Twenty-five
Yan Wei strode a few steps forward and climbed up to the wooden loft, although he had no weapon on him. Thinking that an ordinary resident wouldn't pose any danger, he shielded the door with both hands, and with his right foot gently pushing against the wooden door, it swung open without being locked in the first place.
The couple in the house were already trembling with fear, and Yan Wei dared to conclude that they must have been curious about themselves today and had long regretted it!
"Have you all seen it?" Yan Wei was a National Army officer, not a bandit. Faced with this situation, he didn't know what to do either.
"Do you know who I just killed?" Seeing the two of them already scared out of their wits, shaking all over but not daring to speak, Yan Wei's heart became even more ruthless and he couldn't bring himself to kill them to silence them!
When Yan Wei asked again, the woman finally calmed down, used her right hand to tidy up the scattered hair on her forehead, nodded at Yan Wei, and immediately felt that it was not right, then shook her head desperately.
Yan Wei saw the situation and sat down on a small stool in the house, looking at the couple and said: "I am a National Army soldier, this time I entered the city for official business, unfortunately I was followed by a traitor, so I had to borrow your home to deal with this guy who is begging for mercy from the Japanese! The matter came suddenly, I hope you can understand the disturbance." After that, he stared at the woman in the house and observed her expression, quickly judging whether he could give the couple a chance to continue living today. Because Yan Wei understood as soon as he entered the house, the one who was in charge of this household was this woman.
The couple exchanged a glance when Yan Wei claimed to be from the National Army, and it was the woman who composed herself again, plucked up her courage and said to Yan Wei: "So you're from the National Army? We thought it was a vendetta killing in the Jianghu! Since you're from the National Army, you must not have had time to follow Commander Zhao and the others to retreat. Since you're one of our National Army, that's good, we won't say what we saw today." The woman was indeed clever, and with one sentence, she hit the nail on the head regarding the current situation.
Yan Wei thought to himself that this Zhao Tengxiang seemed to have a pretty good reputation in this place, and both old and young people knew him. But seeing how he immediately agreed not to reveal what happened today, it instead made Yan Wei unsure of what to do next. He considered leaving just like that, but still couldn't shake off the feeling of unease. As for taking action to kill him, in the end, he couldn't bring himself to commit such a cruel act!
The woman saw Yan Wei's expression and knew he was still worried about her husband. So she immediately said: "General, you can rest assured that we won't go and report that you helped those scoundrels! The man you just killed, others may not know who he is, but do my husband and I not know? This Huang Pinggui is a big scourge in our county! He's ruthless and leaves no stone unturned. Every day, he follows that surname Zhou and causes trouble for the people in our county town. Whatever he finds fault with, he doesn't leave a layer of skin on it! Here, people call him 'Huang Youping'."
"My husband and I used to sell tofu on the street, a small business that was just enough for us to get by. We didn't have any problems supporting our family. But then last year my father-in-law got sick suddenly and we spent a lot of our savings on his medical bills. That month's rent was late by two days, and that's when Zhou the squad leader came with some people and smashed our stall! It was this yellow oil bottle who kicked over our tofu stand, and a bunch of thugs even broke my husband's leg!" She then handed over her husband's broken leg to Yan Wei.
Look at what this woman said, and Yan Wei couldn't help but believe it. It's just that I didn't expect the suffering of the common people to be so severe nowadays! I couldn't help but think of what Old Liu Si said to me and Wu Hanhuai - "Whoever comes is the same, whoever is in power, I'll pay taxes to them!" It seems that for ordinary people, these Japanese troops who flaunt their military might are not much more cruel than those Chinese who devour people without spitting out bones! If they could really govern the country according to law like Manchukuo outside the pass, and live in peace and prosperity together, it wouldn't be much more miserable than living under the rule of the Communist Party!
This woman had no idea what Yan Wei was thinking, and thought that Yan Wei still had doubts about whether he could help her keep the secret. So she immediately said: "General, because of that matter, my husband got angry and his illness worsened, and he didn't make it through the spring! My family's men lost their livelihoods after breaking their legs! I'm just a woman, and I couldn't support this family on my own, so I had no choice but to marry off our eldest daughter, who was only 16 years old at the time, to the second son of the De Yun number in the east city. It's been almost a year now, and we've been barely scraping by thanks to the few gifts of money from selling our daughter. This summer, our youngest son, who just turned 12, was also sent by me to be an apprentice at the Guang Li miscellaneous goods store! General, can you say that we would do something stupid like seeking revenge on our own kin? You killed that Huang Youping and avenged us poor people!" When she said this, the man in her family who was sitting on the bed, although he looked like a born coward, also nodded his head firmly at Yan Wei.
Yan Wei wiped his face with his hand, stood up and looked at the couple: "Anyway, you two will take care of it!" After that, he took out a silver dollar from his body and threw it on the bed where the man was sitting.
The woman of the house saw this and immediately picked up the silver dollar, pushing it away from Yan Wei with all her might, guaranteeing that she wouldn't accept it. However, the eyes of the man in the house were fixed straight on the silver dollar in his wife's hand!
"Listen up, you two! I'm a National Army soldier, but not that bastard Zhao Team Leader's man. He doesn't even qualify to be in the same army as me! If I ever see him again, I'll shoot him dead with one bullet! It's only natural for the military to love the people and for the people to support the military. One silver dollar is nothing, just look at how your family is living now! Just take it and be done with it. Also, hurry up and grab a bucket of water, go down and wash away the marks on the broken wall, or else those traitors will come back and find you again. This one silver dollar won't even be enough to buy you a coffin!"
When Yan Wei said this, the woman immediately bowed to Yan Wei and carefully put the silver coin that her family had not seen for a long time into the small pocket on the inside of her hem. She then went downstairs to find a wooden bucket to fetch water from the well to wash away the traces of Yan Wei's crime scene! Yan Wei looked at the man sitting on the bed and said, "Your leg was broken by someone, but your spine is still intact, right? Do what you need to do, grit your teeth and muddle through life. A big man like you, lying in bed waiting for death?" After that, he followed the woman downstairs.
Here is the translation:
Yan Wei, who had just washed his hands downstairs, was wiping them with a tattered towel given to him by the woman. He saw her quickly scooping water from the vat into a wooden bucket! Looking up again at the poverty-stricken scene of this household, he thought to himself that they were so poor they had nothing left to lose! No wonder the courtyard wall had collapsed and couldn't be repaired! So he put down the tattered towel and took out another silver dollar from his body. With his right hand, he grasped the woman's left hand, which wasn't holding the water scoop, and stuffed the silver dollar into her palm, saying: "Here's another dollar for you. Take a look and see if you can still make ends meet by doing your old job. Bring back your child too! Having him be an apprentice to someone else is suffering what kind of injustice! I used to be an apprentice in the Northeast myself, so I know what it means to be an apprentice - it's not even as good as being a slave! If you can just eat your fill, that's already proof that the master has a conscience! Your husband doesn't seem like a reliable person. Why don't you bring back your son and the two of you struggle through together? Once our national army drives out the Japanese later on, believe me, there will still be good days ahead! The government won't just watch as the country remains in such chaos!" With that, he turned around and walked out of her courtyard. He left behind a promise from a military officer to an ordinary citizen, stirring up and moving a poor woman to tears.
Out of the hospital, walking to the end of the alley, he saw You Lao Si squatting there waiting for him. Seeing Yan Wei coming over, he took a few steps forward and asked in a low voice: "Is it resolved? Didn't leave any more trouble behind?"
Yan Wei looked at You Lao Si and said, "What's been resolved? Ah, I'm telling you, Old You, was this how Sun Da Shuai taught you to be soldiers in the past? Was it to treat ordinary people like this?"
Yu Lao Si's face turned red with rage as soon as he heard this. He glared at Yan Wei and said, "You wouldn't be trying to do some political work on them, would you? You wouldn't be spouting nonsense about the country being in a difficult situation and needing to unite against external enemies, would you? My entire village of Yu Jia Cun is filled with old and young people! Your running around and showing off isn't solving anything cleanly! Are you trying to harm me or something?"
Yan Wei looked into the distance and said, "Alright, in any case, if something were to happen, it would definitely not be because of this family's betrayal! If it's not good fortune, then it's bad fortune that can't be avoided. Let's spare a few lives and accumulate some virtue, shall we? Ah, by the way, have you cleaned up your side?"
"You're definitely stronger than him! What's the point of being an elite member of the Central Committee's ace troops?! With your work style, you're just dragging your feet and being indecisive! In the past, I wouldn't even want you as a logistics soldier!" You Lao Si was clearly very dissatisfied with Yan Wei's methods!
"Hey, no way, Old You! You didn't tell me you were just a company commander in the past? So, in your direct line of troops, having a rank is enough to qualify for duty as a soldier? No wonder your direct line couldn't beat the Northern Expedition Army led by Chairman Mao in the end. This is too corrupt! By the way, Old You, where was that restaurant we passed by when we entered the city? I've been busy and now I'm all turned around!" Yan Wei also felt that what he was doing wasn't very responsible for the overall situation, so he kept teasing Lao You Si.
Just as they arrived at the entrance of the restaurant where they had agreed to meet with Zhang Liao and others, Yan Wei saw that Zhang Liao and several others were eating baozi inside. As it was getting late, in order to avoid delays and ensure a smooth departure from the city, Yan Wei habitually stretched out one finger, beckoning to the group, and they quickly paid the bill and came out.
"How was it resolved? Didn't leave any trouble, did you?" Yan Wei immediately asked in a low voice as Zhang Liao and the others approached. With Zhang Liao around, there's no need to ask - this business of killing someone definitely wouldn't be anyone else!
"Don't worry, boss, we've led that unlucky guy to a hotel. We went upstairs and opened a single room on the second floor, telling the waiter just to give us the key and not to follow us up. That unlucky guy saw us going upstairs and followed us, but we pretended not to know him and opened the door to go in. He was really stupid and followed us to the door, trying to listen through the door panel, but I grabbed him like a chicken thief and dragged him in, taking his life! It was done without any bloodshed or noise. After finishing, we stuffed him under the bed and covered him with a sheet. Then we waited for a while before going downstairs to tell the innkeeper that we had important items in the room and would be back in three days after taking care of some business. We also told him not to let anyone enter the room before our return, or else our important items would be lost, and the master of Black Wind Fortress on the mountain would come down personally to deal with him!"
"What's this nonsense about the Black Wind Fortress? What are you making up?" Yan Wei said, but in his heart he couldn't help but secretly admire Zhang Liao's cunning and ability to use the Green Forest and Black Way to intimidate the innkeeper.
"Never mind about the inn, as long as it's convenient. The shopkeeper thought we were some kind of mountain bandits who came down to case the joint and scope out the place! He kept agreeing that he wouldn't dare open the door for three days without our permission. Afterwards, we paid for three days' lodging and left. By the way, I'm telling you, Team Leader, you have to reimburse me for this expense later! Including the money spent on baozi just now, it adds up to a total of 80 cents!"
Yan smiled and said: "Report expenses? You guys eat buns and report expenses to me too? There's no item for eating buns in our 32nd Army Corps' military expenses!"
"Hey, Team Leader, this is where you're being unreasonable! We bumped into each other at the restaurant and it was your idea to come in. You can't expect us big men to just sit there drinking water, right? He should at least try to make some small talk. I'm already eating the cheapest dish on the menu! Besides, I'm the only one here who's an official, I shouldn't have to let these young soldiers pay the bill. You're a middle school team leader, and you can't even afford to pay for this little bit of money? You still have the nerve to say that Officer Yang is our role model and we should all follow his excellent work style? That we should make our unit's reputation shine wherever we go? Do you think Officer Yang would be so stingy? I heard from old soldiers who used to follow Officer Yang, back when he was leading troops in our old 25th division, that the soldiers who followed him wouldn't even trade places with a team leader! They couldn't be driven away! When Officer Yang was happy, he'd reward them with a gold bar on the spot!"
Yan smiled and said, "Who are you kidding? It seems like in this old 25th Division, you're more senior than me? I've only had the good fortune to see Director Yang once at the division headquarters. How is it that you seem to know him better than me? Besides, can I compare with Director Yang? What's my family background? He's the leader of the largest underworld organization in Jiangbei! The two characters 'Yang Jiu' can crush a group of people just by being written out! Showing off his name can exchange for 100 gold bars! If you really think you're on good terms with Director Yang, I won't stop you from getting rich, Wang Dalian! Everyone knows that Director Yang is currently in Taiyuan, his hometown, gathering troops and raising flags. Why don't you also show off the 25th Division's name and go to his place to try your luck? See if he wants you, this great general!"
Stop talking nonsense, Yan Wei took out a silver dollar and pointed to a shop on the street: "Alright, stop talking, hurry up and go in to help me buy five packs of cigarettes, the rest will be considered as payment for you."
He handed the silver dollar to Liao, counted on his fingers and said: "Let's not buy too expensive good cigarettes, let's just buy that red tin package for three copper coins. One bar is ten packages, which is thirty copper coins, five bars are fifty packages, one hundred and fifty copper coins. One silver dollar can be exchanged for a thousand copper coins. After buying these five bars of cigarettes, it means that there will still be eight hundred and fifty copper coins left, converted into French currency, exactly eight fifty cents! Hey! I said, Team Leader, how did you calculate this account so accurately? It turns out that it is exactly offset by the public funds I spent! You really don't lose a single cent!
Yan smiled and said: "How could I possibly lose out? There's still five cents left, isn't there? Never mind, no need to give me change."
To know what happens next, please log in to Sina Original Subscription for more chapters. Support the author and support the genuine version.
