Chapter 178 The Most Difficult Time Is Over

“Sir, we wouldn’t do this if we weren’t forced to. Don’t worry, the villages around here are in the same boat. We heard there was relief grain, but when we got there, there was no relief grain at all, not even a blade of grass.” An older man, holding a large broom, looked at the officers with a distressed expression.

“From last summer to this year, I have distributed relief grain four times in total. I distributed it according to the population, so how could you not have received it? Don’t you all have household registrations?” The potatoes, sweet potatoes and other grains that Lu Zhining distributed before were all distributed according to the population, so it’s impossible that you didn’t receive them.

"No, that won't do. Without a household registration, you could easily get arrested. In our village, even a little baby gets registered after six months." The old man quickly shook his head. It's not easy to live without a household registration these days; you could easily be arrested as a spy.

"Then there's only one possibility: your relief grain has been taken or withheld. We need to investigate this thoroughly. But you have to tell the truth and make sure you received the grain or not." This was the only thing Lu Zhining could think of right now. He wondered which heartless bastard had withheld their relief grain without regard for the lives of the people.

"I swear on the lives of my whole family, no one in our village has received any relief grain. Please, sir, help us..." The old man was extremely agitated. He had never lied in his entire life, and it was impossible for him to deceive these soldiers who were defending their country.

"I understand. I'll have them investigate thoroughly. The relief food should be in your hands within two days at most. Don't worry. Getting those children to the hospital is the priority..." Three members of Lu Zhining's team left. One went out to investigate the situation in the village, while the other two followed the old man and the others back to their village to check on the nearby villages. If the situation was true, they would send some relief food to them first.

Lu Zhining checked and found that their grain was destined for this county town. He wanted to see who was behind this.

Lu Zhining, who originally planned to leave after dropping off the relief grain, simply let the soldiers who were escorting him go back first, and quietly stayed behind.

He sent people to keep an eye on the distribution of relief food, and he himself went to the hospital to see if there was any way the hospital could save these children.

"Commander, we've admitted seven children here. These seven are the worst-hit children in the village. One of them is on the verge of death. The doctor has examined these children and they are all severely malnourished. If we don't find a good solution soon, they might not make it in the next couple of days." The young soldier looked at the malnourished children with a heavy heart.

"What did the doctor say? No matter what, we have to treat them, we absolutely have to treat them. I'll pay for the treatment." Upon hearing that there were seven children, Lu Zhining became somewhat agitated and asked the doctor to treat them.

"There's no cooking oil available right now. It would be easier if we had some..." The doctor, having finished examining the children, came out of the ward and looked solemnly at the officer in front of him.

"How many more days can they hold out like this?" Lu Zhiming didn't bring any fuel with the supplies this time, so if they wanted to swim, they would have to call back and have someone bring some more.

"At most four days, and during these four days they need to eat something oily to facilitate the subsequent treatment." That's all the doctor could offer. But these people are so hungry right now, if they don't have anything oily to eat first, the subsequent treatment will become extremely difficult.

"I understand. I have five more lunchboxes here. The food in them is still quite good. It's my wife's New Year's Eve dinner. Let these kids eat first." Before leaving, Lu Zhining was given a few lunchboxes by his wife, who said it was New Year's Eve dinner and told him to share it with these young soldiers.

There's also some minced meat left behind by my niece before she left. Luckily, the weather is like a giant freezer these days, so it can be kept longer after being frozen into ice blocks outside.

The 10 lunchboxes I made this time all contained minced meat, so they were quite oily.

"Thank you, Commander, thank you..." The family members of the patients in the ward were all expressing their gratitude to Lu Zhining, almost kneeling down.

"Don't cry, don't cry. Taking care of the child is the most important thing. I'll call and have someone send it over by mail. Let's heat up the food for them to eat first. We can add more water to it so there will be more soup with oil, which should make them feel better..." Lu Zhining quickly helped the woman up and stuffed the food into the women's hands, telling them to heat up the food for the child first.

After leaving the ward, he used his ID to make a phone call from the dean's office. The call went directly home. He asked his eldest son or younger brother to see how much oil they had and send it over. He explained that there were seven children in this condition, and others in slightly better condition. He asked them to bring whatever oil they could get.

Lu Zhiheng received the call and quickly checked how much oil was left at home, since his daughter had visited before, so there was still quite a bit left.

When Wu Meifang heard that a child needed oil because he had eaten Guanyin clay, she took out a bucket of oil, which weighed about 10 jin (5 catties). She used his ID to borrow a jeep from the business owner and gave him directions before letting him take the jeep. They sped off to where Lu Zhining was.

Because their condition was so serious, they had to be sent to a hospital in the city. Lu Zhining accompanied them all the way and paid for their medical expenses.

After a long journey to the city, we finally found a doctor who could treat this disease. Within a week, all the children were discharged from the hospital. For those at home whose conditions were milder, they only needed to follow the doctor's instructions to expel the soil from their stomachs quickly.

The women listened very attentively to the doctor. The doctor was very attentive and asked them if they had learned it. He asked them to demonstrate and correct any mistakes on the spot.

After thanking the doctor profusely and apologizing, Lu Zhining drove them to the village entrance. By the time he finished dealing with the children, the relief food had already been distributed. Sure enough, the old man's village hadn't received any. Was there really no one to inform them that there was relief food available?

In other words, the people above have forgotten about the three or four villages on their side.

Lu Zhining repeatedly confirmed that the population they reported included the four small villages near the old man's place. These four villages together had about 1,000 people. At this moment, their quota had been reported, but the supplies had not yet reached them.