Chapter 27 I am smiling to the sky from the horizontal knife
A burner of incense, a pot of tea, a desk, and half a volume of broken books became the final configuration of Lu Xiang's life. He has been living like this these days. Every morning he opens the door of the 'Wan Yuan Bookstore' and reads
There were no shops on the street with their shop doors wide open. Then, like an old scholar in school, he wore a long gown and glasses, crossed his legs sideways, exposed his cloth shoes, and sat reading a book while leaning on the back of a chair.
To be honest, these past few days have been the most leisurely days Lu Xiang has ever had in his life, and they are also the most practical.
As the book turned, the time had reached noon. Lu Xiang fell into the sea of books and continued to turn the pages without thirsting. At this time, Xiao Wuzi walked in from outside the door.
He didn't make a sound, but the things he carried on his back made a clanking sound. There were a lot of iron pans, spatulas, pots and pans, as if he had to move them. The most terrifying thing was that among this pile of iron,
There are also Soviet-made grenades and an old-fashioned cannon made in Hanyang.
Xiao Wuzi was not polite. He set up a stove with three bricks after entering the house. After searching for a long time and finding no firewood, he simply removed a wooden window, kicked it into pieces and threw it in. He also took a book from the bookstore and tore it up.
Turn on the ignition.
Lu Xiang, who was distracted from his silence, frowned in annoyance, opened his mouth and said, "I thought you said you didn't want to be 'alone', but that you planned to leave before me."
Xiao Wuzi shrugged: "That's what I thought, but after thinking about it, I still feel that I should come and be your companion."
He took out a knife from a pile of junk, chopped an old hen that had been slaughtered and plucked into pieces, and when the water in the iron pot boiled, he put the chicken in.
"Old Lu, you also know that I was an orphan since I was a child. In order to survive, I stole whenever I could in this city and robbed when I couldn't. I was so miserable that people regarded me as a dog. If Commander Ma hadn't seen me pitifully,
He was thrown into the team and either starved to death or beaten to death."
"You will know what happened next. Within a few years, you came, the embroiderer came, the little tailor came, and we bandits with guns and cannons became regular troops. We are not afraid of your jokes. Then
Only then did I find out that Commander Ma was from our party. I still fucking thought he was a bandit who drank heavily with the big guys and sang jokes about two people becoming fans, hahahaha..."
puff.
Lu Xiang couldn't help but laugh too.
Commander Ma, whom Xiaowuzi was talking about, once used the pseudonym Zhang Guanyi. He worked as a miner in the West Open-pit Mine in his early days and quickly united a group of people. At that time, everyone thought it was to establish a gang, but later they realized that it was to resist the Japanese.
.
"It was really lively at that time."
The water boiled and bubbled gurglingly in the pot. Xiaowuzi seemed to see the scene of that year in the steaming heat.
"Commander Ma didn't tell us how to seize the territory. Instead, Commander Shi took the phrase 'Only by driving the Japanese out, can we live securely on our own land' as a mantra. Lao Lu, when you weren't here,
Commander Ma taught us culture and didn't make us mud-legged people angry. We just think that "home" means the hot bed of the wife and children, and "country" means collecting rents, building an army, and protecting the people. What is national democracy, what is the consciousness of sovereignty, etc.
I don’t understand either.”
"Especially me, it made Ma Jun so angry that he couldn't sleep half the night."
Xiao Wuzi's narrative reached its peak like boiling water, but suddenly took a turn for the worse: "It was really lively at that time, and the atmosphere of the New Year was great. From the New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the sound of firecrackers in my ears never stopped, and the bright red firecrackers never stopped.
The white snow is pressing down on the acupuncture point, and the children with earmuffs are going from door to door looking for firecrackers that have not gone off. If they find one with a twist (lead), they will make a big snot bubble in their noses. They have to put it in their pockets quickly, for fear of letting it go.
People snatched it away, and then lit it in the middle of the night when there was no movement, listening to the only sound that belonged to me."
While talking, the scenery in front of me changed...
Groups of phantoms seemed to appear on the street. Small businessmen and hawkers stood on the street, breathing hard and shouting, preparing to make the last money before the year. Children squeezing through the cracks of the crowd, busy.
It is the New Year when ordinary people who have been celebrating a year take their wives and mothers walking on the streets, going to the market, buying blessing characters, Spring Festival couplets, lanterns, and paper money, even taking into account the living and the dead.
Suddenly, all of this disappeared. The cold wind on the cold street blew a few yellow and broken grasses. It was so cold from the inside to the outside. If there were not people in every house, everyone would doubt it.
The north is full of empty towns.
"Look now."
Xiao Wuzi sighed: "If the Japanese on the street shout at you, they will be knocked over."
"It's like walking around."
Xiaowuzi, who was interrupted by these four words, looked back and Lu Xiang explained like a teacher: "The sentence you said can be described with an adjective, called Chuzhenruye."
"I don't understand." Xiaowuzi waved his hand and said, "We are not educated people either."
"Anyway, I feel uncomfortable living in this place. It's like lying in a coffin that doesn't fit well. I feel cramped everywhere."
"Cutting your feet to fit your shoes."
When Lu Xiang still wanted to explain, Xiao Wuzi gave him a few words: "Don't finish it. Is the fitter addicted to playing the bookstore owner? Do you really feel that you are a cultural person?"
"..." Lu Xiang stopped talking. Only then did he remember his true identity.
He is just a thief, a serious apprentice, but this profession is the most looked down upon in the world. If he had not joined the Anti-Japanese Alliance, he would have come to Beiman and used the identity of a bookstore owner to hide himself, whether on the streets or in the world.
, this kind of person just lives in a dark and damp corner, unable to get to the main table at all.
When did you start to like reading?
Lu Xiang was also somewhat confused.
Was it the first time that the little girl who bought books called me "sir", or was it when a little boy pointed at a certain word in the book and asked her that she was speechless when she first arrived?
He really forgot.
But the respect and curiosity in the child's eyes made him still remember it to this day. It was from there that Lu Xiang would take time to go to Xiu Niang every day to learn Chinese characters that he didn't know at all.
The embroiderer was happy to teach him, but she was too busy. As time went by, the teacher was changed from the embroiderer to the little tailor. The serious look of this southerner walking into the room with his eyes stuck made people want to laugh. It was Lu Xiang today.
It looks like a burner of incense, a book, and a cup of tea.
But the first thing he said was: "If you don't even respect what you want to learn, why should you learn it?"
In one sentence, Lu Xiang understood.
I want to learn these things because I like the respect in children’s eyes...
From then on, he never laughed at any sense of formality, but instead learned it in a formal way.
After studying this, I discovered that there is such a master hiding next to Xiu Niang. This person can talk to you about the great foreign writers to the powerful figures of the Republic of China today. He can also talk about Zeng Guofan, Wang Yangming, and Kong Guofan from this group of people.
Meng Laozhuang. How much ink does this belly have to hold?
However, at that time, he could only study at night to avoid accidentally being targeted by the Japanese.
"Little Wuzi, where were you and Commander Ma at that time?"
Xiaowuzi responded: "Nanman, Fushun."
Yes, Commander Ma started his career there. He was captured and tortured by the Japanese. After being rescued, the current Anti-Japanese Alliance came into being.
"After the situation in Southern Manchuria stabilized, they were the first wave of people sent by Commander Ma to develop northward, right?"
Xiaowuzi nodded: "There are eight of us here, and now I am the one on my own."
As he spoke, he took out the meat that had no oil, salt, sauce or vinegar. Xiao Wuzi put it to his mouth and began to bite it regardless of whether the meat was stewed or not.
Lu Xiang looked at the freshness and asked, "Can this thing be eaten?"
Xiao Wuzi looked back with a glossy mouth: "This is the laying hen that was crushed to death by the collapsed wall of the courtyard of Xiu Niang's house a few days ago when we went to the tailor shop to look for things."
For a moment, Lu Xiang was at a loss for words. He understood what Xiao Wuzi was thinking. This boy, who had been alone since childhood, wanted to find someone to accompany him even when he died. How could he be willing to let this chicken lie alone in that courtyard?
Buzz.
Bah, bah, bah, bah.
On the streets, Japanese military flags were waving in the wind. Behind a jeep were heavily armed Japanese troops. They were coming.
Xiaowuzi put down the bowl, picked up the Hanyang loaded bullets, and then walked to the door and said: "Don't forget to hide when the fight starts. Brother, let's go downstairs to find out for you."
When Lu Xiang heard this, he immediately called out to Xiao Wuzi: "Wu, wait a minute, I'll tell you a few words, in case someone records us, so that it can be better viewed by future generations."
Lu Xiang whispered a few words in Xiao Wuzi's ear. In this second, the Japanese army had already surrounded the bookstore.
When Miki was far away, the Japanese stopped the car, hid behind the car and shouted: "Lu Xiang, Wu Yuanqing, you have been surrounded, come out and surrender immediately!"
Xiaowuzi took down the window, pointed his gun at the window, and shouted: "I am smiling to the sky, go to hell with Kunlun!"
Lu Xiang was completely dumbfounded. He only taught two sentences in total. How could this be wrong?