Pet official

When a person can't even afford a bowl of porridge, dignity is thinner than a piece of paper to him.

In the spring of Hongyou's 23rd year, the river had just thawed, and the chill that hadn't dissipated in the winter still remained in the air.The sun has not yet risen to a high place, and there is only a little red mark between the distant mountains, which is not enough to dispel the biting cold.

Xiao Er got up early, and he had to get up earlier than his family, so he had to prepare the family's breakfast before his parents and elder brothers got up.

Getting out of the quilt, Xiao Er shivered violently.

cold, so cold.

I don't know how many years I have used the quilt on my body, the inside of the quilt has been washed white and faded, and the corners are also worn out. When you pick it up with your fingers, you can see a black ball of cotton wool.The cotton batting has not been played for a long time, and it is hard and not resistant to cold. Covering the body, it can only survive the whole night with the warmth of its own body.That's it, Xiaoer can only cover a quilt with his brother.

He walked down the pit lightly, and there was no oil lamp in the house, so Xiao Er was groping around in the darkness.

A thin quilt can't resist the invasion of the cold night at all. Xiao Er and brother will cover their jackets on the quilt every night, which is better than nothing. These two clothes are not very warm, but it is better than no cover.

There are only two thatched huts in Xiaoer's house. His parents live in one with his younger brother, and he and his older brother live in one.My elder brother has to go to the fields with his parents every day to do heavy farm work. Xiao Er is afraid of waking his elder brother, so he has to put on his clothes quietly like this every day when he wakes up, not daring to make a sound.People who work and support their families are very tempered, and they will beat people when they are woken up.

There is not a single blue brick in the thatched cottage of the farmhouse. The foundation is made of stones from the mountains, and the walls are made of grass stalks and soil. It is not even simple, it is just a place to shelter from the wind and rain. .

There is no furniture in the house either. An earthen kang and a wooden box are all the family's belongings. Except for a few sundries, there is not even a decent thing in the box. Even thieves will not patronize a house like theirs. .

Although he was careful, Xiao Er still disturbed his sleeping brother when he picked up the jacket.

The elder brother turned over, waved his fist unconsciously, and cursed indistinctly.I couldn't hear what he said, but Xiao Er was still very scared. Xiao Er stopped the movement of his hands, froze on the spot and trembled softly. After waiting for a while, his brother's fist didn't land on him. Xiao Er breathed a sigh of relief.He quickly put on the jacket, tied a cloth belt around his waist twice, and tied the jacket firmly.

This jacket was made from the leftover clothes my brother wore. The so-called jacket is made up of two layers of single clothes. When the weather is cold, cotton is stuffed into the inside to be worn as winter clothes. When the weather is hot, the jacket is taken apart. Take out the cotton and wear it as single clothes. There is only this one clothes all year round, and you have to wear it in spring, summer, autumn and winter. You patch and patch, sew and sew, patch after patch, you can't see its original color for a long time.

Xiao Er's health is not good, and she was very thin when she was born.The family is poor, and there is no money to make up for him, and Xiaoer's health is getting worse and worse. He is always sick all year round, and he has no money to ask for a doctor when he is sick. Even if Xiaoer's life is big, it's nothing to do if he dies.He stumbled like this, and now at the age of ten, Xiao Er still looks like a hemp stick, with a small head supported by his thin waist, walking on the road, like the wind will fall down.

The elder brother is much stronger than Xiao Er, his clothes are dangling on Xiao Er's body, it doesn't fit well, if it is not tied with cloth strips, when the cold wind blows, the wind will get in from the hem of the clothes.Xiaoer can't stand the cold, he is afraid of getting sick, because his parents and brothers will be sullen when he is sick, he is afraid, so he will endure the illness, even if the pain makes him sweat all over, Xiaoer just grits his teeth and works hard. Dare to say something uncomfortable.

Pulling the hem of the clothes, Xiao Er came out of the room, and heard a long sigh coming from the opposite room.Xiaoer's heart also sank following that long sigh. I don't know when it started. The number of sighs of parents has obviously increased. The harvest in the field has not been good in recent years, and the grain harvested is not enough for the whole family. There was a plague of locusts, and the harvest was cut by more than half. The family had not eaten dry food for a long time.

Xiaoer also sighed, he squeezed his thin arms, if only he could be as strong as his elder brother, then he could go to the fields with his father, mother and elder brother, open up a few more acres of wasteland, and grow some grain , parents no longer have to worry about getting angry for a bite of food.

Xiao Er couldn't figure it out, their family worked hard and didn't dare to be idle all year round, serving the land as if they were serving their ancestors, why they were still living in such poverty.

Unable to help but want to sigh again, Xiao Er rubbed his face numbly, suppressing the sigh back to his stomach.What's the use of sighing?It's better to make breakfast quickly, so as not to delay parents from going to work in the field, it is serious.

After leaving the yard, it was already dawn, Xiao Er quickened his movements, scooped a ladle of cold water from the water tank, and washed his face by the side of the tank.

The water tank has been kept in the courtyard, the water in it is freezing cold, completely driving away Xiaoer's remaining drowsiness.

Scooping water to rinse the pot, uncovering the magnetic urn, Xiao Er leaned over and scraped half a bowl of cornmeal out with a thick magnetic bowl.

The edge of the bowl touched the bottom of the urn, and there was a harsh friction sound, Xiao Er frowned, the urn had already bottomed out, this little grain, even if it was dilute every day, was only enough for the whole family to feed for ten days.There are still several months before the harvest season. How can we survive such a long time?

Xiaoer didn't think so long-term. A ten-year-old child is not yet mature enough to consider the family's livelihood.Xiaoer was only thinking about the present, thinking about today: there is almost no food, he will go out in a while, find a few mouse holes in the ground, dig out a few litters of mice and come back to eat, the river water has also thawed, he must go down He will try it, if he can catch two live fish, he will cook fish soup for his younger brother, and...

While thinking about it, Xiao Er quickly put the cornmeal into the pot, and when the pot boiled, he put the chopped radish stalks in, stirred them with a spatula, rolled them a few times, and sprinkled them A little salt and you're ready to go.

We cook porridge with wild vegetables here, and we have to steam the sweet potatoes on the other side. Use a brush to clean the sweet potatoes, cut them in the middle, cut four sweet potatoes into eight pieces, put them in a cage, and steam them on the boiling water. .

Xiao Er has been doing these jobs since she was a child, and now she can do them very quickly.

He is too weak, and after standing in the sun for an hour, he becomes dizzy, he can't get off the ground at all, and he can't help the family to plow the fields. The only strong laborers in the family are his father and elder brother. They work hard, but they can't afford it. There are five big mouths in the family, and Xiaoer is not up to the task, so my mother had to wean the youngest brother in the family and go to work in the fields by herself. From then on, Xiaoer will do all the work in the family.

Xiao Er doesn't feel bitter, he is willing to do these things, even if he has to get up at dawn every day, burn fire and chop wood, keep busy around the big firewood stove, make breakfast, pack up the dishes, and rush to the back mountain Digging wild vegetables, picking firewood, and making lunch when you come back, put it in a basket, and carry it to the field to deliver the meal to your parents. When it was not dark, he had to rush to spin the thread. When his mother came back from the field, she could use the thread to weave a few bolts of coarse cloth, and go to the market to exchange some money to supplement the family.

Life is hard, but Xiao Er is not bitter in his heart, no matter how tired he is, he doesn’t feel bitter, as long as his parents don’t scold him, it’s useless, no matter how many times he is scalded by fire, no matter how many wounds he is strangled by spinning thread, he won’t feel bitter .

Breakfast was ready, it was already bright.Xiao Er brought the meal to the table, and the whole family ate with their heads in suspense.

There is only one pit table in the house, which is placed in the room where the parents live. The whole family sits around the earthen kang, the parents sit in the kang, the elder brother and the younger brother sit next to the parents on both sides of the kang table, and the second child can only be seen Squeeze on the edge of the kang, guard the porridge pot, and see who's bowl is empty, and then add more food for the family.

Parents never waited to see Xiaoer since they were young. Children from poor families are born so delicate. When they get sick, they will die or live. It’s frightening to death. , toss the dead.The eldest and the third child of their family are not like this second boy, they are strong as soon as they land, and they are very easy to support.

Xiao Er was holding a porridge bowl, and the bright yellow cornmeal was wrapped with green radish tassels. It wasn't very tasty, but Xiao Er still swallowed a mouthful of saliva, took a sip, and turned his head to glance at the thick dish on the table. bowl.There are steamed sweet potatoes in the bowl, steaming hot with a sweet aroma.

Xiaoer carefully looked at his parents' faces before he dared to stretch out his hand tremblingly, picked up a piece of sweet potato, and stuffed it into his mouth in two bites.

Ever since his father whipped the back of his hand with chopsticks the last time he was eating, Xiao Er has been trembling while eating, for fear that if he does something wrong at the dinner table, he will be beaten by his father again.

He didn't do it on purpose, he also knew that he was at home and didn't do any heavy work, and he had to eat the rough noodles first, but he couldn't help it, Xiao Er was hungry, he felt that his stomach must I live in a monster who can't eat enough, otherwise why would I always feel hungry.

After eating a piece of sweet potato, Xiao Er not only didn't feel full, but became even more hungry. His stomach was twisted and uncomfortable, his stomach was like a cloth bag, and the piece of sweet potato couldn't even fill the bottom.Xiao Er didn't dare to take any more sweet potatoes. There were only eight yuan of sweet potatoes, one share for five people, and the remaining three yuan was for parents and elder brother.

Xiao Er endured the longing in his heart, and took his greedy eyes away from the sweet potato. He picked up the porridge bowl and took a big gulp, hoping to fill up the cloth pocket.

"Second boy, you can eat this piece of sweet potato." While talking, Niang handed the sweet potato in front of Xiao Er.

Xiao Er stared blankly at the piece of sweet potato and the mother behind it, and forgot to pick it up for a long time.

Xiao Er thought he was dreaming. In his memory, his mother had never taken the initiative to give him food, let alone said a word to him in a friendly manner.

As far back as the second child can remember, his parents had no good looks towards him, their hearts were bitter, and their lives were hard. They had already exhausted their love and tenderness as parents. I have always been disgusted and disgusted, even if Xiaoer took on all the chores at home, even if the yarn that Xiaoer spun in the past few years could fill half the house, even if the wild vegetables Xiaoer dug helped them through one after another. It is still difficult for them to change their view of "this son is useless" in the days when they are in the blue.

Xiaoer timidly took the sweet potato, held it with both hands, lowered his head, and held the corner of his mouth.

He was reluctant to eat, it was given by his mother, Xiaoer held it in his hand, thinking that after finishing the meal, he would find a piece of clean cloth to wrap it up, and eat it when he was too hungry.

Mother handed him food, does this mean that Mother also loves him in her heart.

Xiao Er raised her head and glanced at her mother quietly, her heart full of longing.

Mrs. Xu shook her head, looking at her second son, she really couldn't like her, and she was going to send him away immediately. She was a little bit guilty at first, but when she saw his low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, he kept silent Look, there is fire in my heart.

This child has been reticent since he was a child, he will not yell when he is scolded, and he will not cry when he is beaten, like a gourd with its mouth sawn.They are all her own sons, Xu felt that she has never favored anyone, but the eldest and the third child are lively and active, and they are very affectionate when they see her, but this second boy always looks frightened He looked like he was indebted to him.

After the parents finished eating, Xiaoer quickly wiped her mouth and stood up to clean up the dishes.

"Xiao Er, don't clean up now, Dad has something to tell you."

Xiao Er paused, put down the bowls and chopsticks in his hand, and waited for his father to speak.

"This, you, our family..."

Ruan Xing hesitated for a while, but still didn't say what he wanted to say. He was honest and stupid, and Xu's decision was made on all matters in the family.Ruan Xing was not happy with Xiao Er's matter. No matter how poor his family was, it was not so poor that he could sell the child. How can you open your mouth.

Xu couldn't see Ruan Xing's useless look, so she pushed her husband and motioned him to speak quickly.

Ruan Xingchang sighed, became ruthless, and said: "Little Er, you are old enough to know what our family is like now. The house and the outside are so poor that there is no need to talk about polished rice and white flour in the urn. Even the cornmeal is almost broken."

Ruan Xing said it sadly, he is a man who can't support a large family, so he has to rely on selling his children to survive the famine, it is really useless.

Ruan Xing was so overwhelmed by guilt and guilty conscience that he couldn't lift his head up. He didn't dare to look into Xiaoer's eyes, so he just tilted his head and babbled towards the empty doorway: "Father and mother can't help it, don't hate us, seeing your brother is very angry." It's four, it's time to marry a daughter-in-law. Our family is like this, and we can't afford food. How can we spend money to prepare a dowry? is you……"

Xiao Er seemed to be poured cold water over his head, his hands and feet were cold, and he was in a daze. It took him a long time to understand what his father said—he was sold, he was sold by his own parents.