Chapter 041 Chapter 41 Locust Plague and Human Heart

Lin Yue arrived at the threshing ground and began to turn over the grain that had been covered with straw last night and spread it flat to make it easier to dry. While he was working, he heard a child shout, "Look, there are so many black spots in the sky!"

Some adults also noticed something was wrong, but they didn't understand what it was. An experienced old farmer was so scared that he sat down on the ground, mumbling a few words: "It's the locust god, the locust god is coming!"

In the distance, Zhang Yuandong came back on his sidecar. Before we got close, we heard him shouting, "Locusts are flying over here! It's a locust plague!"

Locally, we all call locusts "grasshoppers". If you say locusts, many people, especially children, don't know what they are, but if you say locust plague, everyone will understand.

The young people were panicking. They had only heard from the older generation about the horror of locusts, but they didn't know what to do at this time. The older people had experienced locust plagues before, and knew that the most important thing now was to protect the food. They grabbed the shovels on the ground and started to pile up the food.

Locusts move very fast. Once they fly to a place, they will eat all the leaves there. The ground of the threshing ground was covered with dense locusts, which made people's scalps tingle.

These little things could not be caught completely, nor could they be driven away. The threshing ground was full of grain, and there was no way to burn it with fire. Everyone could only race against time to collect the grain and save as much as possible.

Fortunately, the food was almost dried up and the locusts could not bite it very hard, so most of the food was saved.

However, the sweet potato vines in the fields and the vegetables planted in the vegetable patches suffered. All the edible leaves were eaten by locusts, and even the grass in the fields was eaten up.

Although the village organized people to kill the locusts, it was too late. They could only hurry to pick the vegetables from their private plots, the more they could get, the better.

Everyone gathered in the open space in front of the brigade headquarters. In just a few days, this was already the second village meeting.

In the past few years, everyone was hungry, but at least they had enough food to fill their stomachs. This year, God did not let people have an easy time. The sorghum sprouted, and the sweet potato vines were all destroyed. It was clear that there would not be a good harvest. The two most important foods were gone. Everyone was anxious. Since they arrived at the brigade headquarters, they had not stopped talking, urging the brigade leader and the village party secretary to find a solution.

Secretary Liu stood at the entrance of the brigade and shouted, "Everyone, be quiet!"

When everyone saw that it was Secretary Liu who was going to speak, they immediately became annoyed: "Secretary, we are all feeling uneasy right now, so stop giving so many big words and get down to business. We don't want to listen to your long-winded speeches!"

Secretary Liu's face darkened for a moment when he was squeezed by so many people. He was about to give up, but he suppressed his anger and said calmly: "Don't worry! I know everyone is upset. I can understand your feelings. I also feel sorry for the food in our village. No one wants to see such a thing happen. Don't panic. What we need now is to solve the problem. The team leader and I have been thinking of a solution. Everyone should believe in the government and the party. They will not ignore us. Tomorrow! Tomorrow I will go to the county to apply for relief food!"

Liu Yiliang's official tone was too strong, and many people didn't trust him at all. They even muttered in a low voice: "What relief food? A few years ago, everyone was almost starving to death, and there was not a single grain of relief food. If our village hadn't been blessed by the Snake Goddess, who knows how many people would have starved to death!"

"That's right. Instead of relying on the relief food that is nowhere to be found, you might as well go home and pray more, begging the Snake Goddess for divine food!"

Zhang Zhiqiang heard people's discussion getting more and more heated, and shouted: "Enough, look at what you can do, the big bosses can't control their mouths! Don't you see what the situation is? If there is really magic food, there won't be enough for so many grasshoppers to gnaw on!"

He softened his expression and continued, "This is the situation in our village, and it must be the same in the nearby villages. Tomorrow, the Party Secretary and I will go to other villages to discuss and gather together to go to the commune to ask for food. There are so many of us, and the higher-ups will not ignore us."

Seeing that he had calmed down the villagers, Secretary Liu quickly took over the conversation and said, "Everyone, just put your minds at ease and go back to wait for my news. Now go back and wait for news at home!"

The crowd gradually dispersed. The children were ignorant and frightened by the serious faces of the adults during the meeting, so they did not dare to make a fuss. Now that everyone was beginning to disperse, a few naughty children ran to the roadside. The grass was full of locusts. They could grab a handful with their hands and roast them on the spot.

Lin Yue did not bring the children out. She walked beside Aunt Zhang and heard her nervously shouting to the children, "You can't eat this! This is the locust god. You can't eat it!"

Older people especially believe in this. Lin Yue just heard some people in the crowd discussing privately that this was a punishment from the locust god and that they would have to open the ancestral temple and offer sacrifices of three animals.

Lin Yue had heard before that locusts that have become a plague should not be eaten, but he didn’t know if it was true, so he followed Aunt Zhang and drove the children away.

She stepped forward to support Aunt Zhang and said, "Auntie, I have never experienced such a locust plague before. There are so many locusts. It's too scary."

Aunt Zhang said worriedly, "There's an old saying that locusts will appear when there's a severe drought. You're young and you didn't notice it. Last year when it didn't rain here, there were a lot of locusts. I was worried about a locust plague then. This year there was a lot of rain, so I thought nothing would happen, but a disaster still happened!"

Lin Yue really didn't notice it last year. It was normal to have grasshoppers in the fields. Every year, the children in the village would catch a few grasshoppers as snacks. Even she couldn't resist the temptation and secretly roasted some to eat.

Aunt Zhang was old, and she couldn't help but be overwhelmed when encountering big things. Lin Yue first sent her home, and then went back to Aunt Su's house.

On this day, Zhang Zhiqiang did not come back until very late.

Everyone was very worried, and it was only after Aunt Su urged them to go back to their rooms and go to bed.

We waited anxiously for four or five days. We went out every day to kill the locusts, catching them with nets during the day and trapping them with bonfires at night. Although this was effective, the locusts did not completely disperse, and there was still no relief food.

Perhaps the more difficult the times, the more one can see a person's true character. There were vague rumors in the village that Zhang Shouyu's family had been mistreating my mother.

At dinner time, Aunt Su brought back accurate news: "Zhou Pandi is ill. Doctor Liu said she needs to be sent to a large hospital for treatment. Her son did not send her to the hospital, so she was left to die at home. She was not even given food to eat in the past few days."

Lin Yue felt horrified when he heard this.

Zhou Pandi is Aunt Zhou. She made little hats for her two children when they were in confinement. She never expected that after not seeing her son for a while, she would be treated so harshly by him.

In her previous life, she had heard of many relatives who had no money to treat their illnesses and had to give up in the end. But that was a helpless act because of lack of money. Zhang Shouyu was the only son in the family. Aunt Zhou had been a widow for many years and finally found a wife for her son and raised two grandchildren. She was less than 60 years old this year and could earn seven or eight work points before she got sick. But the result was such a fate, which was really heartbreaking.

Lin Yue was very sad and didn't know what to do: "What disease is she suffering from? Why didn't anyone tell her?"

"Who knows what the disease is? Doctor Liu can't figure it out either. Zhang Shouyu and his wife did such a heinous thing, but they kept it a secret. It was only after his youngest son let the cat out of the bag that the news spread."

The more Lin Yue listened, the heavier his mood became.

In fact, Xiaotian Village is relatively good and has been relatively stable in the past two years. In the neighboring villages, such things are not uncommon. Not to mention sick elderly people, even healthy elderly people and children have died of starvation.

It is clear that this winter will not be an easy one for people. In the face of years of famine, distorted human nature is the norm.

In the evening, Zhang Yuandong came back and saw that Lin Yue looked worried. He couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Did something happen today?"

Lin Yue actually wanted to find someone to talk to at this time. When Zhang Yuandong asked, she told him what she had heard today: "This year's harvest is not good, and it is expected that some people will not have enough to eat. But Zhang Shouyu is worse than an animal for deliberately starving his old mother to death."

Zhang Yuandong listened in silence. Finally, he said, "I'll go ask Uncle Zhiqiang about the rules of the brigade. Don't go against this kind of person."

In the main room, Zhang Zhiqiang was smoking a pipe, and the room was filled with the smell of cigarettes. He had visited Zhang Shouyu's home today, and the old lady was so hungry that she looked like a ghost, her eyes were cloudy, and she couldn't speak.

The kang was dirty and smelly, with all kinds of things on it. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the couple was torturing the old lady, but Zhang Shouyu insisted that his mother knew that her illness could not be cured and she went on a hunger strike, so Zhang Zhiqiang was a bit helpless.

We should send the old lady to the hospital. Judging from her current condition, she might die on the way.

Zhang Zhiqiang and Zhang Shouyu's mother were of similar age, and they had watched her survive the hard times. He puffed on his pipe and sighed, "You said that Zhou Pandi wasn't that ill at first, so why did she let her son and daughter-in-law torture her like this?"

Zhang Yuandong said, "Uncle, if you can't do it, call the police. They are killing people! Aunt Zhou is a martyr's family member. Her husband died on the battlefield. If this matter is not properly resolved, once it gets out, other people will follow suit and there will be no way to deal with it."

Zhang Zhiqiang sighed, "Do you think I'll be in trouble just because that kid said a few excuses? You're not at home all year round, so you don't know much about his family. Zhang Shouyu's wife is Liu Yiliang's daughter-in-law. The couple dared to do this because they had their father-in-law to back them up!"

Zhang Yuandong had dealt with Secretary Liu several times and knew what kind of person he was. He also knew that this matter was really difficult to resolve.