Chapter 5 The Red Dress

  Wangxiangtai is a small and inconspicuous town at the foot of Yanshan Mountain!

  This is a real small town, the whole town only has one main street, and if you walk from south to north on this street, it won't take more than three minutes. Even if you stand at one end of the town, as long as you raise your eyes, you can see the other end of the town, where village girls are squatting by the well washing clothes.

  But the Wanjia Village was also very prosperous, because it is the nearest road from Jizhou to Guandong. In those years, people from Jizhou who wanted to venture into Guandong all took this road. They were either forced by hunger and cold, or fleeing after committing a crime, or going out for business, or even going to dig gold outside the pass, with a heart full of hope, stepping into the land of Guandong to realize their dreams. However, among those who finally returned home in glory, not one in a hundred succeeded.

  People who have left this town can't help but turn their heads and take a last look at their hometown, wondering if they'll ever have the chance to return.

  "One step forward, three steps back, two knocks on the head, tears and snot can't bear to look at my hometown!"

  This is probably the origin of the Wangu Pavilion.

  Although most people never return, this does not hinder the prosperity of their hometowns.

  The town only has one inn, called Wangxiang Inn, located in the center of the town. Travelers usually stop here to rest. As soon as you enter the inn, there is a large hall filled with eight immortals tables, where guests can eat. From the hall, passing through a door on the left, you can enter the backyard, which is where people rest. Guests can have a snack or meal here and then go to the guest rooms in the back to rest. It's like a restaurant and hotel combined, which is also a characteristic of ancient inns.

  In the late afternoon, the sky was drifting with large snowflakes, and the town had already disappeared from view, with a thin layer of snow on the ground.

  At the entrance of the restaurant, the lobby of the inn was bustling with people, very lively. Could hear someone laughing loudly, after getting drunk and hot-headed, several big men took off their tops, bared their upper bodies, one foot on the long bench, punching hard. The waiters were running back and forth non-stop, busy as if their feet didn't touch the ground, the shopkeeper was leaning against the counter, also laughing with his mouth wide open.

  Qin Yang sat at a table in a corner!

  He had changed into a set of ordinary thick cotton clothes, the special forces uniform was too eye-catching, and would attract attention wherever he went. So Qin Yang took it off and put it in his backpack, and bought two sets of thick cotton clothes and hats at a general store in town, and changed into them.

  After buying things, he looked at the sky and found it was already late. So he went to the inn, planning to rest for a night after dinner and rush over there tomorrow.

  Lowering his head, he picked up a dish with chopsticks and put it in his mouth, Qin Yang pondered something.

  "Halt!" A crisp voice rang out.

  The sound of horseshoes echoed outside, soon stopping in front of the inn. The door creaked open with a "ya" sound as someone pushed it, and a gust of cold wind rushed in.

  A few people sitting at the door, enthusiastically playing rock-paper-scissors, were blown by the cold wind and shrunk their necks. They involuntarily puffed out a breath, opened their mouths to curse, but when they looked up and saw the appearance of the person who came in, they were so frightened that they quickly lowered their heads and swallowed back the words that had reached their lips.

  Qin Yang sat in the corner, looked up and saw that the person who came in was a red-clothed girl about 21 or 22 years old. Her satin top and pants looked like dancing flames, with a black cloak outside, and a two-finger-wide belt around her waist. On the belt, two German mirror-faced holsters were slanted, each containing a 20-bullet pistol. Looking at her face, she had curved eyebrows, a nose like a hanging gallbladder, and cherry lips. Because of running in a hurry, her small face was red and puffy, making her look even more charming. However, the evil spirit on her face reduced her beauty by several points.

  Feeling someone was staring at her, the red-clothed girl turned her gaze over and saw a young man in coarse clothing with a dark face. She let out an impatient hum and sat down at the table by the door. When the red-clothed girl sat down, several people who were originally sitting next to the table quietly got up and quickly slipped away to other empty tables, yielding their seats to her.

  Looking at the pale face, the hastily running shopkeeper, Qin Yang was full of curiosity, and asked a customer beside him in a low voice: "Brother, may I ask, who is this girl? She's so fierce?"

  That customer seemed to be a regular, turned his head and saw that the red-clothed girl hadn't noticed this side, lowered his voice and said to Qin Yang: "She's not someone you can afford to mess with, the big boss of Fenghuangling bandits, people all call her Red Clothes!"

  "Ah!" Qin Yang's eyes lit up, he had only heard of bandits before, but never seen one, and didn't expect to meet one on the second day of arriving here, let alone the leader of the bandits.

  That guest continued: "Fenghuangling is located in the northwest of Wuling Mountain's main peak, and it is the steepest mountain peak in Wuling Mountain. About twenty years ago, a group of bandits occupied it, with their leader calling himself 'Tianwang' (Heavenly King). The government sent troops to besiege them several times, but they were defeated each time, and since then, no one has dared to go there again."

  This Fenghuangling is the largest mountain in the vicinity, and no one dares to provoke it within a hundred miles.

  The bandits on Fenghuang Mountain aren't too bad, they've never harmed the surrounding villages. They only robbed rich landlords and passing merchants. Since the Japanese devils occupied the Northeast, they started working with the Japanese, specializing in robbing Japanese transport teams. In just over half a year, they've clashed with the Japanese three times!

  "This man in red is quite good, he has a sense of justice, is generous and open-handed, but his temper isn't very good..."

  Perhaps it was that person's voice that was a bit loud, the red-clothed girl suddenly turned her head and glanced at him, and the guest immediately lowered his head, not daring to speak again.

  Qin Yang, on the other hand, took an interest in the red-clothed girl. It seemed that this red-clothed girl was a well-known figure of this generation. He thought to himself and raised his head to look at her, only to find that the red-clothed girl was also sizing him up.

  The eyes of two people met in mid-air, silently clashing for a moment before each withdrew their gaze.

  "This person has a fierce gaze!" Hongyi was secretly shocked in her heart, earlier when the two of them locked eyes, she saw a murderous aura from Qin Yang's gaze, this is a characteristic that only people who often walk on the edge of life and death can possess, it's not something that can be learned.

  Hongyi picked up her chopsticks, picked up a peanut and put it in her mouth, chewing slowly, thinking about what kind of person Qin Yang was.

  The house became much quieter with the arrival of the person in red clothes. The originally noisy hall was left with only low whispers of conversation.

  A loud clatter of horseshoes came from outside the door, accompanied by bursts of boisterous laughter and chattering voices. The sounds grew louder and closer, now right outside the Wanguo Inn.

  The shopkeeper's originally pale face suddenly turned iron-green, and the hands placed on the counter began to tremble involuntarily. If you listened closely, you could hear the chattering of teeth.

  "Japanese devils, these beasts again!" The shopkeeper cursed in his heart.

  A few days ago, several Japanese soldiers passed through the village. As a result, Er Ya, the daughter of Old Liu's family in the east of the village, was seen by the Japanese soldiers and taken to the woods on the outskirts of the village where she was raped. Old Liu wanted to fight the Japanese soldiers to the death but was stabbed to death with a bayonet. Finally, after satisfying their beastly desires, the Japanese soldiers used a bayonet to slash open Er Ya's belly, spilling her internal organs all over the ground. The scene was truly horrific and unbearable to behold.

  I didn't expect Japanese soldiers to come again today.

  The shopkeeper glanced at the red-clothed man sitting near the entrance, secretly thinking it was not good, and hastily walked to the red-clothed man's side, saying in a low voice: "Master, Japanese soldiers have arrived. You'd better go upstairs to hide for now, or else if these bastards see you, there will be trouble!"

  Hongyi picked up a cup of wine and placed it in front of her eyes, admiring it as she replied faintly: "I'm not going anywhere, I'll just wait for them here and see what they can do to me!"

  "You'd better avoid them, they have a lot of people, you're alone...". The shopkeeper was getting anxious, rubbing his hands non-stop.

  The man in red scowled and growled in a low voice: "Scram!"

  The shopkeeper was so frightened that he didn't dare say anything else and slipped back behind the counter with his tail between his legs.

  The door of the inn was kicked open with a loud bang, and a gust of cold wind mixed with snowflakes poured in from outside. The people inside couldn't help but shiver.

  A group of Japanese soldiers wearing khaki uniforms and carrying Type 38 rifles walked in, the "butt flaps" behind their heads fluttering back and forth in the wind.

  The first was a sergeant in his thirties. He had a military sword hanging from his waist, a telescope hanging from his neck, and a large pockmark on his face with smaller ones scattered around it, making him look like he had pits all over his face. Two pieces of medicinal plaster covered the thick lips above his mouth, which were neatly arranged. A pair of small green eyes stared vaguely in all directions.

  "Huh?"

  Ma Zi's eyes widened suddenly, his throat moved several times, and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He stuck out his tongue to lick his dry, cracked lips, and his two legs had already walked to the front of Hong Yi on their own accord.

  Making an effort to put on a dignified appearance, Corporal Mazi bowed deeply at Hongyi and said: "It's my great honor to meet the beautiful lady, may I sit at this table?"

  A pungent smell wafted over, Hongyi wrinkled her nose in distaste, leaned back slightly, and remained silent with a cold expression.

  Ma Zi Jun's face fell, he first wanted to get angry, but then held it back and surprisingly lifted his buttocks to sit down on the long bench beside Hong Yi.

  The man in red changed his face, stretched out his left foot, and lightly hooked the long bench under the table. The hemp rope soldier sat empty and fell heavily to the ground, making a beast-like scream.

  "Hahaha!" The people in the house couldn't hold it in anymore and all burst out laughing.

  "Ah Kua!" Ma Zi's face turned red with rage as he scrambled to his feet and reached for his battle sword.

  The red-clothed man furrowed his brow and kicked out with one leg, heavily kicking the wrist of Ma Zi's military officer, causing the war knife to fall to the ground.

  The sergeant covered his wrist and retreated backwards, while the Japanese soldiers behind him rushed forward, their guns pointing at the red-clad figure.

  Hongyi let out a cold laugh, flew up and kicked the table away with one foot. The two guns at his waist were drawn simultaneously, then fired left and right. After several gunshots, four Japanese soldiers fell to the ground.

  The remaining Japanese soldiers were stunned for a moment, and then they charged again.

  Red clothes raised his hand and shot one gun

  No response

  Raise your hand again!

  Still no response

  Another chapter has arrived, I'm keeping my promise, everyone is welcome to throw votes at me, the more the better!