How to understand Lao Li's sentence "tears in his eyes"

1, those days were hard. For several months, the anti-United forces relied on wild vegetables, grass roots and acorn powder to satisfy their hunger.

This sentence directly describes the difficult conditions of that year.

Zhao Yiman walked into the cooking shed with a bowl in his hand. When people were not looking, he poured the rice in the bowl into the pot and filled half a bowl of potherb porridge from another pot. Lao Li, the cook, saw it clearly. He said nothing, but there were tears in his eyes.

It can be seen that Zhao Yiman cares more about soldiers than himself, shares weal and woe with soldiers in a tough environment and persists in the revolution. Zhao Yiman's spirit touched Lao Li, so there were tears in his eyes. In his tears, there is also pity for Zhao Yiman.