Chapter 6: Fleeing to Sichuan on Horseback as the "Eighth Route"

  Chuan Qi found the old woman somewhat suspicious, so he smiled at the father and daughter sitting opposite him, then pretended to go to the toilet and followed her.

  Because the carriage was too crowded, even though the passengers on the aisle gave way to the "hero", but when he reached the entrance of the carriage, the young man and woman had already slipped into another carriage.

  However, Kawara still saw the backs of the two people. They seemed a bit flustered, as if there really was a problem. This made him quicken his pace, wanting to figure out who they were.

  When he saw the old woman's back again, Kawahara's heart skipped a beat. Although the old woman's figure flashed by in his line of sight once more, her slender waist, plump buttocks, long legs, full-bodied figure, and agile movements left a deep impression on his mind.

  Apart from that head of white hair, neither her figure nor her demeanor seemed to belong to an elderly woman; on the contrary, she looked like a young woman in her twenties or thirties.

  What made Lao Hei feel strange was that the old woman's figure was too similar to someone, almost identical! The waist, hips and body, especially the agile movements, were exactly the same as the woman in his mind. He thought, how could this be possible? So, he immediately eliminated distractions from his thinking and continued to follow her.

  The cavalryman walked all the way to the end of the train, but still didn't find the old woman. He returned from the front of the train and carefully glanced over all the passengers again, but still couldn't see her anywhere.

  When Chuanji followed the two, all passengers who got on at Datong Station gave way to him. Some even greeted him and more people came up to chat with him.

  "Hero, you're quite something!" A middle-aged man said with a gentle gaze full of admiration as he gave way to Chuanji.

  Chuan Qi smiled and nodded: "Sitting is boring, let's go for a walk around and exercise our limbs."

  Someone shouted at the middle-aged man: "Do you think a big hero has nothing to do and is wandering around? They are thinking of the safety of everyone on the bus."

  He secretly rejoiced in his heart that this man had already regarded himself as a protective god, and humbly said: "Don't call me a great hero, I'm not worthy of it."

  "Where, where!" The man who had just rushed to his side said: "In this Datong, apart from you, who dares to kill Japanese people? Therefore, you are the most heroic and unobjectionable hero!"

  Hehe, little brother is wrong! Killing a few Japanese is nothing. The real anti-Japanese heroes are the nuns of Wutai Mountain.

  "There's also Yang Wanyin, the Lingqiu witch doctor's son, Yang Er." The middle-aged man who first greeted the cavalry couldn't help but say: "After all, he's been studying at Qingfeng Temple on Mount Wutai since childhood, and his flying darts skills are impressive. That little Japanese devil was still daydreaming when he met his demise."

  "Whatever, whatever." The man who had rushed to his side began to sing a different tune: "Even if Yang the Second killed a few more little Japs, it wouldn't amount to anything. Don't let that thing, which isn't even human, tarnish the glorious title of hero!"

  Chuan Qi held a different opinion: "How can you evaluate Yang Er like that? After all, he was a hero who saved the beauty and bravely rescued that girl."

  "The hero doesn't know, but Yang Er is a habitual philanderer. He got a little nun pregnant on Mount Wutai and was kicked out by his master. Then he joined the bandit Ma Laohei in Hengshan." The man who looked down on Yang Er from the bottom of his heart exposed someone else's old wound.

  "Right. Just now Yang Er was still running back and forth in the carriage." This man had been playing the leading role in the conversation, not only did he start talking to Kawaji first, but also made Kawaji patiently listen to him continue speaking.

  "If I'm not mistaken." The man stared at Kawahime, until the other looked away, then said: "This Yang Er is here for Hero You."

  Kan Qi's heart skipped a beat, and after calming down, he asked: "What did he come to us for?"

  "Isn't it obvious that this is a lice on a bald head?" The man said affirmatively, "The leader of the Hebei bandits, Ma Laohei, doesn't take orders from Yang Er, so Yang Er has to find another master. The Shanxi-Hebei-Chahar military region is absolutely out of his league, he can only try his luck with the Eighth Route Army."

  "Eight roads?" Kawahara was startled and asked after calming down: "You said there are eight roads on this bus?"

  "Of course there is."

  "Where?" Kawahara instinctively patted the Southern-style pistol at his waist.

  "Far away in the sky, near at hand." He stared straight at the riverbank with both eyes, without blinking.

  Kan Ji hastily inserted his hand into his clothes and grasped Nanbu Shiki, then asked: "Are you the Eighth Route?"

  "The hero is really humorous." The man said with a smile: "I don't have that qualification, of course. If the hero is willing to accept me as his eighth route, I will definitely follow you and do a good job, killing more of those little Japanese devils."

  The cavalryman understood what the other person said, and was overjoyed. He stretched out his hand to the man, and they shook hands. Afterwards, he said to the man: "As long as you beat up little Japan, I welcome you."

  This man really took the river as the Eighth Route Army, and tightly grasped his hand, with tears in his eyes, saying: "Thank you, great hero."

  The people in the carriage heard that Chuanji was from the Eighth Route Army, and they swarmed around him like bees returning to their hive, vying with each other to shake his hand. The children even clung to him, asking him to tell stories of fighting against the little devils.

  The cavalry followed the water and pushed the boat to start mobilizing the masses, wanting to find out that mysterious old woman.

  "Countrymen, I'll tell you the story of resisting Japan later. What's most important now is..." Chuan Qi looked around at these stupid Chinese people in his mind and raised his voice to say: "Now what's most important is finding Yang Er and that old woman."

  "That old woman." The man who had just mistaken the Sichuan cavalry for the Eighth Route Army said, "It's said that both his daughter-in-law and granddaughter were raped by the little Japanese devils of the mine guard squad, which stimulated their brains, and a normal person went mad."

  Kan Qi felt that the old woman was even more mysterious after hearing this. He hastily probed: "How could that be? I saw her dragging Yang Er into the carriage, and she didn't seem crazy at all."

  "Some people say: 'Oh, this old woman is pitiful. As soon as she sees a man she likes, she drags him away to do that kind of thing with her. This is all the fault of those little Japanese devils! Grandma's little Japanese (lover), they're completely devoid of conscience!'"

  A stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the crowd cursed the Imperial Japanese Army with seven mouths and eight tongues. This made the flames of the Kwantung Army surge upwards, almost burning out of control.

  He stood there, wondering how to wrap things up, when a man suddenly pushed through the crowd and rushed forward, grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously: "Take me in, I've been fighting the little devils with the Eighth Route Army!"

  At this moment, he reacted and took a glance, and the person who rushed to his side as "Eight Route" was Yang Er.

  He really wanted to chop him into pieces, and was considering how to treat the other party on the surface when Yang Er was dragged away again.

  It was again that mysterious old woman who made Yang Er pull away, and it was also her who made Chuan Qi feel extremely mysterious.