Chapter 5: Who is the Youth Saving the Maiden?

  [[[CP|W:620|H:422|A:L|U:file2.qidian./chapters/20134/15/1552504635016359778927681719629.jpg]]]

  Autumn in Jianghan City is a mature beauty, not as shy as spring, nor as revealing as summer, nor as introverted as winter. The beauty of autumn is an intelligent beauty.

  Who is the youth?

  He was called Du Hu, the surname Du is very rare, and in Jianghan City it is also a single household. According to Du Hu's father, Du Lao Han: "It originated from Henan Fangcheng County and fled to this place." Due to the poor economic foundation of the parents' generation, they had to flee and beg for food. As long as there was a place to live, it would be fine, so they didn't leave any property for future generations. The only family property is a thatched hut.

  Du Hu is twenty-one years old this year, with a square face and a sturdy body that is quite robust despite being dark-skinned.

  He is not tall, with a slightly below-average build, and his height is less than 1.55 meters. This was caused by the loss of his parents at a young age, lack of care, hunger, and malnutrition, resulting in stunted growth.

  However, his personality is not as bold as his name suggests. He is timid and cowardly, possibly due to his short stature, which makes him lack courage in the face of challenges. He is afraid of people and things, especially women. When speaking to a woman, he blushes and cannot bear to look at her radiant body.

  There were two brothers, Du Hu, and his older brother was called Du Long. According to Mr. Suangu, the older brother was the reincarnation of the Green Dragon. Coincidentally, in the year Du Long was born, there was a great flood, and the thunder was so loud that it seemed like the rain was pouring down in buckets. Immediately after, a dragon tail appeared in the western sky. At this time, Du Long was being born. His father saw the dragon tail, so he named him Du Long, which has commemorative significance, because his surname is Du, so he became Du Long.

  Du Long is five years older than his younger brother Du Hu, and is now twenty-six years old. Whether in terms of physique or personality, he surpasses Du Hu. Standing alongside his younger brother, no one would say they are two brothers. The elder brother Du Long has a tall and sturdy build, with broad shoulders and a round waist, standing over 1 zhang (a unit of measurement) tall, with a rectangular face, thick eyebrows, and a slight beard.

  Duo Long has been different from others since he was a child, and there is another characteristic. On the right side of his forehead, there is a lump that doesn't seem like a lump. If it were a lump, it should have healed by now. The lump on his forehead has been there since birth, and it hasn't shrunk as he grew up. It's probably a benign tumor. When you press it with your hand, it feels hard, but it doesn't hurt. Because it didn't hurt, no one thought much of it, and they didn't even ask a doctor to check whether it was a lump or a tumor.

  No matter what, he puffed out his forehead like a horn, and for this, everyone gave him another nickname - the Lonely Dragon, also known as Du Jiao Long because of his surname Du. As he grew older, it was not good to call him Lonely Dragon anymore. Because of poverty at home, they couldn't remove the horn for the time being. To show respect for him, people called him Du Long instead. It's hard to say whether it's Du Long or Lonely Dragon in the end.

  It is said that Dulon's name has another meaning, his fate is unique, offending and colliding, at the age of 12, he killed his parents, all of which are superstitious sayings without any basis.

  However, my parents did die of schistosomiasis at the age of 12 because they couldn't afford to see a doctor. This is a chronic disease, which local people call "big belly disease". Due to the long duration of the illness, it dragged down the whole family, leaving only one property, a thatched hut.

  In the same year, his mother also died of liver cirrhosis caused by schistosomiasis, leaving behind Du Long and his seven-year-old brother Du Hu, with the two brothers relying on each other for survival.

  The poor boy became the head of the household, and now his elder brother Du Long is in a difficult situation. At the age of 12, he took on the heavy responsibility of supporting his family during the early years of the Republic of China, when the country was still in the midst of the New Democratic Revolution. The three great enemies - imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism - were like three massive mountains weighing heavily on the Chinese people's heads, causing them to live in a state of constant hardship and struggle. Du Long and his younger brother were no exception, living in a small thatched hut left behind by their ancestors, sleeping on a broken bed that had been passed down for generations, and struggling to make ends meet.

  Big brother took on the role of both father and mother, taking care of his younger brother with meticulous attention to detail, teaching him from a young age to be responsible and take care of the household. The hardships they faced forced the two brothers to mature quickly, learning that life is not easy.

  Due to poverty at home, neither of the two brothers had been to school. Although Du Long was uncultured, he was clever and quick-witted, with many ideas and superhuman courage. However, because of his boldness, he often acted rashly and impulsively, perhaps due to his youth.

  Ge Ge Du Long is a young man with ambition and ideals, who has been determined to change his poor fate since childhood, but unfortunately, without anyone's help and support, he has never achieved his goal.

  As the years slipped away, the two brothers grew up and got married one after another with their fellow villagers, but he couldn't fulfill his wish because his family was too poor. Which girl would follow him without fearing hunger?

  Until the age of twenty-four, by chance, in a rural area more than ten miles away, I met a woman and fell in love at first sight. She was not interested in wealth but only in me. Her surname was Zhang, and because she had never attended school, she did not have an academic name. Later, after marrying into the Du Long family, her neighbors gave her the name Duzhang Shi.

  Du Zhang may have been taken with Du Long's unique appearance, as he was tall and majestic in stature, with a dignified demeanor and an impressive presence. He voluntarily agreed to marry Du Long, moving him to tears of gratitude. Du Long made a vow to make something of himself, to change his poor and backward circumstances, so that he could be worthy of his virtuous wife, Du Zhang.

  The opportunity has finally arrived. It was a sunny morning after breakfast, a pair of skylarks sang happily on the branches, you sing and I harmonize, you call and I respond, it's a fresh and cheerful morning. The cicadas around the house chirped loudly, and the flowers bloomed together.

  It's said that next door to Du Long lived a neighbor, whom everyone called Wu Lao Er. Wu Lao Er wasn't from a wealthy family either, he was just slightly better off than Du Long's family, otherwise how could he be neighbors with a poor kid like Du Long in the suburbs?

  Wu Lao Er has a son named Wu Bai Qiang, who is ten years older than Du Long and is now thirty-six years old. He is big and tall, but since he was young, he has been mischievous and loved to fight, and kids of the same age are afraid of him because he is the leader among them and has organizational skills.

  However, a mischievous kid has his own skills. That year was the first domestic revolutionary war, and the war between warlords broke out in Jiang City. He followed and mixed into the troops.

  This kid really did it, I heard that he mixed in the National Revolutionary Army and became an official, a battalion commander, and later promoted to regimental commander.

  In the morning, the garden of Jianghan City is shrouded in soft morning light. The streets are bathed in a warm glow. The weeping willows by the road bow their heads and gently accept the morning dew. The tall and straight small-leaf poplars stretch out like robust young men extending their arms. In the grass, a hint of green peeks through the moisture. What a beautiful morning it is.

  On this morning, Wu Baqiang returned home to visit his relatives and immediately caused a sensation in the entire Garden City of Jianghan. Look! He rode a sorrel horse, wore a large brimmed hat, carried a box-shaped cannon on his back, had a military belt around his waist, wore high-waisted black leather boots, showed off his military might, looked very spirited, and even brought guards with him!

  It is said that the box cannon was made in Germany, and many young people gathered around to watch, each with envy in their eyes.

  "People go to high places, water flows to low places", of course, brother Du Long is in his youth, how can he not be moved.

  At this time, the joyful dawn flashed by, and the sun shone through the clouds, restoring its usual radiance, still dazzling.

  After the excitement had died down, everyone left one by one. At this time, Du Long came over, because he envied Wu Baiqiang's return home to visit his relatives, and curiously came to their house.

  Besides, the neighbor next door is also convenient to come and go. He seems to have seen an acquaintance, and actually started playing with Wu Baichuan's box gun.

  At this time, Wu Baqiang was washing his face because he had been galloping on horseback and couldn't help but get dusty. Facing the tall and majestic man in front of him, he looked up and didn't dare to scold him since they were neighbors. Besides, there were no bullets in the gun, so it was just a joke. However, he still nodded and smiled, intentionally asking: "Who are you? So bold."

  "Next-door neighbor," Long alone smiled absent-mindedly and continued to fiddle with things, responding with a sentence, "My name is Long."

  "Du Long?" Wu Baiqiang wasn't clear, he was the neighbor next door, and he himself had left when he was still young. Thinking carefully, it's not like that, more than a decade has passed, he has grown up into an adult, and casually said a sentence, "Hey! You little kid haven't been seen for many years, and you've actually developed so robustly, if on the road, really hard to recognize,"

  Dulong smiled and didn't answer. He was clear that Wu Baichang hadn't changed much, just a bit fatter than before, still the same as ever, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

  Because the sunlight that shines into Wu Baicheng's courtyard is more serene and elegant, it doesn't have the noisy atmosphere of the streets outside. It makes Du Long feel calm and peaceful, feeling a sense of tranquility he has never felt before.

  Wu Baiqiang's pistol was surprisingly disassembled by Dulon, with the slide and magazine, and the body separated, neatly arranged on the table. Then, Dulon picked up a cloth and wiped each part clean.

  "Be careful with fire," Wu Baichang nodded in satisfaction, thinking that his own gun was also due for a cleaning. He held a towel in his hand, wiping it while smiling, after all, they were neighbors, and seeing Du Long like this, he couldn't bring himself to scold him.

  "Who are you trying to scare?" Du Long retorted and started assembling, "There's no bullet in here at all."

  "Have you played?" Wu Baichang threw the towel into the water basin.

  "No," Du Long shook his head, quickly assembling the box cannon, "I've played with rabbit-hunting guns before, this is similar, just a bit more compact."

  The morning of Jianghan Garden City, the sun is extremely beautiful, shining on the top of Metasequoia trees. These Metasequoia trees have gradually turned yellow under the fresh autumn air.

  Du Long loved guns since he was a child, and his family had a shotgun that his father used to hunt wild ducks and water birds. Later, it became the tool for the two brothers' livelihood. Because of the reed marshes, the wild ducks, egrets, swans and other water birds were in groups, which was their best place for activities and habitats. At this time, the vast lake surface was quietly shining under the sunlight. The awakened wild ducks, egrets, and swans solemnly swam out from under the reed thickets along the lakeshore.

  In a moment, Du Long had loaded the box gun and picked it up, aiming at the wall. He pulled the trigger, muttering to himself: "Bang! Bang!"

  "You're quite something," Wu Baichuan looked at the newly installed handgun on Dulon and nodded, muttering to himself: "Good material for a soldier..."

  Wish to know what happens afterwards

  See next chapter