In the land of the alluvial plain of the Yellow River, the fifth master did not have a lot of wealth, nor thousands of acres of fertile land, let alone a celebrity, but he had his own legend.

The fifth master's family was originally prosperous, and there were two large depressions in the west and south directions of the village, and the land was open, and there were no big landlords and rich people in several villages nearby. Relying on generations of wasteland accumulation, there are also dozens of acres of fields. If it had not been for the gunfire of 918, if the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders had not set foot on this quiet and fertile land, the fifth master would have been like thousands of ancestors, resting from sunrise to sunset, eating the grain grown in his own fields, wearing old coarse cloth woven by himself, and living a self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy.

Farming in the busy season and doing a little business in the slack season is the life trajectory of their generation in that era, but the business he does is a bit special, similar to the current targeting, rings, darts to win gifts and the like. He called it "Vertical Bo", at a fixed time to catch up with the stalls, sometimes win and sometimes lose, meet the ignorant and want to be greedy for cheap to win him a few small money, if you accidentally run into an expert, lose is inevitable, the worst one, not only all the gifts were swept away, but also banned for half a year, that was his darkest time. When he got home, the fifth master locked his small box and put it high on the partition above his bedroom door, and he really hadn't touched it for half a year. In that era, he lived with credibility, and he lived with backbone.

The fifth master has never married a wife in his life, because his appearance is really bad, in his own words: I am afraid of ruining other people's daughters. People who don't know him can't tell his actual age at all, especially in winter, wearing a big "three-fan" hat, covering a big cotton jacket, high-waisted and big cotton pants, copying with both hands, squatting at the root of the wall, you can be as old as you want. And the eyes are not good, there is an eye disease, one eye is big, one eye is small, the big eye has a layer of glass flowers, the eyesight is very poor, the small eye is covered by loose eyelids, but it is very sharp, almost at a glance can see through other people's minds, the nose is particularly smart, whose bun is oiled, whose bun is less material, he can smell it as soon as he smells it. The fifth master's old mother said that if it weren't for the fifth child's poor appearance, his five brothers would be tied together, and they would not be able to compare to him. The brain turns fast, and you see what someone says, otherwise you won't be able to make a living from that "vertical blog".

Although he was banned for half a year, the fifth master was not idle, and he had the opportunity to learn from his peers. With both hands, I squatted next to the stall of my peers not far away, and I knew it well. Half a year passed, the fifth master took off his suitcase, wiped it clean, and teased his eldest niece Jun'er on his lap, "Uncle will go and mix buns for you to eat, and wait obediently at home." With a coarse cloth on his shoulders and a suitcase on his back, he started his "vertical blog" business again. Without a wife and no queen, he took it as his responsibility to love the children of his brothers, and every time he came back from the market, his niece greeted him happily, poured the steamed buns into the dry food basket and watched his niece eat happily, which was his greatest happiness. It's just that he always locked his outfit firmly in a small wooden box, and the key was bolted to the wide cloth belt that his brother and daughter-in-law had woven for him, and he never allowed his family to move, and repeatedly warned his family: This is not a good thing, it is not good to touch it, and nine out of ten gamblers lose.

The warlord melee is becoming more and more intense, today this occupies Jinan Mansion, another day that occupies Dezhou City, the life of the common people is becoming more and more difficult, the big livestock in the pen are gone, there are only a few pigs and sheep in the pen that eat bran and grass, the empty hoarding of grain is full of cobwebs, eating the last meal but not the next meal, and the foolish life after meal. Conscription, conscription, grain and grasping the strong, stubble after stubble. "Zhang Zongchang sits in Jinan, one tael of silver and two taels." This popular nursery rhyme is a true portrayal of the taxation of that period. In the autumn of 1937, Texas fell, and the Japanese army stepped into this place, which Mr. Zhang Jiruo called a blessed land, and the aircraft and artillery shattered the last trace of tranquility. For many years, people have adhered to the prophecy of Mr. Zhang Jiruo: "Nuo village does not move county, and revolves around Jiyang." "Mr. Artemisia once said that there will be no catastrophe in the land of Jiyang, and it was true before the invasion of the Japanese devils, the Yellow River flooded and flooded, and the water came to Huihe Street and flowed back into the Dasi River to drain away, keeping the safety of this piece of people; Even the "red-haired devil" wreaked havoc in China that time, and was blocked back by the fog of "Master Wudang". This time, however......

The Japanese planes dropped bombs on the Qudi Daji, and for the first time the common people saw the power of the thing, a loud noise was enough to collapse a house, the aftermath of the landing could throw a person into the air and hang on a tree, and the soil raised was enough to bury a person alive. Bloody men have erected banners to organize anti-Japanese resistance, and it is said that even the "old magpie" on Queshan Mountain has joined the ranks of anti-Japanese resistance. After a battle, the small population village disappeared almost overnight, and the initial vigorous anti-Japanese enthusiasm gradually calmed down under the brutal killing of the invaders, some became puppet armies, and some quietly went underground. The common people began to live like hamsters, burying food in the soil, hiding in the wall, and quickly fleeing as soon as there was an alarm.

In the early winter of this year, just after the second half of the morning, the alarm sounded, and the devil puppet army began a new round of sweeping. The younger brother and daughter-in-law grabbed two vegetable cakes and stuffed them into their arms, used a wide cloth belt to strangle Erni's armpit, put them on her back, pulled up Da Nijun, and shouted, "Fifth brother, let's run!" "The fifth master pulled down Jun" What are you doing! "Let's run!" "Run! How far can Jun and I run! You take Erni and go quickly, don't worry about the two of you! The younger brother and daughter-in-law still hesitated, and the fifth master pushed her, "Run with everyone, don't be alone, go directly to Wudang Temple, there is a county brigade there!" The younger brother and daughter-in-law carried Erni on their backs and ran along the path to Wudang Temple with the crowd. At first, they could keep up for a few miles, running and running, old and frail, women and children fell behind one by one, and women with small feet could run more than ten miles, which was not easy. The younger brother and daughter-in-law were running, and a sister-in-law from a neighboring village called out to her, "Her aunt, don't run!" Erni rolled her eyes! It turned out that the wide cloth belt came out from the child's armpit and strangled the neck directly, the younger brother and daughter-in-law untied the child, Erni rolled her eyes and collapsed, just didn't know what to do, the eldest brother in his forties came over and slapped the child on the back twice, Erni cried out, and the younger daughter-in-law hurriedly held Erni in her arms and ran while coaxing, although she gritted her teeth and followed tightly, but still fell with more than a dozen old people and children. The old and weak women and children who fell down avoided the main road far away and plunged straight into the sheep intestine path of the field to avoid encountering devils head-on. In the early winter fields, the crops have been harvested, and only half a man's tall wild grass is left swaying in the early winter wind. The sky is dark, there are still seven or eight miles away from the Wudang Temple, and the sound of the enemy's noisy horses' hooves and roaring motorcycles are heard in the distance, everyone suddenly panicked, fortunately, there is a large grave pile with a height of one person not far away, and the grave is connected with dense weeds growing around, and the old and weak women and children are not afraid of taboos and hurriedly hide behind the grave. The enemy still found traces, and an interpreter and a pseudo-officer cautiously drove their horses closer to the grave, and the devils did not dare to leave the road easily, and waited by the roadside with their guns. The smell of the war horse wafted into the nostrils, and the younger brother and daughter-in-law obviously felt the danger approaching, she arched her body, hid the child strictly under her, and tried her best to keep her body close to the grave, but she couldn't pick up the grave and hide it directly, Erni's face was buried in her mother's arms, and she didn't dare to come out. The translator saw that one by one he was hiding his head and showing his back, and just wanted to say something, the pseudo-officer shouted in a low voice, "Who doesn't have an old lady and children, our old lady doesn't know how to nest in that tomb!" The interpreter pretended not to see anything, followed the pseudo-officer around the grave, and ran to the devil officer to report, "Nothing, it was foxes and wild dogs that ran past here and left traces." The devil officer nodded and continued with the team. The younger brother and daughter-in-law and this group of old and weak women and children did not dare to move rashly, quietly listened to the devil puppet army walking away, waiting for the moon to rise, coldly shining on the wild grass in the wilderness and this group of old people and children, the night in early winter was very cold, and the old people and children spent the night close to their body temperature to keep warm.

The night of the fifth master and Jun was even more difficult. As soon as the younger brother and daughter-in-law left, the fifth master was busy, and found out the dirty and old ones that had not been worn for many years, and there were several places where the old cotton wool had bloomed outside, and turned over the torn cotton jacket for himself and Jun, and pulled Jun down to the side of the pot, and smeared the black and black pot bottom ash from the bottom of the pot to Jun's white cheeks, looked at it and felt that it was not enough, and then took off the bottom of the pot and smeared it on Jun's neck, arms, legs, and hands, Jun stopped doing it, and twisted his body, "Uncle, don't get it, dirty!" The fifth master drank her in a low voice, "If you want to live, if you want to live, listen to the uncle!" Jun didn't dare to squeak, the fifth master took scissors to cut off Jun's pigtails, and cut it messily, cut off a "shit chassis" head, got some firewood and grass and rubbed it into her hair, and a handsome little girl was made into a real little flower by her. After Jun cleaned up, the fifth master hurriedly began to clean up the house, hid the bedding in the sandwich wall, spread firewood and grass on the kang, and sprinkled the manure in the pigsty and sheepfold all over the yard, the house, together with the stove, tables and chairs. The stench slowly dispersed from the yard to the surroundings, and at first the two of them felt uncomfortable and disgusting, but gradually they got used to it. The fifth master began to teach Jun not to learn well, taught her to spread her eyes away, and learned to be stupid and stupid, and repeatedly instructed that no matter who she saw, she was not allowed to speak, and she should always hide behind herself and pretend to be dumb.

It was getting dark, and the two of them were living in a stinking home. Look at Jun who was made into a little Hanako by himself, not only a burst of sadness welled up in his heart, but he had to do it, there were still two nephews and daughters-in-law who were pregnant with Rokjia and a sick old sister-in-law hidden in the wall of the front yard, if something really happened, he would let it out, and he could only be sorry for his brother and brother-in-law. Thinking about it, there are two grandfathers as companions on the Huangquan Road, and there is no need to live as well as pigs and dogs in this chaotic years. The surrounding is as quiet as death, quiet and terrifying, the fifth master began to look forward to the Japanese devils raised by animals falling into this small village with only 30 families, and took a detour, even if his brother and daughter-in-law came back and complained about his half month and twenty days, he knew that this was just his wishful thinking, and for the first time he felt that this life was so difficult.

The moon gradually rose, shining with the light of the forest. Those Japanese devils who suffered a thousand knives still came, and the tall earthen mounds, the two pitch-black gates and the stone silicon door anvil fell into the windweed that attracted the attention of the devils. The devil officer fell in love with the two dark gates at a glance, and was going to spend the night here, and ordered the interpreter to take the two puppet soldiers to explore the way, and he slowly followed behind with the handle of the saber in one hand. The translator ordered the puppet army to smash the door and follow behind the puppet army. The puppet army smashed Kuang Kuang with the butt of the gun for a while, shouting loudly, "Open the door!" Open the door! ”

The fifth master's heart tightened for a while, he calmed himself down, and shouted vaguely, "Coming, coming, in the middle of the night, don't smash the door!" ”

So he pulled Jun to open the door, and Jun clinged to the uncle tightly. As soon as the door opened a crack, the puppet army kicked the door open, and a burst of stench rushed to the face, the devil officer covered his nose, and the translator cursed, "Fuck, what a smell!" ”

As soon as the devil officer beckoned, three Japanese soldiers immediately came up, one rushed up and put a bayonet against the neck of the fifth master, and the two rushed straight into the courtyard with bayonets, steaming, kicking the door open with one foot, and the long bayonet poked here and there, and ran back to the devil officer, chattered and talked in a huff, and left in a huff, standing still on the street. Jun clutched the placket of the uncle's clothes, hiding deep behind the uncle, not daring to come out at all, and the five grandfathers were like ghosts coming out of the depths of Liaozhai in the bleak moonlight.