It has just passed February 2, and there is no trace of spring in the mountains of Guandong. When it got dark, the wind started blowing, and the cold wind seemed to blow through cotton-padded clothes, making people shiver all over.
After Mrs. Kang finished her dinner, she planned to grab some firewood and light the kang again. When she went out, she saw someone coming from outside the courtyard, holding a lantern. The sound came before the person arrived.
"Where is Aunt Kang at home? I have a guest here, but she is sick here. She is so feverish that she is talking nonsense. Do you have time to give me some advice?"
When Mrs. Kang heard the voice, she knew it was Ma Er from Tuntungtou. This little calf was not a good person. He had followed a gangster in the early years and lost one of his arms in a battle. The bandits on the mountain did not care for idlers, so I pulled out the incense and stopped doing it. Fortunately, I still had the skills to handle livestock, so I kept a horse-drawn carriage in the village and pulled it back and forth, and my life was pretty good.
The most irritating thing is that Old Mrs. Kang saw that he was in his late thirties and still half-crippled, which was very pitiful. She planned to tell him about the mute girl from the back village, but unexpectedly he turned away in every possible way and refused.
No one in these ten miles and eight villages dares to deny my old lady face. Let me see what kind of daughter-in-law you can talk about when the time comes. After that, Mrs. Kang never gave Ma Er any good looks.
Lao Kang's wife is a famous person within a few dozen miles around. Whether it's getting a matchmaker, having sex, weddings, weddings, or dancing, the old lady takes care of it all. She is the only one in the ten villages and eight villages who knows these things. She is really the only one like Scorpion Baba.
Ma Er had no choice but to come here. As he entered the hospital, he said with a smile: "My distant nephew was fine when he came in the morning. But now he can't get up from the bed in the evening. How can this be done?" ?”
Although Mrs. Kang didn't want to talk to him, she still had a certain degree of professionalism. As soon as he heard this, he nodded and said, "Wait for me for a while, I'll go back to the house to get some things." After that, he went into the house, put on a mink hat, and took out his treasure box. He came out in a rage and said, "Let's go."
Ma Er used his only left hand to hold a lantern and lead the way. Mrs. Kang followed step by step behind, her Ula shoes crunching on the snow.
When we arrived at Ma Er's house, we almost fell down as soon as we entered the house. It turned out that the ground inside the house was much lower than outside, and it felt like we had fallen into a pit.
Ma Er's house is a two-room adobe house, with a stove in the outer room and a big kang in the inner room. These days, the houses in Northeast China probably look like this.
There was no light in the room, so it was dark. Ma Er took out the candle from the lantern and put it on the candlestick, then lit a kerosene lamp, and then the room lit up.
I saw a half-grown child lying on the kang, breathing rapidly and with a red face. The errand boy covering Ma Er was captured. Judging from the fuzz on his lips, the child must be young, less than fifteen years old.
He stretched out his hand and touched it, "Oh, it's so hot!" He quickly opened the quilt and said, "You can't cover your body when you have a fever. It can kill someone... Do you have any liquor here? Rub it with wine first."
Ma Er took out a glass bottle from the cabinet, bit open the cork, and poured some wine into the small bowl. Mrs. Kang saw that he was not doing well with one hand, so she picked up a match and lit the wine. He dipped his hands into the bluish-flaming wine and started rubbing it for the child.
The head, face, neck, armpits, front and back, palms, and soles of the feet must all be rubbed. Only when I unbuttoned the cotton-padded jacket did I realize why the child had a fever. I saw a rag strip wrapped around my belly, and there was blood oozing out from the left side, which made me choke. Then he untied the cloth and found a ball of cotton randomly stuffed into the wound, which condensed into a dark red lump.
Mrs. Kang moistened it with wine and gently opened it. She found that the wound was two round holes. One after another, it is a penetrating wound. I don’t know if my intestines were broken.
Mrs. Kang was relieved. Originally, she heard that the child was talking nonsense and it must be serious, so she planned to work hard and hire a master to ask for a lot of money. Looking at this situation, it is no longer necessary. After all, pretending to be calm is quite tiring.
Mrs. Kang's travels all these years were not in vain. She could tell at a glance that it was a gunshot wound. It's not surprising to be shot in these days of chaos, but it's rare for such a small number of children to be shot. Thinking of Ma Er's previous identity, there is a good chance that this kid was also a little bandit. It’s just that he’s too young, hey! How pitiful!
He glanced up. Seeing that Ma Er was also looking at the child's wounds worriedly, he didn't mean to hide it at all. Old Mrs. Kang knew what to do. He took out a small porcelain bottle from the box, wiped the front and back wounds with white wine, and said to Ma Er, "I still have some good red wound medicine for him to use. If the fever subsides later, this little Even if you save your life, the key is that this medicine is not easy to buy. Your uncle got it from Fengtian, and it is quite expensive." Ma Eryi immediately said after hearing this: "Auntie, don't worry, as long as someone can save you, money is not a problem."
Mrs. Lao Kang opened the cork of the bottle and gently poured out some reddish-brown powder and applied it to the wound. She then asked Ma Er to find a clean cloth and tear it into strips to bandage the child. He poured a bowl of warm water, helped the child up, and drank a pill. Then he rubbed his body with wine.
After a while, I found that the child's breathing was much calmer, and his head didn't feel so hot anymore when he touched it. I don't know whether it was the medicine for the injury or the rubbing of the wine that took effect. Anyway, the work was not in vain, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
Ma Er handed over the cigarette bag and said: "Auntie, take a break and smoke a bag of cigarettes." Old Kang's wife always had a cigarette bag in her waist. Not polite, he put a pot of cigarettes on it and started smoking. Ma Er asked: "Auntie, how much do you think is appropriate?" Mrs. Lao Kang handed the porcelain bottle to Ma Er and said: "There is still half a bottle, I will give it to you. I will change the medicine every two days. This medicine is called Shenyang Red Medicine. , it is the best red wound medicine in Manchukuo, please give me five yuan."
Ma Er quickly agreed, took out a handful of Manchukuo sheep notes from his pocket and counted more than three yuan, but it was not enough. He turned around and rummaged in the cabinet and took out a piece of sapphire blue satin and said: "This is the first year I bought goods for a foreign company in Tonghua. The foreign company gave me as wages, which was only a lot more than five yuan. You and your wife make two. Put on some clothes."
Mrs. Kang's eyes lit up when she saw it. Said: "Here, why is this so embarrassing? Then I will accept it. I still have two pills here. Don't take more, just one pill a day." After that, he took out a small bag from his arms and poured out two mung beans. small gray-brown pills.
This is Mrs. Lao Kang's exclusive secret recipe. It is known as an elixir. It can be effective whether you have a cold, fever or diarrhea. In fact, they were small pills made from opium paste mixed with incense ash. Opium was not banned in Manchukuo, and the common people did not understand it. Only well-informed people like Mrs. Kang knew that it was poison and could not be used more often.
Ma Er reached out and took it. Mrs. Kang knocked her pipe on the soles of her shoes and stood up to leave. Ma Er said, "Shall I see you off?" Mrs. Kang stopped her and said, "Just take good care of your child. Come to me anytime if you need anything."
Seeing Ma Er's generosity, Old Kang's wife felt that Ma Er was more pleasing to her eyes, and she was thinking about giving him a good deal one day. He held the medicine box in one hand and the satin under his arm. He left happily.
When Xiao Wuzi woke up and opened his eyes, he saw Ma Er. Ma Er has already cooked. There are two bowls of millet porridge and a pot of sticky bean buns on the small kang table. The pickles were cut into thin strips and mixed with some chili oil. It's hard for Uncle Ma to do so many things with one hand.
Xiao Wuzi called out to his second uncle and his tears came down. Ma Er said: "Children, don't cry. Let's eat first. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it later." Xiao Wuzi cried and said, "Second uncle, we have to evacuate immediately. Someone rebelled and surrendered to the enemy a few days ago. The political commissar and his subordinates were surrounded. After staying there, none of the thirty or so people came out, and they all died.
Also, Jindouzi has also surrendered to the enemy, and it won't take long to find him here. "
Ma Er pondered for a moment and said, "Don't be anxious. Eat your food first. After that, we will figure out what to do next."
Ma Er felt very heavy, which was the case with Commander Yang a year ago. Now Political Commissar Wei is in this situation again. Why can't we kill all these traitors?
Xiao Wuzi came over the mountains and came to Sidaogou to inform Ma Er to evacuate. Unexpectedly, he fainted before entering the hospital and was in coma from afternoon to night. If Mrs. Kang hadn't still got two brushes, this little life would have been left here.
Xiaowuzi was really hungry. He hadn't eaten anything for a whole day and a night, and he was also injured. Fortunately, the internal organs were not injured and the injury was not too serious. After drinking two large bowls of porridge and eating more than half a bowl of sticky bean buns with pickles, I finally regained my strength.
Ma Er originally planned to evacuate with him, but after hearing Jin Douzi's rebellion, he changed his mind and asked him: "Is he physically okay?" Xiao Wuzi said: "It's okay, I can still move around." Ma Er said: "You can stay up all night Let's go over the mountain and go north. There is a place called Piaohechuan over Dadingzi Mountain. You go to the owner of the big car shop named Wang Xi and tell him the code to evacuate immediately."
Xiao Wuzi asked: "What will you do, Uncle Second?" Ma Er said: "Jin Douzi is also a traffic officer. He knows many people and is too harmful to us. We must get rid of him. If I stay here to wait for him, I can still give him some money." You buy more time.”
Xiao Wuzi originally wanted to say something, but when he saw Ma Er's firm eyes, he knew that he had no intention of leaving alive, and there was no way he could be persuaded.
This separation may be the real separation of life and death. Although it is a common thing these days, I can't suppress the sadness in my heart.
Ma Er gave him a fox fur hat and a sheepskin coat. He also took out a cloth bag from under the Kang mat and gave it to him. There were five oceans in it. The Japanese banned the circulation of silver coins in Manchukuo, but silver coins were still hard currency in the hands of ordinary people. Ma Er also wanted to let him ride the horse, but Xiao Wuzi said: "No need, riding a horse can't climb the mountain, but it will waste time. I hid a gun under a catalpa tree on the mountain behind here. It's a Japanese 38 Big cover. I marked it on the tree. If you want to use it, go get it." Then he tightened his belt, put on his hat, reached out and shook Ma Er's left hand and said, "Uncle Er, I'm leaving." Ma Er said to He said: "Five sons, don't forget that we are members of the Anti-Japanese War." Xiao Wuzi nodded heavily, held back his tears, and walked into the snow without looking back.
