"Gollum." There was a strange sound coming from the shack on the side of the road.

The beggar opened his eyes and rubbed his belly with his mud-covered hands. The stomach is very empty, and when you rub it with your hands, it seems that you can touch your heart, liver and lungs. He sighed, pressed the bone under his belly with his palm, and rolled over.

Bear with it a little longer, endure it until dawn and then go to the door to beg. If you are lucky, if you meet that kind person, you may be able to win half of the black nest. As soon as Lao Zhang closed his eyes, there was that kind of gurgling sound in his stomach again, and the sound was even louder than just now, which was particularly harsh to listen to in this silent night.

As the old saying goes, people are iron, rice is steel, and if you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry. Lao Zhang has never heard this sentence, so naturally he can't say such a thing, but he grew up hungry when he was a child, hungry and full, and he has a particularly deep experience of hunger. Coupled with the fact that he has a stomach trouble these days, he doesn't have the strength to go out and beg, and if you calculate carefully, he hasn't eaten for almost three days.

When he was hungry for a certain time, it was like a monster growing in his stomach, and in addition to the gurgling and screaming, it would also urge his internal organs and all his senses. Lao Zhang licked his lips, stared at a certain place in the night, and said, "Hungry!" ”

"Meow~"

A cat with flashing green eyes stared at Lao Zhang.

Hearing the cat's meow, Lao Zhang immediately sat up. He licked his lips and rubbed his hands against his body. Lao Zhang had never eaten a cat, but he thought that if the cat was cooked, it might taste good.

Cat, staring at Lao Zhang all the time. Seeing him sit up, he hunched over and took a defensive posture. The animal, which is usually psychic, sensed Lao Zhang's hostility towards it.

"Meow~"

The cat barked again. With this cat meow, Lao Zhang bounced up as fast as he could. Then he quickly pounced on the cat, still babbling in his mouth.

"Little thing, don't run, you don't run. I'm dying of hunger, so you can do it, let me eat you." ”

"Meow~"

The cat raised its fur all over its body, and when Lao Zhang pounced on him, it jumped up lightly and landed on top of his head. Immediately after, he jumped lightly and disappeared into the night behind Lao Zhang. Lao Zhang turned around, and his pupils emitted a demon-like light caused by hunger. He stared angrily in the direction where the cat had disappeared, and kept saying, "Hungry, I'm hungry, I want to eat, I want to eat." ”

Lao Zhang was like a zombie who had lost his soul, staggering, stumbling in the dark, walking. Just as he was about to gnaw on a piece of bark when he was about to chew on a piece of bark, he smelled a scent in his nose.

He searched around for the source of the scent, and finally landed on a grass hut not far from him. There was still a light on in the hut, and Lao Zhang was sure that the scent he smelled came from the hut.

"Meat! I want to eat meat! ”

Hunger prompted Lao Zhang to walk towards the thatched hut. The closer you get to the hut, the more intense the scent you smell in your nose. This is the aroma of meat, but it is more fragrant than any kind of meat that Lao Zhang has eaten before. This fragrance almost hooked his five internal organs out of his belly.

A thatched hut with only a low wooden door. The wooden door was hidden and not closed. Lao Zhang only pushed it slightly, and the door was pushed open. The aroma followed the gust of wind that opened the door and hit him directly. Lao Zhang took a greedy sip, rushed to the room with the lights on like crazy, and pushed the door open without saying hello.

There was no one in the house, only an oil lamp was lit. Under the oil lamp, a stove is placed. On the stove rests a pot with a seductive "coo-coo" sound. The black lid of the pot, with that sound, jumped on the fiery stove. Lao Zhang sucked a little, but saliva fell down the corners of his mouth.

"Who are you?"

Lao Zhang just wanted to lift the lid of the pot, but a voice came from behind him. His hands froze in mid-air.

"Look at you, you're hungry, aren't you?"

A shadow flickered in the firelight, and an old woman appeared in front of Lao Zhang.

"I'm hungry." Lao Zhang swallowed the saliva that came out of the root of his tongue and pointed to his stomach: "I, I haven't eaten for three days." ”

"Hey, this world. Some people have eaten themselves, and some people have starved themselves to the point of madness. The old woman took the lid of the pot and stirred the contents with a spoon: "You smell the fragrance of my pot, right?" ”

Lao Zhang nodded, stared at the old woman's soup pot with hungry green eyes, and unconsciously swallowed a few more mouthfuls of saliva.

"Come on, come on, it's all bitter, if you're hungry, sit down and eat together."

The old woman said, gesturing to the table next to her. The table was square, a little uneven, and even covered with some dirt dust. But Lao Zhang didn't care, he was a beggar, and his food was much dirtier than the things in this thatched hut.

Before the old woman could finish speaking, he was already seated at the table.

"Did you really invite me to eat?"

"What is really fake. At first glance, you will know that you are a hard-working person like me, and it is not easy for a hard-working person like us to live in this world. If you can smell the fragrance of my pot and follow the fragrance to my house, it means that you are my destined person. Since we are destined, let's have a meal together. As long as you don't dislike me for being humble here. ”

The old woman said, placing a pair of chopsticks on the table.

Lao Zhang was a little excited. Since he became a beggar, he has not eaten with dishes and chopsticks for a long time. He hurriedly grabbed the chopsticks, only then did he see the dirt on his hands, and he was a little embarrassed, so he put the chopsticks down again.

When the old woman saw this, she squinted and smiled, and said, "Those who don't care are all poor people, and they don't pay attention to them." By the way, I don't have a good look, so I'll work hard for you to cook by yourself. ”

"Thank you...... Thank you! ”

Without waiting for the old woman to finish speaking, Lao Zhang picked up the dishes and chopsticks and rushed to the pot. The pot was full of meat, and Lao Zhang filled a whole big bowl.

At present, Lao Zhang couldn't care about anything anymore, and devoured it. One bowl, two bowls, it didn't take long, and the woman's soup pot was at the bottom. Lao Zhang stroked his round belly and burped contentedly. When he opened his eyes, he found that the old woman had been sitting opposite him, staring at him with those half-squinted eyes.

Lao Zhang looked at the dishes and chopsticks in front of him, and asked in a hurry: "Have you not eaten yet?" ”

"Don't worry, are you full?"

"Eat...... Eaten. ”

"Is it delicious?"

"Delicious!" Lao Zhang said, and touched his round belly again: "This is the most fragrant meal I have eaten in my life." ”

"It's delicious." The old woman said and stood up.

Lao Zhang licked his lips, looked at the silhouette of the old woman and asked, "People say dragon meat in the sky and donkey meat on the ground." This pot of your old stew shouldn't be donkey meat, right? ”

"Want to know?"

The old woman turned around and asked Lao Zhang compassionately.

Lao Zhang smiled and did not answer.

"My meat is more fragrant than dragon meat. If you don't have enough to eat, I'll have it in the back room. Why don't you bring some back? ”

"This ...... How embarrassing is that? ”

"It's okay. They are all poor people, and it is also appropriate to help each other. ”

As she spoke, the old woman put back the lid on the pot, then stooped to the door, and when she had fumbled with her crutches, she pushed it open and walked towards the back of the hut. Lao Zhang stood up with his round belly, he thought to himself, after eating this meal, since people took the initiative to speak, they might as well bring some meat back.

Bypassing the thatched hut, Lao Zhang saw a low stone house. He wondered a little, wondering how there could be a house made of stone in this village. On second thought, the old woman lived alone, and this stone house may have been built by her family when they were alive. They are all poor, and the poor are only worthy of living in these thatched huts, stone houses, and so on.

There was also a light in the stone house, but it was dimmer than the light in the grass house. As soon as Lao Zhang entered, he saw a cauldron. The pot was a little familiar to him, very much like the kind of cauldron used by his husband when he was a soldier when he was a soldier. There was a pile of firewood burning under the pot, and there was a "gurgling" sound inside.

The old woman glanced at Lao Zhang, who walked over and lifted the lid of the pot. A puff of steam rose and almost smoked his eyes. When the steam dissipated, I saw a lot of things stewed in the soup pot. Lao Zhang couldn't help but pick up the soup spoon and stir it twice, the soup spoon touched something, and he scooped it up with great effort, only to find that it was a baby.

I saw the baby curled up sideways in the soup pot, as if it was still in its mother's belly. Lao Zhang was a little frightened, but the soup spoon seemed to grow on his hand, and he couldn't shake it off. In the soup pot, the baby turned around with the steam, and he saw the baby's expression.

His brow furrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth downward, as if he were crying. Lao Zhang thought that he must be grieving his fate, and he became a pile of meat in a soup pot before he had time to grow up.

Just when Lao Zhang was panicking, the baby in the soup pot opened his mouth, and then his eyes also opened.

He stared at Lao Zhang with a smile and asked him, "Is my meat delicious?" ”

Lao Zhang took a step back, and the soup spoon in his hand fell. He looked up at the old woman and pointed to the soup pot as he stammered, "This...... That's what I just drank ......"

The old woman nodded, leaned on crutches, and walked up to Lao Zhang. The corners of his mouth went up, and he asked, "Delicious, right?" Incense, right? ”

Lao Zhang sat on the ground with a "plop", and his stomach began to churn desperately.

"This kid ......"

"It's my son, to be precise, the child you took out of my womb. Master Zhang, do you remember me? The old woman approached Lao Zhang: "Look at my face carefully, do you remember me?" ”

Remarks: And bones rotten - there are historical records, in the three years of Gaozong Shaoxing in the Song Dynasty, there was a scene of eating human flesh, and at the same time, there was also a title: thin men and women are called "Rao Gang Huo"; The girls are called "the next soup sheep", and the children are called "and the bones are rotten", and these people who are eaten are uniformly called "two-legged sheep".