Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 13 (13)
He Xingxiao gritted his teeth angrily, but he didn't dare to do anything to He Kunzhang.Now, adults and children on the slope all know that He Donger is Wang Weizhou's go-getter.It's a shame to follow Wang Weizhou, let alone his subordinates!A few days ago, President Zhang Tuan of Dongbachang asked He Xingxiao to ask him, and told him to persuade He Donger to come back as soon as he had a chance, otherwise he would harm others and himself; Zhang Tuan also said: "Fortunately, you still have You are a good boy, otherwise, you, Mr. He, will be unable to get rid of the glutinous rice cakes!"
Next to the Jue tree, there was a stone mill. At noon, He Jianxiang and his mother, Mrs. Chen, went to mill the rice. Mrs. Chen turned the rice with a broom in the mill basin, and He Jianxiang yelled at the oxen.He Jianxiang was very clever. He covered one eye on the inner side of the cow so that it could not see whether someone was following behind.He Jianxiang invented this trick, so he can get away and play.He ran under the Jue tree, intending to pick up some broken tiles and hit the sparrows on the tree, but he saw He Da sleeping on the bare root of the Jue tree.He Jianxiang ran to tell Mrs. Chen.Mrs. Chen stopped the cattle, went down to take a look, and saw that He Da's body was covered with cow dung, "What kind of wickedness!" She cursed, and then went to poke He Da's nose.There is also a little heat.Mrs. Chen stood up, shook her head, and went to mill the rice again.He walked into the grinder and came out again, and said to his son, "Look, this is a doll without parents!" He Jianxiang said, "I'll tell Mr. Xing Xiao." Chen sighed, "Accordingly, he should raise this doll." , but you Xing Xiaogong, anyway, the baby will not die for a while, if the rice is milled, I will tell your father; you are a small baby, and it is useless to say it."
Normally, He Xingxiao and He Heng's family were on good terms, and He Xingxiao especially liked He Jianxiang, He Heng's son, who was knowledgeable at a young age, unlike his two sons, who were idle.In fact, he was very proud of his second son, He Min, but he also knew that in today's chaos, he couldn't tell whether the east wind was overwhelming the west wind or the west wind was overwhelming the east wind, so he didn't dare to make too much publicity.Mrs. Chen and Jianxiang returned home after grinding the rice, and found that He Heng had been invited to "chop food", so Mrs. Chen went to find He Xingxiao alone.After she explained the reason for her visit, He Xingxiao was very surprised: "Didn't Kunzhang say he was dead?" Mrs. Chen said that I had probed with my hand, but I was still alive.

He Xingxiao pondered for a while, then said: "You also know that my family cannot support a child. He is so small that he can't even carry water. I will ask for it when he can carry water." Chen said: "Then At that time, he was already a ghost." He Xingxiao said: "What can we do? These days! Sister-in-law Chen, you also know that my two sons are both guns and sticks. You can't tell when. Hey, anyway, I How can I drag another doll who only knows how to eat?" Chen licked her lips and said, "You are his third master." He Xingxiao interrupted her: "What is the third master? He How do you recognize me as the third master? Before Xu Lian left the hall, she would rather invite He Xiangzhan to dinner than invite us, beat us old couple like dogs, and clearly want to drive us to death!"
Knowing that it was useless to tell He Xingxiao any further, Mrs. Chen looked at Mrs. Yan, hoping that Mrs. Yan would say something.But Yan sat by the side, eating the candies brought back by He Mintuo's people with his mouth puckered, and remained silent.Chen had no choice but to leave.

After Mrs. Chen left, He Xingxiao said to Mrs. Yan: "If I knew that that idiot was not dead, I should have listened to Kunzhang and buried it."
Yan said disdainfully: "Don't worry about Sanqi 21, as long as our feet don't touch the soil under the mill basin!"
The two went up the mountain to work.

In the evening, Mrs. Chen took He Jianxiang to check under the Jue tree.

He Da was still lying there stiffly like noon.But he still didn't die.

Mrs. Chen straightened her back, hardened her heart, and said to her son, "Get him back!"
He Da was taken in by the Chen family.

He Da called He Heng Dad Heng, Chen Shi Chen Siniang, and Jian Xiang Brother.Mrs. Chen boiled a large pot of water, stripped He Da naked, put it in the footbath, washed off the dirt on his body, and changed him into the clothes Jianxiang wore when he was a child.When Mrs. Chen did all this, He Da was in a coma.After taking a bath, Mrs. Chen found that He Da's forehead was like a ball of fire.Jianxiang invited a doctor and gave him an injection to revive him.When He Daneng opened his eyes, he shouted hungry like a slaughtered pig.

He ate six bowls of rice in one go.

After eating, He Da was still very weak, but he had been assigned to work uphill.

His main job is to mow the cattle.He Heng raised three bulls, fat and strong, and he had to swallow five large cattle grasses every day. In the past, a young and strong laborer was mainly responsible for mowing the grass, assisted by Chen Shi and Jianxiang. Now, the long-term laborer has gone to do the work in the field. , the heavy responsibility of filling the bellies of three cows fell on He Da who was only seven years old.Mrs. Chen never saw how much grass He Da had mowed, but when the moon came up from the Baiyan slope, she quietly came to the cow trough (when there was no moon or the moon rose very late, Mrs. If the tripe is like a fully inflated ball, she will go back to the house without making a sound, otherwise she will quickly move her little feet to find He Da, who is on the bench Whether it was dozing off at night or eating, she would twist his ears without hesitation, and reprimanded him sharply: "If you don't know good and bad things, if you dare to do this again, you will be kicked out!" He Da was most afraid of him. It was this sentence that made him frightened out of his wits. He didn't want to be taught by the Chen family. He already knew what to do—carried a basket of grass and flowers on his back, and went uphill to mow grass in the dark.

He Da grasped the grass, while staring nervously at the far and near places. The shaking of a tree, the groaning of a bird, and the faint sounds of nature from deep in the ground all reminded him of a fierce ghost with disheveled hair and fangs.In this way, it is common for the sickle to cut the finger.Sometimes, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, to the point where he shuddered into a ball, not daring to move a little.

At this time, he thought of his parents and younger brother, and tears fell silently into the soil and grass under his feet.
The three cows were spoiled by the young and strong long-term workers, and they would not eat the shallow grass unless it was close to the ground. half full.This has virtually increased the workload of He Da.There is a kid named He Jiangao in the ditch. His main job at home is to mow cattle grass like He Da. Whether it is horse core, iron wire grass or kudzu leaves, he fishes them whenever he sees them. Those things have long stems and large leaves. After a while, the flower basket was full. The cows ate the grass, just like people eat coarse grains. Although they didn't grow meat, they felt uncomfortable after a few bites.He Da often looked at Jiangao with envy, and thought, how wonderful it would be if those three yellow jellyfish also ate such grass!
One day, He Da fell ill, his forehead, palms and soles of feet were very hot, but he still had to mow the grass.He has no right to be sick.His life was taken by others.He squatted on the edge of the rock and cut for a while, his eyes became dizzy, his body was so light that he couldn't even lift the sickle.Just at this time, He Jiangao came back from a higher mountain with a large basket of flowers and grass on his back. Seeing He Da's appearance, he asked him what's the matter?He Da said I had a fever.Jiangao looked at his flower basket, only half of his back was on his back, and said to him: "He Da, I will teach you a method, but you can't tell others that I taught you." When He Da asked what method, Jiangao said: " You’ve already cut so much tender grass, now you’re ready to cut all the thatch that supports your belly. Look, isn’t there a horse heart core over there? You put the horse heart core on the bottom and put the young grass on top, they won’t be able to find it "After hearing this, He Da was very disappointed, because the three cows didn't eat horse heart cores.Jiangao said with a look of hating iron but not steel: "Hey, why are you so stupid! They don't eat because there are young grasses for a long time. If they are all horse cores, they will starve if they don't eat them. If they are hungry, they will eat everything. Eat, just like people."
He Da hesitated for a long time, although he didn't dare, but his body couldn't bear it anymore, so he did as Jiangao said.

It was dark early that day, and the moon hadn’t come out yet. He Da carried the grass back into the cowshed and barely ate a few mouthfuls of food. His eyelids were sewn with drowsiness like needlework; in fact, it was not drowsiness, but dizziness caused by fever. .He was about to go to sleep, but Mrs. Chen was preparing the lantern.He Da knew that she was going to check the bullpen!At this moment, He Da woke up suddenly, sat upright on the stool, sweating profusely.After being so nervous and sweating, he no longer had a fever!

The glass cover on the lantern was already blackened, and the wick could not be seen clearly when the wick was picked up to the maximum, but Mrs. Chen took off the glass cover, applied some soapy water on a rag, and swirled the inside a few times. Wipe it dry again, and the lantern will be bright and clear, not to mention looking at the grass in the cowshed, even picking up needles on the ground can use up endless light.

He Da knew he was doomed.But he didn't admit his mistake right away, he still had a fluke mentality, and hoped that Mrs. Chen would clean up the lantern so brightly, originally it wasn't for entering the cowshed, but for something else.

But Mrs. Chen had nothing else to do, she packed the lantern just to get into the cowshed.
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There are two big pits in the bellies of the three cows, and the cow troughs are full of horse hearts!
Mrs. Chen picked up Ma Erxin and put it down again, as if she didn't believe it was true. When she had to believe it, she quickly turned back with her little feet, twisted the panicked He Da's ears, and dragged her to the cow trough. .

Mrs. Chen didn't beat him, but told him to eat the grass in the trough.

He Da looked at Mrs. Chen and said with tears, "Chen Siniang, my brain hurts."
Before the words fell, he had already suffered a heavy blow.

Mrs. Chen hit him on the leg with a cow dung grabbing fence.

He knew he couldn't cry, because if he cried, he would suffer even worse.He wiped away the tears on his face with his sleeves.

"Give it to me! If you don't finish eating the grass in the trough, I will kick you out tonight!"
He Da was so frightened that his brain exploded, he took out a handful of horse cores and stuffed them into his mouth.

Maerxin is a long-leaved grass with sharp edges, and He Da's mouth was cut bloody.

He swallowed half of the grass, and stretched his neck, as if about to vomit.

Chen slapped him on the leg again.

The stick just hit the shin bone, and He Dawa burst into tears.He cried because of pain, but also because of grievance.At that time, he was still young, and he didn't know that he didn't even have the right to be wronged.

Grabs rained down on his head and shoulders.

Above the cowshed is the virtual building, where He Heng and Jianxiang shouted: "Let's spare him this time, if he dares next time, he must be beaten to death!"
Mrs. Chen gave He Da a push and told him to roll uphill and mow grass now.

He Da went back to the house, took the sickle, carried a basket of flowers under the eaves of the street, and went uphill.He went up from the big field ridge.It was dark, and even a scythe could be used to cut off the black piece by piece. Every time he stepped on it, a black shadow jumped up, and a black corpse lay horizontally in front of his eyes.Those legendary ghosts danced around him.Dance is also black.It seemed that someone was still crying, but when I listened carefully, the crying disappeared again.There were firefly-like spots in his eyes, which were hallucinations caused by the extreme darkness.In those light spots, he seemed to see a woman with long braids, walking forward with her back to him. As she walked, she suddenly turned her head and walked straight towards him.When he got closer, he realized that the woman's front was also a braid!She has no face at all, and she has only one braid all over her head!He Da's knees softened, and he squatted down trembling.But what's the use of shaking?If he hadn't cut a basket of grass by dawn, the key was to throw him out, regardless of being beaten, and he would become a homeless man again. So he stood up and walked across the big field ridge.He stood at the head of the field for a while, and instead of continuing to walk sideways towards the Anzi Temple, he walked down a steep road.Below that is Yantang, which is where his father slept.

After touching the edge of his father's grave, He Da knelt down, kowtowed a few times, and mowed the grass around it.

At this time, roads were paved on all sides of the weir pond, and sparse eye grass grew on the side of the road; this is what the three yellow cuckoos are willing to eat.Of course, there may be dog poop in the eye grass, and there may be snakes.

He caught a few dog poops, but luckily he didn't catch any snakes. Before dawn, he cleaned up the surrounding pond.

He Da fed the three cows, but he himself was never full.

At that time, the wealthiest family in Hejiapo could only eat white rice at the end of the new year. Usually, rice was filled with miscellaneous grains, mainly red sweet potato, corn corn or yam, and sweet sweet potato was the most common.He Da can only eat miscellaneous grains and is not allowed to touch rice. There is a grain of rice on the root of the sweet potato in his bowl, which will be carefully scraped off by Mrs. Chen.Even if it was full of miscellaneous grains, He Da would not be so thin if he could eat enough, but at that time, hunger had become his terminal illness, and a full meal became his greatest luxury.For each meal, Mrs. Chen only added half a bowl to him, and no food was allowed. Once half a bowl of rice was finished, the bowl would be taken away.Although Mrs. Chen was old, she was extremely nimble in grabbing the bowl. The bowl slipped from He Da's hand before He Da took the last bite into his mouth.When the bowl was taken away, He Da had to go uphill to work immediately.The moment he goes out, he always looks back at his master.At that time, the host was chewing slowly with a bowl full of rice.

Because he didn't have enough to eat, He Da didn't have the energy to satisfy the luxurious life of those cows, and the number of times he was beaten and threatened increased.

He Jiangao gave him an idea again.That day he took the initiative to invite He Da to go up the mountain to mow grass together. When he reached a gentle slope two miles away, Jian Gao said, "Today, you should follow the method I taught you before, and you will not be beaten." He Da would not believe it, but Shaking his head in fear.Jiangao said: "Anyway, I am doing it for your own good. If you don't listen to me, you will still fail to complete the task and will still be beaten. I also heard from my father that He Heng will kick you out soon." The scythe landed with a clang, and the tip pierced his toe.Jiangao spit out his saliva, wiped it on his injured toe, and then said: "I have a new method to teach you." He put his mouth next to He Da's ear, and babbled for a while.He Da stared at him blankly.Jiangao said: "If you don't believe me, let's try it. Father Wu will pull the ox up to plow the field later, you will see then."
(End of this chapter)