"Wild Crane No Food" (7)

A ferocious big dog that bullies strangers. The more my mother runs away, the more he chases me. I saw the vicious dog rushing forward and biting my mother's ankle. When I saw my mother being bitten by a dog, I was so frightened that I hugged my mother's neck and cried loudly, "Wow!"

"Lingling, Xiaoqin, come quickly!" Mom hugged me and backed up, calling the eldest sister and the second sister, asking them to come up and beat the dog.

The vicious dog tore at the corner of my mother’s trouser leg and pulled it back desperately. No matter how hard my mother kicked it, it didn’t let go.

The eldest sister did not dare to come forward and hid aside. At this time, the second sister, who was only eight years old, bravely rushed forward, picked up the empty plastic bucket, and smashed the vicious dog's head. The vicious dog who was hit made an "ouch" and then let go and retreated. He shouted wildly to the side.

Our cries and the barking of dogs merged into one. After a while, an old man in his forties walked out of the gate. He was wearing a peaked felt hat and a blue cotton coat. He limped up to the dog and kicked the dog: "Go to the yard." !” Then he turned around and asked us, “Did he bite you?”

“It bit my ankle.” Then my mother felt a tearing pain in her right ankle.

"Let me see, is the bite severe?" The uncle leaned over to observe and asked with concern.

Mom put me down and lifted up the trousers that had been torn by the dog. There were three or four dog bite marks on my ankles, and blood was oozing from the teeth.

"Zhenzhen, it's all bitten. Come home quickly and apply some red liquid." The uncle was a little panicked.

"I don't dare to enter your courtyard again..." Mom said with lingering fear.

"Don't be afraid." The uncle turned around and shouted towards the yard: "Lingling, tie up the dog!"

After hearing the uncle call Lingling, the eldest sister was stunned and felt Do you think there is someone with the same name as me in his family? But he said angrily: "Your dog is so powerful. It bit my mother and made her bleed!"

"Is mom in pain? Go to their house and get some medicine." Don't be mad again." The second sister persuaded her mother with tears in her eyes.

The uncle saw that we did not look like locals and asked us doubtfully: "Where are you from? How did you come to my door? My dog ??has never bitten anyone in the village."

At this time, a girl's clear voice came from the courtyard: "Dad, why did you ask me to tie up the dog?" After the voice fell, a girl walked out of the door. She had two pigtails hanging down her shoulders and was wearing a red-bottomed white flower dress. He was wearing a cotton-padded jacket and his dark face looked about the same age as my eldest sister.

"Our dog bit someone." The uncle told Lingling. It turns out that the girl named Lingling is the uncle's daughter.

"I heard why there is so much chaos outside!" Lingling said disapprovingly.

“Look, I’ve bitten my mother’s ankles.” The second sister pointed at her mother’s ankles and said to Lingling reluctantly.

When Lingling saw her mother’s bleeding wound, she said to her father in shock: “Ah, it really bit someone! Dad, why don’t you pack it up quickly?”

"People don't dare to go because they are afraid of dogs." The uncle said.

"Auntie, I have tied up the dog so that it can't bite you. Come in and apply some medicine." Lingling looked ashamed and urged her mother to go in and apply medicine.

? Mom was still frightened and still didn’t want to enter the house.

The uncle stepped forward and kindly advised my mother: "Let's go, sister, get some medicine quickly, otherwise you will get inflammation."

My mother saw that their dog looked fierce, and the dog The owners were kind and kind, and moved towards the door.

We supported our mother and arrived at the uncle’s house. The yard built with blue bricks is larger than others, and the house is taller than others. There was a cow eating grass in the cowshed, and the dog took advantage of the human strength to bark even more fiercely...

"You guys sit down first, and I will get you some medicine." The uncle took out the red potion from the drawer. , handed it to mother. The eldest sister and the second sister applied medicine to my mother.

“Are you here to visit relatives?” Lingling asked after seeing our travel bags and soy sauce buckets.

"This is my..." The eldest sister was quick to talk and wanted to say my hometown.

"Lingling," my mother shouted, not letting the eldest sister continue. I secretly thought about my father’s disgraceful scandal and I couldn’t let my family know about it.

The uncle’s daughter was surprised when she heard her mother’s name was Lingling: “Well, aunt, are you calling me?”

My mother said: “No, I call me Na. My eldest daughter, why are you called Lingling?" Mom asked Lingling.

“Yes!” Lingling turned around and asked her eldest sister: “Sister, are you also called Lingling?”

“Yes, I was thinking outside the door just now, why is there such a thing in this family? Is there anyone with the same name as me? How old are you?" the eldest sister asked Lingling.

"You are a ox, you are 12 this year. Where is yours?" Lingling asked her eldest sister.

"I am also born in the Year of the Ox, and we are the same age." The eldest sister said in surprise.

"Really? What a coincidence." Lingling was also surprised.

"How old are you?"

"Okay, there are a lot of people with the same name, I guess you two are curious about it." The uncle saw that they couldn't finish talking, so he interrupted them. The chirping sound. The uncle then asked us:

"If you are not here to visit relatives, then why are you here? Looking for someone?"

When my mother saw me hungry, I didn't know when to leave. I took out the sweet potatoes from my travel bag and started drying them. I suddenly thought about what we were here for:

"I'm not here to visit relatives or find someone. I'm here to exchange soy sauce for food." Yes." Mom said.

"Soy sauce for grain? How to trade soy sauce for grain?" The uncle was confused.

My mother reiterated to the uncle how to exchange soy sauce for grain.

After the uncle understood our reasons, he unexpectedly found out that he was very familiar with our hungry and impoverished life in J City. He said to us: "Hi! By coincidence, I used to work in a grain depot in J City. I know how difficult it is for you there. Once, a pot of dried sweet potatoes was cooked in the factory cafeteria. When the meal started, everyone found that there was a sweet potato in the pot. The hungry employees were reluctant to throw away the dead rats. While eating, they jokingly said that the rats in the granary also grew up eating food and were not dirty..."

The uncle's daughter Xiaoling, met We usually arrogant city dwellers actually came to their countryside to beg for food. She shouted proudly: "Oh, you are from J City. I didn't expect you city dwellers to live like this." , our lives are not as good as those of us in the countryside!”

I was hungry, so I squatted in front of the travel bag filled with dried sweet potatoes and clucked like a mouse. Eat dried sweet potatoes secretly. When the uncle saw this, he told his daughter: "Xiao Ling, bring them some peanuts to eat."

"Hey," Xiao Ling agreed happily and ran into the suite in the main room.

Mom knows about peanuts, which were a rare treat in those days when we often ate wild vegetables. So I politely said to the uncle:

? "No need to take it, no need to take it, it's getting late, I'm leaving now." While speaking, Xiaoling had already walked out of the suite, carrying a bucket The peanuts were placed in front of us.

"Eat it, you guys. These are raw peanuts. Peel off the skin and eat the kernels. They are delicious." Xiaoling said to me with a smile. It seemed to be saying to me: "It's much more delicious than dried sweet potatoes."

We really wanted to eat it, but we didn't dare to eat it. We all looked at our mother together... Xiaoling grabbed a handful from the dustpan. Pass the peanuts to my mother in a sensible way: "Auntie, you eat first, they won't dare to eat it if you don't eat it."

"Don't eat it, don't eat it, these peanuts are quite expensive..." Mom After saying that, he hurriedly took it.

"Eat it, you're welcome, it's all grown at home, it doesn't cost any money." The uncle took out a cigarette and lit it while dispelling our doubts and letting us eat with confidence.

Xiaoling grabbed another handful of peanuts and handed them to the eldest sister: "Lingling, both of us are called Lingling. Should I call you sister or your sister?" The eldest sister saw that her mother had picked up the peanuts. While picking up the peanuts, he said to Xiaoling: "I was born in August, how about you?"

"Oh, I have to call you sister, I was born in the twelfth month.

"Xiao Ling casually grabbed a handful of peanuts and handed them to the second sister: "Don't ask if this is the little sister, eat it quickly, little sister. "

The second sister also took it and said politely: "Thank you, Sister Ling."

Before Sister Xiaoling could grab me the peanuts, I had already reached out and went to myself. Caught.

"Uncle, if you sell these peanuts, how much does it cost per pound? "The eldest sister kept her mouth busy while eating peanuts, and said something without any clue.

"Peanuts can't stop your mouth. "My mother scolded my eldest sister.

"I haven't sold it before. Peanut oil now costs more than 80 cents per catty, and raw peanuts are sold for 23 cents per catty no matter how much you buy them. "The uncle calculatedly said to the eldest sister.

"Sister Ling, these peanuts are grown in our courtyard. There is still a bag of them, so you can eat them without worry. "Xiao Ling thought that the eldest sister was embarrassed to eat more, so she unintentionally revealed her "family background".

Perhaps the coincidence that the eldest sister and Xiao Ling are the same age and have the same name lessened their differences and made them There is a sense of intimacy between them. This kind of friendship between them will bring unexpected help to us in the difficult life in the future.

" Okay, okay, don't eat anymore. It's getting late, and we have to replace the remaining soy sauce with grain. "Mom urged us to leave, and at the same time, consciously or unconsciously, she wanted to test whether the uncle and the others were willing to give us some food in exchange.

Of course, the shrewd uncle heard what the mother said:

"How much soy sauce do you have left? Leave it to me. I have dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato noodles, sticks, and stick noodles at home. Don’t worry about how many, bring some back for the children to eat. "Obviously, in order to make up for my mother being bitten by his dog, the uncle deliberately took care of us.

My mother was secretly happy, but she said

"There are not many left. Ten pounds. You can exchange as much as you need, and don’t lose money. ”

Then the uncle told his daughter: “Xiao Ling, take them to the back room and give them some food. You can put whatever they want to eat.” "

Lingling responded crisply: "Hey! She turned back to her mother and said, "Come on, auntie, come with me to the back room and see what kind of food you like to eat?" ”

My mother thought that she had been bitten by Lingling’s dog and was bleeding. She felt that their family should compensate them with some food, so she followed Lingling unceremoniously to the back room.

The eldest sister and the second sister picked up the peanuts and diligently swept the peanut skins on the other side of the house. They had already finished eating. I had not eaten enough, so I bent down and looked for the peanuts that had not yet been peeled.

? Among the pile of peanut skins, I suddenly found a deflated peanut. I picked it up and peeled off the skin. Only peanut kernels as small as beans were left inside. I didn’t blow away the dust. I opened my mouth and held it in my hand. The skinned peanuts were quickly thrown into his mouth.

"If it's dirty, you just eat it in your mouth?" "The second sister saw my worthless look and put down the tree to scold me.

"There are peanuts in it! "I said shamelessly.

"Look at how greedy you are. "Actually, the second sister was afraid that people would laugh at me for not being promising. Unexpectedly, Sister Xiaoling walked out of the back room and saw my shabby appearance, feeling pity in her heart. So she said to her father:

“Dad, they didn’t eat enough peanuts, let’s give them the remaining peanuts. "

The uncle was reluctant to give us all the more than ten kilograms of peanuts left at home, but he didn't expect that his daughter had already said it. So, the uncle said grandly:

"Take it, since the children are willing to eat it. "

Mom quickly waved her hand to stop: "No, no, ten pounds of soy sauce can't exchange for so many peanuts. It's not cost-effective for you. "This time, my mother really felt that the barter exchange was disproportionately different in value, so she didn't dare to accept it.

"Sister, even if I don't have your soy sauce, it's okay to give the children some peanuts. Take it quickly. Come on, don't be polite. "The uncle didn't mention the dog biting thing again this time, but he still wanted to use peanuts to balance his guilt for his mother.

We have met a good person.

If we encounter a family of bullies and rogues, and our mother is bitten by their dog, and the bully refuses to admit his guilt, there is nothing we, the orphans and widowers, can do against the bully.

"Sister Ling, let's go! Follow me to the back room to pack peanuts." Sister Xiaoling stepped forward and took the eldest sister's hand, jumping back to the back room.

The eldest sister and the second sister were carrying travel bags containing more than ten kilograms of peanuts, my mother was carrying the dry sweet potato bags she had exchanged, and I was carrying a bag with a scale and bamboo handles for soy sauce. As if visiting relatives, they walked out of the uncle's and his daughter's home.

When we came to the yard, the biting dog was still barking, but not as crazy as when he first arrived, and it would wag its tail at us from time to time...