Tianzhu: The Record of Foreign Stories in the Republic of China

Chapter 17 Rat Killing (3)
Boss Chen looked at the white rats gathering more and more in the yard, and then saw how many rats were pouring in from outside the door. After a while, the yard might become the world of white rats. There was no place for people to stand, so he hurriedly cupped his hands, bowed to Ma Qiqi, and said: "Master Ma is indeed powerful, and the rat king in this world is even more genuine. Master Ma, please tell the 'Rat King' to let these rats disperse. My yard is too small, and after a while, we will have no place to stay."

Ma Shiqi glanced at the crowd and saw that everyone's faces were filled with conviction, so he smiled slightly and said, "It's not difficult." He bent down and whispered a few more words to the "Mouse King", "Mouse!" "Wang" squeaked majestically at the mice. Hundreds of white mice in the yard immediately turned their heads, slipped out of the yard along the wall, and disappeared after a while. Not a single mouse hair or a mouse dropping.

The guests looked at each other in amazement, and it took a while to come back to their senses, and looked around the "rat king". Those who were more courageous even reached out to touch the mouse's head and pull the mouse's tail to satisfy their own desires. curiosity.

Ma Shiqi didn't wait for everyone to look at him for a long time, so he sipped lightly: "Aren't you going in?" He suddenly waved his long sleeves in the wind, and the cuffs suddenly opened, everyone felt a blur in front of them, and the "Rat King" said " Chiliu" slid into his sleeve and was never seen again.Ma Shiqi then put the other sixteen white mice into his sleeves and rolled up the sleeves. Yao Wa didn't wait for his master's instructions, and quickly dismantled the stage wooden frame, spinning wheel, stone mill, etc., and put them back into the small wooden box one by one.

It was getting late, the master and apprentice packed up their outfits, and bid farewell to Boss Chen.Boss Chen also felt that Ma Shiqi's rat play was full of fun today, which added a lot of color to his birthday banquet, said many polite words, and sent him, master and apprentice, out of the courtyard and to the gate.

Ma Shiqi and his apprentice thanked the master, and were about to step out of the gate of the Chen Mansion, when they suddenly heard someone shouting anxiously from behind: "Master Ma, please stop."

Ma Qiqi was startled, frowned slightly, when he looked back, he saw a person flashing out from among the guests, striding towards the door, blocking their way.He looked the man up and down, and saw that the man was about forty years old, with a short build, high cheekbones, a thin face, a mustache on his lips, and two small mung bean eyes showing a chilling chill. Looking at him, he was short and thin, but he was wearing a long robe and mandarin jacket, a top hat, and high leather boots, which seemed a bit nondescript.Ma Shiqi couldn't help showing doubts, looked at Boss Chen and asked, "This is..."

Boss Chen hurriedly introduced him, "This is Mr. Teiichi Ozuka."

When Ma Qiqi heard the words "Xiaozuka Zhenyi", his expression changed immediately.Although he had never met Otsuka Teichi, he was very familiar with this Japanese name.Ever since the Kuomintang army withdrew from Xiulin and the devil soldiers entered the city in the twelfth lunar month of last year, the name of this Japanese army commander, Kozuka Sadaichi, has become a lingering nightmare for the people of Xiulin.Boss Chen's son, Chen Guoqi, went to Japan to study abroad and knew some Japanese. After the devil entered the city, he was recruited as an interpreter.Presumably it was because of this relationship that Boss Chen's birthday banquet was able to invite this Japanese army major to come in casual clothes.

Like the ordinary people in Quanxiu Lin City, Ma Shiqi wished to eat the meat and drink the blood of this little Japanese, but on the surface, he didn't dare to offend them in the slightest.At that moment, he smiled slightly, cupped his hands towards Xiaozuka Zhen, and said, "It turns out to be Mr. Shao Zuo, who has admired his name for a long time. I don't know what advice Shao Zuo has for you?"

Ozuka Zhenyi claimed to be a master of China, and he could barely speak a few words of Chinese. He glanced at Ma Shiqi, a hypocritical smile appeared on his thin face, and said in blunt Chinese: "Master Ma, your little one 'Rat King', I paid a thousand oceans and bought it."

Ma Shiqi was slightly taken aback, he didn't expect this little Japanese major to come up with such an idea, so he couldn't refuse it face to face, so he could only smile and say: "Mr. What are you going to do? Besides, this is the guy I eat, the old man. If it is sold, the old man’s family will only have to drink northwest wind in the future.”

Kozuka Sadaichi still had a smile on his face, staring at him and said: "Why, does Master Ma think the price is too low? Then I will double the price, 2000 yuan, how about it?"

Ma Shiqi felt that something was wrong, so he quickly changed his words and said: "What price are you talking about? If Shaozuo Xiaozuka sees the white mouse for fun, the little old man will give you a domesticated little white mouse. You can take it home. Do whatever it does, keep it for fun."

Xiaozuka Zhenyi shook his head and said: "Master Ma, maybe I don't speak Chinese well, so you didn't hear clearly. What I want to buy is your big white mouse, the 'Rat King', not the little white mouse. You have you understood?"

When Ma Shiqi saw that the other party had spoken to such an extent, he could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, and talked about him from left to right, so he replied neither humble nor overbearing: "I'm really sorry, Mr. Shao Zuo, the world is difficult now, and the little old man's family The three of us live by playing with mice to earn a few cents, if I don't have this 'Rat King', what will I do for a living in the future?"

Kozuka Sada half-raised her head, held up three fingers and said, "Three thousand oceans, I'll pay three thousand oceans to buy your 'Rat King', how about it?"

"Three thousand oceans?" Yao Waquan tugged at the corner of Master's clothes and exclaimed, "Master, if we have three thousand oceans, you won't have to worry about it for the rest of your life."

Ma Shiqi turned around and glared at him, saying: "Who told you to talk too much?" Then he shook his head at Kozuka and said, "Mr. Sell ​​it, but can't sell it, because the 'Rat King' is no longer with me, it's gone long ago."

Xiaozuka Zhen narrowed her eyes and said, "You are lying, I just saw those mice get into your sleeves, why did they disappear? Do you dare to ask me to search you? If I find them, I will not only Asked for your 'Rat King', and won't even give you a dime."

Ma Shiqi lowered his face, hummed, and said, "What if we can't find it?"

Ozuka Teichi said: "If you can't find the 'Rat King', I will let you go immediately." He waved his hand, and summoned two Japanese soldiers from the gate to guard him, and said something in Japanese, then Two Japanese soldiers immediately pushed Ma Shiqi to the wall and made him lie on the wall. One searched him from head to foot, while the other searched him all the way up his trousers.The two held four hands, and the body search was quickly completed, but they didn't find even a mouse hair.

Xiaozuka Zhenyi frowned, cursed "Baga", and ordered Ma Shiqi to take off his long gown.He twisted Ma Shiqi's gray cloth gown, shook it three times in a row, there was nothing abnormal, then took it in his hand and squeezed it carefully, but he didn't find the white mice hidden in the sleeves at all.Thinking that Ma Shiqi had other traps, he went to search his undershirt, but found nothing.Suddenly he thought of the small wooden box that Yao Waquan was carrying on his shoulders. Could it be that the old guy used some trick to hide those white rats in the box while no one was looking?Pointing to Yao Waquan, he said, "Your box."

Yao Waquan was a clever man, when he saw Kozuka staring at the box on his back, he immediately understood what he was thinking, and immediately put the box down and opened the lid before he could say the word "open".Kozuka raised his leg and kicked the box to the ground. The tools and accessories were scattered all over the floor, but where could he see the shadow of "Rat King"?

Ma Shiqi put on his gown and asked, "Major Otsuka, can we go?"

Xiaozuka Zhenyi's face was ashen, and he stared at him unwillingly for a long while, because he had something to say first, and it was not easy to get angry, so he hummed, waved to the two Japanese soldiers at the door, and signaled them to let go of the [-]th Division gangsters leave.

3
Ma Shiqi's home is in Taipingfang by the Yangtze River, and he lives in a house with an earth-wood structure and a mud-covered roof.His wife died of dystocia in the year of giving birth to his daughter, and he never remarried. His daughter Wansu was brought up by him as both a father and a mother.Although he is a mouse seller, he also knows that knowledge can change a person's destiny. In order to make his daughter promising in the future, he gritted his teeth and cut down on food and clothing. For my daughter to go to middle school.

When the master and apprentice returned home, it was the setting sun, and when the dusk fell, the smoke slowly rose from the roof and gradually spread in the evening wind.Hearing the sound of footsteps at the door, a young girl came out of the room. She looked about eighteen or nineteen years old, with short hair and a round face. She wore a white dress and a blue skirt. The attire was plain, but the girl's full chest protruded slightly under the white shirt. Up and down filled with a kind of youthful vitality.This girl is Ma Wansu, Ma Shiqi's daughter.

Ma Wansu was originally a high school student at the county girls' middle school. After the Japanese soldiers entered the city, they occupied their school, dispersed the teachers and students, and turned the middle school into the "Water Supply Department" of the Japanese army. The organization of the Japanese army to carry out the task of water supply for epidemic prevention.Since then, Ma Wansu has been out of school and stayed at home, studying by herself with textbooks, while helping her father with some housework.

Seeing that it was her father who came back, Ma Wansu turned around and brought out two mouse cages from behind the door.According to the usual practice, the first thing my father did when he came back from a trip was to release the white mouse from his sleeve, put it in a cage, and give it to her to feed.But today her father asked her to bring the rat cage to Yao Waquan's side.Yao Waquan was a little puzzled, so Ma Shiqi grabbed his sleeves and said, "Boys, come home, come out." A white shadow flashed by, and the "Rat King" took a dozen white mice with him. Yao Waquan got out of his sleeve and fell into the cage one by one.

Yao Waquan was startled, and exclaimed to his master, "They, they...how did they get on me?"

Ma Shiqi laughed and said, "Silly boy, if I don't transfer them to you, won't all of them be searched by that little Japanese?"

Yao Waquan was stunned and stunned like a wooden man. He came back to his senses after a while and asked, "Master, when did you put the mouse on me? How come I don't know?"

Ma Shiqi hit him with a chestnut on the head, and said angrily: "Stinky boy, I can't hold back at all. If my teacher let you know, Xiaozuka would have seen his flaws on the spot. ?”

Yao Waquan patted his head, and said aggrievedly: "Master, you never taught me the move of carrying the five ghosts."

"Silly boy, there are so many unique skills that my teacher didn't teach you, so you should learn them well." Ma Shiqi laughed and went into the room.

Yao Waquan stayed at the door, looked at his back, and couldn't help but feel his heart sinking: This old guy knows how to hide traitors, who knows how many good skills he hasn't taught me.Gritting her teeth with self-hatred, she turned her face and saw Ma Wansu, fearing that she would see through her thoughts, so she hurriedly changed her smiling face again, leaned close to her, and said with a stern face, "Sister Wansu, is the meal ready? I can smell the aroma from a long distance, and the food you cook is getting more and more delicious, if I can eat the food you cook for the rest of my life, that would be great."

Ma Wansu gave him a blank look, and said: "It's not difficult to eat the food I cook for the rest of my life. If you become a pig, then I can feed you for the rest of your life." She shook her head and left with the mouse cage.Yao Waquan was so bored that he couldn't make a sound.

Yao Waquan is from Ouchi. He is 22 years old this year. Five years ago, he went to Ma Shiqi's school to play mouse games and lived in his master's house all the time.As time went by, he became suspicious of Ma Wansu, and used words to test her from time to time.Who knows that Ma Wansu is a girl who has studied, she has a high spirit, and she doesn't like him at all.Although he didn't give up, he didn't dare to do anything deviant due to the presence of his master.

When I entered the room, there were already hot meals on the table.After dinner, Ma Shiqi, father, daughter, teacher and apprentice, it was completely dark.After the devil soldiers entered the city, a curfew began to be imposed. As soon as it was dark, the streets looked like a funeral had just been held, and there was no one in sight.Ma Wansu originally wanted to go out to meet her classmates, but it was already dark and there was no light on the street, so she dared not go out.After cleaning up the dishes, the family went back to their rooms and went to bed early.

As soon as he fell asleep, he was awakened by sporadic gunshots, the sound of footsteps in the small street outside, and the yelling of devil soldiers. Residents on both sides of the street knew that devil soldiers were arresting anti-Japanese elements overnight No one dared to open the door to take a look, they were all awake in fear.It didn't gradually subside until the middle of the night.

He didn't sleep well all night, and the next morning, Ma Shiqi was about to go back to sleep, when Yao Waquan suddenly ran over, knocked on his door and shouted: "Master, it's not good, get up and see Look!"

Ma Shiqi turned over and got up, opened the door and said unhappily: "It's early in the morning, I'm in a hurry, what's the matter?"

Yao Waquan yelled: "Master, it's not good. When I opened the gate in the morning, I found a flying knife stuck in the gate, and a piece of paper was nailed to the flying knife. I think someone might have left a note for us with the flying knife. "

"Flying knife to keep the card?" Ma Shiqi was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "What card to keep?" The so-called "flying knife to keep the card" is a kind of quack trick. When you have something to say, write it down on paper, and nail it where the other party can see it with a flying knife, with a hint of demonstration and provocation.When Ma Shiqi came to the gate, he looked up, and he saw a bright dagger stuck above the gate, and a piece of paper the size of a palm was nailed to the dagger.

Ma Shiqi shivered, and said, "Who did this?"

Yao Waquan shook his head and said, "I don't know. As soon as I opened the door in the morning, the flying knife was already nailed there." He set up a high stool, pulled the flying knife hard, and took out the note on it. When the two looked at it, they saw that the letter read:

Master Ma:
My chipmunk was seriously injured and died in the middle of the night.I travel all over the rivers and lakes, relying on this big chipmunk to earn two meals.Now that the meal money is gone, there is no food and clothing, and it is difficult to move an inch, so I asked Master Ma to borrow one hundred yuan in cash to relieve the urgent need.Or there will be another duel between you and me—you and I will have a duel, life and death will never end.Borrowing money?Duel?Please choose one.Before dark tomorrow, I will listen to the letter.

Zhu Dapeng, a man from the rivers and lakes

After Ma Shiqi read the letter, his face turned pale immediately, and he fell to the ground, saying: "I never thought that I, Ma Shiqi, would be cautious all my life and be kind to others. Disaster. If I had known that this surnamed Zhu was not to be messed with, yesterday I let him forget about the business of Boss Chen’s house. Let’s go to another house. Why don’t we just eat as usual? Now it’s all right, our big white rat put his big flower The rat was killed, and they asked us to borrow money, but in fact they wanted us to pay him 100 yuan. Where can we find so much money to pay them?"

Yao Waquan said angrily: "His bastard is worth a hundred oceans? This is blackmail."

Ma Qiqi scratched his head and said in a daze: "It is clearly written in the letter that if you don't lose money, there will be another duel. This time it is not a duel with mice, but a duel with people, and you have to fight immediately. Life and death, endless death. What, what can I do?"

Yao Waquan helped his master up and said, "Don't be too anxious. There is a saying that water will cover you and soldiers will block you. If this Zhu dares to come, I, Yao Waquan, will be the first to let him go."

Ma Shiqi glared at him and said, "Nonsense, you didn't read that it was clearly written in the letter by name and name. They are looking for me to fight, not you. That Zhu Dapeng has a hulking back, and his temples are bulging like eggs." Tall, he looks like a trainer. As a teacher, this old bone can withstand his three punches and two legs?"

Yao Waquan became a little nervous when he heard what Master said, and thought for a while and said, "Master, he is extorting money and instigating a private fight, why don't we report it to the authorities."

"Report to an official?" Ma Shiqi asked with a wry smile, "Which official? Report to the officials of the Japanese devils?"

(End of this chapter)