In the past, there was a Jiankang County in Liaoning, and there was a second ditch in Jiankang County, and the second ditch had a family surnamed Deng. His two sons and five daughters were so poor that they didn't have a quilt, and they all wore patched cotton jackets in winter.

The Deng family's padded jacket has four buttons nailed in, and there are four noses on the waist of the cotton pants. In winter, at night, button up, padded jacket and cotton pants are connected together, and the cotton trouser legs are dragged down to cover the feet, and they stay like this at night, year after year.

When the war was fighting, the young people fled out, and the second girl called the Japanese devil to see it, and a shot hit her in the leg, she endured the pain and ran into the sorghum field, but the Japanese devil did not catch up. The second daughter was eighteen years old that year, she had no money to buy medicine, and she didn't have inflammation, and the gun stayed in her leg for a lifetime, and she was lame for the rest of her life.

The second daughter was engaged at the age of fifteen, her mother-in-law's family is from this village, her surname is Huo, and the other party's name is Huo Yukuan, and she is the eldest in the family.

At the time of the bride price, the Huo family gave half a home-woven coarse white cloth (note: half a cloth is now thirty feet), five catties of cotton with peaches, and two boxes of powder. Good cotton cracks by itself, bad cotton can't crack by itself, and the cotton wool that comes out is short. It's such cotton, and it didn't bounce. is engaged, she is a member of Lao Huo's family, and everyone outside the house calls her "Lao Huo".

Lao Huo was eighteen years old, and the Huo family wanted to marry, but I heard that the man's family was poor, and Lao Huo was unwilling to get married.

Lao Huo wanted to see what Huo Yukuan looked like, she had an uncle and three aunts who were neighbors of her mother-in-law's family, just across a low wall. Uncle and third aunt took Lao Huo home, and when he was eating at noon, Lao Huo peeked through the wall, Huo Yu was a big man, not ugly, just black, he just came back from shoveling the ground, and washed his face in the yard.

When she was twenty-two years old, the Huo family wanted to marry, and the old Huo asked her brother to borrow money and wanted to dye half a white cloth. Her brother is also poor, and the daughter-in-law he married is lame and can't do anything, and his brother sometimes does a little business. The brother said, "Give me half of your cloth, and I will give you money." ”

She was angry, didn't dye the cloth, made a quilt and got married. The in-laws bought her a big cabinet and a cabinet to run. The cabinet ran like a dresser today, with a small mirror on it and a drawer, in which you could put a comb, a grate, and incense powder.

My mother-in-law has five children, and my aunt has a bunch of children. After getting married, Lao Huo had a lot of family members and was unwilling to stay, so he went back to his parents' house to live.

One day, Yukuan came to pick up Lao Huo and said, "It's separated, come back." ”

The mother-in-law and the aunt split up, and there were still nine people in the family.

After a few years, Lao Huo gave birth to three children, and there were many people in the family, so he separated Lao Huo's five people and lived by himself.

Yukuan worked long hours for the rich man's family, and if he went home twice or three times a month, he was paid on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. Lao Huo scraped the big smoke paste for the rich man's house during the day, and rubbed the hemp rope for the rich man's house at night, and she was reluctant to light the sesame oil lamp and rub it in the moon. After earning two copper coins, she bought back ten catties and eight catties of sorghum, and used a small stone mill to grind it on the kang and pull it.

After a few days of rain, there was no work to do, and the family was about to stop, so she said to the young lady, who was six and four, "I will go to your uncle's house to borrow some money to buy some food, you are optimistic about the little brother, I will go quickly, and I will be back in a short time." ”

There is a five-mile road from her home to her brother's house, separated by a small river ditch. My brother wasn't at home, so I went to the market to sell mung bean noodles, and she saw my mother at the door.

Mom asked, "Why are you here?" ”

Lao Huo said: "My family has no food, so I borrowed some money from my brother to buy food, and I will return it to my brother on September 9." ”

Mom said, "Come home, your sister-in-law is at home." ”

Lao Huo said: "My brother is not at home, I don't go home, the child is still hungry at home." ”

Mom is not at home, there is rice and noodles at home, she doesn't dare to give it to her daughter, she will cry.

Lao Huo is small feet, and his mother went to the garden and dragged a hair straw and asked her daughter to hold it.

Just walked not far, the heavy rain came, she went home against the rain, and the hair stalks couldn't be used for a while. Looking into the distance, the mountains are full of white flowers, so you have to go forward, and the three children are still hungry at home.

As he walked, water suddenly sprayed down on the mountain, and the stones also fell to the bones, and the water and stones split his head and covered his face, pushing Lao Huo into the ditch. Lao Huo floated in the water, coming up and going down for a while, his nose and eyes were full of water. The footcloth, the belt of the trousers, and the headband were all washed away, and she grabbed the waistband of her trousers with all her might, afraid that the pants would wash away and she would not be able to see anyone.

From ten o'clock in the morning to the sun about to set, Lao Huo thought: "Eighty percent is not saved, my mother has eaten fasting and recited Buddha all her life, and her daughter is about to drown, why is no one to save it?" ”

It was June, and the sorghum in the earth had not yet produced ears, and Lao Huo saw a thick sorghum tree along the river, and there were already big red ears. Lao Huo went to the sorghum tree hard, grabbed the sorghum and climbed up hard, climbed to the shore, and drank water to his heart's content.

Walking out of the place where the water was sprayed, Lao Huo saw a stone slab, no one around, she sat on the stone slab, took off her pants and gown, twisted the water and put it back on, brushed the water from her long hair, and walked forward with her bare feet.

She was still in her mind and knew the way home.

After walking for a while, I heard someone say, "Look, is that a human or a ghost?" ”

The questioner was the eldest lady of the Wang family from the neighboring village, and she and many others stood on a high place to watch the water.

Lao Huo said: "I am a human, not a ghost, I called the flood." ”

She walked further, and someone recognized her and said, "Isn't this Deng Liandi's sister?" ”

The eldest lady of the Wang family had a good heart, led Lao Huo to her home, gave Lao Huo a pair of shoes and a pair of foot cloths, found a rope to tie her waist, and found a willow stick for her to hold onto. She asked Lao Huo to walk from above, and the water above was shallow.

At this time, the sky was clear, and Lao Huo walked more than three miles from the slope, and the water was still up to his navel.

Lao Huo walked home, and the sister-in-law looked at the three children. When the three children saw their mother enter the house, they cried wow, and Lao Huo also cried. When I left in the morning, there was a bowl of porridge left in the pot, and the three children cried, and no one ate it.

The sister-in-law asked, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong with you?" Why is your face so yellow? ”

Lao Huo said: "I caught up with the mountain to spray water, and the stone also rolled down, and I almost drowned." ”

I found out afterwards that it was a mountain whistle.

Three days later, the mountain roared, and my mother waded through the water to bring a few copper coins. Lao Huo bought a few catties of sorghum, moved the small mill to the kang, and ground it into sorghum meal (note: sorghum is not peeled, and it is ground into sorghum residue).

Lao Huo carried a child on his back and led two children to go up the mountain to pick pheasants. Wash the wild vegetables, put two balls of vegetables, and then put half a bowl of sorghum meal to cook porridge and eat.

On this day, a relative came to the old Huo family, and this person was a big cigarette seller. He said that Heilongjiang has a lot of land, and every family has food, killing pigs for the New Year, steaming sticky bean buns, and steaming steamed buns.

Lao Huo heard that Heilongjiang was so good and wanted to go to Heilongjiang.

When Yukuan came back from the field, she said to her husband, "Let's go to Heilongjiang." ”

Yukuan said: "It's not as easy as you say to go to Heilongjiang, I won't go." ”

Lao Huo got angry and said, "If you don't go, I'll go, I'll take the child." ”

She went to tell her mother, "I want to go to Heilongjiang." ”

Mom said, "Lao Huo, you're gone, what do I think you should do?" You also have two daughters, and you want two buckets of grain for your daughter's engagement. ”

Lao Huo said: "Mom, no, the two daughters got four buckets of food, and they are still hungry after eating, I have to leave." ”

Mom said that she couldn't keep her daughter and cried.

Lao Huo coaxed his mother: "Don't cry, I'm not going." ”

When she got home, she sold all the big cabinets, cabinet runs, and curtain rods that her in-laws gave her when she got married.

Yukuan saw that his daughter-in-law was really leaving, so he had no choice, so he said to the owner: "I'm going to Heilongjiang, let's count my salary." "The proprietor gave the wages.

My sister and sister heard that Lao Huo was going to Heilongjiang, so they all came to see it.

Lao Huo grinded some sorghum noodles, scalded them with boiling water, put wild vegetables and salt, did not put oil, and wrapped a pot of vegetable dumplings.

After the sisters finished eating, when they left, Lao Huo said to them: "Don't tell your mother, tell her when I leave." ”

When I left the next day, my brother and my second brother-in-law came to send it, and my brother's family was in better condition, so I bought a pound of bald heads, and said that I would walk and feed the children. The second uncle brought a donkey, and there was a quilt on the car, with a few rice bowls and a few pairs of chopsticks rolled in it.

Sent to the place where the car was changed, Lao Huo said to the brothers: "I have a small pile of firewood sticks at home for the child's grandmother." There is also a pile of leaves to give the child milk. These are all picked up by me with my children on my back. ”

The car to the train station had to wait for a while, and Lao Huo wanted to see his family again, but his brother and brother-in-law were gone.

Lao Huo thought: "Why did they leave?" ”

Looking back, the two of them squatted under the tree and cried loudly.

Lao Huo also cried.

Lao Huo said: "We are all poor, no one can help anyone, isn't this all forced by poverty?" I really can't help it, if I have a little way, I am reluctant to leave you, reluctant to leave my mother. ”

The elder brother cried and asked, "Sister, can we meet again?" ”

Lao Huo said: "As long as I can't die, I can still meet." ”

Lao Huo's family arrived at the train station and bought a ticket to Harbin.

When I arrived in Harbin, I got out of the car, and no one knew where to go. Look at a few of the people who got off the bus, dressed well, and follow them.

They entered a door, and the old Huo family also entered.

There is a corridor in this room, and there is a door on both sides of the corridor.

Someone asked, "Do you live in a hotel?" ”

Yukuan said: "Stay in the hotel." ”

The man opened a door and said, "Go in." ”

The family went in, and the man locked the door outside, and there was nothing in an empty room, and no one came the next morning.

Yukuan said a lot of good things to others: "We are fleeing the famine to ask for food, you can do well, let us go." ”

The family let them go, and the family went out to find Guo Cripple. Guo Cripple is Huo Yukuan's godfather, grandma's godbrother, he was the first to settle in the local area, walking on tiptoe, and that tunzi is called Guo Cripple Tun.

The place of life is not familiar, and they worked hard to find Guo Cripple in Qinggang.

This cripple Guo is a rich man, his family is very good, and when he comes to ask for food during the New Year, he has to stay for three days before letting him go. Seeing that Lao Huo and his family were diligent, his godfather said, "Don't go anywhere, just live in my house." ”

I heard my uncle say that the place where they lived in Harbin on the first day was a pheasant house, a kiln house. Those people got off the train to visit the kiln, and they followed, and it was easy to have accidents, but fortunately it was fine.

The Huo family lived and ate three meals a day.

A few days later, a carriage came to the door of Guo's house.

Lao Huo has a third aunt, who is also in Heilongjiang, and his grandfather in Liaoning wrote to the third aunt, saying that your niece went to you and had to treat her well. The third aunt received the letter and sent the long-term worker of the family to pick them up.

Lao Huo had never seen this third aunt and didn't want to go.

Changgong said: "The owner said that my aunt is here and can't live in someone else's house." ”

My aunt came to pick up people, Guo Cripple didn't stay, that Tunzi was more than 20 miles away from Guo Cripple Tun, and the family got into the carriage.

The third aunt is very powerful, nicknamed the old hen, she gave them a room, gave a pot, millet and cornmeal, and there was nothing to do, Lao Huo: "Live the same life, how do you live?" How can you be so poor? ”

After staying at the third aunt's house for five days, the third aunt said, "You can't stay in my house for a long time, you have to find a house to move." ”

Lao Huo said: "You have to find a house, I don't know anyone." ”

After a few days, the third aunt said, "I've found a room for you, and I live on the kang opposite the family." ”

Yukuan worked for the third aunt's family for eighteen days, and the third aunt gave ten catties of white flour and a piece of meat.

The third aunt said: "Don't eat noodles and meat first, you have to invite someone to eat." ”

Lao Huo asked, "Who are you invited?" ”

"Please landlord, me and my family."

Lao Huo put the white noodles on the kang head, and the next day, the white noodles became a lump. She went to the third aunt and asked what was going on, and the third aunt said, "Why don't you understand anything?" The freshly ground up face is wet, and you can't put it on the kang head. I'll give you a basket of sifting, and the good ones will be eaten tomorrow, and the bad ones you can eat by yourself. ”

After the treat, there was nothing left over from the ten catties of noodles and the piece of meat.

Knowing that the third aunt looked down on them, Yukuan stopped working in her house and went to work as a long-term worker in someone else's house.

There was no burning, their whole family went out to collect firewood, and Lao Huo carried a child on his back and led the two.

Seeing that there were many bean forks in the soybean field, they picked up soybeans again, picked them up in the field during the day, smashed the beans at night, and borrowed the landlord's dustpan.

In the tenth month of the lunar calendar, they picked up more than one stone of soybeans.

The third aunt grinds tofu, and she came to ask: "I heard that your family picked up a lot of soybeans?" ”

Yukuan said, "Yes." ”

"I'll exchange millet with you, a pound of soybeans for a pound of millet."

Yukuan said, "Okay." ”

In exchange for more than one stone of millet, they have something to eat.

I just had something to eat, and Lao Huo was sick. She missed her mother so much that she couldn't eat, and later turned into typhoid fever. Typhoid fever fever, at that time there was no antipyretic, dry fever, burning stupid. The child is young, Lao Huo is so sick that he can't comb his hair, his hair can't be combed, and there are many lice on his head.

couldn't fix it, Yukuan cut her bald. The owner has a good heart and knows that his daughter-in-law is sick, so he often asks Yukuan to go home to see. After Yukuan went home, he took off his daughter-in-law's cotton jacket and pants, turned it over and swept it with a broom, and the lice went into the brazier, crackled, and started to smoke. There are so many lice that they can't be cured, Yukuan put the gown and single pants into the cotton jacket and cotton pants, and every few days, pull them out, scald them with boiling water, and the lice gradually decreased.

One night, Lao Huo dreamed of two ghosts, one holding an iron chain and the other wearing a high hat. The family was poor, there was no door, and there was a curtain hanging at the door, and the two ghosts opened the curtain and entered the house, their faces black and blue.

They went into the house and said, "Quick, get up, come with me." ”

Lao Huo said: "When I put on my clothes, I will still be naked." Lao Huo shouted, "Yukuan, come and dress me, I'll go with them." "I shouted for a long time, but no one came.

The ghost in the high hat took out a white cloth with words on it, and he said, "Wrong, it's not her." ”

The two ghosts lifted the curtain and left.

Since then, Lao Huo's health has been getting better day by day.

Lao Huo has four children, the eldest daughter is called Ye, the second daughter is called Bai, the son is called Chengzi, and the youngest daughter is called Shuhua.

The eldest girl is sick, she has no energy, she doesn't want to open her eyes, and she sees a lot of doctors, and they all say that she is not sick. There's no way, look for the dancing god.

The dancing god said, "This is a foreign disease." If you find Ye's in-laws, you have to find ten miles away, and it will be good if you get married. After only 100 days of marriage, you can't go back to your parents' home. Ye's illness is that the young man in the underworld sees that she looks good, and wants to marry her and trouble her. ”

Lao Huo did what the great god said, and found a mother-in-law for Ye, fifteen miles away from home.

After getting married, Ye's illness was really cured. It's just that if she doesn't call her home for a hundred days, she can't stand it. When she was married for more than two months, Ye wanted to go back to her parents' house secretly, she was small feet, and she walked forward with a stick.

The husband was driving the cattle in the field, and when he saw his daughter-in-law far away, he whipped the horse's buttocks, and the field soon reached the ground.

He asked his daughter-in-law, "Why are you going?" ”

Ye said, "Go home." ”

"Didn't the great god say it? It will take 100 days to go home, don't go back. After a hundred days, I'll drive you home. ”

Ye is strong, and he can't persuade him. The husband got angry and whipped her.

Ye sat on the ground and cried, the place where she cried was a grave, her mother's family didn't go back, she was sick.

Ye got married at the age of seventeen and died at the age of eighteen.

Lao Huo's children are all good-looking, Bai has been white since he was a child, and the in-laws he is looking for are rich people, and he has been engaged to the bride price, and his in-laws have given the Huo family a blind horse.

The husband is ugly and lacks eyes. Once the two of them quarreled, and Bai was in the kang, and her husband dragged her by the feet and dragged her to the side of the kang to beat her. This time the bones were misplaced, and I found a few doctors who didn't take a good look, and they were so swollen that they couldn't wear their own shoes.

There was nothing for my mother at home, and the tomatoes in the garden I planted were red, so I carried a basket of tomatoes and went back to my parents' house with a stick. For five miles, she was lame with a man's shoes.

Later, the center of the foot rotted a hole.

Later, rotten to the bone.

The doctor said, "I have to saw my foot off." ”

I didn't have the money to go to the hospital, so I found a doctor and sawed my feet at my mother-in-law's house.

On the tenth day of sawing off his foot, he wanted to work in vain. Feet hurt when you work, and your feet hurt when you don't work, so let's work. She helped her mother make a pair of cotton shoes for her younger brother, and she couldn't sit up and lay down.

The family is poor, and the husband is ignorant, so he has only one foot left, and he is sad in his heart, and he cries when he thinks about it. He was sick, had no money to treat, and died at the age of twenty-four, leaving behind a six-year-old boy.

When Bai was about to die, Lao Huo went to see his daughter, and Bai said: "Mom, I'm dead, don't cry, I'm not your child, I'm a ghost, I'm here to take care of your account." ”

Lao Huo cried so much that his face was full of tears.

The two smart and beautiful daughters died, Liaoning's mother was gone, and she couldn't afford to buy a train ticket back to Liaoning for more than ten years in Heilongjiang.

At first, Lao Huo cried, but then he thought about it.

After the land reform, the Huo family had land and the blind horse, and the days were rushing.

Lao Huo lived to be ninety-three years old.

The one who told me the story was Shuhua, the youngest daughter of the Huo family, who is now in her seventies.