Chapter 2 May's Fresh Flowers (Part 1)

  Just as the passengers at the train station were about to disperse, Tian Ruyu finally returned with three horse-drawn carriages. Each carriage was pulled by two sorrel horses and had a brightly painted body that looked brand new, as if it had just been bought from a carpenter's shop.

  Two girls couldn't bear to see the beautiful animals, let out a scream and dropped the donation box to run over to the horse. The boys in the group also secretly breathed a sigh of relief because they didn't have to carry their luggage themselves, and smiled as they went to gather their belongings. Everyone scrambled to throw themselves and their luggage onto the car, then hummed a tune as they rode out of the station. It wasn't until they had gone very far that someone finally remembered to ask Tian Qingyu how much it cost to hire the car.

  "Starting from tonight, every car will be charged one dollar per day, whether it's moving or stationary! The drivers' food and lodging will be our responsibility, but they'll have to pay for their own horse fodder!" Tian Qingyu had been waiting for a long time and when someone asked him, he immediately put on a very calm demeanor and said.

  "Oh, Tian Bao is mighty!" A string of cheers burst out from the carriage, startling the horse pulling it to prance and suddenly speed up. "Whoa-whoa-whoa, yeah-yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah..." The old coachman driving the lead carriage loudly soothed the horse, then covered his mouth with his hand and let out a dry cough.

  The carriage swayed gently again and slowly regained its stability. The students who were thrown forward and backward laughed and flattered Tian Qingyu, saying "You are indeed our Tian Da Shao, with friends all over the world!"

  "That's right! You don't know what his family used to do for a living! Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the son of a mouse knows how to dig holes!"

  "On average, it's less than 30 cents per person per day. This is much cheaper than taking the train and you don't have to suffocate to death!"

  "This time, we'll go whenever we want and stop whenever we want. What I say goes!"

  In the midst of a chorus of praise, Tian Qingyu lifted his round chubby face high, high, with his eyes fixed on Han Qiu, expecting to receive some appreciation.

  "De xing!" Han Qiu smiled and spat, the brilliant smile on his face, however, clearly carried a hint of pride. The crowd saw this and erupted into another commotion. Nobody noticed that the Swiss gold watch that Tian Qingyu usually wore on his wrist, which he couldn't help but glance at three times an hour, had quietly disappeared without a trace.

  "With a daily rent of only three dollars, let's just stop and stay for a day every time we pass through a town, organize a free performance, and spread the truth about resisting Japan and saving the country to the people along the way!" Fang Guoqiang's brain circuit was forever different from others, after calculating in his heart for half a day, he suddenly spoke up.

  The surrounding laughter and chatter suddenly stopped, and everyone looked up at him with unblinking eyes, silently protesting with their gaze. Fang Guoqiang felt uneasy in his heart and quickly added loudly: "I'm just making a suggestion to everyone, a suggestion! If you all don't want to delay on the road, then forget it!"

  "Then just stop for a day in a slightly larger town or county. The smaller villages can be passed through directly! In this way, more donations can also be collected for the brothers of the 29th Army!" Zhou Jue came out to help Fang Guoqiang out of his embarrassment and timely stepped forward to mediate.

  This suggestion is more reasonable than the previous one. The students looked at each other, smiled and nodded in agreement. Tian Qingyu originally wanted to speak out against it, but seeing that everyone agreed, he didn't dare mention it again. He found an opportunity to move next to the old driver of the first car and quietly discussed the latest schedule with him. The team leader, the old driver, shook his head repeatedly at first, refusing to agree no matter what. It wasn't until Tian Qingyu slipped his hand into the driver's sleeve and gently moved it a few times that the driver nodded vigorously, a smile spreading across his face.

  "Alright, it's settled then. The car owner said he can agree to our arrangement! But on the way back, we have to give them an extra 5 yuan for drinks!" Tian Qingyu reported back to everyone after pacifying the old driver.

  "Alright, Tian Pang, you've got a deal!" The five-dollar bill was split among over ten people, with each person only paying a few cents more. Given everyone's financial situation, it really wasn't a big expense at all. Almost without thinking, the crowd readily agreed to Che Ba Shi's condition.

  That night, everyone stayed in the largest inn in Ping'an Village. The next day, after breakfast, Zhou Ju and Fang Guoqiang led the way to a busy intersection near the entrance of a shop, preparing for a free performance.

  Worried that their business would be affected, the shop owner and several strong young men came out in a fierce manner to question the students' intentions. When they heard it was for a free performance to raise funds for the 29th Army, they immediately changed their expression and smiled. On one hand, they loudly ordered their employees to help clear the venue, on the other hand, they instructed people to prepare tea and snacks to satisfy the patriotic students.

  Compared to the train station, there were more and more enthusiastic audiences at the intersection. The program had only been going on for half an hour, and the donation boxes in Han Qiu and Liu Jing's hands were already filled with banknotes and copper coins. The biggest beneficiaries were the shopkeepers, who actively provided "sponsorship" to the students and won the praise of the local people. Many audiences watched the program for a while and then walked into the store to buy their favorite products, checking the quality on one hand and bargaining with the partners on the other.

  "Honorable elders, fellow villagers. Listen carefully, for every item sold, regardless of its value, our store will donate five copper coins to the 29th Army brothers! You buy goods inside, we immediately put them in the donation box outside, and we won't go back on our word!" The crowd gathered in front of his own shop was unprecedented, and the clever shopkeeper quickly launched a "Patriotic Great Sale".

  "You see, everything sold in this store is domestic goods. Not a single item is from the East or the West. We don't buy anything from foreigners, let's bankrupt them!"

  "Veg knife veg knife, genuine local goods, one or two foreign irons are useless!"

  "Foreign fire, foreign fire, Baoding Prefecture's foreign fire. Genuine national goods!" Nearby several shops also borrowed the east wind, shouting hoarsely to promote their own goods to the audience.

  This hitchhiking behavior made Fang Guoqiang extremely angry. Several times, he wanted to take Tian Qingyu with him to find the shop owner and apprentices to reason things out, but was stopped by Lu Qing each time.

  "They don't make money easily either. Besides, the place we're occupying is indeed someone else's!" Lu Qing, with a slightly bookish air, explained very magnanimously on behalf of the merchants.

  "They're making a fortune out of the country's misfortune!" Fang Guoqiang's poker face turned red with rage, "It's simply, simply treason, selling out the country!"

  Because of his rage, he let out a loud roar. The surrounding noise was instantly silenced. But soon, everyone's attention was drawn to the program on stage, where Zhang Songling, playing the role of a Japanese soldier, appeared, holding up a wooden sword with lacquer, chasing and killing several other students playing civilians. With a swift motion, the knife fell, and then he sneered, throwing paper-made torches at the backdrop.

  The scene quickly changed to a village that had lost its fire, and in the thick smoke, Zhou Ju, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, appeared, singing with tears: "My home is on the Songhua River in Northeast China..."

  "Good!" Several shopkeepers led the applause and poured nearly half a basket of copper plates into the donation box in front of the audience.

  One by one, the colorful tickets and big and small silver coins were passed over, almost drowning Han Qiu and Liu Jing. Amidst the applause, Zhang Songling, who played the little devil, raised his knife again, killing people, setting fires...

  The charity performance was a huge success. Just today, the Blood Flower Society raised over 60 silver dollars. By evening, after exchanging all the donated money at the guest house for whole numbers and recording them in the account book, the members of the Blood Flower Society gathered around a pile of shiny silver coins, but there was not a hint of joy on their faces.

  "What are they taking us for?! What are they taking us for?!" Fang Guoqiang was so angry that he kept waving his fists. "If I had known this, it would have been better to perform at the inn entrance, at least there's nothing to sell here!"

  "If there's nothing to sell, they won't even let us use their place!" Tian Qingyu shrugged his shoulders, his face full of resentment. Even someone as open-minded as him couldn't accept the reality of being used by shop owners to attract business.

  "Is that so! The people here are really backward in their thinking, not even as good as those passengers on the train! This place is less than 400 miles from Beiping!" The two girls were also furious and couldn't eat, scolding with pale faces. "It's just like when the Japanese came, they didn't care about anything else! All they think about is making money, making money, making money!"

  "But look, we've also reached our goal. The donations we collected today are more than the total of the past few days!" Zhang Songling was helping everyone with the accounting and heard the two girls' accusations, quietly speaking up for the merchants.

  "How can you think like that? Our main purpose is not to raise funds, but to awaken the masses!" Fang Guoqiang was furious upon hearing this, his hair standing on end as he strode up to Zhang Songling, slamming his hand on the table.

  "After all, they donated money!" Zhang Songling timidly raised his head and glanced at him, not daring to meet his gaze. "It's just like doing business, both parties have a profit, and the business can continue. If you only think about making money for yourself and don't consider the other party's feelings, it becomes a one-time deal, and there won't be any more in the future!"

  Although he had never helped his father run the store, under the influence of the family environment, he was familiar with business. When encountering problems, he habitually analyzed them from a businessman's perspective.

  "Making money, making money, what else do you know besides making money?" Seeing the other person so stubborn and unyielding, Fang Guoqiang was so angry that he waved his fist.

  "But they are merchants!" Zhang Songling glanced at him again, retreated backward and whispered in rebuttal, "Merchants, of course want to make money. Being able to make money for themselves, not forgetting to do something for the country, isn't that good? Moreover, without money, the 29th Army can't even pay its military salary. We won't be able to get to Beiping!"

  "You, Zhang Songling, pay attention to your thoughts!" In front of so many people, being refuted by a little kid and unable to retort, Fang Guoqiang suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, slapped the table and shouted loudly.

  "What's with the loud mouth, Fang J?" This time, he had incurred public wrath. Han Qiu pulled Zhang Songling behind him and shielded him like a sister, while loudly questioning Fang Guoqiang.

  "He, he, he just refuted you! I, I am speaking on your behalf. You, you...!" Fang Guoqiang's forehead was bulging with veins, pointing at Han Qiu, his whole body trembling with rage.

  As the leader of everyone, Zhou Ju naturally did not allow infighting to occur. Hurriedly separating both parties, he said with a smile: "Don't be impatient, don't be impatient. Everyone is neither a Japanese devil nor a traitor. Why make it seem like there's a deep-seated grudge? Dafang, you sit down first. Han Qiu, Xiao Zhang, you two also sit down. Everyone sit down, no matter what opinions, sit down and calmly discuss them. We can't have not even arrived in Beiping yet and already be fighting amongst ourselves!"

  "I think his way of thinking is very, very immature!" Fang Guoqiang glared at Han Qiu and the others, then sat down with a huff.

  "He's immature, you can't scold him in such a loud voice!" Han Qiu also realized that she had been a bit "ungrateful" just now, and gave Fang Guoqiang a glance before voluntarily stepping aside.

  "Alright, alright, let's calm down!" Zhou Ju continued to mediate with a smile. "Both of you have some reason. You think the locals are too ignorant and it's frustrating. While Xiao Zhang is considering the problem from the perspective of local businessmen. Both sides have their own logic, who is right or wrong doesn't matter. What matters is why the people in Ping'an Village took our performance as a joke? How will we deal with such an awkward situation in the future?"

  Like an elder brother, he spoke in a low and slow tone, directing everyone's attention to a new goal. Soon, he made everyone forget the quarrel just now. Tian Qingyu deliberately performed in front of Han Qiu, thought for a moment, and took the lead in speaking, "We are all travelers on the train, walking south and north every day, coming into contact with many things, and understanding the country's urgent situation. The people of Ping'an Village have never been out of their hometown for most of their lives. They don't have a clear concept of the threat from the enemy!"

  One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the eyes of everyone present suddenly lit up. Nods all around, in agreement with Tian Qingyu's insight, "That's right. The fellow travelers we met on the train are actually the people with the broadest vision in this era, so they understand the principle that every individual has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the country. In many other places, ordinary people don't even know what the nearest county town to their home looks like, let alone understand why they should join forces to overcome national difficulties, it's indeed a bit too much to ask!"

  "Yes, the warlords have been carving up the country for too long. The people's concept of a unified nation has become vague! These days, I've had many people tell me that the battles in Hebei are none of Shandong's business!"

  This remark is quite pertinent. At present, Pingjin is within the sphere of influence of Song Zheyuan, while Shandong Province belongs to Han Fuqu. The relationship between Han and Song has always been very subtle. As for the Nanjing Central Government in southern Shandong, it is on guard against both Han and Song. Over the past decade or so, the entanglements of favors and grudges among the three have become like a tangled skein, impossible to unravel. The common people living on this land have also gradually grown accustomed to minding only their own provincial business, too lazy to lift their eyes to consider what China as a whole is like.

  "What's more, the common people are not clear about what kind of disaster they will face after the Japanese arrive. We often read in newspapers and hear from fellow students who have fled from Northeast China about their personal experiences. The local people here are originally not well-educated and do not have the opportunity to come into contact with so many fleeing students!"

  "I think our previous propaganda methods were also too vague. We just said the Japanese were bad, but didn't let the people know what specific evil laws the Japanese had!" Zhang Songling added with a smile, pointing at Lu Ming with his long fingers.

  Everyone turned their heads in unison to Zhang Songling, who was full of embarrassment, shaking his head and sighing. The latter is a very specific example, although he has a strong patriotic passion, but towards the Japanese, there is no hatred at all. For most people in this era, even the concept of country is very vague, how can they care about whether Japan occupies Pingjin or not? As long as disaster does not befall them personally, I'm afraid many people would rather treat the invasion of the Japanese army as a change of dynasty!

  The solution to this problem is simple, that is, to tell all the people along the way about the miserable experience of Northeast compatriots under the iron hooves of the Japanese army. Rather than shouting what country and nation they are, let them see with their own eyes how the areas occupied by Japan treat Chinese as non-human beings. Let them themselves face what kind of disaster is to come!

  Han Qiu and Liu Jing, who were in charge of hosting and soliciting donations from the audience, had the most say on this issue. After thinking for a moment, they said one after another: "From the current results, the song and dance drama is obviously the most popular among the audience! Among them, the main credit goes to Zhou's team, but the part where the Japanese invaders killed people and set fires also left a very intuitive impression on people!"

  "Our previous programs were all targeted at fellow students, and the style was inevitably a bit monotonous. But from what we've encountered at various train stations over the past two days, the public's understanding of the war is vastly different from ours!" Not just the two announcers, but other classmates also had a deep feeling about how well the program would be received.

  "Then we won't sing old songs anymore, let's perform some plays instead. Let's tell all the people we meet along the way about the tragic experiences of our fellow countrymen from Northeast China, Rehe and Chahar!" Once he calmed down from his excitement, Deputy Leader Fang Guoqiang's mind was filled with creative ideas.

  This proposal was unanimously supported by everyone. From the mouths of those refugee classmates from the three northeastern provinces in school, everyone had heard countless tragic stories. Almost every one that came out, without any artistic processing, could make the audience cry uncontrollably.

  No matter the era, young people are always the most active and have the quickest thinking. Everyone summarized and discussed together, and soon they found the best solution. After everyone had discussed it thoroughly, team leader Zhou Jue smiled and concluded, "Then let's start writing the script tonight, and then rehearse and perform it during our journey?!"

  "Agreed! Let Lu Ming work overtime tonight, his writing is the best!" Tian Qingyu was the first to echo.

  "Agreed! Lu Ming's midnight snack tonight is on me and Qiu Jie!" Liu Jing chimed in, her eyes shining brightly as she gazed at Lu Ming.

  "If you want to add romance, go yourself! Don't drag me along!" Han Qiu smiled and refused, taking advantage of the moment when everyone was still in shock, she turned around and ran away.

  Liu Jing was both embarrassed and angry, chasing out the door and fighting with Han Qiu. Looking at the backs of the two girls, Zhang Ming lightly shook his head. Then he looked around and smiled, responding: "Scriptwriting, I'm definitely not a problem. But, I have to get Tian Hou to accompany me. Only then can I think of how to depict the despicable image of the Japanese devils!"

  "A few chicken thieves! Just a few days without collecting protection fees from you, and you're itching for it, aren't you?" Tian Qingyu swung his fist, pretending to hit, but was laughed off by Fang Guoqiang and others.

  The joyful laughter echoes through the window and fills the street, making this summer evening exceptionally vibrant and youthful.