"Dad, the Japanese have already occupied the entire provincial capital yesterday, and it will only be a matter of the past two days to hit us, and it will really be too late if you don't leave! Dad, let's hurry up!" The eldest son, Zhang Haonan, hurriedly walked in and persuaded his old father Zhang Honglin with tears in his eyes.

Zhang Honglin still waved his hand at them with a hard heart and said, "You guys go! I want to stay!"

Zhang Honglin was sitting on a golden silk nanmu Taishi chair in the middle of the hall, looking at everything in front of him with a gloomy expression: the lobby and corridor were all full of all kinds of boxes, his five sons, five daughters-in-law, fifteen granddaughters and six of his sons' concubines, and four old servants who did not want to be sent away were standing next to him, and they were looking at him with expectant eyes.

"Daddy!"

The five sons cried out together.

"The 'heirlooms' that have been handed down from generation to generation are left here, how can I leave, will I be infamous as a descendant of the Zhang family, and what kind of face do you let me have to meet the ancestors and ancestors underground? I want to stay here, you can go! Leave me alone. ”

"Dad, it's not that the child is unfilial, it's really the collection of books on the first floor, and it can't be taken away at this moment!

"The book is here, I'm here!"

"Dad, the Japanese are extremely cruel, killing people and setting fires everywhere they go, burning them all over the place, and there are really no room left here! Dad! Let's hurry up, it's too late to leave! Dad!" The second son, Zhang Haomin, wiped his tears and persuaded the old man bitterly.

"I know that the Japanese hate us Chinese scholars the most. I hate our culture for thousands of years, and now the books are left in our homes, and once those Dongying people find out, they will definitely burn the books!" Zhang Honglin patted his knees and sighed.

The third son, Zhang Haowen, said anxiously: "Dad, then you still ......"

He took out a red cloth bag from his bosom in a trembling manner, opened it slowly, and took out a few pieces of paper: "This is the deed and the house deed here here, and this one is the deed of the house I bought in Tianjin with a friend a few years ago." I originally thought that several of you brothers had been abroad, and there was a little ink in your stomach, and I wanted you to go there to do some business, but I really didn't expect it...... Now it's used, Haonan, as the eldest son of the Zhang family, you have to take good care of your younger siblings. ”

The sons have always felt that their father is ruthless, and when they see this, they can't help but have red circles in their eyes, and the eldest son Haonan even cried out: "Dad, it turns out that you ...... I have done a good job for us a long time ago......"

"Let's go, if you don't go, it's really too late!" the old man turned his head away from them, waved his hand, and motioned for them to leave quickly.

"How can we let our father stay and take this risk? Is it worth it for these waste papers?" Zhang Haokai, the fourth man with an impatient temperament, suddenly jumped up and said, "Hmph, I'll set them on fire now, and see if you leave or not! Anyway, we can't leave you here alone!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately rushed into the kitchen angrily, took out oil bottles and matches, and the fifth Zhang Haodong and a few servants hurriedly chased after him and grabbed him, but was pushed away by the fourth child, and the fourth rushed to the front of the building, poured oil upstairs, and was just about to draw a match.

Suddenly, a black figure rushed towards the fourth child like lightning, and bit him the wrist, before the fourth child had time to light the fire, the match flew out of his hand, he staggered a few steps and fell to the ground, his wrist was torn a large hole and blood flowed, and the hem of the robe was torn open with a large hole, and he covered his face and throat with his hands in horror.

It turned out that he was attacked by a half-man tall, fat and strong beast with fierce eyes like a tiger and a dog. Its front paws pressed against him, baring its sharp teeth, glaring at him viciously, as if it was going to bite him again at any moment.

"Alright, dog, come here!" Zhang Honglin called to him.

The big black dog immediately obediently let go of the fourth child, and returned to lie down in the shadow by the library. It rested its head on its paws, but its eyes remained wary on the man in front of it.

"Dad was right to save this dog back then. The beast really understood the Entu retribution. The eldest son hurriedly picked up the frightened fourth child and smiled at the old father.

"Hmph, don't divert from the conversation. Zhang Honglin snorted coldly, "Son, our Zhang family has been scholarly for generations, how could we raise you like this...... This is the library left by our ancestors......! I'm going to burn them, why don't you hurry up!"

As he spoke, he shook his hand angrily and went back to the back room alone.

The brothers began to complain about the recklessness of the fourth child, and a group of frightened family members who stood aside began to argue and complain, but they finally failed to convince Zhang Honglin to leave together, and the next morning, the children and grandchildren left the stubborn Zhang Honglin and embarked on a journey to escape the war......

The Zhang family's mansion, which used to be full of children and grandchildren, plus servants, and dozens of people, always felt crowded and lively, but now it suddenly became empty. Zhang Honglin watched the carriage of his children and grandchildren disappear before turning back to the house, he told the only old servant who accompanied him to make a cup of tea, sighed, and walked towards the library.

Zhang Honglin's ancestors for three generations have people in the imperial court officials, and later resigned and returned to their hometowns to collect books for fun, so they built this library building, his father and he are obsessed with books, and have always taken the management of this library building as a lifelong career, although it is not a well-known large library building, but it is a condensation of the efforts of several generations of the Zhang family.

Zhang Honglin looked up at the two-story brick and stone building, and sighed.

He walked slowly into the pavilion, picked up a few books and flipped a few pages, then put them down again, sighed, and turned and walked out into the courtyard.

As soon as the "big dog" saw him enter the building, he stood up and looked at him with a serious face.

This "big dog" was picked up by Zhang Honglin two years ago.

Early that morning, Zhang Honglin was walking along the path in the woods not far from his home as usual, when he suddenly heard a sound coming from the woods and went over to take a look.

But he saw a terrible scene: dozens of wild dog carcasses lying on the grass, blood everywhere on the grass, on the ground, and on the trees, several dogs had their heads torn off, some had their limbs incomplete, their internal organs had been torn out, and each dog's teeth and claws were stained with blood, apparently the group of dogs had bitten each other like this.

Zhang Honglin boldly walked over to check and found that one of the "big dogs" with a strange appearance like a tiger and a dog covered in blood was still alive, and it was holding half of another dog's head in its mouth.

Zhang Honglin felt compassion for a while and asked someone to carry him home. When he saw the murderous eyes of the black dogs, although they couldn't move, he couldn't help but think that those dead dogs were bitten to death by him one by one.

At this time, the black dog was already dying, and his whole body was injured. It took Zhang Honglin to recuperate carefully for more than half a month before it came back to life.

The "big dog" looked even more terrible after the injury, fierce and fierce, and his eyes always showed cold light.

Soon everyone found out that this "big dog" could not bark, no one had ever seen or heard of a dog being mute, it was silent, it never made a dog bark in its mouth, and it was like a ghost moving silently when it walked around the courtyard.

The babies cried out in fright when they saw it, and the servants walked around it when they saw it, and none of the animals dared to come near it within ten paces.

In fact, the temperament of this "big dog" is quite tame and humane, knowing that Zhang Honglin is its savior, he has always obeyed him, and after recovering from his injury, he began to loyally guard the library for him.

From that time on, except for Zhang Honglin himself, even the servants who cleaned it had to say "yes" to it in person before it let them step into this building.

"Dog!" Hong Lin barked, and the black dog immediately ran towards him in small steps, because no one named it, so he kept calling it "dog".

"Dogs. Zhang Honglin gently stroked its head, "I'm the only one left here, everyone is gone, but I will never leave, I want to guard these books, these books are the life's work of my grandfather, father and myself, I will never leave them behind." If the Japanese burn the books, I will live and die with these books! Dog, you better go, you may be able to find a way to survive outside, don't stay here with me and wait for death, go quickly. ”

He had never treated it like this, and it seemed to hesitate to avoid his hand touching its head, but it accepted his caress proudly.

"Big Dog" looked up at him slowly.

"I've raised you for more than two years, although you are a mute dog, but I always think that you are human, you have been guarding this library for me all these years, it is really hard for you, now you go. ”

I don't know if the dog really understood, but it actually stood up and walked to the door. It walked a few steps and looked back at Zhang Honglin.

"Let's go, let's go! I don't want you anymore, you can find a way to survive by yourself!" Zhang Honglin waved his hand to signal it to leave.