I wish my friends and their families good health, all the best, and happiness.

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The cold wind blows the scattered snow around, sometimes lifting it up to the sky, sometimes falling to the earth.

The mountains were covered with white, and only the green pines in the deep mountains were still churning and rippling, as if they were about to shake off the snow off their bodies.

Since the Japanese devils occupied the Yangjing mining area, great changes have been made, and a narrow distance railway has been built, which leads to the mine in a zigzag way.

On the top of a hill to the north of the mining area, a few trees were cut down and a three-story turret was erected. The road in front of the mine has been squeezed into the farmland by piles of coal gangue, and the gangue mountain is still steaming like mist.

There are many children picking coal on Ganzi Mountain, and every time a cart of gangue is unloaded from the top, the children will rush to grab it.

When the big gangue was like a stone and the small one was like a fist, when it rolled in front of them, they either twisted their bodies or lifted their legs, and the stones rolled down to their bones.

Children in the mining area do not know coal and gangue in detail, and they will try it out with just a touch of their hands.

A boy of thirteen or fourteen years old with big eyes flashed quickly, and when he reached the top of Ganzi Mountain, he had already picked a basket.

He was about to go down with the basket, when the children suddenly ran away with a scream, and someone shouted: "The hemp pole is coming, Xiaomao run." ”

In order to please the Japanese devils, he even watched the messengers of the charcoal field, and often took away the baskets of the children picking coal.

Because he was slender and used to carrying a stick more than a meter long in his hand, the children called him "hemp pole".

Xiao Mao heard the alarm and hurriedly stepped up his steps to go down.

Ma Pole shouted at him a few times, but he ignored it, looked back from time to time, and just ran down.

When the hemp pole was about to catch him, he slipped like a loach, squatted, slipped down the gangue mountain, and circled around the gangue, and the hemp pole not only failed to catch him, but almost tripped over the gangue under his feet.

The children laughed, and the hemp pole couldn't help but be annoyed and angry, and turned to chase after the other children.

A child who was running slowly was caught in the basket, and the child struggled to snatch it, but he could not match the strength of the adults, and was robbed of the basket and kicked it.

"What are you crying about, crying and crying and not coming back." Xiao Mao walked over, a little angry, and a little disdainful.

"That, that's a new basket, and my aunt wants to scold me." Erdan wiped his tears and said in a whisper.

Xiao Mao died of his mother since he was a child, and his father encountered water penetration in the mine again, and his life was saved, but he broke his leg and could no longer work in the mine. There is also an old grandmother at home, who is old and can't take care of him.

The tempering of a difficult life made Xiaomao sensible early and mature and bold than other children. Every day, he carried the coal he picked up to distant villages to sell it in exchange for some food to support his family.

Because I have no shoes to wear for many years, I walk barefoot, and my feet have thick calluses on the boards, and I don't feel embarrassed when I walk on cinders and stones.

Seeing Erdan's pitiful appearance, Xiao Mao comforted helplessly: "Okay, don't wipe your tears, let's find a way to get this basket back." ”

Erdan sniffled, but didn't say anything. He had seen baskets from which he had taken away many children, but he had never seen anyone take them back.

Seeing that it was time for dinner, Xiao Mao accompanied the listless Erdan to go back. While walking, Xiao Mao wanted to get rid of this trouble, so he asked casually: "Erdan, where is your sister, have you gone home?" ”

At the mention of this, Erdan made a bitter face, shook his head, and said, "I didn't come back." I heard that I had seen her by the woods, but I couldn't say for sure. ”

"Then I'll help you find it!" Xiao Mao paused and said, "I often go out to sell charcoal, and I may be able to see it." ”

Erdan nodded lightly and said, "If you see it, you will tell my sister that my uncle has beaten my aunt and will not let her marry." ”

"And what about your uncle's back disease?"

Erdan shook his head, he didn't know what to do. The strong laborers fell, and seeing that this family was about to collapse, his heart was only miserable and dazed.

Xiao Mao knew that Erdan was more miserable than him, his parents died, and he and his sister Da Mei all relied on their uncle to support them. But my uncle was smashed in the well a few days ago and injured his waist, and he couldn't afford to ask for a doctor, and his injuries became more and more serious.

Although the poor buddies have some help, but everyone's life is as difficult, how much can they come up with?

If she hadn't been forced to be helpless, Xiao Mao's aunt wouldn't have married off the sixteen-year-old Da Mei. In fact, I also want Da Mei to leave this home and find a way to live outside.

Of course, the so-called marriage, like buying and selling, is also some bride price for the man.

But Da Mei was very stubborn, and she didn't take a fancy to the man from the village at all, so she plunged into the Hongshui River outside the village. When he was salvaged by someone, he looked like he was out of breath, but he came back to life after three presses and two rubbings.

As for people, they are alive, but their personality has changed greatly, and they have been sitting or lying down in a daze all day long, and they have not said a word.

Early the next morning, the family found that Da Mei was missing, and she didn't know where she had gone. In front of the village, behind the village, and by the river, many people mobilized and did not find the shadow of Damei.

After entering the village, the two children parted ways and went home.

When Erdan returned home, he saw his uncle Sun Hongshan lying face inside on the kang, and he couldn't stop moaning weakly in his mouth.

The nine-year-old daughter Xiaohua sat on the bench with her three or four-year-old little brother in her arms, and the child was so hungry that she cried so much that Xiaohua had to stretch out her arm to nibble on him.

"Where's the aunt?" Erdan asked Xiaohua.

"I went out in the morning to ask for food, and I haven't come back yet." Xiaohua replied in a low voice with tears in her eyes.

Sun Hongshan turned his face to look with difficulty, and his mouth moved a few times without speaking.

Erdan hurriedly helped him turn over and poured a bowl of water for his uncle to drink. Sun Hongshan shook his head and closed his eyes again.

The room was silent, save for the occasional sobbing of children. It wasn't until it was completely dark that the aunt came home exhausted.

Xiaohuaniang secretly stuffed the vegetable dumplings that were coming to Erdan, and sent him out under the pretext, then put a few pancakes in a bowl and soaked them in boiling water, and handed them to her husband.

Sun Hongshan turned his head to look at Xiaohua's thin and yellow face, shook his head slightly, and asked, "Xiaohua, are you hungry?" ”

Xiaohua lowered her head and didn't speak, Xiaohua Niang picked up a small corner of pancakes from the bowl with chopsticks, put it in Xiaohua's mouth, and said, "When the child is still full?" Go to sleep, you won't be hungry when you fall asleep! ”

Little Flower silently sat up under the stove, for it was warm. Erdan sneaked in, stuffed her with half a vegetable dumpling, and walked out silently.

Xiaohua Niang urged her husband to eat the pancake soup while it was hot, Sun Hongshan took a few ends, and sighed, "Xiaohua mother, this injury is beyond the law." Even if I could go down the well, I wouldn't be able to buy a pair of medicines for one shift. ”

"No matter how expensive the medicine is, we have to find a way to cure it. You have to have a good one, what should I do...... girl" Little Flower Girl choked up a little.

"Healed injuries are also crippled, and they are a burden to you. It's better to ...... early," Sun Hongshan said, shedding tears.

After a pause, he continued to sigh: "I'm sorry big brother, he gave me this life, but Da Mei ...... And Erdan...... "He couldn't say any more."

"Dad, it's my fault, I shouldn't have ......," Xiaohuaniang sobbed and cried.

"You also want to find a way for the children to live—the way of the world—" Sun Hongshan shook his head sadly and pushed the bowl to his wife, "You can eat with the children, I can't eat it." With that, he closed his eyes and said nothing.

Xiaohua Niang looked at her husband for a while, and then turned her head to look at the two children, Xiaohua was already asleep sitting on the stove, and the little cub was also tired of crying, and was sleeping heavily on the kang.

Carrying her daughter to the kang, Xiaohuaniang looked at the thin yellow face, and her tears were like a river mouth in the sky, and her face was full of uproar, dripping on the placket and dripping on Xiaohua's chest.

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It was the middle of the night, and the mountain wind was blowing the branches and leaves of the trees. On the snow-covered hillside, leaning on a big tree, who is not Damei hiding in the shadows?

And this Damei is no longer another Damei, her body has not changed, but her inner consciousness is already Shen Chen.

That's right, he didn't die, his soul flew away, and he went through a difficult trap, and when he was liberated again, he was attached to Damei, who committed suicide by throwing himself into the water.

Originally, he had already had the experience of being reborn twice, and even briefly possessed Chu Jiao. Shen Chen should be very calm, and he shouldn't be so out of shape.

But this rebirth is very paradoxical, the jade pendant is unbelievably embedded in his (her) chest, which is really incomprehensible, and it does take some time to calm down and think seriously.

The dry wild wormwood swaying in the night breeze and wafting with fragrance.

Da Mei, no, it should be Shen Chen, the memory of fusion told her, "There are mountain dates in Shiwolf Valley, and it is sweet to take a bite; Wild wormwood in the mountains, smell the fragrance".

And Damei's memory also let Shen Chen know that he had been here before, but that was before the devil came.

Since the artillery tower was built on the red stone hill in Shiwolf Valley, and some ordinary people who came to Yewolf Valley to pick mountain dates were killed and wounded, almost no one dared to come here anymore.

The ghost fire in the distance flickered, and Shen Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, it was the turret on the red stone hill. It turned out that there were still a few trees on the hill, and they were all cut down by devils after the gun tower was repaired, making the hill look like a big grave.

Traveling, possessing, reborn......

No matter how unbelievable it is, Shen Chen will no longer use any scientific thinking to think about problems.

Now he is in awe of the arrangement in the dark, and the jade pendant is still there, so he can understand that this is a guide for him, and it will not be for no reason if he attaches himself to Damei.

Chewing pine nuts in his mouth, Shen Chen spit out broken shells.

Despite not growing strong because of her life of hardship, she already felt the strangeness of her body's growth and ability to recover after being reborn.

Let's start again!

Although a sixteen-year-old girl was a little unsatisfactory, with the skills that she had in her mind and could be upgraded and strengthened, Shen Chen was confident that she would soon be strong enough to take on the responsibilities she was about to start.

Shen Chen let out a long breath, slowly stood up, and pulled out the small pouch he brought out from home from his waist and looked at it.

There were already some rust stains, and the cloth wrapped around the handle of the knife could no longer be seen in its original color. Could it be that a new path begins with this knife?

Putting away the knife, Shen Chen looked at his feet again, it was a broken basket that she had picked up, which had been rearranged by her with broken branches, and contained some pine towers in it.

This thing can last a few days, I'm afraid it's still a coveted plaything, it's time to return to that broken "home", right?

Although the marriage that the aunt said was the same as buying and selling, it was just some bride price for the man.

But Shen Chen also figured it out now, in such a situation, he really couldn't support those mouths, and marrying her off could actually be regarded as finding a way for her to live.

Marry a head! Lao Tzu likes beautiful women!

Shen Chen put the basket on his back, walked through the trees and grass, and walked in the direction of the village.

While walking, he still complained from time to time: It's so big, and there is no official name, there is a nickname that has to be dirty, Damei, it's gone when it's big? Look at these days of suffering, why do you have to endure?

Why? That's right, this is the most rebellious thinking and thinking of modern people.

Why is it so hard to even eat a full meal? Why can't you even say a word when you are bullied? Why...... Why...... What the......

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It was dawn, and Erdan got up early and cleaned up a broken basket in the yard, thinking that he had to pick charcoal today.

was busy with his work, and saw Xiaohua running out.

Seeing that her hair was neatly combed and her little face was clean, Erdan asked strangely, "Xiaohua, where are you going?" ”

"Go with my mother to buy medicine for my father." Xiaohua smiled happily.

"Where's the money?" Erdan was very puzzled.

Xiaohua tilted her head and thought about it, and said, "I don't know." My mother said that she would buy me flatbread to eat! ”

"Little Flower!" The little flower girl called her daughter's name and walked out of the house.

Xiaohua hurriedly ran to hold her mother's hand, and when her mother saw her daughter, she felt like a handful in her heart, forced a smile, and secretly wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Auntie, got the money for the medicine?" Erdan faintly felt that something was wrong, so he asked.

"Got it, got it." Xiaohua Niang was a little hesitant, and led Xiaohua out.

Xiaohua was very happy, took her mother's hand, and turned around and smiled at Erdan.

Erdan blinked his eyes and thought about it, threw down the broken basket, and walked out.

The selling market is behind the He family's compound, and the more Erdan walks, the more frightened he becomes, and he only sees his aunt and sister in the distance.

When he rushed over, he saw many children leaning against the wall, and there was hay stuck in the collar, which was the mark of the seller.

At the intersection, a trafficker in a robe was pulling Xiaohua down the road, and the sound of Xiaohua crying came.

"Mother, mother, I won't eat when I go home, don't sell me! I'm obedient, don't shout hungry anymore, don't make my mother angry......"

Xiaohuaniang took off one of her gowns again, ran up to put it on her daughter, turned her head and ran back, tears falling to the ground in a row.

Erdan ran and met his aunt, begging: "Auntie, you can't sell my sister, she's small!" Let's find a way to get my sister back! ”

"Kid." Xiaohuaniang hugged Erdan into her arms, and tears kept falling, "Let your sister find a way out!" ”

Xiaohua's cry was heard in the distance, and Erdan was very sad, and he broke free and wanted to run, but he was dragged by his aunt.

Xiaohua cried and was dragged away by the traffickers, and Xiaohua Niang wiped her tears, "Child, go back, don't tell your uncle first, I'll go get the medicine first." ”

Erdan's brain was dizzy, he thought a lot, but he didn't seem to think about anything, and he wiped his tears and walked home like a lost soul. My sister was really sold, and I can no longer see her innocent appearance and hear her crisp laughter.

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