Chapter Thirteen

  I stood outside Xiaozui's house, gently pushing the door, which was locked from the outside. I was quite astonished, touching the mark on the door. The mark was still there, but the sign indicating whether there were guests or not had really disappeared, and I didn't know what it meant. All I could do was make a sulky face.

  Later, I tried knocking on the door lightly, no one responded, so I knocked heavily. Xiao Zui's house walls prevent gentlemen but not petty people, and at least I'm not a gentleman. I climbed up the wall to take a look inside, confirming that there was no one. With a few climbs, I flipped over.

  I fell on the ground in Xiaozui's courtyard, and the chicken she raised pecked at my feet. The trellis in the corner of the wall shaded a few thin gourds, and the door was slightly ajar - she was that kind of person who thought it unnecessary to close the house door once the courtyard gate was closed.

  I wandered around for a while and entered her house. Nothing had changed, only my eyes had. As someone who was always careless with their hands, I rummaged through the house without making a mess. I flipped over that money jar that I had always been curious about, but there wasn't much money inside. I only had half a coin on me, so I took it out and threw it into the jar. Then I started searching through the cabinets, saw the clothes I had exchanged when I was a deserter, washed and hung up. I studied with satisfaction the patches she had sewn on.

  I know I'm up to my old tricks again, I took out that tattered military uniform that I'll never wear again and set it up on the loofah trellis in the corner of the wall in the shape of a person. This wasn't hard, what was difficult was making it bow its head and make a gentlemanly appearance. I drew a face on cardboard and even put a hat on it, I drew it with smiling eyes, I don't know if it looks like me or not.

  After it was done, I stood with it in front of the still unopened gate, posing as a motionless scarecrow in the same posture as it - I tried my best to imitate its expression, even trying to use my hands to make my eyes into a smiling shape, but that made it look even more terrifying.

  My face I know myself, a lot of evil spirits, too much resentment, I really want to do - but I've never been - a man who smiles with his eyes. I gave up and barked twice at that person-shaped thing, then went to fix the chimney of Xiao Zui's house. It was taken down by me last time and never reassembled, it is said that later on when Xiao Zui cooked, the smoke kept pouring into her room.

  Then I climbed over the wall of Xiao Zui's house again, but this time from the inside out, getting myself covered in grease and soot. Feeling rather disconsolate, after eating my fill I went back to knock on Xiao Zui's door again.

  Miracles won't happen, of course - I just came out from inside. I paced back and forth outside the door twice, then left with a huff, my arms crossed.

  My squad leader gave me a full eight hours, which can't be said to be not generous, but I and my father fought for five and a half hours, leaving two and a half hours for me to play with myself - I am the most unlucky person I know.

  I was standing on the main street of Zentha, posing as a stake, with Yu Xiaoqing's men across the street. It was rare for them to be having dinner together. Zhang Lixian, He Shuguang, Yu Zhi and Li Bing had just finished eating and came out of a restaurant. They were wealthier than us, so they could afford to eat at the restaurant. As the leader, Zhang Lixian still played the role of being elegant and refined, while He Shuguang was more reckless, pinching Yu Zhi's neck and snatching a piece of rock candy from his mouth. I had always thought that Li Bing was the most sinister, and indeed he was the first to spot me and point me out.

  Zhang Lixian gave me a disgusted look, of course he wouldn't deign to notice the sloppy military attire that our group was wearing. He Shuguang must have been the most eager to fight among them, and he spat a mouthful of saliva flying over half the street. I took a step back, politely letting the saliva land vertically in front of my toes. He Shuguang scratched his head, confirming that it was a huge insult. Yu Zhi ran towards a stick, but was kicked back by He Shuguang - after all, what need is there for any tools when dealing with a cripple? Zhang Lixian didn't even bother to move, lightly tapping the butt of the 79-style dagger that always hung at his waist with his finger, although I had never seen him use a rifle. The three who were walking over would definitely be enough to give me a good beating.

  A truck was parked between us, the person I was waiting for had arrived. Ah Yi sat in the passenger seat, hesitantly looking at that side and then at me, fortunately I didn't expect him to do anything. The rickety jeep drove around from behind the truck, he didn't get out of the car but shouted at me: "You're waiting in the wrong place."

  I shamelessly smiled and said, "My dad doesn't want me anymore."

  He looked at me sideways, "I heard you have a woman in town?"

  I glared at the big-mouthed Ah Yi, who was staring blankly at Yu Xiaoqin's elite troops. Zhang Lixian snatched He Shuguang's glasses and put them on his own nose, forcing the near-sighted little hothead to follow him reluctantly. No fighting today.

  Die Die asked me if I was satisfied, I stretched my waist and told him it was satisfying. Then I looked at the things he wanted to take back and said: "Is that all you got? Yu Shi Zuo is really generous." Die Die said there's still a surprise. I took a look at the truck, but couldn't see any surprises, it was just an empty truck about to head back, not even a tank. But Die Die thought maybe one day the Artillery Division would become an Armor Division.

  I grumbled back: "Even if a tank fell from the sky, I'd still worry that you'd get crushed to death."

  Die die laughing and let the driver drive, we go back to Ji Qi Slope.

  Our little convoy drove onto the small bridge over the river, a place where the Zen masters came to cleanse and rest, now among the women washing and children splashing in the water were added wounded soldiers covered in wounds.

  A wounded soldier with one eye stared blankly at us. I don't know how a person can see outside through bandages wrapped tightly around both eyes, but he walked towards us in the shallow water, one foot deep and one foot shallow, as if he could still go to the west coast and fight three hundred rounds without two eyes. Then he fell down. After getting up, he grabbed a bandage and shouted angrily. The kind of bandage that was washed and reused for the wounded, the one he grasped was dragged from upstream, over ten meters long, which had just wrapped around his foot.

  The troublemaker stood up from a big pile of unwashed bandages, busy rescuing the large fish she had inadvertently caught. It was Xiaozui. The wounded soldier stopped scolding when he heard the young woman's voice and his eyes were led by his ears in confusion.

  I jumped down from the car in a flurry. The speed of the car was almost the same as walking, but I couldn't jump down - damn it, someone grabbed my belt from behind. I struggled and said: "I want to get off! I'm going on leave!"

  "No leave allowed. I need you."

  I angrily said: "You're on purpose!"

  "Dead, dead, said: 'See, she saw you. Be majestic for a moment, your ugly appearance is exposed.'"

  I know I don't look good. The two of us were in the back seat, my two legs hanging out of the car, and my butt was still struggling on the car seat, like a broken folding knife. Xiao Zui looked at me, and I quickly got up, as long as I didn't get off the car that guy would let go. I stood up straight, holding onto the gun rack. The car was about to drive onto the bridge, she was under the bridge. I looked very tall.

  "I shouted at her: 'I'm going back to the battlefield! I've been to your home...'"

  "She shouted back: 'I won't do it anymore!'"

  I was taken aback for a moment, “……what?”

  "I'm not doing it! I told you that day what I was going to do, and I told you I wasn't going to do it!"

  I suddenly remembered, "I... I've been to your house, don't be scared when you enter the yard! It was me who did it!"

  "Did you understand?" she asked me again.

  "I..."

  The car sped up once it was on the bridge, and soon she was left behind on the other side of the river. I mumbled to myself, but still stood there proudly, waving at her - because she kept looking at me.

  Die die sitting there, foot very owed kicking my butt, mocking me, "Man!"

  I didn't even look, and swung my palm over, hitting him right on. He kicked back, hitting me right in the crotch. My expression froze for a moment, then I leaned against the car, staring at Xiaozui's figure until she disappeared.

  Dead dead thumbs up laughing, "Men!"

  I slumped down in my seat, clutching my stomach tightly, the pain had already twisted my face, but what really hit me the hardest was Xiaozui's words earlier. She did it for me, but do I have to tell her: you're being too naive? All I could do was hug my belly and mutter to myself: "Not doing it anymore? How is she going to live? By just washing and scrubbing? How is she going to live?"

  He didn't care about it at all, he patted my shoulder and said "Look behind! Surprise!"

  I looked around in confusion, and another jeep overtook us from behind a truck that had been blocking it. I then realized our little convoy was three vehicles rather than two. There were only two people in the car, but the back seat was piled high with supplies like a small mountain. Two Americans, a lieutenant and a sergeant. The sergeant was driving, and he yelled at me in English, feeling the need to express his feelings about the previous event, "Five Indian women! As passionate as a jungle! I'll trade you their address for that woman's address!"

  I muttered under my breath, "Damn it."

  Die die! Looking at them, they said to me: "Take good care of these two sons of bitches, I still expect to get something from them."

  The sergeant almost pushed his car onto our rear end, he was enthusiastic like a madman, while the lieutenant next to him stared at us with a dead expression.

  This is the surprise my squad leader was talking about, liaison officer Arthur McRuhan and armorer Algie Collins. Yu Xiaoqing inadvertently provided us with more supplies, so he sent two slow-moving goods to make up for it.

  Collins' car passed us - they always drove fast and recklessly - then took a fork in the road without hesitation. I watched in amazement as they drove off, then watched Collins laughing loudly as he tried to turn the car around on a narrow path.

  "We're becoming more and more like a circus troupe, we even have Americans now," I said.

  Those two had their car parked beside the new well we'd dug, and it looked as though they were going to pitch a tent for themselves. The captain sat in front of the "blow-out" gasoline lantern with a writing pad but I couldn't see what he was writing. Their army seemed to have just as rigid a caste system as ours because Collins, the sergeant, kept hauling stuff out of the car without the captain ever looking up or offering to lend a hand.

  We watched from afar. Collins drew our entire attention, or rather the things he took down from the car drew our entire attention. We had never seen a traveler get himself into such complexity: gasoline stove, moisture-proof pad, outdoor chair, folding table, full set of military pots, firearms and ammunition, oil drums, coffee pot, coffee grinder, phonograph, radio, hammock, first aid kit, insecticide, picnic mat, sleeping bag, etc.

  I couldn't help but exclaim: "That guy is awesome."

  The dragonfly clenched his fists. This bunch of rubbish always thinks it's necessary to show off their fists whenever they see a stranger. He asked me, "Did you fight with them? Was the porter fierce or was the writer fierce?"

  "I said with a bad temper: 'So many fragments, he can put them down on the back seat of the car - it's so powerful.'"

  The dragon nodded, "Oh, he's opening a grocery store."

  We stared at the two of them. Collins was struggling to set up a two-man tent by himself, while MacRuhan refused to help and just stood there. The dog ran over to inspect every item, its tail wagging honestly. Mr. Ma didn't even glance at us, but he was very affectionate with the dog, pulling out something to feed it. The dog let out a low growl, and Mr. Ma quickly scrambled away from the lantern. The dog took on an aggressive posture - we were all too familiar with that stance, and I don't know how many people had been scared off when they first arrived. Collins rushed over to the car and pulled out a double-barreled shotgun, fortunately without loading it, and he frantically searched for buckshot.

  "Die, die! Come back, dog meat! Go away, lost dragon!"

  "This kind of swap really annoys Mi Long, 'What do you mean?'"

  "Has the dog grown longer arms? You go up and don't show your teeth - help people!" Die, die, it's really quick, kicking the butt of the confused dragon while patting my head, "The herald is coming over!"

  I threw down the bundle and looked at the Americans who were staring blankly, following him with a scowl, "Adjutant, deputy officer, staff officer, interpreter, orderly, what am I after all?"

  "Which one have you accomplished? The five skills of a mouse are all mediocre."

  "You really have some learning."

  We were arguing, and the dog meat was called back to follow us. We already had several simple huts and houses at the foot of the mountain, and we were in one of them. This room was much neater than our artillery cave on the mountain, it gathered the best furniture we dug out, although for these furniture from the ruins, the good standard is just intact. I stared at the two packs of cigarettes on the table, which was our welcome gift with all our might. Under the cigarette was a note, and on top of it was written in English "Welcome Allied Friends" by my own hand. I crumpled up the note, intending to put the cigarette into my own pocket, but Deadwood stretched out his hand, "Don't think that making a sulky face will make it yours."

  I slapped the cigarette into his hand. He said with a pleased smile: "It's mine now." Then he turned to the house and said, "All of this is mine now."

  I sat down, scratching the dog behind the ears, waiting for him to get over his affected complacency. He wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, I could see that - in fact, as soon as I lowered my head and then raised it again, he became sullen. "Come on, tell me how to deal with Americans. How come they've got houses ready for them but won't live in them, instead they pitch tents?"

  "You think you can understand foreigners just because you know a few words of their language? I learned it from my father, who used to whip me with a board. Before I went to Burma, I only practiced speaking in front of books. My old man stuffed me with useless knowledge, except for how to be a human being."

  "He just wants to dump everything he knows on you, things he can't use himself. He thinks you'll be able to make use of them. You ungrateful little brat."

  I let out a hearty laugh, "Haha, I'm so embarrassed. But you still don't know how to deal with Americans."

  "Alas, alas... I can only bitterly smile, '...That's indeed the case.'"

  "It's not scolding, but you've taken the wrong medicine." I said, "When people think something is wrong and want to change it, they think hard about it, but can't find a way, just like you guys who are obsessed with material things. Have you seen living people hugging dead books and kissing them? I've also seen you guys looting American steel like bandits. No one can help us, an army that has lost its own country, can others help pay off this debt? There's no need to flatter the Americans, even if we do, it won't work, they're just here to do some mercenary work. They live in tents because they don't want to have any relationship with us beyond a mercenary one."

  "Damn it... That's also true. And annoying, from now on American steel won't have our share."

  I immediately understood, "What have you done with Yu Xiaoqing again?"

  "I told him in detail what I thought about taking down Nantianmen within a few months."

  "Ah ha. Didn't get beaten up?"

  "Die die shaking head," "The Americans are in - not these two, these two are not enough to share the weight - but I guess his fist is swollen."

  "Great. I think we'd better have fewer guns and be more cautious. Now even being a reserve team is not enough, it's all about insurance." But I also sighed, no one likes this outcome.

  "Die, die, say: 'Yu Xiaoqing, that is to take the head to knock down the South Heavenly Gate also people, may die, he also knows, but let him grow spirit - unless let him see the South Heavenly Gate can not be knocked down, even together with the end of the world are not done.'"

  "I'm learning Henan dialect from Dou Bing's video, 'none of my business'."

  "He is also our teacher after all. Under the same nest, how can there be unbroken eggs?"

  I agree with his views.

  He turned his head and looked at me, "Will you cross the river with me again?"

  "Let him die then," I said.

  "Whose bloody business is it for him? — Does that make you feel any better?"

  "Why is it always me?!" I asked him.

  "You are my advisor, you understand a lot, you are more useful than anyone else, and also, you are the most unlucky person I have ever known."

  I asked him to call A-Yue and go with him.

  "He said: 'Do you want to kill your friend?'"

  "Then Hao Lao Tou Er, Dou Bing Zi, Ni Dan, Man Han are all fine."

  He's dead, he's dead, just look at me for a while, and with this unreliable expression, he made an extremely disdainful face.

  I asked him: "Where are you going?"

  He asked me back: "How could you not go at all?"

  "I'm not going. My parents have already brought it back, and the West Coast has nothing to do with me."

  He looked at me, "Not going?"

  "I won't go. Even if heaven falls apart, I still won't go."

  "I didn't say."

  I shook my head, "Absolutely not going."

  "I've never quite understood, does 'bookworm' absolutely mean a mismatched dead couple?"

  I shook my head, "What are you talking about? I won't go even if it's a joke."

  "You didn't even go and I'm still talking about this?" he said.

  I glared at him. At this moment, Ah Yi rushed in, panting and flustered, startling the dog meat to jump up, almost jumping with its feet, and forcefully pulled out a gun from his not-so-easy-to-use holster. He said: "We're fighting the Americans!"