Chapter 4 Chapter 03

On the stone mill platform in the west wing, a soybean oil lamp covered with dirt was lit.The dim yellow lights flickered uneasily, and a wisp of black smoke hovered above the sharp flames.The aroma of burning soybean oil mixed with the smell of donkey dung and donkey urine.The air in the wing was foul.One side of the stone mill is close to the bluestone donkey trough.The black donkey of Shangguan's family was lying on its side between the stone mill and the donkey trough. When Shangguan Lu walked into the wing room, he could only see the soybean oil lamp.In the darkness came Shangguan Fulu's anxious question: "Mother, what happened?"

Shangguan Lu curled her lips in the direction of her husband, but did not answer.She jumped over the black donkey on the ground and Shangguan Shouxi who was kneeling beside the black donkey massaging the donkey's belly, walked to the window, and angrily tore off the black paper that pasted the window.A dozen rectangular golden sunlight suddenly illuminated half of the wall.She turned to the stone mill and blew out the oil lamp on the millstone.The aroma of burning soybean oil permeated quickly, suppressing the fishy smell in the wing room.Shangguan Shouxi's small dark face was illuminated by a ray of sunlight, and his two small jet-black eyes shone like two grains of charcoal.He looked at his mother timidly, and said in a low voice: "Mom, let's run too, everyone from the Fushengtang family has run away, and the Japanese are coming..."

Shangguan Lu's gaze stared at his son with hateful eyes, forcing him to dodge his eyes and droop his sweaty little face. "Who told you that the Japanese are coming?" Shangguan Lu asked his son viciously. "The shopkeeper of Fushengtang fired guns and shouted..." Shangguan Shouxi raised an arm, wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand covered with donkey hair, and muttered in a low voice.Compared with Shangguan Lu's thick and fat palms, Shangguan Shouxi's hands are small and thin.His lips suddenly stopped moving like breastfeeding, he raised his head, pricked up those two exquisite little ears, and listened intently, he said, "Mother, father, listen!"

Sima Ting's hoarse voice floated into the room leisurely: "Masters and ladies - uncles and aunts - big brothers and sisters - big brothers and sisters, run away, escape, and take shelter among the crops and barley in the southeast wasteland. Get out of the limelight—the Japanese are coming—I have reliable information, it’s not a lie, folks, don’t hesitate, run, don’t be reluctant to part with those broken houses, people are in the green mountains, there are people who have the world Now—folks, run, it's too late—” Shangguan Shouxi jumped up and said in horror: "Mother, did you hear that? Let's run away too..."

"Run, where are you going?!" Shangguan Lu said dissatisfiedly, "Of course the Fushengtang family wants to run, why are we running? The Shangguan family makes a living by farming iron and steel. One does not owe the emperor grain, and the other does not owe national taxes. Whoever becomes an official, we all serve the people.Aren't Japanese people human too?The Japanese occupied Northeast Township, so don't we have to rely on the common people to farm the land and pay rent for them?His father, you are the head of the family, am I right? " Shangguan Fulu grinned, showing two rows of strong yellow teeth, and the expression on his face was indistinguishable from laughter and tears.

Shangguan Lu said angrily: "I ask you, why are you baring your teeth? You can't hold back a fart!" Shangguan Fulu said with a sad face, "What do I know? If you say run away, we will run away. If you say you will not run away, we will not run away!" Shangguan Lu sighed, and said: "It's a blessing, not a disaster. It's a disaster that can't be avoided. Why are you still standing there? Give it a belly!" Shangguan Shouxi moved his lips, summoned up his courage, and asked loudly, "Has she given birth?" "A man should not do two things at once. You just take care of the donkey. Don't worry about women's affairs." Shangguan Lu said.

"Is she my wife..." Shangguan Shouxi murmured. "No one said she is not your wife." Shangguan Lu said. "I guess she's pregnant with a boy this time," Shangguan Shouxi pressed the donkey's belly and said, "Her belly is frighteningly big." "You, incompetent thing..." Shangguan Lu said dejectedly, "Bodhisattva bless you." Shangguan Shouxi still wanted to speak, but his mouth was sealed by his mother's mournful gaze. Shangguan Fulu said: "You are busy here, I will go to the street to see what's going on." "Come back!" Shangguan Lu grabbed her husband by the shoulders, dragged him to the donkey, and said angrily, "Do you see any movement on the street? Massage the donkey's belly and help it give birth quickly! Bodhisattva, God , the ancestors of the Shangguan family are all men who stick to iron and steel, how could they raise such wimpy descendants!"

Shangguan Fulu bent down in front of the donkey, stretched out his two small hands, which were as delicate as his son, and pressed them on the twitching belly of the black donkey.His body was opposite to that of his son across the donkey.The father and son looked at each other, both grinned and bared their teeth, just like a pair of troubled brothers.Their father rises and the son rises, and the father rises and the son rises, like two children stepping on both ends of a seesaw.As their bodies rose and fell, their hands rubbed the floating skin on the donkey's belly.Both father and son have no strength, light and fluffy, soft, rushes, cotton wool, careless, and cutting corners.Shangguan Lu who was standing behind them shook his head dejectedly, stretched out his big hands like iron pincers, pinched her husband's neck, lifted him up, and said a few times: "Go, go to the side!" Pushing, Shangguan Fulu, the blacksmith who is notoriously deceitful, staggered towards the corner and lay down on a sack of hay. "Get up!" Shangguan Lu yelled at his son, "Don't get in the way here, eat a lot of food, drink a lot of water, and work sloppy! God, my life is so hard!" Shangguan Shouxi seemed to be amnesty Jump to your feet and join your father on the corner.The black eyes of the father and son blinked slickly, and the expressions on their faces were both cunning and dull.At this time, Sima Ting's shouts poured into the wing room again, and the bodies of both father and son writhed uncomfortably, as if they were shit and urgent to urinate.

Shangguan Lu's knees knelt in front of the donkey's belly, not avoiding the filth on the ground at all.A solemn expression hung over her face.She rolled up her sleeves and rubbed her big hands.The sound of her rubbing her hands was rough and harsh, like rubbing the soles of two shoes.She put half of her face on the donkey's belly, squinting her eyes and listening.Then, she stroked the donkey's face and said emotionally: "Donkey, donkey, fight it out, we women can't get rid of this difficulty!" Then, she straddled the donkey's neck, bowed her waist, and put her hands flat On the donkey's belly, push forward hard like pushing a plane.The donkey groaned, its four curled legs snapped open, and its four hooves trembled, as if they were rapidly beating invisible drums on all sides. The chaotic sound of the drums echoed in the wing of Shangguan's house.The donkey's neck was bent and raised, stuck in the air, and then slammed down heavily, making a wet and sticky sound, "Donkey, hold on, who made us a woman? Clenched your teeth, Push hard... hard, donkey..." She muttered in a low voice, put her hands on her chest, gathered strength, held her breath, and pushed forward slowly and firmly.The donkey struggled, spraying yellow liquid from its nostrils, the donkey's head croaked, and amniotic fluid and feces splashed in and out of the back.Shangguan father and son covered their eyes in horror.

"Folks, the cavalry team of the Japanese devils has already set off from the county seat. I have definite information. I'm not talking nonsense. Run, if you don't run, it will be too late..." Sima Ting's loyal shout came to their ears very clearly. Shangguan father and son opened their eyes and saw Shangguan Lu sitting beside the donkey's head, panting with his head down.Sweat soaked her white cloth gown, revealing the shape of her stiff, protruding shoulder blades.Behind the black donkey's buttocks, there was a pool of bright red blood, and a thin and slender mule leg protruded straight out of the donkey's birth canal.This mule leg looked extraordinarily fake, as if it was deliberately poked into it as a prank.

Shangguan Lu pressed the half of his face that was twitching violently to the donkey's belly again, and listened for a long time.Shangguan Shouxi saw that his mother's face was like a ripe apricot, showing a peaceful golden color.Sima Ting roared tirelessly and floated back and forth like a fly chasing a stinky smell, sticking to the wall and then flying to the donkey.He felt a fit of panic, as if a catastrophe was imminent.He wanted to escape from the wing, but he didn't have the guts.He vaguely felt that as soon as he left the house, he would surely fall into the hands of those little Japanese devils who were said to be short in stature, stubby in limbs, with bulbous noses, bell eyes, eating human livers and drinking human blood, and would be eaten by them, even to the bones. There is no scum left. Now, they must be running in groups in the alleys, chasing women and children, kicking and snorting like jolly horses.For comfort and confidence, he looked sideways to his father.He saw Shangguan Fulu, a counterfeit and inferior blacksmith, with an ashen face, sitting on a sack in the corner with his hands holding his knees, his body leaning forward and backward, his back and the back of his head constantly hitting the angle formed by the wall; Shangguan Shouxi's nose burst Inexplicably sour, two lines of turbid tears burst out. Shangguan Lu coughed and slowly raised his head.She stroked the donkey's face and sighed: "Donkey, donkey, what's the matter with you? How can you grow your legs first? You are so confused, when you give birth, you should have your head first..." The donkey's eyes that lost their luster Tears welled up.She wiped the tears off the donkey's eyelids with her hand, blew her nose loudly, then turned around and said to her son, "Go and call you Mr. Fan San. I wanted to save a pig's head for these two bottles of wine, hey, I can't save the flowers, let's go!" Shangguan Shouxi retreated to the corner, stared at the gate leading to the alley in horror, grinned, and muttered: "The alley is full of Japanese, full of Japanese..." Shangguan Lu stood up angrily, walked through the hall, and opened the door.The early summer southwest wind with the scorched aroma of ripe wheat rushed in.The alley was quiet, there was no one, only a group of black butterflies fluttering like paper dust, which looked very fake.Slices of dizzying black ominous images were left in Shangguan Shouxi's mind.