Chapter 242: Moving East and Drinking Porridge

Jingxia is a native of the Rain Country, and has lived in a village in the west of the Rain Country since his grandfather's generation. He thought he would stay in the village and farm for the rest of his life, but things in the world are unpredictable.

It was an ordinary rainy day, and the man in the well got up early as usual, planning to take the winnowing baskets woven by his mother to the market to sell. Yesterday's business was not very ideal, and he only sold one winnowing basket, which barely exchanged for a liter of brown rice. He thought about it all night and thought that the price was a bit high, so he planned to sell it at a low price today, hoping to exchange more food.

A family of five lived in two leaky thatched houses underground. They owned more than ten acres of land and often went hungry, but they could get by without starving to death.

He knew that recently there had been ninjas with completely different attire at the market, and it was said that they were from the Wind Country, had driven away the ninjas from the Rain Country, and had occupied a large piece of territory, but he didn't take it seriously.

The common people only care about the food in their bowls, and it is not their turn to worry about the struggles of the bigwigs. However, a few gentlemen in the market often talk about the loss of their country and the loss of their country. The people in the well think that they are just bloated because they have eaten too much rice.

He took the dustpan that exuded a fresh scent, and carefully wrapped himself in a raincoat to prevent rain from seeping in. He did not take any rain protection measures, and after saying hello, he plunged into the rain curtain and ran towards the market. The early bird catches the worm, and if you go late, the good position will be gone, and business will naturally not be good.

But before he could walk out of the village from the well, several masters from the market stopped him with their men.

"Where are you going?" the master asked while riding on his horse with his nose up.

The man shrank his neck, not daring to stretch out his hand to push away the horse whose face was close to his nose, and whispered, "I'm going to the market to sell winnowing baskets."

"You don't need to sell the dustpan! Go home now, pack up, and leave here immediately."

"Ah?!" The man in the well shuddered and asked, "Where are we going?"

The master waved his whip impatiently and said, "You are free to go wherever you want, but from today on, everything in the village will be confiscated!"

The man in the well was shaking even more violently, as if he had epilepsy: "Master, what do you mean by this? We have lived here for generations, where else can we go?"

"Untouchable!"

The whip bit Jingxia's cheek accurately, and blood quickly appeared on the surface of his skin, but he still shrank his neck and dared not move.

"Listen carefully. From now on, your houses, lands, and properties all belong to the Wind Country. This is the latest order from above. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"

The man in the well was completely stunned. His knees went weak and he knelt on the ground, begging: "Master, please be kind. I know how to farm. I can grow dozens of acres of crops by myself. I will be your servant even if you leave me here."

The respectable man on the horse had a fierce look on his face. He pointed his whip at the well and said, "Come here, help him move, starting with him!"

The burly servants rushed forward and started beating and kicking him without saying a word, making him cry for his parents in the well.

The villagers rushed out and watched the people being beaten in the well with numb expressions. They did not dare to step forward to stop it, for fear that they would be the next unlucky ones.

But soon, they also began to wail like the people in the well, crying for their parents.

The winnowing basket in his arms was scattered all over the ground in the well, stained with mud and mixed with a little red blood. Even the heavy rain from the Rain Country could not wash it away.

Thus, the poor peasant in the well became a disaster victim in just a few words, and all his belongings added up to just a few bags of food that he had saved with great effort in his daily life.

Having lost his land, he had no way to survive in the mine. He had to find another way out, otherwise staying where he was would lead to death.

The people in the village gathered together to discuss the way forward. Finally, the old man in the market was kind enough to tell them to go east, where they could make a living.

He pulled his elderly mother down the well, and his wife brought their two teenage children, and followed the rest of the village to join the eastward migration.

On the first day of the eastward migration, we didn't feel anything in the mine except fatigue and sadness. The respected village elders in the team played a role, and everyone comforted each other, hoping that there really was a so-called way out in the east.

The second day of the eastward migration... the third day... the fourth day...

On the fifth day, the elderly people in the team collapsed in the winter rain due to the hardship of the journey, and the old mother in the well was no exception.

Although the dead are the greatest, for a group of disaster victims, death is death, and even a straw mat to wrap the body has become a luxury. After digging a pit hastily to bury the old mother, they howled a few times in the well and continued to walk east.

Half a month later, the team ran out of food. Fortunately, the young and strong villagers kept the team under control, and there was no looting.

After a month, half of the people had eaten all the food. Hunger caused the team to lose order and looting occurred at any time. The food that he had worked hard to save in the well was also robbed. He had no choice but to dig wild vegetables to fill his stomach.

Two months later, less than half of the original number of people were still able to move in the team. The man's wife starved to death in the well. A kind-hearted person offered to help bury her. The man was so sad that he didn't think much about it and agreed immediately.

Afterwards, he realized in the well with horror that his wife might have been eaten...because most people were extremely weak, only those few were full of strength, but for the sake of his children, he chose to endure it.

Two and a half months later, almost all the people in the village had died, leaving only a dozen or so people, who continued to walk eastward with heavy steps.

He decided to die in the well. He was tired of hunger and the journey. For the sake of his children, he decided to take them with him to die.

His tattered clothes were torn apart in the well and hung on a tree. He took out a candy that had long been soaked from his arms, carefully broke it into two halves and handed them to his sons.

The children rushed over and swallowed the candy wrapper together. They rubbed their palms inside and out several times, looked up and asked, "Dad, why are you hanging the rope?"

He forced a smile in the well, touched his sons' wrinkled faces and said, "Dad will take you to find mom."

The sensible children did not cry or make a fuss. They understood their way home: "Is there any food there?"

"Yes! Plenty of white rice and pickles!"

"Then I'll go!"

"Be good! We three will go right away."

Just as he was struggling to pick up the child and put him on the rope, his childhood friend in the village ran over excitedly to stop him: "Come down the well! There is a ninja in front giving out porridge, we don't have to die!"

The child was startled in the well, his arms went limp, and he lost his support and was caught in the rope. Immediately, his eyes became bloodshot and he began to struggle.

"What did you say!?"

"It's saved, we're saved!"

"What are you doing! Hurry up and take the child down!"

When he came to his senses in the well, he saw that his eldest son's eyes were rolled up because of the rope. He hurriedly used all his strength to carry him down, but he threw him on the ground. He rushed over, grabbed his arm and asked, "Is there really a ninja giving out porridge?"

My childhood friend stamped his feet anxiously: "It's absolutely true, I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Then let's go quickly and have a full meal before dying!" The people down the well were overjoyed. They didn't expect such a good thing to happen.

"Hurry up! If you go too late, you won't be able to drink the porridge, which will be a big loss!"

"Come on, come on, after I finish the porridge, Master Ninja can chop me alive!"

"Dad!" the second son said carefully, "Big brother rolled his eyes!"

Hearing this, the man in the well squatted down and slapped his eldest son a few times. In an instant, the eldest son came back to his senses.

"It's okay, let's go!" someone in the well said impatiently.

Eldest son: “….”

Second son: "......"

Childhood friend: “….”

That night, the three members of the Jingxia family drank a bowl of porridge. Of course, porridge was what the adults of the Konoha ninja called it. They called it rice in the Jingxia family, and the meal was more sumptuous than that during the Chinese New Year.

The standard that Kakuei Konishi gave before leaving was that the porridge should be thick enough to hold chopsticks. The Konoha ninjas did not know how precious food was, and seeing how pitiful the disaster victims were, they simply closed their eyes and added more rice.

"Everyone, don't leave after you finish eating. There's work for you to do!"

In the well, he smacked his lips and looked at the ninja with white eyes and shouted hard, knowing that he had to pay back his debt. How could he eat porridge for free in this day and age?

And looking at the situation, it seemed that they were going to be buried alive, but they were not afraid in the well and drank a big bowl of porridge before dying. What a great profit!

"All of you adults should go chop down trees, and then work hard to split them into planks so that you can build a shelter tomorrow."

"what???"

Shelter from the rain? Shelter from what rain? Even the dead need shelter from the rain? Are all the ninjas in Konoha so particular?

"Don't just stand there! Everyone, work hard. Anyone who dares to be lazy will have no porridge tomorrow morning!"

"Ah???" The victims were even more confused. There would be porridge tomorrow? If you said that, I wouldn't be sleepy anymore!

A brave disaster victim asked: "Won't the adults kill me?"

"Why should I kill you?" Hinata Munezane asked in confusion.

"We drank porridge, isn't that the last meal for execution?"

Hinata Muneshi said with a smile: "It's not the last meal for execution. If you work hard, you will have porridge every day!"

"really?"

"real!"

The victims are very excited. They have porridge to drink every day. Is this what the lives of those old men are like?

In the well, the man excitedly grabbed his eldest son's hair and shook it constantly. The youngest son stood aside and didn't dare to say a word. He was not stupid, and he quietly moved away from his father.

The victims mustered their courage and rushed to the forest which had been bare for a long time. They trampled down the trees one by one and soon turned them into wooden boards.

Jingxia took his two sons to join the logging army. Although the Konoha Ninja said that adults should cut down trees, what if the children don't work and have no food to eat?

Hinata Muneshi was originally worried that these disaster victims would not work hard, but he was shocked when he saw it with his own eyes: some disaster victims did not have axes, and even used human wave tactics to break the trees...

When Minato Namikaze rushed to the New Rain Country, all he saw was a large bare expanse of land and a simple wooden shelter. As for the disaster victims that Konishi Kakuei mentioned, who were naked and eating each other, he never saw them at all...

"What's going on?" Namikaze Minato asked, grabbing Hyuga Munezane who was busy as a madman.

"Good afternoon, Deputy Hokage! We are building a shelter. There is too much rain in the Rain Country, and being constantly exposed to the rain can easily cause illness." Hinata Munezane replied.

“…”

"Why are the children working there?"

"I told them not to do it, but I couldn't control it. They said they would die if they didn't work..."

At this moment, a sharp bamboo whistle sounded, and the victims immediately put down their work and lined up consciously, holding their tattered bowls, waiting for today's lunch.

Namikaze Minato curiously came forward to check the food, and found that it was thick porridge. He couldn't help but ask: "Why is the porridge so thick? It will take some time for the food to arrive in the village, so we should save as much as possible."

Sakata wiped his sweat and ran over from a distance, explaining: "Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I have destroyed all the granaries in Futian Town. There is enough food for the time being."

"How much food can Futian Town have? Isn't this nonsense?"

"You're right, there are actually one million tons of grain in Futian Town! They have had bad intentions for a long time, otherwise why would they store so much grain?" Sakata said with a smile.

"..."

Futian Town is an important commercial town, and its main commodity is grain. Merchants from the Fire Nation can make several times the profit from reselling it, so of course there is a lot of stored grain.

"Asshole!" Namikaze Minato blushed. He never expected that his subordinates would be so outrageous. "He is an honest businessman who pays taxes on time! How could you steal food?"

Sakata scratched his head and said, "Hokage, calm down. I wouldn't dare to steal food even if I had ten guts!"

"Where did the food come from? Don't tell me it was donated by merchants!"

"Part of it was donated, and part of it was bought by me," Sakata explained.

"Bought it? I didn't realize you were from a rich family. How much did you spend on it?" asked Minato Namikaze.

“I didn’t spend a penny on it.”

"That's robbery!" said Minato Namikaze angrily.

"No, I wrote them a check and asked them to ask the Hokage for the money."

"..."

"You also know that the victims are starving. How many days' worth of seeds allocated to the New Rain Country will it last? I have no choice but to buy food." Sakata said aggrievedly.

"How much did it cost?" asked Minato Namikaze with a long sigh.

In fact, he was very angry. After all, his ninjas spent a lot of money to buy food without reporting. But when he saw the hungry faces of the victims, all his anger disappeared.

Whatever, it's just some money. As long as we can save the lives of the victims and stabilize the situation in the New Rain Country, what does it matter if we spend some money? Didn't Ye Shan say it himself? Don't worry about these details.

"Based on the calculation of five taels per pound of grain, I wrote them a check for five million taels!"

"What?" Namikaze Minato was shocked. A bowl of ramen in Konoha Village costs one hundred taels. When did food become so cheap?

"How many did you say?"

"Five million taels!"

"Why don't you go and rob! Five million taels to buy one million catties of grain?"

"I also want to rob, but Lord Hokage has already set up disciplines, otherwise we can save five million taels." Sakata said confidently.

Well, it seems that this group of merchants are destined to lose all their money. They can’t even recover their costs by buying a pound of grain at five taels.

But Minato Namikaze didn't want to pursue the responsibility. Konoha had been protecting the merchants as they traveled far and wide for so many years, and they had already made a lot of money. Suffering a loss once was not a big deal.