Chapter 632: Encountering the old melon thief in the ruined temple
After the people from Chuiliu Village set off with the theater troupe, they drove for more than 20 miles. Half of them wanted to return to Ninghai Prefecture to meet with the Military Control Commission and then go home to celebrate the New Year; the other half wanted to quickly bring food back.
, so there wasn’t much delay on the way.
Near noon, the sky suddenly turned gloomy. After a while, velvet-like snowflakes began to fall. After just one meal, the distant mountains and the surrounding areas turned into a world of dazzling white ice and snow.
The road also became graceful and hazy.
Everyone in the troupe on the carriage was shivering from the cold. After driving for a long time, everyone was tired. Seeing that the snow was too heavy and it was difficult to travel, the troupe leader had to let the leader lead everyone up a gentle slope to the west of the post road.
, there is an abandoned temple there.
This is a courtyard with three entrances. The main hall in the front yard was burned to the ground by fire. The mountain gate has collapsed and even the sign is gone. Fortunately, someone made a big hole in the west wall, so everyone rushed
They entered the yard with a carriage, and the villagers from Chuiliu Village also came in with a wheelbarrow.
Yang Ertang, Li Dachun and others walked around the dilapidated main hall and came to the empty backyard. They saw that except for the rooms in the west wing, only one corner had collapsed, and the row of rooms in the east wing had become broken purlins and broken eaves, with an inch of thickness missing.
The snow cover and the whistling north wind echoed throughout the courtyard. If there weren't so many people in their group, it would really make people feel sick.
Li Dachun turned around and looked around, and saw a well in front of the dilapidated east wing. The dark mouth of the well was particularly conspicuous in the snow. After driving all the way in the morning, he almost finished drinking the water in his gourd, so he thought about going there.
Get some water. Unexpectedly, as soon as I took two steps, there was ice on the ground, but it was covered by snow. It slipped with a "chi", and I suddenly fell into a big horse!
Pfft, Yang Ertang and others were all happy, and just as they were about to speak, the straw curtain of the row of wings in the west moved, and a dozen unkempt beggars came out. These people were all wearing rags and swollen clothes, and they were still leaning on their hands.
Beat the dog with a stick and put on a defensive posture.
"For what?"
Yang Ertang and others were startled. They didn't expect that there were people living here. The female lead named Cuicui whispered in a high-pitched voice: "Hey~~ You're so stupid."
It's not a nice thing to say someone is dirty in front of a beggar, so Yang Ertang hurriedly said: "I'm sorry, we are just passing by. It's snowing too much and we need to get out of the way."
None of the beggars moved. After a while, someone heard a hoarse voice say: "Go inside and warm yourself by the fire. What are you doing!"
Yang Ertang followed the voice and saw that the man was wearing an old sheepskin robe stained with oil stains, a pair of dirty coarse cloth boots, and a worn-out felt hat that was pushed down so low that only half of the dirty hat could be seen.
bearded face.
Hearing this, all the beggars turned around and entered the house. Seeing this, Yang Ertang had no choice but to call Li Dachun and others back to the front yard and tell the troupe about the situation.
Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard that someone had occupied the backyard. In the end, they had to go to the ruins of the main hall that were scorched black by the fireworks, cleared an open space, and used the flagpole from the theater troupe and the sticks in the hands of the people from Weeping Willow Village to prop up a small space.
A large piece of oilcloth finally managed to survive.
But just having a place to hide from the snow is not enough. You also need to get firewood to make a fire. It is best to boil a pot of hot water so that everyone can get rid of the cold and eat dry food. Li Dachun volunteered and took the two of them to the collapsed east wing in the backyard to look for wood. Yang Ertang also
Not wanting to stay in a cold tent, I thought there must be hay in the beggar's house, so I decided to go with them and use the hay as kindling.
He came to the backyard and patted twice on the window edge of the west wing that was covered with a straw curtain. After a while, the hoarse voice rang out again: "What are you doing?"
"Brother, is there any hay in the house? Let me make some and light a fire."
After waiting for a while, he heard a rustling sound coming from the room, as if someone was moving, and then the voice said again: "Come in and get it."
"Thanks!"
Yang Ertang opened the straw curtain and entered the house, and was hit by a wave of hot air mixed with sweaty and smelly feet. The light in the room was very dark. When he first came in from the white snow, he could hardly see anything clearly. After he settled down, God, take another look, okay, the two wing rooms are actually connected. More than a dozen people are squatting on the floor against the west wall. There is a fire on the ground, which is blackened by the smoke. The kettle hung on the shelf was simmering, and steam was rising from the spout. On the earthen kang at the north end, the man in the sheepskin robe was sitting cross-legged, looking at him with squinted eyes.
This person is not wearing a hat at the moment. He has a slightly thin round face, big eyes, a flat nose, and a wispy beard. His face looks dirty, and he can't tell. The sludge is still smoked.
Before coming to this theater troupe, Yang Ertang had traveled around the world with other theater troupes for more than ten years and met countless people from all walks of life. At this moment, he felt that something was wrong with the bunch of flowers in front of him, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong specifically.
The guy on the kang said in a hoarse voice: "It's almost the Chinese New Year, what are these people doing?"
Yang Ertang sneered and said, "What else can I do? Just make a living with the troupe."
At this time, a beggar on the floor suddenly became energetic and asked: "Can you sing? Come and listen to me."
"I'm just an errand boy, but I don't have the skills." After Yang Ertang said this, he grinned. Only then did the beggars see that this guy was missing a front tooth, so their expectant expressions dimmed again, and they lowered their heads. Ignore him again.
Yang Ertang said again: "Hey, when I passed by the county a few days ago, I heard that the Yamen was giving out porridge and food. Why didn't you go?"
"If the government's words can be believed, an old sow can climb a tree." He cursed in a hoarse voice, put his hand into his arms and groped for a while, caught a flea, threw it into the fire under the kang, and said: There was a "pop" sound. Then he laid a bed on the ground and said: "San'er, take out some hay from under your bed and use it to light a fire. It's not easy to go out in this situation."
Yang Ertang blinked, took the hay, put it in his arms, bowed and said thanks, turned and left the house. He walked out of the yard quickly, and then his stride became fast and he almost slipped several times. When he came to the oilcloth Under the tent, he grabbed the troupe leader and whispered a few words to each other while everyone looked at him in confusion.
After hearing this, the troupe leader was stunned for a moment, looked at Yang Ertang and said, "Nenmu got it wrong?"
Yang Ertang said anxiously: "You can't be wrong! I have been running around for more than ten years, and I still have this sharp eye!"
The class leader pondered for a moment, then turned to everyone hiding in the tent and said: "Listen to me now, everyone, stop talking!"
Although everyone felt strange, they still fell silent. As the troupe leader began to explain softly, everyone's expressions became more and more ugly. After a stick of incense, everyone got out of the tent, tying up the carriage and packing up. After cleaning up, the bustling place turned into a cold place in a blink of an eye.
Li Dachun and the two of them finally found a few relatively dry rafters from the ruins. When they returned to the front yard, they were dumbfounded. The tent they had set up before had been evacuated, and everyone was packing their things in the wind and snow.
The car was loaded and it looked like it was going to hit the road right away.
He carried the wood and walked to the carriage and said fatly: "So?"
A person from the same village came up and said softly: "Dachun, don't yell, I'm telling you..."
After a while, Li Dachun's eyes widened and he said with surprise: "You said they are old melon thieves?"
"Absolutely true!"
"Mom, why are you running away? Let's fuck them!"
"What a fat boy! What are we doing here? Hundreds of people are waiting for us to transport food back!"
Well, Li Dachun sighed helplessly and had to set off quietly with everyone.
The group of people went up the post road and walked for seven or eight miles. The man named Cuicui asked Yang Ertang out of curiosity: "Ertang, how do you know that those Huazis are Laogua thieves?"
Yang Ertang said proudly: "If you want to hide it from me, you are still young!"
"Second cousin, tell us, it will help us gain some knowledge."
"That's right, you're still holding it and not talking about it!"
"Hey~~ Why do you, such a big man, pinch people!" Yang Ertang escaped Cuicui's "devil's claws" and then told the people around him what he saw in the room, and then explained: "I have been running around in the world for these years.
, Hanako has seen countless people. If the real Hanako caught fleas, they would eat them as meat, but that person was thrown into the fire. I saw something wrong at first glance. How can there be such a Hanako in the world."
"When I followed my master around the world, I heard his old man say that there is a group of old melon thieves in Shandong who love to show off. They wear tattered clothes, and they come in groups of three to five, and there are more than ten or twenty people. They usually mail
In empty temples, empty kilns, and thatched huts beside the road. Wait until the five drums in the evening, and if they meet one or two travelers on the road alone, they will murder them. They will kill them with knives or strangle them with ropes, and then they will be killed.
They stripped off the clothes of the deceased, put them into their own tattered clothes, and then threw some baskets, dog-beating sticks, bowls and chopsticks next to the body, so as to pretend that Hanako had been killed. When the officials discovered this,
Often it is treated as someone seeking revenge, and no one else can find out."
Everyone smacked their tongues after hearing this, thinking that there was such a vicious person. At this time, the troupe leader who was sitting in the car huddled with Cuicui to keep warm said: "I have heard a familiar government officer talk about this old melon before.
The thieves are very ruthless! In addition to what Ertang said, there is another way to pretend to be a merchant and sneak into the travellers. If you target a single traveler carrying property, let a thief sleep with him, and the relationship will be very familiar.
They are called lobbyists. If there are two people, two thieves will be arranged as lobbyists..."
Everyone was listening with high spirits when the troupe leader suddenly stopped talking and turned to shout loudly to the people marching in the snow: "Work harder, it seems that we won't be able to reach Zhoucheng in the afternoon. Let's bear it before we go."
Ten miles away, go to a village ten miles south of the city to deal with it for one night."
"Okay!"
"Master, you haven't finished speaking yet! What else is there?" Everyone was curious and kept walking, not caring about their hard work for a moment.
"In addition to the lobbyists, there is also a group of associates called gangsters. The gangsters go first to dig holes in the areas they have found in advance. As for the lobbyists, they will induce travelers to get up early the next day and go on their way together. Wait until they arrive
The ground is digging holes, just in case you are not prepared..."
As the troupe boss said that, he suddenly grabbed Cuicui from behind, startling him and screaming. The troupe boss then said: "The lobbyist will pull out the rope from his sleeve and pull it from behind."
Such a thing..."
Despite the cold weather, Cuicui's face turned red and she lowered her head in shame. At this time, everyone around her pursed their lips and lowered their heads in joy. The snow on their hats and shoulders fell. She thought to herself that the boss could
It's so bad that he actually took advantage of me in front of everyone.
The troupe owner had eaten enough tofu, so he let go of Cuicui's hand, put it into his sleeve with satisfaction, and continued: "They call this going online in the industry. You can carry it on your back for more than ten steps, no matter how strong you are.
He was going to die. When he got to the pit that was dug in advance, he was afraid that the person would not be completely dead and had to deflate, so he took a knife and hit his stomach like this. Alas!"
At this time someone asked: "What then?"
Someone said thoughtfully: "Then after robbing the things, just throw the people into the pit and bury them! Who can find them in the wilderness? These people will suffer a thousand blows!"
Everyone listened in silence, and the more they thought about it, the more frightened they became. If they still stayed in the ruined temple to hide from the snow, something might happen to them at night. Even though there were so many of them, most of them were timid and honest people.
When they saw the armed Laogua thieves, few dared to resist. So they looked at Yang Ertang with gratitude in their eyes, thanks to his carefulness.
"Dachun, I feel so young that I have to apologize to my second cousin."
"Huh?" Li Dachun asked, "What's going on? Just call me a thief, why did you get me involved?"
"Yes, I think Erhuai is right. In spring, you shouldn't hit others."
"..." Li Dachun was so angry that his nose was about to smoke. He rolled his eyes and decided to ignore it.
After that, the group walked for two hours, and when the snow became lighter, they finally arrived at a village ten miles south of Ninghai Prefecture to stay. The Beihai Navy set up a checkpoint here, and they all laughed when they saw the performance team returning from the countryside.
He said hello and spoke very kindly. Although the people in Chuiliu Village did not dare to talk to the people in the theater troupe, they looked at him very curiously.
Yang Ertang went to the platoon leader in charge of the checkpoint and told him about the group of flowers he met in the ruined temple. The platoon leader looked solemn after hearing this. In the past month or so, there have been many incidents in Ninghai Prefecture and Haiyang County in the south.
The Military Control Commission also sent people to investigate the case of the missing traveler after receiving a report from his family, but found no clues.
The mission of the army is to fight, and they are not good at investigating crimes. In addition, the police officers and policemen in the Manchu Dynasty were idle at home. The matter was brought to Lu Shoushan and Li Bi, and they were also very troubled. In desperation, they went to the police station a few days ago.
A telegram was also sent to Beihai Town, requesting the Public Security Police Headquarters to send some experienced people over to investigate the case and establish a four-county public security police system.
The problem is that the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and there is no time to wait for the security police to arrive. The platoon leader of the checkpoint recorded all Yang Ertang's report on paper, and then sent his men to the Ninghai Prefecture Military Control Commission overnight.
In the early morning of the next day, two platoons of troops came from Ninghai Prefecture, both on horseback. They looked murderous. They were accompanied by two former Qing agents in civilian clothes. They first asked the platoon leader of the checkpoint, and then
Let him lead him to find Yang Ertang and the troupe leader, check the map to find out the location of the ruined temple, and then rush south at full speed.
At this moment, no one expected that during their visit, they would actually uncover a major scandal that shocked Jiaodong.