Dihua (now Urumqi) in 1932.

Every time the lamp is held, the ancient city on the border is like a huge iron pot with a leaky bottom, buckled below, and the starlight squeezed out of the hole is dazzling. The streets, which snake like black pythons, have gradually become obscure. Only a few dim lanterns in front of the big house, tired and tenaciously shining.

Suddenly, from the end of the street, there were several crisp gunshots, which suddenly shattered the previous peace. The sleeping ancient city, like a fledgling about to break out of its shell, showed a slight but floating wriggling.

The sound of the gunshot aroused Shoko's curiosity, and he carefully opened the courtyard door and poked his head out.

With the sound of chaotic footsteps, a dozen soldiers ran in front of the door, looking like goats being chased by wolves, and they all exerted their strength to feed.

There was a hurried and chaotic sound of horses' hooves, and five or six fast horses galloped past like a gust of wind.

Shoko watched intently, thinking about the story that happened in front of her. Suddenly, I felt a strange itch on my neck like ants running and moving, accompanied by a faint fragrance.

Shoko's throat gurgled a little, and he knew it was Juanzi. The alluring incense is the smell of pancreas on Juanzi's body. I don't know when, Juanzi's head has been hidden under Xiangzi's armpit, and what makes him itchy is Juanzi's playful hair. Shoko tried to suppress it, trying to breathe rapidly, obsessively enjoying, the wonderful feeling that itched to the heart.

I don't know whose shrewd dog barked a few times, and then the dogs all over the city should be together. One after another, the barking of dogs, from near to far, spread like a plague.

"—Hey! What are you two doing? There is chaos outside, why don't you come and plug the door quickly, aren't you afraid of attracting thieves? The rooster-like sound was made by Yao Fugui Yao's shopkeeper.

As if stung by a wasp, Juanzi dodged and straightened up. Immediately, he made a casual appearance, bowed his head and fiddled with the big braid that fell on his chest.

Shoko looked a little flustered with her hands and feet, and put the deadbolt in her hands. Under the moonlight, Yao's shopkeeper hid under the gray gown, with two legs lacking moisture, tenaciously supporting, and a slightly rickety body. With a somewhat exaggerated figure-of-eight step, he swayed leisurely.

Shoulder-length variegated hair that covers both sides of the face. Only the spectacle lenses and the top of the head, which was decapitated, glowed faintly.

Seeing Xiangzi turn around, Shopkeeper Yao said angrily: "Add some watercress to the big black horse, and I want to go out tomorrow." ”

Shoko answered with her mouth in her mouth, turned around and walked towards the backyard. Shopkeeper Yao chased after him, shouting angrily: "Don't feed the white horse!" I don't do any work, I don't do anything. ”

When Juanzi heard this, she made an exaggerated grimace at her father Yao, turned around and walked happily towards her room.

Xiangzi glanced back at Juanzi's house, the lights were on, and the pair of bright red double-fish window flower paper-cuts were particularly eye-catching. He laughed, raised his right arm and lowered his head to smell it, in addition to the familiar smell of sweat, there seemed to be a faint aftertaste.

He happily carried most of the half-liter watercress to the stable in the backyard, first dug a nest of dried alfalfa under the mouth of the white horse and poured half a liter, and then poured the rest on the alfalfa under the mouth of the black horse. Because there was no obstacle from alfalfa, the white horse ate the watercress cleanly, while the black horse was still trying to find the watercress grains scattered in the cracks of the dried alfalfa.

Shoko smoothed out the alfalfa under the white horse's mouth and smiled with satisfaction. Because the white horse is Juanzi's special seat, except for Xiangzi who rides out for a walk every day, no one is allowed to move, let alone work on a set of cars.

Shopkeeper Yao is in Dihua City, and he is not very rich, so he can be regarded as a middle-class person. There are three shops in front of the door, mainly engaged in daily groceries, pots and pans, needles and threads, and dry goods and seasonings.

In addition, there is a * Suzhou and Hangzhou silk and satin village at the entrance of the street. The façade of the silk village is rented, but the three shops and this courtyard are their own property.

On the right hand of the gate, there are three storefronts on the street, and the left hand is two bright and three dark, which is the housing of Yao's shopkeeper and his daughter. To the right of the front yard, a row of six rooms is the warehouse and Shoko's house. There are also six rooms on the left, two of which are temporary rooms for visiting relatives and friends, and the other three are houses for the guys.

The yard was separated and became a backyard, where three horses were fed, and a small carriage with rubber wheels for two horses was parked. In the corner of the wall, lies a loyal little yellow dog.

Huang Xing, as usual, waited for everyone to sleep, and then took the lantern around. See if the door is plugged in and if there is any fire in the stove......

Huang Xing's task in Yao's house, in addition to having important goods and pressing goods with the dart bureau, is usually mainly to take care of the family. He usually slept in the house after lunch, and did not go out until everyone had slept.

Huang Xing turned the courtyard back and forth, confirmed that there was no problem, and then returned to the house where he lived alone, put down the lantern and sat cross-legged on the kang, and leisurely rolled a Mohe cigarette. After swallowing clouds and spitting fog for a while, he habitually took the book of "Water Margin", which had already made him turn his hair. I flipped a page at random and read it with relish.

When he saw Pan Jinlian and trying to seduce Wu Song's wonderful joke, the little yellow dog in the backyard barked a few times. He listened quietly for a while, but there was no movement. So, he returned to Wu Dalang's home.

As Wu Song slammed the door out, Huang Xing heard some subtle sounds. He listened intently for a moment, and knew that there was someone in the backyard, and there was more than one.

So, he quickly blew out the lantern and dodged the kang and opened the door of the house. Then, he quickly inserted the dagger that had followed him for many years into his waist, took out a few jujube-sized stones from under the pillow, pinched them in the palm of his hand and hid them behind the door, and watched the movement outside the house.

The wooden gate leading to the backyard slowly opened. Three people hunched out of it, timid looking, like three newly moved mice.

The three black shadows slowly moved to the middle of the courtyard, and stopped under the old elm tree.

The night sky in early autumn is always unclear. A thin layer of clouds easily disappeared the stars in the sky, leaving only a gray patch.

In the haze, I only heard someone lower his voice and said, "On the right is the young lady's room, and on the left is the shopkeeper Yao." The sixth son was on guard outside, Xiao Wu and I entered the house, and when we got the money, we would do it, and we couldn't leave anything alive. You can't shoot until it's a matter of life and death."

When Huang Xing heard this, he immediately became angry. He secretly scolded in his heart: Crazy guy, I met my grandfather and me today, and I will definitely call you a doll with no money. So the root of the tooth bit and secretly moved the killing machine. On closer inspection, the three of them were indeed carrying the guy in their hands.

Three black shadows slowly moved to the door of Yao's shopkeeper. One of them crouched down and pried the door with a bright bayonet, apparently still an expert. It didn't take long for the left half of the door to be unloaded silently.

Here to repeat a few words, the door in front of it did not hinge, the two sides of the door were made of a whole plank, and the side against the door frame was left at the upper and lower corners of the whole plank, leaving a short axis each, which is called the door compilation. The door buckle is made of iron, one male and one female, which is called ruthenium.

said that it was too late, and then it was too fast, I saw Huang Xing, who was hidden behind the three black shadows, raised his hand, and with a shout, the gun in the black shadow's hand fell to the ground. As soon as the black shadow who pried the door turned around, a stone hit his left eye, and with a "bang", the bayonet fell to the ground, covering his face with both hands, and screaming.

The black shadow standing on the side looking at the wind, seeing that something was wrong, fled to the backyard in panic. Huang Xing took a step forward, grabbed the rifle on the ground, loaded the bullet with a bang, and with a crisp gunshot, the black shadow that was running fell next to the manger in response. The three horses were startled and snorted in panic.

Shoko heard the movement, put on her clothes, and flashed out of the door, just in time for the black shadow that fell in response. He rushed over, and when he saw that the shadow was dragging one leg forward, he pulled a piece of rope with his hand, tied the man firmly, and dragged one hand through the back collar to the front yard like a dead pig.

At this time, the shopkeeper Yao also wore a jacket diagonally, rushed out of the door in a panic, holding an unlit lantern, and shouted in fear: "What's the matter? What's up? Why are you still shooting? ”

Xiangzi lit the horse lantern, and the dim light laboriously illuminated half of the courtyard.

The original three black shadows have been tied up like zongzi. The three of them were all men in their early twenties, and from their tattered uniforms and three blood-ischemic faces, Huang Xing concluded that they were deserters.

At this time, Huang Xing suddenly felt uncomfortable with a squirming in his internal organs. He tried his best to suppress the difficult memories, not wanting to equate himself with the three people in front of him. Yes, it's shameful to be a deserter. But what's even more tragic is that the soldiers don't know who to carry a gun for and who to fight for.

However, facts are facts, and I have one thing in common with them - they are all deserters! The difference is that although he has also suffered all kinds of hardships and misfortunes, he has never lost his conscience as a human being.

He glanced sideways at three people who were shaking like chaff, one with a bruise the size of an egg bulging from the back of his hand, one with his left eye swollen like a donkey*, and the other with a piercing eye on his thigh, and a wound bleeding red.

When Huang Xing heard that they had not received a sound for half a year and were going to southern Xinjiang to fight with Gani Yazi (the anti-government Uyghur armed forces at that time), his heart was inexplicably shaken.

He leaned down, quickly untied the rope, and sighed to himself as if he had done something wrong.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, accompanied by a wolf-like cry: "Open the door!" Open the door! The police! ”

Shopkeeper Yao heard the sound and ran on tiptoe to open the door. Huang Xing turned his head to stop him, and it was too late, and five or six policemen rushed in.

Huang Xing remained silent and continued to untie the rope. The policeman with a short gun on his back, with a face that lacked flesh like being licked by a wolf, squinted at two small eyes that seemed to have been cut out by a knife, and shouted: "What's the matter! What's going on! Who fired the shot? ”

Shopkeeper Yao leaned forward with a smile on his face, pointed at the three trembling soldiers with his finger, and shouted: "They are thieves!" ”

The policeman, who was as thin as a ghost, with a flash of mouse eyes, approached the three of them, squinted and looked at them, and asked in a strange voice: "Say!" What are you doing? In the middle of the night, why are you in someone's yard? ”

The three soldiers seemed to disdain his obscenity, and hung their necks and did not speak. The thin ghost policeman scolded strangely: "Damn, give Lao Tzu a hard mile!" ”

As he spoke, he gave the soldier a kick, and he was shocked. Impatiently, he waved his hand to the policeman behind him and said, "Handcuffed!" Take it back to the police station! ”

Several policemen rushed up and handcuffed the three men, picked up the rifles leaning against the door, and the bayonets that had been thrown on the ground, and prepared to leave.

At this time, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves, from far and near, and then stopped in front of the door of Yao's shopkeeper.