Chapter 9 Nine

At ten o'clock in the morning, Zhiguang arrived at the Japanese barracks. Because it was the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, work on the construction site was over.The Japanese soldiers allowed the migrant workers to go home for the New Year, because they themselves also celebrated the New Year.A condolence group came from Jinan, including female singers, "Wancai", and "Wenle".Some Japanese soldiers were carrying clothes and setting up tables in the courtyard.Not far from the barracks, there was a steep slope. A Japanese officer rode a 26 military bicycle, but failed to pedal up after two attempts.He got out of the car, took off his woolen coat, and was about to put it on the handlebars of the bicycle. When he turned his head and saw Zhiguang, he said, "Child, come here."

Zhiguang walked up to him.He pointed to the coat: "Your, your..." He can't speak out.Zhiguang said in Japanese: "Do you want me to hold it for you?" The Japanese officer gave him a surprised look and asked, "Do you speak Japanese?" Zhiguang said: "A little bit." "Okay, you take it, I will rush up." Zhiguang hugged the coat, and the officer stepped on the car and rushed up. Halfway through the car, the car stopped, and before it fell down, Zhiguang pushed it from behind, and the officer finally rushed up the slope.He jumped out of the car, threw the car and shouted: "Long live, long live." He stopped caring about the car, took the coat from Zhiguang's hand, stroked Zhiguang's head and asked, "What's your name? "

"Ichiro" "Is there anyone named Ichiro in China?" "No, this is the Japanese name given to me by my Japanese teacher at school." "Okay, okay, where do you go to school?" "Tianjin, my family is in Tianjin. I came here to see my relatives. The district chief is my relative. He asked me to send a few packs of cigarettes to my friend in the imperial army. Can I give you two packs?" "Of course, of course! There are also my friends among Chinese people, and of course they can accept their cigarettes." At this time, a soldier came to salute the officer and asked him if he needed to push the bike back. The officer asked Zhiguang, "Can you ride a bicycle?" Zhiguang said, "You can't ride it well."

"Ride on, go play with me!" Zhiguang got on the bike and swayed.The officer even supported him from behind, and pushed him all the way to the mouth of the suspension bridge.The sentinel stood at attention and saluted before he let go.The sentinel stopped asking Zhiguang, and smiled as he watched him enter the barracks with the officer. The gate of this triangular castle opens on the west side, facing the small enclosure of the gendarmerie team, about a mile away.Entering the fence, there is a triangular courtyard in the middle, and along the fence, there is a row of bungalows with red bricks and white tiles.At one end of the yard, a small stage has been padded with soil. The four pillars at the four corners and the crossbar on the top are all wrapped with red and white cloth, and two large round paper lanterns are hung on the crossbar facing the front.The national emblem of Japan and the words "Fortune lasts forever" are printed on the lanterns.Some soldiers are still decorating the table at the end.The officer led Zhiguang to a room in the middle of the row of bungalows in the north facing the sun, and helped the soldiers pushing the carts to catch up and open the door for them.

The room is decorated with Japanese-style tatami mats, a map of the county is hung facing the front, and a sword is placed on a wooden shelf under the map.The officer took off his coat, and Zhiguang found that there were only four frames and a line on his collar badge, and there were no stars, but he was just a warrant officer. The warrant officer was in his thirties or a little more, short, stout, with a rather rigid face, only angry when he smiled.He found a carton of candy from the closet. There was a running athlete printed on the mouth of the carton, and there were several Japanese pseudonyms on it.He asked Zhiguang: "Can you read it?"

Zhiguang said: "Killing fruit." "Okay, I will give it to you for the New Year." "thanks." "Have you been here long?" Zhiguang said: "One week, no, more than ten days!" The warrant officer said: "The life of the common people here is very hard. Also, they are very afraid of the imperial army. The guards and the Chinese Peace Army also bully them, right? It's not like Tianjin, is it?" "Seems." "Yeah! No way, war!" At this point, the warrant officer lit a cigarette, smoked heavily, and then looked into the distance and blew out smoke rings.He breathed out very roundly, and the smoke rings rolled and ran forward rapidly. One hadn't dispersed yet, and another chased it out.He no longer talks to Zhiguang.Zhiguang stood aside, not knowing whether to leave or stay.

The fire on the side of the stove here is low. This is the kind of stove that burns coal in the city.What can be burned is firewood, and a pile of chopped firewood is piled up at the base of the wall.Zhiguang asked him: "May I put some firewood in?" "Okay!" The warrant officer trembled as if waking up suddenly, and asked, "Didn't you say you came to give cigarettes to your friends? Go!" "Thank you." Zhiguang added a piece of firewood for him. "Well, who is your friend?" "Mr. Katayama and Mr. Kato." "Well, they live across the way. How did you know them?"

"Mr. Kato," Zhiguang turned his head and said, "One day he went to Xiaoweizi and happened to meet me on the road. He heard me singing Japanese songs, and he knew me." "That was several days ago?" said the warrant officer thoughtfully. "Yes, for several days." "Yes, that wounded man, I haven't visited him for several days, that person... Well, you go, go." Zhiguang went to the western house and found Katayama. This room is also tatami, with two sets of bedding on each.But there were four or five soldiers talking and laughing in the room. On the tatami were a piece of "chestnut yokan", a bottle of beer, and a few oranges.Seeing Zhiguang go in, Katayama said: "Just now I saw you coming in with the captain, and everyone asked whose child it was, and I said it was my little friend."

The soldiers were very happy when they met a child who could speak Japanese. One of them pointed at Zhiguang with a gun and said, "Are you a spy from the Eighth Route?" Zhiguang said: "Unfortunately, I haven't seen what the Eighth Route Army looks like yet." Katayama pushed the man and said, "Don't do this, we only kill the Chinese who are against us." The man said, "I'm joking, let's see if he's scared or not." Zhiguang said: "If you are afraid, you won't come here!" He poured out all the remaining cigarettes from the handkerchief bag, and the soldiers all laughed, and everyone stretched out their hands to grab it.The man hurriedly put down his gun to grab the cigarette, but he didn't grab it, and said angrily, "No, put the cigarette in the condolence item. Let's hammer paper and scissors. Whoever wins will pick first. This is too unfair."

Katayama said: "Don't come to hammer paper scissors, everyone will share equally, okay?" The man said, "I can't give it to Jia Teng. He saw the wounds of the Eighth Route Army. Every time the gendarmerie team gave him cigarettes, he already took advantage of it." After arguing for a while, these people still divided the cigarettes equally.Then came the hammer, paper scissors, Katayama won and took the "yokan", he gave it to Zhiguang and said, "Send you for the New Year." The soldier pushing the captain's cart here ran and said, "Is that child still there? The captain told him to go."

Zhiguang didn't know what happened, his heart was beating wildly.Following the soldier to the captain's room, he found Deng Mingsan and Song Mingtong standing there respectfully. On the table was a large brocade box, two packs of snacks, and several cans. The captain's face was still rigid, but he was not angry. The team leader said: "Today, the migrant workers are sent home to celebrate the New Year. The interpreter accompanied the military officer to give a speech. Can you translate for me?" Zhiguang said: "Obey." The captain said: "Please sit down, um, you sit down too. How can my interpreter stand in front of the Chinese officials?" Deng Mingsan and Song Mingtong bowed and sat down, saying that it was Chinese New Year, the imperial army had worked hard, and there was nothing to show their respect, so they brought some souvenirs.They opened the brocade box, and inside were more than 30 iron cigarette boxes with a picture of Beijing's Qianmen on the box.Deng Mingsan pointed to the snacks and canned food again, saying that these were for the captain himself, and he hoped that he would accept them as a kindness, not feeling shabby. The captain thanked them with a straight face, and said a few words about "China-Japan cooperation", "implement the sixth law and order strengthening campaign", "to prevent the Eighth Route Army spies from invading", and sent them away.As soon as they went out, Captain Jin walked over to them. Captain Jin wanted to see the captain of the imperial army today, so he took off his leather robe and put on a "concord uniform" and a combat cap; Belt for hanging the knife.He saw the warrant officer seeing off the guests, and stood at attention after saluting. Of course, the warrant officer had to say a few polite words to Deng Mingsan. Captain Jin was surprised when he saw that it was translated by Zhiguang.It happened that after the warrant officer sent Deng Mingsan away, he said to Zhiguang: "I have something to do. You go in with Captain Jin." With a smile all over his face, he said, "It's a pleasure to meet you again. I didn't know that my little brother can speak Japanese and is familiar with the captain. I used to come here often, why haven't I seen you?" Zhiguang said: "I told you yesterday, I've only been here for a few days, Captain Jin is not at ease?" "No, no, why don't I know about your relationship with the imperial army?" "You don't need to know everything about some relationships. If you are worried, you can ask the captain of the imperial army!" "Understood, understood, my own people, my own people. Don't get me wrong, Japanese is so good at such a young age, it seems unusual." At this time the warrant officer returned.His face was still rigid.After letting Captain Jin sit down, he asked, "No change?" Captain Jin sighed, lowered his head and said, "It's my fault, please punish me, Captain." "I know there will be no change, and I don't blame you. Your spirit is commendable for taking on this task bravely." "Then, do you follow the captain's order?" "Tomorrow, after twelve o'clock midnight, let him have a good New Year!" The warrant officer said blankly, "Let him take a bath and give him a new set of clean clothes. To make a formal announcement, It means that he is a spy, not an ordinary prisoner of war." "He won't change it." "No need to change, he can put his clothes on outside. We respect soldiers with integrity." The warrant officer said to Zhiguang, "You can play now. Call Kato here by the way." Zhiguang called Kato, and he pretended to watch people decorate the table, paying attention to the movements in the captain's room. After a while, Captain Jin and Kato both came out.Kato hurried back to his own room, Captain Jin leaned over and chatted with Zhiguang: "You are always by the captain's side, please take care of me in the future. You are welcome to come to my place to play, let's be friends who forget the year." Zhiguang said: "The captain is very busy, is it appropriate for me to interrupt?" "You're welcome. As time goes by, I'll ask you for help. You often meet people from various institutions and teams. You must know a lot about them. Some of these people are bad, blackmailing, and lawless; Collaborating with the enemy, betraying intelligence, and ruining the reputation of the new regime and the new order, that's why the common people turn to the Eighth Route Army. If you see these illegal things again, you can tell me, and I will deal with them. You are also serving for the new regime. .I am a member of the Kuomintang under the leadership of Chairman Wang. We need the assistance of our allies to implement the Three People's Principles in China, unlike those bandits. We are people with ideals!" Kato tied his belt and came with a red cross leather satchel on his back. He said to Zhiguang, "The captain told you to watch a play here at night. When I come back to eat together, you can play here by yourself?" Zhiguang asked, "Where are you going?" He said: "I'll go with Captain Jin, it's a little thing."