Chapter 3 Chapter One

Zheng Shaobai concluded that someone was following behind him.At the intersection of Xiahong Road and William Street, he stopped vigilantly.Not far away is the side door of Huafu Company, with a light on at the door.Under the light, an old beggar was catching lice with trembling, veiny hands.Zheng Shaobai rushed to the door downstairs, pulled out the long screwdriver from behind, jumped up, and smashed the door lamp on his head.Fragments of the lamp glass fell down instantly, and the old beggar yelled something.Zheng Shaobai put the big screwdriver on the old beggar's neck in time, making the old beggar shut up.Then he dodged and hid behind the old beggar, staring at the street with two small eyes under the silk top hat.

It was already midnight, and there was no one on the street.The box-type tin street lamps installed by the Germans on both sides of the street were in vain, reflecting the street like a shining river.The drizzle was rustling, falling endlessly, and there were occasional gusts of wind, with a faint fishy smell, probably blowing from the sea.In the wind and rain, the tin lamp box trembled from time to time. Zheng Shaobai didn't pay attention.He strained his ears and listened intently, waiting for the stalker who was destined to appear on the street.If he can't get rid of him, he has to kill him!This is not a very scary thing.Zheng Shaobai is confident that he will kill the stalker one by one.He was seventeen years old, he was born five big and three thick, and the tendons all over his body were almost torn apart. He was afraid of a ball!However, at the time, he couldn't figure out whether there were one or two stalkers. If there were two, it would be a little troublesome.It would be even more troublesome if they still had hard guys.Not to mention that a big screwdriver can't deal with them, I'm afraid that once the gun is fired, it will attract plainclothes spies from other places.Zheng Shaobai believed that there were spies from the police station in many dark corners of the city that night, and maybe there were also vicious dogs from the detective team of the Warlord Zhao Supervising Office.

At that moment, Zheng Shaobai had a vague premonition, feeling that something big would happen sooner or later.The days of vigor and vitality have passed, like a dazzling second kicker, with two "bang bangs", it turned into a cloud of smoke.The city-wide general union strike launched by the United Strike Committee to support the "May 30th Shanghai Incident" irreversibly fell from a high to a low because of the direct intervention of the Japanese military.On the pretext of protecting overseas Chinese, the Japanese drove two warships into Qingpu Harbor and threatened the reactionary warlord Zhao Duban with cannons to suppress the labor tide.Governor Zhao is the grandfather of the Chinese people, but he is the grandson of the fucking Japanese!As soon as the Japanese warships entered the port, the supervisors sealed up the railway unions, seamen unions, and textile unions, causing three murders in one week.Just yesterday, troops were sent to surround the Japanese-owned Daxing Spinning Mill, and the striking workers in the mill were dispersed by force, and thirteen workers' representatives were arrested.The situation is grim, and the members of the Executive Committee of the Joint Strike Committee have been offered rewards - including him, Zheng Shaobai, whose head is priced at 500 yuan.Zheng Shaobai really couldn't figure it out, why did he still have a meeting at this point?Could it be that the executive members of the executive committee still lead everyone to demonstrate at the gunpoint of the warlord soldiers?Isn't that death in vain? !When he decided to go to the meeting, Zheng Shaobai thought, at the meeting, he had to explain this truth!It wasn't that he was afraid of death, but that he didn't deserve to die.In the words of An Zhongliang, the leader of the labor union, it is a meaningless sacrifice and should be avoided.

The fight with the stalker was unavoidable.If he doesn't kill him, he will kill him, and even kill the other seven executive committee members gathered at 125 William Street.Zheng Shaobai held the big screwdriver for self-defense, and his hands couldn't help sweating.There seemed to be sweat on the forehead and face, and the whole body was hot and dry.Zheng Shaobai really wanted to jump onto the glittering street, search all the way back, find the stalker, put him down, and then run to 125 William Street, and say to those fools: "Okay, buddy Ladies and gentlemen, don't make unnecessary sacrifices, you have to run away!" Anyway, this is the last meeting, and he will leave after the meeting, regardless of whether they leave or not.He is not from Qingpu, his family is in the countryside of Zaozhuang, Shandong, as long as he fled back to Zaozhuang, who would think of him as Zheng Shaobai?Just hurry up, start a meeting quickly, and leave quickly.

Frantic thoughts flickered like electric fire amidst the rustling rain, half of his body was wet by the raindrops from the gatehouse, and he didn't feel it. At that moment, the time was stretched for a long, long time.For a long, long time, Zheng Shaobai didn't hear the footsteps that should have sounded, and he didn't see the wet figure that should appear. The opponent must be a very cunning guy, he seems to know Zheng Shaobai's anxiety.Zheng Shaobai thought, this guy wasted his and his comrades' precious time with sinister silence, maybe he wanted to cut off his and his comrades' escape route, catch them and kill them, right?It's really weird, why does this person follow him?And keep staring at the intersection of William Street?Could it be that someone in the executive committee informed the vicious dogs of the Police Department and Superintendent Zhao's Office?If someone had informed him, why didn't the vicious dogs guard the gate of No. 125 William Street, but followed him all the way?

The old beggar in front of him moved, and Zheng Shaobai covered his mouth vigilantly. Perhaps the informer was not in the Executive Committee but in the United Strike Committee.Somebody on the Joint Committee must have tipped off, or at least tipped off to him, before the stalkers targeted him and wanted him to take them to 125 William Street. There are seven people on No. 125, seven good people who work for the welfare of the laborers, and he can't bring the stalkers there anyway.Even if he didn't go to the meeting, he still had to knock out the bastard behind him, which was impossible.

Holding the screwdriver tightly, Zheng Shaobai made up his mind, dragged the old beggar up, quietly took off his silk coat, put it on him, and asked him to put it on.The old beggar finished dressing tremblingly, Zheng Shaobai put his silk top hat on the old beggar's head covered with grass clippings, put a big screwdriver on the old beggar's waist, and roared in a low voice: "Hey, listen, run! Run straight ahead, don't look back, I'll stab you to death if you turn around, understand?" The old beggar nodded tamely. Zheng Shaobai pushed the old beggar and pushed him out of the gate.The old beggar looked behind in panic, then staggered and ran towards William Street, his unbuttoned silk coat raised high in the wind and rain behind him.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps.The footsteps were hurried and heavy, as if stepping on Zheng Shaobai's heart.The starting point of the sound of footsteps was so close to him, only ten meters at most.Apparently, the stalker had already walked quite a distance to the side door of Huafu Company where Zheng Shaobai worked in the sinister silence. Zheng Shaobai broke out in a cold sweat. Footsteps sounded in front of him in a blink of an eye, and Zheng Shaobai saw the outline of that person clearly.The man was dressed in the attire of a dock worker, with an old gray-yellow raincloth draped over his shoulders. He was tall and thin, and stood with his back to him.The guy seemed suspicious of the figure of the old beggar, and he couldn't make up his mind whether to chase him or not.

But Zheng Shaobai made up his mind, and rushed out viciously from under the dark doorway, and stabbed the sallow back with a screwdriver.The big screwdriver was as thick as a finger, and the tip was polished. It was not flat, but sharp, like a sharp dagger. With just one blow, the guy was thrown down on the wet road.The guy struggled desperately, howled, and tried to touch his bosom with frightened hands.Zheng Shaobai swiftly pounced on him, pressed on him, grabbed the guy's neck with both hands, cut off his larynx, and cut off his cry for help. Zheng Shaobai heard the sound of the larynx breaking very clearly, "cuckling", "clucking", like the sound of a cat chewing a fish bone.Later, this voice rang in Zheng Shaobai's ears from time to time, and it has been ringing for more than half a century. Until he bid farewell to this world at the age of sixty-four, it was still ringing, as if the piece of fish bone in the cat's mouth had not been chewed. .

The dead guy was a middle-aged man in his forties with an unfamiliar face.However, looking at his dark face and rough hands, one can roughly tell that he is a coolie, or used to be a coolie.Zheng Shaobai dragged him to the downstairs, searched him in the dark, and found a short gun, a certificate with the official seal of the police department, and a letter to the Japanese consulate asking for travel expenses. Before Zheng Shaobai could take a closer look, he put three things into his bosom, covered the corpse of the follower with the old beggar's torn thread blanket, and wiped the blood from his hands on the torn thread blanket, and finally Get up and run in the direction of William Street.

Near the Catholic Church at No. 12 William Street, Zheng Shaobai caught up with the frightened old beggar, took back his silk hat and coat, put them on, and went into a small alley next to the Catholic Church.The small alley was quiet, with no people and no lights.Zheng Shaobai's feet in black cloth shoes made a series of monotonous and loud sounds on the bluestone road, and he was afraid when he heard it.He collected himself, tiptoed, and walked with the soles of his feet very carefully, but the footsteps were still very loud, and Zheng Shaobai was so sad that he wanted to cry. Could there be another stalker behind him?Will anyone see him when he kills that bastard?Will the old beggar call the police if he finds the body under the torn thread blanket?Zheng Shaobai was so nervous that he left the small alley, walked diagonally on Wuchang Road for a while, and finally approached the back door of No. 125 William Street from Liu Zhuangyuan Lane.Walking into Liu Zhuangyuan Lane, Zheng Shaobai was still looking back nervously, and the terrible footsteps seemed to be ringing in his ears... It was a tense night.That night was connected with a morning of escape, which was enough for Zheng Shaobai to chew for a lifetime. Zheng Shaobai remembered that when An Zhongliang, chairman of the executive committee, opened the creamy yellow back door for him, the big bell on the top floor of the Catholic Church at No. 12 William Street rang four times. Appears long-lasting.Zheng Shaobai felt that the whole Qingpu City was shaking in the sound of metal, and even the ground under his feet was not solid.After the last bell rang, the lingering lingering sound was still lingering in the wet air for a long time, and it just stirred up many pea-sized raindrops.The coat on his body was soaked through by the increasing rain. Zheng Shaobai still remembers that when he shrank into the milk yellow wooden door, his ankles were weak, and the first words he said to An Zhongliang tremblingly were: "An...Mr. An, I...I just killed... Killed a man!"