Chapter 8: The Deceptive Grass-Mud Eel

  Although Cheng Zi Qiang was determined to rush through the night, with Liu Cui Cui and Xiao Dezi in the group, they couldn't move fast or go far. Moreover, there were no carriages or horses to be found nearby. Seeing this wasn't working out, Cheng Zi Qiang went forward and carried Xiao Dezi on his back. Grass Head Snake saw an opportunity and went forward to support Liu Cui Cui. Liu Cui Cui saw him smiling slyly and bit her teeth, not letting him help her. However, her body was indeed heavy, so after thinking for a moment, she took off the bundle from her body and let him help carry it instead. Finally, she still didn't trust him and reminded him: "Be careful, you know, Dezi and I have half of our family's belongings in there."

  Trying to take advantage of a good thing, but it backfired and now there's an extra burden. And to make matters worse, Xiao Shunzi smiled and said, "Looks like character is important after all."

  The grass-headed snake was about to lose his temper and cursed "Mao!" He casually threw the package to Xiao Shunzi and walked ahead.

  Xiao Shunzi took the burden, looked around, and saw that Cheng Ziqiang had a half-grown child on his back. He couldn't return it to Liu Cuicui, so he could only admit defeat and carry the load while muttering "trouble comes from one's mouth" and other complaints, lazily following at the end.

  They walked until midnight, and the group was both tired and hungry. They had no choice but to find a farmhouse to stay in temporarily. The farmer was relatively well-off and kind-hearted, so he told his farmhand to mix some leftover rice with water, cook it into porridge, and also prepared two old salted vegetable dishes as side dishes.

  While everyone was eating, Xiao Caizhu held a tobacco pouch and sat beside them, casually inquiring about the situation in the city.

  Caoshou Snake and Xiao Shunzi, although they were laborers, had never been stingy with themselves when it came to food and drink. As bachelors without any burdens, they would not be happy if there was no meat in every meal. Although they were hungry, the old salted vegetables soaked in white frost and the rice porridge with a strong smell of starch really did not suit their taste. They glanced at Liu Cuicui and Xiao Dezi, who were also eating reluctantly, one mouthful at a time, furrowing their brows. On the other hand, Laborer Qiang was savoring his food as if it were delicious, as if what he had in his bowl was not leftover rice porridge but shark fin soup. Caoshou Snake secretly laughed to himself: This eating style is nothing like that of a young master! Maybe his family is just like this local tyrant's family. As he thought about it, he couldn't help but put on a smile.

  Just then the young master asked again about the situation in the city, and the grass-headed snake's eyes rolled around, opening his big mouth, spitting saliva everywhere, adding fuel to the fire with gestures, and blowing a storm of nonsense about the situation in the city. The young master listened with relish, slapping the table at the exciting parts and saying: "My wife has been urging me every day to open a shop in the city, but now it's good that we didn't go. In these times, only by guarding our own land can we live a down-to-earth life."

  The grass-headed snake saw the young master's interest rise, and changed the subject to east and west, relying on a greasy mouth. The young master was delighted, and immediately ordered the kitchen to cook a plate of tofu, cut a piece of old bacon, stir-fry a small dish of eggs, and make half a catty of pot roast. He took out cups and had a small drink with the grass-headed snake. Although the tofu was a bit sour, the bacon was a bit salty, the eggs were not fresh, and the pot roast was a bit less, but it was considered to have seen oil smoke.

  Liu Cuicui ran for a whole day, and both her body and mind were extremely exhausted. The young master arranged for them to sleep in a storage room. Cheng Ziqiang had also planned to rest early, but he couldn't resist the Grass Head Snake's boasting and was dragged into drinking two mouthfuls of wine. On purpose, he stuck out his tongue and asked Cheng Ziqiang to take out the "thing" to show the young master. Cheng Ziqiang knew that the Grass Head Snake had been looking for him to ask for a gun during the day and felt a bit resentful in his heart. At this time, he didn't want to offend him again, so he took out the pistol and placed it on the table.

  The young master took a look, and involuntarily dodged back, his eyes wide with fear. After a while, he trembled and stretched out half of his finger to point and say: "This... is this the real thing?"

  "Haha." Cao Tou She laughed loudly, grabbed the gun and manipulated it skillfully in his hand, saying: "Of course it's the real deal. To be honest with you, brother, if I wasn't a kind-hearted person, just relying on me and this brother, going up the mountain to grab a hundred or so people would be an easy task."

  The young master heard this and secretly cursed, "How did you invite these fierce gods in?" At the moment, he was even more careful to serve them. Seeing that the wine was finished, he didn't dare add more, fearing that the Grass Head Snake Wine would get angry if there was too much. He quickly ordered the kitchen to bring up a pot of noodles, dripped with a few drops of fragrant oil, sprinkled with scallions and served it up.

  Grasshead Snake and Little Shunzi ate as soon as they were served, but only Cheng Ziqiang remembered that Liu Cuicui and her mother had only drunk a mouthful of the pot cover soup, so he served two bowls of noodles and borrowed a tray from Little Financial Officer to send them to Liu Cuicui and her mother. Little Shunzi saw this and smiled slyly as he poked Grasshead Snake with his elbow. Grasshead Snake grunted and saw that the pistol was still on the table, so he put down his bowl and tucked the gun into his waist. Just then, he picked up his bowl again and suddenly heard the sound of "Boom! Boom!" gunfire coming from the direction of Linhai City, first fast and then slow.

  Caotou She was an old soldier, very familiar with this sound, and immediately jumped up, drew his gun, and asked the young master: "Do you have a ladder?"

  "Yes, yes!" The young master nodded repeatedly, fearing he would use force.

  Found the ladder, Cao Tou She climbed to the top of the tallest building of Xiao Cai Zhu's house, but found that someone had already stood there, who was Cheng Zi Qiang, and it was unknown how he got up without a ladder.

  "How is it?" asked the grass-mud horse.

  Cheng Zi Qiang looked at him and saw that he was still holding a gun, so he smiled and said: "Who do you want to shoot now?"

  Cao Tou She awkwardly smiled and handed the gun back to Cheng Zi Qiang, who didn't take it. Instead, he said calmly, "Just borrow it for now, tomorrow we'll all go scam some good food again."

  "It's just a small dish." Cao Tou She was delighted and put the gun away again. Then he asked, "What do you think of the situation?"

  "It doesn't feel right." Cheng Ziqiang said: "The Lianhai City Garrison Command doesn't have heavy weapons, and the soldiers we saw during the day only carried submachine guns. But listen to that cannon fire, it's almost all Japanese-style artillery. Our people are probably getting beaten badly."

  The snake with a grass head and ears on its side listened carefully and said: "I'm afraid that's what happened."

  At this time, Xiao Shunzi also climbed up and looked towards the direction of Linhai, saying: "It's started, those Japanese devils are in for it now."

  Cheng Ziqiang and Cao Toushe exchanged a bitter smile, Cheng Ziqiang said: "It seems that this sleep can't be slept, let's find an excuse from the owner of this house, we'll continue on our journey tonight."

  Cao Tou She smiled and said: "Why don't you go yourself? Borrowing a horse is also for Liu Cui's sake, isn't it?"

  Cheng Ziqiang patted his shoulder and said: "Who made you look like a bandit? I'm going, maybe I can borrow some."

  "You've done all the good things." Cao Tou She smiled and left.

  Cheng Zi Qiang saw that Xiao Shunzi was still excitedly gazing in the direction of Linhai, so he pulled him and said: "Let's go, don't just stand there dazed."

  Xiao Shunzi responded with a "yes" and said happily: "Are we going back to the city now?"

  "I'm afraid it'll be a while before we can return, let's continue to escape for now."