Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Escape

When Mr. Crab returned to the hotel, the first thing he saw was the telegram sent by the big octopus: "Please finish with the donkey. You go to the bank to get two million. Telegram the execution situation. Big octopus." After reading the telegram, the little crab immediately called the little wink and the big liar and asked them to come. "That's right, boys," said Little Crab, as soon as Little Wink and Big Liar arrived. "Now act without delay. You go and buy a big suitcase, put all the money you get from selling stocks in it, and bring your kid and don't know to come here. There will be another one with two bags in it. A million suitcases are waiting for you. I will go to the bank to get you the money. Let’s leave here and go to the city of plunder, and then you will go far away from the city of plunder, and you can go wherever you want, where do you decide to go?"

"Go to Holy Mosquito City, there is such a city by the sea, we will live in Holy Mosquito City for a while, and then go on a trip when we get tired of living there." Little Blink replied. "This is too much!" said the little crab. "You can have fun in St. Mosquito City. Moreover, you can live well anywhere with money." "I don't think we should all go at once," said the great liar. "It will raise suspicions. Little Blink and I will leave today, but Quanwu and Little Goat can leave tomorrow. We'll buy train tickets for them." "That's all right," agreed the little crab. "You guys act, I will go to the bank to withdraw money."

After breaking up with the little wink and the big liar, the little crab didn't go to the bank immediately, but went to the editorial office of the "Squeeze City Humor Newspaper" first.The owner of this newspaper is none other than Mr. Big Octopus.In other words, it was issued on the money of the big octopus.The building of the editorial department, all printing machinery and all equipment of the printing factory belong to the big octopus.The whole staff, from the editor to the most insignificant typesetter, is paid for by the giant octopus.Of course, all the money from selling newspapers is also at the disposal of the big octopus.

It should also be said, however, that the income here is not very great, and often exceeds the means.But Mr. Octopus doesn't expect to make much money in this regard.He needed the paper not for profit, but for the unimpeded, and calculated, advertising of his loan.This is: newspapers often publish some so-called literary short stories. If the protagonists in these short stories sit down to drink tea, the author must mention that they drink tea with sugar produced by the Big Octopus Sugar Factory. When pouring tea, you must say that she always buys big octopus sugar, because this sugar is very sweet and very nutritious.When a novelist describes the appearance of a hero, he always mentions, as if by accident, that his coat was bought ten, fifteen years ago, but it still looks brand new, because it was produced in a giant octopus textile factory. The material is sewn.All the positive characters in these short stories, that is, all the good, rich, well-off, so-called respectable little people, must buy materials from the giant octopus textile factory and drink tea with sugar from the giant octopus.This is the secret to the success of these positive figures.The long wear of the material and the infrequent use of the sugar, which seemed unnaturally sweet, helped them save money and accumulate wealth.The bad little people in these novels buy their stuff from other factories and drink their tea with other sugars, so they suffer frustration, are always sick, and never get out of poverty.

In addition to such "literary" short stories, the newspaper carried ordinary advertisements, boasting the products of the Big Octopus Sugar Factory and the Big Octopus Textile Factory.Needless to say, neither advertisements nor literary short stories can attract the special attention of the masses. Therefore, some anecdotes and various humorous sketches are published every day in the newspapers, that is, short, Cheerful little stories and jokes designed to make the innocent reader laugh.Readers who buy newspapers for humorous articles are also incidentally seeing "literary" short stories, which is exactly what is required of them, strictly speaking.

Mr. Crab walked into the editor's office—the editor's name was Grizzly, by the way, and behind a desk full of various manuscripts he saw a little man who looked like a fat mouse in a gray suit.The first thing that catches the eyes of the little crab is the long face of the little grizzly bear that seems to be stretched forward, the little nose that moves around flexibly, the flat mouth and the short upper lip. Sharp, dazzling white teeth. When the little grizzly saw his old acquaintance, the little crab, he smiled. As a result, two teeth protruded longer from under the upper lip and touched the top of the short lower jaw.

"I guess there is something urgent or important?" the little grizzly asked after he had greeted the little crab. "As usual, you guessed it!" The little crab laughed and said. "It's not difficult to guess, because Mr. Big Octopus always gives trivial instructions in writing or on the phone," Grizzly replied. "This time, neither the telephone nor the post office can be entrusted," said the little crab. Mr. Crab glanced at the door and was sure that the door was tightly closed. He leaned closer to the little grizzly bear and said in a low voice, "This matter has something to do with large plants."

"Why, might the large plant company go bankrupt?" Little Grizzly asked vigilantly, and moved his nose as if smelling something. "It should go bankrupt," replied the little crab, emphasizing the "should." "Should! . . . oh, yes!" grizzly grizzled, his upper teeth sinking into his jaw again. "Since it should go bankrupt, it must go bankrupt, please believe me! Ha-ha!..." He tilted his mouse-like head up and laughed. "Need to publish a short article in the newspaper to give this company a cold wind," Little Crab began to explain. "To make the holders of big plant stocks feel. They've got scammers, and their shares are actually worth nothing. But don't say anything, just spread a little suspicion."

"I understand," said Grizzly. "Just to spread a little doubt is enough to get people to sell their stock quickly. In two days' time the stock will sell for half a Fielding instead of a Fielding. Mister Octopus probably wants to buy these stocks at a low price." , wait for the price to rise before selling it?" "Mr. Big Octopus didn't tell me anything about his plan," Little Crab said coldly. "Our business is to publish such an article in tomorrow's newspaper, nothing else has anything to do with us." "I understand," said Mr. Grizzly, nodding.

"One more thing," said the little crab. "No one should have prior knowledge of this article." "I understand, I'll do it myself," replied Grizzly. As soon as the little crab went out, Mr. Grizzly picked up the fountain pen, put a piece of unwritten manuscript paper in front of him, lowered his head and began to write quickly.His handwriting is chubby and pointed at the same time, with a long tail drooping downward.From the sidelines, it seems that what he wrote was not words at all.It's a fat mouse with its long tail hanging neatly on some small sticks.

Mr. Grizzly hung the whole page with such mice, and rang the bell. "Pay this right away," he said to the female secretary who appeared at the door, handing her the scrawled manuscript. "Be careful not to say anything to anyone," he added, putting a finger to his mouth, or rather to his teeth. The female secretary immediately took the manuscript and left, while Mr. Grizzly began to think about where to get money, so as to buy more when the prices of large plant stocks fell. While Crab talks to editor Grizzly and then goes to the bank to withdraw money, Blink and Liar are minding their own business.They went to the station first and bought two train tickets to St. Mosquito City tomorrow.On the way back, they went into a department store and bought a suitcase made of bulletproof fiberboard that could hold things well. They bought two tickets for a movie when they passed by a movie theater. The title of the movie was "Mysterious Stranger" .After buying these things, they returned to the office, and the big liar said to Quan Zhi and the little goat: "Brothers, you have done a lot today. This is a movie ticket. You can go to the movie and have lunch after the movie , Come back to work tomorrow morning. You don’t have to come here today, Little Wink and I will work for you for a while. This is money for lunch.” Don't know and the little goat took the money and happily ran to the cinema.Immediately Little Blink sat behind the desk and sold stock to the client, and the Great Liar went into the room where the safe was kept, and put the money inside into a suitcase.When the safe was empty of the last Fielding, he tore a piece of paper from his notebook, wrote a hastily note in pencil, and put it on the shelf of the safe, along with the train ticket. The big liar returned to the office, winked at the little wink, and pointed quietly with his finger at the suitcase stuffed with money.The little demote Ba Ming since everything is ready.He got up from the table and sent customers out of the office to come back tomorrow.As soon as the customers were out, they picked up their suitcases, closed the office door and left. Ten minutes later, the two of them were already sitting in the hotel counting the money that the little crab had brought.Of course, it will take a lot of time to count the two million, but because the money is placed in stacks of tens of thousands, it can be counted quickly.Friends just checked a few stacks. The big liar was convinced that there were exactly two million in the suitcase brought by the little crab, so he counted out one hundred thousand from the money.Hand it over to the little crab and say: "You can get this money now. This is what you earned through honest labor. We hope this money will benefit you." "Thank you, friends," said the little crab. "Now we ought to get out of the city as soon as possible. Meanwhile we have another very profitable business on the way." "What's the matter?" Little Blink and Too Liar asked with interest. "Free the famous millionaire miser." "What's up with him? "He was kidnapped by a gang of robbers, and they demanded a large ransom before releasing him," explained the little crab. "I learned by chance where the robbers hide the miser. Then we can go and set him free. For a handsome reward, of course. I think we can get a large check out of him for Check to the bank to withdraw money." "How much money can I ask this cheapskate to set him free?" asked the great liar. "One million is okay, I think." "One million?!" the great liar exclaimed. "Why, do you think it's too much?" The little crab became worried. "I think less," replied the great liar. "This kind of thing should not be done if it is less than two million." "What's the matter, let's just ask him for three million," Little Blink suggested. "Exactly one million each." "This suggestion makes sense!" the big liar applauded. "Let's go." By this time, Mr. Miser had lost all hope of being rescued.The moment the little crab tied him to the tree, he was so completely flustered that he couldn't find a proper explanation for what happened.He felt that what he had encountered was unheard-of rudeness.No one had ever tied him to a tree before, and in such an insolent way.The rag that the insidious little crab used to gag his mouth smelled unbearably of gasoline.The Scrooge is dazed by the smell.The poor fellow felt that he was about to thump and faint, and would have fallen with a thud if he hadn't been bound firmly to the tree.Later, he still lost consciousness.After waking up, he struggled all over his body, trying to break the rope.After such an effort, the result was only that the ropes that bound him cut deeper into his flesh, which caused him unbearable pain. The miser exhausted his strength in vain, and seeing that his attempts to break free were fruitless, he froze.His arms, legs, and even his body were numb from immobility, as if they were not his, that is to say, the miser could no longer feel these things in him.His whole body seemed to be set up, and at the same time, the feeling of pain disappeared. A warm, gentle breeze blows in gusts, gently blowing the leaves.It seemed to the miser that the trees were waving to him thousands of little green hands and whispering to him in the language of the forest.Little rose-colored, tender-blue flowers shone in the grass.Miser did not know what the names of these little flowers were, but it was a great pleasure to look at them.Overhead small red-breasted birds flitted among the tree-drops, filling the air with merry chirping.A few birds landed on the grass, pecked at something, and flew up again.The miser had never seen the birds of the forest so close, and it gave him great pleasure to see them. Some of the little birds, seeing that the miser was motionless, were no longer frightened, and flew under his nose.A small bird even landed on his shoulder.It may have mistook the miser for a charred stump.It stood on Scrooge's shoulder, turned its little head to one side and the other, looked around, and then flew up with a flutter, and the edge of its wings touched Scrooge's face.Scrooge feels the gentle touch of this cute little creature and is moved and even weeps. "What a wonderful world, what a wonderful life!" he thought. "Why didn't I notice this before? Why didn't I ever go to the forest. Never saw all these beautiful things? I swear, if I can survive, if I can escape from here, I must go to the forest every day Come and see the trees, see the little flowers, come and listen to the whispering of the leaves, the happy chirping of the birds, and the happy singing of the grasshoppers. I want to see the butterflies, the dragonflies, and the cute, industrious little ants. Watching geese, watching ducks, watching turkeys, everything. As long as there is anything in the world, I will watch it, and I will never get tired of watching it!" Miser wept for a while, then calmed down a little.His mood improved, and he said to himself: "However, we must not lose hope. Sooner or later someone will release me." He then began to imagine how to reward his savior. "I would give anything," he thought to himself. "I'll give him five Fieldings, that's... yes... Five Fieldings for nothing... But, let's be honest, five Fieldings for the matter." A little too much. Better give him three Fieldings, or one, which seems to be enough." At this moment, he moved involuntarily, and the rope pulled hard on his ribs, so painful that he almost screamed. "No, no, five Fieldings would be better," he said. "You can't afford to spend money on such a thing. Save your money elsewhere." Time is running out, but no one comes to rescue the miser.So he said, "Hell, I'll give ten Fieldings if somebody comes, or I might die here." After half an hour he raised the price for his rescue to twenty Fielding, then thirty, forty, fifty.In an hour he bumped up the price to a hundred fieldings and stopped there. "Fool!" he cursed his future savior. "Where are you walking around with your mouth open? No fool comes here to get a hundred fieldings. As if you can pick up a hundred fieldings for free on the road! Tell me, where can I get a hundred fieldings for nothing?" I got a hundred Fielding for no reason, and I ran to the horizon! Farther away is fine! Really, it is not human to lie!" For a while he listened with bated breath, but heard nothing, not a branch snapping at the Saviour's feet. "Fool, donkey, idiot!" the miser burst into flames. "How lazy! I was going to give them a hundred fieldings, but now they can't get anything from me! Don't come down! . If you make a move, the rich will be blamed afterwards! There's been a lot of thunder and bangs these days!" The Miser decided not to pay, and this brought him back into good spirits, but not for long, for by this time he felt hungry and wanted to eat.Out of boredom, he wondered what he would have for lunch if he came to the restaurant suddenly.He imagined ordering the most delicious dishes for himself, and after five minutes he was so impassioned that he was ready to spend a thousand fieldings for his deliverance. "A thousand fieldings from me!" he cried out inwardly. "Two thousand! Three thousand! Is it too small?...Ten thousand, it's not human to lie!" Later, the feeling of hunger gradually weakened.The miser feels sorry for himself for having greatly raised the price.But at this moment, thirst began to torment him again. "I'll give a hundred thousand," said the miser, who even wondered at his own generosity. He pondered for a while whether to raise the price to one million, and then said, "No, it's better to die than to spend so much money!" Just at this moment, a stink bug fell on him from a tree and bit him hard on the neck. "Ah-ah!" cried the Scrooge. "I'll give a million! Give!..." But the stinkbug ignored the promise and bit the miser again. "I'll give you two million!" cried the miser. The stink bug stung him for the third time. "Cough, you, you bastard!" the miser cursed in his heart. "Two million is too little for you? I'll give you three million, and you'll be hit by thunder!" At this moment, he felt that the stinkbug had literally been blasted into his collar and started to sting on his back.The miser felt that he could not even handle such an insignificant insect, and he was going crazy. "Just wait and see when I'm released!" he threatened. "Let go of me, I'll pay five million! I'll hand over all my property! I don't want any money, it's not human to lie!" As if answering his entreaty, someone's footsteps were heard in the woods.Miser looked up and saw three dwarfs in the distance.One of them seemed to him to be a small crab, but he didn't have time to look at it carefully, because the little one immediately hid behind a tree.By this time the other two dwarfs were up to the miser.The reader has no doubt already guessed that the two men are Blinker and Liar. Little Wink and Big Liar stopped two steps away from Scrooge, took a good look at him, and then Little Blink asked, "If I'm not mistaken, you are Mr. Scrooge?" "Mmm-mm! Mmm-mm!" Scrooge hummed happily, nodding. "I heard in the city that you fell into the hands of robbers, and they would only let you go after a large ransom. We are here to rescue you." Little Blink said. "Mmm-mm! Mmm-mm!" Scrooge snorted again. "I think we must unfasten his mouth first!" said the great liar. "Otherwise, we wouldn't understand anything." "A reasonable opinion," Little Blink agreed. He went up to the miser and untied the handkerchief from his mouth.The miser pushed the rag out of his mouth with his tongue, spat a little, and said, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Bah! Fuck! Fuck!" "Even if you beat me to death, I don't understand at all!" Little Blink said loudly. "He probably said, 'Damn rag,'" guessed the big liar. "I think it's about the old rag in his mouth." "Ah! Ah!" the miser nodded happily. "Mofu, wet Mopu! Mopu, wet Mopu! Pop! Pooh!" "Come on, all right, all right," said Little Wink reassuringly. "That's all right, it's natural in your situation, but try to control yourself and practice. I think when your tongue gets better you'll be able to speak right." The miser began to practice various words.After a while, his tongue really worked, but he couldn't pronounce the letter b.He always turns b into f. "Well, that doesn't matter much," said Little Blink. "I think we can go on with our negotiations. You, a little business man, should understand that it doesn't mean anything to us to save you from disaster for free, does it?" "Yes, yes!" agreed the Scrooge. "How much are you going to spend?" "Three million," Little Blink replied. "What?" cried the miser. "Three rounds (million) of what?" "Well, of course it's not three million terriers, but three million Fieldings." "Three shots (one million) million again? This is robbery, and it's thunderous!" Shouted the miser. "Don't be ashamed, Mr. Miser! What kind of robbery is this? We didn't threaten you with a knife to your throat. We had a normal business conversation. As the saying goes: we to you, you to us, Talk to each other. We are honest entrepreneurs, not robbers." "Yes, Fu (no) is a robber!" muttered the miser. "Help (not) pass, you may be the most authentic robbers! How would I know!" "Shameless, shameless, Mr. Miser, why do you insult us? We can also say that you are a robber. An honest little man will not be tied up in the forest." "Come on," grumbled the miser. "Fu (not) no matter what, the number of three rounds (million) is too big." "Then how much do you want to give us?" asked the great liar. "How much? . . . I can give you five . . . no, I can give you three Fieldings." "What?" shouted the big liar. "Three Fieldings? What do you take us for? We're not beggars, and we don't need your handouts. It seems you don't want us to save you. Well, then, we're not trying to save anyone." "How can I help (not) think?" The miser retorted. "Trust me, I have no interest in staying here." "Then why do you give three Fieldings? That's ridiculous." "Okay, then five Fieldings, five Fieldings are also (not) wrong, trust me to post (it)." "Let's get out of here!" said Little Blink angrily. "He obviously didn't want us to save him." "Hi!" cried the miser. "Why did you just go away like this? Ten Fielding husbands (no) can? Hey, stop! I'll give you twenty!... If you don't do it, you will be knocked down, and there will be thunder and bangs! There will be others who want less Money came to save me!" Seeing that Little Wink and the Great Liar were gone, the Scrooge became dejected, regretting that he had not agreed to the conditions proposed by the two blackmailers, but then the footsteps sounded again.The miser was very happy when he saw that his "savior" had returned. "Hey, it's all right this time!" he thought. "Since they're back, it means they've decided to ask for twenty Fieldings. This time, I won't give you twenty. I'll give them fifteen." It was hard to say what the miser was happier about: that he would be free at last, or that he could save five Fieldings? But, to his surprise, Wink and Liar were in no hurry to untie him.They walked to the tree and turned around the tree attentively, looking for something in the grass. "What are you looking for there?" asked the miser uneasily. "Looking for a rag," replied Little Blink. "When did we find you, and when should we leave you? Do you understand that someone worked hard to gag you with a rag, but we came and threw the rag away. You Say, is that honest? Respect the work of others, my dear! Or perhaps you want us to be dishonest?" At this time, the big liar found the rag and stuffed it into the miser's mouth. "Ah-ah!" cried the miser. "Help(not) need Mofu(cloth)! Poof! Mofu(cloth), Mofu(cloth), not Mofu(cloth)! Ah woo! Ah woo!" "Will you give three million?" The big liar asked threateningly. Miser shook his head.The Big Liar pulled the rag from his mouth.The miser spat hard, and when he had finished he said. "Unfortunately, I don't have any money with me." "That's all right. Give the check." "I don't have a check with me." "Nonsense!" said Little Blink. "No capitalist goes out without a check." "Okay, you guys untie it for me." Blink and Liar immediately untied him from the rope.The Scrooge continued to stand for a while against the trunk, which seemed to have grown to the tree, and then fell to the ground with a thump like a pillar. "What's the matter with you? Little Blink ran over and asked. "I don't know," said the miser indistinctly. "I can't move my legs, nor my arms." "It's probably because of the numbness," Little Blink said his estimate. The big liar thought about it for a while, and started to push and pull the miser's arm like he usually does artificial respiration, and the little wink also lifted and released his two legs. After a few minutes, the miser felt that his limbs were slowly regaining consciousness, so he said, "Let me go, I will do it myself." He stood up humming, shook back and forth a few times, squatted down a few times, then put the top hat that fell on the ground on his head, and picked up the bone-studded hat that was hidden on the ground next to him. Cane, hit the big liar hard on the head.The big liar fell down like a sack of grain. Seeing that the miser had run away, Little Blink ran after him, but tripped over a tree root protruding from the ground and fell down.He stood up and saw Scrooge disappear behind a distant tree. "Oh, you rascal!" he babbled bitterly. Seeing the big liar lying motionless, Little Blink called the little crab who was hiding behind the tree, and together they ran towards the car parked far away.