Hunger for a hundred years

Chapter 55 (12)
However, He Guanghui stayed on the slope for more than half a year, but couldn't stay any longer, so he left secretly.

Before leaving, he entered his parents' house while his father was away, found the dog-beating stick that had been preserved for nearly a century from his father's house, took it to the mountain, poured gasoline on it, and lit it on fire.

With a sound of fire, it soared into the sky.

In the hazy flames like water shadows, hundreds of dogs screamed sharply, a dozen unrecognizable men and women, some with messy beards, or disheveled hair, with black and blue faces, standing in front of the flames. Silently walk through the light and shadow
He Guanghui went to Northwest China—a private coal mine in northern Xinjiang—and worked as a downhole worker. After working for a year, he came out of the coal mine and contracted dozens of acres of cotton fields there.

A few years later, He Guanghui went back to the village to go through the relocation procedures, and at the same time he was dealing with his old house. When I was at home, he said to me: "Brother He Zao, it's not that I don't love Hejiapo, it's just that the hatred here is too deep. , I can't bear it."
I was silent for a long time.It's hard to imagine how the person who can say such a thing is He Zhongbao's son?

Not long after He Guanghui left, Cai Gen returned to Hejiapo.He was caught selling buffalo beef and fined.He went to He Zhongbao's house and made a big fuss.He thought he must have sued He Zhongbao for his mistake.He Zhongbao sat on the futon, never raised his head, let alone said a word.When the son burned the family heirloom, he burned his soul and took out his bones. He seemed to have no strength to protect himself.If it weren't for Wen's holding Caigen's leg and kowtowing like garlic, Caigen would have beaten He Zhongbao.

It was less than a month since Cai Gen returned to the village, and Hu Mianjing quietly returned to the slope!

The shock caused by Hu Mian's return to the village was far greater than He Guanghui's departure.She hasn't been back for several years.According to He Kuiyuan, they bought real estate in other places and planned to move their household registration there.But why is Hu Mian dressed so shabby, looking so tired, and looking so thin?And in the past few years, Hu Mian has grown much older, and the bags under her eyes that she shouldn't have at her age are very obviously hanging under her eyeballs.She cut her hair very short, exactly like a man; she did this to look more energetic, but in the eyes of people on the slope, she was nothing more than doubly downcast.

Almost everyone's eyes were fixed on the long-uninhabited house under the mottled bamboo forest.

For the first two days, Hu Mian didn't go out, and people thought she was gone again, but on the third day, she entered her own production contract field with a big flower basket on her back.

These fields were previously contracted to He Kou. After Cai Gen returned to the village, He Kou subcontracted to Cai Gen again.He Kou had already planted the crops, wasting the seeds and labor, but he didn't want to make any money from Caigen. He had agreed with He Tuanhe at the beginning, and he gave it to Caigen as it was, because He Kou and He Ji Xiang made an appointment to go to Zhejiang to work, and set off immediately.

That day, when the vegetable roots were going to drench, I saw Hu Mian pulling weeds in the field. He was surprised and angrily said: "Hey, I made this crop. If you want to take it back, you have to wait for me to harvest the crops of this season." Did you take it?"
Hu Mian didn't seem to hear, and continued to weed.

Caigen was going to throw the big flower basket beside her, but Hu Mian held on tightly.When the two were arguing, He Kuiyuan curled up and came over coughing.

"That's what you want?" He Kuiyuan said, pointing at the root of the vegetable.

Caigen stiffened his neck: "This is the crop I planted!"
He Kuiyuan said: "This is the land of unity, and the crops are also planted by He Kou."
Cai Gen said angrily, "I've made a deal with He Kou!"
He Kuiyuan clutched his coughing chest and said: "When people come back, they have to take them back. That's just right and proper!"
"Screw your mother's ass!"
He Kuiyuan pointed at the bridge of Caigen's nose with his five broken thumbs: "You scolded me?"
Before that, no matter who scolded He Kuiyuan, he never cared about it.

Cai Gen did not show any weakness: "What the hell are you, I dare not scold you anymore? My daughter was also betrayed and raped by two men. Not only did you refuse to ask the traffickers, you even licked other people's assholes! Other people's assholes I don't want you to lick it, I think your tongue is thick!"
He Kuiyuan punched Cai Gen in the face.

Two men, one old and one young, fought on the ridge of the field.

Hu Mian didn't seem to notice, and silently pulled weeds.

After all, He Kuiyuan is old, and he can't beat the strong Caigen.In the end, he used his unique trick and sprayed a mouthful of blood on Cai Gen, and the battle ended.

Caigen had no choice but to give up the planted crops to Hu Mian.

Hu Mian stayed at home for several years.

During this period, He Tuanjie never came back, nor did his son.Hu Mian has gone out a few times, and each time she went out quietly, and then came back quietly, most of the time she came and went for less than a week, and only once for a longer period of two months.She kept silent about He Tuanjie's situation outside.Liang, who is nearly a hundred years old, cares about her as an elder, and she will never confide a word about He Tuanjie.

In the first half year of Hu Mian's return, He Kuiyuan followed her like a servant, chopping firewood, mowing grass, and digging the fields for her. The working field is turning around.

No one knows what he did it for.

Not long after, Cai Gen said that one night, he saw He Kuiyuan sneak into Hu Mian's house, and he hid in the mottled bamboo forest to watch for two or three hours before He Kuiyuan came out.

"His family is in chaos anyway!" said the man on Poshang.

But after half a year, He Kuiyuan no longer ran back and forth with Hu Mian, and he became a lonely person again, wearing a ragged cotton jacket, wandering on the slope like a ghost.It has been a few years since he stopped running with Hu Mian, and he is always swaying like this.How is he living?What do you usually eat?Nobody knows.Once, the sow peeped curiously through the crack of his door, and found that when Kui Yuan was eating, there was a finger-sized piece of lard in the bowl. Oil.After two days of observation, he always did this: when the rice was almost cooked, put another piece of raw lard on the rice to steam it, so that the piece of lard became his dish.Since he does not farm or cultivate land, and other people occupy his fields, they only weigh him grain and not vegetables, so he has no vegetables to eat for a long time. Some people say that he has not eaten vegetables for almost two years!That lard was also given to him by He Guanghui when he came back to go through the transfer procedures. He Guanghui stored the lard in a jar. When he came back and opened it, there was a stench of black smoke coming out of the jar. It was also full of fat and waxy maggots. He lifted the jar to the latrine and was about to pour it down when he was seen by Kui Yuan who was turning around. Kui Yuan said: "Guanghui, give me to eat." He Guanghui said: " Okay, okay, if it's poisonous, just die and don't ask me about it." Lard that has been stored for a long time is really poisonous, even if it is not poisonous, how can you stand the smell?But Kui Yuan actually ate it for almost a year.
He Kuiyuan finally died in his own home during the Spring Festival this year.

His death was far less heroic than his life.No one on the slopes knew he was dead.On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Cai Gen came back from visiting relatives and wanted to invite someone to play cards with He Kuiyuan.Kui Yuan has no money, but Cai Gen also has no money now, so instead of gambling, just "shave a beard". It has been a long time since I have had a beard on this slope.When Caigen asked He Kuiyuan to play cards, the people on the slope thought: Hey, it’s been several days since the Spring Festival, why didn’t you see Kuiyuan?In previous Spring Festivals, even if he was penniless, he would stand by and watch day and night when people played cards. Why is there no sign of anyone this year?

Cai Gen went to push Kui Yuan's door—his door had never been locked, and it would open as soon as he pushed it—just stepped in, then backed out.

He smelled a foul stench.

Several accomplices also stepped in and smelled the pungent stench.

This stench can only be smelled in the rock cut under Zhu's board where the child's body is hung.

"Maybe the ball is dead?" Cai Gen covered his nose and walked into He Kuiyuan's back room.

He Kuiyuan lay stiffly on his back on the bed, his face had already turned black, and there was a puddle of thick corpse water under the bed.

Caigen ran out yelling.

The people playing cards around heard this, and there was an inexplicable excitement, "Dead?"
Cai Gen said: "It's all rotten!"
"That bastard," they said, "is dead at last!"
"Yan Wangye probably wanted him to work as an errand, so he ticked his book."
After laughing and cursing, those who played cards felt lonely for a while.He Tuanjie left, He Guanghui left, He Zhongcai took his son to the village to open a blacksmith shop, and the fire never went out 360 days a year, Cai Bang was arrested and put in prison, and He Kou and He Ji brothers, etc. Several young people went to Guangdong or Zhejiang to work but did not come back. Now, He Kuiyuan is dead again
No one cared about He Kuiyuan's body.

The president had to come forward.The current president is an honest young man. He didn't know how to deal with it, so he asked Hu Mian. What he meant was that Hu Mian and Kui Yuan were relatives. Hu Mian scolded severely.The president went to ask the old team leader He Zhongbao again, He Zhongbao gave him a glance, then lowered his head, as if he was in deep thought, but he never gave the president an answer.The president came out of He Zhongbao's house and asked He Da who he had always respected. He Da said, "Find some young people and send him up the mountain."
The president said: "Kui Yuan didn't have much material (coffin), so he just wrapped it in a straw mat, okay?"
"No way!" He Da said, "Isn't there an apricot tree in front of his house?"
After the president left, He Da got up and took a look at He Kuiyuan. After returning home, he sat by the fire hall and fell into an inextricable loneliness.Their generation, one after another, all died, and the young people left Hejiapo one after another to pursue their own happy life.His son, He Kou He Ji, has never been back since he arrived in Zhejiang. TV, but I can’t watch the Spring Festival Gala, and I don’t want to come back; he went home in the twelfth lunar month, and wanted to take his father to Yongle County, He Da shook his head, unwilling to leave.The third son, He Zao, was even more busy. As a reporter, the more holidays the busier he was.he has become a lonely old man
The young people cut a fire box for He Kuiyuan from the apricot tree in front of He Kuiyuan's gate as quickly as possible.

When the tinder box was about to be sealed, He Da came. "Fingers," he said, "Kui Yuan has five fingers, which were placed beside his pillow!"
After speaking, He Da hurriedly went to look for the pillow, but there was not a single finger left, probably eaten by rats long ago.

After all, He Kuiyuan failed to get a whole body.

The young man hastily closed the lid, carried the fire box and left the village.Why did Kui Yuan cry for mourning, only Liang's.

After the pit was dug, the young man threw the fire box in, and the fire box shattered immediately, exposing He Kuiyuan's poor body.

The young people didn't care, they lifted the soil with shovels in their hands, and quickly buried the corpses.

There is no grave, only loose soil slightly above the ground, which proves that a person who has just died is buried here.

In two years, this piece of soil will be trampled flat by people and cattle, and no one will remember that there was a man named He Kuiyuan in Hejiapo.

After He Kuiyuan's death, many people suddenly disappeared on Po Shangxiang.When he was born, he ran around all day long, greeting people for no reason.The people on the slope looked down on him, the old man, when he heard his question, he answered with a "hum" in his nose.He Kuiyuan has long been not afraid of being looked down upon by others, and he never said a word to you until you got bored and got away with it; the young man was willing to talk to him, but every word was like a sharp knife, which pierced his pain:

"Are your five fingers still there?"
"Why don't you go to the Yin Dynasty and ask Yan Wangjun to replace your rotten lung?"
"He Tuanjie mails you several hundred dollars a month?"
"How many grandchildren do you have? The older ones are almost at the beginning of reading, right?"
For other questions, He Kuiyuan answered happily. For example, when asked about his fingers, he would say: "Yes, still there. I wrapped them in straw paper and put them under the pillow." Asked about his lungs, he said: "Yan Wangjun Just care about life and death, regardless of illness." Asked if He Tuanjie would send him money, he said: "If you want to send it, you want to send it." Only when he asked about his daughter, did he look gloomy and leave without a word.Thus, the young man found a trick. If he didn’t want to talk to him, he asked his daughter from the beginning. As soon as the words were spoken, He Kuiyuan would turn around silently, bow his back, and walk towards another group of people panting.

Now that he is dead, people on the slopes suddenly realize that without He Kuiyuan, He Jiapo doesn't seem to be He Jiapo.

This kind of feeling is more vivid and lasting in the hearts of Liang Shi, He Zhongbao, He Da and other older generations.Especially He Zhongbao, for the past two years, he has basically been unable to work in the fields. Although his son burned the dog-beating stick, He Zhongbao dreamed of it every night. He gnawed and bit on him.He couldn't think of it, that ancestral treasure was originally for him to defend himself, but why did he hurt himself in the end? He grew old in confusion and fear, unable to work in the fields, so he sat by the fire hall, or sat on the slabs in the dam to bask in the sun. When he arrived at several graves of different heights, he muttered a few words that he didn't understand, and went back to the house.He was so old that he seemed to be older than Mrs. Liang.Of course, on the day when he receives his salary, he will go to the Dongba field in person, even if he walks for a moment and takes a break, he will go. No matter what you say, receiving salary is also a proof of his identity.

A puzzling question entangled him: He Tuanhe, Caigen, Hekou, and He Kuiyuan, who just died, were all viruses on Hejiapo. Now, these viruses have disappeared one by one, but with them What disappeared together was He Jiapo's vitality.What exactly is this vitality?Is it the history of endless struggle, or the groaning that the land cannot bear the heavy load?He Zhongbao didn't understand, he just felt empty, the efforts of many generations, in the end, what did they gain?

He obviously felt that something was belittling him.

How big is it?What is unity?Or his son He Guanghui?It seems to be both, and it seems not to be.
Young people don't keep one thing on their minds for a long time. They want to work up and down the slope, have sex with their own women in different ways on the bed, have children, and want to be like those who walked out of Hejiapo. Like people, they think about where to work and earn money. In short, they want to live, and they will never feel sad for a dead person for too long.They just sighed and put an end to their sadness: "Kui Yuan, that bastard, he really doesn't deserve to die!"
Lost a joy of life, have to find another to fill, this is the top priority of the young people on the slope.

Many families have bought TV sets.

He Jiapo was the first to buy a TV set, it was He Da.Ho Ben bought it for him.On the day I bought it, He Da’s house was full of people. They couldn’t understand Mandarin, and even with subtitles, most of the elderly couldn’t understand it.On the second day, the number of people decreased, and on the fifth day, few people came to see it.The thing about TV, after all, is not so interesting and attractive. Instead of watching TV, it is better to go to "Bahuzi"!

Now, they bought the TV themselves, so of course they feel different, it is their own foreign gadget after all.After dinner, the pigs and cows were fed, and the next day's pigweed was cut, the whole family sat by the TV and watched those urban bubble dramas that they couldn't understand at all.

However, the enthusiasm lasted no more than ten days before it completely disappeared.

Again, this is not the fun they need.They're country folks, and they just love homegrown fun.

(End of this chapter)