Cub Nursery

The fist-sized ice cubes kept falling, accompanied by lightning and thunder that seemed to be right above the head, making the small village completely dormant, without any movement.

There was no light, and there was no other sound. Every household closed their doors and windows. From a distance, this small village seemed to have no living people at all.

Occasionally, there would be one or two cries of a child suddenly waking up, which were quickly soothed by the frightened adults, and the sound disappeared in an instant.

But even so, for children, the things that adults worry about seem to be far away from them.

"Father, it's raining outside." Dabao woke up early and heard the sound of the roof brushing. He screamed happily at first, and then lowered his voice after his mouth was covered, but he still couldn't hide his excitement. Water, it’s raining this time, so the crops should be harvested, right?”

Now the fields are still in a panic, too dry, and because no crops can be grown before, very few people sow seeds. Instead of sowing seeds reluctantly and wasting the seeds in the end, it is better to keep the seeds as rations.

Dabao often listens to his parents talking about this, so he knows it and empathizes with him.

Because the family could occasionally have a full meal last year, and during the New Year’s holidays, there were polished rice, noodles, meat, and new clothes to wear. It’s different, I often feel hungry, I used to have two meals a day at home, but now I only have one meal a day at home.

If there is little water in the clear soup in the pot, take out a little dry rice and give it to him and his younger brother, and his parents will drink the soup.

The soup was very thin, and it couldn't fill the stomach at all. No matter how much I drank at that time, I would soon be hungry, and my stomach was growling with hunger.

"Mother." Dabao groped close to the woman and asked in a low voice, "Mother, are we going to live a better life?"

"En." The woman agreed softly, "Da Bao is obedient, go and see if my brother is awake, I still have something to say to your father."

As the woman spoke, she gently pushed Dabao, fumbled to grab some fried beans and put them in Dabao's hands.

Dabao understood, and approached Xiaobao with the beans in his hands. Seeing that his younger brother was still sleeping, he lay down too, and carefully grabbed the beans in his palm.

In the past, this kind of noisy beans was eaten casually at home, because eating too many beans would cause gas, and usually only when the family was particularly difficult, they would eat them as a meal.Dabao turned over quietly, carefully put away the dozen or so beans in his hand, and prepared to leave them for Xiaobao to eat.

A while ago, their family also ate bean rice, and they always farted after eating it, but it could fill their stomachs anyway.

But now there are no beans in the house, only mother keeps a little bit, and when Xiaobao is hungry and fussy, he will take out a little bit to coax him.

Dabao was lying on his back, and his heart, which had always been carefree, slowly gained something. It was very heavy, but it made him more sober.

"Go and inquire again." The woman whispered, "Take a catty of grain."

"How much food is there at home?" The man also lowered his voice.

"Also. Starting tomorrow, I will go out to pick some vegetables and come back to cook porridge, which can also fill my stomach. In the past, I could survive the famine years by eating bark, but now it is much better than before. Now is not the time to think about this, we have to ..." The woman glanced at the direction of the two children, but did not say anything after all.

She thought a lot, and also missed the two children, so she gritted her teeth and took out a catty of grain.

The man hesitated to speak, there was only a little food left in the house, which was originally reserved for the two children, but now that he thought about it, if he didn't go out to inquire about the news, he might not have a chance to eat when there was food.

The woman quickly prepared the food, pushed the man, and turned around quickly.

With so much food taken out by the family, the two adults may only have to eat wild vegetables in the future.

"I'm going." The man's voice was hoarse, he picked up a small bag of food, put it in his arms, and went out with his head down.

I don't know when the ice stopped falling outside, but it turned into pouring rain.

As soon as the man opened the door, lightning struck from the sky. Accompanied by a deafening sound, he shrank his neck and quickly closed the door behind him. leave.

The ground is full of turbulent water, and when you step in, it submerges your calf in an instant.

The water flowed so fast and urgently that the man was almost unable to stand still. He had to lean against the wall with one hand and hold the wall with the other hand, and carefully identify the direction before he could move forward.

The pouring rain hit his face, and he could hardly open his eyes. The man almost closed his eyes and groped his way.

Fortunately, the entrance went smoothly. The man entered the room and sat down instantly.

The ancestral hall is at the edge of the village, but the terrain is the best. Not only is it the highest, but there is even a special drainage channel in front of it.

The rain seemed to be pouring down directly, and the little cub squatted behind the crack of the door, watching the heavy rain outside without blinking.

He had never seen such a low cloud, such a huge lightning, such a loud and shocking sound, such a heavy rain.

Amid the thunder and lightning, the village in front of him was actually not peaceful. He could hear the voices that could be suppressed accurately and clearly.

Someone came out of the house in the rain and was almost washed away by the turbulent water. With his back bent, he walked forward with great difficulty, and then went to someone else's house.

"How is the situation, we have to meet tomorrow to discuss and discuss."

"Uncle Wu only asked us to come back and think about it, but didn't say what we were thinking. Now it's raining heavily outside, and everything in the field has been washed away. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe the sacrifice will be gone. "

"It depends on what Uncle Wu has to say."

"You take it back, how can you keep it..."

Only one man spoke from beginning to end.

The little cub knew that the man who spoke had been to the ancestral hall before and stood at the farthest place from the fifth uncle. He didn't say a few words at that time, but now he spoke in a logical and orderly manner.

He took a small bag of grain, not much, but definitely a lot at this time, he said no, but he still took it.

The man who gave the food went out again, but he still didn't get the coir raincoat back at home, so he had to get it back, so he could have an excuse to ask for news next time.

It was still raining heavily outside, and there seemed to be more turbulent water on the road. The man leaned on the wall with one foot deep and one foot shallow, with his eyes almost closed, moving forward bit by bit.

Unable to open his eyes, he could only grope his way back based on his usual impressions. He also didn't know that there were many rocks washed up by such a big water, and they piled up in front of him. He fell, hit his head on a sharp stone edge, and bled.

In a daze, the man knew that he had to get up immediately. He even felt that his mouth was pouring water, but he only felt that his mind was completely dark, which prevented him from being awake.

The little cub heard the sound of falling and knew that the man had fallen.

He raised his face and thought for a while, then opened the door of the ancestral hall a little harder, and slowly squeezed out.

The pouring rain hit the body, which was cold and painful. The little cub stood in the courtyard of the ancestral hall for a while, the clothes on his body were completely soaked, and the rainwater slid down his cheeks, washing away the dirt on his body.

He wiped his face, slowly raised his feet and walked out.

The village seemed quiet, but in the ears of the little cub, almost every household had voices and whispered together.

"It's raining so hard, it's not a good thing."

"All the soil in the field has been washed away, and the rest is even more desolate."

"I don't know what this heavy rain has brought. The clouds in the sky have never dissipated, and the lightning and thunder continue. The village's ancestors have never encountered such a big event."

Everyone is discussing the rain, and judging from their experience, no one thinks the rain is a good thing.

It's not a good thing. For a village that is almost falling apart, it is equivalent to making things worse.

The matter of sacrifice cannot be undone.

But even so, few people in the village were happy.

Hearing their whispers, the little cub stepped forward step by step. He was so small that the water that reached the adult's calf could almost wash over his upper body. Some small stones hit him in the water, and occasionally he was caught by the branches under his feet. He nearly fell several times.

But he knew how the man walked, so he followed the example of the man, stretching out his paws to support the wall, and walked slowly so that he would not fall easily.

The man lay motionless in the water, and the dots of red blood scattered quickly along the water, and then drifted away quickly.

The little cub stepped forward and grabbed the man's arm, turning him around. Seeing that the man closed his eyes and didn't respond, he kicked him and poked him with his paw.

A weak current flowed down the cub's paws to the man's body. The man lying in the water twitched, his mouth suddenly opened, spit out a lot of sewage, and he began to pant slowly.

The gasping became louder and louder, and the man gradually regained consciousness. As soon as he stretched out his hand, he groped for the wall beside him, and hurriedly supported the wall to stand up slowly. He felt a little pain in his head, but it didn't seem to hurt, and his body was numb. , but this did not prevent him from walking back slowly.

There was no one around, only a huge and heavy rain curtain, and the man moved back home bit by bit.

He didn't see the little cub huddled in the corner.

The little cub kept watching him until he returned home and returned to the house safely, then the little cub turned around and walked towards the ancestral hall step by step.

In fact, the whole village has nothing to do with him, and he has no place to go, but he ate the offerings from the ancestral hall and heard what Uncle Wu said. Although he can't solve it, there are some things he can do, such as Said to let this man go home instead of lying outside and turning into a corpse.

He went back to the ancestral hall again, but stood outside to wring out the water from his tattered clothes, squatted outside and waited for a long time before squeezing in through the crack of the door.

Fortunately, the ancestral hall has a not-so-large corridor, the little cub thought, he didn't want to dirty the ancestral hall.

There are a lot of offerings in the ancestral hall. Although the cubs don’t eat much, it is obvious that there are fewer offerings.

When the heavy rain subsided for a while, Uncle Wu asked some young and strong people to help him, and when he waded into the ancestral hall to check, he saw at a glance that the offerings were running low.He sighed softly, knowing that almost every household in the village had a hard time living, so he didn't say anything, just turned a blind eye and let it go.

"Uncle Wu, about offering sacrifices." The man supporting Uncle Wu whispered, "This heavy rain drowned many livestock."

Sacrifice still needs to prepare better offerings, and now the village has no spare capacity at all, obviously these drowned livestock are just right.