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墨書 Inktalez
My sister and I were competing with others for food. We went into the woods to dig for wild vegetables. My sister collected a basket of wild vegetables, while I gathered a basket of mushrooms. We walked home together with others.
A chatty middle-aged woman recognized my sister and pointed at her, saying, "Oh! Isn't that Zhao Shuyun? Didn't someone play her to death? How are you still alive?" The woman shouted, "You all don't know, do you? She was played with; she was ridden by thousands."
I rushed over and yelled at the woman, "Shut up!" The woman spat at me and called me a "little slut." I lunged at her, and we started to fight. I headbutted her face, smeared mud on her face, and threw cow dung at her hands. The woman turned into a muddy figure—a cow dung figure, a stinky figure, a dirty figure.
My sister grabbed me, saying, "Stop it! If you keep this up, someone will get hurt." She pulled me up and led me away. My sister took a basket of wild vegetables from the woman's collection.
A month later, people in the city began to starve to death. The chatty woman was among the first to die of hunger. Her family refused to feed her, and she choked on Guanyin Soil and died. Her family traded her body with the neighbors. The neighbors exchanged their starving daughter for hers.
"Exchanging children for food" is real. I could only have one bowl of thin porridge each day. My sister spoke weakly now. I wanted to go to the outskirts of the city again; I thought I could dig up some tree roots as well.
Recently, there have been thieves outside the city. A few days ago, a family of three left the city and they were all killed by bandits. However, driven by hunger, I couldn't care less. I instructed Gousheng to keep an eye on the house and quietly left the courtyard, heading towards the West Gate.
I kept my head down and walked for a long time until I heard some noise coming from the butcher shop ahead. I looked up and saw a tall man walking out of the shop. He was dragging a frozen pig leg and glaring at me with a fierce expression.
The bark of the trees in the West Suburbs had all been stripped away. After searching for a long time, I only found a little bit of tree roots and some wild vegetables. I forced myself to endure the hunger and brought them back home.
As I approached my doorstep, I saw my sister anxiously running out of the courtyard. She was looking around frantically and asked me, "Zhao Di, have you seen Gousheng?"
I was startled. "He's not home?"
My sister replied, "I took a nap, and when I woke up, he was gone. The courtyard door was locked; he must have climbed over the wall to get out."
I said, "Let's split up and look for him."
She nodded in agreement. I headed west towards the city, fearing that he might have gone out to look for me.
After running for a while, I caught hold of a small beggar and asked him, "Have you seen Gousheng?"
The beggar looked at me, his hands trembling as he held a bloody piece of meat. I released him and ran towards the butcher shop.
I ran quickly to the entrance of the shop, banged on the door, and shouted, "Open up! Open up!" I knocked for a long time but no one answered.
I glanced at the courtyard wall; I needed to climb over it. Taking a few steps back, I made a running start, jumped up, and grabbed onto the edge of the wall. I climbed up using some debris at the base of the wall.
My upper body climbed up the wall, while my lower body dangled in the air. My feet landed on a wooden plank. I glanced down and saw a pair of strong arms. I was grabbed by those large hands and thrown down. I landed on the ground. I lay there, struggling to catch my breath. My chest hurt badly. I turned over and looked up at the sky. I saw a tall man standing on the ground, looking at me. He said, "It's you again." I looked at him and asked, "Has Gousheng... been here?" The man looked at me and replied, "He has been here." "Where is he?" The man walked towards me and reached out his hand.
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