Chapter 42: An Unexpected Rescue

  Things often meet in coincidence and collide with sparks in coincidence.

  Zhao Erhu finished checking out of the hotel in the morning, carrying the black leather bag he had stolen the night before. As soon as he walked out of the hotel's main entrance, he heard a flurry of footsteps rushing down the stairs from inside the hotel, followed by a man shouting frantically that his room had been robbed and his bag was gone. Zhao Erhu's heart skipped a beat. "Not good, I've been discovered." His first instinct was to make a run for it, to take advantage of the time before the hotel owner and staff reacted, and get out of there as fast as he could.

  Zhao Erhuo slung that stolen black leather bag over his shoulder, took a stride forward and ran down the street in front of the hotel.

  Behind him, a hurried footsteps came, Zhao Erhu turned his head and saw two people closely following behind. Zhao Erhu was startled, quickened his pace and ran forward.

  In front of him was a crossroads, and Zhao Erhuo couldn't tell which direction to run in either, so he picked up a street that crossed the road on the right-hand side and ran down it.

  In the early morning, there were already people walking in twos and threes on the street. Not far away, vendors selling breakfast had set up their stalls along the roadside, placing one or two small wooden tables by the side of the road to sell some common Wuhan-style breakfast food to passersby.

  There are also some suburban farmers and small vendors in the city, carrying fresh vegetables and fruits to sell in the city with bamboo baskets and shoulder poles. Some of them get up early, haven't had breakfast, and will temporarily eat cheap breakfast at a street food stall. Then, they will carry those vegetables and fruits that were carried into the city to sell to the market and dock.

  Zhao Erhu ran through the crowds of people on the street, but didn't attract the attention of pedestrians. In these years, society was in turmoil, warlords were fighting each other. Hankou city was also not peaceful. Gangs, hooligans and street bullies occupied different areas, some bullied and dominated the market, some cheated and deceived, some robbed on the streets, or forced people to buy and sell. The police had long been secretly colluding with these local gangs, street bullies and hooligans, oppressing the common people and harming the countryside. Everyone knew, but no one dared to speak out. Those who did were in danger themselves and didn't dare to intervene.

  Such an environment is probably the best opportunity for Zhao Erhu to escape.

  Zhao Erhu discovered that the people walking on the street didn't pay attention to him, they were all going about their own business. He turned his eyes and thought it was safer to blend in with the crowd, so he quickly merged into the stream of people on the street.

  He blended into the crowd and walked a little further, seeing a public toilet by the side of the road. Zhao Erhu quickly slipped inside. He pretended to relieve himself, holding his leather bag in his arms, lowering his head, and squatting over the pit. He was waiting for time to pass.

  The two shop assistants who ran out of the inn found Zhao Erhu with a black leather bag slung over his shoulder at a street corner not far ahead. The two of them spread their legs and chased after Zhao Erhu. As they were about to catch up, Zhao Erhu suddenly disappeared into the crowd on the street ahead. The two shop assistants searched around in circles on the main street for half a day but couldn't find any trace of Zhao Erhu.

  "He's gone. He ran really fast. We chased him for half a day, but the thief still got away." A shop assistant said with some disappointment.

  Another look at the increasingly crowded street, said with a sigh: "Run away. We two have to keep looking. Find until dark, also have to find. Go back. Must be scolded to death by the boss."

  Two people stared with four eyes, searching for Zhao Erhu's figure everywhere on the street.

  I don't know how long I've been squatting in the toilet, anyway, Zhao Erhu felt that the time was quite long. Several groups of people had come and gone in the toilet. He thought it should be fine to go out this time, so he got up and left the toilet.

  He walked a bit further forward in the crowd. Zhao Erhu turned his head to look back and found that the two people chasing him had disappeared. So he stopped in his tracks, but he was still a little uneasy. He turned his head around, looked left and right in the crowd for a while, and still didn't see the figures of those two people. Had they gone back?

  It's impossible. Judging from Zhao Erhu's past experience, when a guest's belongings are stolen in an inn, the owner of the inn has to compensate for them. Therefore, generally speaking, the owner will immediately send someone to search for the thief on the streets.

  After a while, he indeed did not find the two men chasing after him. Zhao Erhu only then put down the heart that had been hanging in his throat. In order not to attract the attention of pedestrians on the road, Zhao Erhu took the leather bag off his shoulder and tucked it under his arm. Pretending to be walking normally, he quickly continued on his way.

  To confuse others, Zhao Erhuo wandered around the newly opened shops on both sides of the street for half a day. Only when he felt it was getting late did he finally put his mind at ease and continued walking forward along the street.

  "Haha, this time I'm going to make a fortune." Zhao Erhu's face revealed a pleased smile. He clutched his elbow tightly, feeling the hard silver coins and clips still inside the leather bag. He started walking forward, and as he walked, he saw several street food stalls at a corner up ahead. At this point, Zhao Erhu also felt that his stomach was indeed hungry. So he headed towards the street food stalls.

  In front of a fried dough stick vendor, Zhao Erhu stopped in his tracks.

  The boss was a thin-faced old man with a goatee, wearing a patched gray cotton jacket with rolled-up sleeves and a white apron around his waist. The apron was stained with oil splatters. In front of him stood an iron pot, next to which was a chopping board with a ball of dough on it. The old man was stacking two fried dough sticks together and putting them into the pot of oil beside him.

  Next to the oil pan stood a 15 or 16 year old girl. She had two small braids on her head, a melon-shaped face and big eyes. Her features were delicate and pretty.

  The little girl was wearing a floral padded jacket. There were patches on her shoulders and left arm, each the size of a palm. She held two long thin bamboo chopsticks in her right hand, skillfully flipping the hot oil strips in the pot.

  Not far from the pot of oil for frying dough sticks, near the wall by the side of the road, three small wooden tables were placed in a row. Several small wooden stools were placed beside each table. Already several customers were sitting there eating dough sticks.

  "Old Gao is out selling fried dough sticks with his granddaughter again." An old man came over from the street corner, pulling two little boys along, and asked.

  The old man selling fried dough sticks looked up and saw a familiar face, so he smiled and replied: "If I don't sell, there's nothing to eat. Hehe, bringing his grandson out to eat fried dough sticks. Come sit down quickly. Come sit down." The old man warmly greeted them.

  Zhao Erhuo also walked over to the small wooden table next to the little girl and sat down sideways.

  "Boss, give me a bowl of soy milk and three fried dough sticks." He was indeed hungry. Seeing the pot with the golden, fragrant, and oily fried dough sticks and the rich and aromatic soy milk, Zhao Erhu's saliva almost flowed out of his mouth.

  "Alright, just a moment, I'll bring it over right away." The old man said with a smile to Zhao Erhu.

  Zhao Erhu sat on a small wooden stool, with his legs crossed, holding the black leather package that was tucked under his arm in his arms, waiting for the old man to bring him fried dough sticks and soy milk.

  There are quite a few people who come to Lao Tou's to eat youtiao and doujiang. Zhao Erhu waited for a while, getting impatient, and shouted again to hurry them up. The little girl quickly brought him a bowl of steaming hot doujiang, followed by three crispy youtiao.

  Zhao Erhu was starving, he reached out and grabbed a fried dough stick and stuffed it into his mouth, then took a big gulp of hot soy milk. The combination of the fried dough stick and soy milk made Zhao Erhu's cheeks bulge.

  "Heh heh, heh heh." The little girl stirred the oil strips in the pot with a long bamboo stick while gazing at Zhao Erhu beside her, who was eating greedily, and let out peal after peal of stifled laughter.

  Zhao Erhu finally managed to swallow the food in his mouth with great difficulty, and when he turned around, he saw the little girl turning her head sideways, secretly smiling at him. Her face couldn't help but turn red.

  "You - what are you laughing at?" Zhao Erhu asked.

  The little girl freed one hand and pointed at Zhao Erhu's chest, then puckered up her mouth and started to giggle.

  Zhao Erhu looked down at his chest, which was soaked with a large patch of soy milk. Probably because he had drunk the soy milk too hastily just now, it had spilled out of the bowl and gotten him wet.

  Zhao Erhuo felt embarrassed and wiped his wet shirt collar with his hand. He then lifted his head, picked up the soy milk and poured it into his mouth.

  Just as Zhao Erhu was about to drink his soy milk, he glanced sideways and suddenly saw two people rushing towards him. Zhao Erhu became alert, quickly put down the bowl in his hand, and took a closer look. The two people who came over were exactly the same ones who had been chasing him earlier. "Damn it, they still won't give up."

  Just as Zhao Erhu was about to get up and leave, the two men who had been running over also spotted him in the crowd eating fried dough sticks, with a black leather bag clutched in his arms.

  "Ah, this little thief is here, catch him, he's a thief, don't let him run away." One of the shop assistants had already quickly walked to the front of the old man's fried dough stick stall and saw Zhao Erhu sitting at a small table drinking soy milk. He took big strides and rushed towards Zhao Erhu while shouting.

  Zhao Erhu's face changed drastically. The relaxed and contented expression he had while drinking soy milk and eating fried dough sticks earlier was gone. He hugged the leather bag in his arms, didn't even have time to pay the old man selling fried dough sticks, raised his head, and with a sudden burst of energy, he dashed forward and ran out.

  The people eating youtiao and soy milk at the small wooden table were stunned by this sudden event, and when everyone came to their senses, Zhao Erhu had already run past the street corner with the leather bag in his arms.

  "Hey, my oil strip money!" The old man who fried the oil strips was anxious and shouted at Zhao Erhu's distant back.

  "Never mind, let the thief have your fried dough stick. Consider it a charity. Can you catch up with him?" said the old man who fried dough sticks.

  Two shop assistants saw Zhao Erhu embracing a leather bag and ran after him, closely pursuing him from behind.

  "Halt, halt. Caught the thief, caught the thief——." Two shop assistants were desperately chasing and shouting behind Zhao Erhu, who was running frantically in front of them. Seeing that the two men were about to catch up with him, cold sweat broke out on Zhao's forehead. He didn't dare run along the main street, so he picked a dimly lit alley and ran forward. As soon as he turned into the alley, he bumped into two young people wearing student uniforms who were walking towards him.

  Zhao Erhu's face changed greatly, and he thought to himself: It's all over, this time it's really all over. With the enemy blocking ahead and pursuing troops behind, even if I don't die, I won't be able to survive.

  Thinking of this, Zhao Erhu didn't even look at who was facing him and was about to throw the black leather bag in his arms into a wall nearby.

  "Hey, isn't this Second Tiger Zhao?" a familiar voice whispered in Zhao Erhu's ear.

  Zhao Erhu raised his head and took a closer look, hey, the ones who bumped into him were none other than his big brother Li Guoting and second brother Ma Fei, who had disappeared for a whole day and night without leaving any trace.