In January 1905, the Japanese army occupied Lushun and in May of the same year, the bloody storm of foreign invasion of the Chinese nation officially began.

"On the 17th, the winter moon chrysanthemum opens to the sun" This is obviously telling Zhang Guazi not to forget the original entrustment.

It has been three years since the Japanese army attacked the village at night in 23, and now there are only three people left in the Zhang family: Gua Zi, Qin Yan and Zhang Mei; If you want to talk about what happened to this mother, it is naturally a funeral;

This matter has to start with the night attack of the Japanese army in 23.

On that day, the revolutionary army fought with the Japanese army, and the revolutionary army suffered more than 1,000 casualties, hundreds of Japanese troops, more than 100 Japanese prisoners of war, more than 2,000 people in the village were persecuted to death, and more than 1,000 people were injured in the war, including Zhang's mother.

On that day, the Japanese army pushed down Zhang's mother, Zhang's mother fell to the ground with her head touching the ground, her waist was damaged by a violent impact, and Qin Yan was almost hit by the devil, causing Zhang's mother to attack her heart with blood and couldn't afford to be sick for a long time.

Zhang's family is panicked for a few days because of Zhang's mother's illness, melon seeds are often accompanied by the bed, dare not leave half a step, but the field at home is the foundation of survival, but also need to be taken care of, melon seeds run around at both ends, although they did not miss the agricultural time, and neglected to cultivate, there are ten dry acres, the grain is not more than half, and the old grain at home is less than a year; Fortunately, the family has a good wife, who is self-sufficient, only eats dregs and chaff, porridge and rice in the husband's family, and is strong to get by.

Qin Yan excused herself for "having eaten it in the kitchen a few days", and the melon seeds couldn't help but be suspicious; This land is planted with melon seeds, and the harvest of the land is better than anyone else, even if you count the old grain, it is only a year's amount, and now the daily meal is so abundant, it is impossible.

At noon one day, the melon seeds were harvested and returned home in advance, in order to find out what the reason was to make the food that was not enough for the New Year so abundant.

Melon Seed stepped into the courtyard and quietly squatted by the kitchen window to observe; Qin Yan in the kitchen was making a sumptuous lunch as usual; Just after Qin Yan picked the vegetables, the melon seeds found that those lazy vegetables and vegetable gangs were not thrown away, but washed and put aside.

When the meal was ready, Qin Yan poured the lazy vegetables and vegetable gangs on the big iron pot that had not been brushed into it and stir-fried it, and when it was cooked, she mixed it into a bowl of porridge without rice grains and ate it with relish.

Melon Seed pushed open the kitchen door, snatched the bowl in Qin Yan's hand and threw it on the ground.

Qin Yan was taken aback: "Why did you come back so early?" ”

"If I don't come back soon, you're going to starve yourself to death!" Tears wet the eyes of the melon seeds.

Qin Yan's body shook a little: "This can be eaten, and it can't be wasted." And again, you see! I threw all these things that I really couldn't eat in the box, and I could still exchange some food for the pig farmer's family. ”

"Li Dahu? When the devil entered the village, his house was copied a long time ago, there was nothing, and what kind of pigs did he raise! The melon seeds hugged Qin Yan, "I know that the food is not enough, I planted the land, and I know it in my heart; In the future, Mei'er and her mother will have to bother you, and I will find a way to solve the problem of food. Today you sit here and eat my portion, and I'll find a way to get food!" ”

Out of the courtyard gate, Zhang Guazi never thought of where to get food, so he walked with his head down; I don't know how long I walked, it shouldn't have been long, Guazi saw that there was a notice posted by the Northeast Army at the entrance of the village, so he stepped forward to take a look, two eye-catching big characters on it, but Zhang Guazi was illiterate at that time, so he listened to the fellow next to him, the Beiyang warlord Northeast Army recruited people, due to the fierce attack that night, the Northeast Army also suffered heavy losses, in order to fill the gap in troops, conscription to the towns and villages around.

Melon seeds figured it out all of a sudden, it is better to join the army; However, after the attack that night, the captain's words made him fall into deep thought, now that the foreign enemy is present, shouldn't it be to defend against the foreign enemy and kill the devil?

"Hey, you say, can this work for the surnamed Zhang get back to his roots? I feel that this surnamed Zhang can't keep it, so let's be a gunman. ”

"Hey, bothering about this? What Zhang Zuolin has in his hand is gold and silver jewelry, and the bottom is also full of money, so he must not have lost anything. ”

The discussion of the villagers on the side woke up Zhang Guazi, it turned out that the Northeast Army was working for Zhang Zuolin, it seems that it is not difficult to find someone to find out Zhang Zuolin's temperament and temperament, and it should not be difficult to get some food from Zhang Zuolin.

Zhang Guazi began to look around, but there were not many people in this small village, let alone people who had been soldiers and understood Zhang Zuolin's temperament.

He wanted to go outside and go to the county seat, after all, there were many people in the county, and there were some network resources, but it was a pity that he was hungry at noon, and his family was not rich except for daily expenses, so how could he go to the county seat? Just go home and fill your stomach. Then he remembered what he had said to his wife when he went out, it had only been an hour, and it would be too much to go back.

Wife, Qin Yan, this is a breakthrough. Qin Yan is the daughter-in-law that her mother asked for from her grandmother in a neighboring village, and this grandmother does some things to protect the media on weekdays, so she knows more about this Zhang Zuolin.

Of course, Zhang Guazi also thought of it, but he had never been to this grandmother's house, except for his mother, when he saw his grandmother, he was not invited by his grandmother; However, the neighboring village is not far away, relying on two legs, that is, half an hour, Zhang Guazi did not want to go home and lose face, so he simply went to the neighboring village.

The road to the neighboring village is not easy to walk, because the villages are all independent, rarely come and go, the road to the neighboring village, full of weeds, and there is a jungle cover, inevitably some poisonous cordyceps, snakes, jackals, tigers and leopards.

Zhang Guazi looked at the entrance of the village, there were two paths, one leading to the county seat, and the other leading to the neighboring village. He hesitated, the road was as far as the eye could see, completely obscured by the hanging willow.

The sick mother at home, the young Mei'er and the wife who promised to live well and had been eating bran vegetables for several days, Zhang Guazi gritted her teeth and took the first step, which is a man's commitment and the responsibility of the only pillar of the whole family.

The first half of the race was quite calm, except for the mosquitoes and the occasional rat, there was nothing to be afraid of; Zhang Guazi was already sweating profusely because of the psychological effect.

With a slight light in front, Zhang Guazi let down his guard and let go of his heart; However, just when Zhang Guazi thought that he was about to get out of this gloomy path smoothly, the wind blew up, rolling up dust and sand, and Zhang Guazi, who was blind, vaguely saw a floating figure in front of him; Zhang Guazi was startled, and his crotch was slightly wet: "I'll wipe it!" Hell! ”

Zhang Guazi squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, the wind was blowing through his ears, and his hair stood up.

After a while, the wind slowly stopped, and Zhang Guazi tentatively looked at the position of the figure in front of him along the gap in his arm.

A vivid scarecrow, with a skirt fluttering slightly in the wind, stood there.

Zhang Guazi scolded his mother angrily, I don't know who put the scarecrow in the middle of the exit of the path, just let the wind and sand blind, and did not see a wooden pole fixed in the soil under the figure.

It's also a shame that Zhang Guazi did a morning of farm work, and came out without eating or drinking when he went home, otherwise now, it will no longer be a simple crotch that is slightly wet, but the lower body is transparent.

Out of the path is the neighboring village, Zhang Guazi stepped into the village gate of the neighboring village, and the uncle on the side stepped forward to look at this unfamiliar face.

"Young man, from the neighboring village?" Uncle spoke slowly.

"Yes, uncle, come to find the grandmother of our village, do you know" Zhang Guazi bowed his waist to show respect.

"Grandma Sun, that's a famous matchmaker in our village, who doesn't know it?" The uncle raised his eyebrows, "Young man, what's the matter with Grandma Sun?" ”

The uncle seemed to have guessed something, Zhang Guazi thought to himself, this inquiry about Zhang Zuolin can't be said casually, so he pushed the boat down the river on the uncle's guess: "Harm, this is not a big man, not too small, first find grandma Sun to ask for a wife." ”

"Oh ~ Okay, turn right in front, and the third from the bottom is it." The uncle poked his head, "Oh, by the way, knock on the door three times, and then shake the bell at the door." ”

After Zhang Guazi thanked the uncle, he went in the direction he pointed.

Grandma's house is not difficult to find, and the only one that enters the alley and the door is closed.

Zhang Guazi was about to knock on the door, and remembered what the uncle said, "Knock the bell three times and shake the bell", so he did so.

After a while, the door opened, but there was no one to open it. Zhang Guazi is also unusual, the courtyard door of anyone's house has to be opened, and the courtyard door of this grandmother's house has opened by itself.

Zhang Guazi pushed open the courtyard door, probed in first, and found that there was no mystery, so he walked in generously.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I could only hear a voice in the house: "Melon seeds!" ”

Zhang Guazi is also the second monk who is confused, he remembered to come to Sun Po Niang halfway, and he didn't tell anyone how this Sun Po Niang knew about his arrival.

"Ah, yes, Aunt Sun, come and talk to you about a matchmaker." The melon seed still didn't clarify the intention, he knew that the neighbors around him had their ears pricked up, and he also knew that this grandmother could guess that he was coming, and she would definitely be able to guess the meaning.

"Come, say in the house." As soon as Grandma Sun's words fell, the door opened by itself.

The furnishings in this house are no different from ordinary homes, except that some old wood carvings and wrought iron are hung.

Grandma Sun walked out of the back room and greeted melon seeds; Speaking of which, this courtyard is so weird inside and outside the courtyard, but this grandmother is very normal, verbose and rambling, and she also has the same gossip temperament as the old woman in the village, put her legs on the kang, and began to ask about Qin Yan's arrival at Zhang Guazi's wife and children's hot kang head, but also because of the old disrespect, her eyes widened, and she approached to ask about the male and female having sex together.

Although there are no dangers along the way, and the grandmother's mother's house is weird, but the gossip about the hot kang head of the wife and children can be regarded as what Zhang Guazi wants, although it is not about Zhang Zuolin, but for Guazi who wants to join the army, it is more practical to contact an officer from a neighboring village. It's just that under the questioning of this grandmother, Zhang Guazi and Qin Yan's troubles at the beginning of the night can be regarded as unbearable.