

Zhao Ningning's family also found a courtyard. The gate of this courtyard was still in good condition. Once the gate was closed, people outside could not see anything.

After closing the courtyard gate, Ning's mother went inside and took out a table and chairs from the storage space and placed them on the ground.

Ning's father sat down on the stool with an air of authority, rubbing his hands together and waiting for dinner to be served.

Ning's mother placed the pre-cooked meals they had made in their courtyard in Huangshi County on the table one by one.

After picking out two meat dishes, Ning's mother also took out a stir-fried bok choy.

The staple food was rice. Just as Ning's mother put the rice bucket on the table, Zhao Ningning came out of her space and took out her own dishes and chopsticks from her space dishwasher.

The family sat down and started eating!

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Ning's mother used the yard as cover to release two buckets of water so that the two animals could drink their fill.

They put the hay on the ground for the animals to eat slowly, and then the four of them returned to the main room to rest.

They set off again in the afternoon. The people of Wangli Village traveled for five days and nights and finally arrived at the next town.

This town is called Waitoushan Town.

At this moment, the sun in the sky returned to a single point.

Zhao Qi estimated that the perceived temperature at this moment should not exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

Surprisingly, there was still one shop open in Waitoushan Town.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a shop selling baskets.

The village head added a few baskets to his own house before he was able to find out the news.

The villagers in the villages near Waitoushan Town have mostly fled the famine.

Basically, those who could run did so, while those who couldn't found a place to stay and wait to die.

Because they hadn't found a water source on the road for the past few days, the villagers of Wangli Village had almost run out of water. The village head told everyone to find a place to settle down first, while he had to find a way to get some water.

Before he could come up with a solution, God unexpectedly sent water.

In an instant, the sky suddenly darkened.

It's starting to rain.

When the first drop of water landed on the villager's face, he thought it was bird droppings from a bird that had flown by.

The villager cursed, then touched his face and saw that his hands were clean!

Then, something hit me on the head.

It doesn't hurt, I'm just a little dazed.

"This? This!"

He was so excited he couldn't speak.

"Is it raining?"

It's raining!

"Oh God—it's raining!"

"Hahahaha! It's raining! It's raining! It's really raining!"

"Quick! Go get the bucket!"

The people of Wangli Village didn't even have time to find a place to rest. They simply stopped where they were and took out their pots, pans, and buckets and laid them out on the ground.

Raindrops pattered in the bowl, in the pot, and on the bucket, their rhythmic patter like a mesmerizing melody.

The villagers stared wide-eyed at the sky, their joy bordering on madness.

They haven't seen rain in years!

"Finally... finally it's raining!" As the village head spoke, tears streamed down his face and dripped onto the ground, mingling with the dust and water droplets.

"If only this rain had come a few months earlier... then we wouldn't have had to flee the famine."

Wang Xiufeng stood next to his father and sighed, "It's not too late to go now. Let's settle down here first, and once things stabilize in the south, we'll go back... or stay in this area."

"Anything is fine, anything is fine." The village head reached out his hand, trembling, to catch the rain from the sky.

I felt incredibly regretful—if only it had rained sooner!

The rain lasted all day.

At first, Zhao Ningning's family was also happy, but then Zhao Ningning remembered what was written in the book—the flood.

After their initial excitement subsided, Ning's parents calmed down and took out the tarpaulin to cover the dry firewood at the back of the vehicle.

Other families, having regained their senses, also went to find things to tackle their own firewood.

As happy as I was, the firewood on the cart had been painstakingly gathered! It couldn't get wet, otherwise we wouldn't be able to boil water for dinner!