Chapter 8: Hu Fei Leaves Home

  Hu Fei's outfit was completely mismatched from head to toe, but he didn't seem to notice anything wrong with it. He walked out the door with his usual swagger. Although some Japanese collaborators and traitors gave him curious glances on the way, no one came up to question him closely.

  A Japanese devil greeted him in Japanese, and he waved his hand back to the other party with a sentence "Hurry up to put out the fire!" Then, with an arrogant expression, he continued walking outside. The Japanese devil was stunned, thinking that this person must be an undercover agent from the Japanese army. Only undercover agents would wear plain clothes and carry guns, and only they could speak Chinese so well! The Japanese soldier saluted Hu Fei's back shadow, holding a broom and rushing into the fire scene quickly.

  As soon as they came out of the gate, they ran into several puppet soldiers. These guys were probably officials in the puppet army, and when they saw a man wearing casual clothes with a Type 38 rifle on his back, the leading puppet officer stepped forward to block Hu Fei's path: "Halt, what do you do?"

  "Yours, go in and put out the fire immediately, quickly!" Hu Fei used the two sentences of Japanese-accented Chinese he had just learned to deal with the pseudo-army in front of him.

  "Hey!" The fake officer was slightly stunned, and then responded loudly. Shouting slogans, several fake soldiers lined up in a row and rushed into the yard to put out the fire. The fake soldiers were also puzzled, why did their master dress like this today?

  Hu Fei swaggered out like this, and those who spoke to him thought he was a Japanese spy, while those who didn't speak to him thought he looked like a traitor. As a result, no one suspected that he might be an imposter. In this way, Hu Fei left his home unimpeded, wearing this disguise.

  Far, far away from the village, looking back, that red glow was Hu's house, which was set on fire tonight by Hu Fei himself. His dearest family members, his parents and sister, also disappeared forever in that fiery light, without even leaving behind a grave.

  Silently watching, tears flowed down silently. "Father, mother, sister! Wait for me, I will avenge you!" Using all his strength to shout this sentence, the turbid air in his chest seemed to be released with this shout, and his whole body felt much lighter. He wiped away his tears with his hand, took one last look at the home where he was born and raised, turned around and walked forward with big strides.

  From today on, Hu Fei is no longer the mischievous and restless young master of the Hu family. He grew up overnight! Perhaps in the near future, a notorious bandit leader named Hu will reappear in western Liaoning?

  Since he was ready to go and join the old Beifeng, Hu Fei had already made up his mind to become a bandit. He was at an age where he was young and vigorous, with unclear views on life, and not only did he not reject the idea of being a bandit, but he also had a secret admiration for it in his heart, and he looked forward to his future life as a bandit very much. Hu Fei, Hu Fei, these two words are homophones, perhaps from the day his father gave him this name, Hu Fei's life was destined to have the experience of being a bandit?

  Hu Fei, who had never been on a long trip before, didn't know where Wanghai Mountain's Three Ditches were. For now, he could only take it one step at a time. Anyway, the first step was to get away from Jiutai Village as far as possible. He had killed a Japanese soldier in his own courtyard, and the devils would find out sooner or later. The subsequent big search and arrest would definitely not spare him, and once caught, he would be done for!

  Hu Fei fixed his eyes on a direction and walked forward with his head down. Walking along the road, he would always meet people, no matter who he met, he would ask about Wang Hai Mountain and that's it.

  Young people, everything is done with a fiery passion. Hu Fei was eager to hurry to Wanghai Mountain's Third Gorge as soon as possible, find Old North Wind, and ask him to send troops to help him avenge his family, so he naturally walked quickly.

  The sky was dark, and the moon was hidden behind the mountains. Fortunately, the stars in the sky added a bit of light to the darkness. Under this faint light, only the outline of the road could be vaguely seen, but nothing on the surface of the road was visible. Hu Fei walked and kicked a stone, walked and tripped over a grass root, and had not even gone five miles before he broke his shoes. This was still thanks to his youth and agility, plus his strong physical balance from practicing martial arts since childhood, which allowed him to protect himself in times of danger. If it were someone with a weak body, they would have been unable to continue on the road.

  No matter how strong he wanted to be, Hu Fei knew that he couldn't go any further now. It had been relatively smooth sailing up until this point, but if he wasn't careful and fell into the ditch and broke his leg, that would be a complete disaster. For now, it was best to find a place to rest and wait for dawn before continuing on his journey.

  Hu Fei looked around, although it was dark, the big trees dozens of steps away could still be barely made out. Walking up to one, he patted the rifle on his back, spat into his palm, and with a few swift motions, climbed up onto a branch over three meters high.

  The forked branches of the tree were like a large cradle, steadily holding Hu Fei on top. Leaning against the thick trunk that was almost as wide as his waist, Hu Fei ate a few dry rations and soon fell asleep in a daze. This night had been too exhausting, and with the added mental trauma from the loss of his loved one, even someone as young and vigorous as him couldn't hold on any longer.

  I slept for a long time, and when I woke up in a daze, everything around me was bright. It seemed like there were birds chirping loudly next to my ears. When I opened my eyes, the sky was already bright. As soon as I moved my arms and legs, my whole body felt sore and numb, and for a moment, I couldn't get out of bed.

  He stretched his arms and legs, slowly moving around, the sour numbness made Hu Fei sit there with a grimace. Distant voices were heard, following the sound, it was pedestrians coming over. Seeing dozens of people walking in twos and threes, this wave of people had at least one or two hundred. Looking further away, it seemed like there was no one behind this group of people. From a distance, it looked like these one or two hundred people were all together.

  Hu Fei lowered his head to take a look at himself, and the navy blue velvet jacket he was wearing had gone through a night of experience yesterday, and now it couldn't show its original color. At present, the only trouble is probably that rifle, who would walk out with a gun on their shoulder?

  It's impossible to throw away the gun. Not to mention how much effort Hu Fei spent on getting this rifle, but also because his future profession can't be separated from it. Since he couldn't throw it away, he had to think of a way to conceal it. Hu Fei looked at the things he was carrying and first took out the bag with dry rations, looked at it and put it aside. He unbuttoned his cotton-padded jacket, took out the small cotton-padded vest inside, put on the jacket again, and began to gesture with the vest and the bag of dry rations against the rifle.

  The remaining two cold buns were stuffed into his bosom, and the dry ration bag and the cotton-padded jacket that had just been taken off were torn into strips. Hu Fei carefully wrapped the rifle with these strips of cloth. Although it still looked like a gun in shape, it was much more pleasing to the eye than exposing it outside.

  After disguising himself as the biggest troublemaker, Hu Fei slung the wrapped rifle over his shoulder and slid down the tree trunk with his personal belongings.

  Looking from afar, there were many people on the road, but in fact, they weren't densely packed. Three or five people formed a group, and apart from chatting within their own small circles, there wasn't much interaction between groups. These hundreds of people seemed to be heading in the same direction, and gathering together was just a coincidence. Hu Fei joined the crowd without any hesitation.