The Scavengers

Xiao Mo was drinking rice soup when the Xiao family got the news and squeezed into the narrow one-story house together.

The rice soup was boiled very thick, although nothing was added, but the sweet taste of the rice itself was enough to attract the appetite, Xiao Mo drank most of the bottle in one go.

"Second brother, you're awake!" Xiao Da pushed open the unlatched door with a "bang" and rushed in.

Then came the elder brother of the Xiao family and his nephew Xiao Leduo, and the father of the Xiao family walked quickly at the end.

"Second brother, you really scared everyone to death, is it because you haven't recovered from your illness last time?" Xiao's father's loud voice was as penetrating as ever.

"Second Uncle!" Xiao Leduo was the first to rush to the bed to occupy a favorable position.

"You're finally awake!" Xiao Wen slapped his younger brother on the shoulder, with surprise in his eyes and a sense of relief and relief like a heavy burden.

"Brother, thank you for your hard work." Xiao Mo said these words sincerely, after a brief grooming, he looked much more refreshed.

"It's good when you wake up, it's good when you wake up." Xiao Wen pushed away his son who was in the way, sat on the bed with his buttocks tilted, and groaned comfortably as soon as he sat down: "It's better to sit on this bed to cool off. Back then you Why didn’t I buy two more sets of cool summer bedding? What are these made of? It’s so comfortable. If you weren’t still sick, I’d snatch them for you.”

Xiao Leduo didn't dare to compete with his father for the territory, and looked anxiously at Xue Lihong who was sitting on the bedside.

For the sake of the boy's obedience, Xue Lihong moved away from the bedside and climbed into the bed.

Xiao Leduo was overjoyed, and rushed to occupy it.

Xiao Mo didn't say a word when he heard his elder brother's question, he didn't even know where he bought the cool bedding he slept on.But he knew the source, it must have come from Xue Lihong's contribution.

Glancing at the stone ax on the elder brother's waist, he noticed that the Xiao family, young and old, carried one or two relatively primitive weapons, such as stone axes, bamboo poles, rolling pins, and stone hammers.

"That's right, second brother. It's so cool to sleep on your bedding. I want to come and sleep with you too, but your son won't let me!" Xiao Da also squeezed and wanted to climb onto the bed, and by the way told Xue Lihong a little black .

Xue Lihong stretched out her little foot, passed Xiao Mo, and kicked Xiao Da.

Xiao Leduo also refused to give up space to his third uncle.

It was impossible for Xiao Da to really compete with the two little ones, so he had no choice but to half lean on the head of the bed, hoping to get some coolness.

Relying on his status as an elder, Father Xiao took a place at the foot of the bed.

Seeing the situation, Xiao Mo couldn't help muttering in his heart, I said, why do you usually come to my room so frequently, and you like to gather in my room for meetings when you have nothing to do, so you all come here to cool off?

"Third son, you have the nerve to grab the bed with your nephew?" I didn't even get to sleep!The eldest Xiao Wen casually grabbed the wet towel on the head of the bed and threw it at Xiao Da, then turned to Xiao Mo and said, "I said you are awake, second child, if you don't wake up, things will be really troublesome."

Xiao Wen thought of the fact that at the wheat threshing field today, he met many people who were asking if his second son had an infectious disease, and even a few people, with the banner of righteousness for the sake of the villagers, urged other villagers to let their family quickly get rid of the disease. Send Xiao Mo away or dispose of it, otherwise they will directly attack Yunyun regardless of the Deng family's favor.

He was simply angry, anxious and frightened.

"Sorry, brother, for causing you trouble."

"My family said it's troublesome." Xiao Wen patted him again.God knows that when he heard Xiao Da say that his second child had woken up on the threshing floor just now, he almost cried out of joy.

"But even if the second brother wakes up, as long as the Cao family is here, our family will still have troubles... Hey, Xiaohong, what are you doing?"

Xue Lihong stood up suddenly, and snatched the wet towel that Xiao Da was about to wipe his face.

Xiao Da glared at him, Xue Lihong gave him the back of the head.

Xiao Mo didn't react for a while, but when he did, he blushed, the towel had just wiped his lower body, cough!

The others just thought that Xue Lihong was playing around with Xiao Da, and didn't pay much attention.

"Third, what trouble do you mean...?" Xiao Mo quickly cleared the embarrassment with a question.

"Deng's house, our family's food reserves. This is our family's trouble."

The eldest brother Xiao Wen stopped the third child and took the conversation.

"Let me tell you from the beginning, so that you won't be able to figure out what's going on after a while."

"Okay." Xiao Mo put on a posture of listening attentively.

Xiao Wen wiped off his sweat and recalled: "We asked the town doctor to see your disease from the very beginning, but he said that he had to send it to a big hospital for a thorough examination, and he said he couldn't tell whether you had it or not. What kind of disease. But at that time, don't talk about using equipment to check, even if you send it to the hospital, you can't find a doctor. So we have no choice but to let you lie at home."

"But Xiaohong said that you are fine, just fell asleep from exhaustion, let us not worry." Xiao Da interjected.

Xiao Wen obviously didn't believe what the child said, and waved his hand: "Later, the resettlement area was established, and there was a temporary hospital. We originally wanted to send you there, but after inquiring, it was said that the patients sent in, except those with milder conditions, Many patients died, and some with strange illnesses simply disappeared. According to the hospital, the corpses of the patients were kept for medical research, and some food was given to the family members of the patients, and the corpses were bought.”

Xiao Mo thought to himself, last time Lei Jun told him that the upper echelons planned not to take action against the supernatural beings, but to take gentle measures, why now...

"When we heard about this situation, how dare we send you there? And your son..." Xiao Wen suddenly laughed, "Second brother, you have cultivated a good son! At that time, this kid heard that we were going to send you to I don’t know where to get a wooden cart from the temporary hospital, let the third child carry you to the cart, and drag you away.”

Xiao Mo laughed, and didn't know how Xue Lihong told Xiao's family that the whole family thought he was his adopted child.

"Yeah, yeah, we were all taken aback by this kid. You don't know how serious he was at that time, like a little desperate Saburo who will fight anyone who won't let him take you away. Xiao Da also laughed.

Xiao Mo turned to look at Xue Lihong.

Xue Lihong looked back at him expressionlessly.

"Son, come here and give your father a kiss." Xiao Mo joked.

Xue Lihong stared at him for three seconds, then leaned over and gnawed on his face.

Xiao Mo stayed...

The rest of the Xiao family laughed together, thinking that the father and son had a good relationship.

The boss of the Xiao family laughed and affirmed again: "Your son is really good. He is smarter than you and everyone in our family. He doesn't speak or act like a child at all. Compared with him, our family is more like him. Like a brother."

"Dad!" Xiao Le was very upset, even if it was the truth, he didn't need to tell it in front of so many people, right?How shameless he is!

Boss Xiao rubbed his son's head and sighed: "You have slept for so many days and you don't know anything. The day after Duoduo's school accident, the government began to let the citizens evacuate. You didn't see it at that time, the entire Zhongshan City They are all crazy. Robbing cars, food, and other things. Fortunately, your son is alert, and on the day you fainted, he asked us to pack you and carry you into the car."

"Brother didn't want to leave at first. The building collapsed and he had to go home." Xiao Da revealed his elder brother's fault next to him, "It's still Xiaohong who said that it's a little bit to transport things out, and come back when it's okay. Sister-in-law also supports it. Only then can we avoid the most chaotic times, and use a light truck to transport all the things and people that can be made at home here in three trips, and General Qiu also helped a lot."

Xiao Mo showed grateful eyes to Xue Lihong.

Xue Lihong stretched her little feet up to his waist, and stepped on him.

Xiao Mo felt a little itchy.

"However, something happened on the road. The big guys all ran out of the city. Our car was blocked on the highway, and we fought with people because of grabbing the road. Fortunately, there are many men in our family, so we didn't suffer too much. Everyone Hurriedly on the way, so I didn’t fight to the death. If it’s a day later, tsk tsk, if there are only one or two casualties, then there is absolutely no way to get out.”

The eldest brother of the Xiao family couldn't help but tell him to shut up when he saw that the third child was always babbling and ignoring the serious business.

"In short, our family finally arrived at your sister-in-law's house safely. My father-in-law and mother-in-law are honest people. They made room for us when they saw us coming, and even found a doctor in the town to treat you. But how could you expect a stable life? Within two days, your sister-in-law and elder brother's family also brought people to seek refuge."

"Oh!" Papa Xiao who was sitting at the foot of the bed suddenly sighed.

Xiao Wen paused for a moment, then said: "Buildings in the city collapsed one after another, and so did the houses in the town, plus the animals, plants and insects all went crazy, the situation was too weird, everyone had to retreat out of the town. But the township How much better would it be in villages, villages, and suburbs? How many people can live in that little house? There are still people who are jealous and want to snatch this run-down bungalow you sleep in."

When Xiao Mo opened his eyes, he could see how dilapidated the ward was, as if it had been temporarily tidied up from a utility room that had been placed for many years for people to live in.It's just that there was no time to ask Xue Lihong for details at that time, and Xue Lihong didn't mention it, as if she didn't care how bad the environment she lived in was.

"The Cao family came to make trouble when they had nothing to do. Didn't they just want us to vacate this room so that they could rent it out to those outside the fence in exchange for some food?" Xiao Da muttered.

"You didn't live here at first, you lived with us in the old house of the Deng family. But...Anjie's elder brother's family also came back, and just like us, her elder brother's wife's family also followed us. Come here." Dad Xiao said, with dissatisfaction and helplessness on his face.

"With so many people coming here, the house won't be able to accommodate you. For the first two days, everyone could maintain a superficial manner and give in to each other hypocritically. Then... well, I said I shouldn't come!"

"Dad! Where else can we go if we don't come here?" Xiao Wen stopped Dad Xiao from complaining, but when he turned his head and narrated to his younger brother, he also looked angry: "Then one day Deng Anfei's wife's younger brother Cao Xiang suddenly Shouting at the dinner table, saying that you have an infectious disease, you lived in the isolation area before, and now the disease must have relapsed, and you are asked to send you to a temporary hospital in the resettlement area for isolation. Of course we disagree, so we and Their family fell out."

Xiao Da clenched his fists and said angrily: "Second brother, you don't know how much the Cao family is too much! They are all here to borrow, and they want to be good at everything. The rooms allocated to them are also picky, and they are all in the Deng family. Speak ill of our family in front of the two old people."

"Don't keep interrupting!" Xiao Wen scolded the third child, turned around and continued: "We also told them well that if you are an infectious disease, you should have infected everyone after living for a few days. But the Cao family didn’t listen, and kept saying that our family wanted to harm people. In fact, everyone knew in their hearts that they were just looking for excuses to drive our family out.”

Xiao Mo was thoughtful.

Xue Lihong put away the towel and was playing with the water gun.

Xiao Leduo watched his heart move, but he was too embarrassed to come over to play with him.

Xiao Wen pressed his forehead and was silent for a while before continuing: "Your sister-in-law is in trouble, and the old couple of the Deng family are also in trouble. At this time, Deng Anfei's attitude is very important, because he is the eldest son of Deng. But if Deng Anfei doesn't mean that, the Cao family will How dare you make such a big fuss? Isn’t he just afraid that your sister-in-law will rob him of the inheritance rights of this old house and the twenty-odd acres of land! It’s ridiculous that Deng Anfei used to say that he inherited the three-story small building and front house in the town , the old house in the village was given to your sister-in-law as a dowry, but now..."

"That's a joke on the wine table, do you take it seriously?" Papa Xiao sneered, mocking the eldest son for his whims.

"We didn't even take pictures of the old house! It's just a temporary stay here, but look at their faces!"

Seeing that the topic was getting farther and farther away, Xiao Mo coughed and asked, "Then the current situation is...?"

Xiao Wen restrained the anger on his face a little bit, scratched his scalp, and said a little embarrassedly: "Your sister-in-law is disturbed by them, and the old couple of the Deng family are more or less partial to their eldest son, so let's talk to your sister-in-law, let's talk about it first." You move here. This room was originally used by the Deng family to look after the forest. Later, when the forest disappeared, this one-story house was put on hold and put some sundries. It is a distance from the old house of the Deng family, but it is not too far away. It’s far, ten minutes’ walk away.”

Speaking of this, Xiao Wen also specially praised Xue Lihong and said: "Your son is really good! I am worried about you, no matter what we say, he will stay here with you. He knows how to take care of people at such a young age, you see He takes good care of you, and thanks to him, we are free to deal with the Cao family and the messy things outside."

Xiao Mo remembered that he had been living here since he seemed to be conscious, that is to say, he had lived here for at least ten days?

Xue Lihong who was sitting next to his head suddenly said: "We have lived in this room for half a month."

Xiao Mo turned his head to look at Xue Lihong, he could move his neck more freely now all over his body.

The Xiao family also saw that Xiao Mo was inconvenient to move, so Xiao Wen couldn't help asking worriedly: "Second brother, can your body...can you move?"

Xiao Mo turned his head to look at his elder brother again, "It's okay, it's just that I slept for too long, just exercise in these two days."

"That's good, that's good!" Xiao Wen let out a long breath, and the faces of the rest of the Xiao family also felt a lot lighter.No one dared to imagine what would happen if Xiao Mo was really paralyzed, and it was still in such a chaotic time.

"I said, what's going on with you, third child? Why did you faint suddenly? It's been so long since you fainted?" Xiao Wen finally couldn't help asking.

Xiao Mo smiled, he had long thought that his family would ask him this question, and he had already thought of the answer.

"In those few days, I was so exhausted from being busy, and my head hurt very much. It hurt for several days, but when I heard that Duoduo's school building collapsed that day, I felt my brain exploded when I was excited, and then I didn't know anything. What's going on, I don't know myself."

"Headache, could it be... cerebral infarction?" Xiao Da asked uncertainly.

Xiao Wen rolled his eyes at him directly, "The second child is young, how could he have a cerebral palsy? Don't talk nonsense!"

"Maybe it's heredity, isn't my mother just..."

"Xiao Da!"

"The third one!"

Father Xiao and Xiao Wen stopped drinking at the same time.

Xiao Da stuck out his tongue, and secretly glanced at his second brother.

Xiao Mo coughed dryly: "By the way, where is sister-in-law?"

"She went to find a doctor for you."

"Is it okay for her to go alone?" Isn't it almost two o'clock?

"Someone also wanted to find a doctor, and they happened to go with her. And this time period is fine, and the number of large locusts in our village is not much. If you are more courageous and vigilant, you will be fine."

Xue Lihong explained: "Big locusts have a certain amount of wisdom. They generally don't go to places where there are many people. There are many people in the village. They only dare to fly to the village at night to prey, and occasionally appear during the day."

Xiao Mo let out an "oh".

The room fell into an abnormal silence for a moment, Xiao Leduo moved uncomfortably.

The death of Xiao's mother Liu Ying is definitely a taboo topic in the Xiao family, especially in front of the second child Xiao Mo, almost no one dares to mention Liu Ying's death.

Papa Xiao fumbled through all his pockets a little annoyed, but he didn't find a single cigarette.On the night his old wife died, he played mahjong outside all night.He and his old wife didn't have much relationship between husband and wife for a long time. Everyone just maintained a superficial relationship for the sake of their children. All three children in the family knew this.

But...he didn't want his old wife to die so early, if he was at home that night...well, it's too late to say anything now!After that, the second son became a little indifferent to him, and soon bought a house to live alone.

Xiao Mo looked at everyone's expressions and thought it was a bit funny. He actually didn't care that much anymore. People have been away for so long, and no matter how deep the wound is, the scars will form. Dad always thought that he hated him, but he didn't know that he hated himself the most. , if he could care a little more about his mother's body!

"Father, are you tired?" Xue Lihong's voice suddenly sounded.

"Hmm... a bit." Xiao Mo was stunned for a moment, and was shocked by the father's voice. Go along with the flow and admit.

In an instant, everyone seemed to have found a ladder, and Xiao Da was the first to jump up and said, "Second Brother, you must be tired after listening to what we have said for so long, right? Then take a good rest, and we will come to see you tomorrow. I'll go first Yes, the village needs manpower to burn bricks, so I came here temporarily."

The culprit, Xiao Da, ran away, Xiao Wen and Xiao's father were embarrassed to stay any longer, and they both made excuses to leave.

Xiao Leduo still wanted to stay with his second uncle for a while, but his father insisted on taking him away in the name of "not disturbing his second uncle's rest".