The old Lu family mansion.
Lu Yao, president of the Lu Group, and his wife Cheng Xue both lived here, along with their only son, three-and-a-half-year-old Lu Zhuoyuan.
However, Lu Yao and Cheng Xue were going through a divorce recently and rarely returned to the old mansion, leaving only three-and-a-half-year-old Lu Zhuoyuan and his nanny living there.
In the kitchen.
Lu Zhuoyuan looked in confusion at the Ultraman that had suddenly disappeared earlier and then suddenly reappeared inside his home’s kitchen iron pot, his eyes filled with perplexity.
He knew he was sick.
His mother had taken him to see a doctor, and the doctor said he had autism.
But he remembered that the autism described by the doctor didn’t seem to include the symptom of hallucinations.
Moreover, after the Ultraman vanished, he searched the entire kitchen and couldn’t find it.
He was certain he had opened the pot lid to check if the Ultraman had fallen into the pot, and he was sure it wasn’t inside the pot.
Therefore, it was not his hallucination.
His Ultraman had truly suddenly disappeared and reappeared.
Could it be that his Ultraman had secretly returned to the Land of Light in the M78 Nebula, and then came back to accompany him because it couldn’t bear to leave him?
After walking in the direction of the capital for two days, the Shen family members were all so hungry they could barely walk.
Originally, they could still go to the woods by the roadside to find some wild vegetables to boil to fill their stomachs, but the further toward the capital they walked, the fewer edible things they could find.
This was because the road was filled with refugees fleeing the famine just like them, all having no choice but to dig up wild vegetables by the roadside to eat.
However, there were only so many wild vegetables, which were simply not enough to eat.
Little Xihe clutched her grumbling little belly, blinking her eyes as she was obediently held in Old Lady Shen’s arms.
Hearing her precious granddaughter’s stomach grumbling from hunger, Old Lady Shen felt aching distress in her heart. She looked at her four sons and daughters-in-law and said, “Go look nearby to see if there’s anything to eat, or if you can dig up some wild vegetables to bring back.”
Wang Juhua pressed her stomach, which was hurting from hunger, complaining in a low voice, “Where are there any wild vegetables left! The nearby wild vegetables were dug clean by people long ago.”
Hearing this, Shen Fu glared at Wang Juhua.
He turned to look at Old Lady Shen and said, “Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Fourth Brother, and I will walk a bit further. Maybe we can still find some wild vegetables that haven’t been dug up by others.”
“It’s fine for us adults to suffer a bit of hunger, but we can’t let Guibao starve any longer.”
Old Lady Shen thought so too. Looking at her third son, she nodded, “Mm.”
In the end, everyone returned empty-handed, because there was simply nothing edible nearby; all the edible wild vegetables and wild fruits had been picked clean by the disaster victims who had passed through here earlier.
The Shen family sat together in despair, thinking about what to do next to walk to the capital alive without food.
No one noticed that little Xihe had quietly walked over to the side of the iron pot, putting her hands together to pray, “Pot Spirit Brother, can you transform some food for our family?”
“Guibao is really so hungry, so hungry that my tummy is starting to hurt…”
Just as her words fell, a bag of rice suddenly appeared inside the iron pot.
Little Xihe rubbed her eyes with her small hands in disbelief. Only after making sure it wasn’t a dream did she shout out loudly, “Grandpa! Grandma! Daddy! Mommy! We have food!”
When the Shen family first heard what little Xihe said, their first reaction was that little Xihe might be hallucinating from hunger.
Old Lady Shen walked to little Xihe’s side in distressed concern. Just as she was about to pick little Xihe up to coax her, she saw that there really was a bag of rice inside the iron pot!
Moreover, it was snow-white polished fine rice, without a single trace of chaff or husk!
If this had been before the flood happened, taking polished fine rice to a rice shop in the county seat, one jin could be exchanged for three jin of coarse rice!
With trembling hands, Old Lady Shen reached into the iron pot, picked up a grain of rice, put it to her mouth, and bit it… It really was rice! Not a hallucination!
She immediately turned around to look at the rest of the Shen family, shouting out loudly in excitement, “There really is a bag of rice inside the iron pot!”
Hearing this, all the other members of the Shen family stood up in disbelief.