As summer began, we had less meat at home, so we ate less grain. We also had something in common: no matter who asked what good food we ate at home, we would all say we didn't know. This was usually said by my third and fourth brothers, since we were the three little ones.
We hunted all this meat in the mountains. Putting everything else aside, the round trip takes an hour and a half. Why give it to others?
Besides, no matter how we hunted the prey, Mom and Aunt Zhou controlled how much we ate.
This also caused some trouble. That evening, we were having dinner at home when we heard someone cursing and swearing outside:
"So what if you can eat meat? Everyone's eaten meat before. Eating meat every day, people who don't know better would think you're a capitalist. Even if you're not a capitalist, you're still doing something shameful..."
Upon hearing this, my mother jumped up, went out, opened the door, and said, "Who said our family are capitalists? My ancestors were all ordinary people."
My grandfather worked as a bodyguard for a security escort agency, the Zhou family mentioned earlier. You can ask around and you'll find out. He passed away not long after my father got married, while protecting his employer's goods during a security escort mission.
After that, my father stopped being a镖师 (bodyguard/escort) and opened a martial arts training ground. My mother died in childbirth when I was three years old, and my grandmother died of illness when I was ten. Even my father was assassinated because he couldn't stand the Japanese soldiers bullying us ordinary people. He beat them on the martial arts stage and was killed. Do you know why?
How many people in our family died in total? Seven people. Among these seven people were my father and my six senior brothers. They had no parents and were all orphans adopted by my father.
If it weren't for me seeing my father covered in wounds and running out to find a doctor and get medicine, I would have died at the hands of the Japanese devils too. You're saying my family is capitalist? Where did we get the capital? Seven members of my maternal family died at the hands of the enemy.
As for my husband's family, all the long-time residents here know Mr. Li, who is a private tutor who raises my husband all by himself.
But who among you knows that in 1943, he died at the hands of the enemy while delivering intelligence to our Party? And who among you knows that he had already become an outstanding intelligence agent for our Party as early as 1937?
My husband's grandfather was just an old scholar who had taken the imperial examinations for countless years, and he made a living by my grandmother's embroidery.
The day after my father and senior brother died, he sent my husband and me to the People's Liberation Army. At that time, I was only 13 or 14 years old, and my husband had just turned 18.
"We have two soldiers in our family now, can't we eat some meat? Besides, we didn't steal or rob; the kids ran all the way to the foot of West Mountain to hunt it themselves."
After saying that, she angrily slammed the door shut, scaring us all into standing obediently to the side. Even Aunt Zhou said:
"No wonder, no wonder. Back then, I had only been in the army for a short time when I saw your husband, Lao Li, bringing a child to join the army. I wondered why he was bringing a girl with him when he joined the army. When I asked Lao Li, he wouldn't tell me. When I asked you, you were always secretly crying by yourself."
Sister Fang said that your family had been murdered and you were all alone, and asked us to take care of you. Little did we know that in the end, we wouldn't even know who would be taking care of whom.
One day, you suddenly came back with several rabbits, ran to the mess hall, put them down without saying a word, and then there were more. This happened for three days in a row. It wasn't until Sister Fang went to Minister Chen to ask Old Li that they found out. They told us not to worry and said you were quite good at cooking. They also said you needed to let off some steam so you wouldn't get sick from holding it in. And so, we've been eating meat and vegetables for months on end. Many of the older comrades say this is the best they've eaten since joining the revolution.
"What's the big deal? It's just a few rabbits."
"Are they a few rabbits? In those six months, you caught all the pheasants and rabbits in the nearby mountains. Sometimes you even managed to bring back a wild boar. I don't know where you got the energy, but you would grit your teeth and carry it back by yourself."
At that time, Sister Fang was so frightened that she never let you run up the mountain again. If it weren't for Sister Fang telling me that you were interested in studying medicine and that you were brave and meticulous in performing surgery, and that the military hospital couldn't do without you in the end, you would have been sent to carry out underground work long ago based on your skills. You should be content."
"To be honest, Sister Zhou didn't go up the mountain to vent her emotions. It was after my senior brother, father-in-law, and I buried them and knelt in front of their graves and cried our hearts out."
After arriving at the base, the food for the first three days was really bland and I couldn't get enough to eat, so I secretly went up the mountain to find food. I saw a lot of pheasants and rabbits, so I killed one pheasant and roasted it. Then I felt bad because you didn't have any to eat, so I killed a few more.
Looking back, you all seem very happy. Another reason is that some of you felt embarrassed about not assigning yourself tasks, which is why you came up the mountain to hunt every day.
"I told you, it seems like you're enjoying it to the end."
We, who are standing here now, really didn't expect that our mother, "Aunt Liu," joined the army at such a young age, and was so capable that she almost wiped out the rabbits and pheasants on the mountain in just six months.
"So how did you finally manage to hunt the wild boar?"
"There were no pheasants or rabbits to be seen on the mountain, so I was planning to go back. But then I ran into a lone guy, and I thought I'd test my skills."
"You have no idea, after you brought the wild boar back, no one in our unit looked down on you. Everyone admired you. At such a young age, you were able to hunt a wild boar."
A few days later, you had Sister Fang arrange for you to go to our military hospital, right? Since everyone was running out of meat, and especially the men, those who were stationed in the rear, would go hunting in groups whenever they had free time. From then on, they could eat wild boar meat every ten days to two weeks.
"No wonder they can. I was wondering why they ate so poorly if they could hunt. Now I know why."
"Those working in the rear are mostly skilled writers, rarely agile. Back then, you were the only one in our rear area," Aunt Zhou said, giving a thumbs-up.
"It's not that amazing," Mom said with a laugh.
"Really, you have to believe me. By the way, you guys listen up, when you go hunting in the Western Hills, you can't go into the deep mountains alone, understand? This mountain is incredibly vast, and..."
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