Zhao Dianzhi's hometown is in Maoxing Town, Zhaoyuan County, Heilongjiang Province, her family used to cultivate land in the Zhao family shack, and then her father Zhao Cheng did not want to farm the land, to Maoxing oil mill to work, a family of ten people rented two houses in West Street.
In July of the lunar calendar in 1944, Maoxing had a plague, and the people did not know it.
Working with dad, there was a person who was fine early in the morning, doing work and saying that his stomach hurt, and no one cared. After a while, he vomited up and down and couldn't stand.
Dad carried him on his back and sent him home, and the man died that same day.
In the evening, Dad said to the second uncle: "This stubble diarrhea is quite bad, I heard that several died, let's all be a little careful." Tomorrow, after finishing the work, let's go to the bubble and get some fish to eat." ”
The next morning, Dad was sick. First the stomach hurt, the beads of sweat snapped and fell down, then vomited up and down, vomited and finished, the body was scalding hot, and one after another wanted water to drink: "I am thirsty!" I want to drink water! I want to drink cold water! ”
Mom wanted to go to the well to fetch water, and Grandma stopped: "Diarrhea drink cold water, the more you drink, the worse it is." Don't give him water, let him stand up. ”
That year, Dian Zhi was thirteen years old, and there were two younger brothers, a younger sister, and a little sister under her, a year younger than her, and she saw that her father was a little bit unable to do it. At first, he was crooked on the kang, and then he rolled around and asked for water to drink, and he tossed it to no strength, and he died that day.
Mao xing died one after another, and he could no longer buy a coffin. The landlord remembered that there was a mentally ill woman who got sick early, and she also pulled and threw up, and the family bought a coffin, and her illness was cured.
The second uncle's name was Zhao Chenghai, and he bought the coffin from the hands of others and buried his father on the same day.
Dad was gone, and there was a lot of crying in the house. The ones who cried the hardest were Grandma and Mom, grandma had no eldest son, and mom had no husband.
On the morning of the third day, my mother was also sick, her stomach hurt, she vomited up and down, her body was scalding hot, and she was so uncomfortable that she was rolling around and asking for water to drink.
Grandma cried and asked the second uncle, "Why is diarrhea still contagious this time?" God, do you want the life of our whole family? ”
The second uncle bowed his head and didn't say anything.
Grandma wiped a handful of tears and said to the second aunt, "What can I do?" We can't wait to die, can we? Shut up your children first. ”
The second uncle locked the five children in the barn and pushed the door from the outside.
At noon, the second aunt brought some food.
Like Dad, Mom shouted one after another, "I'm thirsty!" I want to drink water! I want to drink cold water! ”
The second aunt said, "Or give your sister-in-law a drink, she shouted too pitifully." ”
Grandma said, "No. Diarrhea can not drink cold water, that is a pit for her. ”
Listening to the mother shouting high and low, several big children and the little sister cried together. The little sister is small, only two years old, has not yet given up her milk, and falls asleep crying and crying.
Mom's shouts are getting quieter and smaller.
In the afternoon, Mom also died.
Grandma cried for a while and said to the second uncle, "We don't have anything else in our house, there is a big cabinet left." You vacate the cabinet and bury your sister-in-law. ”
There was a big cabinet in the house with bits and pieces. The second uncle and the second aunt vacated the cabinet, put the mother in the cabinet, and buried it that day.
No matter how Dian Zhi cried and shouted, Grandma did not let them come out to see their mother for the last time.
There were many people dying in those days, the doors of the houses were closed, and there was no one on the street. Dead people want to bury themselves, and they can't find anyone to help.
Fortunately, across the family lived a orthodontic doctor surnamed Zhang, and his family had a carriage with a horse tied outside, and whoever died in the family could use it at will. The second uncle and the second aunt carried the cabinet to the carriage, and the second uncle pulled the mother out and buried it.
On the morning of the fourth day, the second uncle was ill. Like his parents, he also had stomach pain first, vomiting up and down diarrhea, and then his body was scalding hot, so hot that he wanted water to drink: "I am thirsty!" I'm going to die of thirst!" I want to drink cold water! ”
Grandma knelt on the ground and cried, "Oh my God, you should leave me a son, I am such a son!" If he died too, the family wouldn't be able to live! ”
After crying for a while, Grandma got up from the ground and said to the second aunt, "Death is death, you want water to drink for him, you go to the well to fetch new cold water, let him die a little more painfully." ”
The second aunt went to the well to bring back new cold water, and the landlord helped pour it into the mouth of the second uncle. The second uncle drank it and spit it out, and the water that spit out was hot; when he drank it and spit it out, the spit out water was still piping hot.
The second aunt went to fetch water again, the landlord helped to irrigate, and the water spit out by the second uncle became colder than ever.
Grandma said to the second aunt: "The coffin is gone, the cabinet is gone, and our family will have left kang mats." If the second brother is gone, he will sweep it with kang. ”
The second aunt did not squeak, and ran to the well one after another. The second uncle drank the cold water, and the water he vomited was also cold, and later the water he drank did not vomit, and he fell asleep.
The second uncle woke up, saw his grandmother crying, and quickly said, "Mom, I am 80% fine." ”
Grandma said, "All right! That's it! The old man finally opened his eyes and left me a son. ”
Grandma said to Dian Zhi several times: "I really regret it, your father and your mother want cold water to drink, why don't I call it?" If you pour them cold water, do you still have a father and a mother? ”
At first, some people said that the disease was cholera, and Maoxing had caused cholera in the past and many people had died. Later, I heard that this was a plague, and many people died on West Street, and a neighbor with a family of six died without a mouthful.
The plague raged for more than a month, beginning in July of the lunar calendar and not passing until August.
The second uncle and the second aunt had given birth to two children, but they did not stand down or regenerate. When my mother was pregnant, she said to her second aunt, "Whether this child is male or female, I will give you the milk." ”
The second aunt said, "Good." ”
The mother gave birth to a little sister, and before she could wait for the milk, the person was gone.
Mom and Dad are gone, they have all become the children of the second uncle and the second aunt, and the second uncle alone supports eight people. At that time, there was a saying: it is better to add food than to reduce mouth. The sister-in-law was fifteen years old, and the grandmother found her in-laws. Dian Zhi was seventeen years old and married to his neighbor Zhang Xilong.
Zhang Xilong's father died early, and Xilong's mother was widowed at the age of thirty-six.
When the family was separated, Grandpa said, "I lived with my grandson." "Grandpa can straighten his bones, and he has passed on his craft to his grandson.
The plague passed, and Mother Xilong was worried about the girl on East Street.
When she went to her daughter's house, there was no one inside or outside the house, and the son-in-law bowed his head to wipe away tears.
Her mother told her, "People have been gone for many days, and they die the day they get sick, and when they die, they are buried." ”
Xi Long's mother cried and went home, a rush of fire came up, she couldn't see clearly, and others helped send her home. I took a lot of medicine, but it didn't work.
When Dian zhi got married, her forty-year-old mother-in-law was blind. The couple led their mother-in-law to the Harbin University Hospital for examination, and the doctor said: "It may be that I fell asleep while crying, and the bottom of my eyes has been damaged, and I can't be cured." ”
The mother-in-law had six children, stood three, and finally had one son left. She said to her daughter-in-law, "If you have fewer children, you can have more children." I can't help you watch the child, and when the child will walk, you tie a rope around the child's waist, and the end of the rope is tied to my waist. ”
Dianzhi listened to her mother-in-law's words and gave birth to eight children.
The Zhang family's ancestors have all farmed, and the bones do not earn any money. If the problem is light, pinch it well and leave; if you need medicine, give a medicine money; those who are far away, stay and live overnight; those who have no money, don't want anything. During the New Year, some patients came to Dr. Xie with canned and snacks, and her canned and dim sum could be eaten until the spring of the following year.
Dian zhi never said that he was good, his mother-in-law lived to be eighty-two years old, and his grandfather and father-in-law lived to ninety.
Dianzhi's children, the second uncle and the second aunt are called grandpa and grandmother, and the younger brother's children are called grandparents. The little sister fell ill and died at the age of twelve, and their sister and brother sent the two old people to the end of their lives.
I heard that when the plague was over, the Japanese went to Maoxing, looked at it, and left.
After Japan surrendered, I heard that the plague was related to the Japanese, when the Japanese experimented with living people in Heilongjiang and fought a whole bacteriological warfare.
Excerpt from Jiang Shumei's fourth book "The Man"
"Two Men", Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2016 edition.
Jiang Shumei, born in 1937 in Juye, Shandong Province, settled in Anda City, Heilongjiang Province in 1960 and worked as a temporary worker for more than 20 years. She learned to read at the age of 60, writing at the age of 75, and drawing at the age of 80, and has published five books. Among them, "Chaotic Time, Poor Time" was shortlisted for the "2013 Public Favorite Book"; "Bitter Cauliflower, Sugarcane Sprout" was shortlisted for the "2014 China Good Book"; "Long Neck Woman" won the 2015 "Chinese Good Book Jury Special Award"; "Two Men" recorded the legendary stories of dozens of families; "Clap Your Hands for Song" is her first folk story collection.
Jiang Shumei, 2019.