vrcanaries Chapter 287 Dinner in the Temple
Chapter 287 Dinner in the Temple
The little beggars saw that she was so pretty, dressed neatly and cleanly, and had an indescribable aura about her, so they couldn't help but come closer.
Suddenly, all the children in the temple gathered around.
Zhou Guo looked at the people lying on the ground, standing, and sitting. They all came towards her. At a rough glance, there were about twenty of them.
There were two groups of people, one group inside the temple and one group outside the door, staring at each other.
After a while, the other party finally couldn't help asking: "Who are you? What's your name? Have you also been abandoned by your family and are you no longer wanted?"
"No, he is dressed so cleanly and in new clothes. I can tell he is loved by his family. It is impossible that his family doesn't want him. He must have gotten separated from his family."
"Impossible, it's just that the family doesn't want it..."
Before she could utter a word, the people in the temple started quarreling among themselves.
Zhou Guo looked carefully one by one, and had seen almost everything in the temple through the cracks. He didn't find Zhou Su, and he felt extremely disappointed. If he couldn't find her here, he might have to go back home.
She had a feeling that with wars going on everywhere, the North wouldn't be peaceful for much longer. She and her uncle couldn't just leave all the people at home to the Master.
She looked at these people and asked the same question she had asked countless times along the way, "Have you ever met a child named Zhou Su? He's about four years old and about this tall. Have you seen him?"
Everyone shook their heads, "Who is he to you?"
Zhou Guo pursed his lips and said, "He is my brother. I have been looking for him all the way."
"I... we haven't met before. Did you walk a long way by yourself? Are you here to look for your brother? Where are your parents and family? Are they gone too?"
"Why are you here alone to see your brother? Where are you from? How old are you?"
Everyone was extremely surprised when they saw him, a seven or eight-year-old kid, saying he was looking for his younger brother. In this day and age, if a child got lost, how could his family come to look for him?
Many of them have been separated from their families, and no one has ever looked for them, not a single one.
Zhou Guo sighed and looked at the sky outside. The sun was about to set and he couldn't go into the county town. He could only spend the night in this temple.
Looking at the children, he asked, "They say there's a war going on here, why don't you run away like them?"
"Where else can beggars like us go? Here we have a temple, which is like a home. In other places, there is no place to stay. We are chased away wherever we go."
"Yes, those people in the war will not want beggars like us because we are too young. In fact, we really want to join the army. At least we can have enough food and get clothes. It is much more comfortable than being a beggar. We don't have to worry about freezing to death in winter."
Zhou Guo asked: "You all want to join the army?"
After saying that, he looked at them and stopped at the group of people who were well-dressed.
Some of the other children nodded.
Some shook their heads and said, "I don't want to go. I still have to wait for my parents here. They will definitely come to find me. I don't want to join the army. I will just wait here for them to come back."
The little beggars nodded one after another, their eyes sparkling, "Anything is better than being a beggar. Soldiers can still get food to eat, but we don't even know where our next meal is coming from after we eat one."
Zhou Guo glanced at them. All of them had sunken cheeks. The oldest was about the same size as Zhou Mai, and the youngest was even smaller than Zhou Su.
His eyes looked particularly large when his face became thinner. He didn't know how long it had been since he had a full meal. "How many days have you not eaten?"
The little beggars laughed and said, "We have eaten all these days. Yesterday and today we dug up some wild vegetables and grass roots. We ate some and there is still some left. We will not be short of food these days."
The other children who had just been stranded in the temple for a few days all had bitter faces when talking about food. Although their families were not well off when they were young and they had to eat coarse food for two or three months a year, generally speaking they ate much better than they do now.
I have never eaten tree bark or grass roots. I have tried not to eat for these days. If I was really hungry, I would just eat some wild vegetables to fill my stomach.
Zhou Guo understood that only these things were edible.
She looked toward the east of the mountain. There was a small county town with the city gates tightly closed. In the afterglow of the setting sun and the golden glow, it looked deserted, like an isolated island lost in troubled times.
Someone whispered in my ear, "The city gates are only open for an hour or so at noon these days. The war is raging in the neighboring county half a day away. A lot of people came yesterday. They arrested any men they saw in the city, saying they were going to take them to the army. When those men heard they were going to be soldiers, they refused to agree, and their families cried as if someone had died."
"Yes, yes. I heard that the fight started in other places and reached the next county a few days ago. I estimate that it will reach our side in two days. So many people were arrested yesterday. In the past two days, many people left the county with their families. Several villages outside the city are empty. They are afraid of being arrested."
"Are you going into the city? Let me tell you, there are no people in the city. Don't go in. Be careful that you may not be able to get out once you go in. Many people are running away. How old is your brother? Little beggars like us can't do anything else, but we are good at running away. Even if the city gates are closed, we can get out."
Zhou Guo looked at the small county town and thought, since he was already here, how could he not go?
At this time, they were about to have dinner, so he asked her, "Well, have you eaten yet? If you don't mind, let's eat together."
Zhou Guo agreed and went into the temple out of curiosity.
They built a stove with stones and a broken pottery jar that they picked up from somewhere. It was quite large and they filled it with half a pot of water. They also threw the wild vegetables and grass roots they dug into the stove without washing them or not.
After a while, one of the oldest children said, "Okay, you can eat now. Bring your bowls."
Zhou Guo took a look and found that every child had his own bowl, even those who had just arrived, but they were all broken.
Some have gaps, some big and some small, and some can even only hold the bottom of a bowl.
The children swarmed over with their bowls in hand, looking happily at the pot. She noticed that those children who had just arrived had sad faces but were still standing behind with their bowls in hand, with firm steps.
The girl in charge of serving meals was not much older than her. Although she was dressed like a boy, she could still recognize her at a glance.
Although there is a lot of soup in this pot, there are also many people.
The little girl only gave each person a spoonful. Those with bigger bowls were given more soup, and those with smaller bowls with holes in them were given a few more vegetables.
The children were all well behaved and didn't complain. When they got their food, they would just walk away with their bowls and sit aside to eat slowly.
After everyone had finished, the little girl looked at Zhou Guo and asked with a smile, "Where's your bowl? Take it out."
"Ah?" Zhou Guo subconsciously touched the bowl in his bag, "No need for that."