058
Everyone has his own secrets, secrets that he won't tell you no matter how you ask him about them.
Upon discovering Xiao Li's unusual physique, Wang Xuemei didn't inquire too much. She pretended to know nothing and continued to live her life as normal. She even joked after returning home, "I'm a doctor. To improve my medical skills, I declare that as long as I'm by your side, any illness or ailment in our family must be treated by me. Only when I'm away can you find another doctor!"
"Mom, where did you go when you were away?"
"Mom has her own career, and you will grow up too. Mom and Dad can't stay by your side forever." After knowing Xiao Li's physique, Wang Xuemei went to test Xiao Nuo's physique as soon as she got home. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found out that his physique was normal. She touched Xiao Nuo's sparse hair, her face full of tenderness, "Mom, I hope you can take care of yourself and don't let yourself get hurt easily in the future. Okay, dear?"
Wang Xuemei was used to being cautious. As a doctor, she had no doubt that Xiao Li's physique would be of great help to the medical profession. If the country knew about this, no matter how great Xiao Li's contribution was or what the Xiao family was like, Xiao Li would likely be locked up for human experiments by those fanatical researchers in the research department. As Xiao Li's only child, his daughter would likely suffer the same treatment, which was something she never wanted to see.
"Okay, Mom, I promise you, I will learn fighting skills from Dad in the future so that I won't get hurt easily!" Xiao Nuo clenched his little fists and said seriously.
Unscrupulous father, he taught his own children bad things!
Wang Xuemei glanced at Xiao Li, who was nodding beside her, with dissatisfaction. She had the urge to beat him up. It was all his fault for raising his lovely daughter into a domineering flower! Now it was difficult to correct him.
Strangely enough, Xiaonuo spends as much time with his mother as with his father, and is also very close to Wang Xuemei. However, no matter how she influences and teaches, it is not as effective as Xiaoli's actions or words.
Sometimes Xiao Li would often brag to her, "Guaiguai is indeed my little lover in my previous life. She was close to her dad, hahahaha."
Every time Wang Xuemei saw the father and daughter in collusion, she would be very angry. She said that her daughter was her mother's little cotton-padded jacket, but her little cotton-padded jacket had given all the cotton to others, leaving her with only a piece of the jacket, which was very cold.
No matter how the couple educates their children, as time goes by, the children grow up day by day, become better and better, and live in chaos.
After 1959, the weather became hot and it didn't rain for a long time.
In February and March, the fields were facing a food shortage. The summer grain had long been eaten, and the autumn grain was stored until the new wheat harvest. Suddenly, the food in the canteens of the production sites ran out. The leaders of each production team ran to the commune to ask the commune leader for food. The commune leader opened the granary and looked at everyone, saying, "There is not much grain left in the warehouse. The most we have now are black beans and millet for the livestock. You all, go back."
"If it really doesn't work, let's just disband the cafeteria and let everyone eat at home."
In this way, in mid-1959, the First Mars People's Commune in Huai County could no longer bear the burden of its members' excessive eating and drinking, and ordered all production brigades to immediately close the commune canteen and instead distribute food according to the centimeters of each household after the harvest season each year. Once the news spread, many lazy families were dumbfounded. How could they be so blatantly lazy if they didn't eat in the canteen?
The commune canteen was closed, and the crops in the fields did not grow well due to insufficient rain this year. The members finally remembered the importance of crops and began to panic.
"What should we do? The harvest was not good last year, and we don't have much food stored at home. How are we going to survive for the next six months?"
"Fortunately, we were forced to harvest the crops in the fields last year, otherwise..." Otherwise, this year's crops would have been completely dry. They were very grateful that the crops did not rot in the fields in the end.
It was not until now that everyone understood what the older generation in the village said: People should not forget their roots, farmers cannot live without crops, and wasting food will be punished by heaven!
Now their punishment has come. No matter how much they pray for rain, God will not send rain.
The fields became dry and the crops died; this was their retribution.
Suddenly, people started to change from eating and drinking to saving money and dieting. Every household tightened their belts and counted the grains of food to survive. After the stomach was stretched, it was very uncomfortable to eat thin food suddenly.
The children often cried loudly due to hunger and rolled on the ground begging for food, but there was only so much food at home. The elderly people in charge had to make the children and women suffer for the sake of the labor force at home. No matter how hungry the children were, they would never give them even a little more food.
There was really no other way but to pull the child up from the ground with tears in my eyes, slap him on the butt a few times, and scold him angrily: "Eat, eat, eat, all you do is eat all day long, how can you be so ignorant!"
"But grandma, I'm hungry..." The child held his rumbling stomach and begged with tears on his face. He was so hungry, and he had been obedient and would never waste food again.
There is an old saying in China: No matter how poor you are, you must not let your parents suffer; no matter how hard your life is, you must not let your wife suffer; no matter how treacherous you are, you must not let your brothers down; no matter how hungry you are, you must not let your children starve!
Children are the treasures of the elderly in their families. However, this year, there is not much food left. We cannot let the working labor force starve for the children. So many elderly people will say, "Be patient, be patient. When the autumn crops come in, we will have plenty to eat. Children, wait a little longer. Autumn will come soon."
Everyone tightened their belts and finally made it to the autumn harvest season, but this year's grain harvest was terrible, shrinking by more than half compared to previous years. Everyone looked at the harvested grain with red eyes and said, "With such a small amount of grain, how are we going to divide it among us?"
Too little, really too little.
Even after the grain was harvested, taxes had to be paid. Seeing bags of grain being sent to the commune, many members began to feel unbalanced. Why should the food they worked hard for a year be given to those city people? They had no food to eat and were starving.
The children and the elderly in the family were becoming increasingly thin. They were so hungry every night that they had to drink cold water to fill their stomachs. Now, seeing that all the food had been taken away, even the honest people had some ideas, so some people turned their attention to those families who had food.
This has led to an increase in local theft.
What’s even more ridiculous is that one night the 8147th Regiment was also robbed.
How ridiculous, a military unit actually attracted thieves.
Shortly after the lights-out signal was blown, the soldiers on patrol duty heard sparse footsteps, the footsteps were messy and accompanied by heavy breathing.
Xiao Du, who was on duty at the door, held an old-fashioned tiger-head flashlight with unstable light and calmly shone it in the direction of the sound. "Who is it? Come out!"
Since ancient times, people have been afraid of officials. Now, soldiers have a very high status and are also the objects of worship and fear of the people. Several people who were discovered before they started to act heard shouts and prepared to retreat, but were surrounded by several soldiers with guns in their hands. They were so scared that they put their hands on their heads and said tremblingly: "Don't... don't shoot, I, I, I, I am a villager from a nearby village. I, I, I, I, I am not doing anything special, I'm just too hungry and want to find something to eat..."
"Tie them up and lock them up first."
Breaking into a military unit at night is no joke. Even if you get killed, you can only blame yourself. If the family members make a fuss, fine. If they are suspected of being spies, they can arrest the entire family.
When Xiao Li got the news, he was so angry that he laughed. What a man! He wanted to see who had such courage.
Those who broke into the troops at night were all young and energetic men. They had elderly parents and young children at home and were really struggling to make ends meet, so they took the risk. Xiao Li looked at the five or six people who were locked up. Xiao Li kicked the door threshold in anger and pointed at a man who looked only in his twenties and said, "Tell me, what do you think?"
"I, I, I, I don't want to do this, but our family really can't make ends meet. My wife just gave birth to a baby, and she doesn't have enough milk. The baby cries every day because of hunger. I feel so sad seeing her!" The man who spoke was only twenty years old this year. He just got married last year, and this year the family happily welcomed the new life. It should have been a very happy thing, but who would have thought that they would encounter a drought. The crops in the fields had no harvest, and there was no food left at home. The family could only survive on black beans that the livestock ate. A few days ago, their granary was empty, so they went to the team to find the team leader, who said that the food had to be kept in the city first. They had no choice but to come up with this bad idea.
"Then why don't you go steal from the team's granary instead of running away from the army? Don't you know that if you're caught and treated as a spy, you'll be shot!"
"Can we give our family some compensation food after we die?"
It turned out that the final problem was still about food. Xiao Li was convinced and sent people to the village to find the village chief and the production team leader. When the people were brought in panting and saw the people who were locked up, the village chief immediately got furious. He took off his shoes and blew on the faces of several people.
"You're always causing trouble. I told you to be good, and I'm going to beat you to death today, you little bastards!"
Xiao Li raised an eyebrow and ignored the village chief. He said directly to the production team leader in a Mao suit beside him, "Report whatever you collect. Don't make the members under your jurisdiction suffer for the sake of political achievements."
The production team leader, a down-to-earth villager, said with a wry smile, "How dare we make false reports? It's just that there wasn't enough rain this year, so the harvest wasn't great. After paying the agricultural tax, all we have left in the warehouse is some millet. It's hard to pee after eating it, so we don't dare give it to anyone. We've already reported the situation to the higher-ups and are just waiting for their approval of the grain."
"The higher-ups said it would only take a few days, but who would have thought they couldn't wait any longer?" The production team leader looked embarrassed and handed Xiao Li a cigarette. "Captain Xiao, it's all because of the food shortage. Could you please spare me some time? They're still young and have hungry children at home. The family can't do without them, the laborers. You see..."
Xiao Li took the cigarette and played with it in his hand. "It's illegal to trespass into a military camp. They were caught at the gate this time, and no serious consequences occurred. We can let them go. We can also give them food as they wish, but in that case you'll have to keep them here, and we'll execute them on the spot."
"No, no, no!" The village chief, who had been beating people violently, finally spoke. The village chief was an old man in his sixties and a very prestigious person in the village. He had watched all the children in the village grow up. After hearing what Xiao Li said, he kicked each of the other men and shouted, "Kneel down and apologize to Captain Xiao!"
"Old man, we are now in a new socialist society. Please don't use these old tricks in our army. I also know that the situation outside is very bad now. I know that they all have their own difficulties. But the army has dared to break in, so I think it will be difficult to let them go easily."
"Let's keep them here for now. Tomorrow I'll have someone send them to the police. They'll teach them a lesson. Don't worry, they won't leave them in there. It's getting late now, so go back. And when you get back, remind everyone that our group is also starving and out of food!"
Did the 8147th Regiment really run out of food? Actually, not really. In the past few years, Xiao Li has been hoarding and growing grain everywhere, and there is actually still a lot of grain in the granary. It’s just that there are many people in the regiment, and they are all adult men who can eat a lot. Xiao Li knows that the drought has just begun, and out of responsibility for everyone, he cannot give the grain to the local area. Not to mention that there are so many people who are short of food nearby. If he starts it, it will be out of control.
It is said that humans are insignificant in front of nature. Only when we really face a disaster will we feel how small and powerless we are. Even though Xiaoli and others helped to repair the ponds and canals last year, when facing a disaster, we will find that even if we take precautions, what is coming will still come and we cannot avoid it.
The village chief sighed and, supported by the production team leader, left behind a few prisoners and walked away with a hunched back. Watching the figures disappear into the darkness, Xiao Li said to a soldier beside him, "Each of you bring them a raw sweet potato."
Xiao Li forced a smile, but he still couldn't bear to do it.
The young men who were about to face imprisonment were so happy after receiving the sweet potatoes that they knelt down facing the door and kept saying: Thank you!
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