Pei Lan waited for a while, but still couldn't bear it, and slowly stood up and walked over. A few steps away from the lotus pond, under a dead tree, lay a woman with a child wrapped in rags. Pei Lan looked at the woman's face and suddenly covered her mouth, the woman she had seen at the birthday banquet of the old lady of the Zhao family. How much anger Heng'er suffers has to do with her.

Pei Lan leaned over and looked at Du Zhong, who was squatting on the ground and pulling the woman with a branch, and his voice trembled a little: "Dead?"

Du Zhong nodded and said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid I've been dead for two days." My feet are rotten-------" After a pause, Du Zhong asked, "This is Zhao Shinan's second room, right?"

Perrin let out an "um".

Du Zhong looked at this woman with some indescribable feelings. The grievances of the Zhao family, he is not very clear, a married girl, it is not easy to say goodbye, except for Mrs. Zhao's birthday banquet, her own banquet, you can occasionally meet during the New Year's holidays, usually according to the rules, you can't often visit your in-laws' house. Second, Du Heng's mouth was tight, and he couldn't ask anything. But from Du Heng's escape, Mallow's imprisonment, and those words that circulated in the market, he could guess a few points.

He thought that when he saw Zheng Xiaoyu today, he might feel that he deserved it, but when he looked at the woman lying by the dead tree, her hair was scattered, her face was gray, her body was stiff, and her hands and feet were rotten, he just sighed. People, in this life, it is not easy for anyone. In this situation, people are dead, and nothing is said.

Xiaoyu may have died while breastfeeding, as can be seen from the fact that her clothes are still exposed on one side of her breasts, as well as the position of the child. Perrin sighed and asked with some trembling, "How did you die?"

Du Zhong looked around and shook his head: "Starve to death." Everyone is dead here, and it's winter, what are you going to eat?"

The child next to Xiaoyu was also dying, his face was blue, his eyes were closed, and he snorted coldly. Pei Lan is a soft-hearted person, looking at the child humming, he couldn't help but squat down and look at the child, touched his heart, it was still hot, Pei Lan picked up the child, looked at Du Zhong and said, "Give her something to stutter." ”

Du Zhong did not nod or shake his head. His gaze was a little heavy. Perrin hugged the child over, dissolved the dry food in the bag with water, held it in his mouth to warm it, and slowly put it into the child's mouth. Perlan's movements were very gentle, and after about half an hour, the child suddenly hiccuped and opened his eyes.

The morning sun hit the child's face, and it was softly glowing with a layer of gold. The child's eyes were dark, and he looked at Perrin and suddenly smiled. Her smile was pure and sweet. At that moment, Perran's heart softened and almost melted. couldn't help but raise his eyes to look at Du Zhong: "Let's take this child away." ”

Du Zhong frowned: "Let's go by ourselves, it's still hard to hold another child-" As he spoke, he looked at the child who was smiling sweetly in Peilan's arms, but he couldn't say anything. Du Zhong Peilan, who had just experienced the pain of losing a child, looked at the smiling child in her arms, and suddenly remembered her own Du Ruo, when she was young, she was not like Du Ruo's smart blinking, Du Ruo smiled stupidly all day long. But the smirking child left early. Thinking of this, Du Zhong couldn't bother to say anything else.

Pei Lan stretched out her hand and touched the child's little face, and couldn't help muttering: "Look at her little face, how much it looks like Ruo'er when she was a child." Hilarious. Saying that, he raised his eyes and looked at Du Zhong, "Do you say that God is pitiful of us without a daughter, and give us another one?"

Du Zhong's heart also softened, but he still hesitated: "She's that woman's child-"

Pei Lan was a little distracted: "The child's father doesn't know who it is." But Du Zhong and Pei Lan both knew that it was definitely not Zhao Shinan's. Perrin looked at the child and said, "Even if the parents are not good, what does the child know? The child is innocent." ”

Du Zhong didn't speak again, just sat on the stone next to him and looked into the distance, his expression was a little dazed, right and wrong, in this era of only seeking to save his life, it didn't seem so important. He asked himself, if it was an ordinary child, would he be able to save it? The answer was to save it, and no one could bear to watch a child wait for death like this. After all, it's a child, not a cat or a dog. In that case, does it matter whose child it is? She's just an ignorant child.

Pei Lan saw that the child's little face was purple, and suddenly remembered that there was a piece of quilt used by Du Ruo in the baggage, so he hurriedly took it out and wrapped it in the child, the child was warm, and his smile was sweeter. In an instant, Du Zhong and Pei Lan's hearts became softer.

A month later, Du Zhong and Pei Lan arrived in Chongqing, and the high walls of Minister Zhou's official residence were still confined. Du Zhong spent money everywhere to inquire, and learned that Du Heng and the two children were inside, and they were doing well, so he was relieved. wanted to ask someone to deliver another message to Du Heng, and they also arrived in Chongqing, but no one had the courage to do so anyway.

Spring went to autumn, Minister Zhou's official residence went from spring flowers to autumn light, and Du Heng lived here for eight months. Life is gradually getting harder. Although Minister Zhou held Du Heng in his hand, Bai Qing still took a clear stand to resist Japan. Minister Zhou felt that Du Heng had no use value, but he was reluctant to let go of this long-standing bait. Minister Zhou began to think about how to make good use of Du Heng's chess piece and Bai Qingdou.

But before Minister Zhou had time to lay out, the news of Bai Qing's sacrifice had already come from the front. In a war with the Japanese invaders, Bai Qing led a team of people, ran out of ammunition and food, and died on Tutai Ridge.

Half a month after Bai Qing's sacrifice, Du Heng learned the news from Secretary Guo's mouth. Secretary Guo was eager to see Du Heng's reaction when he personally announced the news. However, Du Heng's reaction disappointed him a little, she didn't cry loudly, nor did she faint on the ground, but just let out a faint "oh" and turned into the back room.

Life or death, in this day and age, has become numbing. Entering the back room, Du Heng's tears slowly flowed out, she stroked the bracelet on her wrist, thinking about talking about the ear and sideburns of the gramophone, thinking about the masquerade ball that returned the bracelet, and thinking about the desperate effort to save her again and again - Du Heng's heart was very painful, and she could barely breathe in pain. suddenly remembered a sentence in the drama of "Red Breeze Running at Night" in the old days, when the bearded guest saw the red whisk, "It has nothing to do with the wind and moon, just for the sincerity." ”

She and Zhao Lingquan, are they not related to Fengyue, just for sincerity? It's a pity that Shaohua is easy to pass away, and before he can see the white head in the world, the strong man has become a dry bone.

Du Heng began to worry about her and her two children's safety. Bai Qing is gone, and he has no use value. What will Minister Zhou do to them, will he let them go, or will he stop talking? She couldn't think of it. She has been locked up here for a long time, what the situation in the outside world is, she has long been unclear, if Minister Zhou's pro-Japanese situation still wants to hide, then she is very likely to be killed. Du Heng spent half a month in apprehension.

In the ninth lunar month, the Japanese army captured Wuhan and Guangzhou. The Japanese side has held secret talks with Wang Ching-wei and agreed on the establishment of a new pro-Japanese government. Wang Ching-wei and Minister Zhou have decided to split from the Nationalist Government. Minister Zhou sneaked out of Chongqing first and broke away from the Nationalist Government. Transferred to Shanghai, I entered the "protected area" of Japan.

Minister Zhou left in secret, only taking a few close relatives with him, and the rest of Minister Zhou's official residence did not know. Even Secretary Guo was surrounded by the troops of the National Government and hurriedly went to find Minister Zhou, only to find that the building had already been empty.

The Nationalist Government took control of the people in Minister Zhou's official residence. Minister Zhou and Wang Jingwei were extremely angry at their defection to the enemy and their blatant intention to set up a puppet government with the support of the Japanese. For a while, the Zhou family became the object of strict supervision by the national government.

Du Heng was anxious, the guards were replaced, but she was always a prisoner. If she can, what about the children?

Du Heng pleaded with the soldiers of the Nationalist Government guarding the country: "We are not from the Zhou family, we are locked up by the Zhou family. But no matter what she said, she still lived in the house where she used to be under house arrest, and even used to be able to let the wind out in the yard and have subordinates to serve, but now she can only stay in the house, and even three meals a day are rude. Si Heng was a little infected with the wind cold.

Du Heng asked a lot, and the soldier replied impatiently: "It's useless for you to say this, we have to wait for the order from above." How to deal with the people of the Zhou family, the above has not yet been determined. Nor can we call the shots. ”

Hades is easy to see, but the little ghost is difficult. The janitor always refused to be accommodating. Even if he handed a word to the head and said that there were a few people here who were under house arrest by the Zhou family, he was afraid of causing trouble and was unwilling. Du Heng couldn't, so he had to continue to live in the house. Freedom is still so luxurious.

On this day, Du Heng still went to the door, and was about to continue to mushroom with the soldiers, when he suddenly heard a few words with Yangzhou dialect at the gate of the courtyard, Du Heng "banged" in his heart, and hurriedly shouted in Yangzhou dialect: "Is it Yangzhou people outside the door?" "Du Heng is now using everything, and this method of climbing the villagers is also familiar.

The soldiers guarding the door couldn't understand the Yangzhou dialect, so they didn't take a stubble, Du Heng shouted twice, and finally a young man with thin eyebrows and fine eyes came in from the door, looking at the level seemed to be higher than the guard, and the guard saluted when he saw him. The man looked at Du Heng: "Are you calling?"

Du Heng nodded: "It's me." Please tell me, we are also Minister Zhou's prisoners, can you come to verify our identities first and release us. There are also two children here. The little ones are sick. ”

The man didn't speak, just looked at Du Heng carefully, and Du Heng continued to put on an almost: "Listening to your accent, it's like Yangzhou Gujiazhuang, isn't it?"

The man smiled faintly: "Have you been there?" looked at Du Heng and was slightly stunned.

Du Heng nodded: "I've lived there for a while, I'm from Yangzhou City." Du Heng didn't continue, just watched the man's reaction.