Erquan Yingyue (short story) Zhang Baotong

On this day, Ah Bing sang and promoted on Qingning Street again, surrounded by people listening to the singing. Every time he finished singing, everyone cheered for him. This made Ah Bing feel excited and excited, and when all the programs were finished, he still felt that he couldn't enjoy himself, so he made up a song and sang: "The Oriental devils are heinous in their crimes, killing thousands of my compatriots, yesterday the Northeast was fallen, and today Nanjing was captured, the compatriots quickly took up arms to resist the war, and killed the Oriental devils." ”

As he was talking, someone on the other side of the street shouted in horror and ran over, saying, "The Oriental devil is coming, run!" Hearing someone shout like this, the onlookers immediately became confused and began to flee in all directions. The originally lively and exciting scene instantly ran into an open space. The woman pulled Ah Bing's sleeve in a panic and said, "Ah Bing, the Japanese are here, let's run quickly, let them catch it, they are going to cut off their heads." Ah Bing said with a calm smile, "Don't be afraid, the more people they kill, the sooner their end will come." So saying, he followed the woman unhurriedly towards his house.

As soon as I reached the entrance of the alley, I saw a small group of Japanese soldiers riding motorcycles coming down the street from the opposite side. The woman hurriedly pulled Ah Bing to hide in the alley next to her, but it was too late, only to hear a Japanese officer yelling at them, and the motorcycle drove towards them. Ah Bing stood at the entrance of the alley and waited for the Japanese to arrive, facing the Japanese and making a look of righteousness and death.

The Japanese said a few words to him, and he smiled and said, "I don't understand what kind of bird you are saying." A translator came over to the Japanese and said, "Taijun, this man is a blind man named Ah Bing, who can play any tune, and there is no one in Wuxi who does not know him." The Japanese officer smiled, "Then let him play a tune for the Imperial Army, and comfort the Imperial Army." ”

The interpreter said to Ah Bing, "It is your honor to be able to play for the imperial army." If you play well, the imperial army has taste, and if you don't play well, the imperial army kills the head. Do you understand?" said Ah Bing, "I understand. Then he stood still and played a piece of music that was very fast-paced. The Japanese didn't seem to understand, so they asked what kind of song it was. Ah Bing said that this song is called "Listening to Song". The Japanese still don't understand. Ah Bing said to the Japanese officers, "We have a listening stone in Wuxi, and listening to Song is actually listening to Song, that is to say, listening to Yue Fei's resistance to Jin." ”

As soon as the interpreter heard this, he glared at Ah Bing fiercely and said, "You don't want to die?" Ah Bing said, "I am a blind man, and my life is not precious, you want it, do whatever you want." But I don't know what the translator said to the Japanese officer, but the Japanese officer laughed, patted Ah Bing on the shoulder, and said a few words that people couldn't understand, so he waved his hand and let the other Japanese soldiers get on the motorcycle and drive towards the street.

After the Japanese occupied the town of Qingning, they set up a stronghold next to the wharf of Qingning Town and built a gun tower. From then on, everyone who entered and exited from Qingning Town had to show a certificate of good citizenship. In order to apply for a certificate of good citizenship, Ah Bing and the woman went to the pseudo-town office to take pictures. This was the first time in his life that he had been photographed. In the photo, he is wearing a felt hat and a pair of sunglasses, and his slightly wide face looks easy-moving and calm. Next to the photo is written: Hua Yanjun, male, born in 1893, from Wuxi, Jiangsu, making a living as an artist.

The town of Thanh Ninh is the wharf of the Grand Canal, and ships from the north and south pass through here. After the Japanese occupied the town of Chingning, they used the wharf as a port to transport food and military supplies for the Japanese army. Therefore, the dock is guarded by Japanese on all sides, and Chinese entering and leaving the dock are strictly inspected and interrogated. At that time, there was a guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army in the Taihu Lake area of Wuxi, which often entered and exited Qingning Town out of nowhere, attacking Japanese ships and strongholds. In order to clear and blockade the New Fourth Army and the guerrillas, the Japanese army often sent ships and troops into the lake area to carry out large-scale sweeps and encirclements, and strengthened the vigilance around Qingning Town. Therefore, people in Qingning often saw Japanese soldiers executing Chinese at will outside the turret.

After Wuxi was occupied by the Japanese, Ah Bing was still led by women all day long and made a living by selling his art, but he could no longer express his righteous indignation and hatred for the Japanese invaders with angry raps and performances as in the past, because he would be captured and killed by the Japanese. Therefore, he can only express his passion and righteous indignation with musical instruments. He kept using the erhu to pull "Listening to Song" and the "Yixin Song". Hearing that the Japanese army was so rampant and arrogant in China, Ah Bing's heart was full of anger and hatred, but he also often wondered: How could a China with a population of 40,000 allow a small Oriental country to be so aggressive and bullied? When he thought about it, he still felt that China was too poor, too weak, and too scattered, and that if it was in the prosperous Tang and Han dynasties, which country would dare to ignore China! Thinking in this way, the "Song of the Heart" became more and more deep and long, and he was worried. But when he heard the news of the victory of the New Fourth Army guerrillas against the Japanese army, he would pull the "Song of the Heart" into an exciting and thrilling one.

One night, not long after Ah Bing and the woman fell asleep, they heard a deafening continuous explosion on the pier north of the town, and the explosion shook the windows of the house. Then, a series of gunshots rang out. Ah Bing didn't know what was going on, so he asked the woman if the door was closed. The woman said it was closed. Ah Bing said to the woman, "I'm afraid it's not the New Fourth Army guerrillas who are fighting with the Japanese again." The woman said, "The Japanese are very tightly guarded, and the guerrillas of the New Fourth Army are weak, so I am afraid that it will be difficult for them to break in." Ah Bing said, "As long as the guerrillas of the New Fourth Army continue to fight, little Japan will not be able to hold on sooner or later." ”

As he spoke, he heard gunshots ringing out in the street, and they were getting closer and closer. Ah Bing couldn't help but feel nervous for a while, and felt that something was about to happen. Soon, I heard gunshots from the alley not far in front of the door, as if they were coming in this direction. The woman was so frightened that she lay tightly in Ah Bing's arms, her body trembling. Ah Bing comforted the woman and said, "Don't be afraid, we are not guerrillas of the New Fourth Army, and the Japanese will not come to arrest us." ”

However, no sooner had he said that someone had heard a sharp knock on the door outside. The woman screamed as if she was frightened. Ah Bing asked loudly, "Who?" replied outside, "Open the door quickly, I'm the New Fourth Army." As soon as he heard that it was the New Fourth Army, Ah Bing was about to get up and open the door, but the woman grabbed Ah Bing's arm and said in a panic, "Harboring the New Fourth Army and the guerrillas and letting the Japanese catch them is going to kill them." Ke Ah Bing said, "The New Fourth Army and the guerrillas are a force that fights the Japanese and traitors. We can't afford to leave it alone. ”

So saying, he got up and opened the door. A dark shadow came in from outside and said to Ah Bing, "Uncle Ah Bing, we blew up the Japanese devil's munition ship, and the devil is searching for us." I have heard your anti-Japanese singing and know that you are an anti-Japanese patriot, so I ran to you to hide. Find a place to hide me. "The accent is indeed a local, but the voice is very unfamiliar. Moreover, there is only such a palm-sized place in the house, where can people be hidden? Ah Bing shook his head and said, "Brother, you fight Oriental devils for the country, and you are the heroes of the country. But you see that my house is so big, where can I hide you?"

As they talked, they heard the Japanese shouting and shouting coming towards them, and it seemed that there were quite a few people coming. Obviously, at this point, it was too late for the man to hide elsewhere. So, Ah Ping bolted the door, let the man hide in the big water tank, and then put a wooden lid on the jar, and went to bed.

Soon, the Japanese came into the courtyard and slammed the door. Ah Bing unhurriedly put on his clothes and opened the door, and saw more than a dozen Japanese soldiers pouring into the courtyard with guns, the bayonets flashing with cold light, and a few bright flashlights searched the courtyard, and then entered the house. The room was not big, and a few flashes of a flashlight illuminated the room. The woman sat on the bed, illuminated by the flashlight of the Japanese soldier, and trembled with horror as she blocked the light with her hand.

Usually, Ah Bing often goes out with women to sing and perform, and the Japanese and the puppet government army also know him, and when he saw that his house was not big, only he and the woman lived, so he shone a few times with a flashlight into the house, and found nothing suspicious, so he told Ah Bing that a New Fourth Army had entered the alley, and if he saw it, he would immediately report it to the imperial army, and if he didn't report it, he would be killed. Ah Bing hurriedly said that he knew, he knew.

As soon as the searchers left, Ah Bing breathed a long sigh of relief, then lifted the wooden lid on the water tank and said to the New Fourth Army in the water tank, "Come out, they are gone." The man came out of the water tank, held Ah Bing's hand tightly, and said, "Uncle Ah Bing, you saved my life." Someday, I will repay the spring. Ah Bing said, "Don't say that. So let the woman take her clothes and change them for the man.

Because the Japanese had been searching the New Fourth Army in the town at night, Ah Bing did not dare to let the man go out. Early the next morning, he locked the man in the house, and asked the woman to take the sleeve and pull the erhu to the street, wanting to check the movement. However, the entire street has been closed to traffic. Moreover, the Japanese army and the puppet army are conducting a house-to-house search throughout the town. Ah Bing walked at the entrance of the alley, and was stopped back by the Japanese soldiers standing guard. When he returned to the house, Ah Bing told the man about the situation outside. In order to prevent the Japanese puppet army from searching again, Ah Bing asked the man to disguise himself as a woman and stay in the house, and let the woman go to Yang Laoqi to stay temporarily. Ah Bing sat in the courtyard all day long, pulling the erhu and acting as a guard. And the man pretended to be a sick woman, and lay down on the bed. Fortunately, the Japanese puppet army did not come to search again for a whole day.

In the evening, the Japanese vigilance was somewhat relaxed, and the sentry at the entrance of the alley was also removed, but the search of the Japanese puppet army continued. After dinner, it was dark. The New Fourth Army told Ah Bing that the Japanese puppet army was searching very strictly, and he wanted to leave here quickly. But Ah Bing said that now all parts of the town are tightly sealed by the Japanese puppet army, and it is difficult to get out. The man said he had to get out of town and get out of here safely as soon as he crossed the road behind the town. Ah Bing thought for a moment and said, "There is a low wall on the other side of the street, and as long as you climb over it, it will be a road. From there, you can go up to the road. The man nodded and said, "All right, get out of town from there." ”

Before leaving, the man thanked Ah Bing again and again, and said that his name was Luo Yilong, his family lived in the north lane of the town, and he was now the captain of the Taihu Detachment of the New Fourth Army. As he spoke, he took out a pen and a small notebook, wrote a few lines, tore them off and handed them to Ah Bing, asking him to keep the note, maybe it would be of any use in the future. Ah Bing was in the crack in the wall, and he walked towards the street with the leader of the New Fourth Army in a woman's dress.

It was already dark, and the commander of the New Fourth Army was wearing the black cloth clothes of the woman Anong, wrapped his head with a piece of black cloth, made a posture of a woman walking, and led A Bing step by step towards the small alley opposite. Because the Japanese puppet army was searching for the New Fourth Army everywhere, there were very few pedestrians on the streets, and even if there were pedestrians, they flashed by in a hurry, for fear of encountering the Japanese puppet army searching and patrolling the streets.

Fortunately, there was no one along the way, and they soon came to the end of the alley. There was a low wall at the end of the alley. The low wall is actually not short, it is more than two meters high. The man stepped on Ah Bing's back and immediately went up to the wall. That's the road outside town. On the other side of the highway is a vast expanse of farmland. As soon as you cross the road, you can escape safely. So, he said to Ah Bing, "Uncle Ah Bing, you are my benefactor. I'm leaving, and as long as I'm here, I'm going to repay you someday. With that, he climbed over the wall.

Ah Bing sent off the commander of the New Fourth Army, and his mood immediately felt much more relaxed. He breathed a sigh of relief, and walked back step by step with his cane. Before he could enter his yard, he heard three crisp gunshots in the fields on the other side of the road. Ah Bing understood that it was the commander of the New Fourth Army who was reporting safety to him.