The children's legs were slow, and the mountain road was difficult to navigate. What should have been a journey of two hours to Liu Yang Village ended up taking one and a half hours due to frequent rests.
After the father and daughter of Mo Family brought the children back home, the likes of Lixiu, who had worried all evening and refused to go to bed, could finally set their minds at ease.
Having eaten only in the morning, the children were ravishingly hungry. They had trekked such a distance, sustained solely by the thought of soon seeing their families. Now, safely back in the village, they were all clamoring with hunger.
Lixiu's nephew and she headed to the kitchen and made a pot of steaming dough drop soup. Served in a basin, each child was ladled a generous bowl. While they were eating, Mo Yan and the others went around the village to inform the relatives of the children.
