fingers of musicians

"How do I know that people from the porcelain factory stole it?" The leader of the factory vividly imitated the farmer's tone, holding a big porcelain cup in his hand like a chicken, "Look at the white stains on the black chicken feathers. Mud water, where else could it be if it’s not a porcelain factory?”

After he finished learning, he instantly turned into a serious cadre: "Whoever stole the egg, stand up for himself. Haven't you learned it before taking the people's stitches?"

"No one admits it, right? Wait for me to check? Think I don't know yet?" The factory leader circled around the workers' line, asking questions one after another from the back of the workers' necks into the collars, Like gusts of air-conditioning, the sweat on the back is still flowing, and the heart is already chilled, "Who usually runs outside the factory? Who likes to add a meal by themselves? You all know it... We here, absolutely Most of the comrades are very good, but of course we have to expose those who are bad, so is it necessary to let a very small number of bad guys go, and bring down the atmosphere of the whole factory?"

Drawn tone, deep tone, warning eyes one by one.

"Did anyone make the first whistleblower?"

The air froze a little bit.

"Well, no."

After the meal time, there was no water to drink, and I was standing dryly with stinky sweat, and the same sound buzzed around my head.Questioning, preaching, persuasive, and so on and on, it almost makes people think that this man with a big belly walking around the crowd with his spittle-stained mouth opening and closing is a patient educator...Of course, just almost, in the end he still Lost patience.

The anger that even his big belly couldn't digest, and the incompetence that he had never been able to control these ants with one hand, eventually turned into a command that was nothing new: even sit.This order is so old that it has not changed for thousands of years.

"Either you admit it yourself, or everyone finds him together... Before you find this egg thief, reduce your ration by half a day."

The factory leaders waited for a long time, only to hear the sound of breathing aggravated by the scorching sun, the action of lifting the hem of cotton clothes to wipe sweat, the act of stepping on the stones on the ground meaninglessly, and the numbness or dodging eyes.

He thought, maybe these people who haven't read the book for two days don't understand the meaning of this great instruction.

"Will it count? It means that if you don't find the egg thief, yesterday's two catties of sweet potatoes will become one catty today, tomorrow will become half a catty, and the day after tomorrow will only be two and a half. there is none left."

After saying this, he was satisfied to see that the expressions of most people changed, and some people began to whisper.

Food, and only food is the bottom line.

Money, freedom, even sex, threats to most desires are useless, because people who live here have never been satisfied——

Except for a full stomach.

He Shenping covered his stomach with his hands, a hot current surged up, uncontrollable, because he suddenly thought of Jiang He's letter.At the same time, he suddenly felt a kind of absurd luck. Fortunately, in this factory, the shortage of food was only used as a punishment, a means of forcing people to submit. children and grandchildren.

He Shenping's foot moved, but was immediately held back by Wang Bin.

Wang Bin's eyes were full of pleading, He Shenping shook his head slightly, and said in a low voice, "Let's go together and make it clear."

Wang Bin's hand was holding onto He Shenping's arm tightly. He was young and strong, and he almost locked him in place: "No, no, Mr. He, Mr. He... I will apologize to you later, but now... no, Really can't, can't go."

The factory leader observed the crowd for a while, and then left with a certain determination based on the cognition of human weaknesses, smiling, lit a cigarette, held it in his hand, and smoked while walking.

The gathered workers have already exchanged glances and opinions.Although most of their education came from Mei Zilin's lectures in the past few months, everyone is familiar with the war stories that have just passed.Few people may know who Wang Zi'an is, but everyone knows Qiu Shaoyun.So when the second monkey proposed that no one should be a traitor, no one dared to refute.

A group may accept stealing, robbery, rape and even murder, but traitors cannot. No group with no bottom line can accept traitors.

But they had been tortured by hunger for several hours at this time, and someone muttered in a low voice: Then... what if there is no food.

This is indeed a real problem.

In the end, the two monkeys squatted on the ground, chewed a piece of dog's tail grass in their mouths, looked around at the standing people with their eyes hanging, and said in a very disdainful tone: "That stupid fat man is really good!" Dare to starve the whole factory to death?"

This sentence convinced everyone.

It wasn't until all the workers dispersed that Wang Bin released He Shenping, and his tightly pressed hands left a few marks on He Shenping's arms through his clothes.

He bowed and apologized over and over again, and rubbed He Shenping's arms. His movements and demeanor did not match his tall and strong figure. He looked like a child living inside, looking clumsy and sad: "Mr. He, I really can't go , My sister still needs money to go to college, I have to save money, I can’t leave.” Yes, this place that intellectuals like Mr. Jiang and Mr. He want to escape is already within reach of him.

He Shenping also read this from Wang Bin's eyes. They are all in a puddle of muddy water, and Wang Bin can't leave. This place is his hope. He introduced him to a job for his sister after finishing college, and then started a family. The dream of marrying a wife and having children, everything is related to this place where it is necessary to commit a crime to eat an egg.

He Shenping let out a long sigh and said nothing.

This silent battle of hunger began. With Wang Bin's shoulders and back slumped when he left, He Shenping stood for a long time, staring at his back in the direction of the train station.

On the first night, people like He Shenping, who sat on chairs and painted porcelain, were not affected too much, but those who carried porcelain stones and fired kilns were a little bit unbearable, but everyone was still trying their best. .

When Wang Bin walked past He Shenping, he lowered his head and didn't say hello.

When He Shenping went to Meizilin to give a lecture at noon the next day, he found that the number of people who came was reduced by half. Wang Bin said that many people had carried stones all morning and had nothing to eat at noon. They were too hungry to walk, so they stopped coming.

When he said this, he leaned close to He Shenping, with a sour and bitter expression on his face, his normally dark and rosy face had no color at this time, his mouth was also white, and the chapped skin rolled up from his lower lip.He whispered in He Shenping's ear: "Mr. He, I, I...how about I turn myself in. You are right, I should make it clear. Otherwise, everyone will have nothing to eat."

He Shenping said, "I'm with you."

Wang Bin pressed He Shenping under the plum tree: "Mr. He, don't go. You are a good person, and if it is verified, you can't have anything to do with me. Besides, there are still many people waiting for you to teach."

After speaking, he ran away without waiting for He Shenping's reaction, heading towards the factory leader's office.

It was not a long journey, but Wang Bin felt that he seemed to have thought through all his life experiences of more than 20 years, and there was nothing to report.He remembered that Mr. He had walked this distance with Mr. Jiang on his back. Finally, the factory leader said to Mr. He: Put down the things on your back, someone will bury them, and go to work.

Wang Bin suddenly felt that he was carrying something on his back. It might be his sister. He carried his sister's future on his back the same way as Mr. He carried Mr. Jiang, and the factory leader might glance at him casually in the end. back, and then said kindly to him: Wang Bin, put your sister's future down, you, get out.

With that in mind, he numbly walked to the door of the leader's office and knocked on the door mechanically.

No one should.

The courage inspired by other people's hungry appearance and the heroism of saving others from fire and water are only enough for him to knock on the door once, and he can't raise his hand again.

"God doesn't give me a chance..." Wang Bin muttered silently, turning around and preparing to walk back.

With a "creak", the door of the leader's office opened from the inside, and a smell of smoke came out from inside, and Wang Bin froze all over.He thought that there was no one inside, and his psychological construction had completely collapsed. It was like thinking that the enemy retreated and all the fortifications were demolished, but the enemy drove hundreds of tanks and ran over in an instant.

"Wang Bin, what's the matter?"

Wang Bin turned around, and the smoke sprayed his face.He could clearly see the expression of the factory leader in the smog, and the other party had already guessed his reason for coming.

"I..." Wang Bin lowered his head, stared at the ground, and the factory leader's shoes, which were a pair of new rubber shoes, so new that he could smell the rubber, "...I'll...surrender myself."

The factory leader put out the cigarette butt on the door frame, folded his arms and turned back to the room: "Come in and talk."

He Shenping passed by the factory leader's office a long way before going to work in the afternoon, and Wang Bin just came out of it, and said as he walked, "Five, really five. I surrendered myself, five or fifteen eggs , what's the difference? How could I lie?"

The leader frowned and shook his head: "Wang Bin, the difference is very different, and the nature is different. We have regulations on the amount of money stolen here. If you keep five, you will lose money; if you keep fifteen, you will lose money." Money, leave. Do you understand? If you steal too much, the nature will change. Quantitative change will lead to qualitative change. Haven’t you learned it? Well, it’s time to go to work. Think about it again. How many are they? We made it clear that he lost fifteen eggs. If you want to mend your ways and be a good comrade, you must first face your mistakes honestly."

The door creaked, clicked again, and closed.

Wang Bin saw He Shenping in the distance, and hurried over: "Mr. He, testify for me."

He Shenping glanced at Wang Bin questioningly.

The latter said: "Five eggs, I really only took five eggs, but the leader said it was more than fifteen. But I really didn't steal fifteen." Lest I count one more.

He Shenping nodded: "Don't worry, I'll accompany you to clarify after work."

But at the end of work, the factory leaders gathered everyone together again.

"Come on, Wang Bin, tell me, what's going on? After thinking about it all afternoon, have you figured it out?"

Wang Bin suddenly felt that dozens of pairs of eyes were fixed on him.He was like a sheep entering a pack of wolves wearing a wolf's skin. At this moment, the wolf's skin fell off, revealing his inner part belonging to a different kind, and he might be eaten alive at any time.The surrounding bodies moved sideways, as if some kind of bipedal beasts were ready to go - as long as the facts were as they imagined, they would pounce on them and get rid of this alien.

The sun went down little by little.

"Wang Bin—" the leader urged.

Wang Bin, who kept his head down, suddenly raised his chin, looked at the sunset, and said as if swearing: "I stole the egg. It was me."

While swearing, he saw a worker give him a thumbs up from the corner of his eye, and a worker next to him gave him an exaggerated mouth shape: sacrifice oneself for others, sacrifice life for righteousness.

At this moment, Wang Bin changed from an alien to a hero.

Someone hurriedly answered the call, and cautiously reminded: "Leader, look now...the person has been found, and I have an explanation with the farmer brother, right..."

"No rush." ​​The factory leader smiled, "Wang Bin, how many eggs did you steal?"

Wang Bin said, "Five."

"You remember clearly, do you want me to remind you?"

Wang Bin: "Remember clearly, it's five."

"Okay, five, that's five." The leader of the factory nodded slowly. After nodding for a while, the subject suddenly changed, "But they came to the door and said there were fifteen, that is to say, there is another egg thief." It was the same warning eyes again, but this time there was also some complacency in the eyes that everything would be expected, "Please persevere, keep your eyes open, and find the other egg thief."

He emphasized the word "other" heavily, as if his throat, teeth, tongue, and lips all contributed to his strength. Every time he said these two words, his eyes swept over Wang Bin, as if he didn't believe that there was a second one. egg thief.

Not only did he not believe it, but no one in the whole porcelain factory believed it.

As soon as the factory leader left, Wang Bin was slapped on the back of the head: "Are you kidding us? If you want to admit it, you can admit it together. What are you doing now? Let everyone follow you to drink the northwest wind?"

Wang Bin covered the back of his head and cursed: "I took five, why should I recognize fifteen?"

The second monkey kicked him on the ass: "Or don't admit it, he will definitely have nothing to do with us in the end, you are good now, admit it but don't admit it all, that stupid fat man knows that this trick works against us, you see Can he be ruthless? Have you ever seen Dong Cunrui blow up half of a bunker?"

He Shenping pulled Wang Bin aside: "That's five, no more. Calm down, everyone, it's not Wang Bin's fault."

"Mr. He, Erhou and I admire you, but what you said is wrong." Erhou tilted his head and looked at Wang Bin with lowered eyes, "This is Wang Bin's fault. Brothers carry things together, and now he is going to be a hero, and we don't stop him, but you didn't treat him as a hero and introduced devils into the village? Tell me, the rest of you, is it reasonable?"

He Shenping said, "That's not the case—"

"Mr. He, don't talk nonsense with him." Wang Bin blushed and stopped He Shenping, and rushed towards the second monkey.

"Fighting?" The two monkeys took a step back and hid among several people, "Don't just look for me, you don't even look around, who are you going to fight now? You are standing on the opposite side of the people, you know What about you?"

Sure enough, Wang Bin saw that there were only two people left beside him, one was He Shenping, and the other was an old mute who was in charge of the boiler room.