Chapter 8 0008

"You...you...you...are you saying that you released the old man Peng in the black pine forest, and later escaped from prison and escaped to Guandong?!" Suddenly someone in the hall asked in a hurry, grabbing the shoulder of my aunt.But Master Bao didn't answer her, he clamped his horse after he finished speaking, and a piece of jade rushed past like a white dragon.There was the sound of trying to beat gongs and drums, which came from several streets away.Some men in soap clothes held red paint sticks and busily separated the crowd towards the corridors on both sides of the street, clearing the way for the upcoming conference team.

"My little lady, my little lady?! What's the matter with you?" The little aunt turned the lantern, pushed the newlywed-like woman who had just asked the question, and said, "Do you recognize that distinguished guest from Guandong Mountain?" The lantern light trembled on the young woman's face, even if there was a blush from that layer of red paper, it could not cover the sudden paleness of her face, and her two big wet eyes slowly moved. She closed it tightly, as if she wanted to close the countless years of sorrow in those eyes, and squeezed out two bright tears at the junction of the long black eyelashes.

"Guan Dongshan, Guan Baye? That's right." She whispered, "It was my father who unlocked him and let him go, and walked with him... Guan... Dong..." Ai Gu was only sixteen years old when she met Baye Guan in the prison in North Xuzhou.Qin Zhen, the father, used to be the accountant in a Nanhuo store. During the war, the proprietor went out of business, so he asked someone to talk to Xiang, and hired a jailer for such a hard job.When Aigu was ten years old, her mother who suffered from tuberculosis died in a low house on the narrow street outside the prison, leaving only Aigu alone to live with her father.Growing up in a prison since she was a child, Aigu is familiar with that gloomy, musty world; although Qin Zhen, a father, has done this job, he is not as cold and inhuman as other prison guards; The days were miserable, and Ai Gu remembered those drunken faces whose outlines were quite blurred. They would hang out and gamble in a half-open prostitute behind the narrow street on the left side of the red wall when they were not on shift. She remembered Bian San, Crooked Eye Four, Xu Wu, and Mao Liu claimed to have broken the soles, (meaning worshiping brothers.) But they often drew knives and cursed eight generations of jailers for a penny at the gambling table.I remember that there was a sewage ditch in front of the door, a low earthen house with eaves that could hit a human head, a small square house like a pigeon cage, some picture cards in the smoke at the front door pasted on the smoky earthen wall frame, a burnt yellow lamp A small kerosene lantern with a black cover hangs down on the three-legged gambling table.If you want to find someone to take over from your father, you have to go to those places to find someone.She was really afraid of entering that door, she was afraid of the stinging eyes of the fat old madam who squinted and wiped people's chest as if looking for some gold and silver mine; The girls in the village speak obscene words in hoarse voices; those soldiers in blue clothes in the Thirteenth Association have the corners of their mouths hanging crookedly, their lustful eyes, and the eyes that use people as dominoes .As she passed by, her cheeks were so hot that she twisted her handkerchief behind her back and her head hung on her chest, but she still heard the frivolous whistles and such provocative slang.

"Sister, we slept together, Ripped off the old quilt, A cat smell... oh..." Twirling the little sweater, he rushed into the side casino like a ghost, shouting: "Take over from Dad, Uncle Bian or Uncle Mao!" The gamblers who counted and counted were always so dawdling. "Go back and talk to your father first, tell him to watch a piece of Water Margin again, let's come, okay, people's (underworld code words, referring to the surname Qin.) family's film, (referring to the girl.) Don't nail it here, Master Bing looked away, and you are the one who suffers."

If it’s about customs pay, these gamblers have changed places again, what is Juzhenlou Wanxianglou, or Wufuguan Taste, those third-rate restaurants and restaurants where they negotiated in advance, but put the change in One person's hand, to cover up the kind of shabbiness, before the banquet, your third master Bian came over and my fourth master went over to take a "person to carry a person" and a "water to carry a boat".After eating and drinking enough, I cut up some offal, carried a bottle of white wine and drank all the way back to take over, and kept the share for a night on the blackened wooden bench by the prison door.Having said that, whether it is a restaurant or a brothel, it is better than looking at those dark prison cells. The people imprisoned there are not human, it is like imprisoning a cage of pigs; They are gangsters who commit crimes and crimes, chivalrous men who help the poor, wealthy businessmen who are falsely accused of being imprisoned because of Beiyang soldiers' fraudulent failures, and hooligans who are idle and not doing business.There are countless small courtyards separated by high stone walls. The sky is like the mouth of a well, revealing a bottomless blue sky. It is rare for the prisoners in the criminal prison to even look at the sky. Old and dark, with wide arcades leading to arcades, even the poor daylight is blocked; at every hour of the day, I can hear the sound of heavy fetters being dragged, and the sound of losing money in bets is heard. Mao Liu and his gang are provoking lynching and grinding prisoners, so that they can spend a few pennies in filial piety on those desperate guys, and then go to prostitution and alcoholism, and live a life of nonsense.Dad is not that kind of person, and he can't get along with them.When my father was on shift, he always sat on the end of the bench by the eaves, made a pot of strong tea and read his books like Water Margin or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. "Since ancient times, it's not just villains and girls who have been in prison." My father sighed like that: "In the dark prison, I don't know how many fierce men are trapped in it?! Just like the few revolutionaries in the past, the day before After being locked up, I proposed to be executed two days later. This is not talking about the law, telling Dad that I, like Bian San and the others, will work for tigers, and I will not do that..."

Dad read Water Margin, and he admired Li Kui, the black whirlwind, and said: "For ordinary people, honesty and loyalty are the most important things. Hei Xuanfeng is a man of integrity. Whether he has knowledge or eloquence is the second priority."... Guandong Shanguan Baye That's when he stabbed a knife in both sides of his friend and went to jail.Braid Shuai personally brought up the case of Guan Ba, which stirred up North Xuzhou. Teahouses and taverns made him a topic, and businessmen were also talking about it; Guan Baye came to the city by himself to surrender. Little braid Zhang Xun's bear has a volatile temper, and when he is happy, he might tear Guan Baye into five horses.According to his father's description, Guan Baye is really better than the black whirlwind in his heart. "His surname is Guan, and he may be the heir of Lord Guan," Father said, "Old man Peng, who was interpreted by Heishonglin, knew that Shuai Shuai would want his head. That's why Guan Baye is worthy of admiration—knowing that he couldn't keep it." He still did his head, if he wasn't Prince Guan's heir, where would he have the guts?!"

On the day Guan Baye released the salt, the street in Yanqian was full of people, all waiting to see his true face, but they waited for nothing—maybe Braid Shuai was afraid that Guan Ba ​​would be big, and the crowd would cause trouble Come, let him be quietly sent to the cell in the middle of the night.When Father Ye was on the night shift, he picked up a lantern to deliver dinner for him. At the bottom of the corridor, he saw four horse-bends with short guns and a towing frame dragging the prisoner. The man was wearing double handcuffs and number one shackles on his ankles; He had obviously been tortured before he was sent to prison, and his blue military uniform was covered with blood spots on his shoulders and back, especially those legs, which looked almost useless, dragging limply on the ground, and a piece of iron chain behind the shackles was attached. An iron ball of about ten kilograms was tied to it and rolled along. The iron shackles were nailed too tightly, and the bare ankle was worn down, and blood dripped down along the iron chain.Father bent his back, found the key to open the door of the small prison room, four horses dragged the man and threw him in, and the leader said to father, "I'm leaving it to you."... That's right. , that night I saw with my own eyes the miserable scene of Guan Baye when he was imprisoned.Rippling years!It can never be found again.The way father took care of Baye Guan, let alone jailers treating prisoners, even confidantes and friends, I'm afraid it's not to that level; in order to heal Baye Guan's wounds, father pawned off his clothes and quilts, Go to the Nanxiangsheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Store in the old city to get soup and medicine, buy plasters, change the stickers for Guan Baye when there is no one in the middle of the night, and feed him the soup and medicine until he can walk.For fear that Baye Guan would be suffocated in the cell, he moved the bench outside the door of the small cell, and the two of them chatted loudly through an iron bar. "Ba Ye, you are really a hero!" Dad said, "You are a real good man, you put a knife in both sides of your friend."

Guan Baye shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, showing a look of loneliness and misery on his face: "It's messed up, Uncle Qin. I Guan Ba ​​released old man Peng, not because of loyalty, let alone because of friends, I really can't bear those things. The honest man who lives for a living, lost his life under my hands. In the black pine forest, no matter whether he is old man Peng or a stranger, I should let him go... If I still have a good one that has not been blackened... Heart!" "That's right, you have to suffer for your conscience these days." Dad's eyes were a little moist: "But, eighth master, you have suffered a lot... Let me tell you the truth: you are lucky to send salt, we used to I thought you were going to die on the spot."

"This is Zhang Xun's hot spot," Guan Baye leaned against the railing with his filthy face, "He wants to capture Old Man Peng and his gang first, and he wants that gang to die before my eyes, and then ruin me... He wants me to die thinking I'm a fool." That's his voice, his image, in the lights tonight.Ever since one dark night, father opened the prison door for him and accompanied him to escape to Kanto. Over the years, what happened to father and what happened to him have always remained in his dreams.Now he's back, where's dad?Where should dad be? !He didn't know what happened to the Aigu back then and the Wan Xiaoniang today?What happened?Looking back, there are thousands of hearts that should be broken.

The dragon whip rolled all the way along the corridor, and the meeting was out. The first ones to come out were the seven bright sedan chairs from the seven families of the Wanjia Building. Each sedan chair was equipped with a long red-painted sedan chair with a length of one foot and eight feet, and three horizontal bars. Each is carved with protruding golden lacquered tiger, lion, dragon, and phoenix heads; each sedan chair is carried by twenty-four strong men.The canopy of the bright sedan chair is different from the general official sedan chair and sedan chair, which are all made of green wool and red silk; the sedan chair canopy of the bright sedan chair is all made of colorful transparent glass pieces.There are eight treasure glazed lanterns hanging in the sedan chair, and four palace lanterns are shining on the bright corners of the sedan chair. The four sides of the sedan chair roof are inlaid with silver candle sticks, and there is an oblong glass cover, in which bright white wax and candles are lit. Red wax, red and white complement each other to form a ring, and the light casts on the prosperous ornaments on the top of the sedan chair.

Counting counties in the north, towns and villages often hold competitions, but when it comes to the competition of bright sedan chairs, it is really rare.People in Wanjialou are proud of this point. It's not that they don't want to compete in bright sedan chairs, but they really can't afford to compete. As long as the sedan chairs from the family are guaranteed, they will be decorated with one hundred and forty-eight taels of gold. The gold leaves, not counting the agate inlaid on the palace lantern and the big pearl in the eyes of the unicorn; the sedan chair has been used for five or six generations, and new ones are added every year.Competing the bright sedan chair not only has to compete with the decoration and novelty of the sedan chair body, but also has to compete with the costumes, embroidery and the skills of the twenty-four sedan chair bearers.The bright first bright sedan chair was lifted slowly amidst the thunderous applause. The twenty-four men stepped together and shrugged their shoulders rhythmically, making the sedan chair look like a goose feather floating on soft waves.The main barman at the top of the bar is Niu En, the guardian of the house with a beard; everyone knows that Niu En is a martial artist, and if he is used as the main barman, it can be said that the sedan chair is not easy to fall under any circumstances. At a glance, the twenty-three assistants are also one out of ten, who have been trained for a long time.They all wore armguards and leggings of primary-colored soft cowhide, thin satin yellow scarves wrapped around their heads, and sleeveless tight waistcoats with black and red trim on their bare bodies, and densely arranged buttons on the front of the front; Wearing white Y trousers, suede thin-soled simple boots, with a small alarm clock tied to the boots. "Wow, it's Changfang's sedan chair!" Someone in the crowd boasted. "Don't talk too much!" Someone from behind interrupted: "The mouse is dragging the wooden lift, (a wooden lift, one of the northern farm tools, shaped like a shovel.) The big head is behind. Our little aunt's sedan chair, just wait and see." !"