This way, the clean corn was all placed into hemp sacks by the people brought by Zhang Qianhu.
Lian Manman's family had also prepared hemp sacks, but Zhang Qianhu didn't use them; he had brought quite a few of his own. Each one was of the same size and bore the mark of the soldiery, clearly standard issue for carrying military provisions.
The sacks filled with corn were then arranged in one area by Zhang Qianhu and his men.
Lian Manman watched this all unfold, rubbing her somewhat reddened palms from husking the corn, feeling a involuntary twitch at the corner of her eye. She had a premonition that this corn was soon to be taken away from her, and she would have to be cheerfully unresisting.
When it was nearing noon, the time for lunch, Zhang Qianhu took the initiative to propose that they had brought their own dry food and needed only some hot water from Lian Manman's family.
