Old Man Shen was the first to walk over to the side of the iron pot. Seeing the snow-white rice inside the iron pot, he was overjoyed and said, “Could it be that this isn’t an ordinary big iron pot, but the legendary treasure basin?”
Hearing this, Old Lady Shen squinted her eyes with a smile and said, “Guibao really is our Shen family’s little lucky star! If Guibao hadn’t found this iron pot… no, treasure basin, we would definitely have starved to death!”
After saying this, Old Lady Shen lowered her head to nuzzle against little Xihe’s cheek, wanting to share in a bit of her precious granddaughter’s good fortune.
Hearing her grandparents’ words, little Xihe immediately explained, “Not a basin, it’s a pot spirit!”
“Pot spirit?” Hearing these words, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen looked at each other in shock.
Old Man Shen immediately looked at the rest of the Shen family and said, “All of you keep your mouths shut tight! You are not allowed to speak of this matter to anyone! Do you hear me?”
Everyone in the Shen family nodded.
Even Wang Juhua, who was usually the most foolish and confused, nodded obediently.
Because she knew as well that if outsiders learned their Shen family possessed such a good thing, it would definitely be stolen away, and then they would starve to death!
Only after Old Man Shen finished speaking did little Xihe rub her hungry, shriveled little belly and continue, “Guibao said my tummy hurt from hunger, so the kind-hearted Pot Spirit Brother gave Guibao a bag of rice.”
If this were before the flood occurred, for little Xihe to say such a thing, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen would surely have been terrified, and might even have searched for a Taoist priest to perform an exorcism.
However, they were now on the verge of starving to death. Since this “pot spirit” was willing to give them rice, it was not a monster, but a benefactor to everyone in their Shen family… no, a spirit benefactor.
The rest of the Shen family were also very grateful to this “pot spirit.” With this bag of rice given by the “pot spirit,” they no longer had to worry about starving to death!
Wang Juhua, unable to help herself, swallowed her saliva while looking eagerly at the snow-white rice in the pot, saying urgently, “Stop talking about all that, quickly cook this bag of rice! Otherwise we’re going to starve to death!”
Hearing these words, Old Lady Shen first handed little Xihe over to her fourth daughter-in-law, Gu Hanmei, to hold. She then personally took the bag of rice out of the iron pot, terrified of accidentally dropping any of the rice inside onto the ground.
Next, Old Lady Shen cautiously poured a small half-bag of rice into the pot, then instructed Shen Qiang and Shen Zhuang to go find some clean water to bring back, and had Shen Fu and Shen Gui go gather some drier firewood to come back and start a fire.
Seeing that Old Lady Shen had only poured a small half-bag of rice, Wang Juhua could not help speaking up, “Mother! Such a tiny bit of rice is simply not enough to eat!”
Old Lady Shen glared at Wang Juhua before reprimanding her, “If we eat it all in one breath, what will we eat for the next meal?”
Wang Juhua muttered in a low voice, “Just have Guibao ask the pot spirit for more!”
Old Lady Shen looked at Wang Juhua in anger and said, “You make it sound so easy. Why don’t you beg the pot spirit to give you some grain! See if the pot spirit gives it to you!”
Wang Juhua fell silent, her mouth faltering, but in her heart she thought indignantly that she didn’t believe only that little girl Shen Xihe could beg for food from the pot spirit and that she, Wang Juhua, couldn’t.
Later, when no one was paying attention, she would secretly beg the pot spirit for some food to eat all by herself!
Lu Zhuoyuan looked at the empty iron pot, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.
He had wanted to check the iron pot just now, but because he was too short, he could only move a chair over and stand on it to look.
However, after looking for a long time, he couldn’t see anything wrong with the iron pot.
Just as he was trying to climb down from the chair, he accidentally bumped the iron pot onto the ground.
He originally wanted to go outside to call someone to pick up the pot, but unexpectedly bumped into a bag of rice nearby that hadn’t been placed securely.
That bag of rice was bumped by him and fell right into the iron pot.
Then, that bag of rice gradually turned transparent right before his eyes, and finally disappeared completely…
This iron pot really was peculiar!