The water-fetching team had not returned until dark. At this time, it was almost impossible to see the road outside, let alone the dark environment in broad daylight in the deep mountains and dense forests.
Every time the sky gets darker, the worries on the faces of the people in the hut become darker. Almost everyone glances towards the mountain from time to time. In the end, they don't even do anything, just look, praying in their hearts that nothing will happen.
You know, those who go to fetch water are all young and strong people from each family, and some families even go with two or three people. If something happens to them at this time, it will be completely unacceptable to the people in the shed, who are basically women, children, old and young. The sky is really falling.
There are no young people in the family, and they don't know how they can survive in the future.
As the piles of fires lit up, there was only a hint of gray left in the sky. Xiao Ruyi, who had been leaning quietly in Li Ping'an's arms, looked at the clay pot for cooking and swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva, and then looked towards the mountain. At first glance, it was completely dark and she couldn't see anything. She pursed her lips and asked aggrievedly: "Big pot, why hasn't dad come back yet? Ruyi is so hungry."
"Brother, I'm so hungry too." Xinglong followed closely.
Although Ji Xiang didn't speak, he looked at Li Ping'an eagerly.
Only Fugui didn't seem to hear it. He kept sitting cross-legged with his waist slumped, his chin propped up on his hands, his head raised, and he stared blankly in the direction of the mountain.
"Mom, please take your brothers and sisters to eat first." Li Ping'an felt distressed for a while. At noon, the younger ones and Chen Dajuan basically only drank rice soup. It has been more than three hours now, and he felt a little hungry. Not to mention several younger brothers and sisters.
Chen Dajuan looked at the children with distress in her eyes. In the past few years, the family not only had three meals a day but also had all-you-can-eat. Even when Fugui was as old as Xiao Ruyi, she was never hungry once. If they hadn't been so hungry that they couldn't bear it, they wouldn't have shouted that they were hungry before Li Erlin came back.
"Then you can eat first."
Chen Dajuan put the wild vegetables picked by Li Ping'an into a pot of porridge and stewed it. The first bowl was given to Li Ping'an first. Li Ping'an did not refuse, but he kept an eye on it and slowly ate it while watching his mother prepare porridge with wild vegetables for his younger brothers and sisters. I felt relieved when I saw that my brothers and sisters were eating similar to what I was eating.
He was really worried that his mother would treat her differently like at noon.
"Ruyi, come here, mom, mom will feed you." After filling the fifth bowl, Chen Dajuan did not take the empty bowl to fill the porridge again, but held the bowl and waved to little Ruyi. Little Ruyi was still young, so if she was allowed to eat by herself, she would spill it. It's everywhere. In the past, you could just pick up the food on the ground and feed it to the chickens. Now, every grain of food seems to be very precious and cannot be wasted.
Little Ruyi had been starving for a long time. When she heard her mother's call, she hurried over and swallowed a mouthful. A smile appeared on her little face, her eyes narrowed, and she enjoyed it so much.
With a smile in her eyes, Chen Dajuan put down the bowl, picked up another bowl and fed Xinglong a mouthful.
Li Ping'an was also amused by Xiao Ruyi's expression, and looked at Ji Xiang with a smile. The girl put the bowl to her mouth and never put it down. She took the chopsticks in her right hand and pushed hard into her mouth, and the rice soup flowed out of the corner of her mouth. Flow along the chin to the base of the mandible.
Li Ping'an smiled and looked at Fugui again. When he saw this guy taking a bite, he raised his head and looked up the mountain. The smile on his face disappeared, "Fugui, eat quickly. After you finish, go and help mother feed Xinglong."
After saying that, he hurriedly ate, and after eating in a few bites, he put the bowl and chopsticks on the box next to him, and touched his mouth with his palm, "Mom, I'll go up the mountain with cousin Dashan to have a look."
Chen Dajuan paused, looked up at Li Ping'an, then turned to look at the dark mountain, "Don't go, just wait, your father and the others will come back safely."
I don't know if something happened to Li Erlin. He hasn't come back after being gone for so long. It's okay that everything is fine. If something happens to them, the only one in the family who can take the trouble is Li Ping'an. It was dark and the road was slippery. If Li Ping'an were to suffer an accident, she would not be able to survive with her few children.
"I also believe that dad will come back safely." Li Ping'an said with certainty, and stood up, "I just want to take a look, mom, don't worry, I won't go into the mountains, I will just wait outside. Besides, I You even asked Cousin Dashan to go with you. Cousin Dashan knows what a bad temper he is, so don’t you feel at ease with him around?"
Zhang Dashan is now sixteen years old. He just got married last year and is relatively stable. Chen Dajuan hesitated again and again, but nodded in agreement.
Li Ping'an went to the side and called Zhang Dashan. Their family hadn't eaten yet. After hearing Li Ping'an explain his intention, Zhang Dashan immediately agreed.
"I'll go too!" Zhang Xiaoshan shouted and stood up.
"What are you going for? Stay here!" Zhang Dashan said in a deep voice, his eldest brother's posture was very tight.
Zhang Xiaoshan's eyes flickered, he didn't dare to argue with his elder brother, and turned to look at his mother. As a result, his mother glared at him again, so he had to stop and look at Li Ping'an resentfully.
Hey, I’m so angry, why am I not the eldest brother?
Li Ping'an bared his teeth in response to Zhang Xiaoshan's resentment, then turned to Li Dafang and said, "Auntie, my father and uncle must have been delayed by something, and they may not be back until late. You'd better eat first. You see, Zhaodi is still so young, you would be embarrassed to eat her if you don’t want to eat her.”
Zhaodi is Taohua's little sister. She is only eight years old, the same age as Fugui, but she is skinny and looks about the same age as the five-year-old Jixiang. Her cheeks are concave and her chin is pointed. She looks like the aliens Li Ping'an saw in movies and TV shows in his previous life. His face is thin and his eyes are very big, his hair is yellow, and his clothes are patched with patches, and the patches of different colors are mixed together like a mosaic.
Peach Blossom wasn't much better. She was as thin as a bamboo pole and didn't look like a twelve-year-old girl.
These two sisters are really miserable people. Li Ping'an has lived in this era for thirteen years, and he has never seen anyone as miserable as their sisters.
They originally had three sisters, Peach Blossom was the biggest, and Zhaodi was the younger sister, but not the youngest. Zhaodi originally had a younger brother, and there was also a second sister named Caoya.
The three sisters were born in a family that was extremely patriarchal. Taohua was fine when she was born. After all, she was the first child. Even if she was a girl, she was barely favored. As you can tell from the name, Taohua was at least a normal name. But when their mother's second and third children were all girls, the situation changed.
Their mother was scolded by their grandmother, and they also hated the three sisters. After Zhaodi was born, she didn't even take a sip of breast milk. Taohua, who was only four years old at the time, hugged Zhaodi, who was like a kitten, in the village. She was breastfeeding, and she begged hard to get her to give her a sip of milk.
At that time, Chen Dajuan had just given birth to Fugui. Taohua hugged Zhaodi and knelt outside Li Ping'an's house, crying with tears and runny nose. Five-year-old Li Ping'an heard it clearly.
When he was five years old, he was thinking about how to make money, but Taohua, who was four years old, had to do all the laundry and cooking. He couldn't even eat enough, and he had to save a mouthful of food for his two younger sisters. He was tired from hard work and couldn't have enough to eat. It didn't matter if I couldn't dress warmly, but I was often scolded and beaten.
However, their suffering does not stop there.
