Hu Lanfang's crucial responsibility in the community was to oversee civilized construction: the environment had to be clean, food safe and harmless, and ideally, not even a scrap of paper should be on the street, otherwise, the sanitation and cleaning work would incur demerits.
Seeing the unappetizing wild vegetable congee, Hu Lanfang almost felt the urge of a neighborhood committee matron, wanting to immediately issue a citation to Zhang Manzhi with the reason:
Disrupting the civilized city's breakfast initiative! Providing inferior, unhygienic breakfast to citizens!
If Zhang Manzhi had been operating his breakfast stall on her street, he would have been fined into bankruptcy!
Alas, for now, all three of them had to pretend, to impersonate the original bodies.
Thus, they hesitantly picked up their three broken bowls, exchanged glances, and walked towards a secluded spot.
Behind a large rock, out of sight of others, they quickly poured out the dirty concoction.
Gu Zhaobei even meticulously covered it with soil to prevent any suspicion.
Of course, they never imagined that everything they did was observed by Gu Dou, who was trailing them.
Gu Dou followed them with the intention of eavesdropping on their conversation, to see if he was mentioned, and if they planned any punishment for him.
Unexpectedly, Gu Dou saw the six uncle's family of three unhesitatingly discard the precious wild vegetable congee.
Gu Dou initially felt it was a waste; wouldn't it be better to give it to him instead of throwing it away?
But then, a thought suddenly struck Gu Dou: Since the six uncle's family didn't eat the wild vegetable congee, they must have eaten something better.
What could it be?
Steamed buns?
Buns?
Dried meat?
The thought of these delicacies caused Gu Dou's salivary glands to secrete profusely, and his stomach, having just consumed the wild vegetable congee, felt hollow and ravenous again.
Gu Dou continued to squat and observe for a while longer, but he didn't see the six uncle's family eating anything else. Otherwise, he would have jumped out and exposed their hoarding of good food.
After some deliberation, Gu Dou decided that if the six uncle's family was hoarding good food, he wouldn't expose them. He could extort them and have it all to himself.
However, reality disappointed Gu Dou.
Gu Zhaobei's family simply squatted there, as if discussing something in hushed tones, and did not take out anything from their bundles to eat in secret.
Gu Zhaobei's family was deliberately delaying to avoid suspicion by appearing to eat too quickly.
After estimating that they had spent enough time to eat a bowl of wild vegetable congee, the Gu Zhaobei family took their bowls, washed them in the nearby river, and returned them to Zhang Manzhi.
Gu Dou, who had been cowering, fearing that the six uncle's family would cause him trouble, was surprised that after they returned, they not only didn't confront him but also mentioned that Gu Qingcheng was weak from hunger, and did not bring up the matter of him beating her. Gu Dou's heart momentarily eased.
It seemed the six uncle's family had been bullied for so long that they were afraid reporting it would be useless, right?
Gu Qingcheng, after all, was just a girl. She couldn't possibly be as precious as him, the grandson, who was male and could carry on the family line.
The six uncle's family must have weighed their options and could only endure this reality.
Anyway, he had only disciplined her a few times; he hadn't beaten Gu Qingcheng to death. What else could the six uncle do to him?
Even if he did report it, his grandparents would still favor him.
With this thought, Gu Dou felt reassured.
He even gleefully imagined that in the future, he could still target Gu Qingcheng, taking her food and drink for his own use.
Despite his young age, Gu Dou already harbored a malicious heart.
Of course, this was also related to his parents' long-term bullying of Old Sixth Gu's family; he had become accustomed to it, seeing it as normal.
"If you've eaten enough, prepare to leave!" httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Old Man Gu bellowed.
After a bowl of vegetable congee, which sufficed to fill their stomachs, the villagers began to pack up and prepare to depart.
The Gu family had six sons. Gu Zhaobei was the sixth, commonly known as Old Sixth Gu.
There were a total of six brothers in the family. The eldest, second, and third had married and had children. The fourth and fifth had not yet married before being forced onto the road of fleeing famine.
As for why the honest and useless Old Sixth Gu managed to marry earlier than the fourth and fifth, that's another story.
Those with their own families had packed their belongings. As for the communal pots and bowls, they had always been left for Old Sixth Gu's family to pack.
Gu Zhaobei, going with the flow, did not want to appear too unusual on the first day. Thus, he called Hu Lanzhi to help him pack.
Gu Zhaobei noticed there was still half a pot of hot water. This was a valuable item. His water bag was empty, and he dared not drink raw river water like others.
In those times, without medicine, drinking raw water and getting diarrhea could be fatal!
So, Gu Zhaobei poured the hot water into his water bag. After finishing, he quickly left.
Old Man Gu, watching from the side, was bewildered. He yelled out:
"Old Sixth, why aren't you carrying the pot and bowls? You're leaving them behind and running off, who are you leaving them for?"
Hearing Old Man Gu yelling at him, Gu Zhaobei suddenly remembered that these pots and bowls had always been their family's responsibility. They had been acting like oxen at home:
Eating grass, but producing milk, willingly exploited.
Gu Zhaobei rubbed his nose and said:
"Father, I need to carry Qingcheng. She's not well and can't walk. With so many people in the family, it's time for others to take turns carrying the pots and bowls."
After speaking, Gu Zhaobei left the dumbfounded Old Man Gu behind, carried Gu Qingcheng, and with Hu Lanfang, quickened his pace.
Old Man Gu was so infuriated that he was beside himself but couldn't speak for a moment.
That's right, these pots and bowls had been carried by Old Sixth Gu's family all along, but it wasn't as if they *had* to carry them!
It was just that they were accustomed to their silent contributions, and everyone took it for granted, considering it their duty.
Seeing his youngest son disappear, Old Man Gu, furious, kicked a pot. Hearing the "clang," he felt distressed again. With his anger finding no outlet, he yelled at Oldest Brother Gu:
"Look at you two idle! Aren't you going to carry the pot!"
With that, Old Man Gu left, hands behind his back.
Gu Dàdà and his wife exchanged glances, unsure why this task had fallen to them. However, seeing their father in a bad mood, they dared not say anything and could only gloomily pick up the pot.
"Father, you did wonderfully! You almost made that Old Gu explode with anger!"
Gu Qingcheng, lying on Gu Zhaobei's back, giggled, feeling immensely pleased.
"Host, you have gained one 'satisfaction point.' Source: Confronting unreasonable authority!"
At this moment, the system unexpectedly emitted a prompt.
Gu Qingcheng hadn't expected that her father's righteous action could also be a source of her satisfaction points.
But then again, it made sense. They were a unified family of three. If her parents were happy, she would naturally feel satisfied!
This was the triple amplification of satisfaction points!
Gu Qingcheng was overjoyed and quickly shared this discovery with her parents in secret.
"Haha, so that's how it is. Then I'll also work hard to help you earn satisfaction points. It means that the three of us in the family should act according to our hearts! If we feel happy, we are satisfied, and if we are satisfied, we get satisfaction points!"
Hu Lanfang summarized.
"Although the system's evaluation criteria are difficult to grasp, whenever we encounter something, we should just follow our feelings. Let's do whatever makes us happy!" Gu Qingcheng said.
"Okay, understood." Gu Zhaobei and his wife nodded.