Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 21 (1)
Several years later, I had a wife and a son. I took them back to Hejiapo, which was still barren and poor, and visited the old man with a hunchback and a face like a walnut. My wife and children thought of a problem in unison. When he was a father, the son said, "Grandpa, if you don't go to so many good places in the world, why do you settle on this hillside? It broke my leg!" The father stared at his grandson for a long time, tears streaming down the cheeks. The gullies flowed out in a tortuous manner, and due to too many wrinkles, the flow of tears could not be seen, only his entire face was wet. "Good boy," he said, "Grandpa has been a dog for decades in order to settle down in Hejiapo!"
After He Da settled in Hejiapo, the whole world is undergoing subtle but rapid changes.The only source of outside information is He Zhongbao.Two years after Japan surrendered, He Zhongbao often went to Qingxi and even Yongle, and every time he went, he brought back some information that was completely alarmist to the people on the slope.He Zhongbao said that Mao Zedong and Chairman Chiang fought in the Northeast. Chairman Jiang was often defeated, and the dead were buried and could not win. He had to throw the corpses in the wilderness and turn them into muddy crops for farmers. Chairman Jiang was afraid that he would collapse.No one would believe this news, because the garrison battalion at Qingxi field is still safe and sound, and the regiments at Dongba field are also living a comfortable life. Moreover, they are grabbing strong men everywhere to swell their troops. How can it collapse when it keeps rushing to the front line?The one who didn't believe it the most was He Zhongbao's elder brother He Zhongcai.On the surface, He Zhongcai is the one who inherited his father's lineage most seamlessly among the three brothers. While working diligently in the fields, he grasps the pulse of the slope with his well-developed cerebellum.He didn't believe the news brought back by his second brother, but he never revealed it. He wanted to take advantage of the swaying of people's hearts to make a fortune at an inopportune time.Every movement or change in the situation will destroy some people. These people are unable to sustain themselves mentally first, and then manifest themselves in behavior.Sure enough, someone sold the fields on the slope!He Zhongcai always quietly bought the land under his own name.Not long after, He Zhongbao also started selling fields!As soon as He Zhongbao sold the field, He Mangzi also sold it; He Mangzi's head grew on his second brother.Most of He Zhongbao and He Mangzi's fields were bought by He Zhongcai.

No one on the slope understands the behavior of the He Zhongbao brothers. They think that their father, He Huaqiang, was a hero, but raised these two "explosive smokers" (evil species), which is also due to He Huaqiang's lack of virtue.Especially He Da, who felt that He Zhongbao and He Mangzi were crazy!There is no reason to say that if there is a field, the spine will be straight, and if there is no field, it will be no different from a dog.He Da sold the millet he earned from Li Hongyuan's family, plus the money he earned from the distiller's grain workshop, bought two acres of land and a few parts of the relatively barren Chaishan under Zhu's board, and surrounded it under a rock cut behind the big field ridge. A shack is his home.

With Tiandi and Chaishan, He Da suddenly matured, and his floating and sad eyes gathered into a happy auspicious cloud.Half a year later, he went to Lijiagou, moved his mother Xu Lian's grave back to Hejiapo, and buried him side by side with his father Hedi.

Only a pile of dry messy hair and a complete skeleton of that stunning woman who has been spread so far.

"If the world hadn't changed so quickly," my father said to me, "He Zhongbao wouldn't have let your grandma's soul come back."
Xudingfu set up a provisional self-government committee and sent personnel to Shui County to meet the PLA.The warlord Liu Cunhou, who had been entrenched here for 20 years, left sadly. The People's Liberation Army entered Xuding Mansion without firing a single shot, and renamed Xuding Mansion Tianzhou.

All land was taken into public ownership.He Da's field where he had only planted crops for one season and the firewood mountain where he had only cut winter firewood once were also taken over by the public.

On the day he received his land, He Da hid in the shack and cried loudly.

In the process of dividing the land and houses, a group of people were shot and executed one after another.He Huaqiang should have been shot, but he was already dead.His fate should be on the eldest son He Zhongcai, but he was not executed by shooting, but was classified as a landlord.Except for a few houses owned by He Zhongbao and He Mangzi, almost all of their property was sold out, and they were classified as lower-middle peasants.

Determining He Da became the most complicated matter for He Jiapo at that time.Complicated in the background of Ho Da.His ancestors not only owned land, but also hired short-term and long-term laborers. The second boy of his third master’s family was also a Kuomintang general. , but the inscription has been destroyed), especially on the eve of changing the world, He Da actually started buying fields!The debate in the working group was very fierce. Some people said that it was not too much to classify He Da as a landlord; ?It is more appropriate to classify them as rich peasants.However, two acres of Susukida and a piece of firewood the size of your buttocks, how can you qualify as a rich peasant?His house is still a shack under a rock cut!Look at Hejiapo, apart from He Jianshen, who has also been discussed and is now a farm laborer, how many poor people live in the rock?He Da's ancestors have nothing to do with him at all, and He Min, who became a general of the Kuomintang, has nothing to do with him.After arguing and arguing, the final conclusion is: He Da can only be a poor peasant.

In this regard, I once asked my father this way: If you did not buy land and Chaishan when you returned to Hejiapo, it might not be so troublesome when dividing the land. Did you regret it at that time?My father's answer shocked me greatly: "Never regret it, farmers want land, it's only right and proper!"
It wasn't until the composition was drawn that He Zhongcai woke up like a dream, angrily went to He Zhongbao, and asked him why he didn't remind him earlier.

He Zhongbao didn't let He Zhongcai into the house at all.He Zhongbao's clear-cut class position made him quickly become a village cadre.

He Dafen's house used to belong to He Zhongbao.This is a two-story wooden house, the beams and columns are as thick as a small barrel, and the floor is half an inch thick cypress, stepping on it makes a thick and steady sound.

He Da, who used to be as low as a dog, suddenly became the master. When people on the slope greeted him, they no longer just glanced at him as before, but called him by name from afar.He himself was not used to this, and felt that all this was so ethereal, and he was hurt by the time, and endless sorrow welled up in his heart.He is not as arrogant as He Jianshen, even when he sees He Zhongcai who hangs his head and bows his waist, he humbly asks: "Brother Cai, have you eaten?" leave in a hurry.

The changes in the world brought He Da not joy, but fear. What he pursued was to rely on his own labor to earn a few picks of Susukida, and then spend his energy, sweat and life on the fields. To marry a wife and have children.He thinks that such a day is worthy of being called a day, and everything else is unsafe.

Becoming a master from a slave is not as simple as overthrowing the original master. It also requires a certain quality, and He Da does not seem to have such a quality.

When he was still at a loss, he was elected as the vice president.Others think this is a happy event, but He Da does not think it is happy. He often asks himself: Are these all true?Even if it is true, what does he have to do with me?
For a long time, he wandered between fantasy and reality.

He considered his real happiness when he found my mother when he was 29 years old.

My mother, Chen Yuexiang, was born in a landlord family in Guanmenyan Village, diagonally across the river. When the country changed hands, she was under eighteen, so she escaped the fate of being classified as a landlord.Four years after her father was shot, Chen Yuexiang became engaged to He Da.Not long after the engagement, Hejiapo was caught in a fire.I don't know how the fire started, but the wind spread, and quickly burned down several poor peasant houses, including He Da's; if the rescue was not timely, several floors of the courtyard might be burned down.Afterwards, He Zhongbao believed that his brother He Zhongcai set the fire on purpose, and personally took him to the village, where he was made to kneel on firewood and a scimitar, and he was released only after making him look out of shape.

He Da has no house to live in, and temporarily lives in a public house in the commune (formerly Yang Guangda's old house).Chen Yuexiang entrusted someone to say to He Da: "Hurry up and apply to the agricultural cooperative, approve some trees, and repair the house. You live in a public house, how can we get married?" From then on, my mother's dominant position in the family has become Established, just like my great-grandmother Li Gaoshi and grandma Xu Lian.

As soon as she brought the words over, Chen Yuexiang changed her mind.She is going to get married right away.My mother, who was in her early twenties, seemed to have felt that He Da, who had been a son to dozens of households, was used to living under the command of others, and it was too embarrassing for him to manage the house alone.She wants to marry and work with He Da.

Their wedding was also crude, not much better than Xu Lian going to Lijiagou.

Wearing stars and wearing moons, the two went to the pine forest behind the Anzi Temple to cut trees, and then carried the trees back by themselves. After everything was ready, they asked the mason to cell the beams and the carpenter to draw lines and drill holes to build a shelf.

On the day when the house was erected, He Zhongbao, the deputy head of the village, specially came back from the village and directed it himself, making it very lively.Chen Yuexiang made a Shau Kei rice dumpling and threw it on the roof. When the rice dumpling fell, adults and children on the slope rushed to eat it, making a noise and flying into the air.This is a unique ceremony for people to build houses on the slopes, and it is called "Chongxi". If no one competes for the ashes and sticky rice dumplings, the owner will be unlucky. The more people fight for the rice dumplings, the more It shows that the family is respected and it portends a bright future.

After grabbing the zongzi, the impromptu invited master of ceremonies took the lead in singing a congratulatory song: "The sun is shining brightly, congratulations to the boss for repairing the Huatang. The governor's mansion is built in the front, and the prime minister's hall is built in the back. The governor's mansion, the prime minister's hall, son and grandson Zhuangyuanlang."
Not long after the new house was erected, Chen Yuexiang gave birth to her first child, a daughter named He Mei.During the "Three Dynasties" (full moon wine), many people on the slope gave eggs, and He Zhongbao's wife, Wen Shi, gave the heaviest. In addition to [-] eggs, there were also three catties of dried noodles.In addition, she also gave a special gift: a small paper man was secretly pierced. On the belly of the little paper man, there was a piece of yellow mounting paper (full of unreadable mysterious patterns) covered with spells, with the words He Mei's birthday horoscope, with a scarlet blood knife drawn on the heart, and dense steel needles were pierced on the head, chest, and genitals of the little paper man. On a dark and windy night, Wen's wearing blue Cloth double-breasted long gown, with loose hair, went out the door, and buried the little paper man in the black soil beside the gutter behind He Dawuji.

He Mei died within a week after fighting the "Three Dynasties".

She died strangely, foaming at the mouth, followed by convulsions, her small face shrunk into a ball, like a fruit eaten through by wild bees.

At that time, there was no barefoot doctor in Hejiapo, but only one veterinarian, He Jiangao, who was very smart when he was a child.Not long after He Jiangao moved to the dam with his parents, his father was hit and killed by a car. Then, his well-developed uncle lost power, and his mother went to court with a veterinarian and gelder. He Jiangao learned the craft from the old man Pi.In the year of liberation, the old man and his mother passed away one after another, and He Jiangao returned to Hejiapo alone.Like He Da, he wanted to go back to Hejiapo from the day he left.As an adult, He Jiangao looked extraordinarily dull, and his childhood intelligence was gone, as if he was a completely different person.What happened to He Jiangao’s parents and Xu Lian taught the people of Hejiapo a profound lesson: the tree that grows on the piece of soil must bloom and bear fruit on that piece of soil, otherwise it will die!Even if he didn't die, he still had to take the initiative to come to He everyone to have a look, and said that what He Mei got was "mouth-sucking madness", and the only way to cure it was to wait for death.

As soon as his foot stepped over the threshold, He Mei died.

He Da and his wife hugged their daughter's tiny body and cried bitterly for two days and two nights, neither eating nor drinking.Afterwards, Chen Yuexiang dressed her daughter in the clothes she sewed by herself, and hung them on a green gang tree with a thick bowl mouth under Zhu's board with a brand-new scorpion, waiting for the eagle to eat them.

On the day He Mei hanged out, Wen went to Zhu's board to cut cattle and grass. She placed two stones, stood on a high place, looked at the dead people in the shovel, and chatted for a while, feeling that He Mei After forgiving her, I went back with an empty flower basket.

In less than a year, Chen Yuexiang gave birth to her second child, a son named Hekou.This name was chosen by He Da, who had studied for half a year. Firstly, because the eldest daughter died of insanity due to sucking mouth, she took this name to avoid evil, and secondly, it sounds auspicious with "huokou".Unexpectedly, just three days after giving birth, He Kou had the same problem as his sister.He Da threw himself on the side of the bed, weeping.Chen Yuexiang didn't cry, she got out of bed and rushed to the countryside with Hekou in her arms.The doctor in the village gave He Kou a silver needle, and he miraculously survived.When she was convinced that her son would not die, Chen Yuexiang cried heartbroken.In this way, He Kou became my big brother.

My mother Chen Yuexiang's production ability is far stronger than my grandmother Xu Lian. She gave birth to my second brother He Ji, eldest sister He Ju (because of He Mei's death, He Ju became the eldest sister), second sister He Yue, and then me. After me was a pair of twins, He Wu who came out first, and He Ben who came out last. Before He Wu went to the ground, another head popped out. Frozen to death, his name was also taken after his death; after the twins, Yaomei He Qing.Chen Yuexiang gave birth to nine children and supported seven, making our family a big family
He Kou's face is round, not like Chen Yuexiang's. Chen Yuexiang's face is long, matching her tall stature; One point of wit.A newborn child is like a grass unearthed in spring, which changes when the wind blows.No matter how tired he was, when He Da came back from the slope, he didn't have time to wipe off his sweat, so he rushed to the bedside to play with Hekou.After a while, He Kou ignored him, and he just stared at He Kou's eyes and nose, and said to himself, "It's a fucking civil servant!" I know." After a short pause, he added: "When I grow up, don't be as sweet as you are." He Da trembled all over, and suddenly picked up his son and hugged him tightly.He blamed his wife for indiscriminate seals and grants: Luo Siju, who was once the admiral of Sichuan, "Master Luo", didn't it be because of his mother's random seals that made him suffer as a thief and robber when he was young?

The doctor said that if a disease like "sucking mania" does not recur after the full moon, it proves that the baby is alive and can be fed.It has been more than two months since He Kou has not suffered from another illness, so He Da and his wife are completely at ease.

No longer worried about the life and death of the child, He Da thought that he should thank those who have been kind to him on Po Shang.In the past, the one who was kind to him was the youngest daughter-in-law in Hejiapo, followed by the Chen family, but several of them have passed away. Now, the one who has the most kindness to him is He Zhongbao.On the day when the beams of the new house were erected, without him, it would not have been so lively, not to mention that he came back from the countryside on purpose.

He Da discussed with Chen Yuexiang and planned to invite He Zhongbao to dinner.

(End of this chapter)