Life is a Game

The pot of rice porridge in the kitchen is empty, and there is still some mush left. Aunt Li and her daughter are gnawing cornmeal buns to eat mush. The rough noodles that are ground into noodles are not only unpalatable but also cut your throat. But it's much better than mush and rice porridge, at least it's filled with steamed buns.

In the basket next to them were four slightly yellowed white flour steamed buns. It seemed that Manager Wang came before Jiang Weiguo. Seeing Jiang Weiguo coming, Aunt Li brought him a stool and handed him a bowl: "Xiao Jiang is here, let's eat!"

Aunt Li's daughter was holding a steamed bun in her hand, staring longingly at the white flour steamed buns in the basket.

Jiang Weiguo lived a good life before he went south. Even though he slept in the open for more than half a year, he was full of water every day for more than ten days on the boat. Now he is very hungry after seeing so much food, and even his stomach is burning. He took out a steamed bun from the basket and handed it to Aunt Li's daughter, saying, "Here."

Aunt Li's daughter was ecstatic to produce steamed buns.

Aunt Li slapped her hand hard and scolded: "You are the only one who is greedy, you are hungry, why don't you thank brother quickly."

"Thank you Brother Xiaojiang." Aunt Li's daughter whispered.

"Xiao Jiang, thank you so much. My daughter has never eaten steamed buns. Come on, come on. Here, I will give you these two steamed buns, and I will make a bowl for you." Aunt Li picked up the bowl to help Jiang Weiguo pretended to be confused.

Jiang Weiguo grabbed a steamed bun in the basket, opened his mouth and bit off more than half of it. He swallowed the three steamed buns that were not that big.

Seeing that Jiang Weiguo was eating in such a hurry, Aunt Li quickly handed him the mush for him to drink: "Slow down, don't choke, where do I have rice soup, I'll get you a bowl."

The rice soup brought by Aunt Li was much thicker than the ones delivered every day at the bilge. Jiang Weiguo felt something in his stomach after eating three steamed buns, a bowl of paste and a bowl of rice soup. Jiang Weiguo hadn’t felt this warm and safe feeling for a long time. up.

Aunt Li's daughter carefully tore open the steamed bun and handed the big side to Aunt Li. Aunt Li took a bite and handed the steamed bun back to her.

Jiang Weiguo began to gnaw the corn bread without saying a word.

Seeing how he was eating, Aunt Li asked cautiously, "Xiao Jiang, did you live in the bilge before?"

Jiang Weiguo nodded.

"Where are you from? You should be from the north, right? I heard that there was a disaster in the north, and everyone was fleeing south. The cook was from the north. It was found that he had plague last night. There was no cure and he threw it away. "Aunt Li is obviously like most aunts of the same age, she can't control her mouth.

"I'm from Peking." Jiang Weiguo said.

"Peking City, what a place!" Aunt Li sighed, "I've never been to Beiping. I've worked as a cook for the owner on a boat for so many years, and I can't get off the boat a few times a year. By the way, Xiaojiang, I see you You are quite strong, you should be a cook in your family, right?"

Jiang Weiguo tactfully didn't ask Aunt Li about his man. There are too many ways for ordinary people to die these days. Aunt Li was able to take her daughter as a cook on the boat. It must be because the man died long ago.

"My dad is the cook." Jiang Weiguo replied, and scooped up another bowl of mush.

"Are you going to Shanghai?" Aunt Li asked, most of the people on this boat were going to Shanghai.

Jiang Weiguo nodded.

"Don't go to Shanghai, anyway, the cook died before, and Manager Wang must have valued you by giving you an extra steamed bun. If you beg him, maybe he will let you stay." Seeing Jiang Weiguo, Aunt Li was puzzled. Looking at her, he explained, "You have to be rich to go to Shanghai. The price of goods in Shanghai is expensive. I heard people say that the rent for a small room is an ocean, and it is difficult to find a job there. There are concessions everywhere. We can't afford it. You are young, even if you are strong enough to resist the package, you might as well stay on the boat, have food and shelter, and 60 cents a month. Maybe Manager Wang can give you You eat white flour and steamed buns."

Obviously, in the eyes of Aunt Li, a meal of steamed buns with white noodles is an excellent life.

Jiang Weiguo shook his head: "My father said before sending me on board that he wanted me to go to Shanghai to become a human being, and return to Beiping to buy back our family's ancestral property."

Aunt Li could tell that Jiang Weiguo's family must have been rich, so she just looked at him with pity.

Peking has fallen, and the land is no longer ours. How can we buy back our ancestral property?

Despite this, Aunt Li persuaded him: "It's really good for you to stay. Although Guanshi Wang is a child of the family and a bit greedy for money, he is not bad for us outsiders. At least he will not deduct our food, and he will not usually Beat and scold."

Aunt Li felt that at Jiang Weiguo's age, without family and money, he wouldn't be able to live long in Quemo.

Jiang Weiguo was silent, and drank a few more bowls of mush, Aunt Li stopped trying to persuade him, and gave him an extra cornbread.

After eating, Jiang Weiguo stayed in Aunt Li's kitchen. The cabin was too dirty. If he went back to cook at night, he would have to wipe his body again.

Aunt Li's daughter has no name, so she is called Xiao Hua. After eating Jiang Weiguo's steamed buns, Xiaohua became close to Jiang Weiguo, and asked Jiang Weiguo what Peking was like.

The work in the kitchen is very leisurely, and there is no need to wash the rice and vegetables, not to mention that there are no vegetables at all. It is the same to eat dirty things in the rice porridge. After washing, the weight of the rice will be lightened. Of course, this is limited to those in the third class, and those in the second class still have to wash their rice, but there are not many people in the second class, so there is no need to wash much rice.

Jiang Weiguo finished his dinner and went back to the bilge after dinner.

In this way, five days later, the boat arrived at the magic capital.

Jiang Feng was a little dazed when he got off the shore with the pushing crowd.

He originally thought that the recipes in the old man's memory would be one of the dishes he made these days. Later, he even thought about the rice porridge boiled by the sixth aunt, the steamed buns and steamed buns, but he didn't expect that all of them were delicious. no.

For five days, Jiang Feng didn't need to sleep, he almost memorized everyone's face in the cabin. Sometimes wandering around, listening to their conversation, can guess their origin and hometown.

There was a couple with a young son who sold their five daughters in order to make enough money for the boat ticket. They hugged their bags tightly every day for fear of being stolen. There are bachelors who are alone, widows whose husbands have died, and young men like Jiang Weiguo whose whole family uses their savings to send him on board a ship in the hope that he will survive. Without exception, they all come from areas that have been severely affected by disasters. People rob people, kill people, eat people, natural disasters and man-made disasters.

In five days, Jiang Feng had a brief understanding of this terrible era.

Jiang Weiguo got off the boat just like that, taking the vegetable dumpling that Aunt Li had stuffed into him, the 20 copper coins left to him by Steward Wang after he had embezzled some money, and a set of old clothes.

Aunt Li secretly made the vegetable dumpling when she was cooking last night. Manager Wang knew about it, but he didn't say anything. Pickled vegetables, rice paste and cornmeal were mixed together. Six of them were made in total, each of which was as big as a fist and very strong. They could be eaten for several days without eating, and all of them were given to Jiang Weiguo.

Jiang Weiguo has eaten to his full these days. Although there is not much oil and water, it is not bad. If he didn't find a job in Shanghai, he should be able to live for a week or two with the vegetable dumplings and twenty coppers given by Aunt Li these days.

Before disembarking, Manager Wang found Jiang Weiguo and told him that the ship would leave Shanghai in four days, and that if he wanted to be a cook on the ship, he could come back in four days.

Jiang Weiguo was very moved, and thanked Steward Wang with a deep bow, but judging by his expression, Jiang Feng knew that he would not come back.

The wharf was full of people, brides, traffickers, businessmen, and the police surrounded the small wharf.

Jiang Feng could pass through the crowd directly, but Jiang Weiguo would be miserable. He had to protect his belongings from being stolen by thieves, and at the same time had to walk through the vast crowd to leave the pier.

It was not easy to squeeze out from the crowd, Jiang Weiguo didn't know where to go, and he didn't have any relatives to go to, so he stood on the side of the road in a daze.

After a while, Jiang Weiguo took out the vegetable dumpling in his arms and took a small bite.

The surrounding things gradually blurred.

Jiang Feng opened his eyes blankly in the dormitory.

it's over?

Seeing the modern decoration in the dormitory and the iron railings beside the bed, Jiang Feng was even a little unfamiliar.

After staying on the boat for a long time, he somewhat missed the swaying and bumpy feeling.

After spending some time recalling everything he had seen in his memory, Jiang Feng clicked on the properties panel.