This year is actually not a famine year. The harvest in the fields is neither good nor bad. However, after paying the public grain tax, there is not much food left in the village. So soon after the winter began, the villagers began to flee and beg for food. Energetic children are rare, as they are too hungry to walk.
Qin Huai and the captain walked to the mass grave. The captain insisted on holding the stiff child by himself. After taking several breaths, he finally reached the destination. He was surprised to see that Qin Huai seemed to still have strength. He pointed to a place and said, "Just dig a hole to cover it up so it won't show."
But Qin Huai couldn't bear it. The child starved to death. After his death, he was wrapped in a reed and went to the ground hastily. He dug very deep and continued. The captain said: "Don't bother. We don't know when it will be our turn."
Qin Huai paused and said, "Let's dig deeper, so that the wild dogs won't dig it out and eat it."
The captain didn't say anything else. He only stood up after Qin Huai buried the child.
Qin Huai looked at the small grave and thought about what the child looked like before she died. Her gray eyes were always open, as if staring at you. When she was buried, Qin Huai looked into her eyes several times. Now, whenever he closes his eyes, those eyes will appear in front of him.
Just as I was stunned, the captain said, "Let's go, don't look back."
Two people with vastly different statuses walked on the road at night, and there was oppressive silence all the way.
When he was still in the village, the captain took the shovel from his hand and said, "Even if you are young, save your energy. Winter is still here. Don't run around all day."
"Oh, I get it."
But the captain shook him off and walked away after he finished speaking.
Qin Huai returned home. Qin Xiaoyun and Qin Xiaomi sat worriedly in the dark, with no lights on. Qin Huai lit a lamp with a match. Qin Xiaomi said blankly, "Xiao Cui called me sister just a few days ago. Brother, will I starve to death like her? Are our parents as cruel as Bai Qijun?"
The little girl was scared again. People these days work hard just to survive. Qin Huai said distressedly, "Don't be afraid, Xiaomi. I won't let you starve to death."
Qin Xiaoyun said, "We are the same as Xiao Cui. We have a brother who has been trying to support us. Bai Qijun is not even worthy of carrying his shoes."
Qin Huai said, "Don't be afraid, both of you. I won't be like Bai Qijun and ignore you."
In the darkness, Qin Xiaomi hugged him tightly, Qin Huai did not move, and the little girl was frightened by the famine.
Old Man Qin came out and said, "Girl, is your brother back?"
"Grandpa, I'm back, come in quickly." Qin Huai said as he walked out.
The old man came in and said, "It's good that you're back."
Qin Huai asked, "Grandpa, you haven't eaten all day, have you?"
The old man said, "I'm old, one or two days won't matter."
"Wait a little later and dig out some food for grandpa to eat."
Qin Xiaomi actually took out three small cakes from his pocket and handed them to Old Man Qin, saying, "Grandpa, have some."
Old Man Qin said, "Good boy, I won't eat it. I don't know if the cafeteria will be open tomorrow, so you can save it for tomorrow."
Qin Huai said, "Don't worry, Grandpa. These two girls ate so much in the city today that they had to walk on the wall. This is for you."
Qin Xiaomi said embarrassedly, "It's all my fault. I didn't feel comfortable giving Grandpa more."
The old man took it and ate it slowly, saying, "The food in the city is really delicious."
Qin Xiaomi stroked her belly and said, "Brother, if I wasn't still full, I would think eating so many delicious foods during the day was a dream."
Old Man Qin said, "It seems that one meal can last at least three days."
As the grandfather and his two grandsons were talking, they suddenly heard a burst of crying outside. When they went out to see what was happening, they saw several militiamen with guns tying up a woman.
Qin Laoshuan said, "Lao Liu, you are mistaken. His family has no food. The bowl of soybean powder he just ate was borrowed from his mother's family."
Old Liu sneered and said, "Qin Laoshuan, there's something seriously wrong with your thinking. The entire commune's grain needs to be concentrated, and she's not handing it over to eat for herself. This is a serious policy issue. If we don't make an example of her today, everyone will follow her example in the future, and that's going to be disastrous."
Qin Laoshuan said angrily, "If you take her away, what will happen to her child, who is only five or six years old? Her husband is working on the river engineering site. You can take the soybean powder. She has made a mistake in her thinking. I will criticize and educate her in the village. If you dare to take her away, I will send the child to your home."
After hearing this, Old Liu hesitated for a moment, then let the woman go and said, "Qin Laoshuan, I don't think the grain search in Qinjiazhuang was thorough enough. I'll have the grain search team come again tomorrow. If they find nothing, we won't be able to help you."
The group let go of the woman and rode away on their bikes.
The woman's face was covered with tears. She hugged the crying child and said to Qin Laoshuan, "Brother, thank you."
Qin Laoshuan said to the onlookers, "What are you looking at? Go home and lie down. Walking around makes you even hungrier."
Seeing this scene, Qin Huai felt very upset, but now his own elderly family members were also starving, so how could he have the ability to help others.
As the family walked back, the old man said, "Qin Huai, the days ahead are going to be increasingly difficult."
Qin Huai said, "Grandpa, don't worry, I've already found a solution, but I haven't had time to tell you yet."
The northwest wind suddenly blew by, and the old man shuddered and said, "I guess it's going to snow again. It will be even harder to find food when it snows."
After closing the door, Qin Huai said, "Grandpa, I've taken on a big business, and it requires our whole family to work together."
The old man asked in surprise, "What big business? Don't mess around. If you get caught, you'll go to jail."
So Qin Huai told the old man about the order from the chemical plant. The old man thought about it and said, "It seems possible, but the situation in the village is like this. As long as there is smoke, people will come to our house to check. We can't do it."
"I've already thought of this problem. Let's do it in the city this time..." Then he told the story of Yu Zhennan's yard. The old man said in surprise: "God bless you, Qin Huai, this thing can really be done."
"Grandpa, I've made up my mind. Tomorrow we'll transport the wood and other materials to the city and make more soap molds there. I'll also need to buy some chemical spices to make soap. Time is very short, so we have to hurry up."
"good."
That night, no one in the family slept. When Qin Huai saw the wood prepared by the old man, his eyes turned red. It turned out that the old man was worried that there was not enough wood, so he contributed his own coffin lid.
Seeing Qin Huai's sadness, the old man said, "People these days are worse than pigs and dogs. I'm really starving to death. No one in the village can lift such a heavy coffin. Besides, when you make money, you can buy me a better coffin later."
But because of this coffin lid, big trouble arose.
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