He suddenly announced loudly, “I’ll remind the people who have just come! There are age restrictions for the handouts. Those adults over 16 and under 55 years old, particularly people who are mystic cultivators, body cultivators, or superhumans, are not included in the scope of this handout. So do not waste time trying.”
“Ah?” The woman instantly grasped her daughter’s hand in a panic, whispering, “Yingchun, our ages aren’t within this range, and your younger brother is a mystic cultivator too.”
“Mom, don’t be nervous for nothing. They’re just scaring people. Look at your frail and aged appearance. Who wouldn’t believe that you aren’t 55?” Miss Yingchun squinted her eyes as she peered forward.

  She glimpsed around a dozen enormous rice barrels piled up at the entrance of the food pantry on Xiluo Street. The rice that was heaped up into mountains inside those barrels was plump and eye-catching.

  Eventually, the sun slowly rose up into the sky, and the early spring sunlight thawed the chilliness in the air. By the time it was noon, the temperature had risen, and the crowd started getting a bit agitated.

  “Why is it so slow? Is this line moving at all!”
“It really is quite hot.” A plump old woman pulled at her collar and brushed off her sweat.

  The woman was hot and nervous, causing sweat to bead on her forehead. She undid the two buttons that bound up her collar and looked back very cautiously at her daughter. “Yingchun, will nothing really happen?”
“What can happen, just set your mind at ease.” That young lady called Yingchun commented impatiently, “When we get the rice, we’ll be able to cook a large pot of rice porridge at night. It’ll be even better if we can get several meat mantous.”
It had been so long since the woman had smelled meat, so when she heard her daughter saying this, she felt her mouth watering and swallowed her saliva uncontrollably.

  “Ay, it’s moving, it’s moving. The line’s moving faster.” Several people in front cried out happily and they moved forward with the slowly advancing line.

  “Mom, I want to eat two big bowls of rice at night,” Cong’er said.

  “Okay, okay, okay.” The woman coughed several times as she nodded continuously and said, “Mom will cook it for you, Mom will cook it for you.”
Yingchun was immediately displeased. “What rice, we’re drinking porridge! If we cook porridge with 10 liters of rice and eat sparingly, it’ll be enough to last our family of three for more than a month.”
Cong’er immediately whined, “I just want to eat rice, I want to eat rice, Mom.”
“Okay, okay, okay.” The woman took pity on her son and sighed, “Yingchun, your younger brother hasn’t been able to eat his fill every day. If your younger brother and I can each get five liters of rice today, then our family has to eat a full meal of rice no matter what.”
Miss Yingchun did not utter a word anymore. When she thought of how hard and difficult their days had been recently, she had nothing to say.

  They slowly advanced forward with the line. By this time, several hundred people had already lined up behind them.

  The speed at which this line was moving forward was actually not slow. However, because of their anxiousness from waiting, it just felt like time was passing particularly slowly.

  At this time, as they watched the huge rice barrels getting closer and closer to them, their eyes slowly started to sparkle.

  Suddenly, the woman raised her dirty sleeve and rubbed her eyes vigorously. She blinked her eyes hard in disbelief and opened them again before letting out a sudden shout. “Yingchun, Yingchun come look quickly! Th-That person! The girl sitting there, sh-she? She? Isn’t she the eldest branch’s eldest daughter?”
“What eldest branch?” That young lady called Yingchun promptly goggled after following the direction of her mother’s finger with her gaze.

  #