When the fourth period finally ended, it was time for lunch. Many of the children who lived nearby went home to eat. Those who lived far away, like Yuan Si, took out their packed lunches and began to eat at their desks.
Yuan Si, Li Fangping, and Li Zhaohe gathered together. The day before, Li Fangping had gone home and bragged to her brother that she had gotten a vegetable bun for lunch. As a result, Li Zhaohe wasn't running around today. Instead, he stuck close to his young aunt like a little monkey, hoping to get a vegetable bun for himself.
Children these days lacked food and clothing. Although this year's harvest had been much better, they had just gone through a famine. Many of the elderly were traumatized by hunger and didn't dare to eat freely, even with grain in hand. They feared that heaven might turn a blind eye again and send another drought or some other disaster. So, families were still scrimping, rationing out thin, watery cornmeal mush every day.
