Reborn before the famine, kicking away the scumbag's family and living a carefree life.

48. Fighting for porridge

The collective canteen of the third production team in Daben Village has reopened.

Rice porridge is served every day at 11:30 a.m., regardless of age, and each person gets a bowl of porridge according to their household.

Although I only had a bowl of porridge every day, which was completely empty, at least I had some food to eat, and at least my life was saved.

At the entrance of the public housing, people were already queuing up as early as nine or ten o'clock. The previously lifeless village finally had some life, and everyone seemed to have come alive overnight.

Occasionally, people would laugh and joke.

Daben Village has eight production teams. When the people in the other production teams heard about what happened to the third production team, they also hoped that their production team could buy some grain to save their lives.

The other production team leaders naturally wanted to do the same, but unfortunately they couldn't buy any grain.

Whether it was a township grain depot or a county grain depot, they all complained of poverty, saying that they themselves were starving because of the locust plague. The whole county had no harvest, their warehouses were empty, there was no grain to sell, and there was no grain supply from above. They wanted to buy grain, but they had no way to do so.

Therefore, everyone's attention turned to Jin Gui.

Everyone wanted to know where he bought the rice.

Previously, someone occasionally sold it at a high price of six yuan per kilogram, and only a little over a hundred kilograms were sold. After that, there was no trace of it.

Later, when people wanted to buy it, they couldn't find it anywhere.

If someone is selling it for five cents a pound now, that would be something only a divine intervention could happen.

All Jin Gui can say is that someone approached him and offered to sell him some grain, which he then used the production team's money to buy for the team members in their time of need.

They didn't have much grain on hand; they said that was all they had.

Because the person dared not reveal their name or where they were from, and he didn't want to ask too many questions, he didn't know who they were, where they were, or how they got the food.

In short, that person can't be found.

No one believed it and hoped that Jin Gui could provide information about that person so they could go and buy rice from him. But regardless of whether they believed it or not, Jin Gui kept repeating the same few sentences, leaving them helpless.

So every day when the people of the third production team lined up at the entrance of the public housing to receive rice porridge, people from other production teams would also gather around to watch.

The people in the third production team were very anxious, fearing that the little bit of porridge they had finally obtained would be stolen. Before, when a family came, one person would collect the porridge and take it home for the whole family to eat. Now, fearing that it would be stolen on their way home, they could only drink it as they received it.

Even so, people from other production teams still came begging with a bowl.

This was the third day since the Third Production Team resumed its collective canteen.

Su Jinru also went to collect the porridge. If she didn't, people would suspect that she had a lot of food at home and therefore looked down on that little bit of thin porridge. She couldn't cause trouble for no reason just by not collecting the porridge.

However, it was troublesome for her to go out. In order to look like everyone else, emaciated and suffering from hunger, she had to put on makeup before going out. While others put on makeup to look prettier, she had to make herself look uglier.

She specially prepared some yellow soil and kept it at home. Before going out, she would mix the yellow soil with some water, dissolve it, apply a layer of yellow mud to her face, and then apply a little bit of soot from the bottom of a pot. In this way, her fair and rosy skin would instantly turn yellow and black.

She covered her jet-black, smooth hair with a square scarf.

Naturally, he changed into his most worn and old clothes.

With this outfit, she looked almost like any other village woman.

Su Jinru carried a large bowl and went to the public housing with her mother.

My mom looks fine, but she's unkempt and doesn't wash her face for days. She also wears tattered clothes, so she's always out in public. People are used to it and don't think there's anything wrong with her.

When we arrived at the public housing, it was packed with people.

People from other production teams stood by, bowls in hand, watching intently.

Ten patrol teams of militiamen, carrying guns, stood ready. Although they had all been driven to the outer perimeter, occasionally one or two children and elderly people would still sneak up next to the Third Production Team's ranks.

They held a broken bowl and kept begging from the person who received the porridge.

"Give me something to drink! I'm starving."

"I haven't eaten for three days, please give me a bite to eat!"

"Get out of here, get out of here! I haven't even had enough to eat myself, how can I give you any?"

The more than two hundred people in the third production team were surrounded by more than a thousand other people in the village. Those hungry people looked at the porridge in their hands like the green light of a hungry wolf staring at its prey, full of danger.

The people of the third production team were trembling with fear.

The village officials and militiamen were all on tenterhooks.

They were afraid that if the starving people swarmed them, they wouldn't be able to resist them at all.

The looting of food is a minor issue; there are so many elderly people and children, and if a conflict breaks out, even more people could be trampled to death.

Jin Gui thought that tomorrow they would serve rice porridge in the public housing. People would go in one by one to get their share, and no one except the people from the third production team would be allowed to go in. This way, with the four walls of the house surrounding the area, the possibility of accidents would be reduced.

He was annoyed that he hadn't thought of that before!

It was Liu Yulan's and Su Jinru's turn.

The Liu family has four members, and the person serving the food scooped four bowls of porridge into a large bowl that Liu Yulan brought. The Su family has three members, and they received three bowls.

Everyone else was afraid of being robbed, so they drank it right away.

Only Su Jinru and her mother were responsible for collecting the family's food rations.

As soon as the mother and daughter stepped out of the patrol team's protection zone, a large group of people surrounded them.

"Give me a bite! Just one bite, I'm starving."

"Give me a bite; I haven't eaten anything for three days."

The two were instantly surrounded.

Seeing the bowls being offered to them, they poured all the porridge they had into them.

Those who received the porridge couldn't wait to shovel it into their mouths.

Soon, the two of them poured all the porridge they had into the bowls that were being offered to them.

But people are still crowding in this direction.

"That's all, there's no more porridge, don't push over here anymore."

But the crowd continued to push in this direction.

Liu Yulan had never seen such a scene before and was terrified. These people seemed eager to tear her apart and eat her.

Su Jinru was also feeling uneasy.

She pulled out a knife from her body.

"That's all, there's no more porridge. Move aside and stay away from us."

But it was no use; the people behind continued to surge towards them.

Those around Su Jinru and her daughter couldn't leave even if they wanted to.

Just when Su Jinru was feeling desperate, Jin Gui and several people pulled people apart one by one from the outside and rescued Su Jinru and her daughter.

Liu Yulan was so frightened that her legs went weak and she slid down, but Su Jinru caught her with lightning speed.