1942, I lived on hunting

Several friends asked: "What did you remember? Tell me quickly!"

During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was in decline. As the saying goes, when a country is about to perish, evil will appear. This story takes place at that time.

Fan Mazi's father was only 12 or 13 years old at the time. It rained a lot that summer, with rain every three to five days. It was another midsummer night, and the weather was extremely hot and humid, with not even a trace of wind. It was probably brewing another heavy rain. The wind from the cattail leaf fan seemed to carry scorching steam, making it impossible to sleep.

Fan Mazi's father couldn't stand tossing and turning on the bamboo bed, so he took the mat and went out with his parents to the dam of the village to cool off. Some old men in the village had gathered on the dam, all of whom couldn't sleep because of the heat at home. A group of people spread out the mats and lay on the dam, smoking, bragging and chatting. There was no clock in the countryside at that time, and no one knew what time they talked at night, but the heat was still there. Just as a group of people were discussing whether to take a bath in the river, the dogs raised in the village started barking wildly, and then all the poultry and livestock became restless. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the distant sky, followed by a muffled sound like a cow's cry, and then the earth, the village wall, the trees, the bamboo forest, the houses, etc., it seemed that everything in the world began to shake, and the bricks and tiles on the roofs and walls fell down with a crackling sound, and even the leaves made a fluttering sound!

"The earth dragon is turning over, the earth dragon is turning over! Everyone in the house, come out, quickly, come out!"

In the dark night, people kept shouting and crying, and everyone was in chaos. Fan Mazi's father rushed home with the adults and pulled his family out of the door. His three-year-old sister was hit on the head by a brick that fell from the wall, and a small cut was made. She cried loudly, but fortunately it was not serious. The mother comforted her while bandaging her daughter with strips of cloth torn from her clothes. The others were also covered in dust and were still in shock.

The rain that had not fallen for a long time also joined in the fun. After a gust of cool wind, it began to rain heavily. The aftershocks continued, and we dared not stay in the house. We could only venture inside to get some thick clothes and raincoats, and squeezed in with several villagers under the cowshed of the neighbor's house to take shelter from the rain. The village elders in the village sent their sons, wearing raincoats, to count the number of people from house to house. When they found that no houses had collapsed and no one was buried, they arranged for the village doctor to bandage and treat the injured, and then told the heads of each family not to go back to the house for the time being and went back.

By the next morning, the rain had stopped and the aftershocks had basically stopped. Every household began to clean up their homes. In fact, there was nothing much to clean up. The houses had not collapsed. Only some walls that had been in disrepair for a long time had been knocked down and needed to be rebuilt. The rest was just trivial work such as cleaning and repairing the roof.

Fan Mazi's father helped the adults in the family finish their work, and when the adults in the family finished cooking, he took the bowl and went out of the yard to the dam. A group of people on the dam were discussing yesterday's earthquake. The young people talked about their bravery and fearlessness last night, saying that they were extremely calm, while others were so scared that they cried for their parents, and each one of them was extremely exaggerated. Some old people talked about the origin of the earthquake, saying that it was because the emperor was immoral that God punished him. It must be that the emperor and his ministers were going to sign a traitorous treaty with the red-haired and blue-eyed foreign devils again. It was really annoying!

At this time, a group of people carrying hoes, crowbars, ropes and other tools passed by outside the village. They were the villagers from the neighboring village. The people on the dam asked them what they were doing. They replied that their two daughters were married in Liujiaba Village, which is close to the Minjiang River and not far from here. Today, some migrant workers returned home to visit their elderly and see if they were safe and if they were injured. When they passed by there, they found that the entire Liujiaba Village had disappeared and the Minjiang River was cut in half to form a big lake. They wanted to look for the daughters from their village who had married there to see if anyone was still alive. If so, they would rescue them.

There were girls in Fan Mazi's village who married into that village, as well as wives from that village who married over. When they heard about this, someone immediately notified the village elders and arranged for a group of people to carry tools and go over to search and rescue.

Fan Mazi's father and several other young men also ran over with the team, but when they arrived they found that it was too late to save them. Half of the hillside where the village was located had collapsed, and mud, rocks and trees mixed into a debris flow that all rushed into the canyon, directly cutting off the Minjiang River to form a barrier lake. Mountain torrents after heavy rains upstream were rapidly raising the water level, and the rising floods were stirring into waves in the lake.

At this time, a group of villagers from the next village who had set out in front found something on the hillside and waved to them to go over and take a look. When they walked up to it, they saw that it was a cave. The location of the cave was right at the top of the landslide, as if the mudslide started from here. It was a coincidence. There was a deep pool of water in the cave, clear and calm, which formed a sharp contrast with the turbulent Minjiang River at the foot of the mountain. Large groups of fish kept pouring out of the water, swimming to the surface from time to time to breathe. There were several kinds of these fish. The most common one was a scaleless fish about a foot long, with several long whiskers and eyes that had degenerated. From time to time, it swam to the entrance of the cave, making people feel as if they could catch them with just a stretch of their hands. There was also a bony fish that looked very much like a sturgeon. The largest one was more than 1 meter long. It was estimated that the skin had not yet evolved into scales. It looked like several bone plates protecting the body, which was very tough. The dorsal fin on the body looked like a row of saw teeth. The head is relatively pointy and not long, with a bulge on it, but its mouth seems to be able to lift up the entire head, and its mouthful of sharp teeth can swallow a scaleless fish that is a foot long into its stomach. There is also a kind of translucent fish, and when it swims to the surface to breathe, people with good eyesight can see its red internal organs, which is very strange.

The brave ones wanted to jump into the water to catch fish, but they swam to shore as soon as they got into the water. The water here is so cold that just washing your hands and face with water makes you feel chilled to the bone, let alone jumping in to catch fish.

The huge barrier lake has become a sword hanging over the heads of the low-lying villages on both sides of the Minjiang River. No one knows when it will fall. People keep coming to check, but there is no good solution. It is basically impossible to dig it out by manpower to release the flood. The huge amount of earthwork cannot be overcome by a few people alone. In this era, people do not have large machinery or advanced blasting methods. No matter who sees this situation, they will shake their heads.

After seeing the barrier lake, people will also come to see this cave, and everyone who sees it is amazed.

The next day, Fan Mazi's father and several friends from the village came here to watch the fun. They didn't know where a shaman came from. It was unclear whether he was a Taoist, a witch or a doctor. He was wearing a long robe whose original color could not be seen. He exuded a sour smell like a manure bucket. His gray hair was tied up loosely with a branch, his beard was messy, he carried a gray-yellow bag, a long bamboo tube on his back, and a shiny bamboo clapper in his hand. He walked towards the cave while knocking.