The Autumn of Matriarchal Society (Novella) Zhang Baotong 2018.10.10

The autumn rain has been falling, it has been raining for two or three days, and there is no sign of stopping at all. The ground, rocks, and grass on the top of the mountain were soaked in rainwater, and the path down the mountain was full of water, and the water flowed down the road like a stream, and the mud on the road was soaked into a thin mud soup by the rain, and stepping on it barefoot, it was a muddy and slippery, and once you slipped down the hillside, people could easily fall and get hurt. So, these days, almost no one is going down the mountain.

If you don't go down the mountain for a day, you won't have a harvest for a day, and if you don't have a harvest for a day, you may have nothing to eat for a day. Fortunately, they caught some grasshoppers on the grass a few days ago, and they could feed the whole family for three or two days. So, on the third day, Wu Ma couldn't stay at home, and she had to find a way to take everyone out to find food. Otherwise, it will rain all the time, what should they eat?

Wu Ma knows that in this season of continuous autumn rains, many fir fungi will grow in the fir forest. This fir fungus grows orange in the summer and brown in the fall. This fir mushroom is boiled in a mud pot and eaten, and it is still very delicious and fragrant. So, she took the children down the mountain in the rain. However, because of the rain for several days, the river has risen a lot, and the river water is a little muddy. They stripped naked and crossed the river. In the past, they crossed the river only up to their legs, but now the water has reached their chests.

The river was already a little cold, but it was a little difficult to survive. They went into the forest and walked along the river. There are no roads at all, but there are roads everywhere. The grass was covered with green moss and soaked in rainwater, making it very slippery. Everyone walked fast because they were in a hurry. As the fawn walked, it suddenly slipped and fell, and immediately fell on its back on a piece of grass. However, she didn't feel much pain, just some mud on her body. She hurriedly got up from the ground and trotted after everyone.

After walking for about an hour, they came to a fir grove by the river. As soon as I entered the forest, I saw one or more brown fir fungi appearing on the rainy grass like small umbrellas. They happily dispersed, collecting fir fungus.

In the forest after the rain, the fog is thick, the green floats, the air is fresh, and it is silent, because there are many fir fungi in the forest, and everyone walks around picking them. After a while, the small baskets that everyone brought were full. And the rain was a little lighter at this time. They began to walk back. Although the forest is very peaceful, it is full of dangers, and if you encounter a tiger or a black bear, it is very dangerous. So, when they saw that the baskets were full, they hurried out of the forest to the meadow by the river, and began to walk back.

With so many fir mushrooms collected, you can eat them for several days. So, they were very happy. When they returned home, they gathered around the fire in the cave, poured out more than half of the water from the mud pot full of rainwater, and then put the fir fungus in the mud pot and began to boil. When the water in the mud pot boiled, the air wafted with the fragrant smell of fir fungus. Wu Ma began to use a thin twig to tie an uncooked fir fungus and eat it. Next, the big deer, the fawn, and the pig ate the fir mushrooms in order, until a small amount of fir mushrooms and some soup were left in the mud jar, and Wu Ma handed the whole jar to the pig to the old mother.

Mom's injuries have not improved, and the opposite side is getting worse and worse. She may be too old to stay up. If it were an ordinary young person who suffered such an injury, he would have recovered and recovered a long time ago. However, after all, my mother is in her 50s, and she can't live long. Some time ago, she was able to go out to the door of the cave and do some light housework. However, these days, her injuries have become more and more serious, and her whole body bones seem to be falling apart, and she doesn't dare to turn over in pain. So, she just stayed in the house. Watch as the pig puts the rest of the food next to her. She got up from the hide, sat up, and began to eat the food that everyone had left for her.

Because it was raining outside, they couldn't go out, so after eating, everyone lay down on the animal skin mats by the fire and began to sleep. This saves energy, reduces consumption and prevents you from going hungry before dark. Because I ate this meal, I won't eat the second meal today.

Everyone went to bed early, and they didn't know when it was dark. When Wu Ma slept for a while and opened her eyes to look at the entrance of the cave, there was a faint light at the entrance of the cave, and the sound of falling rain was still ringing outside the cave. So, she rolled over. At this time, she saw the pig falling asleep with the fawn in his arms. She was immediately annoyed, but everyone was asleep. So, she screwed her hand hard on the pig's buttocks.

The pig was wrung by his mother, so he screamed, and when he realized that his mother was teaching him a lesson, he hurriedly took back the arm that was holding his sister, turned over, and turned his body towards his mother. Wu Ma looked towards the pig, and in the darkness, she seemed to feel that the pig had grown up, and was about to become a man, and there was already a relationship between men and women. If he had been sleeping with his sister all the time, something that would have hurt would happen sooner or later. However, she felt that she still had time for such a thing. Thinking like this, she fell asleep again.

It was about the middle of the night when there was a sudden thunderous roar that woke everyone up from their dreams. The voice was eerie, not only echoing in the cave for a long time, but shaking the earth. As soon as everyone heard it, they knew that it was a tiger coming, and the big deer and the little deer were so frightened that they hugged each other tightly. But the pig hurriedly picked up the spear from the ground. Seeing that the fire was a little dying, Wu Ma hurriedly put firewood and grass on the fire to make the fire bigger and scare the tiger away.

After a while, the fire burned in the cave, and the smoke kept pouring out of the cave. However, the tiger still stood outside the entrance of the cave, roaring angrily and constantly slapping its claws against the wooden fence that blocked the entrance of the cave. The wooden fence, though made of thick branches, was not very strong and strong, and if the tiger rushed or squeezed the fence with all its might, it would surely crush the fence. This is, of course, very worrying for them.

In order to drive the tiger away, Wu Ma took a very thick torch and asked the pig to follow her with a spear to the mouth of the cave. Illuminated by the firelight, she saw the tiger. The tiger was as big as a takin, with its mouth wide open and bared its sharp teeth and roaring fiercely. Watch them shine on it with fire. It was even more annoyed, and threw itself at the wooden fence with both legs, and the wooden fence immediately clicked. When Wu Ma heard this, she was frightened, so she asked everyone to come over with torches and spears. So, everyone put torches in front of the tiger, but no one dared to poke the tiger in the face with a spear, for fear that the tiger would go crazy and would fight for them.

Wu Ma stretched the torch out of the gap in the fence and placed it in front of the tiger. But the tiger didn't back down at all. This scared Mama. Apparently this is a very bold tiger, it is not afraid of people at all, and it is not afraid of fire. Wu Ma knew that many wild beasts were not afraid of people, but they were also afraid of fire, but this tiger was neither afraid of people nor fire. People are most afraid of this kind of tiger, which is not afraid of people or fire. So, they put several spears in front of the tiger, and as soon as it rushed, they would poke it in the eye.

The tiger stood a step away from them, roaring incessantly, but it did not dare to rush at them. And they did not dare to provoke it boldly. And they confronted the tiger like this. After confronting the tiger for a long time, the tiger gasped for breath, took a few steps back, and then slowly left, heading down the hill.

They finally breathed a sigh of relief, but they did not dare to close their eyes all night, and did not sleep until dawn.