Untitled Unforgettable that year of digging rat nests - some holes actually dug out thirty or forty kilograms of grain

I remember watching a program interviewing the big-eyed Zhao Wei. The host smiled and called Zhao Wei a big-eyed thief. It's understandable that Zhao Wei felt unnatural at the time. The host's jokes were indeed a bit excessive. However, the mention of the big-eyed thieves like hamsters really reminds me of many past events related to big-eyed thieves when I was a child.

My memories of the 1960s and 1970s are mostly related to food, mainly because we were too poor at that time. At that time, I had neither clothes nor food to eat! After the autumn harvest that year, the empty fields became a paradise for us to let our childish innocence fly. The three of us rushed to the production team's crop fields in groups, holding forks, shovels, etc. in our hands, looking for big-eyed holes.

Our purpose is twofold: one is to catch the big-eyed thief and burn it to eat, and the other is to dig out the grain stored in the big-eyed thief's hole. Big-eyed thieves usually dig holes next to ditches or trenches. Its hole is as thick as a tea cup. From the smoothness and freshness of the hole, you can determine whether there are big-eyed thieves in the hole and how much food there is. When you see a hole, you dig it, sometimes in vain. Based on our experience: as long as you find the main cave entrance extending downward, you will definitely find at least two more secret cave entrances nearby. The big-eyed thief is very smart, and the hidden caves nearby are all prepared for it to escape or enter and exit in winter. Before digging the main hole, these hidden holes should be blocked or guarded, and the big-eyed thieves should be captured if they escape.

We organized manpower to focus on digging the main hole. When digging, we should pay attention to look for side holes (horizontal holes) on the wall of the main hole. Because digging down the side hole will lead directly to the big-eyed thief's granary. After the big-eyed thief has stored enough food, he usually blocks the side holes and abandons the main hole. This point cannot be discovered if you are not careful. If you cannot find the side hole, of course you will not be able to dig out the big-eyed thief, and you will not be able to find the big-eyed thief's granary. Find the side hole and dig along it, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find out what a good underground building this is! The side hole is like a small corridor. There is a row of small rooms regularly arranged on one side of the corridor. It is not accurate to say that the small rooms are small, but they are actually the granaries of big-eyed thieves.

As an animal, the cunning big-eyed thief is very particular about the storage of food. The things stored in each small barn are roughly the same. Sorghum and corn are usually placed in the same warehouse; in the soybean warehouse, there is almost no other grain. Each warehouse stores nearly ten kilograms of grain. In a big-eyed thief hole, you can dig out about thirty or forty kilograms of grain.

What is unexpected is that there is a bedroom in the big-eyed thief's cave. The big-eyed thief's bedroom is really enviable. The little nest is made of cotton, grass, wool, and cow hair, evenly kneaded together. It's so dry and soft! Reminiscent of the winter in the north, with the ice and snow outside the cave and the biting wind, how warm and comfortable it must be here!

We dig open the warm and happy habitat of the big-eyed thief, and take back the fruits that our fathers have earned with their blood and sweat. When we destroy its lair, the big-eyed thief will run out of the hole and will run around us while "squeaking". The result of a big-eyed thief is of course: being beaten to death with a shovel while we shout "Down with all the dog landlords who get something for nothing". The big-eyed thief would rather die than escape, perhaps because of his personality. At that time, we guessed that the big-eyed thief was trying to protect the stolen fruits and the homeland on which he lived.

After the autumn of that year, my eldest brother and I, as well as Li Erwai, the big-eyed thieves who wanted to beat to death for not wanting food, burned the house and ate it. In total, we dug up six nests of big-eyed thieves. , and took back fourteen to five kilograms of soybeans, fifty or sixty kilograms of corn, and half a bag of grains from the big-eyed thief.

Because of our ability, my eldest brother and I could often eat the clean-faced pancakes that my mother baked specially for me and my eldest brother in the winter of that year. The so-called pure flour pancakes are Northeastern pancakes made of pure cornmeal without any other ingredients. This was a very high treatment in those years when people were struggling to survive on starch. My mother often told me during her lifetime that her first child was very sensible and picked up grain every autumn. He died when he was 12 years old. He died of vomiting blood just because he could eat "big pancakes with clean noodles". And now the eldest brother has the nickname "Chang Dai" for this reason.

During those years of poverty, I have a profound memory of snatching food from the mouths of big-eyed thieves.