Chapter 32: The Battle of Xikou (Part 1)

  During the Republic of China period, Xikou belonged to Songmuqiao Township, Suining County, and was a small mountain town in the southernmost part of Suining. It was not until after liberation that it was assigned to Tongdao County.

  It's called a small town, but in fact it's just a relatively large village, with one street, dozens of households and a few shops.

  When the market is held, people from all over the mountains will flock to the town, bringing their own mountain products, wood, grain and other goods for trade, in exchange for necessities like salt and rice. Usually there are no people around, occasionally some traveling merchants stop by to rest.

  December 12th, 1934 was a day that would be etched in the memories of the residents of this small village for their entire lives.

  The sun was warm and the small village seemed particularly quiet.

  Around noon, the tranquility was shattered. Soldiers from the 62nd Division of the National Army poured into the small village.

  In modern terms, Ah Shui was a hoodlum in Xigou, called an "er liu zi" by the common people. At this time, Ah Shui sat at the entrance of the grocery store, occasionally stealing glances at the boss's wife's plump breasts with his eyes. He would take a glance, swallow his saliva, and still feel indignant in his heart: "Damn it, all the good food is being enjoyed by pigs!"

  No wonder Ah Shui was drooling, the boss's wife really looked good, medium build, fair face, watery eyes, two dimples when she smiled, and when she walked, the two small packages in front of her chest trembled with the twist of her waist. Not to mention Ah Shui, last time the village head saw her, he drooled so much that his upper garment's two pockets were all wet, and he praised this girl for being really pretty.

  At that time, anyone who could do business on the street was a clever person! Think about it, in the midst of war and chaos, if you were too honest, you would lose all your capital; if you were too cunning, one day while walking at night, you might mysteriously fall into the Sheep's Whisker River and drown. Trying to curry favor with various big shots? There are too many of them, can't possibly please them all; not trying to curry favor with the big shots? Who knows when you'll be kidnapped. So in the eyes of the mountain people, businesspeople were just like those who roamed the rivers and lakes - speaking human language to humans, speaking ghost language to ghosts, even more cunning than the foxes in the mountains.

  The boss's wife was also charming, and Ah Shui's greedy expression was all reflected in her eyes. In her heart, she secretly laughed at Ah Shui for being a fool, thinking of drinking her foot-washing water, not even possible! But on her face, there were smiles all over, chatting idly: "Ah Shui, that refugee woman last time, why didn't you take her in?"

  "That woman has lice crawling all over her head, eye discharge in the corners of her eyes, and filth all over her body. Just looking at her is annoying."

  "Hey! I didn't think Ah Shui's taste was so good! Stupid melon, why don't you just buy a bar of soap, boil some hot water and give her a good wash? That'll make her clean!" The boss lady's smile grew even thicker.

  "Never mind, I'm not unwanted, that lumber merchant last time took a liking to my cleverness, said he wanted to marry his younger sister to me as a daughter-in-law." Ah Shui felt somewhat pleased.

  "It's true, it's true! In the entire Fangyuan area of tens of li, who doesn't know that Ah Shui is a clever person?!" The boss's wife's dimples deepened even more, and her smile was about to overflow.

  A Shui went even crazier: "I've already thought it through, a real man should marry a woman like his sister-in-law, I don't want anyone else."

  The boss's wife spat and was about to speak when she saw someone on the street out of the corner of her eye, saying: "Ah Shui, someone is coming, take a look at who it is."

  Ah Shui turned his head to take a look, and found that many soldiers had arrived at some point, in groups of three or five, carrying guns and sneaking along the wall roots, quietly slipping in. Looking further back, oh my, it was a sea of black, all soldiers!

  The boss's wife was busy closing the door, but it was too late. The soldiers' voices had already reached the end of the short street.

  A Hua's energy came up, busy greeting: "The boss is here, hard work, sit down and have a cup of tea."

  "Don't move, or I'll blow your head off!" A black muzzle was pressed against Ashui's forehead. The boss's wife let out a "Oh no" and scurried to the corner of the wall.

  A group of soldiers rushed up.

  A small squad leader separated from the soldiers and walked up to Ah Shui: "Honestly, are there any red bandits in the village?"

  A Hua was so scared that his body was trembling like a sieve: "No, I don't know what the Red Bandits look like."

  "That little head asked again: 'Recently, has there been a team passing by here?'"

  A' Shui said: "No, when it's not a market day here, there are no people."

  He slapped him on the head: "Damn it, I asked you if you've passed the troops or not, what the hell are you talking about with this hurry up and wait nonsense, asking for a beating?"

  "This time Ah Shui really learned his lesson: 'Boss, I don't know anything. The house across the street with a gate is the Bao family's home, go ask them.'"

  The squad leader turned around and shouted at a soldier: "You, go report to the company commander, say that there is no situation for the time being. The rest of you follow me to search."

  Before long, the dark soldiers surged into the town. It was lively, and the soldiers were entering every door, calling out, kicking doors, smashing doors, and so on. The quiet village immediately became chaotic, with cries, shouts, and fighting sounds filling the air.

  Several soldiers rushed into the grocery store, grabbed things off the shelves with their hands, and in a short while, they made the shelves messy.

  The landlady hid in the corner, speechless, and coldly stared at this group of robbers. She knew that it was useless to reason with these robbers, so she just let them take what they wanted, considering it a loss to avoid disaster.

  It wasn't until these few soldiers left with satisfaction that the landlady finally let out a sigh of relief and hastily called for Ah Shui to help close the door.

  "Ah! Seeing the National Army coming, you close the door, are you waiting for the Red Bandits to come and then open it?"

  A loud, clattering sound came from outside the door, and with a clang, the latch in the landlady's hand fell to the ground.

  The door was pushed open, and Ah Shui looked up to see another group of soldiers coming in. In the middle of them stood an officer with his hands on his hips, staring at him with a gloomy smile. Ah Shui's heart skipped a beat as he hastily walked out and said, "Officer, you must be tired! Officer, you must be tired!"

  The officer's loud voice shouted again: "Boss, we are revolutionary soldiers and came to pursue the red bandits in order to protect the common people. The brothers have been rushing for a morning to find some water to drink. Why do you close the door as soon as you see us? Is there a red bandit in the house?"

  "Ah Shui hurriedly said: "The officer is joking, our small village and small shop, where did the red bandits come from? Officer, please sit down, brothers all sit down. Boss's wife, quickly pour tea!"

  The boss's wife had also come to her senses by this time, and with a teapot in one hand and several tea cups in the other, she walked over with a gentle swaying motion. Ah Shui hastily moved a small table over, brought out several stools, arranged the tea cups on it, and was still shouting "Please sit down, sir! Please sit down, boss!"

  As soon as the officer sat down, the landlady began to pour water. Perhaps they were really tired and thirsty, several soldiers didn't care if their superior drank or not, grabbed the bowl and gulped it down with a gurgling sound. The officer cursed: "You bunch of bastards, no discipline at all!"

  The landlady busied herself and went back into the house, brought out a clean teacup, washed it again, found some tea leaves to brew, and presented it to the officer, saying: "Your Honor has had a hard time, please have some tea."

  The officer lifted the teacup and took a sip, wiped his mouth, and shouted: "Good tea, damn it's addictive!" He turned around and saw the boss's pretty face. The officer was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he muttered to himself: "Damn it, deep mountains produce beautiful birds!"

  The soldiers burst out laughing. One of the soldiers shouted in a strange tone, "Company Commander is so lucky, he's going to be a groom again!"

  The boss's wife turned and ran back into the grocery store.

  That officer was smiling foolishly and didn't even notice when the teacup in his hand fell to the ground.

  The soldiers burst out laughing again. The officer finally came to his senses, looked at the laughing soldiers, spat a mouthful of saliva into his palm, rubbed his hands vigorously, and slipped into the house with a "squeak".

  A soldier proudly sang "Eighteen Touches": "One touch, touched big sister's hair...".

  Sounds of beating and scolding came from inside the house. The landlady was cursing, calling someone a beast, while the officer was laughing lewdly.

  It's not necessarily that the boss's wife is a virtuous and chaste woman, but the timing and location are just not right! With so many people watching, if word gets out, it'll be even harder for her to live on. So she resists with all her might, and in the officer's haste, he can't get his way, and the sound of tearing clothes rings out.

  "Save me! Save me!" The boss's wife's voice was already straight.

  Ah Shui can't sit still, damn it, too bullying, every day I come to bother you, even touching hands, and you're fine, as soon as you arrive, you directly pick the peach, in front of me, with my favorite woman, if this gets out, I won't be able to mix in Xiakou anymore?

  Anger assails the heart. Ah Shui picks up a wooden stool and rushes towards the house. A National Army soldier doesn't even look, raises his hand and shoots, knocking Ah Shui down at the doorstep.

  The gunshot awakened everyone. An enemy officer rushed out of the house, holding up his pants with one hand and a handgun with the other, shouting: "Who fired?"

  "Report to the company commander, this kid took a stool and wants to go in and fight you." The soldier who fired the shot replied with a straight face.

  That officer rolled his eyes a few times, and went up to slap that soldier: "Son of a turtle, it's not easy to meet a Red Bandit spy, but you let him get killed. If you had caught him alive, I would have rewarded you with 5 big silver dollars, now I can only reward you with 2 big silver dollars. Son of a turtle, do you have a grudge against money?"

  The soldier's eyes lit up and he quickly stood at attention: "It is the company commander's order."

  The officer buckled his pants, thought for a moment and said to the soldier: "This guy is a Red Bandit spy, that old lady must be a Red Bandit woman. Report to the superior, I killed one Red Bandit spy, captured one Red Bandit woman, used one bullet. Now you go catch that Red Bandit woman, watch out, if you let her escape, I'll kill you."

  The soldier responded with a shout and rushed into the house. After a brief struggle, he pushed and shoved the old lady out of the house.

  The boss's wife no longer had that watery charm in her eyes, dull and expressionless, muttering only two words: "Bastard!"

  Hearing the gunshot, I knew something was wrong at the grocery store. The apprentice from the neighboring shop rushed to fetch the security guard.

  Baolong took a look and saw Ah Shui lying in the pool of blood, apparently dead. He then saw a group of Nationalist soldiers dragging away the owner of the grocery store. He rushed forward to block their way: "Officer, why are you killing and arresting people arbitrarily?"

  That officer didn't take the village head of this deep mountain small town seriously!

  "Turtle shell drops, which pants hole is broken to reveal you? How dare you, block the way of the great army? I think you're tired of living."

  These days, when the ones in charge are either tyrants or cunning people, how can you not tell what's going on? In his heart, he cursed: "What kind of national army is this, eating meat without spitting out bones, purely a bandit."

  Cursing in his heart, he still stepped forward and whispered to the officer: "Sir, that man is dead, just bury him in a hole. But you can't take this woman away, she's our village head's mistress, if you take her away, I'll lose my job as the security chief."

  The officer was originally greedy for beauty, intending to take the boss's wife away and occupy her for a long time. But when he saw the boss's wife's dull eyes, he was afraid that this woman would be scared silly and become a burden. So he said to the squad leader: "Brothers have run so far, and finally caught a red bandit who attacked the national army, what do you say we should do?"

  Bao Chang busily pulled out a few silver dollars from his pocket and stuffed them into the officer's, saying "Officer, you've worked hard to suppress bandits, consider this as your brothers' tea money."

  "What tea are you talking about? There's not even cold water!"

  Bao Chang had no choice but to borrow 30 silver dollars from the owner of the neighboring grocery store and handed it over to the military officer.

  The officer took out a silver dollar, blew on it, and then put it to his ear to listen. A smile finally appeared on his face: "Bao Chang, I'll give you face, brother. This red bandit woman will be handed over to you. Tell her that next time I come back to suppress the bandits, I'll still go to her shop to drink tea!"

  "That's it, I'll definitely tell her."

  The troops finally set off, and the originally quiet Creek Mouth was in a mess. Every household was crying and scolding, and many homes were making banging noises. The village head knew that they were repairing the doors damaged by the National Army.

  A Hsiao has been buried, he was a hoodlum with no family, and since the Nationalist officer said he was a Communist spy, nobody dared to say anything more. So the pao-chang called two pao-t'ing to carry him out and bury him in a hole they dug at random.

  The grocery store closed, and the boss's wife was sent back to her father's house by her husband who had just returned. The matter seemed to have passed, but only the bloodstains of Ah Shui on the doorstep of the grocery store could not be washed away. Under the sunlight, it looked dark red and eerie.