Chapter 18: Seven Years Later (2)

I remembered that when I went to school this morning, my mother told me we would be having braised yellow eel for dinner, and there really was a small half bucket of eel at home. It was obvious my father had gone out to catch them in the evening.

Braised yellow eel. Just thinking about that dish made me recall how my father prepared it. He would grab the live eel, slap it down with a Slap. to stun it, then press it onto a wooden board made specifically for processing eel, slice it open with a Whoosh., scrape it clean, and the fresh eel would be ready in no time.

Then he would cut it into segments, wash them, and set them aside. After that, he would heat up a pot of scorching oil. With a Sizzle., the eel segments would be poured in and stir fried until the fragrance burst out, then he would add fermented chili bean paste.

Thinking about it, my saliva was almost dripping out.

Seeing that I was tempted, Su Rou kept urging me from the side. “San Wa Er, let’s go home. Worst case, you can come to my house. We are having braised pork with preserved vegetables tonight. I will get my mom and dad to help plead for you. You cannot possibly stay away from home forever.”

At the words plead for you, I wilted again. If my father were the kind of person who listened to pleas, would I have been beaten so many times? I still remembered how, when my father beat me, I screamed miserably, and villagers passing by could not help but try to persuade him to stop. But instead, my father treated their persuasion like encouragement, and the harder they tried to stop him, the more energetic he became.

He would even add commentary, “Boys need to be beaten to become capable, not like girls! If boys are not disciplined, they will end up being executed.” executed

In the end, my fear of my father outweighed my craving for braised yellow eel. The spirit of the Red Army inspired me as well. I had long dreamed of becoming a little soldier. I wanted to cross snowy mountains and grasslands too, and find a place to join the Red Army.

The Red Army were good people. If I, a little kid, went to them, how could they not take me in? What did it matter if I never went home again? As long as the Red Army accepted me.

Thinking of this, I became excited, and my resolve hardened. I patted Su Rou on the shoulder and said with righteous conviction, “You go home, Su Rou. When I become Red Army, I will come back and find you so you can join too. I will definitely not forget you.”

“You are going to join the Red Army?” Su Rou was completely confused by my sudden nonsense.

“Yes. Anyway, I am going to get beaten if I go home. I might as well go find the Red Army today. They will definitely take me in. Just wait for me, and do not tell my father.”

“But where are you going to find the Red Army?” Su Rou asked, worried and also curious about where the Red Army might be.

“I heard they are in the town. I will just go toward the town,” I said confidently. In truth, I had completely mistaken the police for the Red Army at that time. But at that age, how could I tell the difference?

“Alright, I will wait for your news. I will never betray you. When you become Red Army, remember to bring me along,” Su Rou said. He also longed to become Red Army, but he had done nothing wrong, and even if you gave him ten times the courage, he would not dare not go home.

In his mind, as long as I led the Red Army to his doorstep, his parents would agree for him to join too. He was eagerly waiting for my good news.

So he forgot to ask me a very important question. Do you even know the way to town?

And I also forgot to think about it. How exactly do you get to town?

After walking with full confidence for a while, I realized the problem. Looking up, there were only endless fields and rolling hills. There was not even a shadow of a town. How was I supposed to get there?

After the sun set, darkness fell very quickly. A thin crescent moon had already quietly climbed into the sky, and the world was a dim bluish black.

Everything around me was quiet, with only insects and frogs calling. In this kind of environment, I started to feel like I could not hold on anymore.

Go home?

That thought popped into my head. I wanted my sisters. I wanted my mother. I wanted hot steaming dinner.

But the thought of my father’s indestructible iron fists made me abandon it again.

“Pah, Chen Chengyi, no pain, no gain. Think of the Long March of twenty five thousand li.”

I muttered this to encourage myself. Just thinking of those heroic Red Army soldiers made my blood boil again.

After walking for a while longer, I had no idea where I had ended up. Exhausted and starving, I finally could not hold on any longer and sat down on the ground to plan.

My mother often told me, afraid I would get lost, that there is no need to fear having no road, because right under your nose is a road. Meaning that when you cannot find your way, you should ask more people.

But now it was already night, and I did not know who to ask for directions. I decided that at daybreak I would ask someone how to get to town.

As for hunger, I looked around and came up with an idea. In this season, there were still many corn cobs left unharvested in the fields. I also had matches with me, so roasting a couple would not be a problem.

So the only remaining question was where I would sleep tonight. I thought about it for a long time but could not come up with anything, so I simply stopped thinking about it. No matter what, I would eat first.

“San Wa Er, is your head full of bean dregs? Why do you never think things through all day?” my mother often scolded me like this. My lack of concern for anything was obvious.

Corn was everywhere in the fields. Once I decided, I slipped into one of them. Not long after I came out, my yellow canvas satchel was bulging. Of course, I had chosen three of the biggest cobs for myself.

This kind of thing was normal for a child raised in the countryside. If you had never stolen corn as a kid, you would be embarrassed to say you were from that village.

After getting the corn, the next step was to find a bamboo grove. Dried bamboo leaves made excellent firewood. Sichuan had many bamboo forests. Under the moonlight I wandered around for a while before finding one, and I happily ran inside.

At that time, I did not notice that not far from the bamboo grove was a graveyard. Even if I had noticed, I probably would not have been afraid. Graves were everywhere in the countryside. I had seen so many I was already numb to them.

Once inside the bamboo grove, I got to work. First I peeled off the corn husks, leaving only a thin layer, then I gathered a pile of dry bamboo leaves and buried the corn underneath.

Dry bamboo leaves caught fire very easily. In no time, a fire rose up in the grove.

At that moment, all my attention was on those three corn cobs. I watched them carefully, occasionally adding more bamboo leaves. The grove was large, so lighting a fire there would probably not be noticed, but I still did not want to be seen.

Time passed second by second. I do not know how long it took, but my wrapped corn was finally cooked. Happily, I pulled it out of the fire, peeled off the remaining husks, and without caring that it was hot, I started eating greedily.

The roasted corn was fragrant, and I was very happy eating it. While eating, I kept thinking how fast it had cooked. Roasting corn normally took a long time. Back in the village, when I roasted corn with other kids, we often waited an entire afternoon. I did not expect it to feel so quick today.

In reality, I had still waited nearly two hours. I was simply too focused to notice time passing, and I had no idea it was already close to midnight.

Sitting by the fire, after finishing all three large cobs, I finally felt full. A wave of exhaustion and sleepiness washed over my entire body. I wanted to sleep.

Children from the countryside all knew that lighting a fire in a bamboo grove was extremely dangerous. I yawned, stomped out the fire, and could no longer resist the fatigue. I threw my satchel on the ground, used it as a pillow, and drifted into a drowsy sleep.

I do not remember exactly how long I slept that night. All I recall is that after some strange and chaotic dreams, I could no longer endure the cold seeping into my body and woke up shivering.

Instinctively, I touched my clothes and found them damp. I wanted to move somewhere else to sleep, but I had no strength left. I was still very sleepy, unable to tell whether I was awake or dreaming. It felt like I was half conscious, half unconscious.