Bao Gu wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, comforting herself that it was as if the County Magistrate had never given her a bun.
At least she had managed to get a bite, which was much better than those starving people who didn’t even get a crumb.
She dried her tears and helped Aunt Zhou up, comforting her, “Aunt Zhou, don’t cry. There will be porridge soon.”
Aunt Zhou sat on the ground, leaning against the stone lion, pounding the ground and wailing, “How can porridge compare to White Flour buns! These heartless people… White Flour buns…”
Bao Gu couldn’t console Aunt Zhou and noticed that despite her loud wailing, Aunt Zhou didn’t shed a single tear.
She decided to let Aunt Zhou cry and waited patiently for the County Magistrate’s wife to distribute the porridge.
After about half an hour, the gates of the County Magistrate’s residence opened again.
Two teams of guards walked out.
Bao Gu and the starving people craned their necks to see the guards coming out of the residence.
The guards didn’t leave but spread out at the gate to maintain order.
Following them were several servants carrying long tables and large pots and wooden barrels.
The steward came out and shouted, “Porridge distribution, line up—”
The crowd erupted in a commotion, pushing forward.
Bao Gu was about to shout, “Aunt Zhou, they’re distributing porridge,” and join the crowd, but she noticed that Aunt Zhou, who had been wailing non-stop, suddenly stopped at the steward’s shout.
With incredible speed, Aunt Zhou grabbed Bao Gu’s wrist and pushed forward with unstoppable force.
Bao Gu’s wrist hurt from Aunt Zhou’s tight grip.
Aunt Zhou dragged her, pushing through the crowd, while people behind them pushed forward, making it hard for Bao Gu to stand.
She felt like she was being crushed, her bones about to break.
In that moment, Bao Gu thought she might not die of starvation in this rare drought but be crushed to death instead!
How could she face her father in the afterlife with such a death?
As she was being squeezed to the point of dizziness and breathlessness, she heard a guard shout, “Line up, everyone line up! Move back—” Aunt Zhou still held her hand, pushing forward.
Bao Gu had no choice but to use her hip to push away the starving people squeezing her, successfully sticking close behind Aunt Zhou.
With Aunt Zhou as a human shield in front and guards pushing people back on either side, the pressure eased, allowing her to breathe.
She looked up and saw a long table in front of Aunt Zhou, with several large pots of white… rice soup?
Bao Gu looked closely and confirmed it was rice soup.
Her eyes widened, and she exclaimed, “Where’s the porridge? Why is it rice soup?”
Before she could finish, Aunt Zhou elbowed her and said to the person in front, “The child doesn’t understand…”
Bao Gu peeked ahead and saw a noblewoman in fine clothes and gold and jade jewelry ladling porridge into Aunt Zhou’s large ceramic bowl.
She thought, this must be the County Magistrate’s wife.
Aunt Zhou thanked repeatedly, “Thank you, County Magistrate’s wife, you’re a living Bodhisattva…”
The steward impatiently waved Aunt Zhou away, shouting, “Next!”
Aunt Zhou elbowed Bao Gu again, signaling her to stay quiet, then walked away with the rice soup-like porridge.
Bao Gu, now at the front of the line, faced the long table.
Bao Gu looked at the fair-skinned County Magistrate’s wife and felt sorry for her earlier comment that might have offended her.
She complimented, “County Magistrate’s wife, you’re so beautiful.”
As she spoke, she saw the County Magistrate’s wife look up at her.
Bao Gu, puzzled, blinked at the County Magistrate’s wife, thinking, “Don’t just look at me, give me the rice soup… porridge!”
The County Magistrate’s wife, seeing Bao Gu’s confused expression, asked, “Young girl, where’s your bowl?”
Bowl?
Bao Gu was stunned, then realized her clay pot for porridge had been broken!
She had nothing to hold the porridge!
Did this mean she wouldn’t get any?
After all her effort to get to the front, she wouldn’t get any porridge?
Bao Gu felt a wave of sadness, her eyes welling up with tears, her lips trembling, almost crying.
The steward impatiently waved Bao Gu away, “Why are you in line without a bowl? Go, go… Didn’t the County Magistrate just give you five White Flour buns? Why are you in line again? Move along—” With a wave of his hand, two guards pulled Bao Gu away.
Bao Gu, who didn’t get any porridge, clutched her hungry, aching stomach and sat on the steps, watching those who got porridge drink it, swallowing her saliva in envy.
The County Magistrate’s wife ladled a few more bowls of porridge, then handed the ladle to a servant and turned to look at the pitiful Bao Gu sitting on the steps.
She asked the steward, “Who is that little girl?”
The steward replied, “Madam, she is the only daughter of Bao Shan, the owner of the Bao Grain Shop in East City Alley.”
The County Magistrate’s wife responded with an “Oh,” and said, “Get a bowl and give her some porridge.”
The steward acknowledged and called over a servant, instructing him to serve a bowl of porridge to Bao Gu.
The servant brought the porridge to Bao Gu and said, “Here, the madam is giving this to you.”
Bao Gu looked at the bowl of porridge with a few old rice grains floating in it, licked her lips, and took the bowl with both hands.
She glanced at the servant, then at the madam who was comforting the disaster victims nearby, and softly said, “Thank you.”
After a moment of thought, she stood up, walked over to the County Magistrate’s wife, knelt down, placed the bowl on the ground, and respectfully bowed her head, saying, “Thank you, madam.”
The County Magistrate’s wife noticed Bao Gu’s clean and neat appearance, unlike the other disaster victims who looked like living ghosts, dirty and disheveled.
She smiled gently and leaned down towards Bao Gu, her red lips slightly parted, saying, “No need to be so formal…”
But before she could finish, Bao Gu had already lifted herself up, picked up the bowl, and gulped down the porridge in one go.
The warm rice porridge eased Bao Gu’s burning hunger, and she let out a long sigh of relief.
She then noticed the County Magistrate’s wife was still half-bent, with her hands extended towards her.
Bao Gu sensibly returned the empty bowl to the madam, stood up, and smiled at the madam, who was now holding the empty bowl with a stiff smile on her face.
Sensing something was off, Bao Gu asked in surprise, “Madam, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you moving?”
The County Magistrate’s wife pursed her lips, swallowed all the words she had prepared to praise her own benevolence, shoved the bowl still stained with rice porridge into a maid’s hands, forced a faint smile, and abruptly turned away, leaving without looking back.
Bao Gu, not understanding the situation, stared in confusion at the back of the County Magistrate’s wife as she walked into the County Magistrate’s residence.
Aunt Zhou suddenly appeared, slapped Bao Gu’s arm, and scolded, “You foolish girl! The madam was lowering herself to help you, and you didn’t even show gratitude or shed a tear to express your thanks. Instead, you handed her the bowl you just drank from. Do you know how precious porridge is now? You should have licked the bowl clean after drinking it. What a waste…”
Bao Gu’s mouth dropped open in shock, unable to close it for a long time.
After a while, she exclaimed, “Lick the bowl clean after drinking the porridge? That’s so unsightly!”
The steward glared at Bao Gu in annoyance, rolled his eyes at Aunt Zhou, and ignored them both.
Aunt Zhou tugged on Bao Gu’s sleeve and said, “Let’s go! Come early tomorrow to wait for the porridge distribution.”
Bao Gu responded with an “Mm,” and obediently followed Aunt Zhou, saying, “The County Magistrate and his wife are good people.”
Aunt Zhou replied, “Yes, everyone is praising the County Magistrate and his wife’s kindness.”
After a pause, she added in a low voice, “It’s just that there’s too little rice in the porridge.”
Bao Gu nodded vigorously in agreement.
The porridge from the County Magistrate’s residence tasted like rice water, even thinner than the rice water she used to make at home.
Of course, since she was drinking someone else’s porridge for free, Bao Gu felt embarrassed to complain.
Following Aunt Zhou through the crowded streets outside the County Magistrate’s residence, they turned into an empty alley.
Aunt Zhou looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then reached into her bosom, broke off a small piece of cake about two fingers wide, and handed it to Bao Gu, saying, “This is from my third daughter. Eat it quickly!”
Having had her bun snatched once before, Bao Gu was afraid someone might take the small piece of cake from her, so she quickly stuffed it into her mouth and chewed hastily.
She almost choked from eating too fast, her neck stretching as she struggled to swallow.
As she looked up at the sky, she unexpectedly saw the sky over the Yunling Mountains outside the city glowing red like it was on fire, with a toad the size of a dustpan spitting fire in the sky!
Bao Gu’s eyes widened in shock, forgetting she was choking.
Seeing Bao Gu’s neck veins bulging, face turning red, and eyes almost popping out, Aunt Zhou raised her sleeve and slapped Bao Gu hard on the back.
Bao Gu was sent flying forward by Aunt Zhou’s powerful slap, and the cake stuck in her throat shot out and fell to the ground.
Bao Gu coughed violently, tears welling up as he looked at the cake on the ground, now covered in dust.
Two teardrops rolled down her cheeks.
Aunt Zhou stomped her foot hard and sighed angrily, “You… you wasted it… sigh…”
She was so mad she wanted to strangle Bao Gu.
Bao Gu coughed for a while, caught her breath, and shouted, “Aunt Zhou, a toad!”
Aunt Zhou’s mouth twitched in anger, and she scolded, “You’re the toad!”
Bao Gu raised her hand and pointed to the sky behind Aunt Zhou, saying, “Aunt Zhou, it’s really a toad!”
Aunt Zhou, thinking Bao Gu was calling her a toad, was about to slap him again.
But then she remembered she hoped her eldest son could marry Bao Gu, who was good at managing household affairs.
She held back her anger, glared at him, and said furiously, “What’s wrong with you? You wasted a perfectly good cake! This was from our family’s rations. You don’t know what it’s like to be hungry! You… you… you make me so mad!”
Bao Gu shouted, “Aunt Zhou, there’s a flying toad in the sky!”
“What? A flying toad!”
“Yes, and it’s breathing fire!”
Bao Gu stared in shock at the fire-breathing toad jumping in the sky.
If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it.
Aunt Zhou thought Bao Gu was mocking her.
She was already fuming, and Bao Gu had just shouted, “Aunt Zhou is really a toad!”
Aunt Zhou was so angry she didn’t want to deal with Bao Gu.
She huffed and turned to leave, but then she saw a giant toad jumping and breathing fire in the sky outside the city.
She grabbed Bao Gu’s arm excitedly and shouted, “Bao Gu, it’s really a fire-breathing toad!”
Bao Gu also grabbed Aunt Zhou’s hand excitedly and said, “Yes, yes! Aunt Zhou, you didn’t believe me!”
