Cub Nursery

Amidst the thunder and lightning, people who were still outside were in a hurry, either to go home quickly, or to find a temporary shelter from the rain.

The clouds in the sky pressed down gloomyly, the ground blew up violently, and occasionally huge lightning struck down, creating a scene of stormy weather.

In the village not far from the capital, it happened to be the center of the thunder and lightning.

The village is not big, and every house is closed at this time, no one dares to come out, not even to go into the yard.

"Father, all the men in the village have gone to the ancestral hall, so you go too." There was a rustling voice from inside the room, "Where's the coir raincoat? It's not always hanging behind the door."

The sky outside was gloomy, the door was closed inside the house, and the windows were not very transparent, but now it was even more gloomy and dark, as if the night had fallen earlier.

"Ask someone to borrow it." There was another rough man's voice in the room.

"It's going to rain this day, why did you lend it out?"

"The patriarch called some people to go to the ancestral hall, but he didn't call me. It's not suitable for me to go. I borrowed the coir raincoat, so I can go there to inquire about the news later."

"Oh, yes."

Most of the families in the village have the same surname and a family tree on it, that is, a large family, and they basically go to the ancestral hall to solve their daily affairs.

Therefore, the status of the village head in the village is not considered very high. On the contrary, the status of several clan elders is very high, and they can almost determine life and death. Therefore, some people are asked to go to the ancestral hall for business, and the rest will try to find out the news.

Regardless of what happened, it is always right to inquire in advance.

'click'!

The thunder in the sky seemed to be getting closer and closer to the village, and many people hiding in the house were worried.

The ancestral hall is at the very edge of the village, but the house is the strongest and the largest, with a particularly high wall, and the house inside is even more magnificent.

But even so, the men in the room couldn't help shrinking their necks, not daring to look at the thunder outside.

"Uncle Wu, did you ask us to come here for something?" The person who asked the question was not low in seniority in the village, and the rest of the people did not dare to speak, so he was the only one to ask.

Uncle Wu's face was criss-crossed with wrinkles. It could be seen that he was very old, but his eyes were clear and his waist was straight. It could be seen that he was in good health and in good spirits. He looked around and waited for everyone to calm down and watch Only then did he clear his throat when he spoke to himself.

"Lightning and thunder in the sky, you have also seen it."

Everyone fell silent, as long as they were not blind and deaf, they would definitely know about it.

"The harvest in the field has not been good in the past few years, and this year's autumn harvest is almost fruitless." Uncle Wu changed the subject and talked about the harvest in the field, "Some of the seeds that have been planted have not germinated, and the replanting is also difficult." If it fails, no one knows what's going on..."

The fields don't seem to have changed much, even the old crops can't see anything, but they can't grow food, and the last harvested grain is not enough to make grain seeds, let alone pay rent, as rations .

Uncle Wu sighed softly, "There are a lot of people going to work in the city this year, and it's hard to find a suitable job when they go. The money my kid got back is less than [-]% of the previous years..."

The big money they got back is really too little, and there is no harvest in the fields this year, and the days to come may be even more difficult.

The few men present all thought of the future, and couldn't help but sighed.

They are all peasants with no skills, they have a lot of strength in their bodies, they can farm, and they don't know anything else.

"I still have a little grain in my house right now, but next spring, there will be no grain, let alone something to chew."

When spring is green and green, there are not many vegetables to eat, and I don't know what to do at that time.

"The food in the city has been rising."

"Let's go to buy food, even if we die from exhaustion, we won't be able to earn enough money."

"Then what to do..."

If things go on like this, when the food for every family is gone, they will have to find ways to find food to survive. If it doesn’t work, they can only leave the village with their family and go out to beg for food. Live first, and as for the future...you have to live now If you can't go on, who will think about the future.

"At the moment, there is a solution that is not a solution." Uncle Wu said slowly, "Let's sacrifice."

Fifth Uncle closed his eyes, his expression a little desolate.

He didn't know whether the sacrifice was useful, but he knew that if nothing was done, the village would probably be disbanded in the future.

When people in the village get together, they can still find ways to survive together, but if the village disperses and goes out to beg for food, [-]% of them may not be able to return in the future, and they can only die outside.

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was silent again.

Uncle Wu made it clear that everyone knows the possible outcome, but otherwise, what else could be done?

"Okay, let's all go back and have a rest, discuss and discuss, and discuss again tomorrow." Uncle Wu said.

All the people present left in silence, what was on their minds, others didn't know, they could only know that each of them was not at ease.

After everyone had left, Fifth Uncle slowly stood up, bent his back, and stepped forward to burn incense on the ancestor's tablet, his old voice revealing a trace of despair, "God, you are not giving us a way out. The crops in the field can’t be grown at all, but it’s not like this in previous years, what’s going on..."

The voice became smaller and smaller, and finally turned into a muffled murmur.

I said a lot of things, what should be said, what should not be said, Uncle Wu said everything, and I don't know how long it took, the sky lit up again, and when there was a louder voice, Uncle Wu slowly left. Close the door of the ancestral hall carefully and lock it.

When Uncle Wu left, the most inconspicuous corner of the ancestral hall suddenly moved, and a little cub emerged from the shadows.

The little cub was dirty, and his face was the dirtiest. He couldn't see his original appearance at all. He could only see that the shape of the tips of his ears was different from that of ordinary children, which was an indescribable shape.

He crawled out of the shadows, touched his shriveled belly, and walked slowly to where Fifth Uncle was standing with bare feet.

The incense is still burning, with a unique aroma.

The little cub sniffed lightly, following Uncle Wu's example, stepped forward to pick up a new incense stick, lit it, then inserted it, and saluted.

"I, I..." He didn't speak for a long time, and he felt uncomfortable when he opened his mouth, and his throat was uncomfortable, but soon he spoke fluently, "I'm hungry, eat some offerings."

On the table was a fine offering, the best that the village could produce.

The little cub rubbed his paws vigorously to make his paws look cleaner, then he picked up the offering and gnawed it in small bites.

He hasn't eaten for a long time, his stomach is so hungry that he doesn't even remember how long he hasn't eaten, and now he finally has a little food, he cherishes it very much, eats very slowly, and feels uncomfortable after eating a little hungry.

The thunder and lightning outside became louder, and there were other sounds.

The little cub is close to the door, the door is very narrow, but he is very thin, and his thin arms can be easily stretched out.

A big object fell down and hit the cub's paw, which hurt very much.

The little cub grabbed the object, retracted its paws, and found that it was a piece of ice that had never been seen before. The ice slowly melted, and the paws were wet to wash off the dirt on it.

Ice can be turned into water to clean his paws, and he can eat it directly by gnawing on it, which can quench his thirst, but it is so cold that his teeth are shaking.

He squatted at the door and continued to look outside through the crack of the door.

More and more ice fell from outside, some of which were even bigger than his clenched fist.

"It hurts to be hit on the body." The little cub said softly.

The borrowed coir raincoat was actually not very useful, but the man made a special trip there anyway.

When he was about to go home, huge ice began to fall from the sky. He didn't see it well, so he ran home quickly.

Fortunately, the distance between the two is not far, so running fast can avoid most of the ice falling from the sky.

"Why didn't you bring back the coir raincoat?" As soon as the man entered the door, the people inside hurriedly asked.

The man hurriedly closed the door, and said in a low voice, "It's not rain, it's big chunks of ice. Take care of the children and don't let them go out."

"Where's the coir raincoat?"

"The coir raincoat is still in his house. I inquired about some news, and said that Uncle Wu invited some people to the ancestral hall to discuss how to live in the future. I don’t have enough to eat. I go to work in the city, whether people like it or not, in previous years I can earn ten big bucks a day, this year at most two big bucks, three big bucks, and the price of food in the city is still rising..."

If it continues like this, it will definitely not be a good life.

"What should I do?"

"Uncle Wu said that there was really no other way, so he chose to sacrifice." The man said, "They came back to discuss and see what to do about this matter. I asked, and the people that Uncle Wu called to go to were all temporary at home. There are no children of the right age."

Although Uncle Wu didn't make it very clear, everyone in the village knew that children of the right age should be used for sacrifices.

Those who were called to the ancestral hall had either children who were too young or children who were too old, and some of them were already engaged.

Those who were not called to the ancestral hall obviously had school-age children at home.

"Our eldest and second treasure."

The two children are both of the right age, and they are still a little man and a little brother.

So their family was not called to the ancestral hall.

The man's tone was a little heavy, "It's really not possible, let's pack up and leave here today."

"Where do you go from here?"

The man was questioned.

They didn't have much money or food in their family, so they had to go to their relatives when they left the village, but their relatives were also from nearby families, and both of them were affected by the harvest of the fields, so they didn't have any extra food to feed their relatives.

If you don't go to your relatives, you can only leave your hometown.

But men don't have any skills, and they will definitely not be able to support a family if they go to the city to work as coolies, and there are unknown dangers outside. Once they encounter them, they may not even have a chance to survive.

"Let's wait and see, we may not necessarily choose our family."

His voice was trembling, and there was a trace of despair in the helplessness of the words he said.

In the dark room, the man's face was extremely ugly, but he couldn't think of any other way, so he could only thump the wall hard, and said in a low voice, "I'll go to ask for news tomorrow, this matter... hey ..."

I know this is wrong, but I can't think of any other way.

Seeing that everyone will not be able to survive.

Sometimes the man feels very desperate. He doesn't know what is the right way, but if he doesn't move forward, his family will not be able to survive now.

The rumbling noise outside became louder, but the man was in no mood to investigate any further.