Chapter 2: Flowers in May (Part 2)

The further north you go, the more crowded the road becomes.

Rich and poor, religious accents, at this moment, almost all the chasms that can divide people have disappeared automatically, and everyone has only one thing in mind, escape, escape, escape as far as possible, even if it is one step further south, it is Yashan!

In order to take as much of the family's valuables as possible, the evacuees requisitioned all the livestock and vehicles they could travel. Horse-drawn carts, donkey carts, ox carts, flatbed carts, wheelbarrows, ...... each cart was stuffed with parcels large and small, and around each cart, there were countless sad and confused faces.

In the rolling flow of people, the three carriages are like flat boats in two big rivers, sometimes hidden, sometimes appearing, swaying, and there is a possibility of capsizing at every moment. The well-informed car boss was in a hurry, and with a straight face, he brushed the whip with a crackling sound. Tian Renyu, who has always regarded himself as a bold and old-fashioned man, was also sweating all over his head, holding Han Qiu's waist firmly with one hand, and pressing the other hand on his waist, a short dagger more than three feet long.

He was on guard against the idea of a horse-drawn carriage, and in fact, there were many people trying to intercept the three precious vehicles by various means. There was a man in his 40s who spoke the sound of the door of Jin, and he fell to the ground against the carriage, crying and screaming. Seeing that the owner of the car did not stop, he immediately jumped up vigorously and pulled the reins of the horse with four or five other men with the same accent. The car boss whipped each of them, pulled off their hands, and then violently ripped off the black coat on his body, and pulled out a dark red pennant from his waist, "Bang! "The ground slammed into the wheel." Something that doesn't have long eyes, even the car of the Red Flag Gang dares to make up your mind, are you impatient? ”

In the irritable hot wind, the flagpole made of iron shimmered with a cold cold light. I don't know if they were frightened by the horizontal flesh on the car owner's face, or forced by the prestige of the Red Flag Gang, several scoundrels who tried to rob the car stepped aside, wiped their sweat and bowed to the convoy to apologize.

The owner of the car was unwilling to entangle with them, and brandished a long whip to urge the convoy to move on. They had not gone far when two young women with their children in their arms cried and caught up with them, begging the carriage to take them to Baoding. "Eldest sister, Baoding is in the southwest, let's go north! You're asking the wrong person! Lu Ming couldn't bear to watch the two women and two dolls crying in front of him, bent down, and patiently explained.

"It's twenty miles, it's twenty miles away. Look back, it's only half an hour away! The two young women immediately lifted the child up and carried it to the car. At the same time, four or five men carrying boxes, parcels, pots and pans on their backs, and two old ladies over half a hundred years old, rushed towards the carriage together.

"We are going to Beiping, to Beiping. You get the idea. We ask to fight the Japanese invaders, for the sake of you people, to fight the Japanese invaders! Fang Guoqiang stood up suddenly, pointing to a large family of men, women, and children who tried to defraud the right to ride, hating iron but not steel, "As a man, I can't even protect my home, wife and children." Before I heard the gunshots, I ran away first, you are not ashamed, you are not ashamed! Let him throw the child up, Xiao Zhang, don't stop it, don't stop everyone! Let's take the children to Beiping, it is better to let them die under the guns of the Riben people than to follow their fathers and mothers! ”

The big family was stunned by the scolding, and for a moment, they actually forgot to continue pestering. The carriage took advantage of this opportunity to leap four or five paces and redistance itself from them. "Daddy-" "Daddy-" The young women and the child in their arms wept in unison, sounding so grieved and helpless. Several big men's faces turned blood-red, looking at the carriage getting farther and farther, and no one could muster up the courage to entangle. After a long time, he spat on the ground viciously, pulled the child from his mother-in-law's hand, carried it on his shoulder, and strode south.

"It's a man's, follow us north. Go to Beiping, go to Wanping, go to fight with the Japanese! Fang Guoqiang, who had just finished scolding others, stood on the bumpy carriage with tears on his face, "Compatriots, you can't run away anymore." We fled from the northeast to Guannai, and from there to Shandong. When the Japanese catch up again, where can you escape?! Although China is big, there will always be a time when there is nowhere to go! At that point, how are you going to turn back?! Compatriots, stand up, stand up, cheer up. We have 450 million, and the Japanese don't even have a fraction of ours......"

Whether anyone was listening or not, he shouted hoarsely and waved his arms like a madman. A few groups of people who tried to hit the carriage idea hesitated to retreat. Not necessarily because he understood Fang Guoqiang's words, but because he was frightened by Fang Guoqiang's crazy appearance. Their tricks, whether they pretend to be pitiful and beg, lie on the ground and play scoundrels, including the use of violence, are all aimed at normal people. And when used to deal with a "madman", the gains often outweigh the losses.

With the three people of the car boss, Tian Renyu and Fang Guoqiang, the carriage finally entered a large market town safely at dusk. The name of this market town is Huluyu, which is hilly to the north and south, and a small clear lake to the east. There is only one exit on the west side, and it is next to the road and rail to the north.

The whole town was already packed with people fleeing from the north. Large and small vehicles, clogging the narrow streets into a maze. Chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep were in their cages, screaming in fright. The dogs, which were left unattended, swirled around each new carriage, trying to attract the attention of the occupants with their barks and towering tails, in exchange for a full night.

Tian Qingyu asked several hotels one after another, and there was no doubt that they were all full. He was unwilling to continue to walk deeper into the town, and asked four or five more in succession, but the shopkeeper still made a helpless expression. It wasn't until I was almost on the riverside that I got good news from the proprietress of a carriage and horse shop, the Peace Hotel in the north of the town may still have empty rooms, but the price, "Look at you student babies are not without money, you can find a place to live, don't get sick and worry the adults in the family, it's better than anything else!" ”

"Thank you, big sister!" Tian Renyu clasped his fists with both hands, made a picture of a Jianghu person, and thanked the proprietress.

"I've had enough fun, go home early, ah! This is a mess, don't let your family worry! The proprietress of the carriage and horse shop was amused by his hard man's style, giggled, waved the fire chopsticks in her hand, and exhorted loudly.

"Well, got it, thank you, big sister!" Tian Renyu responded impatiently and led the convoy straight to the north of the town. Sure enough, not far from the town office, I found a four-story imitation European-style high-rise building with a pure white body. At the entrance of the building, there is a common mountain gate in front of an oriental temple, and the blue plaque in the center of the beam has four big characters written on it, "Peace Hotel"!

In such a remote town, the students were overjoyed to find such a majestic-looking hotel. Who has the leisure to care about the layout of the hotel. Cheering and jumping out of the carriage, dragging his sore legs and rushing to the hotel lobby, he asked the lobby manager about the price, and his head immediately drooped again.

"There are only single and double rooms left, four oceans a day for a single room, five dollars a day for each bed in a double room, and five dimes per horse per day for a stable rental. Breakfast plus a dime, lunch and dinner go to the restaurant on the second floor to order your own, the current price! The mustachioed lobby manager didn't lift his eyelids and reported a series of staggering numbers.

"Well, that's too expensive!"

"Boss, aren't you sitting on the ground!"

Rao Shidu once lived in the provincial capital, and the students were also stunned by the price of the Peace Hotel. In these days, even in the provincial capital of Shandong, a silver dollar could buy five catties of pork, twenty catties of rice, or eight feet of cotton cloth. Staying in the Peace Hotel for one night, it actually costs five pieces, not including three meals!

"It's too expensive, it's too expensive, go outside to find a big car shop to sleep in a bunk! As long as you can still find it! The mustachioed shopkeeper looked like he didn't have to worry about good goods, and pouted in response, "You're really right, just sit on the ground and start the price." A piece of five is the price of today's stay, and wait until tomorrow after noon, the price has to go up! ”

"You, you're making a fortune!" Tian Renyu hit the fire upwards and slapped the counter, wanting to reason with the mustache. Seeing this, team leader Zhou Jue hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop him, and then discussed with the mustache with a smile, "Boss, you see that there are so many of us, can you give a discount." We are from the south, and we are going to Beiping to join Chairman Song's army to defend our home and country! ”

"Discounted?" The mustache shook his head with a smile, directly ignoring the second half of Zhou Jue's words, "Look at your appearance is also a neat person, you can even say such a thing?!" You go out to inquire, our hotel was where even President Cao Da and Premier Duan stayed back then. It is better to be empty than to fall in value. If you can't stay, if you don't stay, you will dodge, and I have to greet other guests. Next....."

"Five double rooms, one single room! Book two days first! A young man in a tunic quickly rushed forward from the door and responded loudly.

"It's you. What's the matter, came back in a circle?! The mustachioed shopkeeper pinched him lightly with his eyelids, and asked with a bit of mockery.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The tunic forced a smile of anger, took out his wallet, and took out a stack of fiat currency from the central bank.

"Don't want Sun Yat-sen, want Yuan Datou!" The mustache pushed the tunic hand away, emphasizing impatiently. (Note 1)

"This, this ......." The tunic looked red and discussed with the other party in a low voice, "We, we went in a hurry, no, we didn't bring so many oceans." You, look, can we add some more money?! ”

"No, no, no. There is a war coming soon, who knows what Sun Yat-sen's market will be next year?! If you don't have Yuan Datou, I'll be busy here?! The mustache didn't have the heart to talk nonsense with Zhongshan at all, so he glanced at him and said viciously.

"I ......" a young man in a Mao suit held a bulging wallet and looked around. Suddenly, his gaze met Zhou Jue's, and his pale face was immediately filled with surprise, "Zhou Shishi, is it you?" How are you here! ”

Note 1: Sun Yat-sen, a legal tender issued by the Bank of the Republic of China, with Sun Yat-sen's portrait printed on it. On the silver dollar, the statue of Yuan Shikai is cast.