I lean down and stand close to the recliner chair of Dragon, who closes his eyes and delivers the contents of a meat can into his mouth, making me really greedy. My team members gesture and make expressions at me, but they never help me. Since last night, they have all offended Dragon to varying degrees, and Yaoma is still lying on the lap of Bean.
"I'll pay it back tomorrow," I say in a low voice.
Dragon points to the sign behind him which says "No debt to anyone, No credit given".
"I can't read. What's written on it?"
I have to read honestly: "No debt to anyone, No credit given."
"I can't read, so you don't either." Dragon says, looking at the can without looking at me.
I speak with half of my smiling face, while the other half part of my face on our foraging team is bitter face. "Brother Dragon, we are all buddies in the army, and if we have some collision each other, it's called friendship. Didn't we get along quite well last night?"
"Don't learn my accent, it's no use. Last night you were just eating and fulling yourselves, and I'm really regretted later. If I give you enough food today, I might really be cleaned up by you." He looks at me resentfully, obviously not regretting too much about last night. "I won't give things to assholes. People who want to go are all assholes."
I have a little chance now so I lower my voice and say: "I am not an asshole... I mean, I won't go."
The guy starts to get interested, "Are you really not going?"
"Still got to, but not being cannon fodder. You know my leg, there's medicine over there."
Dragon and I get very close, so I give him the look of a selfish survivor in a chaotic world, and I take it for granted that I will receive a response.
"Don't you have meat to eat when you cut your leg into the pot? — Bear-like asshole!" The guy jumps up and drops the can he used to seduce us, and this is not enough. He jumps up and heavily treads the can several times, until the can is completely a pile of sauce held by iron, which cannot be picked up by any hungry ghosts.
I avoid him so as not to be caught up in his violent actions.
We have no idea who Dragon is pointing at and cursing at, so we have to think he is pointing at everyone, "Bear-like! Who go are bear-like! Who don't go are still bear-like!"
I return to my foraging team, at least it is safer here.
Bean and Kang Ya put some broken vegetables and leaves into the pot. Our dinner today is found by the two of us with the lowest capacity. After yesterday's gluttony, we will have the most painful meal today. We stare blankly, considering that no one had contributed, so no one has the right to complain.
"Any salt?" Kang Ya remains unchanged.
Vet Hao remains silent and takes out one of his many cloth bags, which contains an oil-paper bag. He begins to add salt. The old man is very sad because he knows that his eight wounded soldiers will definitely go hungry today.
I whisper to Vet Hao, "I'll leave my portion for you."
The old man glances at me and squeezes out a smile that is even uglier than crying, "Thank you. I still don't believe those words you said. I have said, you can't do it."
I make a constipation expression with grin, which froze on my face. Because a round, hollow, cold and hard object presses against the back of my head, I swear by my military career that it is a muzzle, and by the stunned expression of people around me looking behind me, I am certain it is a muzzle.
I slowly raise my hands and say: "No, no, we are all brothers..."
The bolt of the gun rings behind me, causing me to fall to the ground, but it is an empty bolt with no bullets. Amidst everyone's laughter, I get up and beat the guy who played with the gun on someone else's head. The guy uses his old Hanyang rifle to block, and after causing me pain, I have to take a cut of firewood and swing it.
Bula, who we have become accustomed to being naked, has now put on his military uniform. This is nothing. He actually takes back his gun — not many of us can keep our own guns.
Bula's apology is mixed with gloat. "My bad, my bad! He scared to pee! Ah, ah, it's hurt!" He exclaimes joyfully, "My bad! Fanla was scared! Haha! Really hurt! Really my bad!"
I don't care about that. I keep smashing him into the crowd, smashing a whole piece of meat which weighs two pounds off his body. We are all stunned, obviously it is pig meat rather than Bula's meat — to prevent stronger comrades from robbing us, we always stuff these rare things into our clothes.
Kang Ya, who reacts the fastest to this kind of thing, has already pounced and says: "Got a knife?"
As the person among us who is the most skilled in cooking and cutting, Shepigu's kitchen knife has always been carried with him, and he begins to cut meat.
Bean dribbles as he watches, expressing a deep feeling from hell to heaven: "Stewed pork with cabbage is truly delicious."
I am more reserved than them. I grab the rifle from Bula and check it. The gun is empty, and I stare at Bula's still twisted and strange face. His expression seems that there are chopping firewood still falling on him.
"Isn't your gun already sold?" I ask him.
"My clothes are also in pawn." Bula's face is full of glee.
Vet Hao is also curious, "Why are all back?"
Bula sits down and sits next to Yaoma. Yaoma is beaten hard by Dragon and still lays down. Bula greets him with a kick and Yaoma responds with a scolding.
"The clothes are easy to get. I said I wanted to redeem them, but he said I need pay first. So I just laid down on the counter, and I said, 'exchange me for clothes.' He said 'take away, take away, it's a lice' nest!' Gun is not easy to deal with, I sold it to the black market." Bula gesticulates.
"That's it! They even have machine guns, how could you deal with them?"
"If you can't fight, you don't fight. I'm reasonable." Bula actually puts on a civilized demeanor.
"I believe it. I believe you will fart and then suffocate people." I say. I don't believe Bula can be rational and talk about those principles.
"I'm really reasonable! I said I'm going to kill Japs! They said it's bullshit. I just put my little finger in my mouth." He says. He puts the little finger of his left hand into his mouth in front of us, and we find that he actually no longer has that little finger. There is a dirty and bloody rag wrapped in it, "click!"
We tremble as we listen to him. Bula grins happily. Although we now know that his grinning is because of pain, it cannot conceal his happiness. "I spit it out! Bah! the finger flew over half the street! Their faces couldn't be seen, all like old bitter gourds. There was a pork shop across the street, and the boss said I am a true man who can beat down the Japs, so he rewarded me two pounds of pork!"
We listen. We remain silent. Yi's face turns pale, and I don't want to speak, but I can't help but say: "Did you extort two pounds of pork while the guy was scared by you?"
Bula chuckles, obviously that's what he did. Vet Hao holds him in place and takes out one of the cloth bags in his pocket to bandage him again. After a moment, Yi leaves in a daze.
I sit there, unwilling to speak, unwilling to see them, and unwilling to see Kang Ya and their stewed pork with cabbage.
Bula and Yaoma, a pair of weak and strong brothers with weak physique and fierce posture. Repeated battles and defeats, repeated defeats and battles. They usually fight the same way, because together they may hold the weight of one person. I really want to ask Bula, does he always tell himself in his life of nothing: "be a man."
Bula's hand is restlessly patting the injured Yaoma, who snorts: "Hunan donkey, I've been beaten."
While the prestige has not disappeared, Bula is about to break away from vet Hao and jump up, "Sichuan monkey, who hit you?"
After being hard beat by Dragon, Yaoma is now meeker: "Fine, fine. It's son beat his father."
Dragon quickly verbal counterattacks: "It's grandfather beat grandson."
Dragon, who has been lying at the door, stands up and moves his recliner into the room. He is giving in because of something he himself cannot articulate, but we can see that it is definitely not because of fear.
The sign which says "No debt to anyone, No credit given" is knocked down by the recliner, so when Dragon enters the house, he stomps it apart with one foot.