Ma Qi sat nervously by the fire, trying to absorb the warmth released by the fire to warm her body. Her eyes were suppressed and she was holding a shovel in her hand, her knuckles turning white.
The two children didn't know what had just happened, and they didn't notice Ma Qi's nervousness.
But they did not play the same games as children before the disaster, because long-term hunger always makes people lack energy. Maggie and Willy both squatted by the fire, almost falling asleep.
suddenly.
"Mother."
Sharon suddenly looked at Maggie.
"What's wrong, Sharon?"
"Mom, today is Christmas." Sharon looked expectant. "Will Santa Claus give me a gift tonight? Sharon has always been a good child."
"Well, good children will get gifts." Ma Qi smiled and said in a complex voice: "What gift does Sharon want?"
This is the unique innocence of children. Children who are naive always believe in the existence of Santa Claus.
These romantic words made Ma Qi feel warm, but also made her feel a little uncomfortable.
"Sharon wants a rag doll..." The little girl was looking forward to it. She used to like all kinds of rag dolls the most.
but.
"Gululu~"
The protest from her stomach appeared at an inappropriate time. Sharon's face turned red, she held her stomach, and finally said: "No, I still... I still want a big meatball."
"A very, very large meatball."
"Well, big meatballs that can make me and my mother full." Sharon swung her hands in a circle and gestured: "So big!"
"And it's best to do it a little in advance... I want to eat it tonight with my mother and Willy..."
Maggie smiled: "Okay, Sharon, Santa Claus will give you a big meatball, a very big, very big meatball. You go to sleep for a while, and when you wake up, Santa Claus will bring it to you."
"
"Mom, why don't we have a Christmas tree this year?" Sharon suddenly asked.
Maggie didn't know how to answer.
"There are also colored lanterns and ribbons... there are none this year..."
"There's no turkey, and there's no dad either..."
Sharon whispered, and Maggie didn't know how to comfort her. After a long time, she wanted to say something, but Sharon had already lowered her head and leaned against Willy, snoring.
There was a gentle smile on the corner of her mouth, as if in a dream, she was opening gifts under the Christmas tree in a decorated room, and there was a fragrant turkey in the oven. Her father, mother, uncles and aunts were having fun.
They chatted about their experiences over the past year.
Ma Qi was silent for a long time, then stood up slowly, took out a piece of torn paper used as a fire starter from the corner, selected a few pieces of gray-red shredded paper, and pasted them in the room, and finally pasted them outside the cold and windy door.
A palm-sized piece of red shredded paper.
The color red seems to represent happiness in every national culture.
This decoration is much worse than before. As a former urban beauty, Christmas is always carefully prepared. Ribbons, lights, and Christmas trees must be prepared. But now I can only simply paste some red shredded paper.
Ma Qi suddenly remembered how warmly she and her husband used to laugh and put up colorful ribbons at home.
Of course, it seems a bit silly to still decorate for Christmas now, because unnecessary and meaningless actions will consume more energy.
But Ma Qi feels that perhaps it is these seemingly superfluous actions and these seemingly superfluous festivals that are the foundation of a national culture.
Only then can she temporarily forget the coldness of winter, give her hope to persevere, and allow her to feel warm despite the cold and hunger.
Outside the door, the neighbor across the door also posted a piece of shredded paper picked up from nowhere. The gray-red shredded paper that had been stored for a long time and had almost faded was almost lost in the wind and snow, but in this vast white and lifeless world
But it is still a bit dazzling, seeming to bring a bit of vitality to the cold winter, adding joy to the ice and snow.
Ma Qi and her neighbor looked at each other. Neither of them knew what to say. After a long silence, they said: "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas."
There was some red in the room, and it finally had a festive atmosphere, breaking the depression of facing the white ice and snow for a long time.
Ma Qi glanced at her sleeping daughter and Willy, and then at a thumb-sized piece of dried meat hanging in the corner of the beam.
It was left by Willy's father for himself. It was an extremely luxurious food in the cold winter.
Ma Qi would only cook a small piece of meat when her children and herself really needed oil and water to make a pot of broth that smelled vaguely of meat and had a few oily stars floating in it. After more than a month, there were still these palm-sized pieces of meat left.
Clicked.
Ma Qi sighed, stood up, took out the piece of dried meat, took out a small knife, and prepared to cut off pieces of meat as big as the tip of a fingernail as before.
But looking at the last bit of bread in the corner, Ma Qi suddenly felt a sudden change in her heart and simply cut the entire thumb-sized dried meat into luxurious slices.
Ma Qi poured all the meat pieces onto the fire
He was about to open the door to add ice and snow to the pot, but suddenly.
"Bang bang bang!"
Someone knocked on the door.
"who!"
Ma Qi's face suddenly tightened.
The sound of the wind and snow outside the door was too loud. The people outside the door did not hear Ma Qi's inquiry at first, until Ma Qi repeated again: "Who!"
"Ahem...it's me, Dylan!" the person outside the door responded in a low tone.
"It's Uncle Dylan!" Sharon, who was woken up by the knock on the door, smiled happily: "Mom, it's Uncle Dylan!"
Willy is also very happy.
Dylan is Maggie's neighbor across the door, and he is also the single man who was robbed of all the food by Rory, Mark and others.
Because he lives alone, and because both his father and mother died in the last battle, the Alliance of Gods will give Dylan extra rations, which is equivalent to the pension in exchange for his parents.
So before winter came and traffic was blocked, Dylan accumulated a lot of rusks.
Because he lives alone, he has relatively plenty of food. If there are no accidents, it will be enough for him to survive this cold winter.
He is a nice person who is willing to share. Sharon and Willy like to visit him the most, because Uncle Dylan will always generously give them some rusks to fill their stomachs, and then watch them play with a smile.
It brings rare laughter and warmth to a house where we live alone amidst the howling of ice and snow.
This also allowed Ma Qi to save a lot of food, which has allowed her to survive until now.
"Mom, Uncle Dylan is here!" Sharon smiled happily.
If it had been left, Maggie would have been very happy, because every time Dylan came over, he would bring some rusks for Sharon and Willie.
But Maggie was not happy because she knew that Dylan's food had just been looted.
Maggie could vaguely guess what Dylan was going to do, and she was even a little scared... After witnessing what Rory and Mark did, she realized how dangerous a woman with two children could be.
"Ma Qi, I beg you, please open the door."
"Mom, open the door for Uncle Dylan quickly."
Maggie wanted to refuse, but looking at Sharon's bright, innocent eyes, she didn't know how to explain it, and finally smiled and said: "Okay, mom will open the door for Uncle Dylan."
She bent down and hid the pot with the meat under the bed, then picked up the shovel and slowly opened the door.
What made her relieved was that Dylan did not carry any weapons, his eyes were not cruel, and he was still as kind as before.
Dylan, whose head was broken, wore a simple bandage of rags and stood shivering in the cold wind.
Seeing Maggie opening the door, Dylan's eyes were a little grateful.
But when he saw the shovel in Ma Qi's hand, the smile on his face suddenly became a little stiff.
"boom!"
The howling cold wind closed the door behind her. Maggie looked at Dylan and whispered: "What's wrong?"
"Ahem, Maggie, Merry Christmas." Dylan's eyes were lowered, with a pleading smile on his face. After planning for a long time, he finally said with difficulty: "Maggie, we are friends, right."
Maggie didn't answer.
"Maggie, my food was taken away... Ahem, those damn Rory and Mark... they didn't leave any for me at all... They even came to my house to eat the food cooked by my parents before!"
"Ma Qi, can you lend me some food?"
He looked at Ma Qi carefully, and when Ma Qi didn't answer, he said solemnly: "I will definitely pay it back! I...I don't know how to pay it back, but I will definitely pay it back."
"I just don't want to be hungry on Christmas Day, ahem, after all, it's Christmas..."
"I know it's not easy for you to have two children, but, I gave you and Sharon a lot of food before... If it wasn't really helpless, I wouldn't want to come and beg you, and they all rejected me...
"
"Ma Qi, I know you will definitely help me. I don't need too much, just a little is enough. Just keep me from going hungry tonight. I won't ask you for anything again... This is Christmas after all. Thank you.
Festival, we used to share delicious food on this day. Ahem."
He spoke a little incoherently, his pale face red with shame due to the disease, but he still looked at Ma Qi cautiously.
Looking at this kind man, Ma Qi's eyes were tangled, but she finally lowered her voice and said, "Sorry, I don't have food at home either."
She hid a pot of finely chopped dried meat under the bed.
The rusk she had stored would last for two or three days if she saved herself from eating it.
But she didn't want to take it out, because the two children still needed food, and the rusks for two or three days were only a few slices.
She herself didn’t know that she had persisted during those two or three days.
After that, where should I go to get food?
Dylan lowered his head and said nothing.
Maggie felt a little guilty and wanted to change her mind and invite Dylan to have a Christmas dinner together - in the West, Christmas is a festival where relatives and friends are invited to enjoy a feast and delicious food.
But Ma Qi still held back. She didn't dare to look at Dylan and just said: "I'm sorry, Dylan..."
"I know, it's okay." Dylan smiled bitterly, his eyes were not sad, he just said dimly: "Thank you for opening the door for me, sorry to bother you, Merry Christmas."
He turned around silently, huddled in the howling ice and snow, and walked towards his house with difficulty step by step.
Ma Qi opened the door and returned to the somewhat dim room.
"Mom, where is Uncle Dylan? What is he doing here?" Sharon looked at the door expectantly, "Is he here to deliver rusks to us?"
Ma Qi said in a complicated tone: "Well, yes. But mom didn't ask for it, because we can't keep asking others for it. Uncle Dylan also needs food."
"Well...well, as my mother taught me, Christmas is also Thanksgiving, and we must learn to be grateful." Sharon nodded, and then said: "Uncle Dylan is a good person who has helped us."
"Well, this is Thanksgiving. We need to learn to be grateful and learn to share..." Ma Qi's heart became more and more complicated, but she still bent down to pick up the iron pot from under the bed, put it on the fire, and said: "Sharon,
If you sleep a little longer, there will be food and broth when you wake up."
“Are there any big meatballs?”
Ma Qi smiled bitterly: "Yes."
Sharon opened her eyes and swallowed as she looked at more minced meat than before, but still said: "No, Sharon won't sleep. Sharon has to wait for the broth and the big meatballs..."
Beside the crackling fire, she still fell asleep.
The broth in the pot gurgled, and a small amount of dried and discolored minced meat was tumbling, exuding a dense meaty aroma. This made Ma Qi eat dry and hard bread for a long time, and her tasteless mouth secreted saliva, and she couldn't bear it.
I couldn't help but swallow my saliva.
How long has it been since you had broth?
It seems like a long time ago that I last had broth.
In this era of cold winter, a little bit of meat flavor is so precious. Although Ma Qi always gives the precious minced meat to the two children and only drinks a small bowl of broth with oily stars, but
The taste of the broth still made her unable to forget it.
"Big meatballs..." Sharon may have smelled the smell in her sleep, and she drooled and muttered in her sleep.
"Sigh." Ma Qi rubbed her eyebrows. She didn't know where to get big meatballs...but if there was broth, Sharon shouldn't feel too uncomfortable.
Ma Qi's mind wandered a little, and she thought of the past.
Houses decorated with lights, warm fireplaces, and Christmas trees with stockings hanging on them.
When enjoying delicious food with her parents and friends, she would always make a turkey stuffed with potatoes and onions. This was a technique taught to her by her grandmother, and she would always win praise from everyone.
Her husband would take out the red wine from his collection and enjoy the wine while talking and laughing with his friends.
Sharon is a little princess who is loved by the whole family. She wears brand new and beautiful clothes. She always stays in bed and jumps out of bed early the next day, picks up the socks hanging on the bedside, and happily opens gifts.
"A big meatball..." Ma Qi smiled helplessly. At that time, who would care about a meatball?
At that time, meat was only two or three pounds per catty.
Her husband eats three steaks every day, and they must be good steaks, preferably paired with red wine, and of course, sometimes beer.
As an urban beauty who works in a cosmetics company, Ma Qi deliberately controls her meat intake and likes to eat coarse grain bread that is difficult to swallow.
Sharon wouldn't ask for a meatball at all at that time, her clothes weighed dozens of pounds, and her gifts were all kinds of beautifully crafted and expensive dolls.
but now……
Maggie frowned and thought about how to celebrate Christmas tonight, and what to do with the big meatballs Sharon wanted. She almost fell asleep amidst the crackling of the fire and the howling of the cold wind. She seemed to have seen Christmas when she was a child.
A picture of parents opening gifts with their smiles.
But at this moment, she felt heart palpitations for no reason.
at the same time.
"Bang, bang..."
There were two dull sounds outside the door, like something falling to the ground.
Ma Qi's mind was tense for a moment. She slowly picked up the shovel and leaned against the door.
But for a long time there was no other sound, only the howling of the cold wind.
Against the howling cold wind, Ma Qi carefully opened the door little by little.
Two people were lying on the snow.
Because the hay-filled clothes she wore were too thick, Ma Qi didn't recognize them for a while. She carefully turned the two of them over slowly, and then she discovered them.
Those faces that were almost frosty were actually his parents!
"Dad, Mom?"
Ma Qi whispered in disbelief and quickly tried to drag her parents into the house.
"Hoo, ho, ho."
Fortunately, the two old men who were originally fat were now as skinny as a stick. Ma Qi could even feel the ribs through their clothes, so they could drag them in.
But even so, Ma Qi's body, already weak from long-term hunger, almost fell apart. She squatted on the ground and gasped for a while. She scooped some broth from the pot with some distress and put it into the mouths of the two old people.
.
"Dad, Mom."
"Wake up..."
Ma Qi shook the two old men, their thin bodies were moistened by the broth, and their cold bodies were gradually warmed by the warm fire. The two old men opened their eyes one after another.
"Grandpa, grandma, are you here to have Christmas dinner with us? I just made a wish to Santa Claus for a big meatball. When Santa Claus delivers it, we can eat it together!" Sharon was happy after being woken up.
looked at the two old men.
Ma Qi, who was happy to see her parents, had a smile on her face.
Coming to eat?
this……
Ma Qi was a little embarrassed. She wanted to stay with her parents for dinner, but there wasn't much food, but she couldn't send her parents away politely.
Fortunately, the two old men knew about Maggie's situation and waved their hands. The old lady patted Sharon and Willie and coaxed the two children to sleep for a while. The old man sat there without saying a word, just looking at the fire.
"Dad, what are you doing..." Ma Qi said nervously.
The old man waved his hands.
Until Sharon and Willie fell asleep again - hungry little children always fall asleep easily.
The old man coughed.
"The food was robbed three days ago... Ahem, damn robbers, beasts... That little brat is still the grandson of my old friend. I am completely unprepared. There are knives at home..." the old man whispered.
He coughed and spoke intermittently.
Ma Qi frowned slightly, but still said: "I'll get you some."
"No, no need, I, I know it's not easy for you, with two children..." The old man glanced at the pieces of bread in the basket in the corner, swallowed, forcibly turned his eyes away, and said weakly: "We are not here to eat.
Yes, we are not here to ask you for food."
"Then you're here?" Ma Qi was stunned.
The old man suddenly looked at Ma Qi. He was so weak that he gasped quickly: "Why did you save me? Why did you save us!"
Actually a little angry!
Ma Qi was stunned: "What?"
"Hoo, ho, ho, I, I'm... giving you and Sharon a Christmas gift." The old man was too weak. He was already out of breath when he was slightly excited. He took a few big breaths to calm down his mood and breathing.
, and the old lady looked at each other and said feebly: "Christmas gifts... On Thanksgiving Day, Santa Claus will give gifts to children..."
Ma Qi knew this tradition. When she was a child, her parents would buy her Christmas gifts every year and hang them in the socks beside her bed while she slept.
Of course, at that time she always thought it was from Santa Claus.
But at this time, Ma Qi didn't understand at all. She frowned and said: "What kind of Christmas gift? I'm so old. I already knew that Santa Claus is your parents..."
"Big meatballs..." Under the firelight, the old man's uncertain face was a bit scary. He looked at Sharon, who was sleeping soundly, and said softly: "Didn't Sharon say just now that she wanted to eat big meatballs?"
"You don't have much food...you haven't eaten meat for a long time."
"Don't worry, Santa Claus, it will be delivered to you soon."
"What?" Ma Qi felt something was wrong.
"Let's leave now," the old man said calmly, looking at the door. "You can open the door again in half an hour."
"Take the...meat at the door, find a place where no one is around, and unwrap it, don't let Sharon see it. Be sure to hide it well, cover it in the snow, don't let anyone steal it, and chop it into pieces when you eat it.
Break it into pieces, otherwise it will scare Sharon. Also, cook the offal more, otherwise there will be a peculiar smell. The meat must be cooked before eating, otherwise there are germs, and you may get sick if you eat it. Don’t waste the blood, you can wrap it with intestines.
After cooking, I heard that there is this way of eating in Daxia. There shouldn’t be much residue in the intestines, but it’s better to clean them well. If you can’t stand the smell, you can tear off the intestinal membrane..."
The old man's chatter sounded like he was teaching his young daughter, or like the worried advice of his parents who were traveling far away.
Ma Qi seemed to understand something, her eyes widened in disbelief: "Dad?"
"Haha, you can still get out dozens of kilograms of meat. Although it should be all lean meat, it should be enough for you and the two little guys to last for a long time."
"This is... Santa Claus's last Christmas gift for you."
"Daughter, Merry Christmas."
The old man with deeply sunken eyes and thin, dry skin with protruding blood vessels showed a smile that was just as warm as the sturdy father in Ma Qi's memory when he watched her happily opening gifts.
