"Brother, I'm so hungry..."
"Brother, am I going to die?"
Snow is falling all over the sky.
In a dilapidated thatched hut with drafts everywhere, a little girl with patched clothes and chapped lips was lying on a simple bed, talking to the young man with her dying breath.
The young man, wearing straw sandals, held the girl's hand tightly and said, "Ling'er, don't be afraid... With your brother here, Ling'er won't die."
"But brother, I'm really hungry... I can't hold on any longer!"
Hearing his sister say this, the boy's eyes turned red.
"Brother, I miss mom!"
"If mother were still alive, we... wouldn't be like this..." When the girl said this, tears streaming down her face.
The boy's name is Lu Fan.
The girl's name is Lu Ling'er.
turn out to be.
They, the brother and sister, had their happy days.
But all this came to an abrupt end three years ago.
Three years ago, my mother died suddenly of illness, and my biological father married a stepmother in less than a month.
What the two siblings didn't expect was that their stepmother kicked them out of the house in the blink of an eye.
Since then.
The two siblings depended on each other for survival.
I thought I could survive with difficulty, but I never expected that I would encounter the worst famine in a hundred years.
rumor.
The wild grass and tree bark in the north had been eaten up, but hundreds of thousands of people still starved to death.
There are even rumors that cannibalism has occurred there.
Looking at his dying sister on the bed and the empty rice jar, Lu Fan finally gritted his teeth and said, "Ling'er, I won't let you starve to death, never!"
Finished.
Lu Fan suddenly picked up Lu Linger from the bed and walked towards the wind and snow outside.
"Brother, where are you going...?"
Lu Linger asked in a weak voice.
"go home!"
Hearing the words "go home", Lu Linger's eyes were dazed, and she murmured, "Do we still have a home..."
...
Lu family.
When Lu Fan came back carrying the dying Lu Linger on his back, he saw his biological father Lu Dahai and stepmother Wang eating at the table.
"Hey, aren't these two bastards? Why are you back?"
Stepmother Wang held the child in her arms and looked at the two siblings coldly and sarcastically.
Lu Dahai didn't expect that the two of them would actually come, and couldn't help but ask: "Why are you here?
Lu Fan slowly raised his head and said, "I'm begging you to lend me some food to save Ling'er!"
"Save Ling'er? What happened to Ling'er?"
Lu Dahai asked.
"Ling'er hasn't eaten for three days and is almost starving to death!" Lu Fan said.
When these words were spoken, Lu Dahai was stunned. He was about to speak, but suddenly, his stepmother Wang stood up.
"You little bastard, you want food right away? Do you think my family runs a granary?"
"Besides, whether that little bastard starves to death or not is none of our business. These days, there are so many people starving to death out there. One more isn't much, and one less isn't much either! Don't you agree, Old Lu?"
This sentence scared Lu Dahai so much that he dared not speak.
"Please, lend me some food!"
"Don't worry, as long as I can save Ling'er, I'm willing to work like a slave for you!"
"I beg you!"
After Lu Fan finished speaking, he knelt directly in front of Lu Dahai.
Then he started kowtow- ing loudly.
His head hit the cold ground and bled, but Lu Dahai didn't dare to say a word. He could only look at Wang beside him.
"Hey? You little bastard, are you playing rogue here? I told you, don't try to play tricks on me. Even if you die here today, we won't give you a single grain of food!"
Seeing Wang say this, Lu Dahai couldn't help but say, "Wife, how about... just lending them a little bit? After all, they're borrowing it, it's not like they won't pay it back."
Who knows.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang cursed, "Lu, have you lost your mind? You expect these two little bastards to return your food? Are you still thinking about that damn woman and deliberately feeding these two bastards?"
"No, no, I didn't!" Lu Dahai said quickly.
"Then why did you lend them food? Don't you know that we don't have much food left?"
Seeing Wang cursing at Lu Dahai, Lu Linger, who was lying on Lu Fan's back and dying, suddenly said weakly: "Brother... I don't want to stay here, let's go..."
Listening to his sister's weak voice, Lu Fan said, "But you..."
Lu Linger shook her head.
"Brother, even if I starve to death, I don't want you to kneel down to them!"
Seeing Lu Linger say this, Lu Fan showed a miserable smile.
Then.
He stood up slowly.
"Okay, I'll listen to you!"
After saying that.
He carried the weak Lu Linger on his back and prepared to leave.
"stop!"
At this moment, stepmother Wang suddenly called out to the brother and sister!
then.
Wang ran in, took out a package and threw it at Lu Fan's feet.
"Take your dead mother's things with you, so they don't bring bad luck to our house. Also, don't come here again! If you come again, I'll let the dogs out and bite you two bastards to death."
Finished.
With a snap.
The hall door is closed.
Lu Fan didn't say anything. He bent down to pick up the relics left by his mother. Then, he turned around and carried Lu Ling'er on his back and disappeared in the wind and snow.
The wind and snow are very cold.
But it cannot cool people's hearts.
It was almost dark when we returned to the shabby thatched hut.
Lu Linger is now in a semi-comatose state because she is too hungry and too cold.
Seeing Lu Linger almost starving to death on the bed, Lu Fan's eyes became moist.
I remember that before his mother died, she told Lu Fan: Take good care of your sister no matter what!
But what about now?
Thinking of his mother, Lu Fan felt heartbroken.
final.
His eyes fell on the package of relics left by his mother.
When I opened the package, I saw that it contained the wooden comb and clothes that my mother had used when she was alive.
In addition, there is a black gourd.
This gourd is old, pitch black all over, and has some wear on the edges.
The only strange thing is that there are a few fuzzy lines on the bottom of the gourd.
Lu Fan remembered that this gourd was his mother's dowry and was said to be an heirloom.
Lu Fan touched it once when he was a child, but after being scolded by his mother, he never dared to touch it again.
Unexpectedly, it appears here now.
Holding the black gourd, Lu Fan thought that it would be good for storing water when he went up the mountain to dig wild vegetables.
At the same time, my longing for my mother grew stronger.
Looking up at his dying sister on the bed, Lu Fan finally stood up and said, "Ling'er, don't worry, I will never let you starve to death. I will go into the mountains to find wild vegetables for you to eat. Just wait for me..."
After saying that, Lu Fan picked up the gourd, filled the water tank with water, tied it with a hemp rope, put it on his back, and then pushed open the door.
...
Outside.
The wind and snow are getting stronger.
Lu Fan wrapped his tattered clothes and went into the mountains in the wind and snow.
The mountain road is rugged and covered with snow, making the already rugged mountain road even more difficult to walk on.
Not long after entering the mountains, Lu Fan was so hungry that his legs went weak and he fell into the ditch with a bang.
At the same time, his arm was scratched by the sharp stone and blood was flowing out.
He touched the wound and his fingers were stained with blood!
"I'm so hungry!"
He sighed, took out the gourd from his back, and prepared to drink some water to quench his hunger.
Three days.
He hadn't eaten anything and had been living on water.
Just as Lu Fan was about to pick up the gourd to drink water, the blood on his fingers fell on the gourd, and then the patterns on the black gourd suddenly flashed and disappeared in an instant.
"Why did this gourd light up just now?"
Lu Fan's eyes suddenly widened.
The gourd is still there, the only strange thing is that the lines on the bottom of the gourd seem to be much clearer.
"Was it my eyes that were blurry just now?"
"Heh! It seems I'm too hungry and am hallucinating!"
Lu Fan laughed at himself, opened the gourd, and gulped down a few gulps.
After drinking the cold water, a sweet feeling came into Lu Fan's heart.
"Strange, why does this water taste different from before? It's actually sweet."
Lu Fan muttered to himself as he savored the taste.
After drinking the water, Lu Fan continued to dig wild vegetables.
What made Lu Fan feel strange was that after drinking the water in the gourd, he seemed not to be so hungry anymore!
What was even stranger was that he felt warm all over and even his strength had returned.
"Huh? Why did my hunger disappear so much after drinking water?"
Can water relieve hunger?
Isn't this nonsense!
Could it be that it's all my own psychological effect?
Lu Fan laughed at himself while continuing to dig weeds.