The landlady and the man quarreled and refused to give way to each other. Meng Hai took out another 400 yuan and handed it to the landlady, saying that he was compensating for the man, the landlady no longer cared about it.
The man took the carriage and Meng Hai walked beside him. Facing the young man who had lost money for him just now, the man's face blossomed. He asked Meng Hai where he was going. Meng Hai said where he was going, and the man happened to go through the place where Meng Hai was going. He wants to give Meng Hai a ride.Without refusing, Meng Hai got into the man's carriage.
The man was driving in a carriage and he was talking to Meng Hai. The man said, as a person, it is always difficult to avoid all kinds of suffering, just like me now, driving a carriage every day to sell cabbage,no night, and sometimes the cabbage can not be sold out, it will be wilting or even rotten. It was the happiest time for me to rush this carriage, because at this time, I don't need to think about those distressed things, the carriage is moving forward, and my pain also goes away.
Meng Hai looked at the man's tiredness and felt that this was a man who had suffered a lot. Meng Hai simply answered the words of the man, either"um"or"ah".
The man seemed to treat Meng Hai as a trash can, and he told Meng Hai all the bad things in his heart. The man said, I have suffered so much. What I said just now is true, and I also think about it.To live in this world is to be wonderful.One is the satisfaction of material life, the other is the satisfaction of spirit. Man is nothing more than these two things, flesh and spirit.
The man also said that during this time it was not easy to do anything. I went to the theater to watch a play. When I met a great master, he insisted on competing with me to watch the show. I want to see this play, and he wants to see another play, so I get beat up. I bought a lot of nectarines in the street the day before yesterday, all of which were robbed by a few casual soldiers. Today, I met that annoying landlady again. She insisted that I pay for her washboard. How could I be so unlucky that one thing after another must fall on me?
Meng Hai asked the man, you said soldiers just now, where did the soldiers come from?
The man sighed and said,you don't know, those soldiers are outrageous. They stabbed people in the throat with a gun. Yesterday, a man was stabbed to death by a soldier in a teahouse. I don't even know where those soldiers came from.
Meng Hai found that the man could tell a lot of things he hadn't heard. This man was really a well-informed person.
The carriage stopped on the street of Pinxiang Avenue, and Meng Hai was about to get off to Pinxiang Garden. At this time, the shouting from the broken street attracted the attention of Meng Hai and the man. This broken street is perpendicular to Pinxiang Avenue. Because it was broken, no one went there on weekdays. At this time, there was a loud shout. Neither Meng Hai nor the man knew what happened.
A dishevelled woman ran out of the broken street. She was chased by three soldiers with broadswords. These three soldiers bullied a weak woman in broad daylight, which seemed unreasonable. Meng Hai pumped the horse's buttocks, and the horse ran over, blocking the woman and the soldier. The horse was hurt by Meng Hai and ran to the three soldiers. The woman took advantage of this opportunity to escape, and the three soldiers avoided the running high horse in horror. When the horse stopped, the three soldiers stood up from the ground.
One of the soldiers yelled at Meng Hai. You guy, you don't want to live, do you want to die?
Meng Hai smiled and paid tribute to the three soldiers, saying that this horse was afraid of heroes, and even more afraid of the knife in their hands. When Meng Hai said this, it seemed that the three soldiers were wrong. The three soldiers just showed their weapons and scared the horse. The horse was startled away. The three soldiers heard that Meng Hai just said that they were heroes, and were happy and comfortable,so they said and let Meng Hai go this time.
Meng Hai asked what the three soldiers ran. One of the soldiers replied that he wanted to catch the girl and to find the girl to sleep.
Meng Hai said, there is a carriage here, do you want to catch it?
At this point the girl had fled for a long time, where were they going to find her when they got into the carriage?The three soldiers waved their hands and said no, the girl ran away early.
Meng Hai said to the three soldiers, I would like to ask one more question, which army do you belong to?
All three soldiers laughed, and one soldier grinned and told Meng Hai,"We are free army, we are free soldiers, you better be honest, otherwise you will lie on the ground and can't get up."
"What is the Free Army?"Meng Hai questioned.
"You don't even know the Free Army?"The three soldiers were surprised, their eyes as big as eggs."Our Free Army is here to save you. Our Free Army's highest commander is your Lord. You must listen to us. Only in this way can you have a good life. If you are disobedient, you will have no choice but to die. Believe it, we will unify the world."
In Meng Hai's mind, the Free Army's ambitions are really big. Indeed, the Free Army is free enough. The soldiers of the Free Army ran to the streets to grab women.
The three soldiers put knives on the men's necks and asked the men to drag them to places where there were many women.The man was helpless, so he let the three soldiers get in the carriage, and then left the street in a carriage.
Meng Hai looked at the back of the carriage and had mixed tastes. The soldiers were too arrogant and savage,women they dare to bully, men they also dare to bully.
Meng Hai walked through the quiet Pinxiang Avenue and entered the Pinxiang Garden. As soon as he reached the steps in front of his room, he saw Ye Duhong coming out of the room. When Ye Duhong saw Meng Hai, he talked about his experience in the past few days. Ye Duhong said,"In the past few days, robbery incidents have occurred in the vicinity of Pinxiang Garden. I heard that these robbery incidents were committed by soldiers with swords. I don't know what those soldiers are.
When Meng Hai heard this, he asked Ye Duhong to describe the appearance of the soldiers. The appearance of the soldiers described by Ye Duhong matched the dress of the three soldiers that Meng Hai had just seen. Meng Hai told Ye Duhong,"Those soldiers belong to the Free Army. They are free soldiers. The commander-in-chief of the Free Army wants to conquer the world. The soldiers under his hands come to New Town as a disaster."
Ye Duhong asked Meng Hai to share his experience, and Meng Hai told Ye Duhong about the three free soldiers chasing a woman. After hearing this, Ye Duhong's face swept across the shadow of sadness.
The Free Army wants to unify the world, so does it include Guyu Town? If it is the whole world, of course it includes Guyu Town. Ye Duhong's hometown is a beautiful place. In such a beautiful place, are there free soldiers who plunder people's money, burn people's houses, and rob women on the street? If what Ye Duhong thinks is true, it's terrible.
Ye Duhong could hardly restrain his emotions and ran to the street to rent a carriage and drove to Guyu Town. In the feeling of Ye Duhong, it really took a century to finally reach Guyu Town. When he walked across a small bridge, he was shocked to find a row of houses in ruins. He asked the people next to him and learned that free soldiers came and burned the house here. Among these houses was Ye Duhong's home. Those free soldiers burned Ye Duhong's home, and Ye Duhong lost his loved ones. Ye Duhong knelt down on the ground and began to cry. He was so sad as if tears were going to flow on the ground like a river. At about dusk, the exhausted Ye Duhong stood up and left Guyu Town sadly in the carriage in the sunset.