It was almost the new year, and it was another Sunday. The rooster crowed again. Father had already gotten up and was packing his tools in the house. He wanted to go to the countryside again before the new year to exchange for some food.
Now, he no longer carried a board when he went out. He nailed a wheelbarrow, made of two strong miscellaneous wood bars, sawed wheels made of thick wood, and wrapped with old tire skin. He found discarded bearings from the workshop and embedded them in the wooden wheels. He used hard wood as the axis, and tied the two ends of the axis with thick iron wire at the intersection of the front ends of the two bars. It was made into a wheelbarrow. It looked too ugly and did not deserve to be called a "car". He called it a "car". It was simply a blasphemy to the word "car" invented by the ancients.
No matter what kind of " cart " it was, it was his father's right-hand man to get food for the whole family. With this cart, his father didn't need to carry the sharpening tools, exchanged vegetables, and other things on his shoulder. He could go further to the countryside and carry back more food.
He carefully checked the items in the car. There was a short board orange with a whetstone fixed on it, a sack used to store vegetables, and his most treasured flashlight. This flashlight was not the kind of cylindrical one that could be held in the hand, but a square one with a clip that could be easily attached to the waistband. There were four large batteries in the square box of the flashlight. The light was divided into two gears, and the strong light emitted by the light bulb could shine more than a hundred meters away. No matter how reluctant his father was to spend money, the battery of his flashlight must be new.
There was a chopper in the car. This chopper was secretly made by his father in the workshop with scrap steel from the government. The chopper looked irregular. It was made according to his own imagination. He thought it was easy to use. It was straight and rough, like a scrap iron plate that was thrown away before it was finished. Looking at his knife, one would think of a face with a stubble and unkempt beard. The hilt was a curved tea-oil stick, which was half longer than other people's hilts. The stick was skinned clean and smooth to the touch. The knot on the end of the stick was still there. It was not easy to let go of the stick when he swung the knife like this. Don't look down on this ugly chopper. That day, when his father tried his chopper in the grove, he heard a cough. He raised the chopper and cut a tree trunk as thick as a bowl into two. This knife was made of spring steel from a car. Not only was the blade sharp, but it was also extremely tough and would not curl. The knife was inserted into a long cloth bag that was added to the side of the carriage. It could be pulled out at will. At this moment, he used his finger to test the blade and carefully inserted the knife back into the cloth bag.
His mother also got up and was busy cooking food for his father by the stove. Seeing that his father was busy, she asked," His father, which direction are you going today?”，"The terrain in the north is flatter, so it's easy to push a cart. If you walk thirty miles north, there's a big river. There are many villages by the river, and there's more work."
" Go back earlier tonight. Don't be too late. I'm afraid we'll run into wolves again," Mother said worriedly.
" You don't have to worry. The 'Lord' will arrange it." Father complained that Mother was long-winded.
The mother was silent for a while, then said," The children are growing up day by day, and they eat more. It's getting harder and harder to make food." As she said this, the mother sighed." Look at their faces, they're all gray. It's going to be the new year. Can you exchange some eggs and rice for them? Don't make too many rafters."
"It's also difficult in the countryside. Eggs and rice are also precious. Even if they give them rice, they will only grab a small handful. After a day of hard work, they will walk hundreds of miles and can't get a few catties of rice. What's the use? It's better to get more vegetables and last a little longer."
"Then can you exchange it for more pumpkin and sweet potatoes? It's better than some turnips. Without oil, the more turnips they eat, the faster the children will get hungry."
"I'll see. I made some small oil lamps to see if they can be exchanged for eggs."
At that time, there were no electric lights in the countryside, but they could light kerosene lamps. The supply and marketing cooperative sold glass oil lamps, but the villagers were reluctant to buy them. His father picked up glass ink bottles and tin cans to make small oil lamps. He cut the tin cans into caps and made a small hole in the middle of the cap. Then, he rolled a small tube with the iron sheet. A hemp rope was threaded through the tube and inserted into the ink bottle. A small oil lamp was made. This kind of small oil lamp was quite practical in the countryside. There were 20 such small oil lamps in the sack on the carriage. He hoped to use the small oil lamps to exchange for eggs or better food.
His father finished the vegetable porridge that his mother had cooked for him and was ready to go out. His mother handed a small cloth bag to his father." It's useless to just drink some diluted food. Take this with you to eat on the road. There are a few bran cakes. I bought them from a hawker in Zhoutian yesterday morning."
"Why are you giving me these? Leave it for the child. I'll have food when I enter the village."
Mother still stuffed the small cloth bag into the sack on the cart. Father didn't say anything else and pushed the cart out.
The mountainous area was vast and sparsely populated. Wild animals often appeared. According to the mine workers, in the first few months after the opening of the mine in 1958, the tiger would come to the top of the copper mine every midnight and roar. It would leave at dawn. The mine also organized the militia to hunt the tiger, but they could not find it. After barking for a few months, the tiger did not come again. Perhaps the tiger knew that it could not defeat humans, so it had no choice but to give up its territory and go deep into the mountains.
Father knew that a few days ago, on the top of the copper mine, workers who went up the mountain to pick wild hawthorn found a dead tiger weighing more than 200 catties. It was poisoned to death by poison bait. More than a dozen workers went up the mountain and carried the dead tiger back. They peeled off the tiger skin and sold the meat. Those who ate it said that the tiger meat smelled too strong and was not delicious.
Tiger bones were also sold. They could be bought back to soak in wine to treat bruises. At that time, tiger bones were not considered expensive, so they were sold casually.
The tiger skin was sold to the purchasing station four miles south of Zhoutian for a few dozen yuan. The purchasing station was under the county supply and marketing cooperative system. The tiger skin was nailed to the front wall of the purchasing station, facing the door. When he walked past the purchasing station, he saw the tiger skin nailed to the wall. He had never heard of anyone thinking of stealing that tiger skin. In those days, people only wanted to eat and were not very interested in tiger skin.
At that time, there were also bold farmers who secretly sold grain to workers. Rice was 8 yuan per catty, and a few workers who found tigers sold tiger meat at 4 yuan per catty because tiger meat was really not delicious. If it was pork, it would probably be 20 yuan per catty. The tiger bones were sold for 20 yuan per catty. There was no place to buy wine to soak tiger bones. (At that time, it was illegal to sell rice and pork privately. It was a crime of speculation, but killing the tiger was not illegal. Now, it was the opposite. Killing the tiger was a crime, but selling rice and meat was to revitalize the economy.)
Later, a farmer came to the copper mine and wanted the tiger back. He said that the tiger was poisoned to death by the bait he had set. The farmer lived in a village more than ten miles away from the copper mine. The poison bait was set on the mountain behind his village. It was not surprising that the tiger had eaten the poison bait and ran to the copper mine and died.
However, it was too late for the farmers to get the news. Even the tiger skin had been sold to the purchasing station. The farmers were not willing to do it anymore and found a group of villagers to fight. In the end, the workers who found the tiger gave all the money from selling the tiger skin to the farmers.
When the tiger incident happened, we brothers were scared to death, because we and the children of the copper mine had gone up the mountain to pick hawthorns many times, and the tiger died on the top of the mountain where we picked hawthorns.
To the north, they had to walk more than 20 miles on the mountain road. There was a danger of encountering wild beasts on the mountain road at night.
A month ago, on that Sunday night, when his father returned home, he encountered two wolves on the road seven or eight miles away from home. The road was winding in the hills for a few miles. There were no houses in front or behind.
If he abandoned the car, he would be able to walk much faster without a body, and it would be easier to get rid of the wolves. Even if he was attacked by the wolves, he would be able to defend himself more easily. However, he was reluctant to abandon the car and the things he had painstakingly exchanged for.
His father was a northerner and knew how ferocious wolves were. However, he was not very afraid of wolves. It was not because he had enough strength to deal with wolves, but because he was a Christian. In his faith, he believed that human fate was not arranged by humans themselves. It was arranged by the " Lord ", Jesus, whom he believed in. His faith told him that humans could not save themselves. Only by relying on Jesus could they be saved.
He believed that the danger he encountered was a test from the Lord. If he was guilty and did not repent, punishment would come to him. He had to bear it and could not escape punishment.
He knew that the wolf was not far behind him. He stopped, put down the handle, pulled out the chopper, grabbed it in his hand, turned on the flashlight and shone it behind him. In the strong light, he saw two pairs of green eyes, hiding there. The wolf saw that his father stopped to shine the flashlight on them, and immediately flashed into the bushes by the roadside. In the flashlight, the wolf's reflective eyes flashed in the bushes. They were not ready to leave.
Dad turned off the flashlight, put down the knife, closed his eyes, and prayed softly," Lord, I am sinful. I confess my sins. If I am punished for my sins, then let them come!”He looked at where the wolf was hiding. The wolf did not lunge at him.
Father continued to pray," Lord, if my sins don't deserve death, please protect me. Give me faith and let me overcome them and return home safely. Thank you, Lord. Amen." After praying, he took off his coat, twisted it a few times, and tightly wrapped it around his neck. When his father was in Shandong, he had heard from the older generation how to deal with wolves. Wolves attacked people from behind. Their claws pounced on people's shoulders from behind. When people turned their heads, they would be bitten by them.
He tightened the shoulder strap on the car bar and slung it over his shoulders. He used the strength of his shoulders to push the car so that he could free one hand to hold the knife and adjust the flashlight. As long as the knife and flashlight were in his hand, the wolf would not dare to attack him easily.
After he was ready, his father set up the wheelbarrow and continued to walk forward calmly. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would not look back because it was easy for the wolf to see that he was timid and would strengthen the wolf's courage.
The two wolves kept a distance of about ten meters between them and their father, and they followed him slowly. Father prayed as he walked, constantly repenting, asking the Lord to save him from the wolf's attack. Due to his nervousness and the fact that he was pushing the cart at a fast pace, he felt more and more tired. He was almost unable to hold on. After all, he had been running around for a whole day and his stomach was still empty.
How he wished that the " Lord " would let a car drive over. The roar of the engine and the strong lights could scare away the wolves, but after walking for a few miles, not a single car drove by. At that time, there were too few cars. It was rare to see a car pass by in broad daylight, let alone in the middle of the night. Without a car, it would be good to meet someone on the road. However, other than his father, he did not see anyone arranged by the "Lord" to appear on the mountain road in the middle of the night.
Father kept praying and calling out to the Lord. A miracle happened. Suddenly, he heard someone coughing, and it was a continuous cough. It turned out that his father had already walked to the shed where the road maintenance workers lived. The people in the shed might have been cold in winter and kept coughing. Hearing the voice of someone, his father's nervous heart immediately relaxed. Ah, the "Lord" finally heard his cry and reached out to save him. He kept thanking the Lord in his heart and quickened his pace to run towards the shed, knocking hard on the shed door. Someone inside asked loudly,"What are you doing?”Father didn't say there was a wolf, because the people in the shed wouldn't open the door for people at night. He deliberately asked how far it was to Zhou Tiankou. The shed replied," It's still three or four miles away. It's just around the hill in front." Father said," Thank you, thank you." The people in the shed continued," Why are you walking in the middle of the night?"，There are wolves in this area." Father quickly said," It's okay, it's okay. Thank you, thank you." The wolf heard his father talking to the people in the shed and hid in the woods by the roadside.
Father rested at the door of the shed for a while before pushing the cart again. The wolf did not continue to follow. He put the knife back into the cloth bag and turned off the flashlight to save electricity. Because the flashlight was turned on for a long time, it consumed electricity. Buying a new battery would cost him money to support his family. At the most dangerous moment when the wolf followed him, the " Lord " arranged for the road maintenance workers to cough and save him, proving that he did not deserve to die. Father once again thanked the " Lord " he believed in. This was the reason why his father had said that it would be arranged by the "Lord" when his mother had told him about the wolves.
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