At night, the old alley walls in Hongkou District look like an old lady suffering from skin diseases, covered with layers of posters.Pressing half a piece of paper on the poster of Pear Cream Candy, Wang Mutian "slapped" his masterpiece.He purposely posted it higher, and the real height can only be seen by looking up, which is at least the position that his career should have in his heart. Then, just like when he came, Wang Mutian ran away.A small figure like a civet quickly ran out of the alley, leaving behind a series of footsteps.One corner of the poster he stuck on the wall was turned up and fanned by the wind. It was a cartoon on it, a short and fat Japanese soldier was holding a plaster flag with a 38-gun, and beside it was written with a brush: "Down with Japan Short-legged pigs!"

For sixteen-year-old Wang Mutian, the Anti-Japanese War he understood was this kind of action, and this night was their Anti-Japanese War. "Sakura, Sakura, Yayou Mosara..." A chorus of drunken male voices sang a Japanese song through the cloth curtains of a Japanese-style tavern with a "izakaya" sign. In Shanghai in 1939, Japanese songs were mixed with Western music, French coffee, British cigars, and opium smoke were intoxicating, and the leaves of the French plane trees rustled.Mounted policemen with bright guns and iron cavalry patrolled the colonial areas of Britain, France and Japan to maintain the peace of singing and dancing there.

Shanghai in 1939 was the largest color palette in the world.Such singing can be heard everywhere, and it is the background sound of half the city. Wang Mutian suddenly turned into the street corner, almost throwing himself against the wall.With his vest pressed against the window of the tavern, he laughed and panted, and poked his head out to look at the way he came.A broom with a bald tail poked under the tip of Wang Mutian's nose, and the smell of motor oil soaked in the broom made him cough immediately.Three or four pairs of half-grown children stared at Wang Mutian's face with smirks and nervousness in their eyes.

"We finished posting a long time ago, and you are the last again!" Xiao Zheng, who wears square glasses, said in a low voice.Xiao Zheng is the oldest of the group of children, so he naturally became the leader.He was as thin as a bamboo pole, and lost his nutrition just when he was growing up, but because of his youth, he didn't feel skinny. Wang Mutian doesn't like to listen to criticism.He grabbed the broom sloppily, and squatted under the window root with the young comrades who were patched together from seven streets and six alleys, trying out the angle of throwing. This is the battle plan that has already been deployed. Wang Mutian reached out his hand and took out the lighter from his pocket—everyone squatted here waiting for him, just waiting for this shiny little thing in his pocket—and ignited it, and the whole broom blazed into a torch .With the angle he had just chosen, Wang Mutian threw the torch into the tavern...

"Run!" Wang Mutian laughed and jumped out. There was another round of galloping, and several sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys ran through the alley like a hurricane. Behind them, the singing in the tavern changed instantly. Amidst the sound of cursing like an explosion, the dedicated torches were thrown out, and the door was tightly closed. Then rushed out two Japanese soldiers.The running figures were too eye-catching, the Japanese soldiers jumped and pointed at them, and the sharp whistle pierced the night sky continuously.Wang Mutian turned his head while running, his heart was thumping violently with triumph mixed with excitement, he almost wanted to shout: "Short-legged pig!"

But immediately, Wang Mutian felt that he was cheated.In other words, since he had eaten pork, he really had no chance to see the pig go away. He didn't expect the short legs to be able to move upside down at such a speed. The boys ran out of the alley and into the park in the middle of the street, each pounced on a sycamore tree, climbed up the trunk like monkeys, and disappeared one by one among the dense branches and leaves of the sycamore tree.Wang Mutian imitated the example, threw himself on the tree, jumped up with hands and feet but slid down with hands and feet. The ability to climb trees is a major flaw in his life. His arms are still too weak, and his silk clothes are too tight. The Japanese words mixed with curses and the sound of running are getting closer and closer, and Wang Mutian has long been unable to laugh. come out.

The little comrades riding on the tree were so anxious that their noses were sweating, they grabbed the branches and made meaningless gestures at Wang Mutian.Three or four Japanese soldiers broke through the night and broke into their field of vision. With two more gasps, Wang Mutian, who was exposed to the ground, would definitely not be able to escape. After falling from the tree trunk for the last time, Wang Mutian gave up his efforts to climb the tree.He pulled out a girl's long skirt from the waist of his trousers as if conjuring, shook it off viciously, and let the corners of the skirt cover his trouser legs and feet, and took out a silk scarf from his pocket——Wang Mutian has thick hair like a western doll. Curly hair, wrapped in a turban, revealing forehead hair like the bangs of a young lady.He knew the monkeys on the tree were laughing, let them laugh, Wang Mutian thought angrily.You have Zhang Liangji and I have a wall ladder. He quickly armed himself as a girl, and then turned around under the night and walked slowly towards the Japanese soldiers.

When passing by those Japanese soldiers who had lost their target, the vigilant and naughty smile reappeared in Wang Mutian's eyes.He bowed his head in a gentle manner, and read out softly: pigs!