Chapter 823 - Mother

Chapter 823 - Mother

Six-year-old Miao Guihua lay in bed. Her head felt dizzy and foggy. She was simply too hungry.

At first, she cried loudly out of hunger, begging her mother to find food. After two days, she couldn’t cry anymore. Her eyes were filled with hunger, and her mind was consumed by a single thought—finding something to eat.

There were people in the city, and her mother had carried her around while searching for food. Although she had money, she couldn’t find any food.

They had heard there was Guanyin clay[1] to eat outside the city, so Miao Guihua had gone there with her mother. However, too many people were digging by the river, and the two of them couldn’t squeeze in.

They managed to dig up some grassroots, which ran out eventually.

There were grassroots in other places, but by then, the lack of food had weakened them too much to walk that far.

After being hungry for more than ten days, she became numb. Her stomach no longer growled, and she needed a stick just to walk.

“Mother, I’m hungry...” Miao Guihua weakly called to the woman lying on the ground beside her, but she didn’t respond.

She wanted to cry, but no tears came out. She looked around, then used her fingernails to scrape off some white wall plaster before chewing on it.

Her mother had forbidden her from eating that. However, she was simply too hungry.

The wall plaster tasted bitter and absorbed moisture. After just a few bites, her mouth felt dry.

Guihua picked up a stick from the ground and shakily approached the water jar. She leaned forward into the moss-covered jar and scooped with a gourd ladle, yet didn’t get a single drop of water.

She turned back and weakly called out to the woman on the ground, “Mother, the water’s gone too.”

Guihua still got no response from her mother. She leaned on her stick to walk over and push her mother with all her strength.

Guihua started to panic when her mother still didn’t respond. She had seen adults suddenly stop moving and then never speak again.

In her panic, she hurried to the door to call for help.

A bag flew out from the opening. She heard cries and shouts as everyone rushed over. Guihua tried to see what was happening, but her efforts proved futile.

Another bag flew out, though it wasn’t full. She saw golden millet spilling from it and realized the bags must have been filled with food.

Bag after bag of food fell from the sky, piling up rapidly. Eventually, a man in red came out, holding two bags. Guihua joined the adults, kneeling on the ground and bowing to him.

Guihua heard the adults cry out and learned that this man was called Bodhisattva, the one her mother had said could do anything.

Soon, the deity came over, helped her up, and handed her a bun. Guihua forgot about everything else and started to devour the bun.

She had finished half of it when she looked up and asked, “Bodhisattva, can I have another one? My mother is still hungry.”

After she received another bun, she ran to the monk with the wheelbarrow and said, “Master, where’s my mother? I have food now.”

Guihua followed the monk’s trembling hand and ran into the kitchen.

She saw her mother on the table. She climbed onto it and tried to stuff the bun into her mother’s mouth.

“Mother, there’s food now. Eat it so that you won’t be hungry anymore.”

Guihua saw that her mother was still unresponsive. She turned helplessly to the red-robed Bodhisattva at the door. “Bodhisattva, can you help my mother? She’s not eating.”

The deity didn’t move, and Guihua seemed to understand. Her lips trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes. “Bodhisattva, is my mother dead?”

“Child, I’m not dead. I can still eat.”

She looked up in surprise and saw her mother’s eyes open.

Guihua's eyes welled up with tears of joy as she threw herself into her mother's embrace. "Mother!"

1. A type of clay people ate to survive during times of famine. It can curb hunger but cannot be digested by the body ☜