Ghost Blowing Lantern II

Lao Yangpi has been herding cattle and sheep on the grassland all year round. He has often encountered ferocious beasts such as wolves and lynx attacking from behind horses. He knows how to deal with it. He is worried that he will not find a chance to deal with it, but this guy comes to the door himself. He immediately After making a whistle, the old army horse was carrying him and Ding Sitian. The moment the giant centipede rushed to the horse's butt, it suddenly leaned forward, put its front legs on the ground, and kicked hard towards the slave horse with its two hind legs. The centipede that came from behind, the force of its kick was no less than a thousand kilograms, and it kicked the black centipede several times in the air, before it landed far away on the ground and rolled.

The centipede suffered a big loss and didn't dare to make any more mistakes. It slipped into the depths of the long grass and escaped far away. I saw Lao Sheeppi's unexpected victory, so I cheered and climbed down from the tree branch, and threw down the tree with Ding Sitian. The fat man also pulled himself up and knocked off the bark and weeds on his body. Only then did he remember that two horses ran deep into the forest, and the cattle could not be found, and they had just been poisoned by centipedes. There was a bay red horse, and now there was only one old army horse left among the four horses. The losses were getting bigger and bigger. Lao Yangpi even blew a few whistles to greet the horses, but after waiting for a long time, there was no movement. I don’t know if the two horses ran away. Where has it gone?

Lao Yangpi was afraid of this area called "Hundred Eyes Cave" from the bottom of his heart, but sometimes people have no choice. The responsibility for the loss of cattle and horses is even greater. The struggle situation in the past two years has been so tense, and there are so many tops. Hat, if you put on a few hats, you will die. After all, Lao Yangpi was getting older. The fight just now had already made his heart beat faster, and his chest was wheezing like a broken bellows. Coupled with the heavy psychological burden, his eyesight started to turn black.

Seeing that Lao Yangpi was weak and about to faint, Ding Sitian hurriedly helped him sit under the tree and rubbed his heart to help him breathe, but Lao Yangpi was still coughing and wheezing. After he was out of breath, we quickly started rescuing him, pressing his chest and beating his back, until he choked out a mouthful of phlegm. He was finally breathing, but he was still groggy and couldn't wake up no matter how we called him.

Ding Sitian cut in line on the grassland and was always taken care of by Lao Yangpi's family. She almost regarded Lao Yangpi as her own grandfather. Seeing him unconscious now, how could she not be anxious and ask me what to do with tears? In the village where I jumped in line, there was a barefoot doctor nicknamed "Mixianzi". Sometimes I would help him treat the mules and horses. Among the three of me, Fatty, Ding Sitian, and I, I was the only one who had some medical knowledge. But I felt at a loss when faced with the unconscious Lao Yangpi. Even if I quickly sent him back to the pastoral area, it would still take nearly a day's journey, and the pastoral area was still a day's journey from the hospital. It would be over by the time I found the eldest lady.

Unexpectedly, the fat man gave me a wake-up call. The fat man said, "Is this old man hungry? We have been busy chasing the cattle since we got up in the morning. Until now, the sun has half set, and there is almost no water or rice. Zhan Ya, let alone a man of his age, even my physique can’t stand it anymore, and I’m so hungry that I feel dizzy.”

After the fat man mentioned this, Ding Sitian and I also felt very hungry. We had not eaten for a day. We were busy looking for cattle during the day, and no one thought of eating in such a hurry to get angry. Lao Sheeppi must have been overworked. Plus I didn't eat anything during the day, so I was so hungry that I passed out.

When we were about to set off, Lao Yangpi was worried that he would not be able to find all the cattle within a day or two, so he brought some dry food and even used a horse to carry a pot for boiling water. In order to take care of the old army horse, he only brought the Empty pots and some odds and ends were hung on the horses, and the rest of the food and supplies were carried by the other three horses. Unfortunately, the old horse was the only one left in front of us, and there was nothing edible on it.

The fat man said there was nothing we could do. Let’s kill the horse for meat, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get out of the woods. Ding Sitian quickly stopped him. Animals on the grassland that have served in the army and have served in the army cannot be slaughtered. They are all friends of mankind. They would rather starve to death than eat horse meat. When Lao Yangpi wakes up, he must know that someone has killed him. If the horse eats it, you can't risk your life.

It gets dark early in the wild. After four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun sets. At this time, the sky starts to get dark. The night fog in the forest is getting thicker and the light is getting less and less. It has become almost night. There are flying overhead from time to time. The object, whether it was a bird or a bat, made a shrill cry. The sound made people feel that every hair on the back of the head stood up.

We were all a bit confused. Fatty and Ding Sitian both looked at me, hoping I would get an idea. What should we do now? I hesitated for a moment and said to them: "Although I know my disciples, it's very foggy in this forest. If we walk out carelessly, we will be tired and exhausted, and we won't be able to rest for a whole day. If we continue walking, something will happen easily." Secondly, if we encounter centipedes, venomous snakes hiding in deep grass, or wild beasts such as wolves and lynxes, we will definitely not be able to eat our good fruits. Chairman Mao taught us that we should try to reduce unnecessary and unnecessary things. sacrifice, so I think what we need to do now is to light a campfire, firstly to prevent insects and beasts from attacking, and secondly, to find something to cook and eat, so that the people and horses can build up their strength until dawn tomorrow Keep moving."

The fat man said: "This plan is good, but it is not comprehensive. Look at this forest. In addition to grass roots and bark, it is just mud. Not to mention food, there is not even clean water. What are we cooking? But it is really hard not to eat. I can't walk any more. This situation reminds me of a little poem written by our revolutionary predecessors: The sky is getting dark, my hunger is as loud as a drum, I have countless rice in my bag, wild vegetables and boiled water. At that time, General Chen Yi's guerrillas were so Hard work, after all, there are still a few grains of rice in the rice bag that can be cooked and eaten with wild vegetables..."

When the fat man mentioned rice and wild vegetables, my stomach suddenly started beating: "Fat man, what do you mean? We are in such a difficult situation and you dare to cook wild vegetable porridge. The more hungry you are, the less likely you are to mention food, otherwise you will feel even hungrier. , I think back when our revolutionary predecessors were without food for three months and still had high morale, why can’t we overcome it?”

At this time, Ding Sitian suddenly pulled my sleeve: "Bayi, listen, is there the sound of running water in the woods?" I thought to myself, how could there be any river in the woods of this mountain col, and who might be hungry? The noise distracted Ding Sitian? But when I calmed down and listened, there was really the sound of a stream not far away. Where there was the sound of water, there was living water. Our throats were unbearably dry. And if it was a stream, there might be fish in it. In addition, if we walked along the water, It's not easy to get lost in this misty forest.

We didn't waste a moment. There was a kerosene lamp in the old army horse's satchel. Before liberation, this lamp was called a foreign oil lamp. In fact, foreign oil is kerosene. There is no pine oil in pastoral areas. People generally use kerosene lamps for lighting at night. I carried the lamp in front of me. To find the way, the fat man put the old sheepskin on the horse's back and carried it on his back. Ding Sitian held the horse beside him, and the group of people groped towards the place where the sound of running water came from.