Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 27 (7)
That being the case, why did Carpenter Li commit suicide?Furthermore, it was still dark when Carpenter Li left He Zhongbao's house, so why did he return home in the middle of the night?Where has he been for such a long time?It is difficult to answer the first question. We only know that no matter how humble or lowly a person is, they also have their final dignity. Once this "final dignity" is lost, there will be no reason to live anymore; at that time, If He Zhongbao had buckled the potato, or even beat him up, Carpenter Li probably would not have found his own way out. However, He Zhongbao had adopted the exact opposite approach, not only smiling at Carpenter Li, but also letting him take the potato away- -He easily tore up the last thing that Carpenter Li was guarding, leaving only a dead end for him.Regarding the second question, some people say that they once saw Carpenter Li on the grave of the dumb girl Chrysanthemum at the end of the night.

Anyway, Carpenter Li Bamboo died just like that.
Carpenter Li Bamboo was buried next to the chrysanthemums.Mrs. Wang was sleeping on the bed, relying on He Da to help with cooking.On the day of the funeral, no one came to help, let alone a filial son to follow.He Da first dug a hole, spread out a bamboo mat made by Li bamboo craftsman himself, then carried Li bamboo craftsman into the pit, and wrapped it with the mat.He wrapped two packs of cigarettes, smoked one, then another, before he covered the childlike body with spade after spade.The second bag of cigarettes was smoked for Carpenter Li.In this way, he saw off Carpenter Li.The loess covered Carpenter Li's face and body, leaving only a pair of feet wearing rag shoes. He Da said to those feet, "Go to sleep, and never wake up." Then he complained again. Li Bamboo Carpenter: "You are dead, but I...have to live. How difficult it is!"
One day after half a month after the burial of Li Bamboo Carpenter, He Da woke up from his dream in the middle of the night and suddenly smelled a strange fragrance.

This is the aroma of fried wheat noodles in vegetable oil.

In Hejiapo at that time, even until the early 80s, this fragrance was a symbol of wealth and honor. It made the land grow spiritually, and the people living in this land had aspirations and goals.

The fragrance He Da smelled came from the ancestral hall.

Maybe we're going to let everyone eat oily cakes tonight?He Da got up, he didn't roll over, but was rushed up by the splash of blood on his body.He didn't disturb Chen Yuexiang for the time being, and went out of the house alone to check.To go to the ancestral hall, you need to cross a small ditch, and then pass through a clump of bitter bamboo forest in front of Jianshen's house.The courtyard was clean and quiet, except for the faint lights in the ancestral hall.Now, at night, only the cafeteria can be lit.He Daqian went to the door of the big dining hall, the door was closed, he could only look through the crack of the door.He saw a freshly fried oil cake on the stove, and He Mangzi was wearing a blue cloth apron, cleaning up the residual oil in the pan (he has now become the chef in charge of the big cafeteria).He Da judged from He Mangzi's tiptoe manner that this oil cake is not for everyone to eat!He moved his position a bit, trying to see who else was inside through a larger crack in the door, but he knocked down a piece of firewood on the eaves of the street.

The firewood dries out the watery leaves and makes a rustling sound.

He Mangzi shook his hand and blew out the lamp abruptly.

He Da knows, this oil cake is indeed not for everyone to eat!A sour water came out of his mouth, and his brain was a little congested. Almost without thinking, he began to knock on the door, and asked while knocking, "Do you want to eat oily cakes tonight?"
There was a slight noise in the room, He Mangzi lit the match, re-lighted the lamp, quickly came over and opened the door, and reproached in a friendly tone: "It's time to cut off your head, why are you shouting!" Then he asked He Da He waved his hand.

He Da walked in.

He Mangzi closed the door, and said with a smile, "Brother He, don't yell, let's eat together later."
He didn't expect that the excited He Da didn't appreciate it at all. He Da said: "I don't eat it, and you don't eat it either. This is everyone's ration. Many people starved to death, and you still eat oil cakes!"
He Mangzi was embarrassed and didn't answer.

He Da still wanted to say something, but He Zhongbao turned out from the inside, and said with a sullen face, "Who said we eat it? This is for the county working group. Mangzi, pick up the oil cake."
He Mangzi went into the inner room with a Shau Kei in his hand.

He Da came out.He had nothing to say, because he had indeed notified that the county work team would come tomorrow.But He Da didn't plan to go far, and wanted to hide in the bamboo grove outside He Jianshen's house.He had just wandered into the bamboo forest when Jianshen came out from nowhere, and jokingly said, "How big is it? You're running around in the middle of the night, don't break your eggs."
He Da replied, and had no choice but to cross a ditch and walk towards home.

After half a pack of cigarettes, He Da came back from another road and sneaked out of the cafeteria again.

The door was closed and the lights were off, but He Da heard the sound.It was the sound of chewing, and the voices of He Zhongbao, He Mangzi, and He Jianshen talking quietly.

He Da ran back and told Chen Yuexiang.

"Mom sells x!" Chen Yuexiang cursed, turned over, started from her courtyard, and yelled all the way down: "Eat oil cakes, go to the ancestral hall to eat oil cakes."
The whole village woke up, first the stomach, then the mind.In an instant, the ancestral hall was filled with people, grabbing oil cakes, stuffing them into their mouths desperately, stuffing one for themselves, and grabbing some for the old, weak, sick and disabled at home.A Shau Kei Oil Baba cannot withstand snatching.It was windy and cloudy.If you don't snatch it, you will grab other people's, or even go to other people's mouths to pick it up, and swallow it together with other people's saliva and the blood that flows out of the mouth that was cut.A fight broke out in the cafeteria.Some people were crushed under the body, whether their hair was shaved or they were hit hard by the iron rod, the only thing in their minds was to swallow the oil cake in their mouths as soon as possible! .
Many years have passed, when my father told this story by the raging firepit at home, my second brother He Ji asked him: "How much did you eat with your mother?"
He Da smiled helplessly: "Your mother and I both called someone, ran to the cafeteria, and the oily cake fell into someone else's stomach for a long time!"
"That's why I say you're stupid!" He Ji said almost gnashing his teeth, "If He Mangzi told you to eat it, if you didn't pretend to be serious, you would not only eat it yourself, but you could also bring two back to Mom. When you yell, Not only can't you eat it yourself, but you also offended He Zhongbao and others, why do you think he didn't punish you?"
Father He Da's eye sockets were moist, and he kept swallowing the saliva that he didn't have at all.After a while, he murmured, "People in this world are not like the fruits on the tree. Some of the fruits on the tree are born to nourish people, and some are born to poison people, but people are not born to poison people. He Zhongbao doesn't like it." That's the only thing that's holding me back."
After saying these few vague words, He Da said again: "Where is the baby, can I eat it? Everyone on the slope is hungry. Such a good diet, can I eat it?"
"You are thinking of others, have others thought of you?" He Ji asked.

He Da fell into perplexed and painful contemplation.
There is never a shortage of strong characters on the slopes.Many times, we call such characters heroes.Hejiapo has no shortage of heroes.

And now the hero is not He Zhongbao, but He Kuiyuan.

He Kuiyuan became a rebel and became a smash hit "correspondent". He carried the "Red Book" on his back all day and went from village to household. When he met someone on the way, he told you to sit down, but you dare not stand.Later, he got a Japanese-made submachine gun from nowhere. When the bloody sunset dyed the sky red, everyone in Hejiapo was on the way to finish work, but He Kuiyuan took a few accomplices, carrying guns, to Huangjueshu Another burst of fire.No one dared to provoke them, even He Da who loved Huang Jueshu so much, did not dare to stop them.

But at this time, someone secretly went to the village to sue Kui Yuan, saying that he had compiled a poem a few years ago, in which there was a sentence "I tied the sun with a cow rope". Isn't the sun Chairman Mao?He Kuiyuan wants to tie Chairman Mao with a ox rope, what a bastard!But for some reason, the people above did not come to investigate, and He Kuiyuan became even more reckless.

In addition to being strong and bold, He Kuiyuan also has a special ability: going to the Yin Dynasty.He said that his soul can go down to the underworld of the Yin Dynasty, greet the king of Hades directly, and check the life and death book of whomever he wants.At dusk, he is often seen wandering by the weir pond or under the yellow jue tree, with his hands drooping, his eyes staring dead, and he can't hear anyone talking to him. After a while, he seems to wake up suddenly, saying that Lord Hades asked him to do something important. Xiangshang, he just went to the Yin Dynasty.After finishing speaking, he hurriedly slipped home.The people of Hejiapo are not afraid of his submachine gun, but they are afraid that he will hook their books in the dark.That's a terrible thing!Guns can also kill, but the rebels in the countryside haven't hit people with shuttles, and neither has He Kuiyuan.The beatings on the Chaoren were done by people in the county, and there were also people in Dongba Field. On the last market day, two rebel factions in Dongba Field fought. One faction defeated the other faction, and the defeated party retreated to the river. When I saw a few girls washing clothes, and there was no place to vent their sulking anger, I shot at the girls. The girls screamed and ran away, and their buttocks were shot into four or eight petals. Still screaming desperately, running desperately! --But He Kuiyuan didn't do that.

He Kuiyuan asked: "Do you know who my master is? Mr. Luo from the Drum Tower!"
Mr. Luo?Isn't it the Duan Gong who is said to be the descendant of Luo Siju, who wears a yellow scarf all year round and holds a corpse knife in his hand?After He was bitten by a mad dog, Xu Lian was going to invite him to cure him. He Jiangao's daughter died the year before last, and he came to Hejiapo to practice the law.

It was one morning, Mr. Luo, who was as skinny as a stick, passed by behind the big field ridge, suddenly pointed to a new grave and asked, "Which family is the dead?" Several women working in the field told him.Mr. Luo said, "How long has he been dead?" People in the field said half a year.Mr. Luo laughed a few times, and said, "The family is going to have a serious funeral (and someone will die soon)." Chen Yuexiang was there at the time, she put down the thing, and immediately ran to tell Jiangao's wife, Mrs. Gu, who was hoeing in another field. Hearing what Chen Yuexiang said, he chased after Mr. Luo like hell.Mr. Luo did not go far, and soon caught up.Mrs. Gu knelt down to Mr. Luo as soon as her knees softened, and asked him what was going on. Mr. Luo said, "Your daughter is still red-faced after being buried for half a year. This is called not returning the body. If you don't return the body, you will commit serious crimes." Mourning; she is a child, she will not offend you adults, but she will offend your children.

"Ms. Gu can't stand this kind of threat. She has two daughters and one son. The son is in the middle. The youngest who died was less than four years old when she died. According to her age, she should have been hung on Zhu's board with a stiletto." Jiangao, who was so stunned that he wanted to die, didn't want his daughter to be pecked by an eagle, so he chose a box to bury him. In the past six months, Jiangao hasn't cut his hair, and he still looks like a young girl. Use a rubber band to tie a "sky cannon" to yourself. If another one dies, Jiangao will not die! Mrs. Gu kowtowed to Mr. Luo, begging him to think of a cure. Mr. Luo said: "Prepare a Big red rooster, twenty catties of rice, I will come tomorrow. "The next day, Mr. Luo came.

He first took Jiangao and Mrs. Gu to dig out the little girl's grave, opened the coffin lid, and found that the girl hadn't rotted at all, and immediately shocked Mr. Luo to heaven!Mr. Luo ordered Jiangao to smear the little girl's ass with pot ashes and bury her face down so that she would not block the way of the living.Jiangao couldn't bear to smear pot ashes on his daughter's body, and couldn't bear to let his daughter's buttocks go up in the air. These tasks were all done by Mr. Gu. The method, which makes your life so bad and hard. If you want to hate, hate your mother." At the end of the night, after the grave was built again, Mr. Luo began to practice all night. First, he used bricks to build an altar and put the red one When the rooster is killed in front of the altar, he swings the corpse knife around the altar; in the end, he must slash the corpse knife again, shouting: "Rampant gods and wild ghosts have escaped!" The ceremony ended.The next day, Mr. Luo left with a bloody red rooster and twenty catties of rice on his back.

It turns out that Mr. Luo is not only a dungong, but also a god!Everyone has long been amazed by Mr. Luo's supernatural power. Since he is He Kuiyuan's master, it proves that He Kuiyuan also has supernatural power.People in Hejiapo became more and more afraid of Kui Yuan.

At that time, He Zhongbao's son He Guanghui was only three years old, but He Zhongbao taught his son: When he grows up, he should be as beautiful as Kui Yuan, and he can punish whoever he wants!To be honest, He Zhongbao doesn't like He Kuiyuan at all, and even hates him. When He Kuiyuan shoots with a submachine gun, he will have many humiliating associations in his heart. act?He Zhongbao is not a dreamer. The land has taught him the philosophy of pragmatism. He knows that if you hate someone, you must try to defeat him, and defeating the enemy requires skill. Now is not the era of his father He Huaqiang. In other words, the land itself is neither a symbol of power nor a symbol of majesty.He needs to find another way.Sometimes, he and his son passed by He Dafang, pointing to the mossy tile ridge and the emerald-like prickly pear on the tile ridge, and said: "This foundation belongs to our house. We are the masters!" He also said: "In the future, you will learn from Kui Yuan and deal with that bastard He Da!"
But at this time, he couldn't help but look at his son's left hand.He Guanghui's left hand was webbed like a duck's foot. People in the village said that the lives of people with webbed hands were bitter and cheap, and He Zhongbao was often saddened by this.
From Hejiapo to Dongbachang, down the mountain, along the river for about five miles, there is a land called Niujiaoxi, which is formed by the confluence of mountains and rivers. It is more than ten meters wide and 200 meters long. It is 200 meters away from Qingxi River. river confluence.According to the old people, on a certain day, a huge ox raised its two horns out of the water, stayed there for about half an hour, then disappeared in the water, and never saw its shadow again. Hence the name.At the end of autumn and throughout the winter, the stream is thin and long. When the rainy season comes, the mountain torrents burst and flow straight down. They can't wait to go to Qingxi River through a short ditch. The rocks in the ditch are moved by the water, and the water and the water Hit, the stone collided with the stone, making a roar like a cow.This big ditch blocked the path of Laojunshan people to Dongbachang, seriously affecting the life of the mountain people and the prosperity of Dongbachang. In the second year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, a monk who practiced in the Wanggulou Temple wandered around and raised money for donations. Ten years later, a sum of money was collected to build a stone arch bridge over Niujiaoxi, completely opening up the road.

The stone arch bridge is called Niujiaoxi Bridge. Over the years, the stone railings have been touched by the hands of generations. However, the stone steps and bridge deck are intact, but the previous white color has become blue.Weeds grow vigorously between the stone crevices. As long as no one passes the bridge for half a month, the grass can grow to knee-deep.

In people's memory, since the birth of Niujiaoxi Bridge, it has only been lively once in the 18th year of Guangxu. In that summer, a widow nearby had an affair with others, and was sent to the bridge by the tribe, and then tied with stones. Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of onlookers, it was thrown into the flood of the vast ocean.This was nothing new at the time, what was really new was that the widow expressed her confession before she died.She regretted not stealing someone after being a widow for 15 years, she should have stolen someone earlier!This was quite a sensation at the time, but it was forgotten later on. The Niujiaoxi Bridge faithfully and silently performed its duties, and people and the cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs attached to people stepped over it; on hot days, It can also be used for people to enjoy the cool and have a rest: tall water willows are planted at both ends of the bridge, hanging with silk, almost covering the whole bridge body.

(End of this chapter)