Chapter 59

  We now know why the dragon is in a good mood. He was asked and smiled, "Found it, moving tomorrow. There's a bit of trouble, need everyone's help. Bought some furniture, everyone helps. I'm thinking about where to move the goods, everyone helps." I was a bit annoyed, "It's all not yours. It's all yours." The dragon didn't understand, "What is mine and what isn't?" "Whatever you want is all not yours, trouble is all yours." The dragon deliberately provoked me, "You don't have to go, it's better if you don't. Little rascal, I love buying big furniture, so big, one careless move and you'll be crushed." I angrily started shouting: "Look at this guy! He's still buying furniture! Still wants the big ones!" Hao Shouyi was laughing, the dragon was laughing, Kebur was giggling, A Yi was chuckling... Suddenly, Na La burst in, blood flowing from his nostrils again, and shouted loudly at us.

  "It's terrible! The Hunan soldiers are coming to seize people!"

  What are we doing? We're just waiting for a fight. With a loud noise, everyone got up, put down their bowls and chopsticks, grabbed sticks and rushed out. My stick was taken away by the chili gun to take revenge, so I had to pick up A Yi's board. I took a glance, and saw that Hǎo Shòu Yī (a veterinarian) was the last one to leave, and he was calmly carrying his medical box.

  I said to him: "Why don't you find a suitable one?"

  The old man refused my proposal, "Let me fight with your son's generation? Can't you guys accumulate some virtue?"

  I'm originally a big mouth, grabbing the bench and running out, "Ask the old sky to accumulate some virtue, okay?"

  Hao Shouyi panted as he followed me, "I'm just accumulating virtue for the heavens."

  When the fight really started, you found that the terrifying heavy machine gun was useless, and no one even bothered with it - Luo Jinsen was pressed against the wall by a few Hunan men and beaten. The mourning star pulled out a majestic posture like Yue Linwan, he scared several Hunan soldiers - so they threw stones at him fiercely. The snake's butt had already rushed out to assist, waving a kitchen knife with great momentum, but not hitting anyone - people who often fight knew to leave some strength in reserve.

  The Hunan soldier who was robbed away was tied with a rope, and he shouted loudly as he walked away: "Don't tie me up! We are all fellow villagers. Just shout and let me go."

  We, a group of sturdy lads, charged out in unison, our hearts as one, and the situation was instantly reversed. The Hunan soldiers who had triggered the battle were immediately rounded up by us. Fists, clubs, and stones sent the normally peaceful Chan Da into chaos.

  I'm swinging Ah Yi's bench with great vigor.

  I, Meng Fanle, 24 years old, wanted to enter the non-existent for twenty years, facing reality for four years. Today's reality is on the streets of Nanshan, wielding a stool to smash someone's head. This destiny thing always makes a ghost face at me.

  A Yi was dragged away by a group of people. He was punched back by someone. I held him up. The person he was facing was a tall and large man who didn't look like a Hunanese, A Yi couldn't handle him, neither could I.

  "Hey! Can't you see his rank? You hit our Director Lin! - Attention!"

  The big guy stood at attention like a wooden stake, with a hint of fear towards the officer - even if it was just a fake fight. So I slammed a stool over and that guy tilted his head to one side. I hit him on the shoulder.

  Then the bench was taken away by that guy.

  "I too am an officer," I cried hastily. "What do you mean?... Ah, interpreter..."

  The translator should be in a safe position behind me, then the bench hit over, and I blacked out in front of my eyes.

  We're back, let's continue our unfinished meal from earlier.

  I gritted my teeth, letting Dr. Hao bandage my head. The guy next to me was eating and making sucking noises as he stared at the commotion on my head, as if my head had become a more interesting sight.

  I, Meng Fanle, 24 years old, have been studying hard for 16 years with excellent academic and moral records. But now I'm being operated on by a veterinarian who brought his own stool, and my fate seems to be playing tricks on me at every turn, saying "just kidding".

  I'm trying to be serious. I don't want them to take me as a laughing stock too easily, "And what about the injured brother?"

  "It's over. You're the only one who got blown up." Not spicy said, he only had a nosebleed, so he could laugh at fifty paces, that guy lowered his head, his body shook violently. He laughed to this extent. The cotton balls used to stop the nosebleed flew out like fireworks.

  I had no choice but to continue putting on a straight face, "You guys are really boring."

  "How can you get hit on the head by your own guy? Is it a neck twist or an arm knot?"

  Lian Hao, the veterinarian, also started to scold. "What a nuisance! This thing wasn't done wrong. Bringing a wooden stick is better than being hit with an iron tool. Now if tetanus develops, there's no place for treatment." The old man laughed so hard that his spittle sprayed onto the bandage he had just wrapped around me.

  I was so angry that I loudly protested, "You'll get infected! You're not even wearing a mask!"

  A Hua also said with a scowl, "He won't be infected. He's crippled like that and still has half his leg left, it's really annoying, he's a white bone spirit who can't be beaten to death."

  I picked up the stool under my butt - fortunately, A Yi had picked it back up - and pretended to be angry, but when someone poked their head in from outside, I really wanted to smash the stool at them.

  The dragon said: "You should hit him, he's annoying."

  He died and died, poking his head out of the door, staring at us with wide eyes, then shrinking back again.

  If I want to hear applause, I should rush over and beat him back. In just twenty days or so, we will become the most notorious group in Xicheng District.

  But I hate noise. We are almost at the end of the world and what we least need is noise.

  We heard someone outside saying "Wait here, I'll call you when it's time to come in", and the other side responded with a murmur, but we didn't know who it was and weren't interested either.

  Then the guy came in, as if nothing was wrong, as if he had just seen us for the first time today - actually, he didn't even look. He wasn't wearing his new uniform, although that uniform would have made us look like Yu Xiaqing's people - the clothes he wore must have been stripped from some sturdy soldier who only had lice left. "Only one wounded?" he said, a greeting of the kind that sounds like "hello", and as he asked this question, he was already looking at what was in the pot, then he served himself a bowl of white vegetable noodles, and finally looked at us.

  "Give it to me? Thanks." Diedie said, then took the board stool from my hand and sat down under his butt, eating with a crunch.

  Suddenly enlightened. "A new recruit was stripped naked, I thought the old soldier bullied him. It turned out to be you who did it."

  "I'm going to the headquarters. I told Yu Shi Zuo, 'Give the new clothes to that new recruit who's showing off.' The look on his face was the answer." Then, She Bi Gong spat out a mouthful of saliva, "He got cheated again."

  "Dead Dead announced his spoils of war, 'Fifty sets of military uniforms. One thousand semi-open.'"

  "Aya was taken aback, 'Yu Xiaoqing... does Yu Shizu believe it?'"

  "He's pretending to believe, he's too embarrassed not to. He doesn't believe anything, but this matter of the three melons and two dates isn't worth him being seen as not believing... Holding it, holding it, it bit me to death!" Dead-dead handed the bowl to A-yi's hand. Then he started taking off his clothes, later he exposed a stinky bug to us nakedly. We then dispersed in a hurry, continuing to eat."

  "Orderly, bring me that clean suit of clothes. Behind the door." He called out to me.

  I flashed my rank at him: "I'm a lieutenant." And I kicked his pile of rags into the corner, "You'd better get those freeloaders deloused or there's no chow."

  "That's right." After that, the guy ignored me. He took back his bowl from A Yi and continued to calculate his accounts, "Also gave a Lewis machine gun. Orderly, what is that thing? I've never seen it before."

  "An old hand like me." I said.

  Stop flattering me by saying "you're not old."

  I reminded him: "Still in British caliber, where did you find the bullets? Yu Xiaoqing took you as a beggar and sent you broken things."

  "Die die die! He enthusiastically and recklessly asked Mi Long, 'Mi Long, can you sell it?'"

  The dragon shook its head, "A gun without bullets? Did Mountain King buy it just to press down the village?"

  "Come on, come on, I'm just kidding. It's just a robbery. Have you ever seen someone rob with a machine gun? I'll go rob him first. That thing is big and scary, easy to sell, I'm not lying to you."

  Then he stopped eating and beckoned the dragon over, embracing its shoulder with a flattering face and whispering to it. I could only glare at the chattering pair and shout: "You have to pay back! Yu Xiaoqing doesn't care about you now, but in his heart, he owes you a debt of 200 national coins. One day, he'll make you pay back with your life!"

  He simply made a calming gesture towards me and continued his dealings with the dragon, and he and the dragon had already reached some sort of agreement.

  The dragon said: "Whoever is in this house, I want them to serve me tomorrow."

  "With so many people, are you going to rush into the vegetable market?" I asked him.

  The dragon made a slightly calming gesture towards me. "Shut up, little rogue."

  "Go ahead." The dead silence was broken by someone who finally spoke up and said, "But can I ask a question?"

  The dragon nodded its great head, "You're right, let's go."

  "I protested: 'Why should he be excused? It's better to order him around, don't you think?'"

  Shut up, you piece of trash.

  The dragon turned around and said "Yeah, what makes you think you can just leave?"

  "I've got big news," he said. "I might be able to get my hands on an anti-aircraft gun."

  Krupp suddenly raised his head from the rice bowl, "War defense cannon?"

  I made a slightly calming gesture, "Five Flower Meat, shut up. What did you bring the war defense cannon for?"

  The dragon made a slightly calming gesture, "White Bone Essence, shut up. Hey, I'm asking you, what's the point of bringing the war defense cannon?"

  To put it simply: "The Japanese have tanks."

  The dragon was convinced, "Yes, the Japanese have tanks."

  I made a slightly calming gesture, "Shut up, dead horse. Is there anyone Japanese here? Do you want to shoot the cannon on the gate and hit Zen's ox cart?"

  "......That's just a small cannon."

  I retorted, "Compared to you, everything else is small potatoes! What are we even talking about? Asking for food money is one thing, but what's the point of making a big show? Are we trying to put on a good face? Do we have enough or not? What else haven't we done?"

  He's been staring at me all the time, just like watching our corpses on the execution ground, without any expression. The eating guys also sensed something was wrong, their bowls and chopsticks almost in a stagnant state, staring blankly at us.

  I understand now, actually he never concealed it either. It's just that we like this kind of non-responsibility too much.

  "I said: 'I know. Haven't we already piled up a thousand graves at the South Heavenly Gate?'"

  He ignored me again and wrapped around the dragon, "I want women's stuff. Silk stockings, soap, and so on."

  The dragon didn't make a sound, none of us made a sound, he wasn't afraid of being left out there, but even that didn't work - a guy wearing an oversized military uniform pushed open the door and looked at us with a pitiful expression.

  "I'm a bean pancake. You told me to wait outside. How come you never call me?"

  He slapped his forehead hard, "Forgot! Going to the master's department, and picking him up from the hospital on the way!"

  Hao Shouyi did not warmly welcome him, "Dou Bing is back."

  The snake's butt said: "I'm back."

  The Mourning Star didn't show much enthusiasm either, "Welcome back."

  The bean pancake was left drying there, fortunately the dragon still remembered to give him a set of bowls and chopsticks.

  Tofu pancake is back, it's back and continues to be forgotten by people, this is his fate.

  We also want to be forgotten and escape from the world, that is a paradise outside of the world. But it seems that death will definitely pull us back to our original world.

  They were asleep, the surging population squeezed us old guys to sleep in this big room. I stood up. Looking at myself in the half-broken mirror on the wall, I took off my clothes and wanted to go to sleep.

  Dead, dead, playing with dog meat outside, playing while shouting: "Dog meat, dog meat, good dog meat."

  I watched him from the window. The guy was teasing a dog, making a dog-like gesture to tease a dog that looked like a human. He crouched on the ground, baring his non-existent fangs at the dog, which was really out of shape.

  He easily accepted the name of dog meat, so I asked him what dog meat was originally called. He said it's called dog, what else do you want to call it? A dog is a dog.

  We should have died anyway, because we called ourselves cannon fodder.

  I left the window and was going to sleep, while that guy outside suddenly started whistling, so desolate and long that you must wonder what kind of mood the whistler is in.

  Then I went to see. He started making that dog-like face again to tease the dog, I left the window, he started blowing his tune, I looked again, and he was teasing the dog again.

  Finally I gave up in his whistling sound. I lay down and fell asleep.

  Before I fell asleep, I realized one thing, what he was teasing wasn't dog meat, but Meng.

  The next morning, the pot-scrubbing continued, with Momo taking over. "I can scrub this pot until it's holed, and a hole would be even more annoying!"

  Si La Si La was hanging some things to be used for bribery on the handlebars of his rickety bicycle. The bike was broken beyond repair, with no seat, just a bare rod. But today, Si La Si La was dressed up and looked quite presentable, so he wouldn't lose face standing next to Yu Xiaoqing.

  Die die die, give Mi Long a clever idea, "Next time find half a wok, use a cone to draw, can kill people."

  We finally couldn't bear it any longer and rushed out of the house, the dragon pushing and kicking us with its claws and feet, shouting happily, "Work begins! The little workers must obey orders!"

  "This is an order!" Dead-dead, under our gaze, put a steel helmet on the gun barrel, then put his butt on that steel helmet, and shook off in that car.

  We were walking on the street, making a big scene, and passersby couldn't help but stare. The guys who climbed down from Nan Tian Men were almost all there. If Yu Xiaoqing's people saw us, they would be furious again, because we didn't look like soldiers, but rather like rats getting married. Dou Bing was pulling an empty cart, walking at the front of the group, while we were dragging and pushing each other behind him. Ah Yi, who was walking at the very back, was actually the most prepared - he had prepared a couplet, but since the ink wasn't dry yet, he could only hold it in his hand. The content of the couplet was quite...underwhelming.

  The dragon is happy, our landlord has been pushed and beaten by us all day today.

  It's all about the dragon, not us. In fact, since the dragon promised a home, we've been waiting, and those who weren't called up were in agony. We were worried that the dragon wouldn't call A Yi, but as it turned out, the dragon called A Yi first, and A Yi immediately wrote a couplet for this friendship. Half an hour later, he found out it had nothing to do with friendship.

  The dragon shouted at us to stop, using a low voice like a thief: "Here. The first house."

  We looked at the household goods store that turned over the alley, its door face was very small, and things were very miscellaneous. Water buckets, toilets, basins, stools, bamboo chairs, etc. could only be piled up from the narrow storefront to the outside.