Chapter 38 mother's death

A year in war is equivalent to a hundred years in peacetime.Everything is changing at a speed and pressure not seen in normal times.Even the various customs or habits rooted in Taiwanese history and traditions are no exception.First of all, the worship of Yimin Temple has changed.In the past, every year during the Hungry Ghost Festival in July, the residents of Shishi Township gathered to offer more than 1,000 sacrificed pigs, and tens of thousands of people frantically worshiped at the Bangliao Yimin Temple. This year, even Taiwanese operas cannot be staged. It was like the fire went out.In addition, the old calendar was changed to the new one, and Taiming's family also synchronized with the villagers to welcome the new year of the new calendar in an extraordinary period.That is without emotion, just a formal New Year celebration.His mother, Ah Cha, just celebrated the New Year's Eve, but when it came to the Lunar New Year's Eve, she never forgot to make rice cakes in private, and once again worshiped her ancestors and Mazu.

Amidst the shouts for increasing production, it is time to transplant rice seedlings, because the authorities encourage "regular and dense planting" in rice transplanting, and the ban is severe.Farmers who were reported to be reprimanded by the police for not practicing regular and dense planting followed suit.The peasants who were summoned were ordered to kneel on the concrete floor for more than an hour, and were also slapped.Despite the punishment, there were constant disputes between the peasants and the inspection technicians, or the staff of the township office.For example, due to the practice of dense planting, the interval between transplanting rice seedlings is measured with a ruler. If it is not in accordance with the specifications: 21 cm in length and 20 cm in width, the inspectors will be critical and critical.

For example, there is an old farmer who has planted the same field from his childhood to the age of 70. Based on his own experience, he knows the most suitable method of transplanting rice seedlings that yields the most, so he does not change it, but the inspectors use rulers After the measurement, it is said that it does not meet the regulations and is picky. The old farmer explained that the method he got from his experience was correct. The upper field and the lower field are different, so rice seedlings cannot be transplanted according to the regulations. There are also low-lying lands with poor ventilation. And if there is no proper spacing, the rice stalks are not thick, etc., I hope to be able to transplant rice seedlings according to his own experience.Taiming happened to be an interpreter for the old farmer, and felt that what the old farmer said made sense, but the people in the township office didn't listen to what the old farmer said.

'No, no, no, absolutely no if you don't follow the rules, replant the seedlings, or come to the township office tomorrow! ' At last it was such a threat.They only know that farmers must follow the regulations, and it doesn't matter what the actual situation is. They insist on putting everything into the prescribed mold, even if there is a result of production reduction because of this, they don't care... The old farmers are very angry at the officials' stone heads: "Your mother "Hey..." He muttered, tongue-tied, and put the plow into the field and waved his whip: "Hey, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" he drove the cows, and the newly planted rice seedlings were neatly planted row by row, and the cows trampled down horribly. Frightened by the order of the officials, he had to use the plow to shovel the rice seedlings he had just planted. Taiming felt very sympathetic when he thought of the old farmer's distress. The officials saw it, and then agreed: "Okay, let's go back." Let’s go!” Before leaving, the officials also felt embarrassed by the way they treated the old peasants, so they said to Taiming flatteringly: “The old man’s brain is stubborn, and it’s easy for young people to understand this.” Under the strict ban, all the rice fields, The vertical and horizontal were unified like a chessboard according to the specifications, which satisfied the authorities. But the result obviously did not achieve the effect of increasing production. Nevertheless, the authorities are still stubborn on the production increase target calculated on the table, because the actual harvest volume has not been achieved. The blame is on the peasants, who are complaining to the sky for this excessive demand. And this demand for increasing production is pressed on the peasants in a more stringent form. Suddenly, Taiwan is allocated to provide one million shi of rice, which is The campaign to provide rice begins.

There is a saying among farmers: "April, May, and September cut off human relations". In rural areas, the economy is dry up in April, May, and September, so human relations are weak. After farmers transplant rice seedlings, they have paid all the fees that should be paid, and then look forward to Harvesting, irrigation, weeding, and frugal living, looking forward to the time of harvest, the fields in April and May look green, it is the month that breeds hope for future harvests, but livelihood is bitter. Moreover, good harvests and bad harvests are all It depends on the weather, so farmers are concerned about the weather, praying that there will be no storms, and they are waiting for the harvest. On the head of such a farmer, an order for one million shimi was suddenly issued. The people on the street are already Talking about this incident, but the village involved has not let them know the details, so the peasants who suffered the most sacrifices do not know the truth. However, with various news rumors on the street, the atmosphere of unrest in the countryside has also spread. .

One day when Taiming was weeding in the peanut field, three or four nearby farmers gathered and talked about the rumors circulating on the street about the rice supply movement. 'I heard that there is no more rice to buy on the street, and the rice shops are empty. Some of them said that there is always not enough rice, and some said that rice must be bought elsewhere. There are various opinions.But the problem of rice grains has begun to become urgent, and it is obviously a fact that there is no room for doubt.That night, Taiming's mother, Ah Cha, said that sweet potatoes have been frequently stolen in the village recently.After hearing this, Taiming thought it had something to do with the lack of rice, so he told his mother what he had heard in the peanut field during the day.

After hearing this, Ah Cha said, "What should I do?"However, Taiming, your grandfather always said when he was alive, to guard against hunger every year and guard against theft every night. He does not expose the rice, so he must store it well, and inspect the outer door at night.Especially in his later years, he saved a lot of rice every year just in case.Grandmother also learned this habit from Grandpa, so there is no problem in our family. ’ Then, she talked about Grandfather’s ancestor’s time, when there was a great famine in China, because of the riots, the mobs would come to loot wherever there was smoke from cooking.But grandpa’s grandfather, from the harvest of that year, predicted that there would be a famine. He made preparations for the food in April, May and September in advance. The thugs came and robbed the wall many times, but they escaped without being found.However, the situation of no rice still worried Ah Cha, she asked Taiming in a low voice: "But Taiming, what should we really do in this situation?" Taiming said that the poor harvests in North Korea and Kitakyushu are true, but Japan's politics is different from Tangshan (China) in the past, so it will not lead to famine. This explanation reassures his mother, but his mother still looks uneasy.

The next day, when Zhigang from Baozheng returned from the 'Grain Supply Report Meeting', he conveyed the results of the meeting to the villagers, and it was decided that each person should be rationed one hemi per day (together: capacity unit, ten he is one liter), and the rest Migu confessed all, and those who refused were non-citizens and would be severely punished.Zhigang's message immediately caused panic among the villagers.Everyone racked their brains, some people want to provide part of the food, and try to hide the rest; It took a lot of trouble to hide in the pool, but for the safety of the family, I had no choice but to do so.Taiming is aloof by himself, but Acha, like other villagers, uses various methods to hide food.

Four or five days later, the search team also arrived at Taiming's village.The villagers trembled and prayed to Mazu or the gods of Yimin Temple for protection.The courageous ones sent people to watch, and moved the grain to the woods or bamboo forests to hide it, but they showed an expression of nothing happened. Ironically, such a large number of people who hid grain privately escaped the search net. When Taiming's home was searched, nothing was found at first, but finally an official from the township office said: 'The place where the sweet potatoes were piled up is very suspicious. When Ah Cha heard this, her face turned earthy.

So a member of the Youth League unceremoniously went to the pile of sweet potatoes to search. 'Yes, yes! 'He made a happy voice, and everyone's eyes were focused there.The members of the Youth League proudly held up an oil tank they found high up for everyone to see. It was very heavy, and the contents were obvious. The township office official cursed bitterly in Hakka dialect: "I don't know death, I'm not a citizen!" ' So a group of people moved away the contents of the oil tank in high spirits.His mother, Ah Cha, recovered from her initial fear, and suddenly became desperately bold: 'Well, daytime bandits! ’ Although her voice was low, it was full of hatred, and the expression of the youth group member who was carrying the oil tank suddenly changed, but it was not so much anger as being hit by the words, as if in a moment of embarrassment.

The youth league members who moved the oil tanks just left silently, and the officials of the township office murmured something to Baozheng Zhigang. That night Zhigang came and questioned his mother fiercely.Listening to it, Taiming couldn't help but say protectively: "Brother, the rice was not hidden by my mother, it was me, so don't blame my mother like that." ’ But Zhigang still scolded him endlessly, and Taiming couldn’t help asking him: ‘Then how is Brother’s family?Nothing hidden? Zhigang was speechless. Of course he also hid grain, but because of his status as a security guard, he could avoid being searched. His way of using his privilege to hide grain was more immoral than ordinary people's hoarding. Taiming pointed out this weakness, muttered a few more words, and then went back.Watching Zhigang's back, Ah Cha said: "Yao Shouzi eats Japanese shit!" '(Stupid son who is a lackey of the Japanese!) Ah Cha cursed sharply, her eyes filled with tears.It was the first time in her life that she scolded her son 'Yaoshouzi'. From that day on, Ah Cha lay down, although she got out of bed after two or three days, but from then on, a hardworking person like her would often lie down when she was not feeling well.The weakness of the body is clearly visible.When the ears of rice came out, Qiuyun, the younger sister who was married to Guangren Hospital, got it somehow and brought a bucket of rice to visit her mother. 'Ah, my mother's complexion is very bad! 'That weakened look surprised Qiuyun.Because Taiming lived with his mother, he couldn't feel it every day when he looked at her, but Qiuyun didn't see his mother after a long time, so the weakness of his mother's body was obvious.In fact, Ah Cha's body has been different since then. When the harvest time of rice is approaching, the long-term fatigue of life suddenly broke out, and she was bedridden with illness.Lin Dongyue of Guangren Hospital tried his best to diagnose and treat her, but there was still no improvement.One night Ah Cha called Taiming to his pillow, and said in a cheerful tone, "Taiming!Has the rice harvest started?I can feel at ease. ’ She told Taiming all kinds of ways to store food, and what she said was very clear. Soon, her symptoms changed and she fell into a coma, calling out the name of her beloved son from time to time: ‘Taiming! ' And her consciousness was no longer awake.Lin Dongyue kept on treating him all the time, but there was nothing he could do.Her long life ended like a rotten log.