A winter inn filled with the warmth of a charcoal fire.

Da Lao Wei really wanted to live here forever, but it was just a dream. He handed over a pair of box cannons with no bullets to the two women for self-defense, and went to the inn lobby to ask for food and drink, and listened to the small talk of these guests.

From the small talk of the guests, he learned that the enemy used a large number of troops to encircle and suppress the "red bandits" in the base area, and there were not many troops in Dingzhou City, but the security regiment was the most hateful, and everyone looked like "red bandits".

Ordinary goods can be sold outside the city, but the salt and medicine needed in the base must be purchased in the city, and the elder Wei decided to enter the city.

In order to enter the city, he made ample preparations, first put on a wolf's skin, disguised himself as an old hunter, and then divided the goods obtained from the stockade into two parts, one was put into the bottom of the bamboo basket, and on top of it put a fox skin, and on the fox skin put mushrooms and fungus and other mountain goods.

After agreeing with several guests in the store, he left the inn before dawn on the fifth watch of the second day, and hurried towards the city gate, which had just been opened, and the enemy's examination was not very strict.

The soldiers at the gates of the city were very greedy for money, and these merchants pooled a sum of money to bribe the soldiers who defended the city and entered the city.

As soon as he entered the city, the elder Wei led the black donkey and carried the bamboo basket on his back and separated from these merchants.

There is a big casino in Dingzhou City called Chunfeng Building, the old Wei rushed here with a bamboo basket on his back, he knew the tent here, and exchanged the property at the bottom of the bamboo basket for silver dollars.

After the "hot potato" was gone, the elder Wei was no longer worried and anxious, and walked around Dingzhou City.

Although Dingzhou City is only a small remote county town in Xiangxi, it borders Guizhou, so it is very lively, and there is a church built by the British in the city.

The elder Wei led the donkey and carried the bamboo basket to the church, and he was received by Shenpu Foster Chatton, and the two exchanged words quickly in English.

The old missionary said to the elder Wei in stiff Chinese: "Misterwei, I can get what you need, but you need to wait, you go back first!" ”

Elder Wei thanked him, and then took out a handful of silver dollars from his pocket and stuffed them into the other party's hand.

"Don't forget to take a photo at Kyle's photo studio!" God will bless you. With that, he hung a silver cross around the neck of the elder Wei.

Elder Wei learned from him to clasp his fingers, nodded in thanks, and took a Bible from the podium.

That night, he opened a room at the Sifang Inn in the city and stayed overnight, and the next morning, after breakfast, he knocked on the door of Kyle's photo studio.

The door was opened by a young man in a white suit, motioning for him to go upstairs.

The young man took a photo for the elder Wei, and then said: "I know what you do when you take pictures, declare in advance that I am only responsible for taking pictures and shipping, and I am not responsible for anything else!" ”

Elder Wei understood that the other party was the person responsible for forging the passports and documents of the German missionaries for him, so he said: "I understand, my German name is Manstein. ”

The young man in the white suit quickly wrote it down with a pen, and then said, "Fifteen pieces!" ”

Da Lao Wei didn't make a counteroffer, but only paid ten yuan, "I'll give the remaining five yuan when I come to pick up the goods!" ”

When he left the photo studio, he found the largest bookstore in the county, got in, found a thread-bound "The Biography of the Immortals", flipped to the picture scroll of "Wang Yangming", and closed his eyes.

The figure he saw in Huanyao Mountain appeared in his mind, and it was indeed Wang Yangming, a native of the Ming Dynasty.

After walking in the remote mountainous area for more than a year, the things he experienced and encountered had completely subverted his original "three views", and he had to believe that there were ghosts in this world, as well as the existence of special human beings and races.

The elder Wei had lunch at the rice noodle stall next to the bookstore, and hurried out of the city with a donkey.

Back at the inn, he gave the two women some of the silver dollars he had earned, and told them his plan.

The two women left the inn together to buy groceries, and he stayed in the room to take care of the two babies.

After dark, the two women returned with a full load.

Gong Qingzhen said to the elder Wei: "Don't look at the fact that we have bought so many things, but the most important salt has not been bought, and the national government has cracked down on illegal salt." The official salt took the opportunity to sit on the ground and start the price, and the price of salt in the city may be lower. ”

Da Lao Wei replied: "No matter how high or low the price of salt is, we have to buy it, and if we don't eat salt, we will die!" ”

After they had dinner, the elder Wei went back to his room, went to bed early, got up on the fourth watch of the next day, packed up, put on the bamboo basket on his back and went out of the inn to the city gate.

It was still these soldiers who guarded the door, and he was still sent with filial piety money and was put into the city.

After entering the city, he first came to the back alley of the official salt shop, secretly knocked on the door, and a confused voice came from behind the door: "Who?" ”

"Delivered!"

The wooden door opened, and a group of men hurriedly beckoned him in.

Elder Wei took out a roll of silver dollars from his pocket and said, "Give me all the remaining goods in your shop!" ”

The shopkeeper looked at the roll of silver dollars, nodded immediately, took him to the bedroom, lifted the sheets, and under the bed were bags of salt, which were more than fifty catties.

Elder Wei immediately packed the salt into the basket and said goodbye to the shopkeeper.

After leaving the salt shop, he went to the cloth shop again, pulled some white cloth, put it on top of the bamboo basket, and covered the salt.

After breakfast, he came to the Chunfeng Casino, took over the account room, and learned that the enemy was still encircling and suppressing the base area, but at this time, the encirclement and suppression of the base area was also making a show.

Out of the casino, the elder Wei came to the Kyle photo studio, took a German passport and missionary documents from the young man in a suit, put it in his pocket, paid the rest of the money and went out of the city.

When passing by the city gate, the elder Wei stuffed two packs of cigarettes into the soldiers guarding the city, and did not check the contents of his back basket.

After returning to the inn, the two women also packed up, led the mule and donkey, and began to set out on the road with bamboo baskets on their backs.

The two mules were wounded, so they walked very slowly.

Not long after leaving Dingzhou, an enemy checkpoint appeared on the road, and some fleeing pedestrians lay down directly in front of the checkpoint, gradually freezing to death and becoming stiff.

Xiao Xu asked the soldiers at the outpost, "Who are they?" Why are you lying here and no one cares? ”

One of the soldiers replied, "These are people from the mountains, why don't you stay at home and come out to do something, just die, there will be wild wolves who will take their corpses away at night!" ”

Gong Qingzhen handed over the child in her arms to the eldest elder Wei, and she leaned over to look at a person who had fainted on the ground.

Although this person had a muddy face, it could still be seen that it was a young child, and Gong Qingzhen hurriedly took out the still hot lotus leaf cake from his pocket and stuffed it into this person's mouth.

When he encountered food, the young man slowly opened his eyes, snatched the lotus leaf cake with his dirty hands and devoured it.

The elder Wei untied the bamboo tube from his belt and threw it to this man.

The man took a sip of water and couldn't help but cry.

The soldiers at the checkpoint asked the elder Wei Pan, "What do you do, why do you meddle in your business?" ”

Elder Wei showed his passport and identity documents, and the soldier asked in surprise: "Are you a foreigner?" ”