He is forty-six years old, his arms and legs are buried in the ground, and he has no great prospects in his life. He finally bought a donkey on the back of his granddaughter, but he spent all his money and had to watch the donkey being thirsty again.
Who would feel better if we let go of death?
Moreover, the children of other families run with the cart every day and are as tired as dogs all day long. His family has a donkey cart, and it would be so comfortable for the children to sit in the cart. What if there is no donkey? What should we do if there is no donkey? Should we let them run too?
Mrs. Shu felt uncomfortable, "If you don't know, go ask the village chief and the others and see what happens next.
If there is water, each of us will drink less in the past two days and feed the saved water to the donkey, and we will see whether it survives in the end."
Old Man Shu nodded, "I won't drink water tomorrow. Didn't Ming Li leave two handfuls of sour fruit? If I eat that, it's something that can quench my thirst. It's a waste if I don't eat it all the time."
Mrs. Shu sighed, wiped the saliva from her granddaughter's mouth, and said nothing.
Early the next morning, Old Man Shu went to the river to collect a large basket and came back with some green grass to feed the donkey.
After feeding the donkey, he threw two sour fruits into his mouth and went to find the village chief with his hands behind his back. Halfway there, the village chief led Hu Xianfeng over first.
"I'm here to see your fifth child. Doesn't he have a book with a map in his hand? We want to choose a road with more water according to the map. It doesn't matter if we go far away. We can't make people die of thirst, right?"
When Old Man Shu heard this, he immediately became energetic, "Mingxin is reading under the tree, I will take you there."
It's strange to say that others who fled famine were as emaciated and as miserable as a beggar, but Shu Ming believed it was different. He became stronger even as he ran away.
His face, which was originally as white as powder, has become much darker after being exposed to the wind and sun these past few days. His body, which was too thin, has also become stronger, and he finally looks like a strong and healthy young man.
After hearing the village chief explain his purpose, he immediately took out the wooden box containing the books and took out the book with the map.
Several people squatted together and studied for a while, and found that there were many places with rivers in this area, but they were too far away from their current location. The nearest one was hundreds of miles away.
According to their current pace, it would take about two days to walk hundreds of miles, and they would be there in no time.
The village chief rubbed his face and said with a vicissitude in his tone: "How about we take this road? Now every household still has some water, so we can get by if we save a little."
Old man Shu had something in mind and immediately said: "I'll listen to you."
After confirming the itinerary, the village chief called everyone together again by banging his broken gong, and announced the news that mouths might catch fire in the next two days, so that everyone would have a warning and drink less.
As soon as she finished speaking, Mrs. Zhang started coughing, making her face turn red from holding it in.
The village chief raised his eyebrows and glanced at her: "What do you mean? Do you have any objection to what I said?"
Mrs. Zhang shook her head and said in a hoarse voice: "No, I just drank a large bowl of water to see if I could cough it up."
If she had known that the water shortage was so severe, she would have endured it and stopped drinking.
Village chief: "...there's something wrong."
At this time, Mrs. Tian, the village chief's sister-in-law, said: "Are you sure you can find water tomorrow night? I only have a little water left in my house. If I don't find it again, I will die of thirst!"
"Are you sure? I'm not a Daluo god. I have clairvoyance and ears for the wind. I can see things hundreds of miles away. How can I be sure whether there is water in that river?"
The village chief reacted very quickly. He couldn't let anyone take the blame at this time. Otherwise, if he didn't find any water when he turned around, a group of people wouldn't be able to eat him?
However, there are still some words that should be advised: "That river is the nearest big river to us. If the water there dries up, there will be no water in other small rivers and ditches.
Don't look at the twists and turns around here, but there are actually only one way to survive, so don't say anything and just keep moving forward."
Shu Pingyang dragged his daughter-in-law back and scolded: "Just follow the elder brother. Why are you asking those useless people? If our family doesn't have water, other families will have water?"
"I believe in the village chief. He always considers everything he does. After so many years, can we still not believe in his ability?"
Another family in the village named Shu, Shu Yongfeng said.
"Village Chief, I also believe in you. No matter it is good or bad, we will follow you!"
Other people also expressed their attitude one after another, saying "I believe in you" one after another, which moved the village chief to tears.
These five words may sound simple, but they are as heavy as a thousand words when they fall on your shoulders. Everyone is betting their lives on him!
The village chief glanced at the familiar faces with blurred eyes. The past few days of living in the open air had made everyone lose weight and go through many vicissitudes of life. Especially some of his peers, who had aged by more than ten years.
But no matter they are old or young, everyone's eyes are bright and fiery, filled with desire and yearning for life.
Live! Live with this group of people!
This sentence echoed repeatedly in the village chief's heart, and finally merged into a resounding slogan.
"Don't worry, everyone, I, Shu Pingtai, will take you out of this dry land even if I risk my life!"
Get out there and live.
These six words became everyone's goal. Everyone stopped complaining, prepared breakfast, packed their luggage, and everything returned to normal.
Old man Shu walked around in a circle and returned to the place where the donkey cart was parked. He grabbed a handful of grass and stuffed it into the donkey's mouth, "Eat, eat more, and try to survive for two more days. If you can survive this, I will
I’ll cut you the tenderest and most delicious grass every day.”
The donkey brayed a few times and turned its head away, unwilling to eat.
The main reason is that Shu Mingren and Shu Mingli cut a basket of grass for it respectively. A donkey ate three baskets of grass, and it was really exhausted after eating more.
The key point is that old man Shu didn't know about this. He thought it was so thirsty that it didn't even want to eat grass. He sat down on the ground and wiped tears from his red eyes.
Old Man Tang, who was walking with his hands behind his back, happened to see this scene and taunted him in a weird tone: "In this world, people can't live anymore, and you still have the mood to mourn for a donkey? If you are full and have nothing to do, come here
Give me the cart."
"I pushed your seventh uncle's leg!" Old Man Shu turned around and scolded him: "No matter what the heavens are, you have to say something even if someone sheds tears. I think you are the one who is full and has nothing to do!"
Old Man Tang didn't get angry even after being scolded by him. He clicked his tongue twice, stroked his beard and said, "Hey, you can still scold people. It seems like you won't die soon."
Old Man Shu replied: "Don't worry, when you die, even if your bones turn to ashes, I won't die!"
"Tch, with your temper of always crying and wiping away tears, it's strange that you can outlive me." Old Man Tang laughed, with a proud expression on his face, "Didn't you hear what people say? It takes ten years to smile, but it takes ten years to smile all the time.
May you live a long life!"
The white-haired old man walked away with a big smile. Old man Shu looked at his back, threw away the broken blade of grass in his hand, and smiled.
Well, it takes ten years to smile.
In order to save water, we didn't even cook porridge for breakfast, but cooked yam beans and a small bowl of hot water for each person. We drank both together and that was it.
Old Man Shu didn't even drink half of the bowl of water. He took a sip, ate a few sour fruits, and fed the rest to the donkey.