Twenty-three

  "What's wrong with you, old man? You don't even bother to come and greet me when you see me. Are you looking down on me now that Zhao Tengxiang is not around?" The old man, Wu Laosi, had a look of arrogance and disdain on his face, as if he was relying on someone else's power to bully others.

  Lao Si hurriedly smiled and said: "I'm telling you, Old Zhou, what are you talking about? I wouldn't dare be disrespectful to you, Old Zhou! It's the same with Zhao Team Leader, whether he's here or not...". He said this, then intentionally pretended to be foolish and asked: "Hey, what's going on? Is Zhao Team Leader no longer stationed in our Tianmen County?"

  "What's with the look on your face, you old rascal? Come, come, come, take a good look!" Zhou Dadao said as he stretched out his right hand and grabbed the back of You Laosi's collar, pointing at the Japanese military flag waving in the wind on top of the city gate: "Do you see it clearly? Ah? This is the flag of the Great Japanese Imperial Army, not the old Blue Sky White Sun flag! Now this Tianmen County is under the control of the Great Japanese Imperial Army! And that Zhao Dashao, he's a coward, he ran away with his tail between his legs without even firing a shot!" As he spoke, he saw Yan Wei and others, and looked at Yan Wei as he asked You Laosi: "Hey, who are these people? Why do they all look unfamiliar to me?"

  Yu Lao Si immediately made calculations in his mind, thinking that lying and claiming they were villagers would not fool this traitor! It was obvious, wasn't it? The accents of the several people were different, and one mouth going back and forth would surely reveal their true identities! So he immediately reached out and pulled him to one side, taking a few steps before speaking in a low voice: "I dare not deceive Commander Zhou, these few are all friends I knew from my past on the rivers and lakes. This time they've found me because they want me to introduce them to someone, hoping to do some ticket business in this city! I hope Commander Zhou can help us out."

  This surname Zhou traitor, upon hearing this, immediately gained spirit. He shook off Lao Si and walked towards several people, saying: "Yo, yo, yo, just you few, are still friends on the rivers and lakes? How do I see that each of you looks like a soldier?" While speaking, he had already walked into the crowd, standing in front of Yan Wei with his hands on his hips and a provocative attitude, intentionally revealing the Mauser pistol inserted at his waist to everyone.

  Lao Si hastily stepped forward and explained, "I'm telling you, Captain Zhou, this is a friend from our Jianghu days who has arrived, not some official! He just wants to do some ticket business in our city and leave, he won't cause any trouble for you, Captain Zhou!"

  Yan Wei listened and immediately understood, so he clasped his hands together in a salute to the man surnamed Zhou, saying: "So you are Commander Zhou of this region! I apologize for my disrespect. My friends and I have been wandering the jianghu, taking risks and living by our wits. Now that we've met Commander Zhou, I hope you'll forgive me for my earlier disrespect. Please don't mind my lack of courtesy. Come, let's be good friends and get closer!" As he spoke, he extended both hands to grasp those of the man surnamed Zhou.

  This traitorous Zhou, after exchanging a few pleasantries with Yan Wei, reached out to grab his own hands, but hastily retreated backward. However, Yan Wei's movements were as swift as lightning, and with a flash of her arms, she had already tightly grasped the traitor Zhou's hands!

  The surname Zhou traitor was shocked and immediately wanted to quickly withdraw his hand! But in the blink of an eye, he suddenly felt a hard object already in his palm! After a slight realization, he already knew it was that stack of silver coins! So he immediately changed his face and smiled: "Oh... oh..." He smiled a few times and put the stack of silver coins into his pocket with his right hand. His left hand stretched out one finger, pointing at Yan Wei, who was constantly pointing and smiling: "This friend is very interesting, very interesting!"

  Lao Liu was also an old river and lake who had mixed for half his life, seeing the situation he already understood the movements in the hands of the two people earlier. So he hurried forward and said in a low voice: "I say Captain Zhou, since we are all good friends now, let's not let the imperial army see it and get into trouble, so let me take a few friends down first, after the matter is settled, Captain Zhou's share will not be lacking!"

  Actually, this traitor with the surname Zhou had his own plans. He was originally a rascal in the border area of Tianmen County. After Zhao Tengxiang's 75th Army unit stationed here, he attached himself to them and became their follower. One day he would help them extort money from a merchant family, and the next day he would lead a group of people to kidnap a beautiful woman from another family and send her to the military camp for their pleasure! He managed to curry favor with Zhao Tengxiang, the garrison commander of Tianmen County, and became the head of the plainclothes patrol team in the county town. Every day, he would wear the Mauser pistol given to him by Zhao Tengxiang and lead a group of henchmen to roam around Tianmen County, even the county magistrate was afraid of Zhao Tengxiang's military power and dared not speak out against them.

  Although he relied on his natural talent for slavery, after the Japanese army entered and liberated Zhao Tengxiang's department, this surname Zhou again conformed to the Japanese policy of using Chinese to control Chinese, smoothly retaining his identity and position, continuing to bully the countryside in Tianmen County. However, he still felt that he had not made any achievements for his new master and was not at ease. After receiving the Japanese army's order to strictly investigate suspicious personnel entering the city, especially those with children, he worked hard day and night, bringing his party members to wait at the city gate to make a name for himself. Unexpectedly, in these few days, no suspicious elements were seen, but many innocent civilians were caught, and after being extorted for some small money, they were all released.

  He, who had been feeling useless and without any opportunities to make a name for himself, suddenly became interested when he heard that this group of people were coming to the city to do some "big business". He thought it would be best to let them stir up some trouble in the county town first, and then he could step in and clean up the mess for the Japanese army. On one hand, he could use this opportunity to arrest some notorious thieves and extort some money from the wealthy households in the city. On the other hand, it would also be a good chance to show the Japanese army his usefulness. Moreover, now that he had received some silver, he immediately wanted to release a few people quickly. However, what was unexpected was that You Lao Si, the village head of Youjia Village, who usually looked worldly and slick, actually had connections with the notorious thieves on the Jianghu! It seemed that it would be better not to provoke him in the future.

  Just as they were about to let the people go, they heard the Chinese translator of the Japanese army at the city gate behind them shouting and asking if anything was wrong. Zhou hastily replied loudly, "Nothing, nothing! A few friends of mine, just chatting for a bit." After that, he immediately let Yan Wei and others quickly leave.

  After walking a few steps, Zhang Liao said to Yan Wei: "General, I thought you were going to get rid of that turtle son of a bitch just now!"

  Yan Wei smiled and said, "I'll say it again, as long as we engage in a fight with the Japanese army, this time we will be completely finished! Didn't you see when we entered the city? That formation was all coming for us! Fortunately, Old Fourth Yu handled it cleverly, this is the best way to deal with it."

  Lao Si smiled with embarrassment: "If I hadn't known this son of a bitch in my daily life, there wouldn't have been so much trouble! If Captain Yan didn't blame me for causing trouble, it would be fine."

  "We, a group of robust men, entered the city together, which is already suspicious! But what's strange about you, Old You? The sky is getting late, where is that Western medical clinic you mentioned? Hurry up and lead the way." Yan Wei said, then thought to himself: "It seems that doing this sneaky business may not be as good as Wu Hanhuai's people after all. Next time we have such an action, we need to be even more cautious."

  Finally arrived at the place and took a look, it turned out to be a clinic left by British missionaries in the past, but the scale was quite large! It was actually a two-story brick and wood structure small building!

  Yan Wei asked Tan Guangdao: "Do you recognize what Aspirin looks like?"

  "That's no problem, in the past our army had this thing, it's just that later on when we were fully at war with the Japanese and supplies were scarce, they stopped providing them."

  "Your Honor, in my opinion, there are only two ways to do it now. One, I disguise myself as a patient and go in for a consultation to deceive some medicine out. Two, wait until night when they get off work, and then Tang Guang and I will sneak in and steal some!"

  Yan Weidao said, "It's not that easy to deceive people. Since he is a doctor, he won't be easily deceived by you. Now it's wartime, and the authorities have very strict controls over this type of Western medicine! If we're not careful, the news will leak out and things will get worse! I think I'll try a third approach." With that, he walked straight inside.

  Yan Wei walked in and instructed everyone to find a place to sit in the hall, while he himself didn't follow procedure and registered, but instead walked along the corridor towards the inside. When he reached the third room, he saw a young doctor wearing a white Western-style coat sitting inside, leaning on the table writing something with no one else around. Yan Wei then walked in and closed the door behind him.

  Seeing Yan Wei's behavior, this doctor was obviously quite surprised, but still pointed to a stool in front of him and said: "Sit down."

  After Dai Yan sat down, the young doctor asked: "What can I do for you?"

  "Seeing him ask this, Yan Wei also felt somewhat surprised and said: 'What, don't you think I'm here to see a doctor?'"

  The young doctor smiled and said: "All patients who come for a consultation are led here by nurses after they have registered."

  Yan Wei thought to himself, "It seems I've been in the military for too long, and now everything about civilian life feels unfamiliar." He looked at the young man in front of him and said calmly, "I am a national soldier."

  The young doctor seemed unsurprised and looked at Yan Wei silently for a few seconds before calmly saying, "I am Japanese!"

  Yan Wei smiled and said: "It seems that our conversation can continue. I'll get straight to the point, I need aspirin."

  The young doctor smiled and said: "I need to know what you're going to use it for."

  Yan Wei leaned forward, his arms resting on the desk, and stared at him with a smile: "What can you do? Cure diseases and save people, right? You're a doctor. Aspirin is used to save people. No matter what kind of doctor or medicine, the ultimate goal should be consistent - that is, a benevolent doctor who uses medicine to treat patients in need!"

  The young doctor looked at Yan Wei silently, seemingly judging the words he had just spoken. After a moment, he leaned back in his chair and looked at Yan Wei: "Not bad, I couldn't think of any reason to oppose what you just said. You also hit on the essence of being a doctor, I'm satisfied with your request, I'll give you aspirin. Tell me, how many patients do you need it to treat?"

  Yan Wei thought for a moment and said: "It's still unknown how much is needed now, but at least several people have reached a critical state! The more the better, I'll pay double the medical expenses."

  The young doctor smiled slightly after hearing this, and without responding to Yan Wei, he began writing a prescription. After finishing the prescription, he pressed it onto the desk with his hand and said: "Aspirin is a controlled substance during wartime, not something that can be bought with double the price. I can even prescribe you two gold bars' worth of medicine right now, but can you afford it? Secondly, you just said you're from the National Army, but I'm actually a thoroughbred Japanese person, and I wasn't joking!"

  He looked at Yan Wei, who was full of doubts, and continued: "I was one of the first batch of Japanese immigrants to settle in Northeast China with my parents in 1918! I graduated from the Medical College of Manchurian Railways!"

  The young doctor saw that Yan Wei had apparently already believed that he was not joking with him, but seeing that he was just hugging his arms and staring at himself, waiting for him to continue speaking, did not feel particularly panicked. So looking at him, he continued: "It can be seen that you are a very brave Chinese, very similar to some Chinese friends I met in Guanwai. I personally oppose war, I have always believed that this is not the best way to solve our national problems! Therefore, I came here, and apart from you, no one else knows that I am Japanese. I don't care who you are or what interests you have with my country's ongoing war, just as you said, I am a doctor, medicine is used to treat patients, and for a doctor to use medicine to treat patients, this is obviously the most normal thing! If you asked me for bullets instead of medicine today, even if you claimed to be the National Army, or even if you were the Japanese army, I wouldn't give them to you." After finishing speaking, he smiled silently at Yan Wei.

  Yan Wei stood up and looked at the young doctor who claimed to be Japanese, feeling a lot of emotion! He couldn't help but nod his head in approval. The young doctor also stood up and smiled at Yan Wei, saying: "I hope that when we meet again next time, this hateful war will have ended! And the first words you say to me won't be 'You are a national army'."

  Yan Wei stretched out his right hand and said: "No matter who you are, I am willing to be another Chinese friend of yours."

  The young Japanese doctor grasped Yan Wei's hand and said, "You are now my only Chinese friend!" He then handed the prescription he had just filled out to Yan Wei with his left hand, saying, "After you go out, take this to the nurse at the pharmacy and she will tell you where to pay."

  Yan Wei turned back to look at the doctor as he was about to leave and said, "I'm really looking forward to meeting you again after the war is over. I believe we will become very good friends." With that, he closed the door behind him and left.