Chapter 1: The Soul Pierces the Other World
Li Ziyu lay on the kang in a daze, and the hard clay kang under her reminded her that this is not modern. She was shocked and confused, and couldn't help but squint her eyes slightly and look around:
The color of the paint is no longer visible on the mottled and old adobe walls, the pitted floor, and the old wooden lattice windows. The yellowed window paper was eroded and damaged by the wind and rain, and the sound of hunting was made by the cold wind. Looking at the roof, this house should be a straw house, the cold wind blew down from the straw cracks, and she felt that it was blowing directly into the cracks of the bones, and the cold air was bubbling from the inside out. Her hands and feet were numb from the cold. In order not to freeze to death, she sat up with a strong spirit, gritted her teeth and moved her hands and feet. She kept moving, and gradually gained some energy. It's just that my stomach is too hungry, and there are constant protests from inside. I looked at what I was wearing: I was wearing a purple cheesecloth jacket with a few patches on my upper body, and I was wearing blue cheesecloth cotton pants with a few patches on my lower body. Such a cotton coat, thin and old, cannot keep warm at all without a trace of temperature in the house. She touched the kang and there was no trace of warmth. The kang is due north, and the kang is covered with an old kang mat with several holes, and a thin layer of wild grass is spread under the mat. The shabby quilt that had just been covered was thin and stiff, with a few patches on it. Such a broken quilt is still the only quilt in the house. There are several pillows stacked in the northeast corner of the kang wall. The house she was in should be the east room, because the door was on the west side. Against the southwest wall was a dilapidated table, missing a leg, supported by a wooden stick, and unstable to look at. There are several pairs of chopsticks on the table, and the bowl is a coarse porcelain bowl with a missing mouth. Leaning against the east wall is a dilapidated wooden box, which is much higher than the kang, and the color of the paint is no longer visible. There is also a lock on the wooden box, and it is estimated that the important things in this house are inside. The old wooden door of the house was ajar, and the door should have been closed, perhaps let the wind blow open. The curtain is made of straw, but it is dense enough to block the wind. She suddenly wanted to know what this body looked like, and she looked around but didn't see a mirror. Touching the top of her head, she touched the two mustaches tied with strips of cloth, which reminded her of the ancient maid in the TV series, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
She quietly thought about this unbelievable thing, how did she get here? She obviously died with the drug lord, and she didn't believe that her body was blown away and people could still live. Forgive her, she was a special police officer in her previous life, and she didn't have time to read online novels at all, and she didn't believe in the so-called soul crossing at all. But now she can't explain it, so she can't figure it out.
While she was thinking about it, her mind was flooded with memories that didn't belong to her. She has the same name and surname as her, also called Li Ziyu, and is the eldest sister in this family. has no father and no mother, and there are five younger siblings below. She fell from the mountain when she was going up to chop wood, which made her soul go through another world.
At this moment, footsteps and low whispers were heard from outside:
"Second brother, is the eldest sister awake?" "Shhhh Dr. Fu said that the eldest sister was fine and would wake up today. "Second brother, I'm hungry" "Mmmm, Xiaolan is good, second brother is boiling mush." ”
Li Ziyu knew that these were her five younger siblings who were connected by blood in this world. She fell from the mountain and was in a coma for three days and just woke up today. There was no firewood at home, so the second brother took his younger brothers and sisters to collect firewood. In the past three days, the second brother cooked, and every day was sorghum mush. Because Li Ziyu has a memory, his soul is strong, except for being too hungry, his body has completely recovered. Although the bag in the back of her head still hurts, her mind is completely clear. Such a poor home no longer allows her to lie down.
"Hill!" Li Ziyu shouted. "Hey!" "Big sister wake up!" There was a crackling sound of footsteps. The next moment, several little heads rushed in, and said gossipingly: "Sister, are you awake?" "Eldest sister, I'm going to collect firewood with my second brother. I picked up so many. "Sister, it's great that you're awake." "Big sister, I want big sister"
Li Ziyu's eyes were a little moist. Seeing the five brothers and six sisters who were only three years old climbing up the kang in a hurry, her heart was about to melt. She silently looked at several ragged siblings:
Nine-year-old Li Zishan is the second oldest, wearing a cotton jacket and pants made of cyan burlap with a few patches on them. The cotton shoes on the feet are made of black burlap and have a few patches. Under the thick eyebrows are a pair of clear and bright Danfeng eyes. The thin face is full of vegetables and yellow, which is caused by long-term malnutrition. The yellow, dry hair was divided into two sides on the left and right, and a mustache was tied on the top of the head with strips of blue cheesecloth, shaped like two sheep's horns. The hardships of life did not crush him, and those beautiful Danfeng eyes flashed with determination and optimism. Seven-year-old Li Ziwen is the third, and he is also full of vegetables, and he looks weaker than the second. His eyes are very similar to those of the second child, and there are worries, worries, and fears in his dark eyes. His hair was as yellow and dry as the second child, and he also wore two moustaches on the top of his head with strips of cyan cheesecloth. The cotton clothes he was wearing were obviously picked up by the second child, and they looked a little older. Five-year-old Li Ziwu's mouth was tightly pursed, but it was a pair of apricot eyes. The eyes that looked like their mothers shone with joy, admiration and panic. The yellow hair was left at the back, and the rest was tied into pigtails with strips of crimson cheesecloth on the top of the head. The cotton clothes on his body are obviously newer than those of the two elder brothers, at least there are no patches. Also the only one that doesn't have a patch. The cotton shoes on her feet also look like they are newly made, with a blue cheesecloth upper, which I have the impression that her sister made. The three-year-old fifth is called Li Zihu, who has a tiger head and a tiger brain, and also has a pair of apricot eyes. The black eyes are dripping and rolling, vivid and mischievous. The hair was darker than that of the brothers, with a part left behind it, and the rest was combed into three mustaches with strips of crimson cheesecloth, one on the top of the head and one on the left and one on the right. Li Zilan, who is also three years old, and Li Zihu are twins, and they also have a pair of apricot eyes, and their black grapes seem to have eyes that are so innocent and pure. There are bangs in front of his shiny black hair, and two red headbands are tied into two pigtails on the left and right. The complexion of the two is better than that of the elder brothers and sisters, and the reason is, of course, that the brothers and sisters saved their food for the two of them. The two wore the same blue cheesecloth cotton coat and cotton shoes of the same color on their feet. The clothes and shoes were old, and some places were patched. Including Li Ziyu herself and her five younger siblings, none of them wore a cotton coat because they had no money to buy cloth. The hands of the sisters and brothers all had frostbite to varying degrees, and Li Ziyu, Li Zishan, and Li Ziwen were the most severely frozen. Li Ziyu's hands were swollen like steamed buns, and they were suppurated in some places. Li Zishan and Li Ziwen's fingers were also swollen like carrots.
"Sister, I'm hungry." Li Zihu was tired of Li Ziyu, and said coquettishly in a milky voice. Li Zilan also responded with a milky voice: "Sister, you are hungry." ”
Li Ziyu woke up at this time, and she hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Here, not only Li Ziyu's family, but also the village chief's family only eats two meals. Except, of course, for farming. Li Ziyu stretched out her head and looked at the sun, it was almost midnight (ten o'clock in the morning in modern times), she was busy patting Li Zihu, and hugged Li Zilan aside: "You wait for a while, sister, let's cook." Li Zishan hurriedly said: "Sister, you just right, your body is still weak, let's do it." "It's okay, I'm fine." "Then I'll help you light the fire." "Okay."
Li Ziyu came to the outhouse, although she had been mentally prepared, she was still taken aback by the poverty of this family.
This house is a three-room thatched house, facing south and facing north. The east house is the house where my sisters live. The room in the middle should be called the hall house, which is where she is standing now, and it looks like a kitchen. There are no doors on the north side of the house, only two wooden doors on the south side. In the northeast corner, an earthen stove was built against the east wall and the north wall, and the fire kang of the east house was burned by the way. She didn't have time to see the Westinghouse, so she searched her memory, and it turned out that the Westinghouse had collapsed in half and couldn't live at all. There is a small pile of firewood piled up in the northwest corner of this house, and judging by the size of the firewood pile, it is estimated that the second brother has just picked it up. She also understood that the kang under her body was cold when she just woke up, and it turned out that there was no firewood. The reason why there is no firewood is not because the sisters and brothers are not diligent, but because they sold the chopped firewood to buy rice. A few of them are still children, they don't dare to go to the mountains, they don't have the energy to chop much firewood, and they can't imagine that they can't sell it for a few dollars. Against the north wall lay several broken burlap bags, which contained various grains. She looked at them one by one, and there were about four or five catties of sorghum flour, about three or four catties of sorghum rice, and two or three catties of brown rice. There is no rice, no white flour, and no vegetables. There is a water tank next to the earthen stove against the north wall, and there is more than half a tank of water in the tank. The water tank is covered with a wooden plank, which looks like a cutting board. On the cutting board is a gourd scoop. Next to the water tank are two wooden barrels stacked together, and next to the barrels is a wooden flat pole.
Li Ziyu looked at that bit of grain worriedly, is it still making sorghum paste? Sorghum rice and brown rice are so little, who is left to cook porridge when they are sick, and she doesn't dare to move. It seems that she really has no other choice but to eat sorghum mush.
She looked at the earthen stove, which was connected to the ondol. The earthen stove is made of adobe bricks, with two stoves below and two pots on the top, but the inside is connected. If you burn one stove, the other pot can be hot. There are two lids sewn from sorghum stalks on the two pots, and two wooden pots stacked together are placed on the stove. There is a kitchen knife, a spatula, a cooking broom, and a gourd rice spoon in the basin. After the gourd rice spoon and the gourd water scoop are dried with the same gourd, they are cut vertically from the middle, and the seeds are cleaned to form two spoons. A dark brown coarse porcelain jar contained about half a pound of salt. There is also a coarse porcelain clay pot that should be an oil can, but unfortunately there is not a drop of oil in it. Except for salt, there is no seasoning in this house.
Li Ziyu lifted the lids of the two pots with her hands and feet, scooped two spoonfuls of water with a scoop, and brushed the two pots with a broom. The pot on the north side was filled with four scoops of water, and the pot on the south side was filled with six scoops of water. Because the stove is open, cooking and boiling water are not wrong. You can drink it then, wash your hands and face, and it's clean and comfortable in winter. Thanks to Li Ziyu's hometown being rural, he is not afraid of working at all, and he has the memory of the original owner, so he did not show his stuffing.
Li Zishan took the flint and lightly lit the fire in the north stove.
Li Ziyu took a wooden basin, scooped two scoops of sorghum noodles with the gourd noodles in the sorghum noodle bag, thought about it, and added half a scoop. When the water in the north pot is boiling, use chopsticks to lower the sorghum noodles into the pot little by little, stirring them constantly. When it is almost ripe, add a little salt. She took the oil tank without giving up, removed the small wooden board on it, and kept shaking it towards the mouth of the north pot. Not to mention, two drops of oil really swayed. For a moment, the kitchen was filled with a long-lost aroma.
The child's nose is the most agile, and the four children led by Li Ziwen all ran out.
"Sister, what are you doing, why is it so fragrant?"
Four pairs of eyes stared directly at the pot, Li Ziyu clearly heard the sound of them swallowing saliva, and I don't know whose stomach also made a sound. Li Ziyu's heart was sour, this is how long it has been since she has eaten meat.
Li Ziyu put the cleaned wooden basin on the pot table, and beckoned while scooping the sorghum paste with a gourd: "Hurry up, take the chopsticks and the bowl, and eat." As he spoke, the sorghum paste was already in the basin. Brush the pot clean, add three scoops of water, and save it for a while to brush the dishes. The water in the pot on the south side had already been boiled, and it was reserved for drinking and washing hands.