Chapter 1: The Hero Will Never Die

  After a series of absurd and painful mental struggles, Ma Qian finally calmed down. After spending several days in a daze, the harsh reality told him that he was now just an ordinary villager in Bao'an Village, Mengjiang County, Jilin Province, nicknamed Ma Dalengzi, a bachelor, a tall and silly guy.

  The departed are like this, all gone! The crimson military camp, the dense gun bayonets, the comrades as close as brothers, turned into fleeting clouds and smoke in the blink of an eye. Those were just symbols of past experiences. Now it's February 1940. Since we're here, let's make peace with it. Lamenting, raging, fearing are all useless. Ma Qian has come to realize this and instead becomes more optimistic.

  But at this time, Ma Dalianzi Ma Qian'an was stunned in front of the rice jar. He thought that the original Ma Dalianzi must have been very lazy or very able to eat. He had only replaced him for a few days and had already eaten all the rice in the jar. The reason? It could only be that the original stored grain was too little. Ma Qian'an would not admit that his appetite was large, because he ate a limited amount of food every day, just a few bowls of plain rice, absolutely not excessive.

  "Ah-" Ma Qian'an couldn't help but let out another loud wail.

  "Shut up! A big man like you, what are you yelling about all day? Who are you mourning for?" Along with a loud scolding, a girl with a delicate face and big eyes kicked open Ma Qian's door and rebuked loudly.

  Ma Qian'an's mouth was wide open, and he swallowed hard, suppressing a long howl. He didn't dare to breathe out, and his eyes turned white from lack of oxygen. This girl who had burst into his home was someone he knew - Zhang Xiaohua, the daughter of Old Man Zhang next door, his fiancée who hadn't yet moved in with him. She had the typical characteristics of a Northeastern girl: straightforward and hot-tempered. These past few days, she would come to his place for no reason at all, muttering to herself, scolding him a few times. For Ma Qian'an, who was new to this era, she had almost become his only source of information about this society.

  Zhang Xiaohua glared at him with wide eyes, as if resentful of his incompetence, and scolded: "How many days has it been? Endless yelling, what's wrong with you? Eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, not chopping firewood, not working? If it weren't for the arranged marriage, who would look at you with your useless appearance? Ah? You're really stupid."

  For a moment, Ma Qian'an was stunned. What am I doing? I've come all this way and yet I'm always complaining about heaven and earth playing tricks on me, never thinking about how to survive in the future. It's really despicable! With hands and feet, I can't even take care of myself, and I'm being ridiculed by a little girl. Ma Qian'an was deeply immersed in his own thoughts, lost in thought.

  Zhang Xiaohua saw Ma Qian'an staring blankly at her, his eyes unfocused, like a wooden puppet. She couldn't help but scold him again: "Big fool, don't say I didn't tell you, later the village's Zhao Pai Zhang and others will go into the mountains to cut firewood, hurry up and go with them, bring back the firewood and send it to our home, and I'll treat you to a dinner, did you hear?"

  When he heard the words "have a meal", Ma Qian'an's hungry stomach growled, letting out a thunderous roar that brought his wandering thoughts back. Ma Qian'an's face turned red as he asked with a hint of embarrassment and inquiry: "Xiao Hua, can you get something to eat now? I haven't even chewed anything yet, and I didn't even have breakfast."

  Zhang Xiaohua's delicate little nose wrinkled up, and her eyes glared as if she was about to blow up.

  Ma Qian'an *** first spoke, saying: "Little Flower, you look really good today, really attractive. Good Little Flower, well-behaved Little Flower, brother will chop more firewood every day, earn money to buy a red scarf for Little Flower, and build a house for Little Flower, okay?"

  Ma Qian'an saw himself about to be scolded again, this young lady was merciless when she scolded people, he had experienced it a few days ago, so he didn't want to be scolded again, immediately took out his flattering technique, coaxing the naive little girl, for someone as smooth-tongued and cunning as himself, that was still a piece of cake.

  Zhang Xiaohua was shocked, Ma Qian's reaction was beyond her expectation. In the past when she scolded him, this stubborn guy would either glare at her or storm out of the room, never speaking softly, let alone saying such cheesy words. Was the sun rising from the west today? Had he caught a fever?

  Zhang Xiaohua took a step forward, tiptoed and stretched out her small hand to touch Ma Qian'an's forehead, shaking her head.

  Ma Qian'an forced a bitter smile, and immediately put on a smiling face: "I swear, everything I said is true. From now on, if I don't work hard, I'll be raised by a donkey." When people have no shame, they are invincible. Ma Qian'an's flattering expression fell into Zhang Xiaohua's eyes, and finally made her giggle. Ma Qian'an felt relieved, it worked, laughter makes things easier to handle.

  "I'm telling you, this is just about right. From now on, you have to speak to me like this. Got it?" Zhang Xiaohua felt a sense of relief and immediately forgot about the donkey's past misdeeds, smiling as she added.

  "Yes, yes, yes! When our Xiaohua speaks, it's an imperial decree. Whoever dares disobey will be beheaded by me."

  "Alright, stop pretending, here you go. I knew you hadn't eaten yet, my mother told me to give these to you." Zhang Xiaohua casually opened a small package she had brought with her and took out two cornmeal flatbreads and two eggs.

  "Good little flower, it's still my wife who loves me." Ma Qian'an struck the snake with his stick, since he had already fawned on her, he might as well do it thoroughly, anyway, he wouldn't lose out.

  Zhang Xiaohua glared at him again, "What nonsense are you talking about? We're not even married yet, and besides, I'll cut you off."

  "Ah!" Ma Qian'an exclaimed, lowering his head to pretend to look for something. He couldn't help but want to tease this straightforward and innocent little girl. Zhang Xiaohua was curious and also looked down at the ground. "What are you looking for? What are you looking for?"

  Ma Qian'an couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Zhang Xiaohua being deceived, "Looking for eyeballs? Such big eyeballs are as beautiful as the ones my little flower glares at me with."

  "What's wrong with you, what big eyes? Ah, are you talking to me? You still dare to blame me for staring at you? Come on, I'll give you a good scolding." Zhang Xiaohua chased after Ma Qian'an, brandishing her fists.

  When Zhang Xiaohua finally caught Ma Qian'an, her small fists rained down on his chest, and suddenly, she blushed. What's going on? The usually silly and stubborn donkey is now speaking softly, coaxing people, and teasing them. Most unexpectedly, she seemed to be pleased with this tone, and liked him teasing her.

  Zhang Xiaohua bit her lip, looked at Ma Qian'an with a hint of embarrassment and asked uncomfortably: "Hey, Lengzi brother, what's wrong with you?"

  Ma Qian'an was overjoyed, and with a small trick, the title of address immediately changed from "Da Lengzi" to "Lengzi Ge", wonderful!

  "Uh-huh, uh-huh, ah, yeah, so last night, I was sleeping and had a dream that an immortal came and pointed at my head, that's it." Ma Qian set up the divine trickery, he knew that illiterate Zhang Xiaohua would definitely believe it.

  "Oh my goodness! Is it really true?" Zhang Xiaohua's heart skipped a beat, she slapped her thigh, and her eyes immediately sparkled with light. She circled around Ma Qian'an, sizing him up from head to toe, her mind reeling in shock.

  Ma Qian looked at Zhang Xiaohua with a good smile and said, "The immortal said that you should be nice to me. If not, he will break off this marriage, and no one can say anything about it. If you are nice to me, he will let me marry you, understand?"

  "Got it, Lengzi Ge." Zhang Xiaohua said in a mosquito-like voice.

  He succeeded in deceiving her, and Ma Qian'an was delighted. Women of this era are too easily fooled, a single lie can be effective.

  "Brother Lengzi, when did the immortal say he would come?" The little girl looked up and asked with full of expectation.

  Ma Qian was stunned and stuttered: "Wait for two more years, you're still too young."

  "Uh-huh, that's good too. Once you've learned and earned more money, and harvested more grain, then you'll be prosperous, right? Now if I let you marry me, can you afford it? What would you use to marry me?"

  Ma Qianan suddenly felt a big headache, having just arrived in this era, his butt hadn't even warmed up, his face wasn't familiar, and he didn't know how to fill his stomach, let alone get married? He simply had no idea of getting married, Zhang Xiaohua was just a spoiled little sister next door to him, getting married also requires feelings, right?

  Besides, what's the situation now? Ma Qian'an knew it clearly earlier. Now this is "Manchukuo", a place where Japanese people are in power. What romance can be talked about? What love can be mentioned?

  You cheap person, Ma Qian'an slapped herself in the face. What's the point of teasing a young girl? Did you cause trouble on purpose? Cheap person!

  Ma Qian'an was self-pitying and resentful here, Zhang Xiaohua thought it was his own words that stimulated Ma Qian'an, making him worried, and hurriedly comforted him: "That's what I mean, I just say what I want to say, Lengzi brother don't take it to heart, as long as you treat me well like today in the future, my family won't care about the betrothal gift, hehe, give you an idea, don't be unhappy when you become a live-in son-in-law."

  Alright, alright, stop it. Ma Qianan decided not to mention this topic anymore, seeing that the more he talked, the closer they got, and what if he accidentally lured her onto the bed? This little girl had a special status and was so innocent, if he were to take advantage of her, it would be truly embarrassing.

  "Oh, Xiaohua, who did you just say I should go gather firewood with? Zhao Pailang?"

  "Zhao Xi, and several others, today they're all together, so it's good to have someone to rely on, be careful, I heard that a group of red-haired men has arrived in the area, one of them is quite big, called Yang something Yu, forgot, look at my memory." Zhang Xiaohua blinked her eyes, thinking hard.

  Yang what universe? Red beard? Ma Qianan knew that this was the name given by ordinary people who did not understand the inside story to the anti-Japanese guerrilla troops. "Yang what universe? Yang Jingyu, right?" Ma Qianan asked tentatively.

  "Ah, right, I think that's what it was called. The policeman stationed in the village had been shouting about it several days ago, saying that the head of that bearded man could be worth 10,000 dollars."

  "A hundred thousand taels?" Ma Qian's eyes blinked once and then lit up.

  Xiao Hua Zhang suddenly looked at the contemplative Ma Qian with some tension, and said nervously: "Lengzi brother, my father said that those who beat RB are good guys, they're heroes. You can't have any bad ideas, even if you find out about them, you're not allowed to report it, got it?"

  "Oh, Xiao Hua, look what you're saying! Your brother is not stupid, I couldn't do something so beastly." Ma Qian'an stared at Zhang Xiao Hua's bright and shiny eyes, patting his chest with a loud thud.

  Yang Jingyu, he's my idol, inform on him? Is that something a human would do? An anti-Japanese hero, I don't even have time to show respect, how could I harm him? I want to save him. Heaven has brought me here, this is my fate and also my mission. Without any hesitation, Ma Qianan had already made up his mind.

  Today is February 23rd, the 16th day of the first month. Ma Qian'an spent half a day figuring it out and finally understood Zhang Xiaohua's Showa, Kangde, lunar calendar and other calendars, and knew today's date. After figuring it out, he was shocked in his heart. According to later records, at 4:30 pm on February 23rd, it was the time when the general died for the country.

  This should be the most difficult moment for the general, with some troops surrendering and others being dispersed. The guards have all been sacrificed, leaving the general alone and without food for several days. This afternoon, the general will risk exposing himself to buy grain from his fellow villagers, but he is betrayed by Zhao Xi, who was supposed to go chop firewood. No wonder the name sounded familiar earlier.

  Can't let Zhao Xi and them discover the general, I must act ahead of time.

  "Little Flower, I'm going to go chop firewood right now and come to your place tonight." Ma Qian quickly and skillfully stuffed the buns and eggs that Zhang Xiaohua had brought into his waistband, hiding them close to his body.

  Zhang Xiaohua looked at Ma Qian'an strangely, cleared her throat: "Lengzi brother, aren't you eating? You forgot, the police don't allow bringing food up the mountain, be careful they'll punish you."

  "Hmph, dare? I'm the Tiger Lord, search me? Fellow villagers, does he have the nerve? If he really searches me, I'll beat him to death." Ma Qian understood in his heart that this ban was just a scare tactic for timid ordinary people, and they wouldn't actually conduct body searches. However, if someone were unlucky enough to be searched and found carrying food up the mountain, the punishment would be severe: at best, hard labor; at worst, beheading. This was an evil rule made by the RB people to cut off the Anti-Communist League's food supply.

  "You can do it! Go quickly and come back soon, I'll be waiting for you." Zhang Xiaohua pouted, turned around and walked away with a swaying gait.

  Ma Qianan waited for Xiao Hua to leave, made some preparations, then quickly ran out of the house, pulled up his trousers and walked quickly out of the courtyard towards the west end of the village.

  Zhang Xiaohua stood in her own courtyard, looking at Ma Qian'an's back with a puzzled expression, thinking about Ma Qian'an's strange behavior just now, and muttered to herself: "It's really weird, why is Lengzi brother so anxious today?"

  Five li west of the village, five li west of the village. If historical records are correct, that is where the general appeared.

  The village entrance was deserted, and the policeman who was supposed to be guarding it had gone off to fool around with someone's young wife, which saved Ma Qian'an a lot of trouble.

  This security village is a big Tun, the product of the Japanese and the big Tun. What is called a big Tun? It's to concentrate all the natural villages and scattered residents in the surrounding area into one large village for residence. The better ones are surrounded by stakes and wooden fences, and the even better ones are called "tribes", which are surrounded by walls and guarded by Japanese soldiers. The effect is self-evident, that is, to cut off the contact between villagers and resistance forces, to cut off the supply of grain and personnel for the resistance league, a very vicious move, draining the water from the pot, quite effective. The resistance league, unable to get food and grass, has been constantly dispersing, with fewer and fewer people fighting, from tens of thousands to only a few thousand, and now Yang Jingyu's First Route Army has only a few hundred people left, scattered in an area of hundreds of miles, suffering extremely heavy losses.

  Little RB doesn't consider Chinese people as modern humans at all. Listening to the name, Ma Qian felt a surge of anger in his heart. Still "tribe", tribe your mom's fall, you bunch of savages wearing loincloths, with towels on your heads and holding up diapers as flags, even two-foot-five pants are too long for you dwarves, what qualifications do you have to call our Chinese villages like that?

  Now, Ma Qian stood on the slope of a small hill five miles west of the village, anxiously searching around and slowly turning in circles. All around him were dense thickets of shrubs, with poor visibility, so he had to tread carefully, his feet crunching through the thick snow that crackled beneath his feet.

  There was no one in sight and no noise. Ma Qianan felt anxious, he estimated that after a while, Zhao Xi and the others would arrive, if they saw them, there were many mouths, it wasn't good to talk.

  In general, the fewer people who know a secret, the better. Ma Qianan once analyzed the pros and cons of General's encounter with disaster. At that time, four people including Zhao Xi saw the General. The psychology of these four people should be that no one trusts anyone else, and they do not believe that the other party can keep the secret of seeing the General. They are afraid that if they speak later, they will be caught by others and become a handle for being seized. Therefore, Zhao Xi, who had the most opportunity to speak first, took the lead in informing on others and became a public enemy. If only Zhao Xi had seen the General at that time, it is possible that the incident of informing on others would not have occurred.

  General, show yourself. Ma Qian muttered to himself anxiously, his heart racing. He slowly scanned the surroundings inch by inch with his eyes, perked up his ears to listen carefully for any faint sounds, and had a feeling that the general was definitely watching him. This old forest warrior was very experienced, if he didn't move, he believed he wouldn't be able to find him.

  Suddenly, Ma Qian felt a chill, a sense of danger coming from behind his back. In the past few days, he had been feeling like his nerves were on edge, his sixth sense heightened. Slowly, Ma Qian raised his hands and turned around to observe what was behind him.

  "Don't move! Are you a scout?" A hoarse, weak but still majestic voice rang out from under a pile of snow less than ten meters behind Ma Qian'an.

  In the winter of Northeast China, the snow on the mountain will be blown away by the north wind. In some leeward ditches, more than one meter of snow can accumulate. After a long time, the snow on top will become hard and form a snow crust. Even children cannot trample it down, and it won't collapse.

  "I'm from Bao'an Village, chopping firewood, a good citizen, a good citizen." Ma Qian'an replied nervously, judging in his heart that this voice was 90% likely to be General Yang Jingyu's, it seemed that his searching around had aroused the general's suspicion.

  "What are you looking for?" The voice remained unwavering.

  "I'm looking for a fierce tiger that doesn't eat ordinary people, but only eats those who are cruel and oppressive."

  "Haha, you've got guts, fellow countryman. Are you looking for me?" The pile of snow suddenly collapsed, and a tall, burly man stood up.

  Ma Qian'an turned around, raised his hands and slowly approached.

  The giant of a man who stood before him, like a god from heaven, was also staring at him intently.

  This tall and sturdy man, standing at least 1.9 meters high, has thick eyebrows, big eyes, a straight nose bridge, a wide mouth and thick lips, exuding an air of majesty that commands respect. He wears a short cotton-padded jacket with exposed cotton filling, over which he has draped a sheepskin coat, while his cotton shoes have fallen apart and are held together by a rope to prevent them from disintegrating. No mistake about it, this is definitely the general.

  For a moment, Ma Qian'an was overwhelmed with emotions, his mind filled with mixed feelings, and he couldn't speak. Suddenly, Ma Qian'an put down the high-held arm, bowed respectfully to the general, and saluted him.

  "Commander, good!"

  "Do you know me?"

  "They say that the police have warned us to beware of the notorious outlaw Yang Jingyu."

  Yang Jingyu slightly furrowed his brow and asked: "Aren't you afraid of me?"

  "You're a traitor, you're a grandpa, I'm not afraid. I am also a Chinese." Ma Qian'an was afraid that Yang Jingyu wouldn't believe him, so he added another sentence, which was the general's catchphrase: "We are all Chinese."

  "Oh? What are you looking for me? I heard that my head is worth 10,000 taels of silver, aren't you here to persuade me to surrender?" Yang Jingyu smiled.

  Ma Qian'an called out to Qu Wu: "Commander, I'm not that kind of person. If I were to do something like that, the heavens would strike me with five thunderbolts. I've come to bring you some food."

  Ma Qian'an wiped the sweat, hastily took out the food close to his body, and pulled out a pair of cotton shoes from his bulging waist, handing them over to Yang Jingyu. He then said: "Commander, time is urgent, let's not say more. Later there will be people going up the mountain to gather firewood, I'll go distract them. There are police in the village, you can't follow me now, you must hold on here for a night. I'll go back and prepare dry rations and cotton clothes, tomorrow morning I'll come find you, we'll leave together."

  Yang Jingyu took over the dry food and shoes with body temperature, looking at this muscular man who appeared like a riddle with a strange expression, and thought for a moment.

  "Commander, give me some money, I'm very poor." Ma Qian'an smiled and stretched out his big hand, not feeling embarrassed at all.

  Yang Jingyu was taken aback, then burst out laughing, he started to like this straightforward and unpretentious guy.

  Ma Qian'an also had his own thoughts. He was afraid that if he gave away food without asking for money, it would arouse the general's suspicion, so he'd rather behave normally.

  "There's a cellar over there, you can find me there tomorrow." Yang Jingyu pointed to a place dozens of meters away.

  "Don't worry, General Zhang. I'll be there at 9 o'clock sharp. If I'm not, you can leave right away." Ma Qian smiled and tucked the dozens of banknotes the general had given him into his waistband.

  "Commander, I know you must have many questions to ask. Don't ask, don't ask, we'll talk about it later when there's time. For now, it's not clear even if we talk for a while. You must believe me, I swear to heaven that I won't betray your trust." Ma Qian further dispelled Chang Jingyu's doubts. He knew this old warrior was wiser than ordinary people, and if he still didn't believe him and moved on his own, where would he go? Moreover, the general's body was weak, how could one person shake off the enemy's pursuit? In a moment of urgency, there was nothing to do but say this to make the general trust him more. As for what the general thought, he didn't care.

  "You" Yang Jingyu still had countless questions to ask, but now was not the time. From a distance, they saw someone walking towards them, who should be the villager from Dachai Village that Ma Qianan mentioned.

  Ma Qian waved his hand and strode down the mountain ridge.

  Yang Jingyu obtained food and no longer needed to show up. Here, as long as he didn't take the initiative to come out, it would be difficult for anyone to discover that cellar.

  Ma Qian'an exchanged greetings with the villagers, but didn't say much. He lowered his head and randomly chopped some firewood, piling it high on the sled. Seeing that the others hadn't finished chopping yet, he occasionally lent a hand, making the villagers feel quite embarrassed.

  Zhao Xi looked at Ma Qian'an's back in confusion and muttered: "What's wrong with him, when did this little guy become so diligent?"

  "Hey, I say, Ma Dalianzi, how come you've changed your ways today? You're even helping us with the work?" a villager joked to Ma Qian.

  Ma Qian thought to himself, "You'd better not get too cocky, if it weren't for the commander being nearby, I'm afraid you'll run into him by chance and I won't be able to play along with you." But he said out loud, "This guy, doing good deeds all his life is not easy, but doing one or two good deeds is still easy. I won't do it for nothing, I'll come over to your place for dinner tonight."

  "Little rabbit, you're so clever, go ahead, the white radish helper is working hard, don't say I'm feeding a donkey and it's done." Zhao Yanxi also ran over to join in the fun.

  A few people finished chopping firewood in the midst of joking and teasing each other, and walked onto the road home. Nothing unexpected happened, and no one approached Yang Jingyu's hiding place, Ma Qian let out a sigh of relief.