That evening, they once again stopped in an open field.
As they drew closer to West Mountain County, the number of refugees swelled. The bark on the trees lining the main road had been stripped clean—a shocking sight.
Fortunately, the spot Uncle Ma had found was near a small river, so at least they weren't short on drinking water.
Every family hurried to build a makeshift stove and prepare a meal.
Seeing that there was water, Mrs. Chen boiled a large pot of it to cook dumplings.
She didn't dare cook the pork-filled ones, instead having Gu Fei secretly bring out the wild-vegetable-filled dumplings to boil two large pots.
Mrs. Chen then sent Gu Fei and her sons to deliver a few dumplings to each family.
The dumplings sent over to Ms. Qian's family were, of course, all for Bao'er alone. Ms. Qian had cooked some mixed-grain gruel, and after scraping the pot clean, she divided it into three bowls: a large one for Gu Zhong, and a small one each for herself and Xing'er.
