Chapter 30: Lou Ban-Cheng

In the dead of night, the north wind suddenly rose.

The white lantern in front of Dengzhao's house swayed violently in the gale, as if it would be extinguished the next moment.

The paper boy and girl figures standing outside the mourning hall were blown askew by the strong wind; their red lips smiled under the pale moonlight, appearing exceptionally ghastly, as if they might come to life at any moment and walk into the mourning hall.

A brother keeping vigil sat before the fire basin, mechanically tossing in spirit paper, nodding off with sleepiness.

Inside the residence, two patrolling men hunched their necks, holding their guns, walking back and forth in the biting cold wind, stamping their feet from time to time to keep warm. Cold and fatigue had long since worn away most of their vigilance.

Outside the courtyard wall, dozens of ghostly black shadows silently surrounded the entire mansion.

They hooked ropes onto the top of the wall, grabbed the ropes to climb up the high wall quickly, and landed as lightly as civet cats, without making a sound.

In the front courtyard, a man in black landed and immediately crept to the main gate, silently sliding back the bolt.

The main gate was slowly pulled open.

More than a dozen men holding Box Cannons that glinted with cold light surged in instantly, heading straight for the back courtyard!

The two people patrolling in the Zhongyuan seemed to have heard an unusual sound; they looked at each other in confusion and cautiously probed toward the front courtyard with their guns raised.

Just as they reached the shadow of the moon gate, two faster black shadows lunged out from both sides!

Cold blades flashed in the moonlight, precisely swiping across their necks!

Without even a groan, the two men collapsed limply, their blood quickly seeping into the cold ground.

Almost simultaneously, a dense burst of gunfire erupted from the direction of the back courtyard!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Pa! Pa! Pa!"

The crisp sound of Mauser C96s intertwined with the dull shots of Hanyang-made Rifles, tearing through the deathly silent cold night, with muzzle flashes flickering between the window lattices.

The same attack was also happening at the six large opium dens under Dengzhao's name.

Each opium den usually only had three or four night-shift thugs on duty.

When they were besieged by a dozen people, they were quickly dealt with, barely able to organize any decent resistance.

The residence of Lao San, Zhao Datou, was only one alley away from Dengzhao's house.

He had just finished with his newly taken concubine and was leaning against the head of the bed panting, his muscular body glistening with sweat under the oil lamp.

As soon as the gunfire rang out, he became alert immediately.

Just as he was about to put on his clothes, his ears keenly caught a few extremely faint landing sounds coming from the front courtyard.

"Not good!" Zhao Datou's pupils shrank; the vigilance honed by years of underworld experience and his career in the Northeast Army made his hair stand on end instantly!

His movements were astonishingly fast; he grabbed his cotton-padded jacket and trousers and threw them on haphazardly, while simultaneously pulling two gleaming Mauser C96s from under his pillow, "click"ing them to chamber a round.

He lowered his voice and growled urgently at the terrified concubine: "Quick! Hide in the camphor wood chest! I'll come for you once I'm done with this!"

The concubine trembled like chaff, unable to move.

Zhao Datou did not hesitate in the slightest; he wrapped her naked body in a quilt and shoved her into the large wooden chest in the corner.

He did not go through the front door, but instead silently opened the back window and propped it up with a wooden stick.

Borrowing the bleak moonlight, he caught a glimpse of two black shadows jumping down from the courtyard wall.

Zhao Datou held his arms out level, and the muzzles of his Mauser C96s flashed repeatedly! The two who had just jumped down were mowed down by bullets before they could even stand steady.

The moment the shots rang out, Zhao Datou had already vaulted out the window as nimbly as a civet cat! He landed with a clean roll to dissipate the force, quickly crouched, and scanned his surroundings vigilantly with his gun.

Seeing no one, he quickly climbed the courtyard wall and lay silently on the roof ridge, staring fixedly at the front courtyard.

The two who had snuck into the front courtyard were startled by the gunfire in the back; unable to gauge the situation, they dared not act rashly and could only shrink behind two trees.

After waiting for a long while, there was no more movement from the back courtyard; the two looked at each other, seeing both suspicion and a desire to retreat in each other's eyes—the mission had failed, run!

They flashed out from behind the trees and rushed toward the main gate.

Just as they were about to step into the gate passage, a cold light flashed in the eyes of Zhao Datou on the roof ridge!

"Bang! Bang!"

The two bodies lunged forward and collapsed, their guns clattering to the ground.

Zhao Datou held his breath for a moment, and after confirming there was no more backup, he drifted down from the roof like a falling leaf.

He quickly checked the front and back courtyards, confirmed there were no survivors, and quickly returned to the room.

Borrowing the faint light from outside the window, he fished a small leather pouch from deep inside the kang cavity and stuffed it into his bosom, then flipped open the camphor wood chest lid: "Quick! Come with me!"

The concubine crawled out shivering, her voice trembling: "Ma... Master, where... are we going?"

Zhao Datou grabbed her arm, his eyes fierce and resolute: "Don't ask! I have several hideouts in the city! Let's dodge this storm first!"

The Siheyuan at Nanluoguxiang 95 was in deathly silence, with only the sound of the wind sweeping over the roof tiles.

At the hour of dawn, He Yuzhu sat up abruptly, seeing his parents still fast asleep.

He silently put on his clothes and slipped out of the room.

Arriving in the courtyard, he took a running start, vaulted onto the courtyard wall as silently as an agile ape, and disappeared into the dark night after a few leaps.

The goal was clear—to cause trouble for the little devils! And incidentally, frame that bunch of people from Dengzhao's side.

In the heavily guarded compound of the Changqiao Military Police, the cold wind swirled with fallen leaves.

He Yuzhu stuck to the high courtyard wall like a gecko, his eyes fixed on a team of patrolling devils.

When five devils passed by below in a line, he quickly threw a Hand Grenade.

"Boom!" The sound of the explosion rose!

Several devil military police were instantly blown into wailing ghosts.

The military police compound instantly exploded into chaos; a large number of devils were startled from their sleep, hurriedly organizing their teams to prepare for a pursuit.

A few minutes later, dozens of devils drove sidecar motorcycles out of the main gate.

Suddenly, on the road they had to take, several more Hand Grenades flew out!

"Boom, boom, boom!" Several loud bangs!

More than a dozen little devils were killed or wounded by the blast again.

After a brief panic, the devils each found cover and fired wildly into the dark areas of the street.

By this time, He Yuzhu had already fled far away.

His figure was like the wind, never stopping, and he soon appeared near the station of the puppet Police.

The same tactic was staged once more! With a few more muffled explosions, the puppet Police station instantly descended into chaos, with shouting, sirens, and gunfire ringing out to the heavens.

The two attacks completely shattered the tranquility of Beiping.

Piercing sirens rose and fell from different districts; the devils' motorcycle squads and the puppet troops' trucks roared as they rushed out of their stations, and the sharp sound of whistles and police sirens tore through the silence before dawn.

He Daqing yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes, only to find that He Yuzhu was no longer at the end of the kang. He reached out to touch the bedding, and it was already cold.

"Mother of his! Zhuzi's mother! When did Zhuzi run out? Did you hear anything? How come I didn't hear a single sound?"

"I'm afraid he went to some martial arts assembly! He's been muttering about it every day these past two days!"

"That little bastard, he really doesn't let anyone rest easy! When he gets back, I'll lock him up with a chain!" He Daqing cursed bitterly.

Having finished harassing the little devils, He Yuzhu knew the devils and puppet troops were all over the streets, so he entered his space and began to tidy himself up.

At daybreak, he came out of the space and arrived on the main street, where he ate breakfast and bought thirty large meat buns to serve as dry rations for the martial arts assembly.

Chen Daya caught sight of a man wearing new clothes and sporting a Xiaohuzi walking in. She was stunned on the spot; could this be the landlord? How could he have come so quickly?

Just as she opened her mouth to call Chen Qingshan out, He Yuzhu spoke first: "What are you looking at? Don't recognize me? Did you hear a woman wailing last night?"

Chen Daya recognized the person, her eyes widening instantly, and she raised her hand to punch him, "You Xu Damao! You nearly scared me to death, I thought it was the landlord coming to drive us away!"