Chapter 43 Algae Row.5

The snow that day stopped at dusk.This small village has turned into a world of silver.Snow covered the tiles of the low houses, and in the poorly repaired places, finger-shaped ice chopsticks were hung. People huddled under such roofs, like being frozen in a refrigerator.People woke up from the cold in the middle of the night and heard the old north wind roaring above their heads. In the early morning of the next day, the golden rays of the sun came to this bitterly cold little village.One or two dogs were rolling on the paddy field.A woman or two was breaking the ice by the river to draw water; the three weed boats were so packed together that they seemed to be frozen together.There are also people who intend to declare war against the severe cold, and move the sage grass in the boat to the square pond that was opened in the field in advance. However, the muddy and watery sage grass is frozen harder than iron. hand said:

"Damn it, my hand is numb. No one can handle it except Caixi?" However, Caixi's majestic figure did not appear on the rice field. When the sun was as high as a bamboo pole, Caixi came back from the city.He went to redeem the drug.There are some small Chinese medicine shops in the city that can help the poor. You tell the only clerk in the pharmacy about the condition of the patient, and he will sell you two or three hundred yuan of herbal medicine that does not cure the disease or kill you.Caixi said that Xiusheng's illness was fever, and the clerk at the pharmacy gave him antipyretics, including gypsum.

At this time, the people in the village were troubled by one thing. Caixi saw three or five people from the same village looking at Xiusheng's house from a distance, and he was taken aback: "Could it be Xiusheng's disease?"——Thinking of this, he ran over in three steps at a time. . Hearing Xiusheng's wife shout "Help", Caixi's heart skipped a beat.Because he suddenly ran into the house from a sunny place, Caixi's eyes failed, and he only relied on the instinct of his ears to sense that there was someone struggling in the corner of the room—where Xiusheng and the others were lying in bed.

Xiusheng sat up on the bed, while Xiusheng's wife was half kneeling and half prostrating, holding Xiusheng's hands and lower body tightly. Caixi understood and felt relieved, but also became confused. "What's the matter? Did you hit her again?" Caixi said, suppressing his anger. Xiusheng's wife let go, stood up and stroked her tangled hair, and replied in a panicked mess: "He must build roads! He said, I'm tired of work, and I don't have any money, so I'm going to risk my life! Think about it, you came back yesterday with a fever and groaned all night, how can you build any roads? I advise him to wait until you come back to discuss it." The township chief refused, and he refused. I refused to let him get up, but he seemed to have gone mad, saying that everyone was dead, and strangled my throat, beating me facelessly."

At this time, Cai Xifang began to see that there was another person in the house, but it was the village chief that Xiusheng's wife had mentioned.The arrival of this "big man" is the cause of people's troubles.The thing is to call for labor to build roads. For three days, no one is allowed to hide. One or two of the people watching outside the door came in, surrounded Caixi and chatted. Caixi pushed Xiusheng under the bed with one hand, and said in his mouth: "Why are you getting so angry again? It's kind of your mother to persuade you!" "I don't want to live. I don't have money; I have life—I have one!"

Xiusheng was still stubborn, but his voice was weak. Caixi turned to the mayor and said: "Xiusheng is really sick. I went to spray medicine early in the morning (waving the medicine bag in my hand in front of the village chief's face), and I can't send workers to the sick." "No way!" The township head's face was ashen, "If you are sick, you have to find a substitute worker and pay for it. If there is no substitute worker, it costs one yuan a day. Everyone shirks the illness, so you don't have to do business!" "The last labor service, Why didn't Chen Jiachang's son go or spend any money?

The kid didn't even report his illness.Isn't this something in your hands? " "Stop talking nonsense! Answer quickly: write your name, or pay for it,— Three days is three yuan! " "Caixi," Xiusheng over there yelled again, "I'll go! I don't have any money; I have one life! If I die on the road, I'll have to sleep in a coffin!" Like a wounded beast, Xiusheng threw off the quilt and jumped up tremblingly. "Not a single copper!" Caixi threw away the medicine bag, and his arms were like a pair of steel clamps, and he grabbed the mayor's chest. "You dog, get out of here!"

Xiusheng's wife and two neighbors have also pulled Xiusheng away.The township head cursed at the door, threatening to report to the "bureau".Caixi walked up to Xiusheng, and put Xiusheng on the bed like a child. "Oh, Caixi, the game is over, and I'm here to arrest you, but what should I do?" Xiu gasped and said, her face was burning like a fire. "Let it go. The sky is falling, I'm lucky!" It was a calm and firm answer. Xiusheng's wife unwrapped the medicine package, and poured four or five kinds of herbs into the crock.Finally, she picked up the pack of plaster and rolled it between her fingers, seemingly undecided what to do, but finally put it in the crock as well.

six The sun's rays became vertical, giving warmth to this small village. There is still some residual snow on the rice field, peeling off like a big piece of net oil.People are carrying weeds on the boat. One of the people is Caixi.He only wore a single suit, and the blue cloth belt was still tightly tied around his waist, with the sleeves rolled up high. He used a big rake to loosen the half-frozen weed grass and mud like "five people opened a mountain", Packed into wooden barrels.There is a pre-opened square pond in the field, and weed grass and mud are poured into this pond, plus the "garbage ①" that has been collected long ago, layer by layer.

-------- ① Garbage - a mixture of straw ash and leftover rotten food.This is collected by farmers in towns. ——Author's original note. "Damn it, even the nail rake is bitten? - Hey, Caixi!" Someone on the neighbor's boat shouted like this.Someone on the other boat said, "Ah, Caixi! Did you take our load? Anyway, you are on the way." Caixi jumped over with greasy face and offered his helping hand. The sun evaporates the earthy atmosphere, and also evaporates the sweat from people's bodies.Some sparrows were chirping on the tallow tree. People stepped up their work, hoping that all the sage will be settled before the sun goes down, and hope that tomorrow will be a fine day, so that they can sail to a farther place with sage.

They laughed, shouted, and worked, and they also sang meaningless and casually made up lines, and amidst all these sounds, Caixi's long howl broke through the air from time to time, solemn and vigorous, like a complaint, Also like a demonstration. Completed on February 26, 1936.