This is the 1 finalist of the true and false non-fiction competition.

one

Hunger killed my six-year-old childhood. All winter, my second brother and I moved feebly in the fields, looking for any living things, but found nothing. Hunger makes people eat everything. There are many big pits in the village, which are left after people cut down all the trees and grass and dug up the roots that spread around. The river outside the village has long been cut off because of the lack of rain, leaving only pale sand in the river, like a cut belly.

This is the winter of 1976. In the small village in southern Henan Plain where I live, people have just come out of fanaticism and are no longer busy criticizing, marching and learning various models. Hunger took over here. People who lack nutrition can't speak, can't sleep, have dull eyes and freeze into the same posture as clay figurines. Even children who are active by nature are silent in front of the elderly.

My second brother took me back and forth in the intestines of the river and rummaged for several times, but I couldn't find anything to enter or firewood. The only message the whole body sends to the brain is hunger.

This day's dinner is moldy dry sweet potato cooked in clear water. Fortunately, there is something to eat at home at this time. Many people have stopped cooking, but instead of going out to beg, they just stay at home and pass the time on an empty stomach.

Adults go to lie down soon after dinner, and more activities will consume the remaining calories. My second brother and I don't want to sleep We know that there is a great event in the village. The old ox named Laojue in the production team is ill. It is the only cow in the village. We slipped past to see the dying bull, and the adults were anxiously discussing what to do.

This cow is dying. The clever second brother has guessed that eating meat may be a few days later.

two

The foreigner Hu in the village is a veterinarian, and she is very helpless about the more and more diseases of cattle. With a letter of introduction from the village, I went to the county to report the condition of the ox and let the doctor buy medicine. The second brother said that if this cow dies, we must have beef to eat. This is an irresistible temptation for us.

Adults are anxious to treat the cow, and my second brother and I are equally anxious and have been looking forward to the death of this cow.

This old cow is the property of the production team. It has worked hard for the collective for more than ten years, older than the second brother, and is the only ox in the village collective. This cow is highly respected and even has its own name, called "Old Stubborn". Old stubbornness is a name a person can have, just like the mature male labor force in the village: old green, old fat, old black, old faded and old voice.

That stubborn old man has always been in good health and good temper. Except for two village leaders, ordinary villagers don't need him at all. Since it began to get sick half a month ago, village cadres have collectively worried: this cow unfortunately died of illness, which is a responsibility that no one can afford. Old stubbornness is collective property. That year, the consequences of the loss of collective property were very serious.

The leaders held a team meeting overnight and reached a resolution. Together with the accountant and veterinarian Hu Laowai, they made a special trip to the commune early in the morning to make the latest report. Soon, the above reply: hurry up. Mr. Hu gave the cow anti-inflammatory drugs for several days, but it obviously had no effect at all.

After the first feeding, cows become unstable, don't eat, and rarely drink water. Everyone decided to go to the county veterinary station and ask a professional veterinarian to see Lao Jue. The accountant went out early in the morning, and it took him a whole morning to finally get to the veterinary station and get off work. Veterinarian Wang from the Veterinary Station doesn't want to go to such a distant place for home visits, and the village can't afford other expenses except medicine.

Seeing that no one was invited, the accountant hesitated for a long time. After bargaining, he promised to give Wang Veterinary 3 Jin of mung beans, but Wang Veterinary reluctantly agreed to this request. Before leaving, he put forward additional conditions for the village to pick him up by bike.

Veterinary king didn't come to Sanhe village until noon the next day, and then seriously pointed out an attitude problem: on such a cold day, the cattle were still sick, and they didn't take windproof measures for the cowshed and were still eating hay. The village party secretary immediately decided to take out his quilt and cover the cow, and promised to improve the stubborn food, two kilograms of bean cakes a day. Bean cakes are as delicious as biscuits, which children of our age can't eat.

After the veterinarian Wang gave medicine to the old stubborn man, the leaders invited him to the secretary's house with good conditions to eat broad bean noodles, and then hurriedly jumped on the old and heavy bicycle in the village and sent him home by special personnel. After the vet left, the old stubborn man's condition did not improve, but he lost weight day by day and became a skeleton covered with cowhide. Even the thighs and buttocks that can best store meat can't see a trace of meat.

See here, the old stubborn finally unbearable. From three days ago to now, the stubborn old man hasn't taken a sip of water or a bite. I used to be able to hold my head when I was lying down, but at noon today, I had to stay underground and lean my head against the corner to barely maintain it. The stubborn old man's eyes are big, but now they look bigger, but he can't see any light, that's all. Only when the deep belly pit occasionally fluctuates slightly can it be confirmed that it is still alive.

It gets dark early in winter, and even during the day, the whole sky is completely lifeless. The cable radio in the village has been silent for several days. I don't know when the notice was broken, and it was stuck under the eaves at the door of the village Committee.

No one called, no one conveyed, but there were more and more people at the gate of the village Committee. Nearly 100 people came from more than 70 families in the village, except those who went out. Everyone was holding hands and squatting in front of the door with or without walls, waiting for news, but no one spoke. Extreme hunger makes people lose the ability to speak.

The leading group has held a meeting in the village Committee for several hours, and they haven't had time to have dinner yet. Up to now, the door of the conference room is still closed. There are two militiamen standing at the door, and no one is allowed to get close. There is occasional noise in the room, which is not clear at all. The faint kerosene lamp projected on the crack of the door, but nothing came out.

I drilled around in the crowd to listen to what everyone was saying, but no one spoke. An occasional cough or two is quickly suppressed. There was no dog barking, no chicken crowing, and the whole mountain village was silent.

Suddenly, the second brother ran from the direction of the cowshed and shouted a little excitedly as he ran: "The old stubborn man is dead!" " "

The crowd was in an instant uproar, and everyone's attention was focused on the meeting room, but the essence of the matter, the life and death of the cow, was ignored.

Soon, the door of the conference room opened and the village leaders came to the bullpen with oil lamps. The village chief opened the bullpen door and looked at the oil lamp carefully. He found that the old stubborn head had completely fallen, and a pair of huge bull's eyes were still open, but they were no longer turning. The village party secretary squatted down, put his hand on the cow's neck for a while, stood up, pushed the cotton hat up and whispered:

"Quick, it's still hot, according to the plan set by the meeting."

three

My second brother and I almost jumped with excitement. We found that other people, especially adults and cadres, did not have any relaxed expressions, but quickly directed everyone to start work.

On the open space in front of the village Committee, people quickly moved in adobe bricks and built them into three big squares, on which three dark iron pots were quickly placed. People cleaned the iron pot in an orderly way, and moved a lot of big white radishes from the collective warehouse, all of which were clean. The stubborn old man was carried into the pot. Unlike dead animals, old and stubborn are still soft. I simply suspected that he was dead, so I quietly put my hand in front of the old stubborn nose, without any warm breath.

The adults tore down the two doors of the conference room and tidied them up. Veterinarian Hu Lao cocked his knife and began to peel cowhide quickly. Soon, the cow's internal organs came out and put them in a big wooden basin that I don't know who brought them. Some people spontaneously picked well water, and several women began to clean the internal organs of cattle. Old stubborn until he was chopped into small pieces, there was still no blood. Finally, the stubborn old man chopped all his body into small pieces except horns, dirty things in his intestines and cowhide. The radish was put in a large pot with three mouths side by side, and water was added to make a pot with three mouths.

All the children were called up, and the five-guarantee households and the elderly, as well as those who could not come to the scene, were registered by special personnel and neatly written in the bookkeeping book. The front of the village Committee is brightly lit, even during the Spring Festival in previous years.

The scene of cooking seemed very lively, but no one spoke, so I had to say it. Everyone uses the shortest language, and everything is going on in an orderly way. In this depressing atmosphere, the children dare not make any noise.

I saw village cadres go to the village collective warehouse and bring a lot of wheat straw, and some villagers brought some branches from their own woodpiles. The crowd suddenly stopped, turned their faces and looked for the position of the village party secretary.

The village party secretary squatted in a corner, smoking a hand-rolled dry cigarette. After waiting for a while, the branch secretary stood up and threw away the cigarette butts in his hand. As usual, the secretary of the cigarette branch won't lose it. He carefully put it in his pocket.

The branch secretary shouted to the crowd: "Joint enlarged meeting! Right away, quick! "

The so-called joint enlarged meeting must be a major decision and need to represent the true opinions of all villagers. Soon, the village party secretary, village director, village accountant, village soldier platoon leader, village women's Federation leader, several respected elders, and retired old workers and cadres in the city, totaling more than ten people, entered the meeting room door of the village Committee one after another. Strangely, this important meeting was closed at first, but then it was held again. The crowd gathered at the door and the meeting was held in a solemn atmosphere.

It was not until we listened to them for more than ten minutes that my second brother and I realized that there was not enough hard firewood to cook these three cauldrons of beef. It was not until we came to our senses that we realized that this was really a difficult problem.

Because every villager has only wheat straw, a few people have some firewood, which is broken into small chips or twigs. It is almost impossible to cook these three pots of beef with such firewood. At that time, firewood was more important than food to some extent. If the firewood in the village is burned clean, then everyone can't live in the future.

Ordinary villagers' meetings will soon reach an agreement, even if there is a little disagreement occasionally, the secretary of the township party Committee will eventually stand up and strike the table, and things will have the most authoritative result. However, the meeting did not go as smoothly as expected, and the dispute was fierce. Some people suddenly burst into tears, some people showed the blue veins on their foreheads, and some people seemed to forget the cold of minus 10 degrees, uncovered their clothes, revealing their thin light clothes, and beat their chests. Most people bow their heads and hesitate.

Things always have results. After arguing for more than an hour, the mind finally reached a unified opinion. This result is one of the few people on the scene: digging a grave!

four

Who said these two words first, no one remembers, or no one wants to remember. When the result of the meeting was announced to all the villagers, the crowd boiled.

People in Sanhe village have been taught to respect their ancestors and the elderly since childhood. This story has been fabricated by parents to educate their children and grandchildren. The most famous version says that the ancestors of our village may starve to death at any time during the Republic of China. A villager surnamed Hu would rather put his child on the roadside and watch him cry than carry more than 20 ancestral tablets on his back. This story is enough to show how important ancestors are.

But now, what's wrong with the world, making such a big mistake? An old man shivered and poked at the ground with a cane, and shouted in an almost growling voice, "The grave of our ancestors is our root." In any case, even if you starve to death, you dare not hurt this root. If we hurt this root, we still have the face to live in this world! "

Watching the old man express his anger, everyone bowed their heads and said nothing. There is no objection, and there is no approval. Faced with hunger, the plan began to be implemented.

There are three surnames in Sanhe village. The patriarch of surnames stood up and called on his people to obey the arrangement and sent his family representatives to participate in the grave excavation activities.

Five people were sent to each surname, and many of them followed spontaneously. Everyone brought torches, shovels, ropes and pickaxes to the cemetery in the north corner of the village. The commander of the village head brought a long table, authorized it as an incense table, and then placed the incense sticks, sacrifices and firecrackers he brought.

Everyone took incense sticks, knelt down and began to pray. This is the first time in the history of Sanhe village that three surnames are together and sacrificed with the same incense table.

That night, the weather was drier and colder than during the day, but there was no wind. Two thick yellow candles spread out left and right, and the village chief let the torch go out. After the worship, new problems appeared again.

Who did it first? The village head looked at the branch secretary, who said thoughtfully, "I changed my son's food, remember?"

The village chief immediately understood, and immediately directed the people surnamed Hu to start digging their ancestral graves. The identity of each grave is very clear to ordinary people, not only because there is a name on the tombstone, but also because it is the place where they go on the first day of October, the thirtieth day of the New Year and the first day of the New Year, and it is also the place where they go when they go out and come back from afar.

Digging graves is designated by the clan chiefs with surnames, so that the clansmen with surnames can start digging from the oldest ancestors.

The ancestral grave of the village chief's family was the first to be dug. The village head turned his back and knelt in front of the grave, and other people with the same surname who didn't start work also learned the appearance of the village head and knelt down with their backs to the grave. This shows that unfilial descendants are ashamed to meet their ancestors.

The coffin here is not buried deep. After being dug up, the coffin was still shining black under the torch, and the paint was brand new, just like being buried.

The old people in Sanhe Village follow the concept of "committing suicide and dying again": it doesn't matter how bitter they are when they are alive, but before they die, they must prepare a decent coffin for themselves many years in advance, not only with good materials, but also with thick materials and all wood. Unless they die in an accident before preparing the coffin, they must paint the coffin at no cost.

In a family with a certain ability, the coffin should be brushed seven times, and each time it is brushed, it must wait until it is naturally dry before doing it again. Exquisite workmanship: from the big blessing on the top of the coffin, the ten thousand characters on the side and the satisfaction of the back panel, the seven boards of the coffin are exquisite and need more than ten years of preparation.

Uncover the coffin, there is only a layer of clothes that can't see the color clearly. Everyone Qi Xin turned the coffin upside down, and the gray bones rolled down with the clothes, and then were quickly buried in the soil.

With the beginning, the next procedure is much easier. During this period, some people rushed to cry after their ancestors' coffins were dug up, and they were quickly pulled up and moved to other places. More people shrink their necks, put their hands on their cuffs alternately, and look at all this blankly and coldly.

Four coffins were dug up in each family. Those who dig ancestral graves are also dug face to face. They do the same thing, don't hate each other, and work with Qi Xin.

Every time an old grave is dug, it becomes a new grave. After this year, these dug graves were specially commemorated by their descendants. Others dug other people's ancestral graves. When they worship their ancestors, they also pray at the graves of others. No one knows what they say.

five

Twelve shiny black coffins were carried to the door of the village Committee. No matter how much thought is spent, no matter how strong and thick the coffin is, it is vulnerable to knives and axes. Soon, these coffins turned into a pile of firewood. Where there is paint, it will reflect light under the torch, and other surfaces are all white wood.

At three o'clock in the morning, when the firewood was about to burn out, three pots of beef gave off a long-lost fragrance, as if people only smelled it in their last lives. That scrawny old stubborn man became fat after cooking. As the radish rolls, the beef slices attached to the bones become like this.

Everyone in the village, including relatives, the elderly who can't walk and the five-guarantee households who have been ill for a long time, was given a bowl of steaming beef. Some may have more meat, while others may have more radishes. In a word, the village chief cooks and arranges people to distribute it according to the temporary roster, and everyone does not fall behind.

My second brother and I got our share on the spot I really want to tell which part of the old stubborn body this is from this bone in my bowl, but I still can't tell it in the end. When the second brother's share was almost finished, I quickly swallowed the bones and meat, leaving no soup left.

Under the vast night sky, hundreds of people in the venue could not hear anyone talking, only the sound of chewing and drinking soup. People's faces are flooded with happiness because of food, torn by shame and pain, and have a strange red color.

On this day, I have the first memory of this world.

-End-

Author Ji Wenjun Ouyang XIII

Ji Wenjun

After 70, senior deep drift.

We live in an instant, and it is night before and after.

Ouyang Shisan

A female fitness instructor who is a screenwriter.

Accept with an open mind and never regret.

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The winning works of this competition will be produced from the finalists.

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