Heidelberg at the beginning of 1940 was not in chaos. Although Germany had already waged war against its eastern neighbor, Poland; The western frontier was at war with the Netherlands, France, and Belgium at any time; Britain and France had also declared war on Germany. But Heidelberg still developed steadily, after all, it was an ancient city of Wenhua and was not included in the war readiness zone. Despite this, the people here are quite radical in their thinking, with propaganda slogans in and around the castle and around the campus, and the wave of security officers with armbands, and the cohesion of the Germans is truly impressive.

Lu Jiayu's university courses have long been completed, and she did not accept the work arranged by the school, and accompanied Zhou Yizhi for treatment and walks every day. They all hated the war and the activists who worked so hard to prepare for it blindly. But the city was full of people, from the SS (1) to the policemen to the ordinary school workers, and even the vegetable sellers and newsstand vendors who were waiting for their armies to win the battle and rob other countries of goods and land. Therefore, the two wanted to escape from Heidelberg and return to their homeland, but they never had the right opportunity. Zhou Yizhi is not afraid of death, and he doesn't mind how to die or where he dies, he is afraid that Lu Jiayu will be affected and he will be depressed all day long.

A blinding reflection flickered, and he struggled to open his eyes. In front of him was the sparkling lake, and his body was swaying slightly, as if he was on top of a small boat. Not far from the left front is a tall city gate tower, there is an east-west arch bridge more than two hundred meters in front of it, there is a north-south bridge three or four hundred meters in front of the right, and the right side of the water is a row of willow trees hanging with green silk crookedly. There was a burst of delicate laughter from the right rear, and then someone shouted, "Junsheng, Junsheng, come back, it's time for me to go home." Junsheng, turn around. He turned his head to look behind him, and there was a girl in a blue shirt and an indigo dress under the willow trees on the shore, waving her right hand at him. This he remembers, it is the "familiar" girl "Xiaoyi". He hurriedly turned around and rowed to the shore, but after rowing for a long time, he didn't seem to get closer, no matter how hard he tried, and he couldn't make a sound when he wanted to shout. Suddenly, another woman's voice came: "Do you see my little girl?" My little grandmother lost it at the meeting, and when I saw him, I asked him to hurry home! Xiaosheng, where are you? This is an unfamiliar voice, full of vicissitudes but very kind. When he looked back, he was already on the crowded street, and there was a woman wearing black bucket pants and a navy blue placket with a patch jacket, and asked passers-by one if they had seen her "little student". Dark and wrinkled cheeks were underneath the gray bangs, yellow eyes were mist-covered in the sunken eye sockets, and every word spoken was a supplicative tone. It was a face he had never seen before, but it was very familiar, and he couldn't help but cry bitterly.

"Yizhi, Yizhi, Yizhi, what's wrong with you? Another nightmare, huh? Wake up, Wake up. There was an eager woman's voice in her ears, and her body was still shaking.

He sat up and saw himself sitting on the bed, white sheets and white bedding, and he was wearing a blue striped hospital gown. Lu Jiayu hugged his shoulders and wiped his tears with a handkerchief. He understood, and sure enough, he was dreaming again. The difference was that this time his face was full of tears, he took the handkerchief and wiped it a few times himself, and let out a long breath.

Put down the handkerchief, he moved back, leaned on the pillow for a while, and told Lu Jiayu what he saw in his dream. finished and said lightly: "If you dream and see a woman you don't know crying, will this be an early warning?" ”

"It's just a dream, don't take it seriously," Lu Jiayu poured a glass of water and handed it to him, "Otherwise, write to tell the Xing family's sister to burn some paper in front of your aunt's grave." ”

"Well, let's talk about it later, I'm afraid that the letter won't be sent in this situation now."

"It's the same to say. Did you find out? I haven't received a letter from my sister in the Xing family for more than a year. ”

"Do you suspect that Schneider and they detained?"

"Don't you think?"

"It's true—alas—to blame my body for the life you have lived, or you wouldn't have suffered this sin."

"Don't say that, I don't care if I'm with you."

While the two were talking, there was a few knocks on the door. Lu Jiayu stood on the side of the bed and looked at the door, and Zhou Yizhi said, "Herein."

The door opened, and the female nurse came in with a middle-aged man.

Zhou Yi recognized it as his good friend Roger Lopez, and was about to greet him with a smile when he heard Roger say, "Hallo, Mr. Chow.Ich bin HohenzollernSS-Wache Roger." (Hello Mr. Zhou, I'm Hohenzollern SS Captain Roger)" Zhou Yizhi immediately felt that something was wrong, pointed to the sofa next to the bed and said, "Exekutive, bitte setzen Sie sich." (Sir, please be seated)"

Roger walked over and sat down upright, waved his hand to the nurse and said, "Sie können gehen, Bitte schließen Sie die Tür!" (You can go out, please close the door)" After speaking, he stared at Zhou Yizhi. When the nurse walked away, she stood up, escaped three envelopes from her pocket and handed them to Zhou Yizhi, and said in a low voice: "This is the previous one, because there is a war everywhere and there is no chance for you." The situation is very bad now, and most of the European continent is burning with the flames of Nazi warfare. The Anglo-French forces (2) were defeated, and sooner or later Toulouse would fall. I just moved my family to London and I'm worried about you just taking the plunge to come and see. Are you still planning to stay here? ”

Zhou Yizhi took the letter and quickly stuffed it under the sheets, looked at Roger anxiously and said, "I have always wanted to return to China, they restricted my freedom, and all the items and money were taken away by them." ”

"These are not problems, if you want to go, let's figure it out together. It's just – how's your illness going? Can it hold on? Roger said, looking out the window.

"What's bad is this tuberculosis, and I can't live happily if I die! Alas! It doesn't matter where I die, I have to find a way to get the silver ring back home. Zhou Yizhi couldn't help but feel a little sad in his eyes when he said this.

"Nope! Yizhi, I am with you both alive and dead. Lu Jiayu grabbed Zhou Yizhi's arm. Suddenly turned his head to look at Roger, "Mr. Roger, aren't you an SS chief?" Can you help us get out of Germany? ”

"Fake, they'll be done if they want to see the papers." Roger smiled bitterly at her, and then glanced out of the glass window, "It's okay, you can think about it again, as long as you have confidence, you will definitely have a chance." ”

"yes, let me think again." Zhou Yizhi looked at Lu Jiayu's face hesitantly, "I'm afraid that my body can't withstand the long journey, and walking together will only become a burden to you." Yinhuan, why don't you go with Roger first, they won't do anything to me, I'll wait until my body is stable. ”

"You have to go together, you have to stay together." Lu Jiayu looked at him categorically.

"You two, I can't stay here for too long, let's find a place to meet in the evening and discuss it carefully. By the way, the small hotel I stayed in was on the west side of the castle gate, and there was an Alter Baum kaffee (old tree coffee) at the corner of the street. Roger kept an eye on what was going on outside.

"I'm afraid not, I'm being watched everywhere I go." Zhou Yizhi understands that the current situation is difficult.

"I can come and go as I please, and I can speak for you." Lu Jiayu said.

"That's not bad, but we don't have much time, and it's harder for us to leave when all of Western Europe falls—" Roger was talking when he heard someone talking in the courtyard and hurried to the door, "Someone is coming, I'll go out first, see you in the evening." In the afternoon I tried to get a car first. ”

No sooner had Roger left than Nicholas walked in, greeting them with a smile on his face. After Zhou Yizhi's inspection, he sat down and chatted, and said with great interest that the Danish government surrendered to Germany, and the German army entered the Netherlands and Belgium. Zhou Yizhi casually coped with a few words, picked up the book on the bedside and read. He also chatted with Lu Jiayu about the weather in Strasbourg, and her vineyard will definitely have a good harvest this year. She was interested in the topic and analyzed it seriously. But I thought that if I succeeded in leaving Europe this time, I would not be able to take care of the wineries there in a short period of time. When it was time for lunch, he invited the two of them to go out for lunch together, Zhou Yizhi said that her appetite was not good, and she naturally refused to go. When he left, he asked her to accompany him to Frankfurt for a dinner tomorrow, and to accompany her out to buy a dress in the afternoon.

After Nicholas left, Zhou Yizhi took out the letter and read it carefully. The letters were sent three years ago, and two of them were letters from Xing Hongying, both of which said that the domestic situation was deteriorating sharply, where there was a war and where it was occupied, and the family business was seriously affected. The letter mentioned that his father and children were fine, and told him not to worry. It's just that the distance is far away and unsafe, so it's inconvenient to send him money and let him take care of himself. The other letter is from a person named Ji Tang in Liaocheng, Shandong, and the tone of the letter is like a long-time friend:

"Virtuous Brother Yi Zhi Taijian:

Respectful of the Liaocheng Jitang, a long admiration of the virtuous brother for several years and the fate of the side, now the presumptuous Cheng Hong to look at the virtuous brother Haihan.

In the spring of the twenty-second year, the virtuous brother went to Liaocheng to borrow a phone from the cold house at night. The next day, the younger brother went to visit the virtuous brother and went overseas, the younger brother regretted it, and the latter few wanted to visit each other in vain, only to look at the heavens and sigh. A few days ago, my brother felt that the situation was chaotic and all industries were waiting to be prosperous, so he went to the house to worship again; In order to seek the favor of the virtuous brother and seek the well-being of the people, but the virtuous brother did not return and regretted it again. Su Wen Ling Brother was prosperous in the Shanghai Concession, and felt that his virtuous brother was invincible. It is to seek it in Shanghai; Unexpectedly, he was in the company of Orientals, bullying the weak and devouring the blood and sweat of our Chinese people to support other races. The younger brother was afraid that he would lose the reputation of the virtuous brother, so that people persuaded him, but he was thrown into the house with his fists and feet and was disabled.

If you only talk about business, there is nothing wrong with Ling Di's trip. However, since the beginning of the summer of 20 years, the Oriental people invaded our northeast and killed our people......

……

The book is short and long, and it is difficult to fulfill the sincerity of the younger brother and the virtuous brother. This letter is not for his own selfishness and seriously injures the suspicion of Ling Bozhong, and I really feel that Ling Di's behavior is not enlightened, and I am afraid that he will fall into the prison of the virtuous brother Gao Yi in the future. In addition, I also hope that the virtuous brother will return as soon as possible and have time to talk, in order to work together to show the business opportunities of Luxi, hoping to use the talents of the virtuous brother to create a party.

Ode to Shangqi!

Brother Jitang paused

Twenty-six years of late spring"

Zhou Yizhi was puzzled when he read the last letter, which was about the same time as Xing Hongying's second letter, and the content was very different. Although he didn't know who Ji Tang was, he could see that the other party's tone was very sincere, and there was a deep patriotic sentiment between the words. Trying to meet several times without success, he still insisted on writing a letter to remind him, which is obviously out of morality. He didn't understand who the "Brother Ling" in the letter was, Zhuo Zhi should still be in school at his age; The cousins had no access to business; Uncle Xing Hongmian has his own business. However, the letter pointed out that his brother cooperated with the Japanese, and there was a great element of traitor, and it was not like a deliberate fabrication, because there was no need for everyone to know each other. What's going on? He wanted to go home more and more, and he was really worried that his grandfather's business would be ruined by this brother, and he would be infamy. So, he hid the letter and counted with Lu Jiayu, he had to return to China no matter what, and he had to try to die halfway. The business of the foreign goods store can be ignored, and he can endure the decline of the family business, and he can only blame himself for his poor health. But it is absolutely not okay to have a brother who betrays the country, and the family must not be disgraced because of this. She naturally supported him, and took advantage of the off-duty time to go to Marcos's laboratory to find some drugs to unblock blood vessels and relieve pain, in case of an emergency attack on the road.

Lu Jiayu and Nicholas had bought dresses in the city center, and it was almost dusk. She said she needed to buy some personal belongings for him to go first, so she wandered the streets alone and came to Alter Baum kaffee to meet Roger after dark. After meeting, I told him about going to Frankfurt the next day, and then asked him if there was any good way to leave and if he had any plans. Roger thought about it for a moment and decided it was a good opportunity. He could have rushed over in advance, observed the situation there, and waited for them to finish the dinner and leave Frankfurt overnight. Frankfurt is more than 200 kilometers away from the western border in a straight line, and if it can enter Belgian territory in time for dawn, it can be temporarily out of danger. Then cross Belgium to Calais, cross the Pas-de-Calais to the British, and then find a way to send them back to China. She really didn't know much about the terrain of Europe, but she felt that his words were very reasonable, after all, he and Zhou Yizhi had studied in the United Kingdom, and it was indeed the most suitable to return to China from there. Lu Jiayu went back to tell Zhou Yizhi about Roger's plan, and he asked her to quickly pack a few clothes and stolen medicine into a suitcase, take them to the city overnight and hand them over to Roger, and make an appointment to leave Frankfurt after dinner the next day.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, Nicholas took Lu Jiayu and Zhou Yizhi back to his home in Frankfurt. His home is a detached villa next to the Main Tower in the heart of Frankfurt. At this time, many relatives and friends came, and some people were already busy preparing for the dinner. Nicholas was worried that Lu Jiayu would be bored, so he first greeted his parents and took them to Sid Square. From the south of St. Baltholomew's Cathedral to the banks of the Main, take a small boat at the Iron Bridge Ferry to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the river for a while. When it was almost dark, they got off the boat and walked back, and Zhou Yizhi found that there were many locomotive ships and steam ships parked at the Tieqiao Ferry, and it would not be difficult to escape by boat. And the ferry port is very close to Nicholas's home, so you can see the Main Tower window clearly at night. Passing by the small hotel next to the opera house, he asked Nicholas to open two rooms so that they could stay after dinner, because it was too much for him to have too many families. Nicholas readily agreed, and told the two that tonight was his mother's birthday, and asked Lu Jiayu to be his girlfriend for the time being at the dinner party, and coaxed his mother to be happy, and she agreed because she didn't think it was a big problem.

Although this evening was a family feast for the Schneider family, it was definitely a grand occasion in this era of war and poverty. Nicholas's father, Senior Colonel Martin Schneider, was a celebrity in the city, and many friends from the military and political circles came. Coupled with his uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters-in-law, as well as relatives and neighbors at home, the huge villa was crowded. His mother, Mrs. Schneider, was a shrewd and capable woman and a leader of the Frankfurt City Trade Union. She liked Lu Jiayu very much after seeing her, and insisted on staying with her for a night. She saw that there were many soldiers there, and she didn't dare to come hard, so she quietly told Zhou Yizhi to leave a day later. He smiled faintly, drank a few glasses of wine and went back to the hotel to rest. Roger had been observing near Nicholas's house for a long time, and followed Zhou Yizhi to the side of the hotel and no one saw him. When he heard that Lu Jiayu was left behind, he frowned, for fear that the timing would be delayed, but it was useless to rush to this point, so he went back to the room with Zhou Yiyi to calculate the route.

After a night together, Mrs. Schneider liked Lu Jiayu even more and insisted on getting engaged to them. Of course, Nicholas was willing, and discussed with Lu Jiayu again, still saying that he was coaxing the old man to be happy, and he would forget about it when his mother was busy after a while. Lu Jiayu quit, it was inconvenient for their whole family to turn their faces, she knew that it would be more difficult to leave after the fallout, and it was impossible to get engaged to him. Unfortunately, Nicholas wouldn't let her leave, so she didn't come up with a clue after thinking about it all day, and finally said that she was going to the hotel to discuss with Zhou Yizhi, after all, he was also her only relative here. At dinner, Nicholas told his mother about the situation. Mrs. Schneider thought that Zhou Yizhi was Lu Jiayu's cousin, so she asked Nicholas's brother to accompany her to the hotel with a guard, and then go back together after she had discussed it.

At this time, it was already dark again, Roger and Zhou Yizhi were anxious in the room, and saw Lu Jiayu coming with two officers through the window. thought that he was going to arrest Zhou Yizhi, so he knocked the two down with a top stick. When she explained the matter, Roger thought that if he didn't leave now, he would have no chance, and turned around to kill the two officers, but was stopped by Zhou Yizhi. It seemed to him that it was Nicholas who saved his life anyway, and that killing them would be tantamount to revenge. So, they took off their military uniforms and changed into them, and fled Frankfurt by car overnight. Because it was dark and they were afraid that Nicholas would chase them along the river, they could not go straight in the direction of Brussels, so they hurried diagonally to Koblenz, the German Cape.

Nicholas waited until eleven o'clock in the evening to see his brother and Lu Jiayu go back, and rushed to the small hotel to find that they had escaped. He hurriedly led people to chase them in the east and west directions of the Main, but there was no trace of them until dawn. After he disembarked in Heienberg, he called to inform his father and Marcos of the situation. His father immediately contacted the military police in the border towns and searched for a Chinese man and a woman.

Zhou Yizhi and the three of them went to Koblenz for breakfast, and planned to continue westward to Halspelt, not far west of the Belgian border. As soon as he finished eating, he found that there were more police on the street, and Roger ran over to inquire and found out that he was looking for Chinese, and hurriedly took them to hide in the farmer's house outside the city, and could only cross the Mozel River after dark. At noon he went out into the streets, where there were still many policemen at major intersections and bridgeheads, and there were also policemen searching from house to house, and it was not easy to leave Koblenz. After discussing with Zhou Yizhi, he went to the center of Lanstein town to buy a boat, and changed his plan to go north along the Lin River in the middle of the night. When I went back, I passed by a barber shop, and suddenly I thought of changing the color of their hair, so I bought a bottle of golden hair dye cream. The two of them had dyed their hair and looked very close to the Germans, and they were less likely to be suspicious when they changed into military uniforms. After dark, I quietly got on the boat and sailed out of the town, and met two groups of policemen who passed smoothly.

Towards dawn, they were overtaken by a clipper near Bonn, and several SS soldiers insisted that their papers be checked. How could they have documents, everything was withheld by Nicholas, and Roger had documents but did not dare to take them out, because Germany and France were at war. Zhou Yizhi thought that this was the end, he wanted to jump into the river and run but couldn't swim, and whispered that he pestered those people to let Roger take Lu Jiayu away, but she refused. Roger reached out and grabbed the gun inside his clothes, but he couldn't do it but desperately.

At the last moment, several large ships came from the south, full of heavily loaded soldiers. Zhou Yiyi saw that it was completely finished, and he couldn't run away now. Unexpectedly, someone recognized their military uniforms and directly picked them up on the big ship, and the soldiers all saluted Zhou Yizhi, which scared the three of them stupidly. Roger recognized Zhou Yizhi as a captain's uniform, and asked him to assume Nicholas's brother, Captain Finn Schneider, who wore the Iron Cross of the 1st and 2nd class on his chest and the knight of the Order of Oak Leaves with two swords on his neckline was a rank higher than the captain of the ship. They were invited to rest in the captain's quarters, where the captain asked them if they were going to Finn's Sixth Legion's Motorized Division, which happened to be their Eighteenth Corps, which was also on its way to Middelburg, and the two armies were also on the task of outflanking and intercepting them. Zhou Yizhi had no choice but to pretend to be happy to walk with them, but he secretly complained in his heart, it would be even more difficult to escape after he really arrived at the battlefield.

When several large ships sailed to Willemstad, there were heralds from the Eighteenth Army waiting there. There was a change in action, and the large force landed from Willemstad to the south. The captain gave the three men a speedboat and told them to go to Middelburg on their own, so that they could avoid the battlefield without danger. In order to avoid encountering the Sixth Army Corps, they had to make a detour through Rotterdam and sail diagonally from the Dutch Corner Harbor to the British Margate, and only after leaving the port did they take off their German military uniforms and stuff them into the salute box.

The three did not dare to stop at Margate, and directly transferred to London and went to the embassy of the Republic of China in Britain to inquire. Staff say there is war going on in most parts of the country; Many areas were occupied by the Japanese army, and the government had moved to Chongqing, so it was impossible to arrange for them. They went to Durham again to find connections, by which time France had surrendered, and Roger's friends were hardly able to help. After many efforts, he was only able to reach Hong Kong recently, and spent most of Roger's savings for this.

After a month and a half of tossing and turning, the two finally returned to Nanjing at the end of June, and their hanging hearts gradually stabilized.

When they walked out of Shimonoseki Railway Station (3), it was half past four in the afternoon, and they were penniless. Still, they were happy that they were finally not far from home. Zhou Yizhi wanted to call the Nanjing business and ask Huang Chenkuan to send someone to pick them up. The bad thing is that I just got to the pay phone and got sick and fainted in an instant. Lu Jiayu hurriedly dropped the box and hugged him to call, and the shouts startled more than a dozen puppet soldiers patrolling the station, pointing guns at them to check their passes. Her tears were about to come out, and she pleaded with them to no avail, and opened her suitcase and rummaged through it. They shouted even more fiercely after discovering the uniforms, and shouted to take them to the gendarmerie department.

Suddenly, a young officer wearing a high-level military uniform of the national army appeared, and drove away those pseudo-soldiers in a few words. The officer looked at Zhou Yizhi on the ground, squatted down to check his pupils and breathing. After telling Lu Jiayu that his condition was critical, he needed to find a quiet place to treat him as soon as possible. She was so frightened by the puppet soldiers that she had no idea, so she could only beg the officer for help. The officer stood up and frowned slightly, looking down at the silver bracelet-like object on his wrist. Then picked up Zhou Yizhi and walked to the hotel not far away, she hurriedly gathered her suitcase and followed behind.

Notes: (1) One of the establishments used to perform public security duties in the German Nazi Party during World War II, after Himmler served as the German Minister of the Interior, it evolved into a security organization for espionage "surveillance" and containment. (2) During World War II, Germany went to war with Poland, and as Polish allies, Britain and France declared war on Germany and organized and mobilized troops to confront the German army on the Western Front. (3) Founded in 1905, it was called Jiangning Railway Station as an important gateway from Nanjing to the whole country during the Republic of China.