Captive in a bag

The main room was well heated: the mother added coal to the boiler, the heat went up the chimney into the fireplace. The figurine in the bag is curled up into a ball and does not move. Erhai understood: his mother called him to untie the bag also so that he could “remove the veil from the bride.” Moreover, the old woman did not dare to touch the bag herself: who knows what would jump out of there. The Japs surrendered, but, whatever one may say, people were still afraid of them. Not to mention the fact that they were merciless monsters, invaders who exterminated all living things, but just being a stranger is still so scary. Erhai heard that his heart was also beating like a drum.

A tiny man sat in the bag, arms wrapped around his knees. Erhai and his mother stood frozen in place, looking at him. The little man's head was cut into a crew cut, cun long, and based on his hair, the prisoner could be mistaken for Erhai's brother. The neck is thin, about the size of a palm, and the whole face is covered in scabs of dirt. The mother saw that the man was dressed in short pants, barely reaching his knees, and his legs were smeared with dried blood. The prisoner looked at the old woman, and her heart sank, her arms and legs became like cotton wool. She told Erhai:

- Well, what are you talking about, tell her to get up!

Erhai froze in place, looking with all his eyes at the man in the bag.

- Erhai, quickly tell her to get up!

The guy ordered the crooked man:

- Get up! - He was annoyed with his mother. - Look what you and your father did! Just guess whether she will recover or not!

This is exactly what my mother was worried about. Well, when a Jap dies in their house, what will happen then? And it’s not about the loss, but what will they tell people?

The mother raised her hands, not yet knowing what she would do. She plucked up her courage and grabbed the little man by the forearms. She had already prepared herself for the fact that the Jap was seven parts demon, and three parts man, but when she touched this demon, goosebumps ran down her skin: instead of hands, there were two bones! She put the prisoner on his feet, let him go, and he immediately fell to the floor. The security guards assured that all the Japs in the bags were safe and sound, so why was the Zhang family handed a cripple? No other way than his legs were broken by bullets. Now he can't stand.
He and his son dragged the little man onto the canal, his legs tangled. The mother lifted the prisoner’s trouser legs higher, but found no traces of bullets. Only now did she realize that the blood on her thighs was due to her period. The old woman calmed down: at least there was a woman in front of her.

“Go, get her some hot water to drink, maybe she’ll go away.”

Erhai immediately handed his mother a cup of tea. The old woman no longer had any fear or disgust; she sat down, crossing her legs, sat the little man on her lap and quietly watered him from a cup. Almost all the tea flowed back, the dirt on the Jap’s cheek became wet, smearing the old woman’s hand. The mother told Erhai to quickly bring a basin of water and a towel. He poured water into a basin from an iron kettle, which was heated on the warm edge of the kana, and took a towel from the washbasin.

After giving the Jap some tea, the old woman wet the towel and began to little by little wipe the dirt off her face. She understood perfectly well why such a disguise was needed: when Japan captured Manchuria, whole wagonloads of Japanese soldiers used to come to the copper mines in the northern part of the village. Then mothers smeared their daughters' faces with ash or river silt.

Soft, tender skin began to emerge from under the dirt, thick baby fluff under the ears. The water in the basin turned into dirty slurry, but the face could now be seen. If you fatten it up, it will be nothing.
Erhai watched on the sidelines as his mother washed the Jap like a carrot: two wide eyebrows appeared and a high nose. Because of his thinness, the Japanese face seemed grinning.

The old woman said:

- What a beauty. If only he wasn't a cripple. Really, Erhai?

Without answering, Erhai took the basin and left the room. He threw the water into the ditch next to the house, but did not spill it in the yard - it would immediately freeze, and the mother, for goodness sake, would slip on her bandaged legs.

The old woman came out and said that she would cook soup with an egg for the Jap, otherwise her intestines were damaged from hunger, and for a day or two she should not be given anything but soup. The mother came up with another job for Erhai: go to the shop, get a couple of chi [a Chinese measure of length, in the period described, about 1/3 meter] calico, and we’ll sew her a cotton quilt. Erhai walked towards the gate, hiding his palms in his sleeves. The mother remembered something - mincing with her feet, she trampled a string of footprints in the snow, and slipped a banknote into Erhai’s sleeve:

- I forgot about the money! Take it with red flowers on blue! — their shop sold only two types of chintz: red with blue flowers and blue with red. When Erhai reached the gate, the mother changed her mind:

- No, give it red! Red with blue flowers!

- Why waste money? Who knows, maybe she's crippled!

- This won’t stop her from giving birth! - the mother waved her hand. — Red with blue flowers. Understood?

“Xiaohuan will be even more angry.”

- Why be angry? If she gives birth to a child, we will chase her in the neck.

- How will we drive?

“We’ll put you in this very bag and take it to the mountains,” the old woman giggled.

Of course, he's joking.