Lian'er didn't go to Ms. Qian. Instead, she walked over to her mother, handed her the half of a cornbread bun she couldn't bring herself to eat, then covered her face and ran off.
The woman clutched the half-eaten cornbread bun, tears falling like beads from a broken string.
She kept muttering, "Don't blame me, child. I was just trying to find a way for you to live. I had no other choice, I had no other choice—SOB SOB SOB."
"That's a good girl," Mrs. Chen sighed to Gu Fei. "Her devotion alone made that cornbread bun worthwhile."
"If your third brother hadn't turned her down, I really would have bought her to be his wife."
After they finished their dry rations, Uncle Ma discussed the night watch arrangements with Gu Zhang.
Out here in the wilds, there were two main fears: wandering refugees and wolves.
Uncle Ma said, "Each family will provide one able-bodied man. We'll split into two shifts to watch the first and second halves of the night."
