My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 2 'Dad' Found by the River

"Kid, did you recognize the wrong person?"

Li Feng regained some spirit and forced a smile. He placed his hands on both sides of his waist and slightly supported his body, trying to make himself look gentler.

The two girls might have been frightened by the smile that Li Feng forced out. For a moment, they were silent, but just looked at Li Feng with an unknown expectation in their eyes.

"You are our Father."

The older girl, a little bolder, looked at Li Feng and gritted her teeth, as if she was convinced that this was the truth. "Stop it, little ones. I don't even know you."

"You are our Father."

As they were talking, the older girls started wiping their tears, and the younger ones immediately started crying too when they saw their sisters wiping their tears.

"Little boy, don't cry, don't cry..." This made Li Feng not know what to do for a moment. Fortunately, someone came from outside and rescued him.

"Oops, I'm awake."

As they were talking, three or five men walked in. The leader was a copper-black-skinned old man in his fifties or sixties with a pipe stuck on his waist. Behind him were several middle-aged men in their thirties or forties. Most of them had copper-yellow faces, which showed that they were weathered by wind and rain.

Li Feng looked around and saw that most of the people were wearing cloth jackets without sleeves and with old-fashioned cloth buttons. He had seen this kind of clothes in the memorial hall, and it seemed that his grandparents also wore this kind of clothes when he was a child.

Li Feng was a little confused for a moment as to why these people were dressed like this.

"Uncle, where is this?"

"I'm glad you're awake. Don't get up yet. You just..."

Li Feng frowned slightly, surveying everyone and asking his own questions. He was stunned when he got the answers. "I jumped into the river, what kind of joke is that? How could I be so desperate? Could this be a mistake?"

"That's not right. Wasn't I sorting out the electrical appliances in the video room? I think I got an electric shock?"

For a moment, Li Feng suspected that he was dreaming and slapped his head twice. "No, no, I must be dreaming..."

"Da, this guy must have drowned and become stupid, right?"

"Uncle Wu, this guy is really stupid, what should we do? We rescued a fool, but our team doesn't have enough food to support him."

"Why don't you send him to the commune? Judging from the clothes he's wearing, he looks like an educated youth from the city."

For a moment, Han Fuguo was a little hesitant. Their Hanjiaba was not rich, and half of the people were in deficit every year. Let's not talk about anything else, just look at Daya and Erya's family. Originally, the three of them, mother and daughter, could earn some work points, but a few days ago, Daya's mother went to the river to fish when it rained and unfortunately fell into the river and drowned.

The family only had Daya, who was about ten years old, and Erya, who was five years old. They were bound to be in deficit this year. Thinking of this, Han Fuguo really thought of sending Li Feng away and handing him over to the commune for disposal.

"Dad is not a fool."

The little girl wiped her tears and stood in front of Li Feng, her hands outstretched, trying to protect her father. "My father is not stupid, my father is not stupid..."

"what."

Li Feng was a little bit amused and helpless. What was going on? He wanted to slap himself twice more, thinking that he would wake up, but this dream seemed a little too real.

"Girl, this is not your father, it's just something you picked up by the river..." Han Anmin was interrupted by his father Han Fuguo before he could finish his words.

"My mother said she found my father by the river. This is the father I found."

Wow, Li Feng looked at the girl who was talking, what do you mean the person you picked up is your father, how does the mother educate this child, the father was just picked up casually, if that's the case, I might as well go pick up a Ma Huateng.

"Da Ya, take Er Ya out to find your Third Grandma. You have nothing to do here."

After some consideration, Han Fuguo decided to send Li Feng to the commune. Hanjiaba was not rich but had no food to feed a fool, so it would be better to leave this trouble to the commune.

"No, Sandie, this is really my father."

"My mother said that she picked up my father from the river. This is the father I picked up. Third father, I don't want to send my father to the commune."

Daya became more and more excited. Although Li Feng didn't understand the situation, he understood that sending her to the commune might not be a good thing.

"Ouch, that gives me a headache."

As he spoke, Li Feng pretended to have a headache and lay down. He couldn't just send him to the commune without caring about his own life or death.

“Dad…”

"Let's take a look first."

Han Fuguo felt a little sorry when he saw Daya and Erya crying so sadly. These two children had a miserable life. First, their father, an educated youth who came from the city a few years ago, ran back to the city and never came back again. Just when things were getting better in the past two years, their mother drowned last month.

There were only these two children left at home. If they hadn't been taken care of by the people in the dam, they would not have survived. Alas, Brother Fuqing was afraid that his descendants would be cut off. Alas, Brother Guoqing left early to fight the Japanese, leaving behind Qingwazi, who he couldn't take good care of. First, he was deceived by the boy from the city, and now he was drowned. Only Daya and Erya were left. Alas, he finally felt a little soft-hearted and sighed. Let's take a look first.

"Dad, this won't do."

Han Anmin on the side became anxious. Such a fool would be a burden.

"Okay, let's do this for now. I'll come back to check later at night. I'm afraid he hasn't figured it out yet since he just woke up."

Han Fuguo took out his pipe, rolled some tobacco, struck a match, lit it, took two puffs of the pipe and sighed. Let's leave it at that for now. Actually, Han Guofu hopes that Daya can find a 'father'.

Otherwise, these two children might not be able to survive this winter. No one has extra food. It’s okay to help one or two people, but there is less food in winter and each family can’t even eat enough, so where will the help come from? Besides, the thatched hut needs to be repaired in the fall, otherwise someone will freeze to death in the winter.

Without an adult, the two children would have a hard time surviving the winter. Without food and firewood, they couldn't survive. I'm afraid there will be two more mounds on the hilltop in the spring. "Alright, let's go." Han Fuguo led the somewhat unwilling Han Anmin and the others out of the hut.

Li Feng then opened his eyes. This was weird. Now he was probably sure that this was not a dream. He didn't know how he got here.

Unfortunately, there aren't many things with words on them in this house, otherwise we could have figured out the timeline a bit. "Dad, you're awake."

When Daya saw Li Feng open his eyes and sit up, she ran over with a beaming look on her face and imitated her mother, pulling the patched quilt for Li Feng. "Ahem." Li Feng smiled bitterly. He felt uncomfortable being called "Dad, Dad" but he didn't know what was going on and he didn't want to quarrel with this girl.

"Dad?"

"It's okay, it's okay, is there any water?"

Li Feng was very cautious, fearing that the girl would cry again. He couldn't stand seeing children cry and would get irritated.

"Dad, let me fetch some water for you."

He didn't forget to instruct Erya while speaking. "Erya, look after Daddy."

"Ah."

Erya blinked and stared at Li Feng. This girl had big eyes, but her hair was yellow, dry and messy, and her face was dirty, making her look very dark and thin. She didn't know where this girl came from. How could there still be such extremely malnourished children nowadays?

Could it be the western mountainous area? This was strange. Li Feng saw that Erya looked about two or three years old and had an idea. It was easy to fool little kids. "Little friend, how old are you?"

"Five years old."

"Five?"

Li Feng was stunned. This couldn't be possible. How could a five-year-old be so short? When his own Li Yi was three years old, she was taller than this girl. "Five years old? Is there anyone else in the family besides her sister?"

"Sister, Mom, Dad."

Erya counted on her fingers. "Dad, Sandie said Mom went to live in the mountains. Why doesn't she come home? Erya misses Mom?"

"Live in a mound?"

Li Feng was stunned. What did that mean? Could it be... a grave? Otherwise, how could they get into the dirt? "Well, I don't know..." For a moment, Li Feng felt a little sympathetic towards the child. Their mother was dead, and their father was probably in grave danger too. Otherwise, why would they choose him as their father?

Forget it, sympathy is out of the question. When Li Feng was about to ask, Daya came back with a gourd and a water scoop. "Dad, have some water."

"Good good."

Although Li Feng felt that being called "Dad" was inappropriate, he had no other choice at the moment. He first looked at the situation and thought that he should not have been sold in by human traffickers, otherwise how could he be sent to the commune. "Commune, eh, this name seems to be a name from decades ago?"

'This is getting increasingly wrong.'

Li Feng drank some water, which was quite sweet. He could not help but drink a few more sips. Who would have thought that the more he drank, the hungrier he became. His stomach also started to rumble. "Dad, you must be hungry. I'll go get you some steamed bread."

As she spoke, Daya ran to get the steamed bread. Erya's eyes lit up as she listened. "Sister, I'm hungry too."

"Give it to Dad first."

Daya took out two black steamed buns and stuffed them into Li Feng's mouth. Li Feng was really hungry, so he didn't pay attention and just opened his mouth to bite them. However, the moment the steamed buns entered his mouth, he almost vomited to death. They were so bitter and made his mouth cut and his teeth break.

"Bah bah bah."

What the hell is this? It smells so bad. It's edible, but a dog probably wouldn't eat it. Li Feng felt like this girl was playing a trick on him. "What is this?"

"Wheat bran and cornmeal steamed buns are what Third Aunt gave us for lunch."

Daya stared at the steamed bread and swallowed as she spoke. Erya even squatted on the ground and picked up the crumbs of the steamed bread that Li Feng had spit out and stuffed them into her mouth. Li Feng looked at the steamed bread in a daze. "Is this your lunch?"

This is food for humans. Li Feng felt that unless a gun was pointed at him, he would rather die than eat this kind of steamed bun that even dogs would not smell of.

"Ah."

"So, do you usually eat this?"

Daya shook her head slightly, and Li Feng thought to himself, as expected, if anyone eats this stuff every day, it's worse than pig food.

"And have some wild vegetable soup."

"Wild vegetable soup?"

Li Feng thought it was green food, but when Daya came over with a broken pottery bowl, Li Feng was stunned. This wild vegetable soup had no taste at all. Not only was there no oil, but there was no salt either. Besides, wild vegetables tasted bitter.

"Bah bah bah."

Li Feng quickly vomited up the so-called wild vegetable soup. What a joke! This was even worse than pig food. It was really what these two kids ate. "Besides steamed buns and wild vegetable soup, what else do you eat?"

Daya shook her head and said that they only ate one steamed bun and wild vegetable soup a day. They usually ate wild vegetable soup in the morning and the steamed bun around three o'clock in the afternoon, two meals a day.

"Ah, Erya, you can't eat what's on the ground."

Li Feng hadn't noticed when Erya actually picked up the steamed bread and wild vegetables she had vomited onto the ground and ate them. How could she eat them? This wasn't a cement or tile floor, it was an adobe floor. It was so dirty, how could she eat them?

"Is there any more nests?"

Li Feng's words had some effect. Daya pulled Erya up, but Erya still stuffed a handful of muddy steamed bread crumbs into her mouth. The girl was obviously hungry. Could it be that these two steamed breads were lunch for the two children?

Daya shook her head slightly, and Li Feng understood immediately. "Is that so? Then you guys can eat the steamed buns. I'm not hungry." One reason was that the buns were so disgusting that even dogs wouldn't eat them. The other was that even if he could eat them, he wouldn't feel comfortable eating the lunch of two little girls.

"Dad, eat. I'm not hungry."

Daya shook her head and pushed Erya down. Erya swallowed and licked the dirt-covered steamed bread crumbs on her fingers. "Dad, eat it. I'm not hungry either."

(End of this chapter)