Chapter 22: Yan Bugui Breaks His Word

Nomura rummaged through the rubble for a long time, but he didn't find anyone.

"Baka! Where are the people?" Nomura straightened up abruptly, his face a mix of suspicion and rage.

Ono poked his head out to peer at the dilapidated courtyard gate and discovered that those few people were no longer firing their guns. He cursed foully and stepped into the chaotic little courtyard, his gait uneven.

In that split second of lightning and flint!

He Yuzhu's figure appeared at the gate like a ghost, without any warning!

Two Mauser C96s, their bodies pitch-black and their muzzles deep and dark, were now locked firmly onto the target just inches away!

The eyes of the two Japanese soldiers nearly popped out of their sockets, their pupils instantly swallowed by pure terror! They subconsciously tried to raise their guns, but their arms were as stiff as if they had been filled with lead!

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—!"

He Yuzhu's eyes were blood-red, his fingers frantically pulling the triggers!

The Mauser C96s jumped and roared violently in his hands; the powerful recoil made his arms go numb, and the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers felt as if it were about to split from the intense pain!

"Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff!"

Blood mist, accompanied by dull tearing sounds, exploded wildly from the chests of the two men!

He Yuzhu's chest heaved violently, and he panted rapidly, sweat mixed with dust streaming down his temples.

He scanned the deathly silent courtyard vigilantly, confirmed there was no further threat, nimbly put away the still-warm guns, didn't even look at the corpses on the ground, and turned to dash out of the alley filled with the stench of blood and gunpowder.

By this time, Lao Zhou and his group had long since vanished without a trace.

In the distance, the chaotic sound of leather boots and the jabbering shouts of Japanese soldiers were approaching, like a tightening net, rapidly closing in on the direction of the gunfire!

He Yuzhu, like a slippery loach, dove deep into the maze-like alleys.

He wove left and right, relying on his intimate knowledge of the area, his figure dodging flexibly between narrow lanes and low courtyard walls.

Several times, he nearly brushed shoulders with the Japanese patrol squads that had come to investigate the noise, making it incredibly perilous. By the time he finally navigated his way back to the Siheyuan in Nanluoguxiang, it was already pitch black.

At the courtyard gate, Yan Bugui was still standing there straight as a ramrod, like a door god.

As soon as he caught sight of the two oil-paper-wrapped roasted chickens in He Yuzhu's hands, Yan Bugui's small eyes lit up immediately; he hurried forward, wearing a fawning smile, and asked, "Yo, Zhuzi, didn't... didn't you go to school today either?"

He Yuzhu was already in a foul mood, and upon hearing this, he glared: "Teacher Yan, didn't we agree yesterday that you would help me ask for a few days of leave? Does this mean you didn't ask for leave for me at all?"

"I... I only helped you ask for one day of leave yesterday; you didn't say a word about today!" Yan Bugui pushed up his glasses, looking innocent.

He Yuzhu felt even more stifled. The matter he wanted Yan Bugui to help relay yesterday hadn't even been mentioned, and he had only asked for one day of leave. He shook his head, his tone tinged with disappointment: "You didn't handle this matter properly. From now on, I'm afraid we two won't be able to work together." After saying this, ignoring the expression on Yan Bugui's face, he lowered his head and walked straight into the courtyard gate.

Sure enough!

Just as he stepped over his own threshold, he was met head-on by his mother, Shen Guizhi, with a broomstick!

"What kind of times are these?! You still dare to run out alone?! Do you not want your life anymore!" Shen Guizhi was so angry her voice trembled. "Your father has spoken: if you dare to run out again, you can forget about school! I'll send you straight to Fengzeyuan to learn how to cook!"

He Yuzhu dodged the broom while still finding time to be cheeky: "Eh? Didn't you say Hongbin Building the day before yesterday? Why did it change to Fengzeyuan again?"

"You brat! Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes!" The broom in Shen Guizhi's hand stopped, but her eyes were a bit red. "Is that about where you're learning to cook? It's that you're not allowed to run out anymore! If you run again... if you run again..." She couldn't continue; she was both anxious and terrified.

"I know, Mom," He Yuzhu said, softening his tone when he saw his mother was truly worried. "I'll help you cook! Your health has only just recovered, and you're still weak. From now on, you just wait to eat what I make!"

Shen Guizhi looked at him and let out a long sigh, feeling both heartache and helplessness: "You child... when you're sensible, you can make a person's heart ache to death; when you're being stubborn, you can make a person hate you to death!"

Today, He Yuzhu was truly well-behaved. Not only did he nimbly help his mother light the fire and cook, but after eating, he also uncharacteristically took the initiative to spread out his notebook and lay on the table to write.

Shen Guizhi was mending a shoe sole nearby, muttering to herself: This kid... did the sun rise in the west? He actually knows how to do his homework?

In reality, what He Yuzhu was writing was not homework at all.

He was concentrating, holding his breath, and writing on a piece of letter paper:

Lou Feng:

The country is in crisis, and the Japanese invaders are running rampant! As the head steward of the Lou Family, you do not think of serving the country and resisting the enemy, but instead collude with underworld thugs to kidnap the children of commoners. Where is your conscience? This hero saw injustice on the road and intervened to save them; it is also to give you a lesson. You are ordered to prepare ten Small Yellow Fish and place them at the location I specify. This matter will then be considered settled. If you dare to disobey... Hmph! As for those children of yours, don't blame this hero for selling them to the ends of the earth!

Hero Ouyang Feng

It was the afternoon of the next day when Lou Feng saw this "death warrant."

His hand holding the letter paper shook like a sieve, and cold sweat broke out instantly. He regretted it so much his guts turned green! He shouldn't have helped Xu Fugui with this favor in the first place! But... but he owed Xu Fugui a favor, and he thought it was just letting some thugs kidnap a ten-year-old child of a cook—a trivial, sesame-sized matter—so he hadn't taken it to heart at all. Who would have thought... it would stir up such a huge mess!

Lou Feng paced back and forth in his own quarters like an ant on a hot pan, his mind in chaos, not knowing what to do for a moment.

In the end, he bit the bullet and went to the driver's quarters.

Xu Fugui had been playing cards all night and had only fallen asleep at the crack of dawn.

Since Lou Laoban didn't need the car today, he was sleeping soundly.

Lou Feng hauled him up from his bed and, without a word, slapped the letter in front of him with a gloomy face.

Xu Fugui took the letter with sleepy eyes, but after reading just two lines, his face turned deathly pale, and his soul nearly flew out of his body!

"Feng... Brother Feng! This... this... isn't this just finding a couple of human traffickers to kidnap a kid? How... how did it attract a hero from the Jianghu?!"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask!" Lou Feng growled irritably. "Now we're both grasshoppers on the same string! I can't run, and you can't jump! Think of a way! Is this money... are we going to give it or not?"

"We can't give it!" Xu Fugui blurted out.

"Not give it?! Then what about what the letter says, what about my two children?" Lou Feng was so anxious his eyes were red.

"Brother Feng, think about it," Xu Fugui leaned in closer, lowering his voice with a hint of ruthlessness. "I suspect it's that grandson Dengzhao who played a trick! What hero? Why didn't he appear sooner or later? Even if it's not him personally, it's those bastards under him who did it! They want to rob the robbers!"

"Find Dengzhao?" Lou Feng's brows knitted into a knot. "If he admits to it, that would be a miracle! If things go wrong, he might bite back, and we'll be in even more trouble!"

"Is it that we pay this money to avoid a disaster? Five Small Yellow Fish each?"

"Brother Feng, aren't you asking for my life? Where am I supposed to get five gold bars?" Xu Fugui said with a mournful face, shaking his head like a rattle-drum.

"Then what do you suggest we do? The matter was done to help you, and now that things have gone wrong, I'm the one taking the heat? You're being too unprincipled!" Lou Feng's temper flared up too.

"Aren't... aren't you familiar with the Japanese Military Police?" Xu Fugui's small eyes darted, a flash of malice appearing. "Let's do this: report him, Dengzhao, for 'colluding with bandits'! Kidnapping and extortion!"

"What if... what if it really wasn't Dengzhao who did it?" Lou Feng hesitated.

"Then... then we'll think of another way!" Xu Fugui said with a 'break the pot' attitude.

"No!" Lou Feng waved his hand irritably, the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was wrong. "I feel this matter is strange; it doesn't look like something Dengzhao would do."