On the morning of the second day after the seven children headed by Li Shia joined the big family, the children, who were awakened by the sound of crossfire as usual, gathered in groups under the organization of the little girls Sasha and Olga, surrounding the small tin children.

Tong was busy washing his hands and face.

Then they lined up to receive a piece of chocolate from Wei Ran and stuffed it into their mouths. Then they received a cup of broth with a small piece of sausage. They sat next to each other at the edge of the long table and enjoyed this.

It is definitely a luxurious breakfast in the city.

Whether it was the food that was far above the standard or the news coming out of the simple radio, all of this made the frostbitten faces of Lai Xia and the other children full of expressions of surprise that could not be concealed.

In fact, just this warm and dry basement was enough to surprise them, especially the thick sponge mat under their feet, which made them have sweet dreams when they slept last night.

After finishing the sumptuous breakfast with an involuntary smile of happiness, Wei Ran forced each child to drink a cup of steaming ginger tea, and supervised Lai Xiya as she applied ointment to the burn on her hand.

The sledge dragged Kona away from the small cement house.

"Remember to look for children's shoes today."

Before Kena left the sledge and went to work, she did not forget to say, "Laixia's shoes are all tattered, and some simply wrap their feet in blankets as shoes, and the boy you talked about yesterday

, if he wants to find a job, you can ask him to come to me at the distribution station or to political commissar Yin Liuqi."

"I'll be thinking about these two things."

Wei Ran agreed wholeheartedly, and after the other party had gone far, he immediately got into the basement of the nursing home ruins.

Fortunately, the six mouse traps are still there this time, and two of them contain a fat and scary mouse each!

And when he touched the two mouse cages, the familiar feeling of brain shutdown came as expected. Immediately afterwards, he felt his eyes go dark, and his whole body fell into the basement with a thud.

.

When he regained consciousness again, he found that his ears, nostrils and even the corners of his eyes were itching.

Subconsciously reaching out and touching it, Wei Ran was shocked to find that there was a little blood spilling from his ears, corners of his eyes, and nostrils. Even his throat felt particularly uncomfortable as if something was stuck.

After coughing up a mouthful of thick phlegm mixed with bloodshot threads, Wei Ran stood up unsteadily, but then sat down on the ground because of the dizziness in his brain.

In the basement, which was filled with the stench of corpses, he leaned against the wall to regain his strength. Then he held on to the wall and climbed out with difficulty, carrying the two cages containing rats.

When he followed his memory and found the dilapidated house where the child named Keleluo and his grandfather lived temporarily, he found that the fire in the fireplace had gone out.

Look again at the young man named Keleluo. At this time, he was wrapped in a blanket and huddled in the ash-filled fireplace. His eyes were looking at the sledge that almost blocked the fireplace, and he was still lying on the bonfire.

Old guy on the blanket.

Seeing Wei Ran walk in, this young man, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old, said with a cry and despair, "My grandfather is dead, and I have no family anymore."

"he..."

"We had no firewood to burn last night."

Kelailuo, who was constantly shaking, choked with sobs and said intermittently, "We burned the sledge, but he still froze to death."

After looking at the leaky house, the dismantled sledge with only the blanket left, and the glass cup with about half of the honey left on the fireplace, after a moment of silence, Wei Ran bent down and picked up the fluttering man.

An old guy who has no weight at all and is already frozen.

"Let's go and bury him, and then I'll find you a job."

"You...what did you say?" Kelailuo, with tears streaming down his face, looked at Wei Ran blankly.

"Drink that half cup of honey and come with me."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already left the airy room, put it on his sledge, and dragged it slowly towards the basement where Mrs. Wea and others were buried.

A moment later, Kelailuo, who had a hesitant look on his face, also stumbled out and followed Wei Ran with weak steps. In his frostbitten hands, he was still holding the glass cup filled with honey.

"The distribution station has a job of moving materials."

Wei Ran slowed down, gestured to the other party to sit on the sledge and said, "If you get this job, you will get two hundred grams of black bread every day. In addition, the rats caught in the rat traps will also be yours.

"

As he spoke, Wei Ran handed the other party a cage with a mouse hanging on his waist, "This is yours too, and there will be a cup of honey I promised you later. Also, do you want to take this job?"

?"

After looking at Kai Lailuo who was at a loss, Wei Ran was silent for a moment and said, "If you find a way to survive, that may be your grandfather's last wish, right?"

Hearing this, Keleluo was stunned for a moment, then wiped the corners of his eyes with his frostbitten hands, nodded and replied, "I am willing to go to work!"

"Do you know where the rationing station is?" Wei Ran said and raised his finger to point in the direction.

"I know, I know." Kelailuo nodded.

"After we bury him later, we will go to the distribution station to find a girl named Kena."

Wei Ran said, stopped again, endured the pain, took out the British army's kettle, and filled the cup in the opponent's hand with thick honey again.

"Drink"

Wei Ran licked the remaining traces of honey from the mouth of the kettle, then screwed the lid tightly while smacking his lips, "Carrying supplies is a job that requires strength."

Kelailuo wiped the corners of his eyes again, put the cup to his mouth, and took a big sip, two big sips, and three big sips of honey.

"Can I keep these for dinner?" Keleluo asked cautiously, holding up the remaining half cup of honey.

"Of course," Wei Rankang responded generously. Upon hearing this, the latter immediately held the cup in his hand and covered the mouth of the cup with his other hand.

Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't say much, and took the other person into the basement that served as a tomb. He buried Kelailuo's grandfather with bricks everywhere, and then personally sent the other person to the distribution station and handed him over to the rationing station.

Kona is busy distributing food.

After looking at the glass cup held tightly in the hands of this peer, Kona seemed to know nothing and led Kelailuo to find a middle-aged man who was busy.

Seeing this, Wei Ran left the distribution station with confidence and continued to collect things that could be eaten and burned on the ruins.

Time passed by that afternoon, and apart from a piece of blackened wood on Wei Ran's sledge, the only decent harvest was a few pairs of shoes ripped from the feet of dead people.

With this little gain, he met up with Ke Na, who had finished her work early, but Wei Ran found that standing next to her was the middle-aged man whom she had briefly met before.

"This is political commissar Yin Liuqi," introduced Kona, who was holding a sack in her arms. "Comrade political commissar wants to go back with us to count the children."

After speaking, Ke Na introduced Wei Ran to the other party, "Uncle Political Commissar, he is Victor, he is a childcare worker."

He casually glanced at the sword and shield badge pinned to the inside of Wei Ran's collar. The thin and frightening political commissar took the initiative to salute and said in a relatively loud voice, "Comrade Victor, thank you for your care for the child."

Take care of them!"

"I didn't do anything"

Wei Ran subconsciously responded with a salute, then held the other's hand together and shook it slightly, "Go sit on the sledge, I will take you back."

Hearing this, Ke Na got on the sledge without thinking, but the political commissar waved his hand and said, "Let me go for a walk with you."

"Comrade Political Commissar this time..."

"Do not misunderstand"

Yin Liuqi quickly explained, "My main purpose this time is to check the children's health and decide whether to send them to the rear or stay temporarily."

"Can we leave now?" Wei Ran asked immediately.

"Just preparing"

Political Commissar Yin Liuqi responded, "Our transportation team is getting bigger and bigger. Even the child you sent this morning has taken the initiative to join the transportation team."

"Kailailuo joined the transportation team?" Wei Ran became more and more surprised, "How old is he? And isn't it a porter that you need?"

“16 years old”

Political Commissar Yin Liuqi explained, "He is too thin and has no strength to cope with the transportation work, but he can use a mule, so I plan to send him to the port, where there is a job that is more suitable for him, and at least he can have a full stomach.

too skinny."

"That's not bad..." Wei Ran sighed, "Let's get back to the topic we just talked about."

"As the transportation fleet becomes larger and larger, we also have more transportation capacity to transfer more elderly, weak and sick patients, which requires statistical work, and spring is coming soon, and it is time for children to go back to school.

"

Political Commissar Yin Liuqi took a breath and continued, "We are preparing to open a school in the air-raid shelter. Those children who cannot be evacuated temporarily must at least resume classes. This requires counting the children's age and school age."

"Our current problem is to survive," Wei Ran said matter-of-factly.

"What I'm thinking about is what happens after the material supply is sufficient," political commissar Yin Liuqi said seriously. "Children need to study, and the future of Leningrad must be built by them."

"So they are leaving us soon?" Kena couldn't help but ask.

"At least children of appropriate age should go to school," Political Commissar Yin Liuqi said, looking at Wei Ran and Ke Na, "This way the pressure on you two can be reduced."

"When will the children go to class...or evacuate to the rear?" Wei Ran asked.

“Probably the resumption of schooling will not be carried out until the end of February or the beginning of March.”

Yin Liuqi paused and continued, "Children who are eligible for evacuation need to be decided based on the road conditions and weather on the ice highway. It may be tomorrow...or it may be summer."

"Go sit on the sledge."

Wei Ran suddenly said, "This way we can go faster, and you can save some energy when we come back. To be honest, we also plan to take a group photo of the children before the sun goes down."

Hearing this, Political Commissar Yin Liuqi was stunned, and finally sat on the sledge at Wei Ran's invitation.

Dragging these two light-headed people, Wei Ran immediately quickened his pace and asked a question he was more concerned about, "Commissar Yin Liuqi, what day is it today?"
To be continued...