Abnormal Food Article

Chapter 63: Dry Land Years (End)

Chapter 63 Dry Land Years (End)

On the second day, Chen Huihong went to the inner city for dinner as usual.

Qin Huai finally figured out that although Chen Huihong and Hui Niang lived together, they were just roommates. Chen Huihong goes to the inner city to eat a good meal every day, and then comes back with some snacks to eat snacks the rest of the time. If there is any excitement outside, she will go out to watch the excitement, and if there is no excitement, she will eat melon seeds at home.

Hui Niang was much busier than her.

In the morning, I went out to buy vegetables and food. When I came back, I cleaned up the melon seed shells that Chen Huihong had eaten and cleaned the house. If the sun is right outside, you can also put up a shelf to dry the quilt outside.

When Chen Huihong went out for a stroll, Huiniang was working outside. When Chen Huihong came back from wandering, Huiniang was usually steaming sweet potatoes in the kitchen.

It was cold outside at night, so Huiniang and Chen Huihong stayed at home together. There was no brazier at home, so Huiniang curled up under the quilt and chatted with Chen Huihong, while Chen Huihong continued to sit at the table, eating melon seeds and playing with small toys.

According to the agreement with Shopkeeper Lu, Chen Huihong did not go to Tai Feng Building for dinner on the second day, but went to Yonghe Residence. The waiter in Yongheju warmly entertained her, and Chen Huihong returned home in the evening carrying large and small bags.

Hui Niang is steaming steamed buns in the kitchen.

"Sister, you are back." Hui Niang came out with a smile and announced the good news excitedly, "Today the cornmeal in the grain store is very cheap, I bought a whole bag! I also bought a small bag of white flour. Sister, I steamed the steamed buns, do you want it? Eat one?”

Chen Huihong went into the kitchen and took a look at the poor-looking steamed buns. She didn't choose, nodded, and asked: "Isn't the price of food now the same every day? Why is cornmeal so cheap today?"

"The clerk at the grain store said it was because this batch of cornmeal got damp and became a bit moldy." Hui Niang said happily, "It's okay. I have already picked out the moldy noodles and thrown them away. There is still more than half a bag left."

Chen Huihong frowned subconsciously: "Next time, don't go to this grain store to buy grain. They sell all this grain, which is unconscionable."

"Sister, the food in this store is already very good. When I was short of food at home, I went to the landlord to buy mixed food. One pound of cornmeal, three ounces of sand, two ounces of mouse droppings. If you sift out half a pound of cornmeal, it's enough. Not bad. The cornmeal here is not mixed with any sand, and it’s still cheap!”

"A lot of people are going to buy it. Fortunately, I went early this morning, otherwise I wouldn't be able to buy it."

Chen Huihong stopped talking and handed Huiniang a candied fruit.

Hui Niang happily took it and put it in her mouth, reluctant to swallow it: "Thank you, sister."

Chen Huihong stood in the kitchen waiting for the steamed buns to be steamed.

Hui Niang rarely steamed steamed buns and didn't know how to control the time and heat. She would lift the wooden lid to take a look from time to time. Qin Huai watched from the side and felt that Huiniang's craftsmanship was really worrying.

Not to mention the steamed bun itself, it is made from a large amount of original cornmeal mixed with a small amount of white flour. It is impossible for the coarse grains in the grains to be smooth and flat.

Huiniang's skill at kneading dough was probably not very good, and she did a poor job of exhausting the air.

The most important thing is that the fire in the stove is low.

Not sure whether it was to save firewood or simply add less, Qin Huai felt that according to this steaming method, the steamed buns would most likely be cooked.

Sure enough, more than ten minutes later, the firewood in the stove had gone out, but the steamed buns in the pot had not yet been completely steamed.

Hui Niang fiddled with the steamed buns with her hands, not sure, and asked: "Sister, is this steamed bun ready?"

"I don't know." Chen Huihong said honestly, "I can only eat but not cook."

"But there is no firewood at home." Hui Niang said sheepishly, "I wasted time grabbing cornmeal this morning. When I came back, the firewood seller had left. If you want to buy it, you have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"Let's just eat it." Chen Huihong said, after thinking for a while, she took out a piece of bark from her pocket, "Or do you eat this?"

Hui Niang hesitated for a moment: "My mother said that you can eat the steamed bun even if it is not cooked yet."

The two of them ate the steamed bun with raw ingredients.

Hui Niang steamed four steamed buns in total, each one the size of a fist. Hui Niang ate three and Chen Huihong ate one.

The kitchen was too cold, so they took the steamed buns back inside to eat.

Chen Huihong walked a few steps from the kitchen to the house. Out of curiosity, she couldn't help but take a bite in advance. It was so unpalatable that her facial features wrinkled together and she complained: "Weird taste."

Then he stuffed a candied fruit into his mouth, and gave Hui Niang the remaining half of the packet of candied fruit. The implication was that this steamed bun was really unpalatable, so you should mix it with candied fruit and eat it.

Hui Niang did not refuse and happily took it. She took a bite of the candied fruit and then took a big mouthful of steamed buns. While chewing, she muttered vaguely: "It's sweet."

"You know how to comment like this." Chen Huihong sat on the table and nibbled her bread helplessly, watching Hui Niang climb onto the bed and wrap herself in the quilt, revealing her head and two small hands.

Hui Niang happily ate candied fruits with steamed buns.

While eating, Hui Niang suddenly said: "Sister, you are so kind to me, much better than my parents are to me."

"That's because your parents don't treat you well. It's been more than half a year and I haven't seen them come to Peiping." Chen Huihong said calmly.

This sentence immediately silenced Hui Niang. After a while, Hui Niang asked in a low voice: "Sister, if I say that I don't know if my parents will come to Peking, I was just afraid that you would kill me." I just lied to you that I wanted to come to Peking to meet my parents. I don’t want to find them at all, will you be angry? "

Chen Huihong glanced at her: "They called me Miss Crazy. I defaulted to it because it would save a lot of trouble and get free food and drink. I'm not really stupid."

"Then do you think I'm unfilial?" Huiniang asked again.

"Filial piety is relative. Kindness is relative to filial piety. If parents are not kind, they have no right to accuse their children of being unfilial." Chen Huihong said, "Your parents are going to sell you to someone else. Isn't it normal that you don't want to go to them?"

Hui Niang immediately became happy again: "Fortunately, Ren Yazi didn't want me because she thought I was ugly, otherwise I wouldn't have met my sister."

"Sister, are your parents good to you?"

Chen Huihong didn't understand why tonight suddenly turned into a heart-to-heart meeting, but she still thought about it seriously and replied, "I don't remember."

"It should be okay. We don't really care about it, and we don't need to care about it. Just let it be."

Hui Niang didn't understand.

Chen Huihong took another bite of the bun, frowned, and wanted to look out the window, but the window was made of paper and she couldn't see clearly.

"Tomorrow is the New Year's Eve." Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang, "Your hair is too thin."

"What is a hairpin?" Huiniang asked.

"It's a girl's 15th birthday. When a girl turns 15, the elders in the family will use hairpins to pull up her hair, and they seem to entertain guests to change clothes or something. I also heard Mr. Shu say that it should be to celebrate the birthday. ." Chen Huihong is not sure either.

"That's great." Hui Niang's face was full of envy.

Looking at Huiniang's expression, Chen Huihong was a little surprised: "You don't have one?"

Huiniang shook her head: "My sister was sold to Ren Yazi before she turned 15. Girls in our village basically get married when they are 13 or 14 years old. I originally wanted to be married when I was 13 years old. But that It’s already a drought, and no one has money to marry a wife, and the money given is too little, so it’s better to sell her to someone else.”

"My mother was already asking a matchmaker to help me find a match, but my father wouldn't let me. He said he would raise a girl for another year so that he could sell it for money, but in the end he didn't sell it."

Huiniang gnawed on the bun, feeling a little melancholy: "My father and mother had quarreled several times over this. My father scolded my mother and said that I chose the wrong name. When I chose the name, I only thought of virtuousness. I didn't expect that beauty, virtuousness, and beauty would make me happy." What’s the use?”

Chen Huihong said: "Being virtuous is of no use."

"At the end of the day, he is gentle and kind, and he is careful about himself. He is gentle and respectful, cautious and kind. It is a waste to summarize such a beautiful word with virtuousness."

"But the word Hui is very nice." Huiniang said, "Many girls in our village are envious of my name. They think Hui is much nicer than Ya, Di, Cao and Hua."

"It sounds very good." Chen Huihong affirmed, "If you don't like Xianhui, but like the pronunciation of Hui, the word "Hui" for "intelligent" is also very good."

"Exquisite on the outside and smart on the inside, beautiful on the outside and smart on the inside. You should like this wisdom more."

Hui Niang's eyes lit up: "Sister, you are so educated!"

Chen Huihong said calmly: "It's all what the storytellers said. They are literate."

After the brief night chat, Huiniang finished eating the steamed bread and lay down quietly to sleep, while Chen Huihong continued to eat melon seeds in the dark.

Lights are expensive these days, and neither candles nor kerosene lamps can be afforded by Huiniang's salary. Chen Huihong usually eats melon seeds after her meal from the restaurant, never candles.

When it gets dark at night, the house will be dark, so it's better to go to bed early.

But tonight, it was destined not to be peaceful.

Because Hui Niang seemed to have a bad stomach.

Chen Huihong finished eating melon seeds, eating peanuts, chewing dried fruits, and finally drank two sips of water. Just as she was about to get up and go into the house to lie down on the bed, Hui Niang struggled to get up and put on her cotton-padded jacket to go to the toilet outside.

Less than half an hour later, I put on my cotton-padded jacket and went outside to use the toilet.

I ran four or five times in one night before I stopped. I lay on the bed and didn't move.

When Huiniang came back from going to the toilet for the last time and lay down, Chen Huihong sat up and asked, "Are you hungry?"

"It seems so." Hui Niang said a little weakly, "Maybe it's because the steamed buns are not cooked."

"It's because you bought cheap moldy cornmeal." Chen Huihong corrected, "Do you want me to call a doctor?"

Hui Niang took Chen Huihong's hand and shook her head: "It's too expensive. I have to save the money to buy meat at the Ershi Shop during the New Year."

"I can go to Tai Feng Lou Shun." Chen Huihong said.

"Then you can't hire one now. The doctor will have to pay extra for visiting the doctor at night. I can just go to the drug store tomorrow morning. It's cheaper for doctors to sit in the drug store." Huiniang insisted.

Chen Huihong sat in silence for a while, then lay down: "Okay, you can make your own decision."

Then Chen Huihong closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Hui Niang was so drowsy that she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Qin Huai was left standing by the bed, staring at Hui Niang on the bed with a solemn expression.

It was so dark that Qin Huai could not see anything, but he could hear Hui Niang's breathing.

Her breathing was rapid.

There was a faint hint of urgency.

Qin Huai took a long breath, just hoping that his experience was wrong.

When Luo Luo was Huiniang's age, she often didn't realize she had a fever. I often have no reaction at all when I have a low-grade fever. When the fever reaches 38 degrees, I am still very active. My face is so red that my family can see it and rush to the hospital.

Of course, sometimes the opposite is obvious.

For example, when you get food poisoning.

Qin Luo once ate something from a stall outside and got food poisoning in his stomach. He suffered from vomiting, diarrhea and fever, and died instantly.

In modern times, if a child has food poisoning and is sent to the hospital, he or she will be cured by inducing vomiting and prescribing some medicine, but at this time...

Qin Huai stood silently in the room, waiting for the arrival of dawn.

Chen Huihong woke up at dawn the next day.

Chen Huihong got up and found Hui Niang still lying on the bed, her whole body buried in the quilt, so she called her out.

"Hui Niang."

"Hui Niang?" Chen Huihong opened the quilt and found that Hui Niang's face was red and she didn't respond no matter how she called.

Without any hesitation, Chen Huihong wrapped Huiniang in a quilt, picked her up horizontally, and ran straight out, forgetting to wear cotton-padded clothes.

At this time, someone had already gotten up. When they saw Chen Huihong running on the street in single clothes and holding a quilt, she quickly pulled her family members out to see: "Miss Crazy is crazy!"

Chen Huihong went straight to the drug store. The drug store opened early, the clerk was cleaning, and the doctor was picking up medicine. Seeing Chen Huihong running in with a quilt in her arms, the waiter subconsciously stretched out his hand to stop her, but he retracted his hand halfway.

"Miss Crazy, why aren't you wearing cotton-padded clothes on this cold day? Why are you running away with the quilt?" The clerk stepped forward to persuade Chen Huihong to go out, but was stunned when he found someone wrapped in the quilt. "You shouldn't have picked it up." You want us to cure it, right? It can’t be cured.”

"She has a bad stomach." Chen Huihong carefully put down the quilt.

Only then did the waiter see clearly: "Isn't this Hui Niang? Doctor Wang, come and take a look."

After saying that, the guy went to close the door to prevent the cold wind from blowing in.

Dr. Wang, who had gray hair, quickly came over to check for pulse. Under Chen Huihong's gaze, Dr. Wang asked slowly: "Miss Crazy, what did your maid eat yesterday?"

Afraid that Chen Huihong wouldn't understand, Doctor Wang even made a gesture of eating.

"Moldy cornmeal, not steamed." Chen Huihong said.

Doctor Wang's expression suddenly changed, and he turned to ask the waiter: "Did Hui Niang go to the grain store in the west to buy cornmeal yesterday?"

The waiter was still thinking, but Chen Huihong said directly: "Yes, Huiniang said that the cornmeal became moldy due to moisture and was sold cheaply. She picked out all the moldy parts and threw them away."

Doctor Wang didn't even have time to think about why the crazy lady was able to answer questions and answers with such quick thinking. He sighed and murmured: "It's so shameless to sell this kind of thing that eats dead people everywhere."

The waiter seemed to remember something: "Doctor Wang, did Li Er and his family die from eating cornmeal yesterday?"

"I heard them say that Mrs. Li Er was worried about food. She didn't pick out the moldy noodles and threw them away. They were mixed with other noodles and boiled to a paste. Except for Li Er's daughter-in-law, the family ate very little. She only had one bite and was fine. Everyone else was gone. , not last night.”

"And it seems that not only Li Er's family has had trouble, but more troubles have happened in the west. The owner of the grain store ran away overnight."

"What do you mean? Will eating that cornmeal kill someone?" Chen Huihong asked the waiter.

The guy hesitated and didn't dare to say anything.

Doctor Wang took his pulse for a while, paused, and said, "Miss Crazy, I believe you can understand, so I'll just tell you."

"I'll give you a prescription first, and let the guy stay here to feed Hui Niang to induce vomiting. Then I'll prescribe you a prescription to reduce fever, but I can't guarantee whether you can survive. My medical skills are limited, little old man. I’m only 30% sure about this emergency.”

"Go ahead, I'll go back and find the money for you." Chen Huihong said.

The doctor directed the clerk to grab the medicine. After the clerk finished grabbing the medicine, he went to the backyard to brew the medicine.

Chen Huihong looked at Huiniang, who was still dazed and unresponsive, and asked, "If the medicine doesn't work, will she die?"

Doctor Wang sighed: "I can only leave it to fate."

"All I can say is that if you drink that antipyretic prescription, if you can reduce the fever before dark, you will be saved. If the fever cannot be reduced before dark, then I'm afraid it will be difficult tonight..."

"Miss Crazy, I know you are kind-hearted. If you are willing to spend money, you may be able to save her by sending her to a Western hospital in the inner city, but the cost...is enough for you to buy 10 new maids."

Chen Huihong remained silent.

20 minutes later, the waiter prepared the medicine and drank it in batches for Huiniang.

The medicine that induces vomiting is still useful. After vomiting several times, Hui Niang gradually wakes up. Doctor Wang knew that Chen Huihong would definitely not be able to boil medicine, so he asked Chen Huihong to take Hui Niang back first so that she wouldn't catch a cold. Later, he asked his assistant to boil the medicine and send it over.

Chen Huihong took Hui Niang back. As soon as she got home, she looked everywhere for copper coins and even dug out the uneaten candied fruits stuffed in the cabinet.

"Sister, what are you looking for?" Hui Niang asked weakly while lying on the bed.

"Look for something valuable. I'll take you to that hospital." Chen Huihong said.

"It's very expensive and we can't afford it." Hui Niang gasped, "It costs an ocean to see a doctor there."

"I'll borrow it."

"But if you borrow it, sister, won't everyone know that you're not crazy?"

As soon as these words came out, Chen Huihong stopped looking for something.

"This way, sister, you won't be able to go shopping in the inner city every day, and you won't be able to eat what you like, and everyone will find out that you are not a human being at all."

Chen Huihong squatted on the ground without any reaction. She quietly looked up at Hui Niang: "When did you know?"

Hui Niang smiled: "Sister, I'm not stupid. I knew it on the first day."

“That’s not how the bark is eaten at all.”

"But you still ate it." Chen Huihong said.

"Because I was so hungry. Sister, you may not know that I hadn't eaten for many days at that time. I didn't dare to eat dirt. I was afraid that eating dirt would make me die alive. But I was really hungry. I couldn't even stand up. I couldn’t stand up and could only crawl on the ground.”

"I thought I was going to die, but after eating the piece of bark you gave me, I wasn't hungry anymore."

"Sister, you don't look like a refugee at all. You pretend not to be one at all. You are so rosy-cheeked and so strong. You don't have food or water, and you don't even have a jar to store water."

"And when my sister and I told you about Linxian, you didn't react at all. The place where the two of us met was Linxian. There was a plague in Linxian, and everyone died. The surrounding villages were deserted and no one dared to go there. I ran away there because I was afraid of meeting someone and ran to a deserted place on purpose.”

"Sister, you said you were fleeing famine, but how can a young lady from a wealthy family go to a place like that to escape famine alone?"

Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang: "Then you still dare to follow me, aren't you afraid that I will eat you?"

Hui Niang smiled: "I'm not afraid that my parents want to eat me. How can I be afraid that you, sister, want to eat me?"

Chen Huihong was startled.

Hui Niang tried her best to sit up straight: "Actually, I always knew that when my parents fled the famine, they took me with them to bring food reserves."

"I didn't dare to sleep at night because I was afraid that my parents would replace me and eat me. One night I heard my father discussing with my mother, saying that the food had been eaten up and there was no use keeping me. He would go find someone tomorrow morning. Discussed changing me."

"I ran away overnight while they were sleeping."

"Actually, sister, it doesn't matter even if you want to eat me. If you eat me, at least you will give me a full meal."

Chen Huihong didn't know what to say, so she could only say: "Monsters don't eat people."

"Then sister, what kind of monster are you?" Hui Niang asked.

"I am Bai." Chen Huihong said, "According to your understanding, I am a tree demon."

"Sister, can you open the window?" Huiniang asked.

"Doctor Wang said you should keep warm," Chen Huihong said.

"It's useless." Hui Niang shook her head, "I heard it all. Doctor Wang said that he was only 30% sure at most. He said it was only 30% but actually it was only 10%, which means that I can't be saved and can only wait to die."

Chen Huihong frowned and thought for a moment: "I'll take you to the hospital."

"I can borrow money from Shopkeeper Lu."

Hui Niang shook her head.

"It takes a long time to take a rickshaw from the inner city to the outer city." Hui Niang took a few deep breaths. "I don't know if the money left at home is enough to pay for the medicine. I don't have enough money to take a rickshaw."

"Now that the snow has melted, it is even colder than when it snowed two days ago. There must be a lot of roads these days. I don't think I will be able to reach the hospital alive, so I better not waste money."

"I feel so bad."

As soon as she finished speaking, Hui Niang spat out a mouthful of blood and vomited all over the quilt.

"Sorry sister, I soiled your quilt."

Chen Huihong didn't speak, she just opened the window silently.

The snow outside the window has melted, the trees outside the courtyard are bare with only branches left, and there is no good scenery outside the window.

"Sister, you are a monster, what are your abilities? I was watching a play in the village before, and all monsters can do magic."

"My ability is very useless." Chen Huihong took out a piece of bark from her pocket. "I am a tree. If I eat it, I won't be hungry."

"Sister, you are very powerful, much more powerful than magic." Hui Niang said, unable to sit still, so she could only lean against the wall, "Just be careful not to be eaten by others."

Then Hui Niang reacted belatedly: "No wonder you, sister, are hiding from people."

"Sister, let me tell you about me."

Huiniang began to talk about what happened before. Her life was actually very dull. Before I fled, I stayed in the village, working day after day, waiting to get married, and working waiting to get married.

As she spoke, Huiniang's voice began to become muffled.

"Sister, you said that people are bound to die. If you don't die today, you will die tomorrow. I was going to die the day I met you, but I have lived a long time longer."

Chen Huihong looked at her quietly and said nothing.

"If there is a next life, I want to be a young lady in the city so that I can go to school and be as educated as my sister."

Like gibbering, Huiniang murmured a few words that were inaudible, and suddenly stretched out her hand in the direction of Chen Huihong.

Chen Huihong stepped forward and held her hand.

"Mom." Hui Niang's pupils began to dilate.

"Don't eat me, okay."

"I will obey."

"mother."

The hand dropped heavily.

Huiniang died.

Chen Huihong looked at Huiniang and was silent for a long time.

"You are very smart."