Li Tianming walked for several days and nights, his feet were worn out, and he kept walking along the road, eating a few pancakes when he was hungry, drinking a few sips of water when he was thirsty, and looking for a place to spend the night when he was sleepy.
He didn't know where he was going, he just wanted to leave here and go to a place where no one knew him, no one knew his name was Li Tianming.
I don't know how many miles I walked, how many villages I passed, and suddenly a wide asphalt road appeared in front of me, and there were many buildings and shops lined up high and low—to a county town.
Li Tianming touched his body, and all the dry food he brought was finished. There were still a few national food stamps left on him. This was his only property left.
He found a grain and oil supply and marketing cooperative and wanted to change some grain.
The manager of the supply and marketing agency is in his thirties, and he is white and fat. It is not easy to have such a figure at this time.
The manager is moving goods and sorting shelves, and the tens of kilograms of grain bags are red and red after moving.
Li Tianming took the initiative to help. After dozens of bags of grain were moved, the manager sat on the stool and gasped for breath. He looked at the young man who was working without a word in surprise.
He looks lean and lean, but he has a lot of strength.
Li Tianming squeezed the food stamps in his hand and suddenly changed his mind.
He told the manager, I'll give you a hand here, no money.
"I will do whatever you arrange. I don't want to be a regular worker, just take care of the food. I don't eat much."
Li Tianming finished speaking in one breath and watched the manager's reaction.
The manager raised his eyebrows and said, "Who are you?"
"I, I'm the youngest son of the Ge Tianchao family in Xinwangzhuang. My father sent me to the city to be an apprentice at Lao Liu Carpenter's Shop. The master thought I was too stupid and kicked me out. I didn't dare to go back to my hometown. Will kill me."
The places Li Tianming said were all he had seen on the road, and the plots were fabricated, but they were very sincere, and it was hard for others to believe them.
"Uncle, leave me, as long as I have a place to live. I, I can sleep here to show you the shop at night. I don't usually eat much..."
The fat manager hesitated. He really lacks hands and feet to help him work diligently.
Although it seems that the young man's requirements are very simple, it is actually quite difficult in the age when everything has to be proved.
The manager is very difficult. I have never met such a request. Originally, the procedures for one more employee and one less employee in the store are very troublesome. You have to report to the above, ask for instructions, and require level-by-level approval and stamping.
But this kid doesn't need status and salary. He needs to add a pair of chopsticks when he eats. Does he work? Seeing that his hands and feet are also quite neat.
As for the accommodation, anyway, the store is big, just find a place to build a bed.
"Well, I think you are an honest person, mainly because you are an honest person -" the manager specially emphasized the word honest-"just work here for the time being. Do you have any luggage? You have to solve the bedding yourself!"
"Thank you, the manager, thank you, the manager, you are equivalent to my new parents. I am very kind and thank you. I will repay you if I have the opportunity in the future..."
Repaying or not repaying for the time being, Li Tianming's gratitude is real. It is really difficult to have a legal residence these years.
In this way, Li Tianming settled down. He worked during the day and lay on a wooden board at night. Although the conditions were very difficult, it was much better than the displacement and bed and sleep of the previous months.
Unlike the empty home before, I rarely dream of the four faceless bodies when I sleep at night.
Although the grain and oil supply and marketing cooperatives do have a lot of work, he doesn't mind if they are tired. At least the people around him treat themselves as human beings. Gradually, everyone around him accepted this taciturn, hardworking young man.
The manager is also very satisfied. Seeing that this kid is so thin and fast, he doesn't have to work hard to carry a bag of more than 100 catties, and he doesn't eat much. It is enough to bring him a little from home every day.
The most important thing is that he is honest, the fat manager has counted all the goods in the store several times, and he has never missed one.
Every morning, Li Tian gets up early in the morning and cleans up the supply and marketing cooperatives before dawn.
After finishing everything, Li Tianming sat on the low stool at the door, breathing the smell of the city greedily amid the ringing of bicycles and the sound of bus horns.
The smoke from the coal-burning stove where the citizens make breakfast, the ash of the slag poured at the door, the aroma of fried dough sticks and soy milk in the factory cafeteria opposite, mixed with the unique morning air...the world is bustling, all of which makes Li Tianming feel the hustle and bustle of the world. Breath of life.
Winter is here, can spring be far behind
But the winter was over this year, but spring did not come.
A few months later, hungry people fleeing famine in twos and threes began to appear in the county town.
It didn't take long for the news to spread. It is said that after the seeds were planted this spring, none of the crops sprouted. Others said that there was no sowing at all, and the farmers ate all the grain... Anyway, nothing grew out of the fields that should have been full of spring.
Even the wild vegetables and bark were eaten up.
More and more hungry people are fleeing into the city, and it is said that people have starved to death in some places.
The supply of grain and oil supply and marketing cooperatives has also begun to be tight. The goods are getting less and less. Food stamps, oil stamps, sugar stamps... Even if you have tickets, you can't buy anything.
Of course, the manager of the grain and oil supply and marketing cooperative will not be hungry yet. He will still be fat and fat. Even Li Tianming, the "little worker" of the manager's house, is not hungry.
It's just that I am not very hungry, and there is still a long way to eat.
On this day, Li Tianming was squatting in the supply and marketing cooperative to watch the two old men play chess. In the supply and marketing cooperative, there are often idle people in the society who spend their time idly. Rubbing the stove in winter, there is nothing to rub in spring, but it is still a habit to gather here.
Chess is also carved out of wood, and the board is drawn on the ground.
The manager of the supply and marketing agency also turned a blind eye to these old men. They didn't buy anything but didn't make trouble, and let them go.
They are all retired workers and some are veteran cadres, and they can't see and see when they lower their heads. Maybe some of the children and grandchildren of some of them are their superiors.
Everyone was attentively observing the battle. The old man with a bitter face holding his head on the opposite side was thinking hard, and several people next to him were rushing to make suggestions, vaulting, driving out, jamming...
His opponent, a white-haired old man who was in the hands of the victory, looked around triumphantly.
Li Tianming sneered in his heart, a group of stinky chess players.
But he never speaks or participates. It wasn't that he watched chess but didn't speak a real gentleman, but he felt that he would lose if he talked too much.
At this time, two figures, an old and a young, slowly came in at the door of the supply and marketing agency.
The old man was fifty or sixty years old, with a bowed back and a baggage on his back. From the appearance, he knew that the bag was empty inside.
The infant was a little girl, four or five years old, with two big eyes and pigtails. She didn't know how many days she had not been groomed, her face was black and gray.
"Go out, begging is not allowed here", the manager of the supply and marketing agency drove out the grandparents and grandchildren like a chicken.
The old man hobbled at the door, with a trace of guilt on his face.
Li Tianming thought to himself that people are really strange, he is about to starve to death, but he still has to take care of the dignity on his face.
The fat manager pushed the two of them out. The old man helplessly took the little girl's hand and was about to turn around. The little girl saw the boxes and cans placed in the supply and marketing agency, and said timidly, "Grandpa ,I'm hungry!"
Grandpa stopped, his voice hoarse, and looked at the manager imploringly, "I beg you, we haven't eaten for a few days, let's give the little girl something to eat."
I don't know if it is hungry or tired. When the old man speaks, his body is bent like a shrimp, his whole body squatting and bending.
If he didn't have a stick in his hand, he might kneel down, Li Tianming thought.
"Go, go, go," the manager of the supply and marketing agency puts his hands in front of his grandson and grandson, like chasing chickens and ducks. "There is nothing to eat and nothing to eat. They are empty boxes! Go and go!"
The old man glanced helplessly at the crowd. Some people looked back, then silently turned their heads back.
Some people didn't look up at all.
No one cares about anyone anymore these days.
Li Tianming looked at the grandfather and grandson with sorrow. The misfortune of these grandparents reminded him of his own experience.
The old man seemed to see a glimmer of hope in Li Tianming's pitiful eyes, hobbled closer, stretched out his dark hand and said, "I beg you, please..."
Li Tianming didn't speak, his eyes were attracted by a finger on the old man's hand.
Seeing Li Tianming's gaze, the old man seemed to hesitate a bit, and then decided to pull out his fingers with one hand.
I don't know how many years this finger has been worn, it looks like it has been on the hand, but the thin joints of the finger are finally lifted off.
"This, this, give you something to eat for us." The old man's tone seemed a bit agitated. The little girl was holding grandpa's clothes with one hand, and sucking with one finger in her mouth, staring with two big eyes. Look at Li Tianming.
The manager of the supply and marketing agency looked at Li Tianming with a sneer, "How much is this kind of broken thing worth?"
The old man whistled and argued, "This, this is a family heirloom left by our ancestors. It is very valuable. It has been passed down for many generations. It was originally intended to be passed on to my son, but he has already..."
Li Tianming hesitated. He knew how much the finger was worth. If it were placed half a year ago, let alone changing food, it would be no problem to change this supply and marketing agency.
The manager of the supply and marketing agency continued to sneer.
Li Tianming took the finger from the old man, lowered his head and gently said to the manager: "Give me my half-catty candy ticket for him."
Some time ago, the supply and marketing cooperative bought a batch of imported white sugar. Because of Li Tianming's long-term outstanding performance, the manager specially "rewarded" him half a catty of sugar votes.
"Are you sure? Just change the broken ring for half a catty of sugar tickets?" The manager apparently thought that he was kind of a donkey. Do you know how difficult it is to get half a catty of sugar tickets? Do you know how much you can exchange for half a catty of sugar tickets? I was so kind.
Li Tianming nodded, not daring to look up at the manager's eyes.
The manager sneered and put away the sugar ticket to weigh sugar. He muttered to himself loudly, "There are more people starving in the world, how many can you save? It's not bad to be able to live by yourself these days, and you still want to take care of others..."
Li Tianming did not speak, and tightly pinched a few kilograms of food stamps in his pocket.
Half a catty of sugar coupons is really useless. These few catties of food coupons in your pocket may save your grandfather and grandson two lives, but so what? Are these finished? Can I save my life for a while
The fat manager put the white sugar wrapped in the paper bag on the scale and weighed it again. After confirming that there was no difference, he handed it to his grandson and grandson.
Grandpa held the bag of sugar tightly to his chest, as if holding the most precious thing in the world.
The little girl took her grandfather's placket, and the two walked out of the door, and her clear voice came from the door:
"Grandpa, I want candy."
"Slow down, slow down, don't sprinkle it, dip your finger and taste it first."
"How is it, sweet?"
"Sweet! Grandpa, you eat too."
"You eat, you eat, grandpa is not hungry, grandpa doesn't like sugar."
Listening to the happy voices of his grandson and grandson, Li Tianming clenched the fingers in his hands tightly, grasping so hard, he felt that the fingers were about to be embedded in his palms.
After the grandfather and grandson walked away, he suddenly stood up and chased in the direction where the grandson and grandson left.
The manager sneered behind his back: "How's that? I regret it? It's late, I've been eaten up a long time ago!"
Li Tianming followed his grandson from a distance, followed unhurriedly, watching them walk to a dilapidated house on the outskirts of the city.
…
That night, Li Tianming came back very late. The fat manager had already finished his dinner, and he didn't seem to wait for him at all.
Li Tianming's face has always been ugly, and the fat manager can't help but sneer, "What? Didn't catch up?"
"How about it, have you eaten it up?"
"How about it, lost?"
"Tsk tusk, half a catty of food stamps exchanged for a broken ring, you got kicked in the head by a donkey, right?"
"I don’t think you are short on food. Let’s reduce a little every month. If there is more, it’s wasted. There is not much work in the shop now. In fact, I am very compassionate to leave you here. You don’t know how to support you. I have to spend more food every month, alas, I am a softhearted person..."
That night, Li Tianming lay on a wooden board and stayed up all night, with a picture in his mind.
…
He followed his grandson and grandson to a dilapidated house on the outskirts of the city. The doors and windows of that house had been demolished, leaving only a room with half of the wall exposed.
The owner of the house probably went out to flee the famine, and the ruined house became a temporary residence for the vagrants passing by.
Li Tianming sat silently at the root of the wall, listening to the conversation between his grandson and his grandson.
Grandpa asked: "Is it delicious?"
Granddaughter: "It's delicious, delicious."
Grandpa asked: "Are you full?"
Granddaughter: "You're full, grandpa, there's still leftovers, I can't eat it, you eat, you eat."
Grandpa: "You finish eating, I won't eat, I'm not hungry."
Granddaughter: "Grandpa lied to me, you eat, you eat!"
"Okay, I eat, I eat, Niu Niu can sleep well when I'm full."
"Ok."
After a while, a mournful cry suddenly sounded in the room, like a wounded wolf.
That old sad cry has been breaking through the sky, floating in the night sky.
After the sound in the room ceased, Li Tianming slowly walked into the broken house.
Under the pale and cold moonlight, the old man's thin body hung on the beam of the house, gently swinging in the breeze.
The little girl was lying on the ground, stiff, her eyes wide open, and there was a blue bruise on her neck.
On the ground next to it, there was also a small packet of white sugar, shining with white fluorescence in the moonlight.
Li Tianming stood there silently. The old man couldn't bear to see his granddaughter suffering from hunger, and after she ate and fell asleep for the last time, he choked her to death.
After doing these things, he ended his painful life on the wooden beam.
What a despair this is!
Li Tianming put the old man's body down from the beam, the old man was thin with only a handful of bones, as light as nothing.
Li Tianming searched carefully all over his body, even pinching the seams of his clothes. I searched the little girl carefully again, and apart from the tattered clothes, there was nothing else on the two of them.
Li Tianming silently placed the two corpses together and closed the little girl's wide eyes. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then turned and left.
The remaining small bag of sugar was there, but it didn't move.
Li Tianming has been allergic to candy since he was a child and cannot eat sugar.