Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen

When Father Ingeman told the Japanese military officer that the girls needed to freshen up and go to the party, Shujuan and the female classmates were listening with wide-eyed eyes.Is the priest old and confused?Wasn't he the one who told them about Cardamom's fate?He also wants the Japanese to treat them as cardamoms to harm them?What exactly is that thing that men use to destroy women, how to use it to destroy Sophie, Shujuan, etc. The coming destruction seemed even more terrifying. "The Japanese are really going to send us back?" one girl asked.At this time, there are still people who are so clueless.

None of the girls paid her any attention.The girl who spoke was one grade lower than Shujuan, and her family was in the countryside of Anqing. Her mother was a rich widow. She had a whimsical idea and sent her daughter to Nanjing to receive a foreign education. "Didn't you hear it just now? There are delicious food and flowers." said the little idiot. "Then you go!" Sophie said.As soon as she heard it, she knew that this nice sentence was being scolded by her as a dirty word. "I'll go if you go." The Anqing girl replied. "You go and I don't!" Sophie said.She has found a punching bag.

The Anqing girl fell silent. "Go!" Sophie shouted.It is not easy to find a punching bag at this moment, and the evil spirit of despair and dying can be withdrawn through it: "The Japanese have good food, good drink, and good sleep!" The Anqing girl jumped to Sophie's side at some point, and slapped Sophie in the dark, wherever she went.Sophie was not hurt, but she almost wanted to thank the girl from Anqing for her attack. Now she had to let the punching bag fully play its role, and let her fists, nails, feet, and whole body vent her anger together.The Anqing girl started to cry, and Sophie immediately cried even more aggrieved than she did. It seemed that she had hurt herself by beating others, and the girls who came up to fight also cried.

"Smelly bitch, shameful bitch!" Sophie cursed while punching and kicking.Now she counts whoever hits her.She wanted to vent too much, and also vented the bad breath that Xu Xiaoyu made her vomit.The capricious Xu Xiaoyu made fun of the infatuated Sophie, and he did it when his life was at stake... "Stinky bitch!..." Sophie's cursing was interrupted by whimpers and fists. "Hey, who are you scolding?" The curtain lifted, and Hong Ling appeared.Whispering and Yusheng followed behind her. "Bitches are human too." Hong Ling was almost teasing the girls, "Don't stinky and shameful."

Yu Mo said: "I was originally gentle and gentle, how did I learn to be so barbaric? Who did I learn from?" He murmured, "Did you learn from us?... How can you learn from people like us?" The girls gradually stopped fighting, wiped away their tears, and straightened their clothes and hair. The Anqing girl was still crying. The curtain moved again, and Zhao Yumo came over, with two slender arms on his hips, a formidable figure. "Ah, annoying?" Yumo said in an authentic Nanjing market, "Your mother and I will not hear you cry again, but the Japanese will hear you. You guys," she pointed to Hong Ling and others, "talk a lot."

Then she lifted the curtain heavily and went back to the women. The girls were strangely quiet.Zhao Yumo's tone is so ordinary, it could be a young mother who is bored scolding her child, or it can be a little girl who is being stopped by the school's elder sister who supervises daily chores. The female students seem to need her to say this very much at the moment, casually, a little rough, and don't take anything seriously. When Father Engelman stood up from the cross, his thinking and perception went away. He knew that he was on the verge of collapse. Fatigue, hunger, and depression had consumed more than half of him, and his remaining vitality could hardly complete his task. Immediately to say, to do.What he was about to say and do was so cruel that some lives would have to be sacrificed in order to protect others.Those lives were sacrificed because they were not pure, a first-class life, unworthy of his Engelman's protection, his Church and his God.He was forced to make this choice to select the less pure and inferior life and put it on the sacrificial altar in order to keep the purer life that is more worthy of preservation.

Is that the case?In front of God, he has the right to choose between life and death, making good and bad choices for God? ... He walked across the yard to the kitchen. He would start his "choice" speech with "my children," as he had called his schoolgirls "my children" hundreds of times.Aren't they his children too?Strangely enough, he felt an urge to call them his children, and he didn't even feel artificial or forced.When exactly had he changed his mind about them?Of course, he didn't completely change his view, otherwise he wouldn't treat them as sacrifices and enshrine them.He still disrespected them, but no longer loathed them.

He wanted to express his distress to them: this was the only way things could go, and the Japanese could only take them away.Only by sacrificing them can the girls be rescued.He would say to them, "My children, sacrificing yourselves to save others is the holiest thing a human personality can achieve. By sacrificing you will be the holiest women." But before he walked through the kitchen door, Suddenly, he felt that these words were very ridiculous, very hypocritical, and even made him feel embarrassed. So what to say? He even hoped that they would resist, turn against him, and speak ill of him, so that he would generate strength and say to them: "Unfortunately, you must go with the Japanese and leave the church immediately."

There was not a single second to waste, but Father Engelmann was still wasting time with a burning passion. "Father!" Fabio came running from the backyard: "The cemetery is full of Japanese soldiers! They jumped into the wall and stayed there!" Engelman pushed open the kitchen door.There is only one thought in his mind: I hope these women can accept their fate meekly like all Chinese girls from good families. But Father Engelmann stopped at the opened door. The women gathered around a large chopping board and a burning candle, as if they were having a secret meeting.

"Why are you here?" Fabi asked softly. "I told them to come up." Yu Mo said. "A dozen or so Japanese soldiers didn't go out with their chiefs just now, but were guarding the cemetery in the backyard!" Fabio said. Yu Mo glanced at him indifferently, then turned his gaze to Father Engelman: "We sisters discussed just now..." Yusheng said: "Who did you discuss with?!" Yu Mo went on to say, "Let's go with the Japanese. Leave the students behind." Father Engelmann felt immediate relief, but at the same time felt guilty for his relief and hated himself for being cruel.

Fabi hurriedly interrupted: "Do you really think that there is wine and meat?!" He whispered, "I won't go if there's really wine or meat!" Yu Mo said: "I didn't force you, I can replace one by myself." Hong Ling lazily stood up and said, "Do you think you are more precious than Zhao Yumo? Your life is cheaper than the stinky pond mud, and you are still a treasure!" She walked to Yumo's side and hooked Yumo's body with one hand. Waist, said to Yumo: "Shall I curry favor with you? I'll go with you." Yusheng said loudly: "The cheap and the expensive are life, whoever should go!..." Several women muttered: "I still have parents and brothers to support!" "I didn't call my name, why should I go?" Yu Mo said angrily: "Okay, if you want to, you can hide here to the end, occupy other people's territory, eat their rations, and watch the Japanese drag those little girls away to cause harm! Who are you hiding for? Is there someone who loves someone and loves someone?" Now she is like a savage village woman, she is scolded several times when she speaks a word, but she is not sure who she is scolding. "Hide it, hide it until reincarnation, reincarnate a good one, and become a female student, let the cheap life come to give you a back for your dog days!" Father Engelmann didn't quite understand Yumo's words.Some don’t understand the words, some don’t understand the meaning, but Fabio understands it. The Jiangbei countryside where he grew up has many unfortunate women. They often use the topic to express their sorrows in their lives by scolding their children.It makes people feel that their sorrow is a fateful arrangement, and they will eventually accept all their resistance to injustice, and all acceptance is just because they accept their fate.Yu Mo's words really made most of the women accept their fate, and fell silent meekly. "You don't have to replace the female students," Fabio said to Yumo. Yu Mo was stunned.Fabio felt Father Engelmann's gaze on his right cheek. "No one will go." Father Ingerman said in English: "Say something useful, Fabi!" "Let them all hide in the basement, maybe the Japanese can't find them," Fabio said. "We can't take this risk!" "During the Nanjing incident, the Zhilu army and Jiangyou army ran into the church several times. Didn't we hide?" Fabio inspired the priest. "But the Japanese already know that schoolgirls are hiding in churches..." "That's when you confessed to the Japanese, and you've already decided to sacrifice these women." The excited Fabio slurred his pronunciation but spoke very fast.Seeing the old priest struggling to understand him, he repeated the accusation just now.He has never felt like this moment that he is a Chinese man through and through, so xenophobic, even a bit feudal, trying to prevent any foreign men from bullying women of his own race. "Fabi Adornado, I didn't discuss this matter with you!" Father Engelman suppressed Fabi's treble with a low pitch. Doorbell rang.The flame on the candle twitched. "Go to the basement!" Fabi said to the women: "I'm alive, no one will try to pull you as a back!" "We didn't pull us, we did it voluntarily." Yumo looked at Fabio, for this glance, Fabio waited for many hours, days, nights, this gaze has made Fabio addicted, now launch this The eyes of the gaze will leave with the body, but the drug addiction will be left to Fabio. "I'm going to speak to the Major and ask him to give us another ten minutes," Engelman said. "Twenty minutes. Dressing up as a student, twenty minutes is the minimum." Yu Mo said. Father Engelman's eyes lit up. He didn't expect that Zhao Yumo's ideas were smarter and more mature than his, so he simply pretended to be a group of female students! "Do you think you can look alike?" Engelman asked. Hong Ling went on to say: "Don't worry, Father, we can act like everyone except ourselves!" Yumo said: "Fabi, please bring the school uniforms, not everyday ones, but the most solemn ones, hurry up!" When Fabi ran to the Bible workshop and began to climb up the attic, it suddenly occurred to Zhao Yumo that Zhao Yumo did not call him "deputy priest" just now, but called him "Fabi", making "Fabi" an authentic Chinese name. Father Engelmann's plea was granted by the Major.His troops waited an extra twenty minutes in silence in the cold.The reason Engman gave was plausible: the singing gowns hadn’t been worn for a long time, and some needed to be buttoned, and some needed to be mended and ironed.The soldiers stood outside the wall, one by one, with their bayonets pointed straight ahead.Twenty minutes more is like twenty minutes, good things are worth the wait.The Japanese are the most ceremonial.A plate of fugu is served on the table, all of which are decorated as works of art, not to mention the delicious virgin. Twenty minutes later, the kitchen door opened, and a group of young girls in black sailor skirts and black top hats came out. With a songbook of the Bible. They are the most beautiful group of "girl students" in Nanjing.This is what I imagined, because female students are a dream to them, and they pretend to be female students according to their dreams, so they add the beautification of their dreams. Besides, Nanjing, an ancient city that has seduced countless beauties from the south of the Yangtze River and turned them into peerless brothels, rarely produced ugly kiln girls. Ugly women would first fail the entrance examination, and secondly, they would lower the reputation of the brothel in the future, and even offend customers.Therefore, in Jiangnan, where movies were still in their infancy, there were only two places for poor beauties to go to, one was theaters, and the other was brothels. My aunt Shujuan did not see Zhao Yumo and his party leave with her own eyes.Later, I heard from Fabio that they were all eye-catching. Zhao Yumo was the tallest, so he was at the end of the team. Father Engelmann stepped forward and crossed each woman for luck.It was Zhao Yumo's turn, she smiled shyly, bent her knees, she was a lifelike female student. Father Engelman said softly, "You came here for refuge." "Thank you priest for taking us in. Otherwise, we don't know what kind of harm women like us have suffered." Fabi came closer at this time, and looked at Yumo without blinking.Yu Mo said again: "We are alive, anyway, we are harming others and harming others." She gave the two priests a playful look. Fabio opened the heavy door for the women.Outside the flashlight illuminated a forest of bayonets.The major stood stiffly at attention, his face in the shadows, but the joy in his eyes and white teeth jumped out of the gloom.Fabi never thought that he would open this door and send people directly to the end, and send a woman named Zhao Yumo to the end. Fabio thought, all the luck that this woman named Zhao Yumo missed could still be retrieved, even if she only retrieved one or two, even if the hope of regaining it was small, but once she went away, she would never regain anything.Thinking of this, he felt sore.He was infected with Chinese sentimentality because his grandmother took him to watch Chinese operas when he was young.Grandma planted a sentimental seed in his heart, yes, seeds can be planted, and seeds can also mutate. A truck was parked next to a burning tree, and two Japanese soldiers stood at the rear of the truck.When the first "girl student" approached the truck, they each put an arm around her arm and helped her up the ladder.It was impossible to do without their help, and they immediately thrust their spears sideways to block the escape route and restricted their movements. Shao Zuo followed beside Yu Mo. Fabio followed them three paces away. Father Engelmann stood at the gate of the church. His beard, which had not been shaved for many days, made him look close to the ancients, or even more detached from man and closer to God. I imagined Father Engelman's mind was empty at that moment, just hoping that the scene would go well until the end, and that there should be no extra complications, he couldn't stand any unexpected side effects. He watched the "female students" board the ladder at the rear of the truck and disappeared behind the truck tarpaulin. He could basically recognize who was who from their figures and movements, but he couldn't call their names.He regretted that he didn't ask their names - they were the real names given by their parents, not the nicknames in the brothel.He only remembered one name, Zhao Yumo.It's probably not the name her parents gave her either.He would never know that Zhao Yumo would rather forget the name her biological parents gave her. Dinner that night was burnt potato soup.After George Chen died, everyone began to eat Fabi's porridge and soup.The difference is that this dinner is so generous that every female student eats a double portion.When Fabio was preparing dinner in the afternoon, he did not expect that the thirteen servings of soup would be surplus.The female students finally fulfilled the prayer they had kept in their hearts these days: let me have a full meal, and don't let those kiln sisters share my food.Little did they expect that their prayers would be answered, and in such cruel fashion.They ate the potato soup spoon by spoon, and Shujuan secretly glanced at Sophie who was opposite.There was a bloodstain on Sophie's face, which was scratched by nails during the scuffle. That bloodstain was the only vivid part of Sophie's numb face.No one expressed emotion: Ah, those women saved us.No one said: I don't know if they survived?But Shujuan knew that her classmates, like her, were all confessing incongruously: I just wanted to have enough to eat, but my prayer became a vicious spell for them. It will take some time and a lot of growth before they can fully see the group of women they regarded as low-class women that night. Before dinner, Fabio Adonado led them in prayer, and then he left in a hurry. At twelve o'clock at night, Fabio came back from the outside, followed by a tall Western lady. The students knew her and called her "Ms. Whitling" softly at the moment.The lady, like Fabio, speaks fluent Chinese, and her gestures and eyes are also Chinese.She brought in a barber to shave the girls' heads.Two hours later, a group of little girls became a group of little boys.Ms. Whitlin came in an ambulance, and when it left in the early hours of the morning, the ambulance carried a carload of juvenile patients in striped hospital gowns. Floating around, it seems that there is no real body inside. My aunt and classmates disguised themselves as boys infected with infectious diseases and hid in the ward of Jinling Medical College for two days. They were then secretly sent to the countryside near Nanjing, and from there they took a boat to Wuhu and then transferred to Hankou.Fabi Adornado escorted them all the way, and his identity changed from a priest to a guardian "doctor".No one expected that that temporary professional disguise would permanently change Fabi's identity.Half a year later, he returned to Nanjing, resigned from the church, taught "World History" and "History of Religion" at the Wilson Church School, and took part-time courses in other universities. Among the thirteen girls who were replaced by the Qinhuai River woman, only My aunt Meng Shujuan has been writing to him, because she and he are both lucky. If one or two of the thirteen women can be found, even if they can't be found, it's good to get a whereabouts. Don't let them The concern becomes eternal suspense.