Father's shoes mother's stomach

 A friend in my childhood, are catching up with three years the difficult period. He told me, he could live to now whole depend father's a pair of shoes.
Friends in their hometown of shandong province, a usually do not have enough to eat rice, impoverished village, how much more will the people across the country have to starve the three years? Friends remember the early, in the three years of long time, every day he want to do only things, is looking for all kinds of things in your mouth plug. The pagoda ate up the skin of the pagoda, eat, eat GuanYinTu grassroots ate. But, in the years of that, even if can barely choke it down things, is so small. Friends often sitting on the patio stunned, sometimes hungry suddenly collapse in the past.
Friend's father in the commune's work of grain. For a while, stores have a heap of corn, respond to the call is, keep the preparation for use. Hungry father kept faint scent of the corn, and read the skinny and even his dying wife and children. At times he moved to steal the idea, but the friend's father said, that is in the public interest, even though I'm starving, also don't get it.
But he eventually to the pile of food laid hands on him. Exact shook said. He wore a pair of big cloth shoes, going off work, he will be around the pile of corn turn around, with their feet in the corn pile play two, and then, as if nothing has occurredly walk home. His steps Wallace has a solid, see not why don't serve as natural. But he knows, the shoes, luo he feet ached, is a few grains or ten grain of corn. Back home, he took off his shoes, wash the corn, dolly, into the pot cooking two bowls gruel. Friends of the mother and friends on the pot greed smelling the fragrance of the corn, the two are a happy face.
Then the father of friends will sit there and went to his feet wipes a plant ash. His expression was in pain. The pain of grinding out right away XiePao even making the blood of sole, more sings the shame of heart and upset. But he can't. He can allow yourself to be starved to death, but he never allow yourself the wife and children be starved to death. Friend's father in the three years of the evening, always pain expression to walk. His shoes, always a few extra grain or ten grain sorghum, maize, wheat, soy...... These petty food, life friend and friends' mother. The friend says, when he was a child, think the most kind of thing, is the father's feet and that broken-down cloth shoes. That's their whole family of hope. The feet, those shoes, often to my friend mouth water.
Famine finally in the past, they finally don't have to face death every day. But his father, but could not get through it. Winter on the way home, father walking in the river, unexpectedly fell into ice. Perhaps is hungry dizzy, perhaps be ground out blood feet let father standing instability, anyhow father crashes. Into the ice, is in a hurry. Until death, his father, could not eating a full meal.
Friends have been sobbing that day. He drank a lot of wine. He said after many years for father fetched in the commune of food, also the father's heart debt; But, in the face of the father died, he will be forever, and unable to pay his own heart debt.
Friend left, I think of another story. The story is mo yan said, happened in shandong density in the northeast.
Three years is also difficult period, in the village have a woman, production to go around. Home have two children and a mother-in-law, all hungry at the last gasp. All but under, she began to steal to eat the food born on grinding. Just swallowed whole, it doesn't chew. Back home, hurriedly take a plate of manchu water jug, and then take a chopsticks into his throat deeply agent, will the wood and digest the food of spit it out, give her mother-in-law and children cooked porridge. Then she spit a skilled in front, just put a jug, can put the food in the stomach all spit it out. It is these food, let the mother-in-law and children survived the hard for three years.
She also endured the three years. But her life, in can have enough to eat, the habit but still continue. At any time, as long as I see jug, she will be in the stomach to clean things up.
When her children can feed, her stomach, may still is empty-because she saw the jug.
Maybe you grow up process far not so difficult and horrifying, but ask you to believe that if you are born in the era of poor country, if you have a keeper of the grain production of the father or the mother go around, then, the support you grow up, will surely is a father in the blood stained with shoes corn or mother in the stomach could digest soybeans have not yet.