Chapter 6 Chapter Six

When Chun'er returned home, the moon had already filled the yard. She opened the door of the house, went up to the kang, sat by the window sill, and couldn't lie down for a long time.The little white coat was soaked, with the smell of soil and crushed grass in the willow field.The moon shines in from the branches and leaves of the gourd and the lattice of the window, and falls on the plump chest, and the heart is still beating. She felt a little scared and a little dissatisfied.She listened with her ears flattened. In the far field, there was the sound of wind blowing. When she came out, there was a black cloud on the northwest corner, which surged quickly, and soon, the stars and trees on that side were all covered up.In the dry field, a layer of fog rises, and all the crops, trees, grasses and wild flowers are in full swing, warmly welcoming the changes of the day.

In the middle of the night, it began to rain heavily. The rain was so violent that it immediately connected the sky and the earth.In the distant river beach, there was a muffled sound, like the roar of an old cow. Eargrass hadn't wiped the roof for them this year, the hut was leaking, tinkling, and water was everywhere, so Chun'er had to put all the rice bowls and vegetable pots on the kang to carry them on, and put a pot lid on her head, To and fro in the house. Around the embankment, so many toads came out of nowhere, and they sang together, forming a single voice, trying to lift the world up.Chun'er was a bit timid alone, she ran to the embankment in the rain, and there was a vast expanse of whiteness all around, a hare ran up the embankment in a panic, hit a somersault at Chun'er's feet, and ran to the village ran away.

"It looks like there's going to be a flood." Chun'er ran home thinking. The next day, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. The water in the big river came down, and the north side opened up. At first I heard rumbling sounds, and later I realized that the Japanese occupied Baoding.Even the flood couldn't stop those who lost their hometown and fled, like locusts, they came here with a face.The people in Ziwu Town would stand on the embankment and watch this every day after eating. Those who fled include Baoding and Gaoyang nearer, and those farther away came from outside the pass and east of Jidong.The things brought out from home are getting less and less. From the bags, complexion and shoes of these people, we can judge the distance of their road and the length of time away from home.Those who fled from afar had their feet worn out and swollen in the muddy water. They carried a green sorghum stalk, tested the depth of the water, and moved to the embankment step by step.Their faces were scorched black, their hair was covered with sorghum flowers, and they had no strength at all. They begged the people standing on the embankment to help them.

There was a young woman carrying a small child on her back and holding another in her hand.The child kept falling in the muddy water, and when she reached the edge of the dike, she stretched out her hand to Chun'er: "Auntie, come and pick up our child!" Chun'er helped her wives up and sat on the embankment, surrounded by a group of women. Chun'er ran home and brought some pastries for the two children to eat. The woman said, "Thank you, aunt. We They are also people who have a family and a business, and the Japanese have occupied our place." Chun'er asked:

"Where is your home?" "Outside the pass. At that time, I hoped to escape to the pass, but who knew that the Japanese would rush over again, and the escape was not as fast as they took. You said, where is the stop?" "Is the child's father?" Chun'er asked. "When you go to Jingdong, you will be tortured to death." The woman wiped her tears. "Where did the Japanese go?" people asked. woman said: "Who knows, yesterday we stayed in Gaoyang, and it was fine there, just like you are now, but when we came together this morning, the people there also fled with us."

People were silent, and the woman fed the child, and then left along the embankment, following the fleeing flow. The weather was fine, and the overwhelming water flowed eastward around the village.The farmers cut back the early-maturing crops in the water, put them on the embankment, and dried them on the roof. There was a humming in the sky, at first like a horsefly.The voice gradually became louder, and an eagle appeared on the far horizon.Then a row of planes appeared, flying towards here.The farmers pointed: "Look, airships, three, five!" They seemed to see rare objects, those in the house ran to the courtyard, and those in the courtyard went up to the roof.Children ran on the dike in groups, clapping their hands and jumping.

The fleeing woman turned around and said: "Folks, don't look at it, just hide, it's a Japanese plane, and it's about to drop a bomb!" No one listened to her, and some women called out to their sisters to put down their needles and come out and see: "Quick, quick, or it's over!" The plane didn't pass by, and it flapped its wings above their heads, turning in circles, and they shouted again: "Flying chicken, it's about to lay eggs, you are looking for a nest!" boom!boom!The planes strafed and dropped a few bombs before people ran and got up. Two people were killed on the embankment and a mule was blown up.

Planes strafed along the mouth of the river, where a boat of refugees was crossing.The river was very big and the flow was fast. The boat was in a mess, and the whole ferry was overturned into the water.Adults and children floated up and then submerged in the middle of the rushing waves, and there was a sound of shouting for help. The Japanese planes strafed and bombed, and the water in the river splashed bloody. All those who can swim in Wulongtang jumped into the water to salvage the refugees.The old man Gao Sihai was naked, slapping the waves, chasing a child who was going down the river.He plunged for more than a mile, popped his head out, grabbed the child's leg, and carried him to the shore.He walked among the water-drenched refugees rescued and shouted: "Who is the child's mother? Whose family is this child? Doesn't he have an owner?"

Some people say: "Cover up your old man, there are only women here!" Gao Sihai said: "Stop fucking farting, when are you still so particular! If you have a reason, go talk to the Japanese!" He couldn't find the child's mother, so he put the child on the river beach with its mouth down, and jumped into the water again. He specially salvaged women, and when he salvaged one, he asked, "Don't cry, spit water, your child." I salvaged it for you!" When the woman shook her head and said it wasn't her baby, he jumped into the water again. It was salvaged until dark, and many people were drowned in the flood and died.People lit piles of firewood to roast those salvaged people.Gao Sihai put on his clothes and asked about the child's mother whenever he met.Someone said: This is the child of the dark-faced young woman who escaped from outside the customs. She was probably injured in the water, and she had no strength to float up and drowned, as well as her older child.After Gao Sihai heard this, he called the autumn equinox and said, "Take this child to someone with milk to eat, his mother is dead, let's adopt it!"

Equinox says: "What are you doing adopting this year and month?" "If you don't hug him, I'll hug him," Gao Sihai said, with tears in his eyes, "This year, this year, what nonsense are you talking about!" At night, the fleeing people fell asleep next to the extinguished firewood, lying upside down, the river was rushing, washing the river bank, and there were constant rumbles of soil clods cracking.The moonlight shines on the boundless white water and the lying crops trembling in the water.The villages near and far, bearing the pain of incomparable panic and terror, anxiety and helplessness, could not sleep peacefully for a long time.In Gao Sihai's hut, the cry of a child's throat was heard.

"Japan! Japan!" In every village, from every small window, people can hear these two words chewing with their teeth in their sleep.