The war is over, so why is life not much better than it was during the war?
It's also because Zhang Xiaonu has never been to school and has little education, otherwise she would know a truth.
When a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer.
At least they still have land to farm. How many of those who have no land and no money to buy food can survive the winters?
In the end, Zhang Xiaonv was unable to take Liang Shengdi out for a visit, but she also didn't cook an extra bowl of rice, let alone buy eggs for Liang Shengdi.
Instead, he always pushed Yulan to get closer to her mother, saying, "Go touch your mother's belly and say, 'Brother is coming, brother is coming.'"
Ever since she could remember, little Yulan always heard her grandmother complaining that it was a pity that she was not a boy and that the family lacked a son to carry on the family line. She knew that her grandmother hoped that her mother would give her another brother.
She listens to her grandmother the most. Every day she puts her hand on her mother's belly and says "little brother is coming" three times a day, morning, noon and evening, without missing a day.
The way her mother looked at her, little Yulan always felt like she was looking at a fool.
This hope lasted until the next New Year, when spring plowing was completed, and finally Zhang Xiaonu's wish came true.
In 1947, the second year after the full-scale civil war broke out, due to the long-term unpopularity of the Kuomintang army, the total strength of the army had been declining after only one year of fighting. Some soldiers died in battle, but there were also a large number of deserters.
Deserters have nothing on them. Even if they want to go home, they need money for the journey, right? And even if they return home, they may not find their family. Many deserters eventually become bandits.
Zhejiang Province is mountainous. They would just find a hill to occupy, and when they ran out of food, they would come down to smash, loot, and burn. Their destructiveness was no less than that of the Japanese.
So as soon as Liang Shengdi confirmed that she was pregnant, everyone hid in the mountains again.
There was no other way. It was better to occupy the mountaintop first than to have someone burn down the village and then take over the mountain as king. Lin Youliang persuaded the whole village to go up the mountain again, and this time he asked them to take all the chickens, ducks, geese, dogs and pigs with them.
The young and middle-aged men skillfully formed a self-defense force. Since all the guns had been donated, they took knives. Although there were not many big knives, they still had hoes and rakes.
Zhang Xiaonv sat in the familiar cave, cursing. She first helped Yulan to spread thick straw on the ground where she would sleep, then her son and daughter-in-law's bed, and finally her own.
From time to time, she looked at Liang Shengdi's belly worriedly, and from time to time, she looked at her own grain bag in the corner of the cave.
She had just made a batch of rice cakes before the New Year and carried them up the mountain. Not only did she have to find a place to soak them, but she also had to eat them quickly, otherwise they would become moldy.
Zhang Xiaonu regretted it now. If she had known that this rubbish world would be full of endless wars, she would not have made rice cakes this year. Now that she was up the mountain, she didn't know when she would be able to come down. The rice seedlings had just been planted in the fields...
Lin Youliang was also very annoyed. Everyone had just eaten a full meal for the year and was in high spirits, but now they were all dragged up the mountain in a loud noise, and they were clamoring about when they could go down. If the paddy fields were not taken care of, the rice would be eaten by insects!
"If you go down to tend the rice now, you'll be eaten by bandits!" Lin Youliang cursed angrily. "Haven't you heard about what happened in Sanwang Village? Half the people are gone! They're still working on spring plowing! Last year's grain has been stolen! If you don't want to live, go down!"
After only a few years as village chief, he already has a lot of white hair. Every day he has to yell at everyone with all his might, otherwise those old men and women act as if they don't understand him!
Zhang Xiaonu cherishes food but also cherishes her life. She often complains to the old sisters around her that the young people either don't work or eat as much as they want. If she dies, the family will probably break up.
So she would rather cry for the new seedlings on the mountain than go down to see the paddy fields.
But there are always a few disobedient ones who say that those bandits are better than the Japanese, and they are still our Chinese people after all. If they really meet them, they can save their lives by kneeling down and begging.
Besides, hadn't they just finished robbing Sanwang Village? They could always get some quiet time.
So he ignored the advice and sneaked down the mountain to work every day. After a while, he felt that the problem was not big and he did not come back at night. How could the cave smell as good as home? After a while, those with families started to move back again.
The others followed suit, at least half of them followed him down the mountain. Worried, Lin Youliang also began to squat under a tree and puff on his pipe every day like his father.
However, Zhang Xiaonv was extra cautious because Liang Shengdi was pregnant. She looked at the bags of food and thought that they could survive this year, so she gritted her teeth and did not go down the mountain.
This was also one of the reasons why she often told her granddaughter that she, an old woman, was quite far-sighted.
It was actually only a few months from the time they went up the mountain to the summer harvest. They stayed in the mountain for more than three months. Liang Shengdi's belly began to swell. Because there were many things to eat in the mountains in the summer, she ate well in the past few months, and her face also became a little flushed.
That day, she and Yulan were sitting side by side on a big rock watching Lin Wenxuan catching fish, when they heard shouts and screams from the bottom of the mountain.
The fish that Lin Wenxuan had just caught slipped back into the stream as soon as he loosened his grip. He hurriedly went ashore to put on his shoes, then pulled his wife and children into the cave, leaving them in the care of Zhang Xiaonu, while he took a hoe and went out of the cave.
A number of men had gathered on the open space at the top of the mountain. Lin Youliang stood under a big tree, looked up at his son at the top, and shouted,
"Fuqiang! Did you see clearly?"
"Look carefully!" 19-year-old Lin Fuqiang shouted in a muffled voice, "Dad! It's bandits! They're rushing in on horseback with knives, and there are many people following them... They're rushing into the fields to steal the rice!"
It is impossible for bandits to stay together forever. Even if they go to the mountains, they want to settle down, get married and have children. After a long time, their mountains are mostly filled with relatives and friends.
When there are too many people, there will be a shortage of food. It is not as easy and quick to open up wasteland in the mountains as to come down and rob food. Why are they coming down the mountain to rob food just in time for the summer harvest?
"Damn bastards! I knew this would happen! That's why I'd rather not plant this field! But they insisted on doing it!" Lin Youliang cursed and spit to the side, then looked at the young men standing behind waiting for his orders with a sullen face.
"Sixth Brother! Take half of the men and guard the mountain. Don't let anyone in! The remaining half, follow me down the mountain!"
"Everyone, don't worry about the fields yet. There are only a few families in our village who are farming there, so they can't steal much. Go to those families and rescue the people first!"
"Don't confront those bastards! They might have guns."
"I've advised them before, so going down to save them now is the most righteous act! Those who can be saved, those who can't...if you see the situation is not going well, come back quickly. Your own life is the most important!"
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