1. A child is crying
"Xu Zhaodi, you money-loser, are you slacking off in there again?"
"I asked you to cook and you took your time, are you trying to starve us to death?"
One after another, sharp and shrill curses came into the kitchen, and the kitchen was silent, with only the sound of stir-frying and the crackling of burning matches.
Standing in front of the earthen stove with a shovel in her hand was an extremely thin little girl. The little girl was only as tall as the stove, but there was a chair under her feet so that she could see the food in the big pot more clearly.
The little girl's exposed arms were covered with all kinds of bruises.
The new wounds and old wounds overlapped with each other, which made people feel painful just by looking at them.
The little girl was so thin that the clothes she was wearing looked a little empty on her.
The cursing outside continued, but the little girl just kept stir-frying the meat in the iron pan. The tears in her eyes dripped to her feet amid the cursing.
The little girl sniffed, then raised her hand and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.
Xu Zhaodi felt very sad every time she heard these insults. At such a young age, she didn't understand why her mother was so annoying and loved her younger brother so much.
After the green pepper and meat were fried in the big pot, Xu Zhaodi used both hands to use a spatula to carefully put the dish on a plate.
After doing all this, Xu Zhaodi put down the shovel, jumped off the chair and carried the last dish to the living room.
At the dining table in the living room, mom, dad and three-year-old brother were already sitting at the table.
After seeing Xu Zhaodi bringing out the dishes, her mother's face became even uglier.
"Xu Zhaodi, why are you cooking so slowly today? Are you being lazy?"
"You are not allowed to eat today. Go to the mountain to collect firewood!" Mother Xu said as she picked up some meat from Father Xu with chopsticks.
Xu Zhaodi, who was already starving, looked up at her mother and said timidly, "Mom, I didn't eat last night or breakfast, so I'm hungry now."
When Xu Zhaodi said she was hungry, her mother immediately looked at her fiercely and said, "Hungry, hungry, hungry! Xu Zhaodi, why are you so greedy?"
"Do you usually lack food and drink?"
"One more thing, don't even think about eating tonight!"
The two-year-old brother next to him watched this scene and said with a smile: "Hungry..."
Hearing that it was her younger brother who was speaking, Xu's mother suddenly changed to a gentle expression and began to praise: "Yaozu is really great. He even said he was hungry."
Smelling the fragrance in the air, Xu Zhaodi knew that she would not be able to eat the meat.
Xu Zhaodi's eyes were always on the delicious food on the table, but unfortunately no one would let her go up to eat with them.
Coming to the room where miscellaneous items were stored, Xu Zhaodi took out a basket that was bigger than her and an axe and went out.
It takes a while to walk from the village to the mountains, and I met many elderly people from the village along the way.
They saw Xu Zhaodi carrying a basket that was bigger than her and walking towards the mountains. Some people turned a blind eye while others looked at her with heartache.
But no one said anything, because Xu's mother had a hot temper. They said that if Xu's mother heard it, she would stand in front of the other person and curse for a whole day.
Just when Xu Zhaodi was thinking about how to find something to eat, an old lady in the village called her.
"Xu Wa."
When Xu Zhaodi heard someone calling her, she turned around and found that it was Grandma Li who lived alone at the end of the village.
"Grandma Li, what do you want to talk to me about?" Xu Zhaodi stopped, tightly grasped the rope of the basket with both hands, her eyes full of fear.
Grandma Li just handed over the bag in her hand and said, "You haven't eaten yet, right? I made too much dough today, and I can't finish the steamed buns I made, so I'll give you a few."
Hearing this, Xu Zhaodi's eyes fell on the red plastic bag that Grandma Li was holding.
It’s a big bag, there should be a lot of steamed buns in it, right?
The more Xu Zhaodi thought about it, the hungrier she became, but her mother didn't allow her to eat anything given by others. Just when she was about to refuse, her stomach started growling.
"Take it and eat it." Grandma Li put the steamed buns in her basket with a smile.
In this way, Xu Zhaodi went into the mountains carrying the steamed buns given by Grandma Li.
Xu Zhaodi usually picked up some firewood outside the mountains, but today, for some reason, she ended up walking deep into the mountains while picking up firewood.
When Xu Zhaodi realized what was happening, she started to panic and ran back with the basket on her back.
But she didn't know which way to go back, because the trees and weeds around her were growing very lush.
The grass was taller than she was. Xu Zhaodi stood there with an axe in her hand, feeling terrified.
Those uncles and aunts said that there were tigers and big beasts in the mountains.
They all eat people. She can't go back now. Will she be eaten by them?
The more Xu Zhaodi thought about it, the more frightened she became. Tears suddenly filled her eyes. Although she was obviously very scared, she still endured the fear and continued to move forward.
I don’t know how long I walked, but it was getting dark, and Xu Zhaodi was already rumbling with hunger.
Fortunately, Grandma Li gave her some steamed buns, so she was not starving now that she was hungry.
Xu Zhaodi found a place to sit down and took out a hemp-red plastic bag from the basket.
There were several plump white buns inside.
Grandma Li also put sugar in it, and it tasted sweet and delicious.
Xu Zhaodi was young, and her fear only lasted for a while. After she got over the fear, she was no longer afraid.
Because ever since she could remember, she had been living in a family that made her terrified. She was scolded for not feeding the chickens, not cooking, and not looking after her younger brother.
Mom and Dad always find various reasons to scold and beat her.
After eating two steamed buns, Xu Zhaodi felt a little choked in the throat, but she had no water and could only swallow her saliva frantically.
When she no longer felt uncomfortable, she put the basket on her back and continued walking forward, because it was already completely dark by the time she had filled her stomach.
Xu Zhaodi couldn't see the road around her clearly, and the occasional bird calls could be heard in the silent forest.
Hearing these sounds, Xu Zhaodi began to get scared again.
The horrifying scenes that I saw when I jumped out to watch TV at other people’s houses came to my mind.
Suddenly, a tiger roar scared Xu Zhaodi to tears.
Not only that, but there were also gunshots.
Xu Zhaodi was so frightened that she stood there, not daring to move, her little hands tightly clutching the red plastic bag.
She pouted and burst into tears, crying very loudly, and her weak body was shaking with fear.
Liang Qingheng, who was fighting a tiger not far away, moved his ears. After hearing the faint crying sound, he said to Shen Jiayao beside him: "Did you hear the child crying?"
"A child crying?" Shen Jiayao was puzzled. The planet they were on was a barren planet.
There were only six of them and the director team on the entire deserted planet.
Moreover, there have been no newborns in the entire interstellar space for more than a hundred years, and there are even fewer newborns on this desolate planet.
Shen Jiayao suspected that this man was too tired from building the house yesterday and was hallucinating.
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