Meng Yan's Transformation

Little Mengyan followed her elder sister and elder brother every day and often went to the tunnel in the village to play. When she got hungry, she would go to Zheng Fu's warehouse to steal sticky bean buns and grill them.

One day, everyone gathered in the grove at the west end of the village. Zheng Fu and the children of Zhan Yu were lying on the thick dead leaves, looking at the blue sky. Zheng Fu said, "More and more of my sticky rice dumplings are lost. My eldest sister suspected that I stole the sticky rice dumplings from home to feed you. She looked at me like a thief every day. Whenever I go out, she stares at me. I feel guilty and dare not look her in the eye!" Zheng Fu said.

"Has your sister found the entrance to the tunnel of the warehouse?" Xiao Mengyan asked.

"It would be fine if the entrance to the tunnel was discovered by our eldest sister Zheng Hongmei, because she wouldn't report us. But if the entrance to the tunnel to the warehouse was discovered by our second sister Zheng Yumei, we would lose our lives. She would definitely report us, and dad would beat us to death if he knew." Zhan Ziqiang said.

"Then let's not go to Brother Zheng Fu's warehouse anymore. I'm afraid my brother will be beaten by our father." Xiao Mengyan said with lingering fear as she recalled the tragic scene when Zhan Ziqiang was beaten last time.

"We can open a few more tunnel entrances, such as the tunnel leading to the production team, or the tunnel leading to Aunt Zhang's house..." Zheng Fu said thoughtfully.

Zheng Fu was like he had discovered a new world. He said excitedly: "There are many tunnel entrances. We can each take a few frozen sticky bean buns. This way, we won't be easily discovered and will be safer!"

"Yes, yes!" "This is a good idea!" Everyone agreed with Zheng Fu.

Everyone got to work immediately and brought tools such as two-tooth rakes, hammers, shovels, pickaxes, etc. from home and began digging and clearing the new tunnel exit.

"Brother Zheng Fu, Brother Ziqiang, I found something bright here!" Zhan Zixun dug out a new exit.

Zheng Fu is a genuine "expert" and every new discovery is first checked and explored by him.

Zheng Fu stuck his head out from the entrance of the new tunnel and saw that it was right under the horse trough of the production team's stable.

Zheng Fu climbed out of the cave and saw the horse eating hay in the trough. He reached out his hand, touched the bottom of the trough, grabbed a handful of corn kernels and put them in his trouser pocket, and then grabbed another handful of corn kernels and put them in his trouser pocket. He grabbed a handful of corn kernels from left to right and filled both pockets. Just as he was about to call Zhan Ziqiang to come up, he suddenly heard "The horse is pregnant with a foal. Zifeng, you have to feed the horse carefully! Give it more hay so that the foal will be strong!" The old breeder said to Zhan Zifeng.

"I understand. I'll add some fodder to the Big Red Date Horse right away." Zhan Zifeng said as he walked towards the Big Red Date Horse holding a winnowing basket filled with fodder.

The footsteps became louder and louder, frightening Zheng Fu so much that he jumped back into the tunnel in a hurry.

"Brother Zheng Fu, what did you see up there? Why did you stay there for so long? Did you get anything delicious?" Xiao Mengyan asked.

"Don't talk, your brother Zifeng is upstairs!" Zheng Fu waved his hand and whispered softly.

Everyone squatted down and listened quietly to the noise outside.

"Big Red Date Horse, you have to eat more so that you can give birth to a beautiful and strong foal like you in the fall. I may not see you become a mother. When the army is recruited in the spring, I will sign up to join the army and become a glorious People's Liberation Army soldier. Are you happy for me?" Zhan Zifeng chatted with the Big Red Date Horse while adding grass to the horse's feed.

"Brother Zifeng is going to join the army?" Little Mengyan couldn't help but shed tears when she thought about her brother leaving.

"You haven't left yet, have you? Besides, is it that easy to sign up for the army? Let's not talk about whether you can sign up or not! It's difficult to pass the examination after signing up!" Zhan Ziqiang comforted Xiao Mengyan while wiping away her tears.

Led by Zheng Fu, everyone walked back to the entrance of the tunnel in the woods at the west end of the village, picked up branches, lit them and started a fire. Zheng Fu took out the corn kernels from his trouser pocket and put them into the fire. The corn kernels burned with a crackling sound, and Zhan Ziqiang gave the cooked corn kernels to his younger brothers and sisters.

The children of the Zhan family went home with their mouths full of black food. Zhan Ziqiang was afraid that his father Zhan Yu would find out, so he hurried home to wash his face first.

"How come Ziqiang has learned to be so clean today? He washes his face before entering the room without being told by others?" Yunqing said puzzled but relieved.

"Oh, where have you been? Why are you so dirty? Why are your little mouths so black? Go wash your faces!" Yunqing said in surprise when she turned around and saw Xiao Mengyan, Yingying and Zhan Zixun's faces.

After the children washed their faces, Yunqing brought them dinner: corn stubble porridge and boiled potatoes.

"We've had dinner, and we've brought you a piece of dog meat!" Just as the children were about to have dinner, "Old Doctor Han" and An Zhirui came back drunk.

Zhan Ziqiang once took "Huang Heihu" to chase pheasants in the snow. Zhan Ziqiang and "Huang Heihu" fell into a snow hole and couldn't climb out. "Huang Heihu" raised his head and howled at the sky. Finally, the big black dog of Grandma Li's family heard "Huang Heihu"'s cry and smelled "Huang Heihu"'s scent. He led the villagers to rescue Zhan Ziqiang and "Huang Heihu".

A few days ago, Zhan Ziqiang took "Huang Hei Hu" to play with the big black dog. When he saw the big black dog's skin, "Huang Hei Hu" barked non-stop, scratched the ground with his claws, and tears came out of his eyes. It was like a person who lost a comrade-in-arms who had fought together and felt a heart-wrenching pain...

"Huang Hei Hu" was taken home by Zhan Ziqiang and refused to eat or drink. When he saw "Dr. Han" and An Zhirui biting each other crazily, the two ran away in fear. They didn't dare to go back to Zhan Yu's house. When Zhan Yu found them, they told Zhan Yu that "Huang Hei Hu" was crazy and asked Zhan Yu to kill "Huang Hei Hu" so that they could eat dog meat.

When Zhan Yu was about to kill "Huang Heihu", Cuihua and her grandfather came to see Xiao Mengyan. They stopped Zhan Yu from killing "Huang Heihu" and took "Huang Heihu" away, saying that they would go back and treat him well and send him back after he was cured.

Today, "Dr. Han" and An Zhirui tricked someone's dog into killing it. When the children saw the dog meat they threw on the dinner table, they stared at them in anger and said nothing.

"These ungrateful little bastards didn't even say thank you when we gave you dog meat. Instead, they glared at us!" said An Zhirui.

"Put the dog meat away, we will eat it with Zhan Yu tomorrow. These little bastards are holding a grudge against us for eating Old Liu's big black dog. Ignore them and let's go to bed." said the "Old Doctor Han".

The next day, Zheng Fu and the children of Zhan Yu's family gathered in the grove at the west end of the village.

"I found a new tunnel exit." Zheng Fu told everyone proudly.

"Where does it lead to this time?" Zhan Ziqiang asked.

"Don't ask any of you first! Just follow my lead, there will definitely be a surprise." Zheng Fu said in a mysterious manner.

The children of Zhan Yu's family entered the tunnel again and continued digging and cleaning under the leadership of Zheng Fu.

"Don't move, don't move, we've reached the tunnel entrance!" Zheng Fu waved his hand and asked everyone to stop working.

As a stone was moved away by Zheng Fu, Zheng Fu stuck his head out and then quickly retracted it.

"I was wrong, I was wrong, how did I end up at Old Man Cao's house!" Zheng Fu said to the children of Zhan Yu's family.

"I heard that Mr. Cao was a reactionary capitalist-roader who was sent here from Beijing. My mother said that capitalist-roaders specialize in taking advantage of children. But the production team leader called him Mr. Cao. The team leader said that Mr. Cao was a high-ranking official before he became a capitalist-roader!" Zheng Fu added.

"Brother, let's go home quickly!" When Xiao Mengyan heard about the capitalist-roader who was so cruel, she was so scared that she wanted to go home.

"We have finally dug this up. We have to go out and take a closer look and observe!" Zheng Fu said.

"Yes, let's go out and take a look." Everyone echoed.

So, led by Zheng Fu, everyone climbed out of the tunnel.

The entrance to the cave was in Mr. Cao's outer kitchen, where firewood and branches were stored.

The children looked out from the kitchen: Mr. Cao was boxing. His punches were sometimes as light as a swallow, and sometimes as heavy as a thunderbolt. They were really smooth, vigorous, powerful, and unstoppable...

The children were so mesmerized by the sight that they forgot where they were...