Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

The sky was still only a little dim, but there were already many people in the village slaughtering pigs there.Listening to it from a distance, their long, shrill and shrill chirps sounded like someone blowing a rusty siren wildly there. People who have pigs will kill pigs today, preparing to give New Year gifts to military members.At around nine o'clock in the morning, Boss Tan also drove his pigs to the square outside the gate.There is such a sunken square in the center of the village, surrounded by high platforms built with bricks and stones, on which houses are built.They are all whitewashed walls at the end of the house, and the walls are covered with gray water marks from the rain, one deep and one shallow, like a desolate ink painting.

"Don't kill outside," Aunt Tan muttered after she came out. "It's better to stay in your own yard. There are a lot of people outside, in case something unlucky is said. The Chinese New Year is coming soon. I also want to be auspicious." "It's irrelevant. It's not like killing yourself to eat." Boss Tan said listlessly. "If you really pay attention to these things, you have to light incense candles to kill." The pig has been pre-starved all day in order to clear its stomach of its stocks.As soon as he was released from the pigsty, he ran about, silently and eagerly putting his nose to the hard, hazel mud, looking for something to eat.Suddenly, it yelled—someone pulled its hind legs.It yelled, yelled, and more people came, and two or three people caught it in a hurry, and it yelled again and again, always with the same tone, a flat, piercing, expressionless neighing, It's a little harder to hear than a horse neighing.

It was overturned on a wooden stand.Aunt Tan held it by its front and rear legs, and Mrs. Tan leaned over to get the knife.He had a basket with sharp knives and various utensils.But first he pulled out the pipe he was holding in his mouth, and stuck it beside the basket handle.The basket is very beautiful, after weaving, there are still pieces about a foot long, which have not been cut off, and are raised high, like the orchid leaves in the picture, with long curls, and the brushstrokes are very beautiful. The sharp knife pierced the pig's throat, but it didn't affect its voice, and it was still howling.But when the pig was killed, it screamed for too long, and it was considered unlucky, so after the pig screamed, Mr. Tan stretched out a hand to hold its mouth, and after a while, it purred softly. It seems that this group of people is unreasonable.It has been silent ever since.

He was already dead, and white smoke of water vapor continued to come out of his mouth.It was really cold. Blood flowed from the pig's throat, and after picking up a bucket, some of it flowed to the ground. Immediately, a little yellow dog came and ate it clean.Then it sniffed around, hoping to find it elsewhere. When it raised its head, it happened to bump into a pig's leg, a straight leg that was far away.It sniffed the leg curiously, and didn't know what kind of conclusion it came to, but it seemed satisfied anyway.It walked back and forth, and sometimes quietly slipped under the pig's leg without Liang noticing it.Its black eyes were shining, and it really had a smile on its face.Boss Tan kicked it away, but it reappeared in his crotch soon after.Mr. Tan had leggings wrapped in sacks on his thighs, and the pale yellow sacks were the same color as the dog.

Jin Yousao picked up two buckets of boiling water and poured them into a big wooden bucket.They let the pig sit in it, and pushed its head into the water as hard as it could.When the head reappeared, its hair was fluffy, like a child taking a bath.Boss Tan took out an ear-picking ear and did it for him. This must be the first experience in his life.Then he shaved it with a big razor with two ends rolled inwards, and shaved off the hair in big balls.The hair was shaved, and he poked a small stick into the pig's trotter to pick the nails, one at a time.The snow-white ankles and the red gathered soles of the feet are very similar to the little feet of women in the past.

The old man needs to blow air out of the pig's trotters to inflate the whole pig.It was easier to pluck the hair this way. He paused before taking the pig's foot into his mouth.He has done this countless times, and he still feels the same disgust. Surrounded by a circle of people, watching from the side.They occasionally say a word or two, but they are limited to estimating how many catties this pig weighs and how many catties of oil it has; the pig that was killed by which family yesterday weighed how many catties and compared with it; the one killed by another family last year broke the record How much does the one weigh?

"This pig is fat only from the front body," said a tall, thin old man.He was wearing a gray cloth robe with high square shoulders. No one answered him.Their words are all monologues. The tall old man went back to his home, and came back soon after, holding a blue and white bowl and a pair of chopsticks, standing there snoring and eating the steaming porridge, watching while eating. The pig's hair was not easy to scrape off in some places, so Mrs. Jin You took another pot of boiling water, put the spout of the pot next to the pig's body, and poured it on it.Finally, the whole body is shaved, and finally the head is shaved.They let the pig flop over the side of the bucket.At this time, it was face down, its body was white and strong, leaving a black hair on the top of its head and the back of its head, it really looked like a human being, and it had a terrifying meaning.After shaving the head, Boss Tan and Aunt Tan turned the corpse over, and the face of a pig without hair appeared in front of people, smiling, with two small eyes that were crooked and narrowed into a line, as if extremely happy.

They brought the dead pig indoors and laid it on a table.The coldness at the end of the lunar calendar made this room a big icehouse.The pig's head has been cut off.It lay there peacefully, resting its huge white beak on the table.I don't know what tradition they follow--the tradition seems to have an eerie sense of humor--they give the pig its own little curled tail in its snout, like a happy kitten biting itself same tail. Their pigsty is also a latrine, as is the case in most villages.In a dark room, a shallow pit was dug in the middle, and pigs were raised in the pit.Several urine buckets stood high on the edge of the pit, in danger of rolling down at any time.That afternoon, the old man went in to empty the piss bucket and glanced into the dark pit.The inside was empty, without a crouching figure, and the familiar grunting sound could not be heard, the room seemed quiet and strange.

He came out of the pigsty.Step into the thin yellow sunlight.He felt very shocked and tired, as if he had cried a lot or had a serious illness.His daughter-in-law was scrubbing the grease off the big wooden barrel in the yard.His wife sat on the threshold and wiped his pig-killing utensils with a rag. After each piece was cleaned, they were still put into the basket.He went to stand under the eaves, with both hands under his blue cloth skirt, which was pulled up high. "I will never raise pigs again!" he said suddenly. "You said that before," said the old woman.Seeing that he was silent, she added another cruel sentence, "Didn't you say the same thing back then?"

"Whoever raises a pig again is a bitch!" he said loudly, not looking at her. Jin Yousao began to sob.Her hands were greasy with lard, and she could not wipe away her tears with her hands, so she had to raise one shoulder and wipe her cheek against it.Hot tears flowed down her face, and soon she was chilled by the wind. All three of them were thinking about "that time".That was back when the Japanese were here. ... Their Tan family is a big family, but only Wufangli has been prosperous for a period of time. It has raised people to be a scholar, served as an official, and after making a fortune, they moved into this house for the clan to live in.Farmers lived in that dilapidated big white house, but there was still a majestic gold plaque on the gate, "Jinshidi".After the Communist Party came, this plaque was taken down, but it was still hung there during the Anti-Japanese War.

The big house was divided into countless courtyards, with long dark stone corridors running across the middle.Although these corridors have roofs on them, they are actually like alleys. Vendors can come in and out freely, pass through the houses, and sell things. Another blind beggar came along and walked into the house. His bamboo stick touched the stone slab on the ground, making a crisp "Didi──" sound. That year was also in the twelfth lunar month, when the scene was in a hurry.Just like now, the blind beggar chanted a series of auspicious words loudly. "...Backgammon is good for backgammon, My wife and grandma make rice cakes. ..." After the beggar came another sesame oil seller with a load on it. On one end of the pole was a yellow clay pot, and he sang loudly, "Sesame oil, oh, sesame oil?" The peddler passed by, and the house and the surrounding village fell into the silence of the afternoon.Aunt Tan was grinding pearl rice by herself in the yard. Standing in the shadows, she would sometimes put a hand into the sunlight to smooth the pearl rice on the grinding wheel.The golden ones are sandwiched with white ones, slowly turning into yellow sand and pouring down. She raised her head suddenly and pricked up her ears to listen carefully.There seemed to be a distant clicking sound in the corridor, it was not the blind man's bamboo stick, but the leather shoes stepping on the stone slab.At that time, Wang Jingwei's peace army was stationed in Guandi Temple, and soldiers often came to the village. While she was listening carefully, there was already a bang at the back door, and someone rushed in.Their back door leads to a corridor.She heard someone in the house behind her talking nervously and loudly. "Let me hide here for a while," said the sesame oil vendor, panting. "They're coming! I see them coming!" "If you're coming this way, it's useless for you to hide here," said Boss Tan. "Then quickly let me go out through the door over there," the peddler rushed into the yard carrying a load, and two jars of oil hit the door frame, making a loud noise. "Be careful, be careful," said the old man. "They're coming!" Dame Tan whispered stupidly to her husband.Then she ran out of the yard, where their newly made rice noodles were drying under the wall, pale yellow and white in small balls, like straw nests.She bent down to pick them up one by one. "Let it go, forget it," the old man rushed out panting. "Come and help me hide the pig." "I have an idea──" Aunt Tan whispered excitedly. "Carry it into the house. It's good in the house." They rushed to the pigsty one after another.The sow was so fat that the old man couldn't hold it, and it twisted and twisted in his arms, and he couldn't exert his strength.At this time, Mrs. Jin You was breastfeeding the child, so she also rushed in, handed the child to the old woman in a hurry, and knelt down to help him. Aunt Tan kicked her feet straight at her daughter-in-law. "What are you doing here? Hurry up and hide! Hurry up!" "Hey, hurry up, hurry up, and hide!" The old man also raised his head and looked at her with a strange light, almost loathing in horror. "Hey, why didn't you take the child with you?" Aunt Tan yelled angrily, chased after her, and stuffed the child into the hands of her daughter-in-law. When the old man saw his wife, he suddenly thought of his son. "Hey, where's Kim?" he yelled. "Don't let them see it. Don't let Raff take it!" "Ah, tell him to hide quickly, hurry up!" said the old woman tremblingly. "Hey, look at your stupidity, how can you take the child away, he will cry later, it won't ruin you! Hurry up and leave it to me!" The old woman sat with the child leaning against the wall, and then ran back to recognize the old man carrying the pig.The old couple finally lifted the pig and moved it into the house.Its weight gain was astonishing, and even in this situation, they could not help but feel a moment of excitement and intoxication. "On the bed," Mrs. Tan gasped. "Put it on the bed and cover it with the quilt." The sow grunted in protest.They covered it with an old quilt covered in a big red cloth with little white flowers in the shape of a star.The old woman pulled up the quilt, covered it with its belly, and stuffed it tightly on all sides.She was very thoughtful, and even fished out a pair of shoes from under the bed, and put them neatly in front of the bed. They could already hear the noise of people at the gate. "You didn't latch the door?" she asked anxiously. "It's no use locking the door, it's making them angry." The soldiers had already come in, with the sound of footsteps, and a few frightened hens were chased by them, running ahead and taking the lead. "Hello, no one's home?" one of them shouted. "Is everyone dead?" The old couple hurriedly greeted them with smiles.Three soldiers came, all northerners, speaking a difficult dialect. "Scare! Play deaf!" They said impatiently. The old couple finally understood that they were asking what food they had at home.The old woman began to complain; she was used to complaining, and she was already ripe for it—the harvest was bad, the taxes were heavy, and there was no grain of rice in the family.On the one hand, she said that there was a soldier in the room, a bastard, and he had already ran to the other side of the yard alone to search.There was a yellow note pasted on the door of one house, announcing that the family had recently had a funeral.Kim Gun's mother had just died a month ago.The white wooden coffin is still parked at home.The two orphans, Jin Gen and Jin Hua, happened to go to the mountain to dig bamboo shoots.As soon as the pockmarked soldier walked into the door, he saw the coffin, quickly spit on the ground, turned around, and went to the next room, which was Boss Tan's pigsty. "Hey, old man, where's your pig?" he yelled from inside. "I'm sold, sir," replied the old man. "Nonsense! How could the place be so dirty without pigs?" said the soldier.He was also a farmer before enlisting in the army. "These country folks are the worst. Never a word of truth," said another soldier.This man was the older of them, with a sallow complexion, thin cheeks, thick eyelids, tired eyes that seemed faded to a tawny.He turned his face, fixed his tawny eyeballs on the old man, and asked loudly, "Where's the pig? Huh?" The last sound was a soundless growl, as if from someone who couldn't speak. Barbarians in Chinese.He found the growl to be effective at times. The old man was obviously terrified, but it was the old woman who came forward with a smile on her face to help him out. "Boss, the pig is really sold. Oh, I'm not willing to sell it—it's not fat enough, so I can't sell it for a big price, but what can I do? Wait for the rice to cook! Oh, I drove the pig to the market that day. Go up, I cry. Cry!... Country people suffer, boss!" "Listen!" The experienced middle-aged soldier smiled wearily. "Trust her nonsense! None of these peasants is good!" His companion was a big, ruddy boy with two chickens in each arm.He took a step closer to the old man menacingly. "Speak! Tell the truth!" he cried, raising the butt.Suddenly there was a slapping sound, and one of the chickens he was carrying escaped, fluttering its wings, clucking and running into the house, and flew over the high threshold.There are chicken feathers all over the floor. "His grandma's!" The young soldier cursed, and chased after him while laughing.The hen flew onto a table, and the oil bottle and bowl clattered and fell to the ground. The other two soldiers also followed, put their guns on the ground, leaned on the guns, and stood with one foot slanted, watching him catch chickens, everyone laughed. "Twist its neck," the pockmarked soldier advised him. "Don't strangle it, it will shit later, and I'll get you all chicken shit." The middle-aged soldier raised the old blue cotton curtain and opened one to the inner room.The old woman immediately stood beside him and begged with a smile. "There is a sick person at home, Boss, the room is dirty, please sit outside, Boss, please sit outside." The soldier ignored her and walked in, and the two followed.The old lady followed behind and just muttered, "I'm very sick. I have a fever. It's frightening to death. I can't see the wind. If there is another blow at this time, I'm really dead." She glanced at the bed hastily, slightly I feel more at ease.Everything is still the same as before, without moving. A few soldiers were walking up and down the room with the sound of boots, touching this and that. "Well, come in and see, see," said the old woman, with a resigned smile. "Oh, there's nothing to see in the poor people's house!" After saying a word, she was suddenly taken aback, and saw that the quilt began to undulate.The pig got impatient. Aunt Tan quickly walked to the head of the bed and grabbed the quilt.The long beak arched and arched inside, trying to get out to take a breath, but she firmly held on to the bed. "You're looking for death, you stupid bastard, you're still sweating, and the wind blows again, will you lose your life? I didn't curse you." She scolded. "Lie down for me, don't persuade me. Be patient. Cover your head and sweat. Do you hear me?" She tucked the bed around again.She herself was also surprised that the pig didn't move. The experienced eyes of the middle-aged soldier swept all around, looking for the traces of Tibetan iron, whether there is a piece of soil under the ground that has been newly turned, and whether there is a new piece of earth on the wall.The other two soldiers couldn't find anything interesting and were already arguing over how to eat the two chickens. "One braised in red and one stewed in clear water," said the young soldier. "The chicken is too old and the braised sauce is tasteless," Na Mazi said. Aunt Tan's heart stopped beating suddenly, and she saw the middle-aged soldier walking towards the bed.He bent down and looked under the bed for boxes and suspicious marks of new soil on the dirt floor.Then he straightened up, already turned to go.Suddenly he noticed a pair of shoes in front of the bed, they were the kind of blue cloth shoes made at home, with a strap growing from the back of the ankle.They were obviously women's shoes, and they were worn by young women; old women with bound feet would never have such big feet. Aunt Tan saw his eyes suddenly glowing, and she felt that a catastrophe was imminent, her body suddenly became empty and became an empty shell. "Hey, Mazi!" he shouted with a smile. "We have a flower girl here!" The pockmark ran to the bed in three steps and two steps, and threw off the quilt.There was a moment of silence at first, and no one believed it.Then they burst out laughing and cursing. "Damn it," the pockmark yelled, "how did you think of it! Hide the pig on the bed!" The middle-aged soldier raised his gun and rushed to hit the old woman. "It's not a small courage to lie to me! I'm impatient to live, you?" The squeaky pig jumped out of the bed and went out of the room.The young soldier was so busy grabbing its hind legs that he had to let go of the two chickens he was holding, and the two chickens ran around the room, clucking wildly, adding to the chaos. "One of you, help me," the young man called out. "Don't stand by and watch the fun. Hey—block the door!" The pockmark helped him catch the pig and carried it on his back. It was so heavy that he couldn't stand up. After struggling for a long time, he finally stood up staggeringly.The pockmark was jumping up and down beside him, slapping his thigh and laughing wildly. "Hey, look, look," he shouted loudly, "Li Desheng is here behind his mother's back!" Li Desheng's face was flushed with anger, and he let go of his hand suddenly, allowing the pig to slip off his back and fall to the ground with a thud.Then he threw himself on the pockmark and wrestled with him.Now it was the turn of the middle-aged soldier to catch the pig. "Why, old woman, don't stand there playing dead," he cried impatiently. "Find a rope to tie it up and hang it on the shoulder pole. Otherwise, how can we take it back, this thing is so dirty." The old couple found a hemp rope and tied the pig up.At this time, the pockmark had already pushed the young man away, and he picked up one of the shoes in front of the bed. "Where are people?" he asked the old woman. "Don't keep saying it's your shoes. Tell a lie again, and I'll kill you." "By the way, where is the flower girl?" The middle-aged soldier became interested again. "It's not Miss Hua, it's my daughter-in-law. She has gone back to her natal home, and her natal home is in Taoxi." "Lying again! Lying again!" The pockmarked child picked up the sole of his shoe and slapped her cheek hard, continuously. "You old bastard! Not a single word of the truth! It's my fault if I don't beat you to death today!" "Boss, don't be angry, don't be angry," the old woman shouted, half of her face was bright red from the beating. "She's really not here, and I don't know how to do magic tricks, so I can't make her appear immediately. One of my words is not true, Tianlei will kill me!" "I'll kill you right away—wait for thunder!" The old man was surrounded by Li Desheng and middle-aged soldiers.They slapped him on the mouth and swung the bayonet in front of his face, but he insisted that his wife had indeed returned to her mother's house. "Let's go find it ourselves," said the pockmarked child. "Find it and settle accounts with them." "You don't have to live if you find it," the middle-aged soldier said to the old couple. The old man smiled, and the old woman laughed too, saying that they were not worried because the daughter-in-law was indeed in Taoxi twenty miles away. "Okay. Then, don't run away if you can." They searched all the way inside and outside the house, letting the old couple walk in front of them.They saw a pile of straw against the wall, and the middle-aged soldier stuck his bayonet into the straw and poked it a few times.He seemed to hear a faint moan. "Well, the flower girl is here," he said with a smile. "Okay, then let's pull down the straw. Don't poke it with a knife anymore, if you kill it, everyone will be empty," the pockmark said anxiously. "Don't worry, I won't die!" said the middle-aged soldier. "Look how he loves her so much! We haven't met her yet, but he already loves her so much. It's a good thing if we meet again!" The pockmark pushed him hard, and the middle-aged soldier, who was thin and like a smoker, was almost pushed by him. "Come out, come out," the middle-aged soldier shouted. "Get out of here immediately! If you don't come out again, I'll shoot you!" The old couple stood by and watched silently, and saw a trouser leg stepping out of the straw pile.Another trouser leg came out.At first they only felt relieved when they saw their son, Jin You, jumping off the straw pile. "Who is this person?" The pockmark cried out in disappointment. "It's my son, sir," said the old woman. "Take him there, Li Desheng," said the middle-aged soldier. "Let him carry the pig for us." "No, no, boss, please do something good!" The old woman yelled anxiously. "Boss, your good intentions are rewarded. We are only his son. His father is 80 this year, and I am 81. Who will die for us when he leaves?" She couldn't help crying, knelt down and hugged them legs, and turned again to make her husband kneel down too. "Hurry up and beg the boss. The bosses are kind-hearted people. Seeing us kneeling here at our age, we won't be merciful!" Li Desheng pointed the bayonet at Jin You's back, forcing him to go ahead and go into the house to carry the pig out.Jin You is thin and of medium build, just like his father.Halfway along the way, he paused once, hunched over a little, put a hand on his left shoulder, and there was a red stain that was gradually expanding on that piece of clothing. "Play dead!" Li Desheng kicked him somersault. The old couple watched the narrow figure of their son receding on the road.He carried a shoulder pole on his shoulder, and the pig's four feet were bound together, like a ball like a ball, hanging down from the pole, swaying.The other end of the rope was wrapped around his arm and held in Li Desheng's hand.In the pale golden sunset, people from afar could clearly see the straw clippings on his clothes. That pockmark still didn't give up, and refused to leave until he found the woman. "It must be hiding somewhere next to here, and I can't go far," he said. "Let's go, let's go," said the middle-aged soldier. "Hurry up and follow, this pig has no share for you. Let me tell you, once you get home, let the platoon leader and the company commander have their heads removed, and the cook has to pick the ones for himself and keep them to honor him. My mistress, and his brothers. You are lucky if you can save some pig's blood to cook tofu!" The pockmarked muttered bitterly, and the two went off together. On the second day after taking the Tan family's pig and son away, before dawn, this unit set off and left the village.Other teams came and went.Some of the masters who were taken away also escaped, begging for food and returning to their hometowns.Boss Tan and his family have been hoping that Jin You will also escape.Then one morning they heard soldiers practicing in the clearing in front of the village.Cao Bing's scolding paused for a while, and in the silence suddenly let out a loud, piercing howl, the voice was very wide, and the sound was drawn out for a long time.There was another long howl after a silence.There were several sounds before and after.Later, the village asked everyone to talk softly, saying that it was two deserters who were caught and had their ears cut off as punishment.Pools of blood stains faintly appeared in the soil of the open space. When people told this story to each other, although they felt horrible on the one hand, they couldn't help but smile a little bit on their faces.It always seems a little funny to have the ears cut off.But Boss Tan and his family didn't think it was funny. They immediately felt a gust of cold wind blowing by their ears, leaving two bloody black holes. Aunt Tan had a dream. She dreamed that her son came back, and he covered his ears with both hands. No matter how much she persuaded, he couldn't get him to take his hands away and let her bandage his wound.In her dream, she struggled to figure out how to save up some money to buy him a three-watt leather hat that could cover his ears, as if this would solve his problem.When she woke up, she cried and cried. They have told this story to others, but seldom tell all of them, because it may make others suspect that their daughter-in-law's virginity is a problem.People can't help but have a little doubt, and maybe those soldiers found her in the end, and the family members just said that they didn't find her for the sake of face. Time passed year by year, and gradually everyone knew that Jin You probably would never come back.His mother became very sensitive about it, and whenever anyone spoke as if he was dead, she immediately lost her temper.It has been seven years now, and the family has lost another pig... The daughter-in-law is leaning over the edge of the barrel in the yard, sobbing and crying in the cold wind, and she scolds her daughter-in-law loudly. "What are you crying about?" she demanded. "Shout some mourning, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, don't be afraid of taboos! Your father-in-law and I are always getting old and not dead yet! It's not too late to cry when we die!" This was the only time that Jin Yousao was completely disobedient and still sobbing wantonly. The old woman finally yelled angrily, "Don't cry anymore! If he is not dead, you will cry to death! Are you going to curse him to death so that you can marry someone else?" Mrs. Jin You was wronged for no reason, she felt very uncomfortable, and cried even louder. Suddenly the old woman couldn't hold it anymore, she burst into tears, and yelled loudly, "My cruel son! It's been all these years, and I haven't even had a single letter! Cruel-hearted child! If you don't come back again, you must Can't see me! How many more years can I wait?" "Well, stop talking," said the old man. "Comrade Gu is at home today," he reminded her softly. "What are you afraid of? That was what the Peace Army did in the past. It was the Peace Army that took him there." "After the war, didn't many Peace Corps be recruited? If he is still alive, maybe he served as a soldier on the Kuomintang side," the old man said. Aunt Tan was startled, speechless for a long time.If this is the case, then they are counter-revolutionary family members.But she regained her energy soon, and said with a stern face, "Who knows? Maybe he was captured by the Communist Party and became a member of the People's Liberation Army. Then we are members of the army. We should also get half a pig, forty Catty rice cakes." "What crazy things are you talking about?" Boss Tan murmured disdainfully. "I want to eat meat and rice cakes, I want to go crazy!"