Chapter 28 Ninety-eighth night hungry

This is not so much a true story as it is more like a memory with more or less conjectural elements added by the person involved, because when I watched my father tell this story, his eyes lost focus, as if he had entered the In a half-sleeping state, the words and sentences spit out from the mouth are low-pitched, but clearly legible, but they are like babbling in a dream. (Father's tone below.) When I was eighteen, I came to a farm. It was a place surrounded by mountains on three sides. Although the scenery was beautiful, I had no time to take care of it.I came to the mountains and went to the countryside to transform.The entire staffing of this farm is calculated according to the army. There are twelve people in a squad, with a principal and deputy squad leader, and even the grown-ups are real soldiers.

Everyone worked during the day—planting seedlings, harvesting grain and picking cotton. They were so happy and exhausted.Three meals a day, two melons and one meal, accepting the process of going to the countryside for transformation.Hundreds of us all lived in the same big dormitory, with beds next to each other. Although we worked hard, we all had a good time.Everyone is about the same age.There is only one thing that makes people uncomfortable, and that is hunger. As the saying goes, half a child eats a poor old man, and everyone is the one who can eat. Although the dishes are rare, there are two melons and one pepper all the year round - winter melon, pumpkin and pepper, but everyone still eats them with gusto, and the harvest season is heavy. Well, it's not uncommon for a meal to be half-baked.Even so, there are still many people who often gurgle at night like beating a broken drum, and then hear a long sigh and the sound of swallowing saliva from the throat tube.

And whenever there is a rare food such as braised pork in the cafeteria every year, the big guys rush to grab it like crazy. Every production corps has heard of quarrels over food in the cafeteria, resulting in fights and even casualties In this case, the so-called people die for money, and birds die for food. When people reach that point, there is nothing else to care about. Filling the stomach is the only thing in the head. Every day at six o'clock in the morning, the whole company will gather in the cafeteria. Everyone will recite "Mao Xuan" under the leadership of the company instructor in the cold sunshine of the newborn. Chicken, duck and fish made with golden meat oil.So the big guys always read a quote from Chairman Mao and swallowed.The instructor is a professional soldier who has been on the battlefield. He has a scar the size of his index finger on his right eyelid. It is said that the injury almost turned him into a one-eyed dragon.He reprimanded us in a high-pitched, rough voice.

"These are war meat, don't even think about it! Do you know what war meat is? It is prepared to deal with the conspiracy of the US imperialists and the remnants of the Kuomintang to counterattack us. Everyone should study "Quotations from Chairman Mao" honestly. , not only to arm ourselves physically, but also to firmly believe in the spirit!" After finishing speaking, he led us to morning exercises, and then to drink porridge and work. Of course, these seventeen or eighteen-year-old young people will never honestly follow the instructions of the company instructor.Although we are not directly under the army, we are absolutely in accordance with the requirements of the soldiers of the army. All sneaky things will definitely be severely punished, but this can't stop those guys' appetites in the slightest.They tried almost every means to get something to eat.

The one with whom I have the closest relationship is a big man named A Niu. He looks very old-fashioned, but in fact he is indeed much more mature than us.He took care of us like a big brother, especially me. He said that my body was weak and I needed to exercise well, and he dragged me to play basketball together. It was then that I fell in love with playing basketball. A Niu always seems to be able to conjure up a few biscuits or two or three sweet potatoes when we are hungry. No one knows where he got it. Whenever we ask him, he just smiles.Although he is tall and big, his fleshy face is like sandpaper, and his thick lips are always the color of bacon that has been marinated for a long time, but he smiles innocently like a child, both eyes are covered. The surrounding muscles squeezed out of sight.At that time, the image of Niu in my mind was very high. In everyone's opinion, the person who can get food is a cow, so everyone called him Niu.

I remember one time, I curiously asked the instructor about Ah Niu’s family background, and he just said roughly that Ah Niu’s father used to be a doctor who liked to roam the countryside, and it is said that his medical skills were quite superb, and he had studied abroad. "So, his son's bones and blood are more or less soaked in capitalist ideas, and he needs to be reformed." The instructor said to me seriously.And I nodded with a vague understanding. Of course, there are those like A Niu who share with everyone as soon as they have something, and those like Xiao Li who hide and eat without getting tired of eating alone.Xiao Li is from Shanghai, and it is said that his family is a descendant of capitalists.On the first day he came, his skin was tender, like a girl, and he spoke softly. The instructor frowned and said that you really need to come here to make a good transformation.So half a year passed, and Xiao Li became like us, cursing mothers with their heads up and eating food with their heads down. His body was tanned, and there were dead skins everywhere.It's just that he hasn't changed. He looks down on us from the bottom of his heart, although he dare not say it out loud—he's afraid of being beaten.On the first day, he laughed at Ah Niu as an idiot, no different from the cattle in the field, and was immediately beaten to the ground.Then Ah Niu said very seriously, as if he was teaching in the tone of a teacher, don't laugh at the cow, the cow is very important to the rural people.Afterwards, A Niu and Xiao Li formed a bond, and the two of them didn't have to talk, and they definitely didn't meet face to face.And me, Xiao Li thinks that among this group of people, only me, who graduated from junior high school, can still talk. Whenever he is with him, he is always full of sweet memories, thinking of his previous days, every time you know What is that?Even if you don’t know, let me tell you.There were several times when I really wanted to say that I didn’t know, and I didn’t care to know, but every time I got to my mouth, seeing his excited and intoxicated expression, I couldn’t open my mouth, so I had to let him talk endlessly for an hour. .

You may think that what I said is a bit ordinary, it seems to be the case in that era, but I must explain A Niu and Xiao Li clearly, because the two of them almost decided the outcome of that matter. It started because the instructor found someone pouring rice.In fact, this is not a new thing. Many female students often pour out food.Although it is organized by the Corps, there is also a canteen on the farm, and some villagers like to sell some by-products.Most of these girls are from well-off families. Although they are forced to work in the countryside, their families stuff a lot of food and pocket money from time to time. Of course, they look down on the simple food in the cafeteria.But this time it seems to be a bit outrageous, because I know that Xiao Li also poured out his food. It seems that he received a postage from his family in the afternoon and ate a roast chicken. Of course, he only pulled me in. I went, and then carefully tore off a piece of chicken the size of a palm from the back of the chicken, then hesitated for a while, looked at me embarrassedly, seemed to think it was a bit too much, and gave me another wing.I just smiled, since there is free food to eat, why bother so much.So along the way, Xiao Li told me about his diet in Shanghai while eating roast chicken. He said that he would definitely treat me to drunk chicken when he was in Shanghai, which was much more delicious than this broken roast chicken.

Turning back to the instructor, he was furious and reported the matter to the battalion department, so the battalion department decided that all companies should eat bitter meals in order. What is Yiku Rice?That was not a good thing. The instructor gathered everyone in the company in the cafeteria. He cursed at first, saying that the little tail of the bourgeoisie in our heads who loves leisure, hates work and pampers has not been completely cut off, and it is impossible to integrate into the broad peasant brotherhood. Pointing to a bucket full of swill, he said that this was the main ingredient of Yiku Rice, and then said that for the next week, everyone was only allowed to eat Yiku Rice made from leftovers and old cabbage stalks, and all The commissary is not allowed to sell things to people in our camp, and if they are caught hiding food, they will be punished heavily.

As soon as the order came out, everyone was dumbfounded, so everyone complained of hunger for the next few days.The Yiku rice smells very delicious, but it is hard to bite into the mouth after eating it, and it looks thick, but it is actually very rare. All the people in this group ate with sallow faces, and some people went on hunger strike at first, but within a few days I couldn't bear it and went to eat obediently. Later, I caught a few people who were hiding and eating dry food bought in the village outside. In the end, they were also raided by the instructor and all were confiscated.

In the past few days, Ah Niu and I were so hungry that we didn’t even bother to talk, we used gestures instead, and never said a word unless it was absolutely necessary, but Xiao Li was very strange. He ate very little food for Yiku, but he was still full of energy. Not only did he not lose weight, but he also gained a little weight. He explained that it was edema, but I didn’t see it. , but Xiao Li's legs are still fine. A Niu didn't want to ask more about Xiao Li. Whenever I mentioned it, he just hummed from his nostrils and said that he often saw Xiao Li running out in the middle of the night, and then rushed back to the dormitory with the smell of meat on his body.I guess this kid may have sneaked somewhere to steal it.

One night, I was so hungry that my stomach poured acid water into my mouth. Everyone tossed and turned on the bed. I didn’t know whether I fell asleep or fainted from hunger. I became confused when suddenly my shoulders were shaken by a pair of big hands. Relying on the cold moonlight outside the window, I realized it was A Niu. He looked a little nervous, then made a hissing gesture at me, and then motioned for me to follow him. I have always felt that following Ah Niu is naturally not wrong. A Niu led me out of the dormitory carefully, and ran to the cafeteria. The two of us climbed over the fence for a long time, and we were so hungry that we lost our strength.He and I slipped into the back kitchen of the cafeteria. It was so dark that you couldn't see your fingers. Ah Niu's round and big nose like a cow sniffed the air vigorously, and then pulled me towards a stove in the corner. When I ran over to take a look, I almost didn't laugh out loud. It turned out to be a batch of baked sweet potatoes, each one the size of a fist, piled up alone on the corner of the stove. "Eat it, but hurry up, someone will come to check at any time." A Niu said as he quickly picked it up and stuffed it into his mouth. That meal of sweet potatoes will never be forgotten in my life, because I almost choked to death. Just halfway through eating, there was the sound of someone running over outside the door. A Niu and I stopped chewing at the same time, then grabbed a few sweet potatoes and ran away. Maybe it was because I was afraid, or maybe I ate some food. I ran much stronger. Yes, but choked while swallowing. I didn't care too much, so I turned over and fell to the ground. At that moment, I really felt uncomfortable. The blood from my whole body rushed to my forehead, and it became more and more difficult to breathe. A Niu hurriedly patted my back, Fortunately, the ball of sweet potatoes finally went down. Panting, I looked back, trying to see which bastard almost scared me to death, but I saw a familiar figure from behind. Although it was dark, the moonlight was very white that night, so we could clearly see that the person was Xiao Li. "Follow him." A Niu suddenly beckoned.Thinking about it, I came out anyway, so I just followed to see what this kid was doing, so I followed curiously. A Niu and I always kept a distance of tens of meters behind Xiao Li, and we couldn't see where he was going any further.And this guy was also very careful, stopping and going, I don't know how long he walked, but the mountain road became more and more rugged, I began to wonder where he was going. Finally, we stopped on a hillside in the north of the farm. Xiao Li walked to a spacious thatched hut. There was a big chicken coop outside the house, but it was estimated that all the chickens had been driven in. There was a chicken inside. nor. It's ridiculous to think about it. Many people in this area hate us.A few days ago, Ah Niu and a few others stole chicken from a fellow villager. Although we kept a little money, it was no different from Ming Qiang.This kind of thing is not uncommon, some people just swear a few words and forget it, and some kind-hearted aunts look at us pitifully, turn a blind eye and close one eye, pretending not to see it.And we don't often do such dirty things, and occasionally we have a tooth-beating festival when we can't scrape a little oil from our stomachs, but this makes many people fearful, and rush into their houses at night up. A Niu and I walked over cautiously, peeping through the crack of the door to look in. The door is made of bamboo, which is cool and ventilated in summer, so there are many gaps. Through the dim light in the room, I actually saw that kid Xiao Li was drinking soup from a big blue porcelain bowl. It's chicken soup, and the smell wafted out through the crack of the door, and my saliva almost flowed out. Before, I thought sweet potato was the best delicacy, but now I almost can't even remember its taste. "Cui, why don't you ever eat something?" Xiao Li put down the bowl and said softly.I couldn't see another person in the room because Xiao Li was sitting and that person seemed to be standing aside. "You eat, I am happy watching you eat. You are a knowledgeable person, you have to spend your brain all day long, and the company's Yiku meal will eat you up, I feel sorry for you." The person named Cui was still eating. A young girl with a voice as crisp as a freshly picked apple and as sweet as a tangerine in autumn.Suddenly, sour water started to flow from my mouth, and I don't know if it came from my stomach or my heart. "Then you have to eat some too. I'm so embarrassed." This is the first time I've heard that Xiao Li would even take the initiative to invite others to eat. "No, it's not yet time. It's not suitable for girls to eat chicken at this time. This is the case in our area, so the chickens are raised for selling eggs." That Cui spoke again, her tone full of concern. "Cui, I promise you, as long as I return to Shanghai, I will definitely come back and take you away. Let's leave this bird place, leave this damned farm, and live a lifetime of happiness." Xiao Li suddenly said emotionally. "Well, I believe you." Then, the two fell silent. Ah Niu suddenly tugged on my sleeve and made a "go" gesture.So I went back to the dormitory with him. Not long after he lay down, Xiao Li also sneaked in, and then lay down with his clothes on, his breathing was very short, I squinted at him, this guy, he didn't even wipe off the grease from his mouth, it was shining in the moonlight , the two lips are like broken glass strips. There is still one day left for the Yiku meal. After finishing eating, the instructor decided to return to normal meals and promised to have meat buns. Everyone was cheering, but I found that Ah Niu’s expression was a little abnormal. I asked him what was going on, but Ah Niu said for the first time that he was worried about Xiao Li. "Isn't it? Maybe you're also jealous of someone finding a wife and a free meal ticket?" I said half-jokingly.Ah Niu was not annoyed, he still raised his head and looked at me coldly.I found something wrong, he rarely used this expression to people. "You don't know, I'm actually a local. Later, my father took me away when I was just sensible. He always told me not to come back when he was alive, but not long after he died, I separated by coincidence. Back here, I find it funny. I am so familiar with this place, not a single plant or tree has changed at all. Although the people in this area are kind-hearted, there are also some ulterior motives. Don’t be too relaxed at any time. As the saying goes, harming people You must have the heart, and you must have the heart to guard against others." A Niu said slowly.Only then did I understand why he knew everything in this area like the back of his hand. "Did you know? The mountain yesterday has never been inhabited, and I have never heard of the rule that girls here cannot eat chicken." "That may also be that the body named Cui can't eat if it doesn't eat." I don't know why I speak for Xiao Li, maybe I feel that the girl is not a bad person. "You city people still know too little about this world. Some things are not as simple as you think. Otherwise, the company will only fire and cook normally at night. I will go to the back mountainside with you in the afternoon to have a look .” There was nothing I could refute about Ah Niu’s words, so of course I had to agree. And Xiao Li is getting more and more weird.He no longer likes to grab me to chat, and without the harassment of this annoying guy, I feel a little uncomfortable, and I take the initiative to say hello, but he is also indifferent, listless when working, and was reprimanded several times by the monitor .When he had nothing to do, he just squatted there alone in a daze. When I walked over to talk to him, he suddenly looked up, which startled me. The muscles on his face were flushed, and he was still throbbing convulsively, his mouth was half-open, and he was bleeding a long moan, not to mention how disgusting it was. "Hungry, I'm hungry, eat, eat." He seemed to lose his mind as he spoke, "Cui, Cui, I want to eat chicken, I want to drink soup." In the evening, I walked back to the mountain. I hurried to find Ah Niu, but Ah Niu frowned and rushed out to follow Xiao Li without saying anything. The afternoon in May was very hot. Before we walked a few steps, A Niu and I were sweating. In addition to my poor diet, my eyes started to shine. "Stay a little longer, we're almost there." A Niu patted my shoulder, and I nodded, continuing to follow Xiao Li.Today we followed him almost directly, but he didn't seem to notice us, just walked up the mountain like a walking dead, and walked very fast. When we got to that room, A Niu and I hid in the weed pile which was as high as a person next to us, staring at the situation in front of us. There are several chickens in the chicken coop, all of them are fat and strong. I am very surprised, because the chickens stolen from my hometown have never been so fat before.Those chickens were not afraid of strangers, but each of them seemed to have the same dull eyes and no energy as Xiao Li. "Cui, open the door, I'm hungry, I want to eat." Xiao Li yelled at the bamboo door, and then smashed it hard with his fist. The door opened, and a figure stepped out, but when we saw her we were almost speechless with horror. Where is she a young girl, she is an old woman with almost wrinkled face, the old woman's eyes are like the gaps cut by a sharp knife from her forehead, she looks at Xiao Li with a smile, her smile makes me feel even more uncomfortable, those wrinkles It seemed to be alive, like earthworms crawling slowly on her old face. "Xiao Li, you're here. I'll let you eat until you're full, and then I'll eat too, because I'm hungry too, and I've been hungry for years." The old woman spoke, but the voice was still the same as last night Hearing the young girl's voice, if I hadn't eaten anything, I would have almost vomited. I swallowed the acid water coming out of my throat, and looked at A Niu. A Niu's expression was very indifferent, he looked directly at the old woman, pressed me, and told me not to move for now, to see what happened. I saw what Xiao Li looked like, how should I put it, by the way, he was like a hungry beast, even though there was a trap with food in front of him, he walked forward without hesitation.The old woman turned her head with a smile and walked in.I seem to see a diamond-shaped birthmark on the back of the old man's neck. "Ah!" Ah Niu suddenly yelled in surprise, then quickly pulled me up and rushed into the room. I saw a very frightening scene. In that thatched hut, pickled limbs and minced meat were hanging everywhere. They were neatly arranged in a row like the war-ready meat hanging at the entrance of the cafeteria, and they were all threaded with wire. However, the flesh has been shriveled by the sun and shriveled into a bad shape.And there is a washbasin on the ground, which contains some grains, and some minced meat is sprinkled on the surface. It turned out that the chickens outside the door were actually fed with these meats. The old woman was not flustered at all, she looked at me with a smile, and then at A Niu, suddenly, she began to be puzzled. "Like, like, so much like!" She said three likes in a row, then rushed to the bed next to her madly, removed the pillow, and found an old photo inside. The photo is black and white, but there are two off-white thumbprints on both sides, perhaps because it was held for a long time. I glanced at the photo, and it turned out to be an ordinary family of three. The child was in the middle, about four or five years old. The father was wearing a Chinese tunic suit, with a big back, wearing glasses, and was well-mannered. Braid, looks delicate. However, that father is actually quite similar to A Niu. A Niu's lips began to tremble slowly. "Dad said you're dead!" He suddenly yelled.The old woman shook her body, and the photo in her hand fell to the ground. "Yes, I'm dead. I've been dead since he took you away. He dislikes me and fears me, because he knows that a woman like me will grow old quickly as soon as she gives birth to a child, like a used piece of paper." Old rag. I told him once, but he didn't believe it, and said he could cure me, shit! My mother, my grandma are like this, and the only way to cure it is to eat a young man! A man who was killed by me The man fed with the chicken outside the door!" I began to get used to the crazy old woman speaking in the voice of a young girl in her twenties, but the fact that just appeared caught me off guard, she was A Niu's mother! "Let him go. Although I don't like him, I don't want to see you do this kind of thing. Before my father died, he told me never to come back. Maybe Peking Opera was afraid that I would see you. In fact, he was in great pain, and he never Marry again." A Niu's eyes were a little wet, and he walked slowly towards his mother. "Don't come here, as you can see, I'm about to succeed, and my voice has recovered, just one step away, eat him, and I can return to my previous appearance!" It seems that this woman is really crazy, I want to rush over to subdue her, but I don't know whether to do so. A Niu was silent for a moment, and then he said: "Then eat me, I was born by you, so it is only natural for you to eat me." What A Niu said shocked me and the woman. Finally, A Niu's mother lowered her head, took out a bottle from under the bed, and poured it into the mouth of Xiao Li, who was half-demented sitting on the chair. Xiao Li's face suddenly changed, and he began to vomit violently. Very bad smell, like carrion. "Mother, I will always stay here and take good care of you." A Niu's voice choked up.The old man also walked over slowly, came to A Niu, looked at A Niu with infinite love and compassion, I was relieved, suddenly the old woman's face changed, as scary as a ghost. She bit A Niu's neck and tore off a large piece of flesh. A Niu's body shrank suddenly in pain, and he quickly covered the wound. "Go, you don't owe me anything anymore. I don't need you to take care of me. Besides, I won't live long." After she finished speaking, she actually swallowed the bloody meat in her mouth, and then we three kicked out of the house. A Niu didn't say anything, I was afraid that he would bleed too much, so I had to support the weak Xiao Li while walking back with A Niu. Until the hut disappeared from sight, I didn't see Ah Niu turn his head, and the old man didn't go out of the hut. Maybe we will never meet again in this life, I sighed. After returning home, Xiao Li lay down for two whole days before recovering. He asked him about it, but he didn’t remember anything. He only vaguely knew that once when he went up the mountain to touch some wild fruits to satisfy his hunger, he met a beautiful girl who treated him to a meal of chicken. Xiao Li pursed his mouth and sighed: "What a beautiful girl, what a delicious chicken soup." After speaking, he pursed his mouth again. I resisted not telling him the truth, I was afraid that I would throw up when I saw a chicken in my life. As for Ah Niu, he became even less talkative, and it took a long time before he talked about his mother intermittently. He remembered the birthmark on the back of his mother's neck since he was a child, because he was often held in his arms and played.The things about his mother were incoherently learned from his father.His mother's family all have a strange disease, men don't have it, it only happens to women, and they will age rapidly after giving birth, and his father originally wanted to study this strange disease, so he came here to talk to his mother Get married, or start with impure motives.But the mother loved this man deeply, married and had children with him.It is said that there is a secret method that can maintain the appearance, but it is quite cruel. Every time this secret method is mentioned, A Niu's father keeps silent and touches his belly subconsciously.Only then did A Niu remember that every time he took a bath with his father, he would see a string of tooth marks on his father's abdomen in the fuzzy steam, which seemed to have been bitten by animals. A few years later, when the trip to the countryside was over, Aniu and Li went their separate ways and had no contact with each other. We only learned from other people that Xiaoli returned to Shanghai and got a leisurely and lucrative job, but Aniu was nowhere to be found. , Some people say that he was admitted to medical school after the college entrance examination, and wanted to be a doctor like his father. After the father finished speaking, he fell into deep thought again, as if he had fallen asleep. Only then did I understand a little why he valued food so much and hated waste. Perhaps hunger would indeed make people crazy, but it would also make people unforgettable.It's just that I'm curious about that woman, if she really eats Xiao Li, will she return to her previous appearance?Thinking of this, I felt chills on the back of my neck, as if I could really see a mouthful of sharp white teeth when I turned around.