Knowing that they were to descend the mountain with Gu Qingcheng today, they woke up early to cook rice and roll it into rice balls, wanting to give them to the people who had helped them down the mountain.
Seeing the lustrous white rice balls, the woman couldn't help but swallow. These were rice balls! How long had it been since she last ate one? The aroma of the rice could be smelled from afar.
"I'll tell you, can you give me a rice ball?"
The woman looked at the rice ball in Liu Cui's hand with greedy eyes.
"Only if it's true news, not fake."
Although Liu Cui felt heartache for the rice ball, she had to part with it to get news about Guihua.
"Guihua is dead."
The woman looked at the rice ball, swallowed hard, and finally told the truth.
"Really? How is that possible? How did she die?"
Liu Cui was greatly alarmed. How could the kind person who was chatting and laughing with her two days ago be gone?
"Alas, the night before last, she said she was hungry and dug up some fleshy root from somewhere. She ate it and her stomach hurt all night, and then she died."
The woman sighed.
When one rabbit dies, the fox feels sorrow. They were all unfortunate refugees.
Liu Cui's face turned pale, and she was speechless for a moment.
She was too late!
She was still too late!
But she had just come up the mountain the day before yesterday, how could she have had time to find Guihua?
Seeing Liu Cui's dazed look, the woman reached out and snatched the rice ball from her hand.
It was promised to her anyway. Liu Cui sighed and walked away with her head down.
The rice balls were meant for Guihua, but she didn't have the good fortune to eat them.
Liu Cui couldn't help but shed tears.
But thankfully, she had gone to Yunwu Mountain, otherwise, she might have died like Guihua.
In the camp, Qin Yue was looking for her close friend Qingya, who was from her village.
Qin Yue's husband had died on the way fleeing from famine, but Qingya's family had escaped intact and had helped her a lot along the way.
Now that Qin Yue's situation had improved, her first thought was of Qingya.
"Really, there's food on the mountain, and rice, flour, oil, and grains are being distributed. Look at this new padded jacket and new shoes I'm wearing, all given to me for free by Young Master Gu."
When Qin Yue found Qingya, they couldn't help but hug each other and cry.
When Qin Yue was determined to go up the mountain with Dai Fa, Qingya felt that she was walking into another dead end.
But she couldn't save Qin Yue either; she was almost at her wit's end.
She never expected that Qin Yue would encounter a chance for survival.
Seeing Qin Yue's rosy complexion, and that she even took out several rice balls from her backpack to give to them, Qingya's family was stunned.
Rice balls?
Could Qin Yue, who was penniless, produce rice balls?
And they were white rice balls, each as big as an adult's fist.
"What? Don't you believe it? Ha, quickly eat, I just made them this morning, while they're fresh!"
Qin Yue said quickly.
"Silly Qin Yue, such big rice balls, if you add wild vegetables to one, you can cook a big pot of wild vegetable porridge! Keep it for yourself!"
Qingya thought of how Qin Yue had almost starved to death before and couldn't bear to eat her rations.
"Eat them with confidence, I'm not starving anymore. As soon as we got on the mountain, we were given ten catties of white rice, as well as oil and salt. Young Master Gu said it would be distributed every twenty days, and I can't eat it all myself. Eat quickly, I know you are hungry."
Hearing Qin Yue say this, Qingya quickly stuffed the rice ball into her son's hand. Just as she was about to have her son share half of it with his sister, Qin Yue took out three more rice balls and forced them into the hands of the others.
Qingya's family had 4 members, and Qin Yue brought 4 rice balls, one for each person.
Everyone was so weak from hunger that they hadn't eaten anything today except for a bowl of boiled water. At this moment, they stopped being polite and eagerly picked up the rice balls and started gnawing on them.
"Mom, the rice balls are so delicious. They distribute rice on the mountain, should we go up the mountain with Aunt Qin?"
Qingya's five-year-old son, Tuan Tuan, said.
"Okay, let's go up the mountain, we'll go with Aunt Qin."
Qingya said, wiping away tears.
Besides Qin Yue and Liu Cui mobilizing the refugees to go up the mountain, Wu Sheng and others also found familiar villagers and friends in the camp and persuaded them to go to Yunwu Mountain to live.
Many refugees were waiting desperately outside the city, hoping that the government would open the city gates for them to enter.
Some refugees, who had lived in towns and cities before, were accustomed to bustling places. Therefore, even with the temptation of free rice and clothing, some people were still unwilling to live in the harsh and cold high mountains.
Fortunately, people have a herd mentality. Wu Sheng, Qin Yue, Gou Sheng, and others shared their experiences, and finally, over 300 people were willing to follow them up the mountain.
These were all desperate people who would try their luck on the mountain for at least a few decent meals.
Seeing this group of people gathering, Gu Qingcheng felt that they could be blown over by the wind and were too weak to stand. If they were taken up the mountain immediately, they wouldn't have the strength to climb.
Gu Qingcheng pretended to go out to buy some food, so that everyone could eat their fill before they had the strength to climb the mountain.
As soon as this was said, everyone's eyes lit up.
It was very close to Wangchun City, just outside the city gate, a ten-minute walk. Gu Qingcheng and Mi Guo pretended to go out for a stroll. When they returned, Mi Guo carried two baskets of rice, while Gu Qingcheng carried two baskets of pork.
They set up stoves and cooked. A large basket of rice was poured into the pot. Everyone said not to wash the rice, as it would be a waste, and the rice water was nourishing.
Gu Qingcheng paused for a moment, but still listened to everyone. They poured the rice directly into the pot without washing it to cook.
Mi Guo chopped the pork into fist-sized pieces, washed it, and threw it into the large pot, cooking two pots of braised pork.
Soon, the rice and meat boiled over high heat, filling the air with fragrance. Over 300 people gathered around the pot, crying with desire.
The rice and meat were not yet cooked, but they could still get some nourishment by inhaling the aroma of the rice and meat.
Qin Yue and Liu Cui helped with the fire, while Wu Sheng and a few others maintained order.
While waiting for the meal to be cooked, Gu Qingcheng, who couldn't sit still, truly went into the city this time.
She didn't buy anything else after entering the city; she only bought a lot of farming tools.
Before, in Jinsha City, she had also collected many farming tools because they contained iron, but she had used them all to upgrade her yacht, so she didn't have any farming tools in her storage.
This time, since she needed farming tools to cultivate the land, she visited the blacksmith shops in the city and bought all the farming tools.
Gu Qingcheng hired a ox cart for transporting goods, piled all the farming tools onto the cart, and transported them out of the city.
When she returned to the settlement, everyone had already eaten their fill, their mouths gleaming with oil, and they were patting their full bellies with blissful expressions.
Some children had already eaten all the meat off their ribs, but they were still holding the bone with a little bit of meat residue in their mouths, unwilling to spit it out.
Gu Qingcheng's ox cart immediately attracted everyone's attention upon arrival.
"Young Master Gu, you bought so many hoes and sickles?"
Wu Sheng said in surprise.
After all, these farming tools would cost several hundred taels of silver.
Iron was a precious metal and not cheap at all now.
"You'll need them for work on the mountain, so I'll give one to each of you to take with you."
Gu Qingcheng directly took a headcount of those who were going up the mountain. There were a total of 315 people, including 14 children under the age of six, 71 women, and 230 men.