Chapter 12 Chapter nine

In the spring of 1961, my aunt was freed from the Wang Xiaoti incident and returned to work in the obstetrics and gynecology department of the commune health center.But in those two years, no baby was born in more than 40 villages in the commune.The reason? Naturally, it was hunger.Because of hunger, women lost their periods; because of hunger, men became eunuchs.In the gynecology department of the commune health center, there are only my aunt and a middle-aged female doctor surnamed Huang.The female doctor surnamed Huang graduated from a prestigious medical school, but because of her poor family background and being a rightist herself, she was demoted to the countryside.Every time my aunt mentioned her, she would get angry.My aunt said that she had a weird temper, either she didn't say a word all day, or she was vitriolic and eloquent, and she could make a long speech in front of a spittoon.After the eldest grandma passed away, my aunt rarely came back.But whenever there is something delicious at home, my mother always asks my sister to give it to my aunt.Once, my father picked up half a hare in the field, and it was estimated that the eagle ate the rest.Mother dug half a basket of wild vegetables from the ground and cooked them with rabbit meat.Mother filled a bowl of rabbit meat, wrapped it in a bag, and asked my sister to deliver it, but my sister refused to go.I volunteered.Mother said, you can go, but you don't steal food on the road, and you have to watch your feet when you walk, and don't smash the bowl for me.

It is ten miles from our village to the commune health center.At first I ran all the way, trying to arrive before the rabbit meat was cold.But after running for a while, my legs became heavy, my stomach rumbled, I broke out in cold sweat, and felt dizzy.I'm hungry, and the two bowls of wild vegetable porridge I drank in the morning have been digested.At this time, the aroma of rabbit meat came out through the package.Two of them were arguing and fighting. One said: eat one piece, just one piece; the other said: no, be an honest child and listen to your mother.Several times my hands were about to untie the knots of the bundle, but my mother's eyes popped into my mind.Rows of mulberry trees were planted on both sides of the road leading from our village to the health center. The mulberry leaves had already been picked up by the hungry people. I broke off a branch and chewed it. The bitterness was hard to swallow.But at this time, I saw a cicada that had just emerged from its shell on the trunk of the mulberry tree. It was bright yellow and its wings were not yet dry.I was overjoyed, threw down the branch, held the cicada in my hand, and stuffed it into my mouth without thinking.Cicada is our delicacy and high-level tonic, but it needs to be cooked before eating.I eat live cicadas raw, saving fire and time.Live cicadas are delicious and, I believe, more nutritious than cooked cicadas.I searched the tree trunks on the side of the road as I walked, but I never found a cicada, but picked up a beautifully printed colorful leaflet: In that leaflet, there was a radiant young man holding a woman who looked like a fairy .The text below explains: Communist pilot Wang Xiaoti turned from darkness to light, was awarded the rank of major in the National Army, was rewarded with 5,000 taels of gold, and became a fairy companion with the famous singer Miss Tao Lili.I forgot my hunger, an inexplicable excitement that made me want to cry out.When I was in school, I heard about the KMT using balloons to float reactionary leaflets here, but I did not expect to pick them up. I did not expect this reactionary leaflet to be so beautiful. Moreover, I admit, the girl in the photo Yes, indeed more charming than my aunt.

When I ran into the obstetrics and gynecology department of the hospital, my aunt was arguing with that woman surnamed Huang.The woman wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a hooked nose, thin lips, and her bruised gums were exposed when she opened her mouth. ——Later, my aunt reminded us many times that we would rather be single than marry a woman who showed her teeth. ——The woman's gloomy gaze sent chills down my back. I heard the woman say: What are you, how dare you assign me?When my mother was studying in medical school, you still wore crotch pants! The aunt replied unceremoniously: Yes, I know that you, Huang Qiuya, are the eldest lady of the capitalists, and I also know that you are the school belle of the medical school. You held a small flag to welcome the Japanese devils into the city, right?You probably still danced with the Japanese officers in the face-to-face dance, right?While you were dancing with the Japanese soldiers, my old lady was fighting wits and courage with the Japanese commander in Pingdu City!

The woman sneered and said: Who has seen it?Who has seen it?Who has seen you battle wits with the Japanese commander? My aunt said: History is all there, and mountains and rivers testify. I shouldn't, I shouldn't, I shouldn't have passed the colorful leaflet in my hand to my aunt at this moment. What are you doing here?My aunt asked me angrily, what kind of stuff is this? Reactionary leaflets, reactionary leaflets of the Kuomintang!My voice trembled with excitement. My aunt glanced at it casually at first, but I saw her body jerk, as if she had been electrocuted. Her eyes widened, and her face turned pale.She threw away the flyer like a snake, no, like a frog.

By the time my aunt suddenly realized and wanted to pick up the leaflet, it was already too late. Huang Qiuya picked up the flyer, glanced at it, looked up at her aunt, and glanced at the flyer again, her eyes hidden behind the thick lenses suddenly burst out with a phosphorescent green light.Then, she let out a sneer.Auntie jumped forward to snatch the flyer, but Huang Qiuya avoided it as soon as she turned around.The aunt reached out and grabbed the clothes behind Huang Qiuya, and shouted loudly: "Give it back to me!" Huang Qiuya struggled forward, and with a snort, the gown was torn, revealing a back as white as a frog's belly.

give me back! Huang turned around, hid the hand holding the flyer behind his back, trembling all over, and moved towards the door step by step.At the same time, she said gloomily and triumphantly: Give it back to you?snort!You spy dog!Traitor woman!The traitor is tired of playing with the scum!Are you scared too?You don't sell your "martyr's orphan" smell, do you? The aunt rushed towards Huang Qiuya like crazy. Huang Qiuya ran to the corridor and screamed, "Catch the spies!"Catch the spy! Auntie chased after her and grabbed Huang Qiuya's hair.Huang Qiuya leaned her neck back, stretched her hand holding the leaflet forward desperately, and let out a more mournful cry.At that time, the commune health center had only two rows of houses, with the outpatient department in the front row and the office row in the back row.Everyone heard the sound.My aunt had already pushed Huang Qiuya down in the corridor, and was riding on her waist, desperately grabbing the leaflets.

The dean came running.He was a middle-aged man with a bald head, slender eyes, two pouches hanging down under his eyes, and false teeth that were too white.He shouted: Stop!What are you doing? Auntie didn't seem to hear the dean's scolding, and broke Huang Qiuya's hand even more violently.The sound from Huang Qiuya's mouth was no longer screaming but crying. Wanxin, stop!The dean yelled at the onlookers angrily: Are you all blind?Separate them quickly! Several male doctors came up, and with great effort, they dragged my aunt away from Huang Qiuya's body. Several female doctors came up and lifted Huang Qiuya up from the ground.

Huang Qiuya's glasses fell off, blood was flowing between her teeth, and cloudy tears flowed from her sunken eye sockets.But her hand was still tightly clutching the leaflet.She howled: Dean, you have to decide for me... Aunt's clothes were disheveled, her face was pale, and there were two bloody grooves on her cheeks, which were obviously cut by Huang Qiuya's nails. Wanxin, what is going on?asked the Dean. Auntie smiled bleakly, and two lines of tears welled up.She threw a few leaflet crumbs in her hand on the ground.Without saying a word, he staggered into the obstetrics and gynecology department.

At this time, like a hero who has made great contributions and suffered greatly, Huang Qiuya handed the crumpled flyer to the dean.She knelt down and fumbled for her glasses. She put the glasses with a broken leg on the bridge of her nose and held it up with her hands.Seeing the crumbs of leaflets thrown by my aunt on the ground, I hurried forward on my knees, grabbed them in my hand, and got up as if I had found a treasure. What kind of stuff is this?The dean asked while stretching out the leaflet. For the reactionary leaflet, Huang Qiuya handed the fragments of the leaflet to the dean like a treasure, saying, there are more here, it is the leaflet sent to Wan Xin by Wang Xiaoti who defected to Taiwan!

The doctors and nurses around were amazed. The dean had presbyopic eyes, and moved the leaflet to a far place, struggling to adjust his sight.Doctors and nurses swarmed up. What are you looking at?What catches your eyes?All go back to work!The dean put away the leaflets, reprimanded everyone, and said: Doctor Huang, come with me. Huang Qiuya followed the director into the office, and the doctors and nurses were discussing carefully in twos and threes. At this time, my aunt was crying loudly from the obstetrics and gynecology department.Realizing that I had made a big mistake, I timidly scrambled through the door and saw my aunt sitting on a chair with her head on the table, beating the table with her fists while crying.

Auntie, I said, my mother asked me to bring you rabbit meat. My aunt ignored me and just cried. Auntie, I cried and said, don’t cry, you can eat some rabbit meat... I put the burden in my hand on the table, untied it, and brought the bowl of rabbit meat to my aunt's head. Auntie swung her arm and threw the bowl to the ground, where it fell to pieces. roll!roll!roll!The aunt raised her head and shouted loudly: You bastard!get out!