Xiao Sheng is seven and eight years old. He has been with his grandmother all these years. His father's job has never been settled. Repairing the reservoir for a while and steelmaking for a while. His mother also transferred to another school. Grandma is alone in her hometown, saying it is very deserted. He was sent back to his hometown when he was three years old. He ate a lot of radishes, cabbages, millet cakes and cornmeal cakes in his hometown and grew taller.

Grandma doesn't care much about him. Grandma has something to do, and always finds some odds and ends to tidy up his clothes, jacket, trousers, cotton-padded jacket and trousers. His clothes are all connected, one is green and the other is blue. It's quite clean. Grandma also made him shoes. Make your own clothes, cut your own hair, make your own foundation, and make your own clothes. Grandma always said, "You have teeth on your feet and a mouth?" "Your feet are made of iron!" Then make him food. Millet cake, corn cake, radish and cabbage-scrambled eggs, boiled fish. He plays outside all day. Grandma cooked the meal and shouted at the door, "Have a baby! Come back for dinner-!"

Later, I set up a canteen. Grandma handed in two pots at home and came back from the canteen for dinner. Not bad! White flour steamed bread, big pancakes, fried tofu with marinated shrimp sauce, stuffy eggplant, pig's head meat! The chef in the canteen is dressed in white clothes and a white hat, dangling in the white heat of the steamer, knocking on the pot with a shovel and shouting loudly. People are getting fat, so are pigs. Not bad!

And then it didn't work. Or millet cake, corn cake.

Later, there was bran in the millet flour cake and corn residue in the corn flour cake, which made me cry. People have lost weight, and pigs have lost weight. A few years ago, it was difficult to catch a pig. This year, I reached out and grabbed the pig's hind leg. This is a pretty big crown. When you squeeze it, it will fall. The adulterated cake is not delicious, but Xiao Sheng still eats well. He is hungry. Grandma can't eat well. He came back from the canteen, broke off half a cake and chewed it for a long time. The rest, all belong to Xiao Sheng.

Grandma is in poor health She has asthma. Every winter. It's fine during the day, but it's difficult at night. Xiao Sheng was lying in the pit, listening to grandma drinking water and panting. I woke up to listen to her drink. He thought, grandma drank all night. But grandma got up after drinking, and then went to the canteen to make breakfast for him, mixing fake millet cakes and tortillas.

Dad came back to see grandma last winter. He comes back every year, and it is winter. Dad brought back half a bag of potatoes, a bunch of mushrooms and two bottles of butter. Dad said he shared potatoes; Tricholoma is picked and dried by itself; Butter is made through the back door. Dad said that butter is made of milk, which is very "nutritious" and let grandma put on cake to eat. Potatoes, grandma borrowed a pot to steam, cook, bake on the kitchen fire and gave them to Xiao Sheng. Pickled mushrooms once during the Chinese New Year. Butter, grandma told dad to take it back: "You can eat it. Such a precious thing! " Dad must leave it to grandma. Grandma left butter, but never ate it. Grandma put two bottles of butter on the cupboard and wiped it with a rag from time to time. What is butter? Made of milk? Through the glass, you can see that its color is light yellow. Last year, the third family gave birth to Xiao Si. He saw Xiaosan's mother tickling Xiao Si with pine pollen. The color of butter is like pine pollen. Oily, very nice. Grandma said it was edible. Xiao Sheng doesn't want to eat. He has never eaten, nor is he greedy.

Grandma's health is getting worse. She once called back the cake from the canteen and walked home in one go. I can't do it now. I have to rest for a while when I walk to the crooked neck willow. Grandma followed the old man and said, "I'm afraid it's winter, not spring." Xiao Sheng knows this is not a good word. This is a curse on animals. "ah! Look at you! If you live in winter, you can't live in spring! " Sure enough, the spring is chilly. The old people in the village died one after another. There is a wood production cooperative in the town, which stopped playing furniture and plowing and changed to playing coffins. Many new graves and white flags have been added outside the village. Grandma can't come. She's swollen. Press it with your finger, and the boss can't get up for a long time. She asked for a letter to call her son back.

When dad came back, grandma had swallowed her breath.

Dad asked the wood company to replace the cupboard in grandma's room with a coffin and bury grandma. In the evening, I sat on my grandmother's kang and shed tears all night.

Xiao Sheng experienced what "death" was for the first time in his life. He knows that "death" means "nothing". He has no grandmother. He is lying on the pillow, which smells like grandma's hair. He cried.

Grandma made him two pairs of shoes. If you can do it, just say, "Come and try!" -"wait a minute!" Liu Zhi, he's gone. Xiao Sheng woke up and tried on two pairs of shoes barefoot. One pair fits perfectly and the other pair is bigger. He touched the interlining barefoot, and he touched grandma's bottom line. He let out a cry, "grandma! ! "I cried again.

Dad visited the elders in the village, packed everything at home and put some suitable pots and pans in a big net basket. Put two pairs of shoes made by grandma for Xiao Sheng into the net basket. Put two bottles of untouched butter in the net basket. Lock the door. I'm on my way with Xiao Sheng.

Xiao Sheng is not familiar with his father. He is used to being with his grandmother. He stopped talking at first. He was homesick, his grandmother, a willow with a crooked neck, a pair of big white geese, dragonflies and slugs in the third family, flying flat and rattling, revealing the wing membrane with pink wings and hard wings and low wings ... Later, he became acquainted with his father. He's dad! They go by bus, train and then by bus. Dad is fine. Dad always leads him to talk and tells him a lot of things outside his mouth. The more he talks, the more he asks questions. He took a keen interest in Beyond the Mouth.

He asked his father what he meant by "speaking from his mouth". Dad said that "outside the mouth" is the place outside Zhangjiakou, also called "Bashang". "Why is it called Bashang?" He thinks the "dam" is a dam. Dad will know when he says it.

Dare "dam" is a mountain. The top of the mountain is neat, like a dam. But it's really big! The car has been climbing the hill. The car climbed very tired, as if it were out of breath and kept buzzing. Up the hill, hey, a big flat land! How flat! Flat and big. It looks like it was rolled. How can it be so flat! As soon as the car gets on the dam, it will be happy. It stopped humming and went straight ahead. As soon as we got on the dam, the climate suddenly changed. It's summer under the dam, and it's like autumn when you get to the dam. Suddenly, it was cold. Under the dam, the knife cuts the same. How flat! There are several round hills in the distance. There are no trees. There are many trees in his hometown. Elm, willow, locust tree. What is this place! Not a tree! This is a large flat land, green and covered with grass. Owning land. This plot is really big. Go from mountain to mountain like cloth. How big is the plot? Dad told him: a farmer took a cow to plow the field and plowed it once. When he came back, the cow brought back a new calf, which was three years old!

The bus arrived at a county called Guyuan, which was their last stop. An ox cart came to pick them up. The appearance of this car is ridiculous. The wheels are two wooden cakes, not very round. Bone Lu Lu badminton, bone Lu Lu badminton, roll forward. He was lying on his back on an ox cart with a big blue sky on it. Oxcart is really slow, not as fast as him. Sometimes he comes down to pick two wild flowers, walks for a while and climbs into the car.

The crops in this place are different from those in the mouth. There is no sorghum, no old corn, but naked oats and flax. Naked oats are clean, as if washed and combed with water. Xiu Xiu was angry because flax was holding a small blue umbrella. It is not like a crop, but like an ornamental flower.

Drink, this big piece of Malan! Malan is also found in their hometown, but it is not as high as here. It is as high as an adult's waist and has a palm-sized blue iris. As far as the eye can see. This big piece of Malan! He will never forget it in his life. He seems to be in a dream.

The ox cart is walking. Dad said, here we are! He sat up and saw a large potato in full bloom, pink, light purple and blue, and white. At first glance, it looked like a heavy snow. Huaxue swayed in the wind, and he was a little dizzy. There is a row of houses, earth walls and glass windows not far away. This is the "potato research station" where Dad works. Potato-yam egg-potato potato is the scientific name, dad said.

A man ran out of the house. "Mom-!" He recognized it at a glance! Mother ran over and picked him up.

Xiao Sheng will live here with his parents. If only grandma could come.

Xiao Sheng's father studied agriculture, and he has been doing other things in recent years. Grandma asked him, "Why are you always transferred?" Dad said, "I'm so bullied." The potato research station is too far away for others to come. Dad is willing. My mother studies painting. A few years ago, she drew two big radishes that dolls couldn't pull. The sails on them can be used as bean bowls on the boat. She is also willing to come with her father and draw a "potato map".

Mother brought them dinner. Real tortillas and two bowls of porridge. Mom said this porridge was cooked by grass seeds. Kind of like Xiaomi, smaller than Xiaomi. It is green, thick and fragrant. There is also a big plate of crucian carp, which is so big. Dad said that crucian carp in other places rarely weigh less than a catty. Here, the crucian carp in the "Nau" has a catty of 22, and the crucian carp grows fat when eating grass seeds. When the grass seeds are ripe, the wind blows them into the ditch and the fish eats them. Xiao Sheng is full.

Dad said he brought Xiao Sheng here for three reasons. First, grandma died, and there was no one in her hometown. Secondly, it's time for Xiao Sheng to go to school. After the summer vacation, he will go to a complete primary school not far away to register. Third, we eat better here. It is always easier to have a vast territory and a small population outside the mouth. The private plot here is five acres per person! You can grow things just by digging a piece of land. Mom and dad opened a field next to the "research station" and planted yam and pumpkin. The yam bloomed and the pumpkin sprouted. It won't be long before you can eat

The potato research station is quiet and there are few people. Just dad, mom and a few workers. Workers all have homes. The station is Xiao Sheng's home. This place is really quiet. There was no sound all day, except the wind blowing the ears of naked oats, rustling like a light rain; Sometimes Xiaoyan chirps.

Dad wears a straw hat and goes to hoe yam with the workers every day. Sometimes I look up information and read books. Mother got up early in the morning and picked a handful of yam flowers and leaves in the field. She came back and put them in a bottle, staring at it intently and drawing one by one. The painted flowers are just like real flowers! Xiao Sheng goes down to the fields with his mother every day. When he comes back, his shoes and trousers are stained with dew. Grandma's two new pairs of shoes have not been put on her feet yet. Mother locked them in the cupboard with two bottles of butter.

When he is free during the day, he plays around and runs around. This place is huge, and you can see everything. How far can you run? You can still see the row of houses in the research station when you look back, and you won't get lost. He went to the grassland to see cows, horses and sheep.

He sometimes grows pumpkins and yams. Hoe hoe, pour half a bucket of water from the well. This is not for fun. Xiao Sheng is waiting to eat them. They don't have a fire at home, but cook in the brigade canteen, and the food in the canteen is getting worse and worse. The grass seed porridge is gone, and the tortillas are gone. Now eat red sorghum cake and drink soup made of beet leaves. If it continues, the situation may get worse. Xiao Sheng is a little hungry.

He learned to pick mushrooms and shavings. At first, his mother took him to pick it twice. Later, he learned it himself. It rained, the sun came out, the air was wet and stuffy, and mushrooms came out. Mushrooms are strange. They all grow in the "mushroom circle". You look sideways with your head down. There is a circle of grass in the distance on the grass, which is particularly black, with green in the black, and a few white spots can be seen vaguely, which is the mushroom circle. Slip ring Mushrooms grow in this circle of dark grass. Out of the loop, out of the loop. The mushroom ring is fixed. This year is long, and next year is even longer. Everyone in the village knows where there are mushroom circles.

There is a mushroom ring that is crazy. It kept growing mushrooms for three days and nights, as if it were a ghost, and it was scary to watch. Seven or eight families nearby came to pick them, put them on and hung them under the eaves. Every family hangs three or four strings, which is quite long. The villagers said that there will be no more mushrooms in this circle next year, and they are dead. Xiao Sheng also picked some. He was so excited that his heart was pounding. "Boy! Boy! So many! So much! " He made a fortune.

Why is he so excited? Mushrooms are edible!

He shed tears while wearing mushrooms. He thought of grandma, and he would send her two bunches of mushrooms. Now he knows that grandma starved to death. People don't starve to death at once, but slowly.

The red sorghum cake in the canteen is getting worse and worse because of the bran. Beet leaf soup is getting worse and worse because there is no oil. He hates this red sorghum cake mixed with bran and this oil-free beet leaf soup!

He still plays around and runs around.

Outside the brigade canteen, it suddenly became lively. At first, I pulled a car full of sheep bricks. He asked his father what it was, and his father said, "Sheep brick." -"What is a sheep brick?" -"sheep manure is compacted and cut into pieces." -"For what?" -"Burning"-"Can this burn?" -"it's burning! The fire is booming. " Then set up a big stove. Then he killed a dozen sheep. Xiao Sheng stood by and watched the sheep being slaughtered. He has never seen killing sheep. Hey, the blood can't flow out outside, and a sheepskin has been peeled off!

What is this for?

Dad said there should be a three-level cadre meeting.

"What is a three-level cadre meeting?"

"You will know when you grow up!"

The meeting of third-level cadres is for third-level cadres.

The brigade used to have two canteens, the south canteen and the north canteen, separated by a yard, and a shed was built in the yard. On rainy days, two canteens can be strung together. It turns out that "members" eat in two canteens. At the third-level cadre meeting, everyone crowded into the north canteen. The south dining hall is vacant for the cadres attending the meeting.

The third-level cadre meeting lasted for three days, and they ate for three days. At noon on the first day, mutton and mushrooms were dipped in oatmeal. Stewed meat and rice the next day. On the third day, butter pancakes. Dinner is just so-so

"Committee members" and "cadres" eat at the same time. Members are in the north canteen, and cadres are in the south canteen. The northern canteen is still red sorghum cake and beet leaf soup. People in the north canteen smelled the fragrance coming from the south canteen and said, "Mutton, mushrooms and petty bourgeoisie are dipped in oat noodles, which smells good!" "Stewed rice smells good!" "Butter pancakes are delicious!" Xiao Sheng cooks every day and smells the smell of the southern canteen. Mutton and rice are not uncommon for him: he has seen them and eaten them. He didn't even smell butter pancakes. It's incense I really want to take a bite at the smell.

Going home to eat red sorghum cake, he asked his father, "Why do they eat butter pancakes?"

"Why did you have a meeting to eat butter pancakes?"

"They are cadres."

"Why do cadres eat butter pancakes?"

"oh! You ask too many questions! Eat your red sorghum cake! "

Xiao Sheng's mother, who was swallowing red cakes, suddenly stood up, poured out a little white flour from the jar, took out a bottle of butter that grandma had never touched, opened the bottle cap, dug a big piece, grabbed a handful of sugar and rolled out two pieces of bread made of butter. Grabbed a handful of bare wheat straw, stuffed it into the stove fire and cooked it. Butter pancakes taste the same as the southern canteen. Mother put the butter pancakes in front of Xiao Sheng and said, "Eat, son, don't ask."

Xiao Sheng took two bites and it was delicious. He burst into tears and shouted, "Grandma!"

Mother's eyes are full of tears.

Dad said, "Stop crying and eat."

Xiao Sheng is eating butter pancakes with a string of tears in her eyes. His tears flowed into his mouth. Butter pancakes are sweet, but tears are salty.