Twenty-ninth

Lilac followed her eldest brother to the old man's house in Qixing Street, Lantian and started working as a palm craftsman.

The Yin family is considered a wealthy family in the local area, and the eldest son of the family died of illness not long ago, leaving four orphans and widows. The second son became a regiment commander in the Chengdu National Army, and his wife and children were at home.

At that time, the Northeast Communist Army had defeated the Nationalist Army and entered Shanhaiguan and surrounded Beiping, and the Nationalist Communist Army in Xuzhou was also in a fight. According to various rumors, the Red Army was going to fight back to Hunan again, and some people from powerful families were panicked, afraid that they would be robbed of their wealth by the Red Army like back then, and Master Yin was also a little worried.

A battalion of the Nationalist Army was already stationed on Qixing Street, and it is said that they had been evacuated from Wuhan across the Yangtze River to Hunan. At that time, the national army was not as good as the national army of the anti-Japanese meeting, and the retreat of the army after successive defeats was already a little unstable. The officials ate and drank the blood of the soldiers, and the soldiers wandered around and took the sheep to get some oil and water, claiming to be the party of protecting the peace, but they were actually doing things that disturbed the people's bad discipline.

The old man Yin is usually a very good person, and the craftsmen of Xuzong are also kind. Because the second son was also an officer of the national army and had a face-to-face fight in Shishou during the Anti-Japanese War, Battalion Commander Yang, who was stationed on Qixing Street, came to visit Master Yin once.

When he came, Lilac Xuzong was playing a brown rope behind the courtyard, and Lilac recognized Camp Commander Zhao as Deputy Zhao Lian, who was stationed in Yingzhai back then, and Platoon Commander Wang, who came with Camp Commander Zhao, also recognized that he was the Ma Keng who bullied her back then. When Camp Chief Zhao and Master Yin were chattering, the Ma Keng also went to the backyard where Lilac played the brown rope and went around, he no longer knew Lilac.

Lilac was a little disgusted, turned around and went to the kitchen to find water to drink, and the Wang platoon leader also talked to Xu Zong. Master Yin took care of their meals, and when he left, the second son donated some silver dollars to the team out of friendship with the robe.

Battalion Commander Zhao's team is plagued in all four miles and eight townships, but they never will, nor dare to go to Yin's house to make trouble, they all know that Camp Commander Zhao has a good relationship with Master Yin's family.

After working at Master Yin's house for more than half a month, things were almost done, and Xu Zong stayed alone to do the rest.

Mr. Yin paid Lilac's wages, and kindly introduced Lilac to work in the house of Liu's younger brother, the eldest daughter-in-law of the neighboring village.

Liu took Lilac to his brother's house, and when she entered the house, her brother-in-law was crying alone. Liu thought that his brother-in-law and brother-in-law were angry, so he hurriedly asked with concern: "Sister-in-law, is there anything wrong, where is Jingyun going?" Master Cao, whom you were going to invite a few days ago, came. ”

Her brother-in-law stopped sobbing and said, "Sister, Wang Jingyun went to the county seat to help people get up the house, and it will take a few days to return."

Seeing this, Liu thought that his brother-in-law missed his younger brother, so he comforted him a few words and did not ask in detail.

Lilac picked up the brown silk that day and prepared the ingredients for tomorrow.

That whole day, Liu's brother and daughter-in-law were in a trance and extremely depressed. Liu also noticed the abnormality of his brother and daughter-in-law, and asked a few times.

Later, her brother-in-law finally couldn't help but pull Liu into the back room, and after a while, Liu cried and complained in a low voice in the room.

Lilac put down her work and walked to the room to prepare to say a few words of comfort. When I arrived at the door, I thought about it for a while, and felt that every family had a scripture that was difficult to read, and there were some things that were difficult to show people, so I stopped.

Just as he was about to turn around, Liu's angry voice came from inside the house, "Brother and sister-in-law, don't cry!" It's useless to cry, and you have the right to let the dog bite it. This is not a glorious thing, so it is better to be careful in the future! If that brute comes back next time, arrange for some guys to let him lose his life in the middle of the night and never return! ”

Lilac understood that this was not something she could learn, and hurriedly returned to Pingli to do something.

After a short rest after the night, Lilac went to bed early alone. Liu was still chatting with her brother and daughter-in-law in the house, comforting her.

When she woke up that night, Lilac remembered from time to time that she was blessed with autumn births at home. In the middle of the night, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside the house.

Lilac hurriedly got up and looked out from the window lattice, only to see that two sneaky people had gone to Liu's sister-in-law's window to peek, and took advantage of the starlight and moon Lilac recognized one of them as the Ma Keng she had seen at Master Yin's house a few days ago.

Ding Xiang was shocked, and vaguely understood the reason why Liu's brother and daughter-in-law cried during the day. hurriedly sneaked to the door of the house, leaned sideways and was so nervous that he didn't dare to come out, looking out of the window lattice.

The palm spinning rope in his hand was tightly grasped, and his heart beat like a war drum.

There was a dead silence in the next room, the pockhole pierced the window parchment, and he reached in sideways to play with the latch of the door in the house, and the other stood outside the lilac door smoking a cigarette and looked around. After a while, the latch of the door opened, and the pockhole entered the house. Suddenly, there was a thud from the next room, and then there was a thud as if something had fallen to the ground.

Seeing this, the man who was smoking outside the house hurriedly walked towards the next room. When Lilac saw that it was broken, she didn't know where she got the courage, so she tore open the door and rushed out with her palm spinning in her hands.

As soon as he reached the base of the stairs, the man retreated from the house in a disarray, just in time to collide with Lilac. At that time, Lilac was knocked into a stumble and almost fell, and subconsciously raised the palm spinning in his hand and slammed it over.

This hit the man's chin, and his body suddenly became unstable, and there were steps under his feet, and he fell into the stinky ditch.

At this time, Liu's brother and daughter-in-law rushed out of the next room, and when she saw the man who fell in the stinky ditch, she picked up the palm spinning that the cloves had pulled out, and hit her head like crazy. He also cursed: "Kill you brutes, kill you brutes......"

Under the bright moonlight, the man snorted, and then never got up again, lying on his stomach in the muddy water and bounced his feet twice, and then did not move.

The brother and daughter-in-law continued to hit his skull like crazy, and the brown imitation broke, and then picked up the wooden stake in the lawn and beat it with all his might, until the skull oozed out of the brain.

Lilac, who was standing next to her, saw that her scalp was numb, and she didn't persuade her to stop in a daze. After a while, the brother and daughter-in-law got tired and sat on the ground and cried!

At this time, Liu had already come to his side, and when he saw her brother and daughter-in-law crying, he hurriedly stepped forward to cover her mouth. He whispered in his mouth: "Hurry up and don't cry, if you invite someone, something big will happen!!"

Her brother and daughter-in-law stopped crying, and under the moonlight, the cloaked hair was scattered and looked infiltrating.

Liu and Lilac also sat on the dirt floor, looking at the man who had fallen into the muddy water and his brain bursting and was silent for a long time.

Later, Liu got up and said to Lilac: "Master Cao, I have affected you tonight, this is already a risky thing!" You and I know about this, oh my God, we can't let anyone else know, let's find a way to deal with it?! ”

Lilac snorted, and followed Liu Shifu into their room again, at this time, the hemp pit lying on the ground struggled to get up again, just now Liu Shi knocked unconscious with a tea stick, and now woke up.

When Liu saw it, he hurriedly picked up the tea stick on the ground and knocked the back of Ma Keng's head with all his might, and Ma Keng fell to the ground again. Liu Shi was a little uneasy, so he picked up the pillow that fell under the bed, rode on the pit and covered his mouth, nose and head, and let go of his hand for half an hour.

Liu rested for a while, then sat up from Ma Keng's body, and said to Lilac: "Master Cao, you will be implicated tonight, you can help, we will put these two beasts in the sweet potato cellar first, and then ask my princess at dawn tomorrow!" You're a foreigner, and you're going home early after you get paid! Investigate it, we won't be involved in your death, you just put your heart in your stomach!! ”

When Lilac heard this, she said, "If you want it, this is also a risky way, who let me bump into it!" After saying that, he and Liu carried Ma Keng and the accomplice to the potato cellar, cleaned up the inside and outside of the house, and threw the tea stick and the rotten brown spinning into the cellar.

In the dimness, I vaguely saw the pockmarked face, the face was as white as paper, and the mouth and nose were oozing bloody pockmarks, and the cloves were nauseous for a while.

remembered the past when Ma Keng bullied her, and finally couldn't help but vomit.

Before dawn, he went back to Master Yin's house with Liu.

When Master Yin heard this, he sighed and muttered: "It's really exhaustive, it's exhaustive!" How can such an army and such a government be immortal! ……”

After speaking, he sent someone to wake up Xu Zong and told him the reason.

settled the wages at the moment, and gave Lilac two more silver dollars each, let them leave now, don't stay for a moment, and he has his own way to do the rest.

Xu Zong hurriedly packed his tools and luggage, and Ding Xiang didn't even dare to ask for the tools that he put in Liu's brother-in-law's house, so he hurriedly thanked Master Yin and went home on the way.

When she returned home, Youfu ran over and lay in Lilac's arms, clamoring for the windmill she promised when she went out.

Lilac was a little depressed and flustered, and after making trouble for a long time, she couldn't help but slap Youfu, and suddenly Youfu howled and cried.

When the mother-in-law saw it, she hurriedly pulled Youfu aside, and coaxed in her mouth: "Blessed ride, blessed and obedient, drive Ming'er's grandmother to buy you a windmill bigger than the one in the ancestral house, and starve him to death!"

Hearing her mother-in-law say this, Youfu stopped crying beside her mother-in-law and looked at the distracted Lilac.

When I grew up, Youfu also said to Lilac that my mother went to Lantian to do things and promised me a windmill, and she slapped me if she didn't buy it!

That night, Lilac was frightened and told Qiusheng about her in Lantian.

After listening to Lilac's narration quietly, Qiusheng took Lilac in his arms and said heartbrokenly: "Lilac, you don't have to go out to do things in the future, first, you are blessed and small, gluttonous Niang, and secondly, I don't worry about the chaos?!"

Lilac sighed on Qiusheng's chest and said, "I don't want to go far either, it's just that this day is terrible!" Qiusheng hugged Lilac tightly and said, "There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and the living will suffocate their urine to death?!" Think about it, you can always find it on the side of the house. ”

In the spring of the second year, Lilac was pregnant with a second child, and the reaction was worse than when she was blessed.

The mother-in-law was distressed when she saw it, and sold the only rooster she had, and every now and then she got an egg to let the cloves open the meat.

said: "Lilac, you are two people, hungry in the future, the cub will not be easy to bring, and it will be even more impossible to draw!"

In the spring and summer of that year, there was a lot of commotion in the county, and prices rose boundlessly. A few years ago, a stack of golden yuan coupons could buy a cow, but now you can only buy a few boxes of foreign fire.

A few days ago, Hu Yousheng's old lady was haunted at night and scared to death, and the coffin was directly pasted with gold yuan coupons. It's not that his family is rich, it's really that the golden yuan coupon is too worthless!

There was only the last of the two silver dollars that Master Yin gave him in the lilac house, and the cloves were close to him, so he felt a little sense of security.

Many years later, she proudly said to her children and grandchildren that I have never lost money in my life, even when I owe money and eat, I also have to carry a silver fortune on me for self-defense. The old team is wrong, accumulate grain to prevent hunger! I don't want anything when I die, you must remember to put a few dollars in your hands. In the underworld, hungry ghosts and wild devils only get away if they ask for money.

Lilac will always remember that when the grain was yellow, Lilac Fort came to the People's Liberation Army wearing the five-pointed star hat of the Red Army.

At noon that day, just after dinner, Qiusheng was about to go to the field to do work, and a team came from the moonlight pond on the platform of the building in the distance, and the soldiers at the head waved the red flag.

Qiusheng was a little scared, so he hurriedly returned to the courtyard and got the lilacs back into the house. The soldiers are in chaos, and they don't know which way the gods came.

Through the window, Lilac saw that the soldier who was the head had planted the red flag on the earthen wall of the courtyard gate. An officer with a pistol was greeting Qiusheng: "Fellow countryman, we are the Chinese People's Liberation Army, we are here to liberate the toiling masses, and we are the sons and daughters of the peasants. Now our army is passing through your land, and we need to borrow your house for a while, so I can bother. ”

Qiusheng had to agree to lead them into the hospital. Two PLA soldiers set up machine guns outside the courtyard gate, and the other soldiers formed a formation in the courtyard, estimating that there were about thirty or forty people.

The officer made a speech after he had formed his formation, probably because of strict discipline and fortification. After the lecture, they disbanded and prepared accommodation and dinner.

In the midst of the busyness, a soldier came, and he just wanted to remove the door panel of the room where Lilac and his mother-in-law were hiding.

At this time, Lilac didn't know where to get the courage, walked out with a somewhat nostalgic belly, and said to the soldier: "Boss, as the saying goes, the man's study, the woman's embroidery room!" Besides, it's not convenient for me to be pregnant as a woman, and the door panel can't be taken. ”

At this time, the officer heard the voice and hurriedly walked over and reprimanded the soldier: "Liu Hua, how can you take the door panel of the fellow countryman?" Mass discipline forgotten?! Hurry up and put the door on the door for the fellow!! ”

After finishing speaking, he said to Lilac and her mother-in-law: "Hello mother-in-law and sister-in-law, I'm sorry for worrying you!"

The mother-in-law was so frightened that she didn't dare to answer, and Lilac stepped forward and replied, "Thank you, sir."

There were five or six people in one room, and the whole building was crowded. The officer's room was erected with benches, and two door panels were removed from the second floor of the building, and temporarily used as a conference office.

The officer saw the potatoes dug up by Qiusheng on the ground and asked, "Fellow, how do you sell this?" You name a price. ”

Qiusheng was a little scared, so he said: "The bosses like to take it casually, and some things in the soil are not worth anything, so they don't dare to collect money."

The officer smiled, took out a silver dollar and handed it to Qiu Sheng, and said, "The potatoes are mine, and the money is yours!"

Qiusheng hurriedly pushed back and said, "Don't dare, sir, it's not worth the money anymore."

The officer suddenly saluted Qiusheng, and Qiusheng was stunned.

When the officer saw this, he hurriedly put down his hand and said with a smile: "Fellow, you take the money, or we can't eat potatoes, we northerners eat this and grow up, and we like this." The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a soldier of the people, and it cannot be sold and bought by force, so you should make it convenient for you. As soon as Qiusheng obeyed the words, he had to accept it.

Ding Xiang knew at this time that these teams were not as good as the national army in Lantian, so she tried to point to the five-pointed star on the hat on the officer's head: "Are you the Red Army who came to Anhua back then?" Will you still go? ”

When the officer heard this, he hurriedly said to Lilac: "Sister-in-law, yes, we are the Red Army of the year, and we are going to liberate the whole of China." But rest assured, after you have been liberated, it will be our poor masses who will be the masters of our own affairs, and we will no longer be angry with the Kuomintang reactionary landlords and old money. ”

Hearing this, some mothers-in-law who seemed to understand were not afraid and walked out.

In the afternoon of the same day, Lilac and her mother-in-law helped the People's Liberation Army to cook, and they were blessed not to be timid, and after a while, they mingled with those soldiers and chased after them.

At dinner, the officer invited Lilac's family to sip together, and Lilac sipped three bowls of white rice. That sweet, cloves still laughed with others many years later, half starved and half hungry for a few months, only after sipping so much full food, when I was sleepy at night, my body didn't dare to sleep, and I slept on my side.

During the days of the People's Liberation Army at his house, Qiusheng unexpectedly met an acquaintance, who was the Wang company commander when he was digging trenches in Chongqing. He was a cook, and Qiusheng recognized him at that time, and he recognized Qiusheng, but he was very nervous at the time and pretended to go to the toilet.

Qiusheng is a person who understands, and he pretends not to know him. The next day, the officer sent Company Commander Wang to discuss with Qiusheng to buy some firewood before he had the opportunity to meet him alone.

At that time, Qiusheng secretly dragged him to the firewood room at the back of the house and pretended to see the firewood, looked left and right to see that there was no one, and asked: "Company Commander Wang, why did you become a gangster in the People's Liberation Army?"

The company commander replied with some anxiety: "Little brother, you won't betray me, right?" I took the risk to surrender to the People's Liberation Army. ”

It turned out that after bidding farewell to Qiusheng from Chongqing, the company commander Wang moved to the Sichuan-Hubei area, and was promoted to the deputy of the regiment two years ago.

Four months ago, the unit was defeated, and when it fled in soldiers' clothes, it was captured and captured by the PLA. He didn't dare to reveal his identity, pretending that he was the one who was arrested, his parents died, and his wife ran away with someone.

The one who arrested him was the officer of Qiusheng's family, Company Commander Wu. Company Commander Wu believed him when he heard this, and said: "Even if there is no one in my brother's family, then you will continue to be a cook in our team, and when the whole of China is liberated, the troops will contact your local people's government to implement your life and work according to your situation.

When Deputy Wang Tuan saw that he had lied and couldn't come back, he had to follow Company Commander Wu and fight all the way to Anhua.

When Deputy Wang Tuan said this, a big man cried quietly.

He said that he had long wanted to retire from the Kuomintang ranks, and that he still had his 70-year-old mother at home, and that there were five or six wives and children. After many years of military service, he saved some belongings, and when he fled in Hubei, he was wiped out. The family didn't know that there was a chance to escape, even if they begged for rice, they had to go back to Chongqing.

When Qiusheng heard this, his heart was not a taste. remembered that Deputy Wang Tuan was kind to him at that time, and he felt compassion in his heart, and comforted him a few words at the moment.

At night, Qiusheng chatted with Ding Xiang about the situation of Wang Tuan's vice-president, and after listening to it, Lilac thought for a long time, and then said: "Brother Qiu, this Wang Tuan's deputy is a little pitiful, and he gave you a Guangyang when he was in Chongqing. Well, you get him your clothes. Yesterday, that Company Commander Wu gave you a silver dollar when he bought potatoes, that game is not worth so much money, and you don't feel at ease if you get it, so you simply gave it to Deputy Wang Tuan, so that he can cope with it for a few days on the road. ”

When Qiusheng heard this, he hurriedly said: "I also mean this, I'm afraid that you won't agree and dare not say it!"

Early the next morning, Qiusheng and Lilac secretly led the deputy Wang Tuan to the mountain road behind the house leading to the neighboring village, and handed the prepared clothes and silver dollars to the deputy Wang Tuan.

At that time, Deputy Wang Tuan was so moved that he immediately knelt in front of Qiusheng and his wife, tears and snot came out, "Little brother, the great kindness of the two of you, my Wang Hu Ping, will always remember that I will always be in the house to offer the immortal tablet every day!" ”

Qiusheng hurriedly pulled it up, afraid that someone would see it badly, so he urged him to go quickly, and took off the hat on his head and put it on him.

On the way back, Lilac said to Qiusheng, the war is really a sinful thing, I don't know when it will be peaceful?!

Qiusheng didn't respond, and then he remembered Xia Sheng, who ran away in anger.

Deputy Wang Tuan, who walked out half a mile away, suddenly turned around and kowtowed three more times at the back of Qiusheng and his wife.

At noon that day, Company Commander Wu found that the cook Lao Wang was missing, and the whole afternoon of investigation was fruitless.

The next day, Company Commander Wu found Qiusheng and said, they moved to the house of the pseudo county magistrate He Hongguang at noon today, and I have disturbed you these days, and I thank you for your support on behalf of the company party committee!!

When returning the items, a hole was rotten in a cauldron, and Company Commander Wu insisted on giving Qiusheng two more Guangyang as compensation.

After lunch that day, Company Commander Wu led the team to leave Lilac's house in high spirits.

At first, her mother-in-law, who had been worried and scared, was sent to the moonlight pond, looked at the distant People's Liberation Army and said: "O teacher of benevolence and righteousness! If they don't sit in the world, who can sit firmly? ”

A month later, there was good news from Lilac's family.

Xia Sheng, who has been away for more than a year, has news. The letter said that he became a member of the People's Liberation Army two months ago, and he reassured his mother and brother that he would come back after the war, and he also put two silver dollars in the letter.

At that time, my mother-in-law's hands trembled when she received the letter, and she cried so much that Qiusheng Lilac couldn't help but shed tears.

End of the twenty-ninth round