Chapter 2 Survival in the Barren Mountains
In the second year of the movement, my father fell to the ground, which should have been a joyful event, but because of one incident that left the family in pain. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info
In the winter of 1967, the central China region was extremely arid, and the harvest was so miserable that in the winter, some of them could not hold on to cold and hunger.
Although the vigorous revolution had no effect on the grandfather's family hiding in the mountains, but because my grandmother was malnourished and in the process of hiding with her master and my grandfather, her health was very bad, and my father He Dongyuan was born to let my grandmother die for life, and my grandmother's master could also take my grandfather to the mountains to collect some herbs to nourish my grandmother's body before winter came, but when winter came, many herbs were covered in more than a foot of snow and could not be found at all, and the family's rations were completely exhausted soon after the winter.
One morning, my grandfather, He Deming, woke up from hunger, and his eyes moistened when he looked at his grandmother curled up in straw and the child in his grandmother's arms.
I haven't eaten for two days and two nights, He Deming is a little hungry and can't support it, not to mention that my grandmother has to use her own little milk to feed my father, it is conceivable that if you don't want to find a way to supplement nutrition, there will be three corpses and a dead baby in this cave in two days.
"Monkey, come here."
The sudden light call startled He Deming, because he had been sucked away too much yang energy by Huang Daxian before, so his body was weak and thin, like a monkey, so Lao Dao always called him a monkey or a monkey head.
He Deming was afraid of waking up his grandmother and children, so he moved to sit down next to Lao Dao and asked, "Master, what's the matter?" ”
Lao Dao meditated cross-legged, as if he hadn't changed his position all night, and he asked without opening his eyes, "Are you hungry?" ”
"Isn't that nonsense? I haven't eaten for two days, and I can't stand it if I change to anyone. He Deming thought so in his heart, but he couldn't say it, so he could only nod honestly: "Hungry." ”
Lao Dao's dry lips squirmed, his white beard trembled slightly, and he said writhing for a while: "For the teacher...... Hungry too......"
As soon as He Deming heard this, his legs, which were already hungry, stumbled under his feet and almost fell to the ground. But he thought about it, the old Taoist priest is so old, it is really not easy to persist until now under such harsh conditions, and he is also a human being, cold and hungry are the most difficult, he just said what he wanted to say in his heart, and there was nothing to despise.
In fact, in my grandfather's heart, he still respects and admires the old Taoist priest very much, after all, if it weren't for him, he might have lived in an illusion all day long, so that Wong Tai Sin kept squeezing his only bit of yang energy until he died. The old Taoist priest can easily break the game and acquiesce to the apprentice to tie the knot with him, the first shows that he has real skills, and the second shows that he is generous.
He Deming took a deep breath and said, "I'll go out to find some wild vegetables, and by the way, see if I can catch any wild things." Then he turned and walked out.
He knew in his heart that he didn't even believe what he said. Under the cover of the vast snow, it is simply wishful thinking to find wild vegetables, and wild things are even more impossible, even if those wild things that do not hibernate come out to hang around, his small body is definitely not the opponent of the other party, but is more likely to become the food of the other party.
Cast a peach in return, Lao Dao saved him, his apprentice also left a queen for himself, not for anything else, for this kindness, even if he took his own life, he had to find a way to get something to eat back.
"Come back." Lao Dao called weakly and opened his eyes.
He Deming paused, turned around and said, "Master, what's the matter?" ”
"Come here."
Lao Dao beckoned to him.
"Oh." He Deming obediently walked up to him and stood still, waiting for him to speak.
Lao Dao stretched out his hand in front of him and said, "Pull me up." ”
He Deming held his withered bark-like wrist with a little force, and pulled him to his feet. Lao Dao's body shook from side to side a few times, and he finally stood firm, and his old face was a little red. "I've been sitting cross-legged for a long time, and my legs are numb."
The two of them stood knee-deep in the snow, the cold wind blew the robes and robes, He Deming put his hands in his sleeves, craned his neck and looked around, only to see that except for some thick trees, the whole world was covered in silver, and there was no trace of green. He glanced back at the old Taoist, only to see that the old Taoist's gray beard and eyebrows were covered with a layer of ice, he also shrunk his neck, and held his hands in front of his mouth from time to time to breathe hot, shivering with cold.
Seeing He Deming's gaze, Lao Dao immediately straightened up his rickety body, and walked forward with a wave of his big hand, quite heroic.
The mountain was too big, and the heavy snow was very easy to hide the traces, and the two did not dare to go too far so as not to lose their way.
The two searched for a long time and didn't find anything edible, and there was no trace of wild things or anything, just when He Deming was depressed, Lao Dao suddenly pulled his sleeve and said, "Hey, there's something good over there!" ”
He Deming followed his finger and saw a thick tree lying in front of him, the upward side of the trunk had accumulated a thick layer of snow, and the downward side of the trunk not only did not have a trace of snowflakes, but also had gray fungi wrapped in ice picks.
After the skin of some trees rots, various fungus-like fungus will grow under moist and cool conditions, like such a stout tree, if it is in summer, it is estimated that it can pick hundreds of catties in a few months.
He Deming, who was hungry and red-eyed, quickly ran over, breaking the hard ice pick, Lao Dao smiled slightly, and walked to him to help pick it.
Just when the two of them were busy, a slight noise aroused their alarm, and the two of them looked back in unison, a furry head emerged from the break of the stump, and a small bear poked its head out of the hollow thick stump, shook the snowflakes on its head, and then met the eyes of He Deming and the others.
He Deming felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart, put down the icicle in his hand and was about to go over to catch the bear. The old Taoist priest obviously knew what he was thinking, and grabbed him and said, "What are you doing, don't you want to die?" ”
He Deming said eagerly: "My wife is not in good health, this thing is a big supplement, hurry up and catch it, don't let it run away." ”
The old Taoist priest grabbed it and didn't let go, and said calmly: "Regardless of whether there is a blind mother in this bear den, even if there is not, this bear can't be caught!" ”
He Deming couldn't care so much, and said eagerly: "You're afraid that you will go back first, and I will catch it myself!" ”
In fact, he is not to blame, his wife has been weak since she gave birth, coupled with long-term lack of nutrition, her body is not as good as day by day, and she still needs to feed her children in this state, so that meat has become the best thing to supplement nutrition.
The old Taoist priest let go of his arm, but the next sentence made He Deming feel like falling into an ice cellar, and his heart was cold.
"This black blind man grew up eating the flesh of the dead!"
He Deming stopped moving forward and asked unwillingly, "How do you know?" Besides, wouldn't it be okay if you didn't eat its internal organs? ”
The old Taoist priest sneered and said, "If only it were that simple, look at its eyes!" ”
A closer look showed that the little bear was staring at the two of them with bared teeth, but his eyes, which should have been black, were red as a whole. He Deming's heart chuckled, and he couldn't help but retreat to Lao Dao's side.
Lao Dao squatted down and cleaned up the ice pick, no way, the weather was too cold, so he could only take it back like this and wait for it to slowly melt the ice, he said while cleaning up: "It never eats dead human flesh, not only is it extremely cruel, but it should look like a crazy blind man, if you don't want to die, don't provoke it." ”
He Deming was completely dead and hurriedly helped clean it up.
Just because they don't provoke the mad bear doesn't mean the mad bear will let them go.
The mad bear let out a muffled growl, then leaped out of the hollow of the tree, saliva pouring from the corners of its mouth.
Lao Dao put the ice pick into his clothes, and He Deming, who was stunned, said: "Go!" ”
The two of them didn't say much, turned around and ran, but the snow on the ground was too deep, and the two of them ran forward one foot deep and one foot shallow, and their image was extremely embarrassed.
Don't look at the mad bear's small size, but the person is more than a meter tall when it stands up, it roared when it realized the intention of the two, and took a quick step to catch up.
After it roared, an even louder roar came from the sides of the two of them. When they turned their heads, cold sweat soaked their backs. A two-meter-tall female bear stood not far away, her equally scarlet eyes shocking, perhaps from a previous injury, with a large hole in her chest, and a large area of blood staining the snow under her feet.
The current situation made Lao Dao unable to calm down, he knew the powerful destructive power of the black bear, not to mention that it was still a wounded and enraged mad mother bear, even if he had a gun in his hand, he might not be able to beat it.
He Deming was so frightened that his legs trembled, his already thin body was crumbling by the cold wind, and his brain was blank. After all, the old Taoist priest has experience there, and he is not afraid of death at all, but he is worried that if the two die here, I am afraid that his beloved disciples and newly born disciples and grandchildren will also follow in the footsteps, and when the time comes, his own vein will disappear from now on, even if he goes to Jiuquan, he will not have the face to see the ancestors and ancestors.
Originally, lying on the ground and pretending to be dead under the last resort could avoid a catastrophe, but special circumstances should be treated specially, the two black bears in front of you don't care if you are dead or alive, in this lack of food, the dead can't escape their big mouths.
"Up the tree!" Seeing that the two bears, one big and one small, were slowly striking at each other, Lao Dao immediately made a decision, squatted down and hugged He Deming's legs and sent them upward, He Deming came back to his senses in an instant, hugged a thick branch that grew horizontally, turned over and rode on it.
After all, Lao Dao is more than eighty years old, and he is already tired after such a toss, and the old man has a flush on his face, panting slightly. He tried to climb up with the trunk of the tree, but was unable to climb it because it was covered with a layer of smooth ice.
The mother bear suddenly sped up and ran over, her thick four legs leaving two ravines in the snow like a plow, and the old man leaned against the tree, drew the long sword he carried with him, and faced the black bear horizontally, ready to fight with him.
He Deming was anxious, and at this critical moment, he suddenly found that there was a cliff not far away, and there was a narrow hole under the cliff, and the stones at the entrance of the cave were not covered by snowflakes, obviously formed by just collapse. He hurriedly reminded him, "Master, there is a cave on the right hand side where you can take refuge!" ”
Lao Dao smiled bitterly, did not answer his words, and did not say anything else, judging from the current situation, I am afraid that he will be pounced on the ground by the black bear before he can run over.
When the little black bear saw the mother bear approaching its "prey", it had already lost its rational judgment and roared at the mother bear as a warning.
The mother bear probably didn't expect this little bear to dare to grab food from her, and she was suddenly furious, raised her head to the sky and roared, her hair stood up all over her body, and she bared her teeth to face the bear.
It was so angry that the wound on its chest suddenly cracked a little more, and the blood flowed down, which was shocking to watch.
The two crazy bears roared at each other, and the battle broke out in an instant, the two of them scuffled together, and the snowflakes on the ground flew all over the sky.
God help me! Lao Dao was overjoyed, and quietly beckoned to He Deming on the tree, He Deming quickly slid down the tree, and the two of them ran quickly towards the natural grotto.