What’s amazing is that after Wang Juan said this, everyone was chatting about a happy topic, but no one spoke anymore.
After about ten minutes, Wang Juan asked again: Does anyone have extra clothes? The weather is a bit cold.
And then, nothing happened. There was no more sound in the group.
Liu Qiaoer casually tied her hair into a bun at the back of her head, got up to wash, then went downstairs to warm herself a cup of milk and ate a piece of bread.
Suddenly, I saw someone in the group reply: "Donating food and materials is voluntary. You can't say who has more food stored has to donate more. You are blackmailing me morally."
Liu Qiaoer snorted coldly and put the phone on the table.
I took two eggs and some ham from the refrigerator, fried two eggs, added the ham, and mixed them with two leaves of lettuce and half a cucumber. It was a pretty good meal.
Looking at Lu Ming again, he was exercising in the room, walking around with a cane, holding a mobile phone in his hand, and replying to messages.
Seeing Liu Qiaoer eating, he hesitated for a moment and came to the opposite side of Liu Qiaoer.
"Wang Juan came to deliver supplies today out of kindness. You shouldn't treat her like this."
Liu Qiaoer raised her eyelids and glanced at Lu Ming: "I don't need her things. Besides, I didn't ask her to send them."
Lu Ming frowned: "She has a hard time being a volunteer."
Liu Qiaoer took a bite of bread and sneered, "Really? Then why did she ask me if I needed it before she came?"
"I came here without saying hello and refused her supplies, and she went around telling people that my family doesn't lack food?"
"Is this something a qualified person would do? I think she is just too idle."
Lu Ming looked at Liu Qiaoer. Although he lived here and Liu Qiaoer provided him with food and clothes and took good care of him, he always felt that she was cold and difficult to get along with.
“Maybe people get along with each other in different ways.”
Liu Qiaoer sneered faintly: "No, people should have some sense of boundaries when getting along with each other. Wang Juan ran around everywhere when she came to my house for the first time. To be honest, I don't like it. Would you go to a neighbor's house and look around without permission?"
Lu Ming shook his head gently: "No."
Liu Qiaoer spread her hands and said, "Look, this is not about different ways of getting along, but about different personal qualities. To put it bluntly, she is just uneducated."
"Before coming, she had to call me first to ask if I was short of supplies. When I was not short of supplies, she still left things for me. What did she mean by that?"
Liu Qiaoer chuckled: "She just wants to see you, but I just cleaned the house yesterday and don't want her to come in. Why? Is it not okay?"
Lu Ming lives with Liu Qiaoer. He is very diligent. He washes his own dishes and cleans the kitchen. He also keeps the house he lives in very clean.
However, Liu Qiaoer always cleans the house again before going to bed every day.
Including the clothes he changed after taking a bath every day, Liu Qiaoer asked him to put them in the clothes basket and wash them after two or three days.
The clothes Lu Ming wears are all given by Liu Qiaoer. In just one week, he has three or four sets of clothes, from underwear to pajamas, to sweaters and thermal clothes, all of which are given by her.
Logically speaking, he was very grateful for the good care given to him in terms of food and clothing, but he had only spoken no more than five sentences to Liu Qiaoer.
We talked the most today, but unexpectedly, we ended up arguing.
Lu Ming couldn't argue with her anymore, so he sighed helplessly: "I'll explain it to her later."
Only then did Liu Qiaoer feel satisfied.
The weather was getting colder and the rain was gradually stopping. Liu Qiaoer knew that they were about to enter an ice age.
Liu Qiaoer took out her cotton-padded clothes. There was a layer of warmth outside her house, which she made specially. Therefore, if Lu Ming didn't go out at this time, he wouldn't feel the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors.
Unexpectedly, the next day, Wang Juan came again.
This time it was noon and Liu Qiaoer was not disturbed. She was making lunch for Lu Ming. They had pig's trotter rice and she drank pig's trotter soup.
Just as it was done, there was another knock on the door. Liu Qiaoer motioned Lu Ming to open the door.
Lu Ming was leaning on a crutch and just as he went out, he was discouraged by the cold weather outside.
“It’s so cold.”
Liu Qiaoer brought a down jacket to Lu Ming: "Didn't you check the weather forecast? The temperature outside is almost below zero."
Lu Ming was surprised. He didn't feel the temperature drop in the house, and the temperature in the yard was not very low either. When he came to the door and opened the small door, he couldn't help shivering because of the cold.
"It's you, what's wrong?"
Wang Juan came to give him a cotton-padded jacket: "The temperature has dropped too fast these days, Brother Lu, I'm here to give you a cotton-padded jacket."
When she looked up, she saw that Lu Ming was wearing a down jacket, while in her hand was a black, tattered cotton jacket donated by someone unknown. She suddenly felt embarrassed to present it to him.
"Your clothes are..."
Lu Ming: "They belong to Qiao'er's husband. Isn't her husband in the city? There are clothes at home. I have been wearing her husband's clothes these days."
Wang Juan's face looked a little unhappy: "Second Uncle and Third Grandma are both in the city. I heard that Third Grandma is sick, but she didn't go to take care of her. She stayed at home alone. Humph, it's obvious that she is unfilial."
Lu Ming frowned. "That's not true. It rained so hard a while ago. Even if she went into the city, it would be useless. She might not be able to find anyone. It would be safer to stay at home in case they all come back."
Wang Juan saw that Lu Ming had obviously gained some weight, and the air was filled with the smell of meat.
"Brother Lu, are you eating well? I heard that her family has a lot of food stored. Why don't you persuade her to share some with everyone?"
Lu Ming remembered what Liu Qiao'er said: "No matter how much money you have, donations must be voluntary. You can't use moral kidnapping, and you can't rob the rich to help the poor."
Lu Ming cleverly changed the subject: "Wang Juan, your family is not well-off, right? You are volunteering to save food for your family. If you have a hard time during this period, you can go home and have a rest."
Wang Juan has many brothers and sisters in her family. She has two older sisters and a younger brother and sister. Both of her older sisters are married.
When it started to rain, the two sisters took their children back to their parents' home. At first, they just wanted to check on the situation there, but who knew that the rain would get heavier and heavier and they couldn't go back.
My younger brother is in high school and my younger sister is in junior high school. They are both idle at home during the summer vacation.
Although the grain had just been harvested, there were too many people in the family to support it. What's more, they harvested wheat, and the other things in the house were gone a month after the rain.
No oil, no salt, no seasoning.
Neither adults nor children can stand eating noodles every day.
When Wang Juan was a volunteer in the village, she was the first to receive some supplies. At first, she received some oil, instant noodles and so on. Three months later, even these supplies could not enter the village.
Now her family is the same as all the villagers' families. Apart from rice and flour, everything else is gone. The supermarket in the village has also been sold out. The supermarket owner has started to raise the price, but people still buy these things.
Although every household doesn’t eat well nowadays, they can all persevere.
However, Wang Juan's family has so many people that she can hardly hold on. As a volunteer, she would rather eat out than go home.
Wang Juan's face turned red when Lu Ming hit upon her true thoughts. She became a little angry and embarrassed.
"Brother Lu, you don't have to worry about our village's affairs. The food for your troops is still provided by our village. If you really don't need these supplies, then give them to those who need them."