As soon as Gu Xiaobei entered the room, he collapsed on the ground feeling weary. Mrs. Ma enthusiastically boiled water and offered them dry food to eat.
The food was cornmeal pancakes that were quite hard. Nevertheless, to Gu Xiaobei what she served seemed irresistible. He ate until he could no longer breathe properly, then took a sip of water to keep the food down.
After devouring two palm-sized pancakes in one go, Gu Xiaobei finally felt like his stomach was full.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, he turned to Mrs. Ma and said, "I was starving. I hope I didn't make a fool of myself."
"No worries at all; we all have tough times on the road," Mrs. Ma said with a shake of her hand and a smile.
"Ma'am, how far is Red Flag Town from here?" Gu Xiaobei asked, setting down his teacup.
