"That's what I said."

"That thing"

Wei Ran smiled before the other party finished speaking, and softened his tone and said comfortingly, "Don't worry, how could Ke Na and I blame you for this kind of thing? Let's talk about these things first, where did you find them?

?”

"The place to find those companions"

Alexander, who grinned with a pair of big teeth, immediately said, "They lived in a bombed-out apartment a street away. When we found them, they relied on this stove for heating. We almost wasted money trying to carry it back.

It took a whole day of strength.”

"The carbide lamp was also discovered together?"

Wei Ran continued to change the topic and asked, and at the same time he took the carbide lamp in Alexander's hand. Although he had heard of this thing before, this was the first time he had seen it in real form.

"right!"

Alyosha immediately came up to take credit and said, "I found it. I found it in the boiler room of that building. It was placed in the boiler room at that time."

"Victor!"

Before Alyosha could finish his words, Kona, who hurriedly climbed up from the basement, shouted, "Come and take a look."

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran immediately returned the carbide lamp in his hand to Alexander, and walked into the cement house and then into the basement surrounded by the children.

At this time, in the basement, there were two little guys, one on the left and one on the right, shaking their pedals to provide power to the car lights hanging above their heads.

It was through the light of this car light that Wei Ran also saw seven strange little guys lying side by side.

The eldest among these frighteningly thin children is a little blonde girl. She has large frostbite on her face, ears, hands and even feet, but there is a matchbox on the back of her hand.

Burns and scalds of all sizes.

In addition to this girl, the other six little ones are also boys and girls. These children are all without exception. They all have large and small patches of chilblains on their bodies, and like the little girl, they all have runny noses, and they all have runny noses from time to time.

, and would cough a few times.

"They all have a cold," Kona said worriedly, "and they all have a fever, Victor, what should we do?"

“Not a big problem”

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment and asked the blonde girl who looked the oldest but was equally worried and panicked, "What's your name?"

"Lesia" the blond girl responded weakly.

"Where are your parents?" Wei Ran forced himself to ask a question that he shouldn't have asked.

"Dead" Lesia paused, "or went to the front line."

"What is the relationship between the other children and you?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"We all lived in the same apartment," Lesia explained. "The apartment was later set on fire by bombs dropped by the Germans. We were the only ones who survived because we helped our families line up for bread."

"Let's live here"

Wei Ran thought for a while, then whispered into Ke Na's ear, "Get some hot water and let them wash their hands, face, and feet. This can warm up their bodies. Also, remember to give it to them first."

Everyone will have a cup of hot honey water, and I will take advantage of this time to find something to treat their colds."

"Leave it to me!" Kena immediately nodded and accepted the job.

While the eldest sister took the rest of the children to take care of the new friends, Wei Ran also left the concrete house and walked into the ruins of the school cafeteria accompanied by the setting sun. He found a corner leeward and took out a bag full of

I took out a basket with kitchen utensils and some ingredients, dug out a piece of old ginger the size of my palm, and took a piece of brown sugar the size of a goose egg and wrapped it in a handkerchief.

When he put away his backpack and returned to the basement with brown sugar and old ginger, Lesia and other children not only had a random-colored Budyonny hat on their heads, but they also each received a bottle filled with hot water.

The tin buckets were sitting in a queue on the bench, each holding a cup of honey water to soak their feet.

"Alexander, you guys come here to help."

Wei Ran first put the things in his hands on the top shelf, and then called a few older children over to help carry the small cast iron stove that was still on the sledge truck into the basement, replacing the original one.

of stove.

It was obvious that when they saw this stove, which could be regarded as dependent on each other, being lit, the faces of the children headed by Lesia also showed a trace of relaxation.

Seeing this, Wei Ran smiled innocently, found an enamel pot and put it on the stove. Then he cut the piece of old ginger into shreds, threw it into the pot together with the piece of brown sugar, and added hot water.

"We don't have enough bread tonight," Ke Na leaned close to Wei Ran and whispered, "We can only use our reserves."

"How much more pork skin jelly is left?" Wei Ran asked while busy making brown sugar ginger tea.

"Originally there was enough for tomorrow morning, but now there is only enough for tonight."

Kona paused, "But we still have three horse hides. If you can come back early tomorrow, you can make more."

"You go and cut the bread."

Wei Ran paused and added, "You should come back early tomorrow and we can take a group photo together. After all, there are more people, right?"

Hearing this, Ke Na was stunned, then nodded with a smile, "I will come back tomorrow with everyone's rations."

Not enough chocolate now

Wei Ran murmured to himself after waiting for Ke Na to go upstairs, and silently gave away his share of chocolate to the children.

Now he was just lucky that there was still a lot of honey in the oil drum in the metal book that could be used as emergency supplies.

Before dinner that day, Olga sang a Katyusha song to Wei Ran, accompanied by Kona's bayan, and the chorus that followed also made the faces of the children headed by Lesia

Revealing a trace of vitality.

After the concert before the meal ended, each child received a sweet and spicy brown sugar ginger shredded tea in addition to the usual broth and aspic, before the honey water.

After drinking this cup of ginger tea that made them grin, beads of sweat broke out on each child's forehead. By the time the second cup of brown sugar water, which was slightly hotter than usual, was given to them, Alexander had already heated up his cheeks.

All the cotton clothes were taken off.

While the children were lining up to shake the generator and listen to the radio as usual, Wei Ran also fumbled to light the carbide lamp.

When the bright white firelight illuminated the basement, he also asked Kona to find the little girl named Lesia.

"What's the matter with the burn on your hand?"

While Wei Ran was asking, he had already dug out the medical bag he had picked up and found a small tube of burn ointment inside.

"It burned me"

Lesia pointed to the stove next to Wei Ran, "I was so hungry that I fainted when I was adding coal to the stove, and my hand happened to be pressed on it."

Looking at each other with Ke Na next to him, Wei Ran carefully applied burn ointment to the particularly calm girl's face and gave the remaining ointment to her.

Glancing at the steadily burning carbide lamp hanging on the chimney, Wei Ran and Ke Na looked at each other, and the two walked out of the basement one after another.

"Seven more children," Wei Ran lowered his voice and said.

"yes."

Kena was silent for a moment, "How long can our food last?"

"It won't be a problem to drink the broth for a month, but those sausages won't be enough for a week at most."

"Where are the honey and chocolate?" Kena asked tentatively.

"With the current consumption, the honey will last for less than half a month, and the chocolate will be eaten in a week at most."

"So we follow current consumption."

"Ten days, our food can last for ten days at most, and then we have to live on black bread and broth every day."

Wei Ran said, pointing to the firewood against the wall, "Although we have just changed to a smaller stove, the firewood can only burn for ten days at most. As for the fuel, they might be able to burn for four."

Five days.”

"We can't venture outside the city."

Kona said suddenly, "We can't risk going outside the city for fuel and food, Victor, we now have 23 children to take care of.

This is as dangerous as standing on the ice of Lake Ladoga in spring. No matter you, me or Alexander, something goes wrong with Alyosha. Without any strength, none of us may be able to survive.

So from now on, we must be more cautious and frugal."

Hearing this, Wei Ran was silent for a moment and then nodded, "I understand. Also, Kena."

"What?" Ke Na turned to look at Wei Ran.

"Don't forget, you are still a child." Wei Ran couldn't help but remind him.

Kona smiled brightly when she heard this, "Maybe, but I am still a member of the Communist Youth League and a resident of Leningrad. Galina and Anastasia even regard me as their mother, so

I have to take care of them like an adult."
Chapter completed!