It was hot and humid, and thunder began to sound at noon, but by this time the rain had not fallen.

Between the narrow and compact shikumen are posters printed by the Political Training Department of the Military Council, with rough lines and enlarged fonts. It is written that "everyone is hostile, fortified step by step, strong barriers, and the enemy is killed".

The sound of cries was mixed with the sound of monks knocking on wooden fish, and the ashes of burnt paper money filled the air, and white wreaths were placed from the narrow door to the living room. The widow of the owner's family and two and a half children knelt on the ground with their gray heads in their arms, crying until they had no strength.

Among the crowd who came to the funeral, Shen Yigong was only the most inconspicuous one in the group, he was wearing a black suit, and his beard was obviously carefully trimmed. The man standing beside him endured his red eyes and bowed deeply to the deceased and his family. They didn't even have a way to leave a name at an old friend's funeral. The woman holding the photo held Shen Yigong's hands as he approached, and Shen Yigong opened his mouth, trying to say something to comfort her, but after all, he lowered his head and shook it back hard.

Then they walked out of the courtyard and remembered a muffled thunder in the sky. He walked out of the alley with the people around him, until one of them broke the silence.

"This is the seventh funeral of the year." Song Qi, who had been standing beside him, gritted his teeth and whispered, "Public, the seventh scene." And how many people are there who are not public? ”

"Xiao Song, we have a death order, theoretically we can't talk about this openly, you ......"

"So do you want to remain silent?" Song Qi looked much thinner than a few years ago, his cheeks were visibly shriveled, and his red eyes were full of bloodshots. When he said these words to Shen Yigong, he stopped and stood in place looking at each other.

"We have been silent for a long time, we were silent when they arrested people in 31, we were silent when they buried all five authors alive, we were silent after the January 28 incident in 32, and we continued to be silent after the signing of the Songhu Armistice Agreement. In 34 years they were silent when they shot our compatriots in the streets, and in 35 years they broke into the homes of our brothers and sisters and beat their young children to death and we were still silent! ”

He trembled, and raised his hand to point directly at Shen Yigong's face: "War is everywhere, our enemies have infiltrated like a virus, but you are still talking about your old habits, silent!" Silent! Silent! ”

Shen Yigong stepped forward quickly, covered his mouth and looked around, he hugged Song Qi's shoulders and dragged him forward, while whispering: "Do you know how many hidden spies there are around here, yelling at you like this, are you crazy?" ”

Song Qi didn't know where he got the strength to push his hand away, tears were streaming down his face, and his voice was hoarse and desperate: "I'm not crazy, I just don't want to continue like this, continue to wait for death like this!" ”

"We are not sitting still, over the years, domestic products have been moving, preaching, speaking, fighting! We're not waiting to die! ”

"But you're afraid."

"It's you who are afraid. I hope you are sensible, we have lost too many comrades in the past year, and the organization has asked me to guarantee your safety. ”

Song Qi raised his head and looked at his expression with a sneer: "How can I let Director Shen personally protect my safety?" You never trusted me. ”

Shen Yigong grabbed his shoulders and said to him with a serious and cautious expression: "How can we not trust you?" The plays you have created are very important publicity for our organization. ”

"You just want me to be a coward with a tongue, to press my heart back into the ground, to make it stop making a sound, to be silent." Song Qi shook off his hand, he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a pair of suspender cargo pants today, and at this moment his hand happened to be in his pocket and walked towards the alley, trying to throw Shen Yigong off. Shen Yigong chased after him, and he grabbed Song Qi's arm at the entrance of the alley and pulled him into the path on the side. He raised a pair of big hands to wipe away the tears on Song Qi's face. He is such a fragile and hysterical man, and many times Shen Yigong even feels that such a man is strange to him.

He once thought that a man had to be tough, unyielding, always maintain a fighting posture, never be disturbed by emotions, and be an indestructible warrior. But Song Qi is not. Over the past year of working together, Shen Yigong found that men also have the qualifications to cry bitterly, and men can also be appropriately weak.

But it shouldn't be now.

Shen Yigong pressed his forehead against his forehead and touched his cheeks with his thumb over and over again, telling him to calm down as soon as possible. Song Qi closed his eyes tightly, trembling all over, almost out of control.

"You're no one's tongue, little Song. Shhh, calm down and listen to me. I know that more and more compatriots have died since the beginning of this year, and the war on the front line has gradually become tighter, but you have to hold on, there are performances of your scripts everywhere in Shanghai, students all over China are reading aloud the texts you have written, and you are all listening, and our compatriots have read this sentence. ”

"It's been too long, Shen Yigong...... This pain has been going on for too long...... This humiliation of losing the country and watching colleagues die at gunpoint in infighting. Song Qi didn't dare to open his eyes at all, he was afraid that what he would see when he opened would still be such a world that disappointed him, "Why can you be so ruthless...... Why can you hold on. Today's funeral of Lao Wang, how can you not shed a single tear? His wife and children didn't even know what Lao Wang had done, they just thought he had been in an ordinary car accident. But you know no, it's not, you know! ”

Before Song Qi's body fell down without strength, Shen Yigong reached out and hugged him tightly into his arms, he comforted and patted the man's back, and told him: "We will remember what Lao Wang sacrificed for." His wife and children will know this one day. Not now, though. ”

Shen Yigong waited for his breathing to gradually calm down and return to normal, he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to him to wipe away his tears. After Song Qi sniffled and was finally able to stand at that time, he grabbed his shoulders and said to him, "Okay, let's go back." ”

There was thunder in the sky again, and the raindrops the size of beans finally fell from the dark clouds and smashed on the roof tiles and stone slabs. It has been almost six years since the "18 September" incident, and nearly five years since Shanghai signed the "Songhu Armistice Agreement." Where did the war start? War is everywhere, where is the enemy? But the enemy is near.

The artillery fire also roared along the Huangpu River, but it stopped, and the so-called national leaders signed the armistice agreement, allowing the Japanese to Chen Binghongkou and Yangpu, while the Nationalist [Harmony] Government in Shanghai hardly left a single soldier. They gave up this dazzling pearl of the Orient, but they were obviously humiliated but they wanted to pretend to ignore it, and opened their doors to welcome the invaders to visit here.

Outside the window, the rain was pouring down, Huo Zuo put down the cigarette stick in his hand and lay down on the soft bed. He had a newspaper in his hand, dated June 12, 1937. The newspaper reported on the specific contents of the Kuomintang Central Committee's inspection in Yan'an and the Lushan talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In the final analysis, the newspaper was in the service of Nanjing, and it exaggerated the great achievements of Chairman Chiang regardless of his previous hard work, and did not mention much about Yan'an, and even if there were, it was difficult not to be biased.

The cigarette was about to run out, and there was a knock outside the door at the right time.

"Who ......" he was angry. Outside, Mother Xu said, "Master, Mr. Cheng is here." ”

"Let him come straight up."

"Okay."

Huo Zuo put the cigarette stick of the purple sand head in his hand on the table, leaned on the mat with his head slightly squinted and waited for someone to come in. Cheng Changyu entered the house after a short time, and when he saw his appearance, he said casually: "Big brother, are you idle today?" ”

Six years ago, he was severely shocked by Huo Zuo's six bullets, and from then on, he didn't dare to make a mistake easily, stayed in Shanghai wholeheartedly, and stayed by his side to be his right-hand man. But they also know this very well, once the betrayal may happen, it will be difficult to go back to the past and be intimate, as friends, as husband and wife, and as partners. The only thing Huo Zuo can do is to give him all the wealth, status, and connections that can be promised to him, as for more? He can't give it.

Huo Zuo raised his eyes with him and waved his hand to signal him to come closer. Having said that, Cheng Changyu is thick-skinned enough, after those six bullets, he can also lick his face and come back and continue to follow Huo Zuo after the eldest brother, as if the ambition and dissent he had in Beiping at the beginning were just small mistakes made by youth and ignorance, and if he knew his mistakes, he could completely erase everything he had done wrong. In the past few years, after the saddle and the horse, I have indeed worked hard, and I have got everything I deserve, and it seems that it is already good.

Cheng Changyu walked up to him, found a chair and sat down, and stretched out his head with him: "What do you say?" ”

Huo Zuo threw him an invitation letter on the small table.

"See for yourself."

Cheng Changyu hurriedly unfolded the invitation letter, the first half of which was written in Japanese and the second half in Chinese, inviting Mr. Huo to gather with Mr. Ma and Miss You at the Tokyo Hotel in the Public Concession tomorrow to discuss matters related to BEA Co-Prosperity Bank.

Cheng Changyu took the invitation, hesitated for a moment and tentatively spoke: "...... You warned me not to do business with the Japanese. ”

Huo Zuo rubbed the bridge of his nose, his face gloomy: "Now that the Japanese army is in the concession, Lao Jiang's face still doesn't know whether he is at peace or war with the people of Yan'an." ”

"Didn't we talk about it in Hangzhou in March, but did the talk collapse?"

"Now that they want to talk about it, these Japanese devils are going to use knives on Lao Tzu's head." Huo Zuo said, slapping it on the small table, "I'll go tomorrow, you go with me." ”

"Shall I go with you?"

"Yes, you will be my translator, I can't trust what those guys provide."

Cheng Changyu smiled: "Thank you for trusting me." ”

Huo Zuo had a pair of eyes, straightened up coldly, stared at him and said, "Then you say, should I believe you?" ”

"Then you still don't believe it? Of course it's time to do it! Cheng Changyu replied quickly, Huo Zuo's hand suddenly held the back of his neck, and his head was close to him, Cheng Changyu stopped talking for a while, he couldn't figure out the meaning of the person in front of him, and he was nervous, so he heard Huo Zuo speak: "Okay, brother, I'll ...... this time Believe in you. ”