Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly turned around and walked over.

The child pulled him, looked at him with a small face, pointed to a few hungry people huddled on the ground not far away, and lamented: "Please, uncle, you want my mother, just one bun, as long as one bun, my grandfather, grandmother and sister will starve to death......"

Lying in a leeward corner, an old man and an old woman, curled up on the ground in rags, with their eyes closed, heard the sound of talking, and slowly opened their eyes to look at him, trying to squeeze out a smile, as if begging him to behave well.

A little girl of eleven or twelve years old was curled up beside the old woman, her hands clasped on her knees, her head resting on her knees, looking at him pitifully, her patched kudzu clothes hanging one by one, fluttering like a small flag in the cold wind.

A man next to him, who was already swollen and shiny, stood up, took two steps forward with his waist bent, and said with a smile: "Uncle, × only one bun for my daughter-in-law once!" You have mercy on us! ”

Zuo Shaoyang's heart was shocked, stared at him, and said coldly: "The woman just now is your daughter-in-law?" ”

"Yes, my daughter-in-law is very clean, and she just gave birth to two babies, and she is tight underneath......"

Syllable!

Zuo Shaoyang slapped him to the ground, and stepped forward with two feet: "You brute, let your wife sell her body to feed you?" Are you still not human? ”

The man curled up weakly on the ground holding his head and wailed, and the little girl sitting on the ground got up and ran up to kneel, hugging Zuo Shaoyang's legs: "Uncle, uncle, please, don't beat my father!" Please! ”

The little boy also knelt on the ground and pleaded. The two old men next to him raised their heads and opened their mouths, like two river fish falling to the ground, only to open their mouths, but they couldn't hear what was said.

Zuo Shaoyang stopped, sighed, pulled the two children up, touched their hair, squatted down and asked the big girl, "What's your name?" ”

"If you go back to Uncle, my name is Cao'er."

"What about you?" Zuo Shaoyang turned his head and asked the little boy.

"My name is Dog"

"Well," Zuo Shaoyang took out a black-faced bun from his arms, broke it in half, and stuffed half of it in one person's hand, and said: "It's not easy for your mother, when you grow up in the future, you have to remember to be filial to her, remember?" ”

The two children clutched the bun tightly and nodded.

Zuo Shaoyang patted them on the shoulder again, stood up, and walked towards the alley.

The dog took a small bite of half a bun, chewed it and was reluctant to swallow it, ran to the bottom of the stairs, and handed the rest of the bun to the young woman: "Mother, eat the bun!" ”

The woman shook her head: "Take it to your father!" ”

Cao'er here took the half of the bun given by Zuo Shaoyang, ran to the pair of old men curled up on the ground, knelt on the ground, broke the half bun in half, and stuffed it in the old man's hand.

The old man stuffed the little half bun into his mouth with difficulty. The other old woman smiled bitterly, and handed the bun in her hand back to Cao'er: "Grandma is not hungry...... Cao'er is good, eat it yourself, and give half of it to your mother......"

At this moment, a big hand reached over, snatched the small half of the steamed bun from the old woman's hand, swished into her mouth, and chewed it heavily, which was the man who was knocked over by Zuo Shaoyang just now. The man chewed the bun and turned around and went straight down the stairs, and saw the dog running towards him with the bun, and he didn't know that it was originally sent to him to eat, so he grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth.

He stuffed most of the bun into his mouth at once, like a puffing toad, because he was so hungry that he panicked, he only chewed twice, and then swallowed it in a panic, but this bite was too big, and the black bread was too dry, and he only swallowed half of it, and he couldn't swallow it anymore, choking in his throat and rolling his eyes.

Cao'er hurriedly took a gourd filled with water and ran over, pulled out the plug and put it in his mouth, and the man swallowed a few mouthfuls of water before swallowing the big lump of steamed buns.

The man gasped twice and slapped the grass to the ground. kicked again and said fiercely: "It's all you!" Ask you to pick up customers, you don't do it! Now that the whole family is going to starve to death, are you happy? - From now on, pick up customers for Lao Tzu to earn food, otherwise Lao Tzu will kill you! "A few more kicks.

Cao'er was kicked a few times, knelt up and cried and kowtowed: "Dad, don't, Dad, please, please don't let me pick up guests!" I don't eat, I don't eat anything......"

"You're done if you don't eat? If you don't eat Lao Tzu, you still have to eat! With a kick, the woman at the bottom of the stairs rushed over and hugged the man's leg: "Daddy, didn't you say that I would pick up the guests and not waste the grass?" ”

"Phew!" The man took a sip, "It's just you shriveled look, the uncle just looked at it, and people turned around and left, there are several of them!" By you? The whole family will starve to death! -- I have to let the grass pick up the guests today! ”

The old woman who was curled up struggled to get up, and cried out with difficulty, "The grass ......! ”

Cao'er knelt down, threw herself into the arms of the old woman and cried, the old woman hugged her tightly, and said to the man with strength and difficulty: "Son, don't ......, don't spoil the grass, let our ancestors and grandchildren die together...... left and right is a death, just leave her clean......

The old man also said intermittently: "It's enough to abuse your daughter-in-law, you don't want to abuse your daughter...... anyway, I won't live with your mother for a few days, and we won't eat in the future, you and your daughter-in-law and son have earned food, and you ...... eat." You are young, if you have a way to ......, you can run, and leave us alone......"

"I'm running? Where am I going? The rebels outside won't let you escape, there's no food inside, no one wants to work, no one gives you to beg, and you two don't let Cao'er go to pick up customers to earn food, what will you do in the future? Don't live for the whole family......! The man crouched on the ground with his head in his hands, and began to whimper.

The dog hugged his father and said, "Dad, don't let the man sleep with his sister, the dog won't eat, the dog won't be hungry at all......"

"You don't eat top fart? Why don't you go to the street corner and stop your mother? The man shouted.

The dog trembled with fright, and quickly dragged his feet to the street.

The man pointed to the grass and said, "It's okay if you don't pick up customers, then ask me for food!" Don't come back if you don't get something! It's better to die outside! Lao Tzu is out of sight and out of mind! ”

Cao'er agreed, hurriedly broke free from the old woman's arms, wiped her tears, hung her ragged clothes, held a broken bowl, and walked slowly.

............―――――――――――― Zuo Shaoyang came to Zhao Sanniang's house.

He stepped forward and knocked on the door, but no one paid attention to it for a long time, but he called the neighbor next to him out, knew Zuo Shaoyang, and said: "It's Xiao Langzhong of Guizhitang, are you looking for Sanniang?" ”

"Yes, is the third aunt at home?"

"It should be there, I went out to buy food in the morning, I waited on the street all morning and didn't buy it, I just came back for a while, I should be at home, you knock again, be louder." The neighbor said and went into the house.

Zuo Shaoyang stepped forward to knock on the door again, and after a while, the door slowly opened, and Zhao Sanniang appeared at the door, with a cloak and a blank eye, the top two buttons of a placket skirt were open, and the skirt was wrinkled.

Zhao Sanniang saw that it was Zuo Shaoyang, and was very surprised: "It's Da Lang, is there something wrong?" ”

Zuo Shaoyang didn't want to waste time, he looked left and right, and said in a low voice, "Can I go in and talk?" ”

"If you have anything to say, just say it here."

Seeing that Zhao Sanniang had no intention of letting her in. Zuo Shaoyang immediately understood that Zhao Sanniang was a widow, and there were many rights and wrongs in front of the so-called widow, so let a young man enter the house, if it was known, he would be crushed to death under his tongue. Busy whispered: "Third aunt, our family has some surplus grain, my mother said that you have run out of food, let me ask, do you buy it?" ”

Zhao Sanniang's eyes widened, and she stammered: "Da Lang, can you ...... Take this...... Joke to the third aunt! ”

Zuo Shaoyang took out the two hot buns from his arms and shook them.

Zhao Sanniang's eyes suddenly lit up, even her breathing became short, and her high chest kept rising and falling. The city has been out of food for so many days, and now they can still take out steamed buns, which is enough to prove that there is food at home.

Zuo Shaoyang smiled slightly and handed over the steamed bun: "The child is hungry." Let's give them a primer first. Let's slowly discuss the matter of buying food. ”

Zhao Sanniang's family used to eat white flour and white rice, and almost never ate black flour buns, but at this moment, when they saw this black flour bun, it was more fragrant than any fine flour bun, and their eyes suddenly lit up, and they couldn't help but swallow their saliva, and they stammered even more: "Da Lang, these two bun ......, really ......, give me ......?" ”

"Something for the kids. If you want to buy grain, you can get it back and make it yourself. ”

"Buy! I buy! I'll buy it for as much as I want! Zhao Sanniang grabbed Zuo Shaoyang's arm, "Where is the grain?" ”

Zuo Shaoyang looked left and right, and said in a low voice: "Let's go in and talk, okay?" ”

At this time, Zhao Sanniang could not care about the rights and wrongs of the widow in front of the door, and it was important to live first, so she hurriedly pulled him in, closed the door, bolted it, and pulled him quickly through the courtyard, entered the main hall, lifted the door curtain, and went straight into the bedroom.

Although Zhao Sanniang's bedroom is not big, it is very exquisite, one of the round tables has a piece of paper on it, Zuo Shaoyang blinked his eyes and saw that the paper was written: "Buy food, fifteen times per bucket."

Leaning on a large bed, two children of a few years old were lying on the bed with their breath closed, their eyes closed, and they seemed to be out of breath.

Zuo Shaoyang was taken aback, hurriedly put the steamed bun at the head of the bed, sat down on the edge of the bed, touched the faces of the two children first, and the body temperature, and then took the children's hands to check the pulse, and the pulse was very weak.

Zhao Sanniang saw the paper on the table where she bought food, hurriedly hid over, quietly picked it up and rolled it, and stuffed it behind the desk next to her. Then sit down on a stool.

Zuo Shaoyang put a steamed bun in front of the noses of the two children, and after a while, both children sniffed, and then slowly opened their eyes, and when they saw the steamed bun, their eyes were shining, and they took out their little hands from the quilt to take them.

Zuo Shaoyang hurriedly took the bun back. If you don't eat for several days in a row, your stomach and intestines will shrink, and if you suddenly have a full meal, it is easy to overeat and break your stomach, which may even be life-threatening. Said to Zhao Sanniang: "You go and bring two bowls of warm water, soak the steamed buns into porridge for the children to eat, each person eats half of it first, and when the stomach gets used to it and the spirit recovers a little, then eat the other half, and also make porridge to eat." ”

(To be continued)