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

Chapter 21 Rat Killing (7)
Zhu Dapeng fell into a coma for two days and two nights, and did not wake up slowly until noon on the third day. When he touched his body, the wound had already been bandaged with medicine. Benefactor, thank you for saving your life.

Seeing that he really couldn't see his identity, Ma Shiqi felt relieved, stretched out his hand to help him up, roasted the two crucian carps caught in the morning, and handed them to him to eat.

After Zhu Dapeng ate, his body gradually regained some strength, so he told him that he was from Shandong and made a living by selling rats and juggling in rivers and lakes.When I came to Xiulin more than a month ago, I didn't want a big chipmunk that I depended on for a living to be killed by someone else's big white rat.He heard that the voles on Xiulin Mountain were strong, smart and aggressive, so he went up the mountain to catch one or two voles for retraining.He waited on the mountain for many days, and finally found a muscular bamboo rat with a length of more than a foot and a high bone ridge. That night, he set a trap and was about to catch it, but he was caught by a group of Japanese soldiers patrolling up the mountain. bumped into.Without saying a word, Guizibing fired his gun at him from afar.He was shot twice in the back, and he was about to be caught by the devil soldiers. In the end, he ran into a pile of rocks in a panic, turned eastward and westward along a small path, and ran to this cliff for some reason. Between the cliffs came.Later, I vaguely saw a cave, so I wanted to run in and hide there. Unexpectedly, the injuries on my body were too serious, and I passed out on the ground before entering the cave, unconscious.

When Ma Shiqi heard him say that his big chipmunk was killed by someone else's big white rat, he couldn't help but his heart moved, and suddenly asked: "The mouse you rely on for a living was killed by someone else's mouse, didn't you ask others to compensate you?" ?"

Zhu Dapeng laughed and said: "The skills are not as good as others, and if you lose, you lose. How can you ask others to compensate you?"

Ma Shiqi was startled, stared at him and asked, "You, you really didn't ask him to pay you money?"

Zhu Dapeng shook his head and said, "Really not."

Ma 17 stared straight at him, and saw that his face was calm, and he didn't seem to be lying, so he couldn't help but feel suspicious: Since Zhu Dapeng didn't leave him a knife to ask for compensation, then the money he received Who would have written that threatening text message?

He suddenly thought of something, raised his eyebrows, and suddenly understood in his heart: the threatening letter nailed to the gate with a flying knife must have been written by Yao Waquan under Zhu Dapeng's name.He knows that I am a timid person, so the purpose of doing this is naturally to scare me first, and when I am at a loss what to do, he obediently listens to him, climbs into the coffin and pretends to die, so that he can step by step Realize your own conspiracy.

Since Zhu Dapeng didn't throw a knife in the box to seek a duel with him, then who is that Zhu Dapeng who opened the coffin to inspect his body in his mourning hall?Could it be a counterfeit invited by Yao Waquan?It must be.Yao Waquan decided that he would close his eyes and pretend to be dead. When Zhu Dapeng came, he would never dare to open his eyes to see him, and the others had never seen Zhu Dapeng, so Yao Waquan only had to hire a big man with a Shandong accent to play the role. Just a little bit about Zhu Dapeng... It turns out that this kid, Yao Waquan, was plotting against me from the very beginning!

The beast!He gritted his teeth and couldn't help cursing secretly in his heart.

Zhu Dapeng saw that he was thoughtful and silent for a long time, so he looked at him and asked, "Grandpa, what's wrong with you?"

Ma Shiqi came back to his senses, shook his head and said, "No, nothing."

Zhu Dapeng stared at his face and said, "Grandfather, your face..."

Ma Shiqi touched his cheek subconsciously, and said, "No, it's okay, I accidentally got bitten by a mouse... To be honest, I also know some ways to tame mice. Look, I don't raise rats in this cave. Do you have many hamsters?"

Zhu Dapeng turned his head and saw that there were indeed many hamsters in the cave screaming happily on the ground, running around, and couldn't help laughing and said: "It turns out that my benefactor is walking with me, disrespectful and disrespectful. I don't know if benefactor can do it." I heard that in Xiulin City, there is also an expert in selling mouse shows. His surname is Ma. Because he has seventeen well-behaved little white mice, everyone calls him Ma Shiqi. My big chipmunk was caught by him. He was bitten to death by the trained 'Rat King'. I admire his mouse taming skills very much. I once found out his address and visited him for advice. But when I went, I heard from his apprentice that he had died of a sudden illness. Pity!"

When Ma Shiqi heard him mentioning his name, his heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained calm, he shook his head and said, "I've been on the mountain for a long time, I rarely go down the mountain, and I don't know much about the personnel and affairs in the city. "

After Zhu Dapeng listened, he stopped talking.Ma Shiqi saw that he was seriously injured and his constitution was still weak, so he couldn't sit for a long time, so he helped him to the stone bed, let him lie down and recuperate, and then he left the cave and went down the mountain to find food and collect herbs.

He found fresh footprints of two hares on the mountain yesterday, and set a trap on the path that the hares must pass.It rained all night last night. He didn't have any hope at first, but he went up the mountain to take a look, but unexpectedly caught a big gray rabbit.He was happy, it seemed that Zhu Dapeng was lucky.

Zhu Dapeng lived in this cave for more than half a month. Under the care of Ma Shiqi, the gunshot wound on his back healed quickly.After staying for two more days, I bid farewell to Ma Shiqi.Ma Shiqi asked him what his plans were after going down the mountain. He touched the gunshot wound on his back and said with lingering fear, no matter what, leave Xiulin City first and find a place without devil soldiers for a while.

Not long after he went down the mountain, Ma Shiqi also picked out a small homemade wooden box, which contained the group of hamsters he had tamed, and wandered down the mountain.

6
Everything is depressed, the earth is frozen, and before you know it, the coldest season of the year has come.The sky was gloomy, the wind was blowing, and the weather was getting colder and colder. Residents in Xiulin City all hid at home and warmed up by the fire.

In this cold and desolate weather, an old man carrying a small wooden box on his shoulders and carrying a small wooden box through the streets and alleys of Xiulin Street came to sell rat games in this cold and desolate weather. The most surprising thing is his face, which is bumpy and bumpy, like an adobe brick wall that has just been built and has not had time to smooth it with mud, so he is not afraid of people.

But his mouse tricks are really good.As soon as the small wooden box was opened, two huge hamsters ran out leading a group of little mice. The old man clapped his hands with bare hands, and the mice performed "Taigong fishing", "Liu Jin Jin melon", "Sanniang drawing water" in turn. "And other programs.When meeting many people, the old man took out a small wooden shelf and put it on the ground, like a pavilion, singing slang songs, and the rats performed "mouse marriage" and "bangs" on the attic to the rhythm of his libretto. The costumes and movements of the repertoires "Chopping Woodcutters" and "Five Rats in Tokyo" are all consistent with the scenes in the repertoire sung by the old man.

Although the mouse show was wonderful, it was rare to find peace in the wilderness and chaos. In addition to the freezing weather, there were not many people who went out to watch the play except for some fun-loving children, so the old man's business was naturally sluggish.

The pockmarked old man was none other than Ma Shiqi.After Ma Shiqi went down the mountain, in order to earn some living expenses, he picked up his outfit and sold rat shows along the street, while approaching home.

On this day, he came to Taipingfang and found the front door of his house, but he saw that the door was closed and the front door was desolate.I found an old neighbor to inquire about the news. Naturally, the neighbor no longer recognized him, so he told him that after Master Da Ma died of a sudden illness, his apprentice Yao Waquan bought a new house on Yipu Street. Master Ma's daughter, Ma Wansu, moved to a new house.

Ma Shiqi couldn't help being surprised when he heard that, he knew that Yipu Street could be regarded as a wealthy area in Xiulin City, and those who could buy houses there were rich families.He, Yao Wa, is a poor boy, how can he have the money to buy a house there?
The neighbor seemed to see his doubts. He looked around and saw no one around, so he told him in a low voice: "I heard that Yao Waquan sold a big white mouse left by his master to the Japanese at a high price." ,so……"

When Ma Shiqi heard this, there was a loud bang in his head, and he finally understood why Yao Waquan had to deliberately kill himself. It turned out that the main purpose was to get the "Rat King" and sell it to the Japanese at a high price.This bastard, for 3000 yuan, even went so far as to murder his master!He only felt the blood rushing to his forehead, and he wished he could find Yao Waquan now and slap him hard.

When he looked up, he saw that neighbor was looking at him suspiciously. Afraid that the other party would see something wrong, he hurriedly asked Yao Waquan's new address, thanked him, picked up his outfit, and left in a hurry.

Yipu Street is located on the bank of the Yangtze River. It was originally a sandbar. Later, due to the diversion of the river embankment, this sandbar was separated by the Yangtze River embankment.At the beginning, there was only one small street on the sandbank, but because it was close to the river embankment wharf, people came and went, and the business was booming, and it was soon expanded into a wide street.There are many shops on both sides of the street, with red walls and green tiles, and the houses are very beautifully built.Today, Yipu Street has become the busiest golden street in Xiulin City.

The clouds were gathering and the temperature dropped sharply. When Ma Shiqi came to Yipu Street, snowflakes suddenly fluttered in the sky.The shops facing the street were still open, and each shop was burning a pot of charcoal fire, and the shopkeeper and the guys were all around the brazier to roast the fire.There are fewer and fewer pedestrians on the street, and the busy and noisy street looks empty and lonely.According to the address given by the neighbor, Ma Shiqi asked passers-by twice more, and finally found Yao Waquan's residence.

It was a single-family exquisite house at the end of the street, with a vermilion lacquered gate, and in front of the gate was a high step made of blue bricks, and on both sides of the step squatted an auspicious beast with teeth and claws.The two doors were tightly closed, as if to tell passers-by that the people in the house were doing something shady.

Ma Shiqi lingered at the gate for a while, the snow fell more and more heavily, and soon a thick layer fell on his shoulders on both sides.He shook the snowflakes off his body, and was about to find a place to shelter from the wind and snow, when he suddenly heard a "creak", and the two tightly closed vermilion lacquer doors opened.

Ma Shiqi was taken aback, and immediately took two steps, hid himself at the corner of the courtyard wall, turned his head and peeked quietly, and saw a young man walking out from the gate, wearing a foreign cloth shirt covered with sheepskin He wears a big coat, a scarf, and a velvet hat. Looking at his face, his eyes are small but sharp, and his low nose looks like a deformed saddle frame.Even if he was burned to ashes, he would recognize this person as his good apprentice Yao Waquan.

Yao Waquan stepped over the threshold, turned sideways, with a flattering smile on his face, nodded and bowed, and made a "please" gesture towards the door.There was another sound of footsteps, and then a Japanese soldier with boots on his feet and a saber on his waist walked out from the gate.Ma Shiqi took a closer look and recognized that this person was the Japanese Army Major Kozuka Teichi.Behind Kozuka were two ghost soldiers with guns on their backs, each carrying a wire cage containing dozens of mice.

When Xiaozuka walked out of the gate, Yao Waquan immediately bowed his hands and bowed to him respectfully, giving him a Japanese salute.Kozuka didn't even look at him, and walked away with two guards. The little white mice in the cage didn't know whether they felt the chill from the snowflakes falling on them outside, or they had a premonition that the fate of this trip would be bad or bad. Jumping and crashing in the cage, there was a mournful "squeak" sound from his mouth.

Yao Waquan stood at the gate like a pug, watching Kozuka's figure disappear into the wind and snow, then turned around, glanced at Ma Shiqi intentionally or unintentionally, and walked in quickly. With a "bang", the door was closed tightly again.

Seeing that he didn't recognize him, Ma Shiqi let go of his heart.He frowned, thinking to himself: That's strange, what did Kozuka catch so many mice in wire cages?Thinking of the fact that the Japanese army commander was willing to pay 3000 yuan for a large white rat, I was even more suspicious, wondering what kind of medicine was sold in this little Japanese gourd.

Just as he was wondering, he suddenly saw a young guy standing up behind the counter of Zhuangji Charcoal Shop across the street, spitting a mouthful of thick phlegm at the vermilion lacquered gate of Yao Wa's family, and scolding through gritted teeth: "Traitor, dog!" Traitor!"

Ma Shiqi was slightly taken aback, stepped on the snow and walked across the street, came to the charcoal shop, cupped his hands towards the counter, and said, "My little brother, please."

The young guy raised his head and saw Ma Shiqi's pockmarked face, he couldn't help being startled, but he was relieved when he saw that his words were kind and harmless.I looked him up and down, saw that he was carrying a wooden box on his shoulder, dressed thinly, and looked like a traveler, he didn't look like he came to buy charcoal, so he said: "It's freezing outside, I'm afraid the snow will last for a while. I won't be able to stop for a while, if the old man is not in a hurry, just move in a few steps to avoid the wind and snow."

Ma Shiqi hurriedly thanked him and said, "Then excuse me." Putting down the suitcase on his shoulders, he used the suitcase as a stool and sat down on the steps by the door.He casually asked the young man, "Brother, what did I hear you scolding the opposite door just now?"

"Traitor, I call him a dog traitor!"

Ma Shiqi let out an "oh" and asked, "Why do you say that?"

The young fellow is a straightforward person, so he glanced at the opposite door and told him: "You don't know, the boy who lives opposite, his surname is Yao and his name is Yao Waquan, so he is Ma Shiqima, a famous mouse trainer in Xiulin City." The master's apprentice, his master died of a sudden illness not long ago, and this prodigal son sold a large white rat called 'Rat King' left behind by his master to the Japanese at a high price of 3000 yuan..."

"What do the Japanese buy a big white rat at a high price? Could it be that they are full of food?"

The young man glanced at him, and said a little proudly: "You are asking me the right question. There is an interpreter in the Little Japan team, named Chen Guoqi, who is Mr. Chen Liangyou, the big cloth merchant in Xiulin City. My son, who has some friendship with our shopkeeper, often comes to our store to get some charcoal to warm the fire, and our shopkeeper never takes his money. After going back and forth, our shopkeeper got some truth from him."

"Oh, is there any mystery in it?"

"Hey, there's a big mystery here. Didn't our Xiulin County Girls' Middle School be taken over by devil soldiers a few years ago?"

Ma Shiqi nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I know this. The devil soldiers turned a good school into an 'epidemic prevention and water supply department'. It is said that it is an organization that is responsible for carrying out the task of epidemic prevention and water supply for the Japanese army."

"I really don't know if I don't say it. I'll scare you when I say it. The Ministry of Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply is actually a place for research on bacterial warfare. Do you know what is 'bacterial warfare'? According to Chen's translator, bacterial warfare is also called 'bacterial warfare' "Biological warfare" is to use bacteria or viruses as weapons to poison people, animals, and even crops in the field. Wherever these poisonous bacteria pass, people and animals will die, which is worse than the plague. It is said that the ghost soldiers set up this in Xiulin City The 'Ministry of Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply' is a research institute specializing in the study of plague and cholera germs. Kotsuka Sadaichi is not only the supreme commander of the Japanese army here, but also the director of this research institute. They are still in the first stage of germ warfare research. , needs a large number of white mice for experiments. White mice are small and clever, and are not easy to capture manually. Ozuka Teichi has seen Master Ma's performance, and knows that Master Ma has a "rat king" in his hand, which can gather hundreds of people in a short period of time. There are thousands of endless little white mice, so I feel that if I have this 'rat king', I don't have to worry about having no little white mice to do experiments..."

Hearing this, Ma Shiqi couldn't help but let out an "oh", and then he understood why Ozuka Teichi was willing to pay 3000 yuan for a large white mouse. It turned out that this was his idea.After thinking about it, he asked again: "Since Xiaozuka Zhenyi has already bought the 'Rat King' from Yao Waquan, why does he still have to come to his house to carry the mouse in a cage?"

(End of this chapter)