Chapter 47

  Twenty-one people were packed into one car, which was already quite crowded. We all stared at the twenty-second person who struggled to get on: it was Krupp. He defended himself: "I'm not from here! I'm just passing by!"

  His foot kicked against his fat buttocks, and the rifle butt thudded against the thick flesh on his shoulder.

  Then we all heaved together and those of us already in the car made an effort to get this big lump of flesh between us.

  He asked: "What's this for?"

  "Shoot him!"

  Krup asked the Mourning Star: "We're not making trouble. Master Dong, what are you doing?"

  Although being called a noble surname by others, the funeral door star still made an unambiguous "pa" sound.

  Krupp stopped for two seconds and then started shouting towards the car: "I've taken a wrong turn! I'm really not from here!"

  The inferior fuel smoke spewing out of the exhaust pipe almost choked him to death, the car had started moving, and Zhang Lixian's car was pressing us from behind.

  "...I just ate a bowl of rice!!"

  But the dragon pulled him, Krupp was afraid of the person who gave him a violent kick at this meeting, and immediately pulled him into the carriage. The dragon is calm again now, with his upper garment on, putting on his trousers while looking at the receding gate of the detention center, which wasn't an easy thing to do because the car blocked more than half of our view.

  Man Han and Ni Dandan stood there like wooden chickens, Lei Baoer was also there, Gou Rou crouched in the middle of the road. And when it was already impossible to see her from the courtyard, Mi Long's wife came out too, looking at Mi Long holding his hair, as if trying to make a good impression on him.

  The muzzle of the gun on the rear carriage was always intentionally or unintentionally pointing at us.

  We also crowded around the dragon's body and looked at the shelter that was no longer visible. All of this gave us a sense of impending doom.

  "Alas, I'm telling you, the most miserable thing in this world is being killed by your own people."

  The snake farted out a stupid idea, "Run, let's go. I'll shout and we'll split up and run, let's meet again in that broken temple where we got rained on last time."

  We stared at him with wide eyes, including Nuo La.

  Hao Shouyi clutched at a glimmer of hope and said: "It can't be that bad, can it? It just can't be that bad!"

  "Hmm, twenty or so people." Na La said.

  She Bi's butt reminded him: "Haven't you seen the world? Last time you went to the county government office to make trouble, didn't more than 100 people open fire and kill that what's-his-name?"

  "...that's different...how much worse can it get?"

  We all huddled together, sat down, and were both tired and hungry. We crowded together to find some body heat from each other.

  "Sit down, sit down. Squeeze in. Ass, ass, I say it's windy and you're raining."

  So we all calmed down a bit, and the warmth I got from them actually made me feel a little sleepy.

  I muttered to myself: "Being shot is not necessarily a must, and it's also possible that it might not be. If we run, the people escorting us may or may not open fire; if we don't run, we may or may not get shot either. How much worse can things get?"

  "Krupp asked: '...what does he mean?'"

  No one paid attention to him. I stared at the car roof.

  I'm just saying, we've already forgotten what we did on Nantianmen.

  "Zhang Lixian shouted: 'You turtle egg, sit down!'"

  I opened my eyes to take a look, and the conductor was still standing at the entrance of the car. He didn't respond but also didn't sit down. Later we all squeezed into a heap, and he still didn't sit down.

  It's not a very short distance, the car is shaking and bumping along, I don't know where it will take us. Several of us have already fallen asleep, Ah Yi is staring with her eyes wide open thinking about something.

  Suddenly a loud "bang" of gunfire, we old soldiers naturally heard that the bullet was basically rubbing against our car roof and passing by.

  The sound of gunfire accompanied Zhang Lixian's shout, "Hard-headed! I'll fire the second shot if you don't get down!"

  Our mental quality is not good enough to fall asleep in such a situation, the muzzle of the gun is still pointing at the car entrance, I stood up and looked at Zhang Lixian who was guarding the car, he is now simply holding a Mauser 712 against us - he uses the gun in the same way as "deadly" and also has the buttstock on his shoulder, which means he has been to some German military school.

  Hao Shouyi implored: "Please sit down, Mi Long. The more you act out, the quieter we'll be."

  The Mourning Star was more rational, "No way. At this speed, the stones on the side of the road are like knives, and we can't escape."

  But Mi Long just stood there, he didn't sit down, he also knew he couldn't run away, he simply refused to sit down.

  I squeezed back among my dog friends, "What's the matter with him? He doesn't dare jump. His life used to be cheaper than ours, now it's more precious than ours, he stared for half a day and couldn't jump down, he has concerns now. Is it a confused dragon?"

  We fell silent, I sat down, and the dragon remained silent for a while before finally sitting down. Zhang Lixian on the armored vehicle finally saved face and put away his gun.

  "...is to be shot."

  "Can't you just stop stirring up trouble? You..." I didn't finish, because A Yi raised a pale and fragile face, her eyes burning fiercely. The expression could be described as feverish or deeply heartbroken... but it was neither.

  "It's not us who are being killed. They're taking us to watch others being killed," he said.

  I stared at him, I understood but I didn't believe it.

  The snake's butt was laughing and saying, "Who are you going to kill? In this day and age, do you still need to make a big fuss about killing someone?"

  "Change the subject: ... Nonsense, don't listen to him."

  "Die die die."

  "Let's drag it out again, still an egg. Dead, dead, died early." I said.

  He insisted, "Not dead. We thought of him too much, thought too much and couldn't see him, so we thought he was already dead. Have you ever had this? Waiting for someone you care about very much but can't wait any longer, thinking something has happened to them?"

  I strongly deny this possibility, I don't know why. "You're full of nonsense. Who cares about him? Is anyone here concerned about him? Because there's food to eat, clothes to wear and a place to sleep?"

  "A retorted to me: 'Alright, I'll tell you a logic that you'd like to hear. Meng is still not dead, precisely because he deserves to die. He's committed crimes that would be punishable by death ten times over. Someone who deserves to die so many times won't be allowed to die quietly; his case must be made public to uphold the law and moral principles.'"

  I was stunned, not because I was robbed of my whiteness, but because I was struck by a possibility spoken out by A Yi, just like others.

  Bu Lao said: "If it's really like this... let them bring the dog meat along and have one last look."

  "What business of yours is it what the dog does? Let people be, let people be." Dr. Hao sighed.

  I stared at them, they sighed, they shook their heads, that kind of sadness was real, we were forever struggling with the predicament of coughing, rarely had such unreservedness.

  Krupp finally recovered from his long-standing shock, "So it's going to watch others get shot? That's great!"

  He hadn't even had time to rejoice when he was slapped on both sides of his face by the Mourning Star and Snake Buttocks, letting out two miserable cries.

  "You damned ghost! You don't recognize him!"

  So everyone fell silent, even the confused dragon squeezed in among us. Earlier we were drowsily waiting for death, now we are clearly waiting for rot.

  "In silence, I'd rather they were annoyed than dead."

  I glanced at him and said, "Thank you."

  Not humble and courteous, "easy to talk."

  Then we collectively fell silent in the same worry.

  I know he's telling the truth. They think of him even with a dog meat heart, without mentioning it on their lips, but they think of him every day.

  Kill me, they will be sad, and then it's over. Kill him, and something seems to have died in our lives - I feel that way too, even though we thought he was already dead, and that thing was already dead.

  This is where we came from, although after being incorporated into the reception station, we all knew that we belonged to this division. It's like a military place, how can I put it, it's like taking a grass pavilion floating between ink landscape paintings and transforming it into a bunker with a mounted machine gun, forced militarization is also militarization. Our division headquarters occupies an old civilian house, with reinforced concrete bunkers and sandbag fortifications. A few villagers carrying hoes are learning to march in formation on the empty ground, kicking Prussian-style goose steps during drills. Of course, this is laughable for them, but for the soldiers in the formation, if they kick incorrectly, it's just a few slaps on the ears as punishment - such an eerie existence, similar to our existence in the peaceful and serene Zen temple that has not seen war for thousands of years.

  We are isolated from this harmonious and inharmonious world, we were coaxed off the bus, and stood huddled together at the side of the vehicle, we would rather inhale the exhaust fumes emitted by cars, although the exhaust fumes produced by burning alcohol as fuel is almost as effective as tear gas used by Japanese people, but it seems that if we don't huddle together, we will fall into endless disaster.

  Zhang Lixian scolded us: "Even pigs let out of their pens stand more upright than you! Let the dead common people see the joke!"

  I said indifferently in the crowd: "Officer, it's enough for the common people to see you."

  He was born with a gentle breeze, but he still pretended to be strong and sturdy. The people under Yu Xiaoqing's command all followed Yu Xiaoqing's example, standing upright like gun barrels. They attracted the attention of several village girls, but not even a glance was returned. He was stunned, and several village girls who were darker-skinned than us laughed.

  He Shuguang shouted: "Who spoke? Come out!"

  As soon as we came out, there were ghosts everywhere, and we all looked at each other with extreme innocence. Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang seemed to have something urgent to attend to, didn't bother us, left a few soldiers to watch us, and they themselves went to the division headquarters.

  Three years sleeping on a military bed, Mother Pig Sai Duanqian, not spicy individual does not want to face immediately began to randomly electrocute several ugly girls, provoking a burst of laughter, but the neck is still following Zhang Lixian He Shuguang and others who have disappeared from the department. The confused dragon sat down with one buttock, that facial expression said three words - "Looked down on."

  Hao Shouyi exhorted everyone: "Alas, it's no wonder that the officials say you people are self-loving."

  The snake's butt is busy accompanying the spicy exit, making a fool of itself. In the midst of its busyness, it still has to retort: "Officer, officer, shooting from behind."

  A car drove past them and their flirtation objects, emitting black smoke, and was about to stop next to us.

  The dragon was choked and jumped up, coughing and scolding: "Did this car grow up burning hay? Install a chimney!"

  The smoke choked us all, we wanted to move to a different place, but the people watching us were stubborn and wouldn't let us. The car was wrapped in black smoke, and the people getting off the bus were also coughing.

  "We all shouted in unison: 'Damn that son of a bitch!' 'He's come like the Japanese devils! Nonsense!'"

  A voice said: "Punk, do you remember what this move means?"

  We stood there stupidly, watching the black smoke disperse, and in the smoke, one person was being escorted by four others, making that gesture towards us: holding their hand up to their eyes, then lightly waving it open - you can't help but notice the handcuffs on those hands.

  We stared blankly at him, he seemed unchanged, yet changed a lot. The military uniform that came down from the South Tianmen Gate had not been changed, only the epaulets had long been torn off. We couldn't describe whether we were thinner or fatter, but when he looked at us like that, we still felt very angry and sad.

  "All the bastards are still alive, but all the bastards have no memory." After finishing speaking, he was escorted by four people - Li Bing and Yu Zhi, plus two soldiers with live ammunition, towards the division headquarters.

  We stared blankly for a long time until he disappeared in the teacher's office like Zhang Likun and He Shuguang.

  "Is this vast land just for executing him?" She Bi Gu said, then started wiping his face with his sleeve. Several others, including Bu La and Mao Men Xing, also began to cry. Ah Yi's face turned pale, Mi Long stared at Shi Bu, Hao Lao Tou hung his head low, and I gazed blankly at the clouds in the sky.

  Just now, that "die die" gesture means, you good-for-nothing sons, seeing you makes me wish I were blind.

  The ones who cried were the most shameless among us, and we all regained our memories. The first thing people realized when they regained their memory was that they had lost it before. We found out that since he was taken away, we collectively lost our memories, rolling around in the mud like pigs, sinking into the rations, and then suddenly waking up, scaring ourselves to death - what the hell did I do?!

  We who charged out of the mountains and seas of corpses, now stand in a corner of an empty space with our heads hung low in shame. Our military uniforms, unsoiled by battle, make us look wretched. We are pitifully ridiculed by passing villagers, we who once killed people like flies, are now being watched over by just a few young recruits with guns that haven't even been loaded.

  Our brains tell us: you really did this, although it was buried, but you once cut off the Japanese devils on the west coast alone, without any artillery support, and died a heroic death. The Japanese army should have been stationed in Jiangdong early, planning to attack Kunming and even Chongqing.

  The heart is empty again. We will sleep badly tonight, having done such a thing and still living like this.

  We stood there stupidly, scratching and rubbing our heads, with several guys having red and swollen eyes, like a group of lambs who had just rolled out of the mud and were about to roll back in.

  He Shuguang sat in the distance with his accordion, he finished his work and played the accordion, showing off his elegance and charm, attracting even the most discerning women to gather around him - we stared blankly.

  Zhang Lixian hastily ran out and said, "What are you selling? Are you still letting them make fools of themselves here?"

  He Shuguang said: "There's no place to put it!"

  "Isolation room!" Zhang Lixian said and went back again.

  He Shuguang rushed over and shouted loudly at our soldiers: "Bring him in!"

  Our soldiers asked: "All?"

  "Gotcha!"

  Then we began to move our whole family.

  Chapter Eleven

  For a group of livestock that is not very trustworthy and not very important, the best approach is to get them into their enclosure as soon as possible. So our "coming in" actually means moving from being embarrassed in an open area outside to being less embarrassed in a certain room within the school compound.

  It's not spacious here, especially after He Shuguang and the soldiers who pushed us in locked the door. Since it's not only narrow but also locked, we were squeezed inside, making it even more like a prison cell.

  We remained silent, without even the interest to look at others, until Mi Long broke the silence, "Aren't we here to watch an execution? Why are we being transferred to a different cell?"

  He rushed to the closed door and shouted: "I want to see the execution!"

  Hao Shouyi was so anxious that he couldn't help but exclaim, "Hey! That's not what you said, it sounds like you want him to die!"

  No need for explanation: "I think we're all outsiders, when we die there's someone to knock twice on the coffin, that's also called seeing off - I want to see the execution by firing squad!"

  The snake's butt didn't follow, but it was stuffy and stifling, and with a loud crash, the door burst open. The house seemed to be uninhabited, and he kicked up dust that fell on our feet. Then someone outside started unlocking the door.

  The snake's butt doesn't know whether it's a warning or intimidation, "Move back. Opening the door is just like holding a gun... Eh, Ming Long, you move forward."

  The dragon also heard that it was a call to take the blame, rolled his eyes and stared at him, then the door opened, we covered our faces with our elbows, but there were no gunstocks coming over.

  The one standing outside the door was that guy who had been by Yu Xiaoqing's side since we crossed the river, a fifty-year-old colonel with an ordinary face, but now his ordinary face seemed almost familiar to us because Yu Xiaoqing's other subordinates all had military faces, and when they looked at us it was as if they were looking at strange pigs wearing military uniforms, while he looked at us like he was looking at people, and that alone made us feel like a spring breeze.

  Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang followed behind him, with He Shuguang's accordion slung over someone else's shoulder. Now they seem to be afraid that their superiors will suffer at our hands.

  That colonel comforted us: "Everyone, don't be impatient, gentlemen... Ah, to hell with the gentlemen, I mean you guys are making such a fuss that things will get messed up." He looked around this room, "Hey, Director Zhang, can you find them a place to rest? The place you found doesn't even have a chair?"

  Zhang Lixian stared at us, stood up straight with a loud "crack", "Vice-Dean, this is the isolation room! Do you want to switch?"

  "Never mind, never mind. We're all brothers who have suffered and struggled. Let's not talk about this anymore. Get them something to eat." He looked at us, "Haven't eaten yet?"

  We naturally didn't have anyone to respond. Only Ah Yi translated and bowed, "Vice Master Tang!"

  "Alright, alright. Lieutenant Colonel Lin, 15th Military Officer Training Corps. I still remember."

  "Aye, sir!" Ah Yi's face turned red with excitement.

  We stared at him blankly because at this moment he looked most like a soldier, as if the Southern Heavenly Gate was something he had led us to fight for.

  "Has he eaten? He definitely hasn't eaten." After muttering to himself, the colonel turned to Zhang Lixian and a few others who were complaining, "You guys are just not good at this. The old master is someone who sleeps late and gets up early to practice swordplay, if he has something on his mind, no one can spare time for breakfast. What are you staring at? Standing there like a block of wood? Go find something to eat! If you keep staring like that, I'll send you to the Jiangdong province to stare down the Japanese!"

  He was obviously a man who got along well with both his superiors and subordinates, and he playfully kicked Zhang Lixian, who turned around and left without getting angry about losing face in front of us, and even threw out a sentence: "I'm thinking about it."

  "It will come true." The colonel said, then he looked at us and we stared back at him. "Hey, everyone relax. You are all brave warriors, soldiers, I'm just a errand boy, just like the dead commoners you mentioned. My surname is Tang, Han Tang of the prosperous Tang era, my name is Ji, Road Ji's Ji. Ashamed to be leading the Yu Shi deputy position, temporarily, temporarily. Ah, excuse me. Hai Huan. Today is busy, really busy." He was indeed busy, walked two steps and turned back to tell He Shu Guang who was about to lock us up: "Hey, He Lian Zhang, don't lock the door, they're not prisoners, just don't run around randomly."

  He Shuguang ordered the soldiers guarding the gate to stand down, "Yes."

  Then the colonel hurried away, and we stared at his back in a daze, because we had never seen such an easy-going military man, who was as easy-going as a dead old hundred surnames. We also saw that it was really busy here today, with soldiers coming and going in the courtyard, carrying tables and moving furniture, as if they were moving house or cleaning up the house.

  He slowly saluted the human figure again with an over-enthusiastic bow, and we glanced at him, not only because of his slow reaction, but also because of his rare enthusiasm, which was even a bit flattering.

  A Yi smiled awkwardly and said, "Deputy Commander Tang... has spoken once, he's a pretty good person."

  He Shuguang stood outside the door, because the door couldn't be locked and people couldn't run wildly, he didn't dare to move, so he had to put on an expression you mentioned, with his eyes fixed on the courtyard, "He is a senior of Yu Shi Zuo. Of course, it's not bad."

  I asked him: "He Lianchang, may I ask... is there something important today?"

  He Shuguang gave me a glance, probably because I was at least a lieutenant and didn't dare to humiliate me. "Nothing important. Someone from the army came to interrogate you about this matter."

  "What's being reviewed?" I asked again.

  He Shuguang looked us up and down, surprised but disdainful, with the kind of expression you'd have when seeing a pig wearing a military uniform - he never thought that neither he nor his brothers had ever mentioned this aspect to us.

  "What are you interrogating? What's the use of bringing me here? You should examine your own conscience, no need to bother Master's presence." He became more and more agitated as he spoke, "I really despise you all. That person was just a bit muddled, but when it comes to fighting, he's a reliable comrade, one who shares life and death with us... What the hell?!"

  The door slammed shut in front of him, He Shuguang was stunned for a moment, kicked it hard and didn't bother to care about it anymore, anyway he didn't want to see us either.