The snow kept falling all day and stopped only when it was getting dark. But there were still scattered snowflakes flying in the sky, floating gently like white butterflies flapping their wings.
With crunching sounds underfoot, Sister Li Xiu walked through the thick snow to the door with a bundle of firewood in her arms, brushed the snow off her head and body, opened the door and walked in.
This is a dilapidated adobe house. It used to have a broken table and a stool with missing legs, but now it was burned to ashes because of the need for heating.
The fire in the house was almost extinguished. Sister Li Xiu quickly added the firewood she had picked up and lay on the ground and blew a few puffs.
The flames flickered on and off, the branches slowly burned, and the sparks crackled, which seemed to add a bit of warmth. The broken earthen pots supported by a few stones also emitted a little bit of steam on the fire.
The younger brother, who was huddled up in the cold, approached the fire, still a little confused, and murmured "Ajie."
Sister Li Xiu held her little brother in her arms and stroked his hair with sadness and love.
A voice sounded from the corner, and a pair of dark eyes looked over.
Sister Li Xiu smiled, stretched out her hand to beckon, and said softly: "Xiao Ni, come over and warm yourself by the fire."
Xiao Ni slowly blinked her eyes and got up timidly.
She approached the fire, scooped some water from the earthen pot with a small wooden bowl, then returned to the corner and fed it to a young man huddled there.
The man's face was pale, his lips were chapped, and his head was wrapped in a dirty cloth. The blood that came out turned purple-black.
He was lying there motionless, and if it weren't for the faint white air coming out of his nostrils, he might have been regarded as dead.
The warm water touched his lips, and the man seemed to have a slight reaction, and his mouth opened slightly.
Xiaoni's face lit up and she continued to feed her water. The man drank it slowly, and there was a growl in his stomach.
Sister Li Xiu hesitated for a moment, took the baggage, took out half a piece of hard cake, broke it into pieces and put it into the earthen pot.
The younger brother Li Xiucheng sniffed, opened his eyes wide, stared at the cake in his sister's hand, and swallowed hard.
"Xiao Ni." Sister Li Xiu stirred with a branch and called, "Feed your brother some noodle soup!"
Xiaoni came over to scoop up the noodle soup and whispered: "His name is Guo Dajing, he is not my brother, but he saved me."
Sister Li Xiu sighed softly and said: "He is a good person. It's a pity that in this world, good people..."
Xiaoni glanced at Sister Li Xiu and turned around to feed her some noodle soup. Although she was also very hungry, she just licked her lips but didn't bother to take a sip first.
Guo Dajing ate the warm noodle soup subconsciously, his mind still confused and dizzy, and scenes flashed through his mind like a movie.
In the winter of the sixth year of Tianqi, Jianlu Li Qigu was ordered to forcibly move the Daheishan people of Jinzhou to Qingtaiyu, north of Fengcheng.
The Han people in the relocated areas received the relocation order on the first day and were on their way on the next day.
Urban residents moved to villages, supported the old and young, and swept out their homes. The city corridors were empty, the fields were abandoned, their cries shook the field, and they left their homes. Anyone who showed any attachment was brutally massacred.
"Let's go, let's go!" the old woman urged with panic on her face, "Dajing, don't take it. It's so heavy, how can you hurry up? The Jurchens are very fierce. If you walk slowly, you will be hacked to death."
The scene changed, and countless people were forcibly relocated in the cold wind. They helped the old and the young, and their cries shook the wild. They left their homes and meandered northward under the beatings and scoldings of the vicious Jurchens.
Snap, snap, snap... The whips and sticks struck down without thinking, and the already shabby cotton-padded jacket was beaten to pieces.
Guo Dajing curled up his neck, gritted his teeth, endured the pain, and walked forward with his head sullenly, but he held the unconscious Xiao Ni in his arms and refused to let go.
Traveling hungry during the day and sleeping in the wilderness at cold nights, many people turned into cold corpses the next day.
The old and the weak fill the ravines, children and infants are abandoned on the roadside, and the evicted people walk miserably and helplessly on the long ice and snow road.
My mother was gone, and Guo Dajing only had time to cover the body with two armfuls of weeds before he was driven on the road by the Jurchens who looked like wolves and tigers.
Finally we came to a strange village, which was desolate and deserted, and the houses were dilapidated. The Jurchens also ordered the big households to unite with the big households, and the small households to unite with the small households.
The so-called "shared housing, shared food, and shared land" actually means "no land for farming, no house for housing, no clothing for the cold, and no food for food."
After a long journey, suffering from hunger, cold, and unrecovered injuries, Guo Dajing finally collapsed.
……………………
Bang! The broken door was violently pushed open, and with the cold wind rushing in, a big man broke in.
Sister Li Xiu shrank in fear and hugged her little brother to stay away from the fire. Although it was warm there, the ferocious look in the big man's eyes made people feel cold all over.
The big man is also alone, living in this small shabby house with Guo Dajing, Xiaoni, sister Li Xiu and his brother.
His cold and emotionless eyes swept over several people. The big man snorted and sat unceremoniously by the fire. He threaded an unknown wild bird in his hand on a branch and roasted it.
Xiaoni had seen this big man snatching food from other people, and even stripping clothes from dead people and wearing them on himself.
She was also afraid of this man, so she hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to look at the bearded man with a fierce look, and fed all the noodle soup in the wooden bowl into Guo Dajing's mouth.
The smell of burnt hair filled the air, mixed with the aroma of barbecue, and the sound of swallowing was heard several times.
Guo Dajing's nose moved, as if he also smelled the fragrance, his lips moved, and he moaned.
Xiao Ni's face lit up, and she turned to look at the earthen pot on the fire, wanting to scoop out some more soup, even hot water. But when she saw the fierce man, she immediately turned back.
"Guo stutters, his life is quite tough." The big man actually knew Guo Dajing. Hearing his weak hum, he glanced with his big eyes and then turned to look at the roasted bird in his hand.
After a long while, the big man said in an evil voice: "How long can I endure being cold and hungry? It's better to die early than to die quickly."
Sister Li Xiu did not dare to say a word, lowered her head and twisted the corner of her clothes.
Xiaoni opened her mouth, but did not dare to contradict him. She stared at Guo Dajing's pale and haggard face, feeling miserable in her heart.
If this straightforward and stubborn big brother who rarely spoke was gone, she would be all alone, and sooner or later she would be eaten by wolves and wild dogs like those who died on the roadside, right?
Two thoughts and two memories are intertwined in my mind. Sometimes they are life in the 21st century, and sometimes they are the war, displacement and painful experience after the slave establishment and the Ming Dynasty...
The remaining consciousness of Guo Dajing was very weak, and finally could not resist Guo Dajing's spiritual will. Like snow melting and ice disappearing, the two souls merged together.
His eyelids were too heavy to open, and his head still hurt terribly. But Guo Dajing, no, Guo Dajing was reborn, but his consciousness gradually became clearer, and his senses were recovering.
The big man chewed the roasted black bird, spitting out the bones from time to time; Sister Li Xiu hugged her little brother and made a rustling sound in the weeds in the corner; Xiaoni's breathing was very close, and she stretched out her little hand to touch his forehead from time to time.