You can't be mistaken about this place.

Before the war, it was a movie theater. When he was escorted, there were several Taiping buckets next to the barbed wire fence, and the words "pine and bamboo" were written on them. The cinema has an additional floor, supported by natural wooden columns. On the second floor, there are four large bunks in parallel, with two floors above and below, and 30 people sleep on each floor. The stage downstairs was dismantled and connected to the backstage into a room, and two rows of double-decker bunks were also placed, also with 30 people on each floor. The auditorium has been converted into a canteen, and there are always dozens of long wooden tables! The ticket office and lounge were converted into office offices, which were used by Yamazaki Yumichi, the head of the house, and the warden. Several kitchens were built in the courtyard, connected to the canteen with small corridors, and seven or eight air-raid shelters were dug in front of and behind the houses. In the outermost circle, there is a layer of bamboo fence and a barbed wire fence with thorns, and at the entrance of the barbed wire, the words "Xingya Liao Chinese Workers' Dormitory" are written in black on white ground.

Normally, the work is 12 hours per shift, and the work is busy, and I have to work "all night", going to work at 6 o'clock this morning and leaving work at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning. Rest for 12 hours and resume work at 6 p.m.

Lu Huzi (at that time it was still called a nickname, Hushi was a nickname changed after writing poems) was the youngest of all Chinese workers. Under the age of sixteen. He works in the drying furnace of the magnesium carbonate workshop. The drying furnace is two parallel large tunnels, four or five meters high, more than ten meters wide, sixty or seventy meters long, the top of the furnace is a double arch type, but six or seven meters above the furnace door, it is built into a platform, which can be used as a changing room for workers.

It was all night long. At about two o'clock in the middle of the night, the raw materials ran out and the machine stopped. The workers find a suitable corner to sleep. The squad leader Zhang Ju shouted, "Who is coming?" He put his mouth on the top of the stove, and a few of them climbed up. Huzi was about to climb up, and Zhang Juyi pulled him: "Child, don't take you to play!" ”

"Can't I see?"

"Look, it's not a lot of mouths! Mouthy bag dealer! ”

Zhang Ju made a deck of Tianjiu cards with bamboo chips. Every time he worked at night or went into a bomb shelter to avoid planes, he recruited people to push pai gow. Bet on each man's rations. Food rations are scarce, people are hungry, and if they do not have a firm purpose in life as a pillar, they will degenerate into animals, and out of the instinct of survival, they will win the food of others to fill their stomachs. In addition, the same labor of cattle and horses, and the same beating and scolding of cattle and horses, there must always be rest and joy such as "letting go of the green" and "rolling". Plants still open and close, let alone people? Although the wardener and others found out that they wanted to fight, this gambling style could not be stopped.

When the tiger climbed to the top of the furnace, the four people had already gathered, each occupying the terrain according to the direction, Zhang Ju knocked the cards down, and asked while washing: "How to play?" ”

Han Youfu, who was born as a trader, said: "One and a half bowls, no more than four bowls." ”

Zhang Ju asked, "How do you give the law?" ”

Han Youfu said: "Every day there is half a bowl of dinner. ”

Zhang Ju said: "No! I'm going to win you thirty bowls, and I'm going to have to die in less than two months, and I'm going to die in less than two months. One bowl a day! ”

"I can't work because my stomach is empty."

"You can give soybeans, I know you have the goods!"

Zhang Ju served as the machine gun squad leader of the Northeast Army, and surrendered with the commander when he ran out of ammunition and food on the Pinghan Line. Stupid, big and coarse, you have to win or lose, and you will move your fists if you don't agree with three sentences. The Japanese called him the squad leader, and Han Youfu was a little scared of him. But this man has his own good side. He dared to stand up to the Japanese, scolded the foreman to his face as a bastard, quarreled with the Chinese, and beat people, but he would never sue the Japanese. Once, a few Chinese workers injured a Japanese foreman in the dark during the night shift, and the Ministry of Labor could not find the murderer, so he punished all the Chinese workers to kneel in the shrine square, and he stepped forward to take the matter on his own head and was severely beaten. Afterwards, the owner of the beating was reluctant to go, and secretly thanked him, saying: "You can't write two Chinas with one stroke." You don't admit that it's right, I can withstand the beating better than you, so I feel sorry for my brother, and one person will give me a few bowls of rice to recuperate from my injuries. Those people each gave him five bowls of rice, which were given in half a month. He was unceremonious and ate them all. He is not allowed to win by pushing pai gow, he signed up to donate blood after losing too much, and after donating blood, he gave an extra bowl of rice every day for a week, and he used this rice to pay off the gambling bills, and during the New Year, he actually stole the rice cakes offered at the factory shrine and ate them, and pulled a bubble of into the empty plate. The shrine was close to the Korean requisitioned workers' residences, and the Japanese suspected that the Koreans did it, so they did not trouble the Chinese and beat several North Korean suspects. Someone said to him: "You are a little immoral in this matter!" He said: "The Korean sticks in China are either translators or sell white noodles, I want to beat them up and let the little devils do it for me." Others said, "North Koreans are also good!" He said: "All the good ones have joined the guerrillas to fight Japan!" Can you still come up here? Our buddies are also three rotten among the Chinese. The good man has already fought with them. ”

After agreeing on the treaty, Zhang Ju opened the door in the middle, and turned the bet over. On the "seven pairs of doors, eight to the end ......" split. When the card arrived, he touched it first and shouted, "Heaven and earth cross the tiger, the golden screen is the big five!" "Slapped the cards, and was about to flop, a bright light came from the stairs and hit him in the face. A few people felt bad, hurriedly put down the cards, turned around to run, and the head of the house, Yamazaki, had already blocked the ladder on the top of the stove. The flashlight shone everyone's face for a while.

Yamazaki served as a military cao in the invasion of China and was a typical fascist bandit. has no culture, has an absolute belief in militaristic thoughts, has never spoken peacefully and peacefully, and never looks at Chinese workers with a straight eye. He was a special commissioner sent by the North China Labor Association to Chun City, and he had the highest status in Xingyaliao.

"Give me the cards!"

Zhang Ju bowed down and put the card away, wrapped it in a paper bag containing magnesium carbonate and handed it to Yamazaki. Yamazaki watched everyone again for a while and took it to heart. I went down the ladder and left. The men complained to each other. You say I shouted too loudly, I said he threw his cards too loudly. Han Youfu claimed that the deck of cards he drew was a heavenly bar, otherwise one person would win a bowl and a half of their rice. Win a few big necks this time! Zhang Ju slapped his stomach and said, "Dick! He will catch Lao Tzu and will do it! Make a good one tomorrow! Let's go, smash oysters on the side of Shanghai, eat a little more to deal with this lively lawsuit! ”

No one answered, he scolded a few times, and left alone with a lunch box. Before dawn, he came back with a lunch box of sea rays and a handful of sea cabbage, put them on the vent in front of the drying stove, blew them with hot air, and ate them with his hands. Seeing the sad faces of the other people, he was disapproving: "I said, when you go back later, won't you just be beaten?" I've lost a deck of cards! I am not defeated, why are you defeated? ”

After work that day, he took a shower more carefully than ever. Walking back with the whole class, deliberately shaking his arms, when he was about to arrive at Xingyaliao, he met Chiyoko Watanabe, a little girl who was a maid for the housekeepers and a handyman. Chiyoko bowed and said, "Good morning!" ”

"Your grandma is a bear!" Zhang Ju glared at her and shouted, "Let's go!" ”

Chiyoko doesn't know Chinese, and she can tell from Zhang Ju's angry appearance that this is definitely not a good morning greeting her. She was aggrieved. This girl is only fifteen or sixteen years old this year, with a typical Japanese melon seed face, small eyes, but bright and delicate, and two shallow wine vortices when she smiles. Poor nutrition and overwork, very pale face, still cut student-style bangs, wearing patched and white-washed student clothes all day long, doing this and that without a sound. The Japanese can command her, whether it is the head of the dormitory, the instructor, or the kitchen worker. Whoever instructed her to do it honestly. Anyone can teach her, and whoever teaches her "Hi, hi!" She didn't all listen to it. For example, Mr. Yamazaki, the head of the house, warned her not to show mercy to these Chinese conscripts, because they were an inferior people and should be driven by the Yamato nation. But when she talks to Chinese, she still smiles and calls "Zhang Jun, Li Jun", and calls "you" instead of "you". I don't think "China" is called "China", I heard that they don't like this name. The Chinese are very kind to her, much more amiable than some Japanese. They are bitter enough, and if you can't help them, don't harm them. So when she sees anything that violates discipline, she never tells the truth. Her brother disappeared in China, and people discriminated against her family, and her mother knelt in front of the shrine every day to pray for the Buddha to protect her brother's safety. She said to Chiyoko, "I just believe that good deeds can be rewarded with good deeds. I am afraid when I see these Chinese being beaten and starving, afraid that your brother will also live this hellish life in China, Chiyoko, let's not do evil to the Chinese, God has eyes, and there will be good Samaritans in China to take care of him! ”

Whether Chiyoko believes in her mother's concept or not, she is unwilling to disobey her. Dad is dead, my brother is missing, and some people say it's treason. It was not easy for her mother to live alone with her sister and brother. Except for an uncle in Hiroshima who occasionally helped them, no one would help them. She couldn't upset her mother.

Quickly walking to the door of Xingyaliao, she saw Mr. Yamazaki coming out of the door of the office with a fierce face, she quickly lowered her head, walked quickly, and went straight to the kitchen. Xingyaliao has Chinese workers being beaten every day, and she bows her head to avoid it as soon as she touches it. She sympathized with the beaters and felt ashamed of the beaters.

If you lower your head, you won't be able to plug your ears!

The Chinese who glared at her just now reported: "Seven people in the drying furnace workshop, all of them are here, report the number!" ”

"One, two, three, four, five, six."

The sixth number is like a little rooster's crow, the voice of a boy during his voice change.

This is the only one among the Chinese workers who is about her age and can speak. He really looks like a little tiger, with big eyes, a well-defined mouth, and a stupid look that is really funny, he pretends to be an adult in front of her, a serious person, but he doesn't underestimate the little girl, and always greets her first when he meets.

Oh no, Mr. Yamazaki started beating people, first heard the sound of a snap, a hand on his face, and then asked, "Do you know why you were beaten?" ”

"Got it."

One by one, they're going to fight! Will it be his turn too?

"You know what?"

"Got it!"

"You know what?"

"Got it!"

Chiyoko was afraid of hitting him, and her heart was pounding in fright. He lowered his head and hurriedly quickened his steps, and as soon as he reached the corner of the building, the voice of the answer changed, and the voice of the little rooster crowed.

Yamazaki asked, "Do you know?" ”

The shrill voice replied loudly, "I don't know!" ”

"Horn" two mouths.

"Stand upright! Answer me, you know? ”

The shrill voice trembled, "I don't know! ”

"Horn ......"

Chiyoko can't lift her legs. He's still a kid - maybe younger than himself, how can he resist such a beating? What's wrong with him? Isn't there a lot of people who like him, and even Mr. Youdao is extraordinarily generous to him? Every time I go to the hospital, do chores, don't you always ask him to do the work on the street alone? Why doesn't anyone come to intercede now?

"Know" and "don't know" are honorifics, with only a slight difference in the final note. Lu's pronunciation was inaccurate, maybe he was knocked unconscious, he wanted to answer: "I know", but what he said was "I don't know". Why didn't anyone remind him to watch him get beaten? Chiyoko gave herself courage, turned around, and walked to the door of the office, looking for an opportunity to remind Torako. There were still more than ten steps away from the office, Yamazaki raised his face and glared at Chiyoko, and asked in disgust, "What are you doing here!" ”

"Yes, sir." Chiyoko stood still, bowed her head slightly, and said, "I want to ask Mr. about breakfast......"

"Leave you, what's breakfast now?"

Fortunately, Mr. Michi came to work. Youdao Fujian is an "instructor", and he is only in his twenties. He is very short and wears a national uniform made in China. Hit leggings. The front corners of his combat cap are pinched to point to the sky, and he wears a pair of short-sighted glasses that looks like a middle school student. He lived with his parents in Nanjing, and he could speak a few words of Jiangsu-flavored Chinese, which sounded more difficult to understand than Japanese, and he was angry when people didn't understand him. He never hits people, he doesn't curse when he jokes, he teaches the Chinese workers the necessary Japanese, and he also takes care of the trivial matters of daily life. He is considered a subordinate of Yamazaki, but he is extremely disgusted with Yamazaki. Behind his back, he told the Chinese workers that in order to get the Chinese workers to do a good job, the club did not advocate torturing them too much for no reason, so that they could not even get a rest to recover their strength. He also complained that the rations of Chinese workers were too much embezzled by the staff of the labor association. Chinese workers eat too little, and they can't exert their strength to work. The club reproached him. He was aggrieved. Because Yamazaki is in charge of these things, he has no right to intervene.

Youdao saw this situation and asked what was wrong. Zhang Ju reported: "We gambled in the factory......"

Yamazaki pointed to the tiger and said, "I asked him if he knew why he was beaten?" He actually said that he didn't know, and he intended to resist. ”

Lu Huzi said: "Report, I did not participate in gambling. ”

Yamazaki asked Zhang Ju, "Didn't he participate?" ”

Zhang Ju said: "Yes, I didn't participate!" ”

Yamazaki shouted, "Lie, I saw you present with my own eyes." ”

Zhang Ju said: "He sat on the side to rest, there was no betting!" ”

"Then it's all the more to fight!" Yamazaki approached the Land Rover, slapped him six or seven times in one breath and said, "Look at their bets!" Did you report it to me? Why not report it? Why not report ......"