Ordinary people's rice bowl

Chapter 11 Unpredictable situation
The fiery July can be regarded as a free paradise for the rural children entering the summer vacation. Parents are busy with their own affairs, and the children are free to go to the fields and streams to play wild.

Lying in bed early in the morning is the normal state for children during the holidays. The adults’ catchphrase “The sun rises to three poles high, the children are still asleep”, it means that the adults feel sorry for the children and don’t want to disturb their good sleep.At noon, when it was hot like a steamer, the clear stream at the head of the village was a paradise for children to escape from the summer heat. One by one, they stripped off their clothes and jumped into the stream in groups, like dragons, rolling up and down in the water. , rampant, started a water fight, splashed, and rainbows were reflected in the sun from time to time, colorful, and tired of playing, they covered the whole body with mud, basked in the scorching sun, the mud cracked, and then Jumped into the water again, flushed cleanly, and the children even named it a nice name-Sun Mud Monkey.At sunset, the children scattered to the fields, looked east and west around the ridge of the rice field, and whenever they saw a small hole in the shallow water beside the ridge, they seemed to have discovered something novel, squatted down, and walked slowly. Slowly hang the hook made of needles on the earthworm and insert it into the hole, and after a moment, pull out a large eel with thick fingers from the hole.When the lights were on, the children who had just finished dinner were scattered in the woods around the village. Bunches of flashlights intertwined with each other, and compared their eyesight on and under the trees. Every time the children found a knot monkey, the joy that filled their faces and their hearts naturally flowed out, just like the excitement of a treasure hunter who found a treasure.

Compared with the children in the village, Mu Zhen did not go swimming in the stream, go fishing for eels in the fields, and search for monkeys in the woods. At this time, Mu Zhen was completely immersed in the book borrowed from Ma Sanye. In the ocean, these books not only brought me the witty storylines, but also aroused my infinite longing for the future life, looking for different joys in the books.

In the evening drum and morning bell, Mu Zhen read from classical classics to modern hero stories. Apart from eating and sleeping, she really never left the book.Although sometimes it is unavoidable to see ten lines at a glance, the lifelike characters and soul-stirring hero stories in the book linger in his mind from time to time.He sighed for Guan Gongyi and Bo Yuntian, applauded for the Liangshan hero who donated money for his righteousness, wiped away his tears for the torture of the Communist Party, and gritted his teeth for the corrupt officials in "The Officialdom"...

In the middle of the day, the temperature changes between night and day are almost indistinguishable. Those who sleep on the bed feel that the mat feels as hot as if it has been exposed to the sun. In the era without fans and air conditioners, people endured the high temperature. With merciless torment.

The east was just getting pale, and Mu Zhen got up early because she didn't have a good rest all night due to the hot weather, and sat under her jujube tree as usual. wrapped around him.Through the unobstructed gate of her house, Mu Zhen noticed that the eastern sky was covered with fluffy white clouds at some point, and the bottom white clouds were dyed red. Inadvertently, there seemed to be a raging fire below, half the sky The empty clouds were dyed red, like a blood-stained painting splashed on it, showing people the infinite charm of nature.Such a natural spectacle draws Mu Zhen, who has been obsessed with novels for several days, into a strange fantasy world. In Mu Zhen's eyes, it is no longer a cloud, but a shocking scene with endless changes. , that was the ancient battlefield where Chibi fought fiercely. The soaring flames reflected the thousands of troops and horses fighting, and the blood from the soldiers flowed out into the red river, rolling away, gradually fading away, and the whole scene instantly turned into a flaming mountain. , the Sun Xingzhe was holding a fake plantain fan to fan the flames higher and higher, and he was trapped in it and struggling, unable to extricate himself.A big fireball jumped up from below, and the fire gradually died down, and the clouds in the sky spread out in all directions, like cotton wool scattered in the sky.Just as Mu Zhen was immersed in the beauty brought by nature, a woman's scream of "ouch" suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Aiyo, aiyo..." The voice faded away, Mu Zhen was startled, she came back to her senses, looked out of the courtyard, and saw no one, the voice was just the person who lived in front of the courtyard. The house was in the way, so I ran to the gate and looked around, and saw a woman in a red gown squatting on the side of the road, with her head lowered, her untied long hair hanging down in front of her, covering her face. If it weren't for the red flower jacket, she would have looked a bit like the banshee described in Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio, with both hands hugging her ankles and moaning in a low voice.Mu Zhen wanted to go over to help her, but she was a little scared when she saw her disheveled hair, so she just stood at the door of her house and looked at her from a distance.

While hesitating, a man hurriedly ran from a distance along the road. The man pointed his hand from time to time, and yelled something from time to time. When he got closer, Mu Zhen heard The man shouted: "See where you can go. Your brother gave you to me just to find food. Where else can you go?" Dressed in black coarse cloth, the man walked up to the woman, bent down and grabbed the woman's arm, and pulled her up. The woman bowed her waist and tried hard to break free from the man, but the man refused to budge, and dragged the woman towards the direction the man was running.

Seeing this, Mu Zhen was very puzzled, as if something was blocked in her heart, she didn't want to read any more, so she retreated to the courtyard, the beauty of the clouds that she had imagined just now disappeared, and she sat back under the jujube tree, Get unhappy.

Today looks the same as in the past, younger brother Mu Bao still plays in the courtyard by himself, old Mu went to school, Xiuhua and daughter Mu Yan went to the field to do farm work, Mu Zhen holds a book in her hand, but the thoughts of The shadow of the woman with the disheveled hair is lingering, although the man is not as vicious as in the novel, but the words he said "looking for food" echoed in my ears from time to time, in order to find food, Is it so unreasonable?In the young Mu Zhen's thinking, how could he understand the truth?

It is just in response to the folk proverb "the morning glow does not go out, the evening glow travels a thousand miles", the colorful clouds in the morning heralded the ghost weather today, and the people who went to the fields after a lunch break to do their work have not yet gained a firm foothold, and the sun is still high The sky that was illuminated was suddenly covered by dark clouds surging up from the southwest. With the surge of dark clouds, the air seemed to be possessed by a demon, and suddenly flowed rapidly. People screamed, the small tree on the side of the road bent down instantly, the crown of the big tree seemed to be grabbed by something, and the whole was pulled to one side, and those slightly fragile branches "cracked" and snapped off. In some cases, the entire crown of the tree is cut off and hangs down to the ground, leaving only the solitary trunk standing upright in place, and the big trees with unstable roots are lifted up, and some fall sideways on the road, and some lie on their sides in the field. However, this scene would have chilled the timid, but for Mu Zhen and Mu Bao, it was more of a curiosity. Instead of avoiding it, the two brothers ran outside the gate to feel the blow of the strong wind.With his back to the wind, Mu Zhen saw a figure in the position where the woman was squatting in the morning, waving to him there, and he walked towards the figure in a daze. Pushed by the wind, Mu Zhen's pace continued to speed up, and when he reached When he was there, there was nothing there. He was puzzled and heard his younger brother calling "Brother" behind him. It was too late and then quickly, a wrist-thick branch on a big poplar tree two meters away from Mu Zhen followed "Brother" "Crack" came down, impartially, and hit the head of Mu Zhen, who was in doubt, and Mu Zhen fell down. This sudden change stunned Mu Bao, who was standing not far away, even though he was only six years old. He, however, didn't care about the violent wind dancing, and yelled "Brother, brother" while running and pounced on him.

The wind is the prelude to the rain, the wind stops and the rain comes.The bean-sized raindrops fell, and the face was a little stinging.Mu Bao's cries attracted Sanyuan's attention. He took an old-fashioned umbrella and went to shield the brothers from the heavy rain. Step forward.

When Lao Mu saw the rain-soaked blood, he stood there in a daze, looking at Mu Zhen lying motionless on the ground, Sanyuan glanced at the dazed Lao Mu, and urged, "Hurry up, get the child off." Go to the hospital!"

Old Mu shuddered, and as if he understood instantly, he lifted Mu Zhen from the ground and staggered towards the village clinic.

Summer rains often show the sun in the east and rain in the west, just like the rain just now. As soon as Lao Mu walked to the village, he found that there were not a few drops of rain in the village. The few flower pits that came out made Lao Mu quicken his pace a lot.

When the old man in the clinic saw Mu Zhen who was in a coma, he didn't bother to say a word, and hurriedly disinfected the wound, then put on a simple bandage, and reminded Mu Zhen to be placed on the hospital bed for observation.

After recovering from his breath, Lao Mu remembered to ask about Mu Zhen's condition: "Brother Li, do you think the child's injury is not a serious problem?"

"It's not easy to talk about. Let's rest for a while. It's better to go to the county hospital for an examination when the rain stops." Old Li said with a embarrassed expression.

At this moment, Lao Mu realized that his son’s condition was not that simple. "It takes dozens of miles to the county hospital. How can I find a car on such a day?" He repeated the above sentence to himself.

Old Li seemed to see Lao Mu's difficulty, stopped for a few minutes, and said, "Maybe the child can wake up when the rain stops, if that's the case, but if the child is still unconscious, he must go to the county hospital for treatment." !"

Lao Mu was relieved a lot, stopped talking, and silently retreated to the bedside to look at his unconscious son.

The rain in summer comes quickly and goes quickly. After a violent storm, the rain finally cleared up. A bright rainbow appeared in the western sky. The children who had just hid in the house rushed out to the yard Appreciate the beauty brought by God.Mu Zhen, who was lying on the hospital bed, was still unconscious. Old Li shook his head and sighed, "Brother, I think you should find a car to take the child to the county hospital!"

Old Mu knew in his heart that this was the best way to do it now, "You take care of the child, I'll go find a car!" After Lao Mu finished speaking, he stood up and rubbed his moist eyes without looking back. walked out.

About half an hour later, there was the sound of "da da da" from a distance, and the tractor stopped at the door of the clinic after a while.The driver was Wang Dali, a tractor driver who used to be in the production team in the village. As soon as the car stopped, Lao Mu jumped out of the car and went straight to the clinic. After saying hello to Lao Li, he picked Mu Zhen from the hospital bed. , went out, Lao Li came out closely, saw Xiuhua was already waiting in the carriage, Lao Mu Jiang Mu Zhen carefully handed his son to Xiuhua, after he got into the car, he waved for Wang Dali to start the car. the vehicle.

Fortunately, it was the tractor driver of the production team back then. This tractor, which was usually able to jump up on the country dirt road, was in Wang Dali's hands, but it rushed forward smoothly like an arrow off the string.Xiuhua hugged Mu Zhen tightly in her arms, and whispered Mu Zhen's nickname: "Zhen'er, wake up, Zhen'er, wake up, don't fall asleep..."

After Mu Zhen was sent to the emergency room, Dali who accompanied her bid farewell to Lao Mu and went back to the village. Don’t get angry, if you need money, tell me, I’ll go back to the village and prepare it for you.” At this time, Old Mu repeatedly said, “Thank you! Thank you!”

The two sent Dali to the gate of the emergency building of the hospital, and Dali went back without mentioning it.

After various examinations in the hospital, the doctors determined that Mu Zhen had a concussion caused by a trauma, and that part of the coma was caused by blood in the brain, and suggested hospitalization for observation and treatment.When Lao Mu heard the result, he fell slowly to the ground, and Xiuhua at the side hurriedly helped him up, muttering to himself: "My God, don't fall down again!"

Xiuhua helped Lao Mu to the reclining chair in the aisle of the hospital and sat down slowly. Xiuhua kneaded Lao Mu's temples and asked softly, "Is it better?"

"I have nothing to do! As long as the child is fine, what can I do?"

Lao Mu's rhetorical question left Xiuhua speechless, and the heart that had been put down a little earlier was raised again.But it is also necessary to comfort Lao Mu!

"Don't worry, our child is rich and well-fed, and nothing will happen!" Xiuhua said while removing her hand from Lao Mu's temple.

Even though she said so, Xiuhua actually had no confidence in her heart, but this long wait was undoubtedly an unspeakable torment for any close relative.

Time passed by minute by minute. Except for one or two people who came to see the doctor occasionally, there were medical staff coming and going in the aisle.

"Let's go!" Xiuhua wanted to break the tranquility, and whispered to Lao Mu beside her.

"If something happens to the child, how should I live?" The words suddenly uttered by Lao Mu who had been silent for a long time, made Xiuhua, who was acting strong, collapse immediately, and two lines of hot tears flowed down her cheeks.Intermittent sobbing sounds followed.

"It's inevitable for a child to have bumps, but our Zhen'er is no longer a child. When we went out at noon, we were fine. Nothing happened. We couldn't escape the disaster that fell from the sky!" Xiuhua sighed and choked up her sobs. speak.

"When the illness recovers this time, don't make things difficult for the child anymore!" Xiuhua advised Lao Mu who was standing in a daze.

"Why should I make things difficult for him! I have no skills in this life, so why make things difficult for a child, I just want him to have a better life in the future, and I am obsessed with it! I always want to let him get out of the farmhouse and have an iron job. There is nothing wrong, it’s just that what happened to the child made me realize that life is the most important thing, not some iron rice bowl or clay rice bowl!” Old Mu seemed to understand something, and raised his hand to wipe the moisture between his words. s eyes.

(End of this chapter)