Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 45 (2)
Whether it is true or not is unknown.However, its impact on He Da can be imagined, he seems to have aged a lot suddenly.One day, he said he went up the mountain to see if he could find the spring water, and he went out in the morning and returned after dark.He had obviously cried, the stains of tears still remained on his face, and his eyes were also red.He Ju asked Dad what happened?He Da said that he went to the Drum Tower to see the lonely old woman.The lonely old woman had been buried by the villagers, wrapped in straw mats, and buried on a slope of wasteland where cattle and sheep could not go.He Ji sneered and said, "No name." He Da glanced at him, and said with a choked voice, "Your grandma's daughter died, I shouldn't go and see it?" He Ji said, "I only heard that it was Her eldest sister's daughter is not sure; even if it is, it has not been seen for almost 100 years, so what is there to see?" He Da remained silent, staring down at the ground.Juniors often do not value relatives or friends of seniors, and husbands and wives treat each other's relatives or friends.They just want to be immersed in their own small circle.They don't know how important this relative or friend once had an impact on your family.Xu Lian's natal family did not give He Da any real help, but when he was wandering around without a father or a mother, he couldn't think of his mother and several older sisters from time to time. They were his relatives in the world. These relatives can be found in the Drum Tower, but there is still information about relatives surviving in the world, but it shines on him like a lighthouse, enabling him to live tenaciously.
Fewer and fewer people carried water into the river, and people had no energy left.

Just when the people of Hejiapo were about to die of thirst, the ancient well behind He Mangzi's house, which had been dry for several years, suddenly burst into water!
He Mangzi discovered that there was water in the well by accident.That day, the clothes he was wearing were blown away by a gust of wind and fell into the well. He couldn't help feeling chills in his bones, and suddenly thought of the little daughter-in-law who had been dead for many years.She thought it was the spirit of the little daughter-in-law who came to grab him, so she didn't dare to pick up the clothes, so she ran to tell his second brother, He Zhongbao, who was his backbone.He Zhongbao said: "What is the little daughter-in-law doing to grab your soul? Our family is kind to the little daughter-in-law. It was my father who reported the case and caught her murderer." He Mangzi was still afraid, and He Zhongbao was furious. Said: "Afraid of a ball!" He ran to the well in a hurry, and hooked He Mangzi's clothes with a hook.

This time, an astonishing discovery was made: He Mangzi's clothes were completely soaked!

He Zhongbao knelt down with a bang, and kowtowed dozens of times to the mouth of the well.

"The little daughter-in-law has come to repay her kindness, and she has provided us with water!" He Zhongbao stammered.

Immediately, he said sternly to He Mangzi: "This matter must not be spread to the outside world! Water can only be supplied to our three families, so don't let others think about it!"
After He Zhongbao returned home, He Mangzi immediately built a plastic shed on the wellhead to clean up the garbage in the well.

This just caught the attention of the people on the slope.

The news of the water coming out of the Gujing soon became known.

The ancient well used to be behind the house of He Huaqiang, but now it is behind the house of his third son He Mangzi, but it was excavated by the ancestors of the Poshang people, and it cannot be used only by his family!He Kuiyuan, He Tuanjie and Cai Gen took the lead in removing the plastic shed.When the plastic shed was lifted, He Zhongcai, He Zhongbao and He Mangzi stood in the distance without any obstruction.This is He Zhongbao's will.He knew what terrible things would happen if he went to block it at this time.It was only after he took his brother back to the house that he slapped He Mangzi severely, "Stupid pig!" He Zhongbao said, "Who asked you to build a shed? Aren't you attracting attention? Don't say that the well is a fund-raising What we dug, we dug by ourselves, they know, and they want to grab water, can you stop them?" He looked up to the sky and cried bitterly.What he cried was not only the water being robbed, but also why his father, He Huaqiang, gave birth to such a fool as He Mangzi.

When the precious well came out, there were often a dozen or even dozens of people squatting beside the well waiting for the water.The well water is also strange, only half a load of water is used up each time, so if you want to wait for half a load of water, you have to work hard for half a day.Later, the water came out more and more slowly, so no one left the well 24 hours a day.In order to line up the wheels, many people sleep by the well.

He Da has not slept at home for more than ten nights.

One night, under the bleak stars and moon, there were sharp-edged ghosts moving on the slope.At around three o'clock in the morning, He Da finally got half a load of water.At that time, the stars and the moon had already disappeared, and the sky was surprisingly dark. He Da carried the water and walked back.He doesn't need torches, he knows exactly where there is a ridge, where there is a rock, and where there are bamboo shoots that are slippery on the road.He felt very satisfied. With this half load of water, tomorrow's human and animal drinking can barely be solved.

The thing happened where there were bamboo shoots.On the way, there is a bamboo forest. In the bamboo forest, there are several old graves.The road passes by the edge of the old grave.When He Dagang came here, the bamboo bushes on the grave suddenly crackled!He Dafu slipped and fell, and the water had already been poured out.He threw the bucket, got up and ran, shouting, "There is a ghost! There is a ghost!"
His terrified cry woke up the men, women and children on the slope.

He Da came back and slept for a whole week.

It took almost ten years before the "ghost" took shape.That is He Mangzi!He was wearing a rotten coir raincoat and squatted on the grave a long time ago.When he heard He Da coming from the sound of footsteps, he beat the bamboo pole with a wooden stick
After this incident, the number of people waiting for water at the well at night decreased significantly.Although some people go to wait at night, after scooping up, they don't go back until dawn.

But no matter what, it’s impossible to drink without water. When He Da climbed up again, and the people on the slope decided that ghosts couldn’t scare people to death, they returned to their old appearance.

He Mangzi pretended to be a ghost but failed to stop Waiting Shuiren, so he went to his second brother to ask for advice, and the two discussed another way.

One morning, He Mangzi came out of the house with his trousers in his hands, and saw twenty or thirty tired people with swollen eyes squatting silently by the well, and He Jiangao was reaching into the well with a long spoon Water, He Mangzi ran over quickly, pouted his buttocks, and dragged a few balls of shit into the well!
This incident caused public outrage.Although He Tuanjie was not there at the time, when he heard about it, he rushed into He Mangzi's house, took him out like a chicken, dragged him to the middle courtyard and beat him up.

He Mangzi's shit didn't stop the people on Poshang from going to the well to fetch water.

Is that just shit? In order to drink water, let alone shit, even rat poison is not afraid!
Food is dwindling, day by day.Everyone is like fish flopping in a stinky puddle, the smell is irresistible, but it seems that the food for suspense will soon evaporate to dryness.The impoverished energy of the cage hovered above the head, so that people on the slope knew that they had a belly, but they had no sense of other organs.In our house, almost every night, we were so hungry that we tossed and turned over and over on the bed. When finally someone cried out in pain, He Da scolded his mother, went to the jar to touch a piece of pickled vegetables, and went to the bedside Come and tear us strand by strand.Pickled vegetables are also food. In those days, it was not terrible to get cancer, just to die if you got cancer, but food is a living wound in our hearts. It will not die. Promptly remind you: If you take out a piece of pickled vegetables today, one piece will be missing tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow there may only be blunt brine left.Therefore, most of the time, He Da could only harden his heart and ignore the cries of his children.The cries groped and wandered in the dark night, and finally found the target, and that target was He Da's heart, they were burned by He Da's heart, turned into boiling water, and flowed out from his eye sockets.

The day of complete food deprivation finally arrived.

In the mountains and ridges of Hejiapo, the scene of peeling bark and grass roots and digging wild grains once again appeared.

Stealing begins as soon as famine sets in.With the experience of hunger, be afraid!No matter which store's stuff, as long as it can be eaten, it will disappear mysteriously if you don't pay attention.When people on the slope lost something in their own home, they often stood on the ridge of the big field and scolded them from morning to night. After scolding, they tried every means to steal other people's things.If there are still small vegetables that have not been dried to death in the private plot, they must wait all night, otherwise, the land may be shaved, and even the vegetable heads may be uprooted.Everyone in He had a share of cabbage, so He Kou and He Ji squatted on a plum tree by the side of the field to keep watch. In the middle of the night, they were so sleepy that they leaned against the branches of the tree to take a nap.When they woke up and opened their eyes, the yellow clods in the ground looked at them and sneered.

In April of the lunar calendar, He Jiapo was stationed in the working group, becoming the first village in the commune to be stationed in the working group to solve the problem of theft.

Tian Mingliang and Yan Huzi from the Armed Forces Department personally sat in the township, because the wheat on the Liangshang land was cut off overnight!

The two led all the team cadres to inspect the fields.The harvesters are very skilled. They cut off all the ears of wheat and leave the stubble in the ground.Yan Huzi walked into the ground with his hands behind his back, and slipped backwards as soon as he entered the center of the ground.The sun-hardened wheat stubble poked countless blood marks on the back of his neck.When he got up with difficulty, he found that his shoes and trousers were covered with yellow shit.It turned out that the thief pulled a shit in the middle of the ground and covered it with soil.Yan Huzi stared at the poop carefully, it was a pile of poop the size of a futon. "It was a man who stole it!" Yan Huzi said firmly.The team cadres don't understand, how can you tell whether the thief is a man or a woman from just soaking in shit? "Can you women in Hejiapo pull out such a big pile of shit? Go back to the village and check!"
Yan Huzi waved his big hand and took the lead down the mountain.

Searched from house to house.If the house is full of women, it will be exempted.

When the group turned to Mr. He, He Kou led them to the town house. He Zhongbao looked at the wooden boards of the town intentionally or unintentionally, and He Da broke into a cold sweat from fright.

The wheat stolen by He Kou was hidden under the plank.

He stole it with another person on the slope, and he shared half of it.Although it is a six-part field, the ears of wheat are very thin, and each person gets at most thirty catties.

The piece of wood that He Zhongbao was staring at clearly showed signs of being re-opened, and the nails had not been hammered firmly.

He Da said, "Do you want to look upstairs?" His voice trembled a little.

He Zhongbao stared fiercely at the piece of wood, looked at He Da, and smiled meaningfully, "Then go upstairs and take a look," He Zhongbao said, "Originally, he is innocent, so instead of looking, he said Not sure."
They went upstairs, checked the boxes and cabinets, and found nothing unusual, so they went down and left.

"Transfer immediately!" He Kou said.

Where to move it, the home is such a big place, the safest place is under the floor of the town house.

He Kou said: "Dig a hole under the bed of the new house, put it in the hole temporarily, and take it out after the limelight."
"I think it's all right," He Da said, "He Zhongbao let us go just now."
"You know what a fart!" He Kou said angrily, "He Ji and I went to dig a hole, Dad opened the plank," and pointed to our sisters, "You guys hug outside from the side door!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as He Da opened the board, the inspection team shot back, but He Zhongbao was not among them.

The wheat was confiscated, and He Kou was arrested and imprisoned in the commune.

Half a month later, one late night, He Kou came back.

The kerosene lamp was lit in the kitchen, and our whole family rose to greet him.He was not at all upset about being detained.He Ju cooked a pot of wild vegetable soup for him and fried a small bowl of red peppers. He Kou ate it noisily while describing what he had seen and heard in the dark room of the commune for half a month.He said that he didn't suffer much, but just wrote a self-criticism every day.One day, when he was writing a review, a man rushed into his room, threw a wad of money under the rotten mat where he slept, said quickly "don't talk too much", and went out.When He Kou saw the head with long hair, he knew it was an educated youth from Chongqing.He had long heard that the Chongqing educated youth beat people very violently.Sure enough, when the Chongqing educated youth went out, they grabbed a fat man in his 40s and beat him, "You said I stole your money, search it! Search quickly, if you can't find it, I will beat you to the ground!" The fat man really I went to search, but I couldn't find it. The Chongqing educated youth got it right, punched and kicked the fat man until he called his father and mother, and he still didn't let go. "He asked me why I sat in this dark room to write a review, and I told him the truth. He said: 'We both committed the same mistake. Don't worry, I will tell the commune and let them let you go. I I have a good relationship with the head of the commune.' Sure enough, I was released after two days."
Listening to He Kou's words, we all laughed, thanking that righteous Chongqing educated youth, but He Da burst into tears.Although he didn't steal the six cents of wheat, He Kou asked someone to steal it, and he didn't give him the slightest word. When he and He Ji pried the wooden boards of the town house, the bitterness and humiliation of life rushed into He Da's heart together.Under the faint kerosene lamp, his rough hands stroked the ears of wheat.The drought without warning made the wheat awns pierce people like steel needles, but He Da didn't feel any pain at all.In his eyes, this is not only something that can survive, but also represents a kind of farmer's spirit, the spirit of the land.Wheat, the simplest and most moving fruit on the earth, stands upright in the field, and should not have suffered the fate of being stolen. However, for many years, the desire for food has forced people to violate the supposed Morality as pure as nature.

A few years later, when I became a liberal arts college student, He Da once asked me a serious question: "When I was a child, I stole other people's peas to survive. Decades later, Carpenter Li stole He Zhongbao's yams to survive. , and almost 20 years have passed, your eldest brother stole the wheat from the collective to survive, tell me, is this life expensive or cheap?"
I said, "Everything is noble as long as it is done to survive."
He Da said: "Some people survived, while others didn't. Which should live and which shouldn't? Carpenter Li Bamboo didn't steal the yams and hanged himself. Is it more noble to steal the yams or to hang himself?"
This is really a question that bothers me, and I can't answer it.

As autumn went deep, the famine in Hejiapo was like a mad dog.Although there is no reduction in staff, all of them are disheveled, their limbs are weak, and their stomachs hurt. When they drink a little wind, they will become swollen, like a ball that may explode at any time.The bark, grass, roots, animals and birds on the mountain suffered more serious disasters than ever before.

Hu Mian once again started the skin and meat business.She gave birth to only one son, and never again.Pregnancy is a common thing, but before the fifth month of pregnancy, there is a miscarriage.As those tongue-chewing women said, every time she conceived, she didn't know whose seed it was.

There are also some old and decrepit women on the slope, unwilling to be reconciled to Hu Mian's benefit alone, and follow suit one after another. Whether it is at home, on the slope, elders, or juniors, as long as anyone is willing to give a mouthful of wild food, he will be fine. Anyone willing to take off their pants.

The pure family folk customs of Hejiapo were subverted.

However, this is not just Hejiapo, the family-style folk customs in many places in the Qingxi River Basin have been subverted.

(End of this chapter)