Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

Lei Dabiao closed his eyes. "Let them be." He tilted his head back and took a swig of water. "From today onwards, I will only drink water and not eat anything."

If we can hold on for one day, we'll hold on for another. If we can't hold on... we'll have to give the chance to live to the young people, because they are the hope.

"However... the country is facing a food shortage right now, and this time, I'm afraid many people will die. Alas!"

Not far away, under a crooked shed, lay several members of the Zheng family.

"Dad, please eat something. You haven't touched this half-eaten cornbread since yesterday afternoon. You won't be able to hold on if you don't eat."

"I'm not hungry. There are landslides all around, the roads are all cut off, and we don't know when the rescuers will be able to find us. Adults can carry it, but how can the kids? I'll save it for the kids. I'm an old man, every bite I save is a bite more."

"Waaah, leave it for Grandpa, I'm not hungry."

"Dad, how about I sneak back to our house under the cover of darkness? We've buried over a thousand pounds of winter grain underneath; maybe I can find a few bags there—"

Although they were miners doing the hardest and most tiring work, the whole country was focused on food supplies here, and there was plenty of food. Who would have thought that things would turn out like this...

Old Man Zheng slapped him hard on the back of the head:

"You bastard, are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten how Old Liu's son next door died? That collapse went all the way down from the mine shaft to the surface, at least a hundred meters deep. Going down there to dig for grain is like digging up your own grave! Wait for the disaster relief supplies; the higher-ups won't abandon us."

"But Dad, all three counties have collapsed, millions of people are waiting for food, all the roads are blocked by mudslides, and the amount of grain that can be transported in at one time is limited, and we don't know how many days it will take for it to reach us... Please have a bite, even just a tiny bit the size of a fingernail..."

goo goo-

"Take it away." Old Zheng closed his eyes. He knew this, which was why he didn't want to waste food. Besides, the whole country was short of food. Where could they get enough food to feed more than a million people for several months?

If that's the case, why not start a hunger strike early?

Just then, car horns and the roar of engines suddenly came from outside the shelter.

Zheng Youniu looked up sharply and saw more than a dozen military trucks rumbling into the open space in front of the shelter, their truck beds piled high with sealed packaging bags, stacked like a city wall.

Before the truck had even come to a complete stop, the cargo bed was slammed down, and the soldiers jumped on to unload the goods, piling up bag after bag of supplies on the open ground.

A battalion commander with a hoarse voice raised a megaphone.

"Rice has been distributed! Rice has been distributed! The disaster relief food has arrived! Attention all personnel—each team, line up according to your assigned number to collect your food, do not push!"

Mining teams one and two are here, tunneling teams three and five are there, the transportation team and the machine repair team move towards the middle, and the family quarters are divided according to the original area, with sheds one to ten on this side and sheds eleven to twentieth on that side!

Each household receives one share, one portion per person, everyone gets one!

The people in the shack were stunned at first, then scrambled to their feet as if they had been electrocuted.

Aunt Han poked half her body out of the shed. "The grain has been distributed? Really? There are landslides all around here, the roads are completely blocked, how did the grain get in?"

"Who cares how it was transported in! Let's hurry, let's get going! This first batch of grain probably won't be much. There are 300,000 people in our mining area, so each person probably won't get much. Let's grab some for our wives and children first!"

"Don't run! Line up in the queues we just divided. Mining team three, follow me. Don't push or shove. One person from each team, line up first!"

"Do I need proof to receive the grain? Can I receive it without a receipt? What if someone claims it twice?" Aunt Han asked again, raising her voice.

The battalion commander's voice immediately blared from the loudspeaker: "No tickets or registration required! Just collect them by the headcount. Each family should report how many people are in their household, the team leader will verify, and neighbors will supervise each other!"

Seniors and women with children have priority; young adults should help those with mobility issues before queuing! Let me repeat—no tickets needed! No registration required! Everyone gets a share! All you can eat!

Old Zheng, trembling, leaned on the cement slab to stand up. "Enough to fill everyone's stomachs... Heavens above, what kind of living bodhisattva sent this life-saving food... There are cows, quick, help me go with you, there are five of us in my family, we all have to go, they're distributing the food according to the headcount!"

Zheng Youniu scooped up his wife and helped his father up, and the family stumbled and ran toward the distribution point.

The distribution point was set up in front of the trucks, with dozens of rain shelters lined up in a row, and stacks of freshly unloaded supplies piled up neatly under the shelters.

The area in front of the shed was divided into more than a dozen teams according to the mining area number, with each team having its own familiar team leader standing in front of them, greeting people.

Zheng Youniu's family was in line in the third mining team.

"My goodness, this stack looks like a city wall, is it all food? The packaging looks incredibly expensive—"

"What on earth is this? Why is it so big?"

"With so many of us, is this enough? The packaging looks expensive; I'm afraid the quantity won't be large..."

Then, the distribution clerk, Squad Leader Li, picked up a sealed package the size of a washbasin, and deftly tore it open, revealing a ball of white rice inside.

"Zheng Youniu from Mining Team Three—your family has five members, five of you, take them!"

As he spoke, he stuffed two into Zheng Youniu's arms, then piled two more into his wife's arms, and Old Man Zheng took one with trembling hands.

Zheng Youniu stared blankly at the basin-sized rice ball in his arms, his Adam's apple bobbing several times. "This...this is all for us? Each of us has one this big?"

Squad Leader Li was already counting the items for the next household: "Yes, one for everyone, all you can eat! Next, Grandpa Wu—there are three of you in your family, so here you go! Alright, those who have taken them, get out of the way!"

Aunt Han stood outside the line, clutching her rice balls. "Good heavens, these are finely milled rice balls! I've never wanted to eat such white rice for Chinese New Year in my entire life!"

"What?! It's refined rice balls?! My goodness, that's incredibly extravagant!"

"I've lived for over seventy years, and this is the first time I've ever seen disaster relief food like this..."

Squad Leader Li shouted at the top of his lungs towards the line still waiting behind him:

"Look carefully, this packaging is torn and pulled like this, understand? Don't bite into the bag too!"

The miners and their families around burst into laughter.

"Dad, you eat first. You've been hungry for three days."

Old Zheng took a big bite, then handed the rest to his granddaughter: "Let the little one eat her fill first!"

"Grandpa, Dad!" Bao'er held the rice ball in both hands, her little mouth stuffed full, her eyes wide open. "There's shredded meat and egg yolk in this rice—Waaah, Bao'er has never eaten anything so delicious before, it's even better than Chinese New Year!"

A chorus of exclamations rose and fell from the surrounding area.

"Look everyone, this isn't just a rice ball! There's pork floss and an egg inside! Break it open and see—one bite and it's so delicious you'll want to swallow your tongue!"

"What?! Rice balls stuffed with meat? My goodness! How can it be so precious! I've lived for over seventy years and this is the first time I've ever seen such delicious food. In an era when even white rice was a luxury, they actually stuffed rice balls with meat floss and eggs! What kind of divine beings would eat this?!"

It was at this moment.

"Comrade Su Wanqing, this way please—"