My best friend is living a famine-stricken life; you're going crazy, I'm farming.

When Xu Yingying and her group returned to the Xu family, the Xu family was not concerned about whether they had suffered hardships outside, but rather, how come they hadn't died outside?

What's the point of coming back? Wouldn't that mean getting land and housing allocations?

That's not all. The most important thing is that the family of four practically crawled back home, and as soon as they got there, they exclaimed, "We're so hungry!"

"Father, Mother, save me..."

"Grandpa and Grandma, we're starving..."

When the Xu family saw the group crawling back in all dirty condition, they immediately closed the doors and windows.

Xu Dazhu knocked on the door for a long time before someone opened it.

The Xu family members, of varying ages, stood in the courtyard, all looking pale and thin, which startled Xu Yingying and her group.

Xu Sanzhu's wife ran away with their youngest son, but the rest of them are still alive.

Seeing that his family members were getting thinner and thinner, Xu Dazhu felt a pang of guilt.

But soon, the guilt disappeared.

The group returned to their room, which was occupied by Old Mrs. Xu. Thinking they weren't coming back, they politely returned their belongings to Old Mrs. Xu's room and settled their things in.

The Xu family is having dinner.

Lin Cuiniang gave Xu Dazhu a wink, and the latter looked troubled. In the end, it was Xu Chunsheng who pulled him out.

The father and son stood by the Xu family's dining table. Although they were eating wild vegetables mixed with a little bit of porridge, they were still swallowing their saliva.

“Brother, you can leave now that you’ve seen enough,” Xu Sanzhu said. “We don’t eat as well as you refugees. Look at you all, you’ve all gotten so fat.”

“Hey, what do you mean fat? This is just edema. It’s better at home. When we fled the famine, we just picked up trash that others didn’t want to eat.” Xu Dazhu chuckled twice. “Mom, our family hasn’t even had anything to eat yet. Can you share some with us?”

"Divide what? You still have the nerve? It was because you guys ran away that my wife and kids were taken away and left!" Xu Sanzhu suddenly slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "I'm being lenient by not even asking you for an explanation, and you still want to eat! Bah!"

Xu Dazhu was slightly taken aback. "Third brother, what do you mean by that? What does your wife running away have to do with me?"

"How can it be nothing? If you hadn't abandoned this whole family and run away, our famine wouldn't have ended up like this." It's lucky we didn't starve to death.

"Third brother, please explain yourself clearly. I don't quite understand what you mean." Xu Dazhu vaguely guessed what they were up to, but he was a little hesitant to believe it.

Xu Sanzhu was too ashamed to continue, so he turned his head away and didn't say anything more.

"How many families survived only because of their daughters getting married? What about you?" Old Mrs. Xu scolded angrily. "Look at the good girl you raised. When the Xu family was in trouble, she just packed her bags and left. If she had stayed at home, she could have gotten a few taels of dowry. With money, your third brother's wife wouldn't have run away because she was starving."

"What?" Xu Dazhu was stunned. "Mother, you mean that because my Yingying fled the famine and couldn't get a dowry for the family, you didn't have money to buy food and couldn't eat, so my third sister-in-law ran away with the children."

"So it's all my Yingying's fault?"

"It's not entirely that little slut's fault; you, as her father, haven't done a good job either," Old Mrs. Xu said righteously.

"Mother, don't worry about whether I did a good job or not. I just wanted to ask why everyone is blaming me for not getting married when they can't eat?" Xu Dazhu's throat felt a little choked up.

Mr. and Mrs. Xu kept their heads down and ate.

Xu Sanzhu looked at Xu Dazhu as if he were an enemy.

"say something!"

Grandma Xu wanted to continue speaking, but Xu Dazhu shouted her out.