Chapter 22 Ran Yatou, why did you buy so much food?

After all, they were honest farmers, and they didn't want to hurt anyone's life, so they restrained their strength and hit those people's hands.

The pain in their arms made the refugees, who were already red-eyed, retract their hands and did not dare to push forward.

Qiao Ran, escorted by everyone, pushed the cart quickly towards Qingshui Village.

The refugees followed a few steps unwillingly, but seeing how united they were, they did not dare to step forward and watched the cart of food go away from them.

"Ran Yatou, why did you buy so much grain? Isn't there no grain for sale in the grain store?"

A man who came back with Qiao Erhe asked curiously.

They had obviously visited all the major grain stores in the city, but finally found a remote small grain store and bought more than a dozen bags of grain. How could Ran Yatou still buy so much?

Others also looked at Qiao Ran with envy.

Dozens of their families had to distribute more than a dozen bags of grain, and each family received less than half a bag. But how could Qiao Ran buy three bags of grain by herself?

Qiao Ran met the doubtful and envious eyes of those people and said:

"I went to several grain stores and asked, but they all said there was no grain. So I thought of a way and found a wealthy family and asked them to sell me these bags of grain. The price was lower than what I was selling at the grain store. It costs a few cents per kilogram, and these three bags of grain are more than one or two cents more expensive!"

When everyone heard that the food Qiao Ran bought was more expensive than theirs, they suddenly felt a little more balanced.

But I have to admire Qiao Ran's cleverness for actually thinking of going to a wealthy family to buy grain.

Although Mrs. Qiao felt sorry for the extra one or two silver dollars, she was also very happy to think that her granddaughter could find a way to get so much food for the family.

After everyone was envious, they turned around and continued to discuss how to divide the dozen bags of grain.

Everyone dispersed, but Qiao Ran felt several jealous eyes directed at her.

She glanced around, and as expected, it was the Wang family, the second grandfather's family, and Mrs. Chen's family.

When the Wang family couple saw Qiao Ran looking over, they quickly lowered their heads and did not dare to look again.

Mrs. Chen and her family all curled their lips, rolled their eyes and turned away.

However, Qiao Dewang's family still looked here jealously.

Seeing Qiao Ran looking at her, Qiao Honglian simply walked over. As she walked, she stared at the linen bags on the cart with her jealous eyes, wishing she could poke a hole in the bags.

"Guren, what's wrong with you?"

When Chen Huiniang saw this niece coming over, even if she wasn't happy, she had to ask politely.

"Auntie, how come your family has so much food? Didn't Sister Ran steal it or use other dishonorable means to get it?"

Qiao Honglian said jealously.

When Qiao Ran heard this, she frowned.

This Qiao Honglian really cares about food and not fights. It seems that if she doesn't find an opportunity to teach her a profound lesson, she really thinks that she is easy to bully!

No matter how good-tempered Chen Huiniang is, she can't help but get angry when she hears others slandering her daughter like this.

She slapped the kitchen knife she was holding on the trolley with a loud bang, which scared Qiao Honglian and took several steps back.

Chen Huiniang glared at Qiao Honglian angrily and scolded: "Qiao Honglian, you are a girl, how can you say such vicious words? Didn't your parents teach you etiquette, justice and shame? My Ranran is your cousin after all, and you slander her like this. What good does your reputation do to you? Aren’t you afraid that you won’t be able to get married in the future if you are so tongue-tied?”

This is the first time in Qiao Honglian's life that she has seen her aunt look so angry.

You must know that Chen Huiniang has always been gentle and virtuous. When something happened to her family several times in the past, she was just sad and sad. She usually spoke softly to others. This was the first time she had been scolded like this.

Qiao Honglian didn't expect that her weak aunt could be so scary when she was angry. She felt uncomfortable in her heart, but she was also afraid of the kitchen knife in Chen Huiniang's hand.

Moreover, all the people present in the main room of the Qiao family stared at her angrily, ready to step forward and slap her in the mouth if she talked nonsense.

When she was shocked and angry and didn't know how to get off the stage, Qiao Ran spoke.

"Qiao Honglian, it seems you didn't take my last warning to heart. Do you no longer want these teeth, or do you no longer want the tongue?"

"W-what do you want to do? I-I didn't say anything. A bunch of you bullied me, a little kid, so shameless!"

After leaving these words, the frightened Qiao Honglian turned around and ran away in embarrassment, fearing that if he was a step slower, the fool would rush up and beat him.

Qiao Ran sneered.

Bully her? Didn't she just come here to bully someone?

When she gets a chance, she will let her taste what it means to bully someone!

The pesky flies were gone, and the Qiao family quickly moved the grain from the cart to the carriage.

There are too many refugees here, and this food is too conspicuous. It would be safer to hide it in the carriage.

As for the children, they were all carried on the carriage. There were only two empty seats left on the carriage, where the pregnant Lin Guizhen sat. The remaining one seat was for Mrs. Qiao, Chen Huiniang and Qiao Ran to take turns.

Their fleeing team bought food and hurriedly continued walking forward through another road at the city gate.

The road to escape was long, and the road they had traveled now was only half of the journey.

During the lunch break that day, the people of Qingshui Village specially found a forest with dense shade to prepare to distribute food.

The dozen bags of grain that Qiao Erhe and the others bought were distributed to dozens of families. Each family only received half a bag, and families with more people and more money could not get more than half a bag.

Although it was a small amount, for their now almost completely empty grain bags, it could still last for a while.

The Qiao family has three bags of grain, which makes many people in the village envious.

Under a neem tree not far from Qiao's family, Widow Zhao from the village was crying silently while holding her three-year-old son, Xiao Niuzai.

Her husband, Zhao Daniu, was a plasterer. When he was helping others build a house the summer before last, he suffered from heatstroke and fell off the high courtyard wall. He died a few days after he was brought home, leaving her with a son.

The life of orphans and widowed mothers is already difficult, but now they are faced with this famine.

They had long since eaten up the little rice they had brought with them when they fled the famine. Along the way, they ate wild vegetables and roots, as well as occasional aid from kind-hearted people in the village.

However, in the past few days, everyone had no food to eat. She took her children everywhere to dig wild vegetables and grass roots. She was reluctant to eat them and left them for her children. The three-year-old child was still very hungry.

This time everyone used money to buy food. She took out all the money she had and only had a few copper coins, which could not even buy half a catty of rice.

She was almost desperate. She didn't know how long she would have to endure such hungry days. She didn't know when she and her children would starve to death on the road.