Chapter 490 Student Huang (please subscribe and vote monthly)

“We can’t get any closer,” Qiao Chuntao whispered. “The Japanese soldiers put up a wooden sign there. If the Chinese cross that line, they will shoot to drive them away.”

Cheng Qianfan looked over and saw a sign erected on the ground about thirty steps away. Covered by snowflakes, he could only vaguely see the word "branch" on it.

“It’s ‘the Chinese people died when they crossed the line’!” Qiao Chuntao said coldly.

Cheng Qianfan didn't speak. He bit his cigarette holder with his teeth. He glanced at the wooden sign with a cold expression, and made a whooshing sound from his mouth: "Bitch!"

Cheng Qianfan spit out the cigarette **** in his mouth, stepped on it, and then bent down to pick it up.

This pack of cigarettes is not an ordinary one on the market. It is a French cigarette that he picked up from Pete today. This rare cigarette has a certain direction, so you must be careful not to litter it.

 …

Qiao Chuntao has already found a temporary place to stay near Huade Road in advance.

 “The owner of this house went to visit relatives.” Qiao Chuntao said.

“Have you found out?” Cheng Qianfan glanced at them and asked. It would be bad if the owner suddenly came back and blocked them in the house.

“I’ve found out that the owner of the house may not be able to come back.” Qiao Chuntao said lightly, “They went to Nanjing to visit relatives.”

 Cheng Qianfan's face darkened and he stopped asking questions.

 He ‘visited’ the courtyard under the leadership of Qiao Chuntao.

 This is a large courtyard with two entrances. In addition to the main room, wing rooms, guest room, kitchen, and utility room, there is also an ancestral hall in the backyard.

This should be the ancestral hall of this family. The ancestral hall is lined with memorial tablets of ancestors. Because no one has cleaned them for some time, there is already a layer of dust on the tablets.

 Cheng Qianfan stepped back respectfully and bowed to the tablet.

 Don’t be surprised if you disturb me today.

　　When the Japanese pirates are wiped out one day, come again to worship.

 Qiao Chuntao stood there and did not come to worship. When leaving, he took two steps back, turned around and glanced at the ancestral hall, looked at the neat tablets, bowed deeply, and then turned and left.

 …

 Cheng Qianfan and Qiao Chuntao placed maps on the Eight Immortals table in the main room, and they were studying the action plan to attack the Japanese army horse farm.

 Mainly Qiao Chuntao was talking, Cheng Qianfan was listening, and from time to time he pointed out the shortcomings of a certain idea.

 Qiao Chuntao knew that the team leader was studying and teaching him.

His expression was very serious. Even when Cheng Qianfan repeatedly pointed out the shortcomings of his proposed ideas and rejected them, he showed no sign of impatience, but he looked even colder.

“Why don’t you retreat here?” Cheng Qianfan pointed at the map.

“Tilanqiao Prison is a heavily fortified part of the public concession. If we evacuate here, we are likely to encounter a double attack from the British and the Japanese,” Qiao Chuntao said.

 “Not bad.” Cheng Qianfan nodded, “I’m very happy that you can think of this.”

“However, you have overlooked one point. The British and Americans are also extremely wary of the Japanese.” Cheng Qianfan continued.

"Team leader, you mean Tilanqiao Prison won't stop us from retreating?" Qiao Chuntao glanced at Cheng Qianfan, "I'm sorry to say this bluntly, but the leader's idea is very childish. Foreigners are all bad and unreliable. "

"Taozi." Cheng Qianfan looked at Qiao Chuntao and sighed, "You have great virtues from your ancestors and you work under me, but you have this temper and your mouth..."

 Qiao Chuntao's cold face seemed to 'squeeze' a hard-to-please smile, "There are many team leaders, and they can accommodate me."

 …

 Cheng Qianfan picked up the pencil and drew a Z-shaped route on the map.

 “Do you understand?” he asked.

Qiao Chuntao stared at the map and frowned, thinking.

 This route was drawn very cleverly by Cheng Qianfan.

 The team evacuated in the direction of Tilanqiao, but did not get too close to Tilanqiao Prison.

Spend!

Qiao Chuntao thought of this word.

This distance is enough to cause Tilanqiao Prison to face a formidable enemy, but it is not enough to stimulate them to launch an attack.

 Then a diagonal transfer, bypassing Tilanqiao Prison.

This is tantamount to teasing the guards of Tilanqiao Prison for a while, but without actually taking action.

 Going in the opposite direction, we passed safely through the defense area of ​​Tilanqiao Prison, then crossed a bridge and arrived at the designated evacuation point.

“Is the batch of Japanese military equipment obtained last year still there?” Cheng Qianfan asked.

"Yes." Qiao Chuntao nodded. This was some of the Japanese military equipment that Haozi secretly intercepted during the Secret Service's supply operation at Shanghai Station.

 At the same time, his eyes lit up, and he caught Cheng Qianfan's thoughts.

 …

“Let me inform the brothers that in this operation, everyone is wearing Japanese military uniforms.” Cheng Qianfan said in a deep voice, “We will launch a thunderous strike at the Japanese Army horse farm as soon as it starts.”

 “Don’t skimp on ammunition.”

“Use maximum firepower with the sole purpose of causing Japanese casualties.”

　　"Retreat after the fight, follow this route." Cheng Qianfan said coldly, with a smile on his lips, "Evacuate from here, when you are about to leave the confines of Tilanqiao Prison, pretend to attack the prison, and retreat after shooting."

Qiao Chuntao picked up a pencil and drew on the map.

According to the speed of both sides, the Japanese army should have almost chased them to the vicinity of Tilanqiao Prison at this time. The special situation team suddenly launched a feint attack on Tilanqiao Prison.

 They were wearing Japanese military uniforms.

The view at night is blocked, which may lead to misjudgment by the British in Tilanqiao Prison. It would be great if the British and the Japanese started fighting.

 “What a good plan.” Qiao Chuntao licked her lips, her eyes glowing with excitement, yet so cold.

 …

 At this time.

 “Bang Bang Bang.” There was a knock on the door.

“Who?” Qiao Chuntao came to the door and asked, holding a dagger in his hand.

“I am Li Maolin, the old Lin family next door.”

 Jiang Mulezi outside the door gave the secret signal, Qiao Chuntao opened the door, and Jiang Mulezi stepped in.

“Team leader.” Jiang Mulezi saluted Cheng Qianfan.

"How are the brothers now? How about morale?" Cheng Qianfan returned the salute and asked.

"Having been hidden in the suburbs and countryside for a long time, the brothers can't go out casually, so they are all depressed." Jiang Mulezi said, "Shanghai is lost, Nanjing is lost, everyone's morale will inevitably be affected, but they are all willing to fight the Japanese. Good man, just fight once and smell the blood of the Japanese to keep your spirits up."

 “Okay!” Cheng Qianfan nodded happily.

 “Qiao Chuntao and Jiang Dashan, listen to the order.” Cheng Qianfan said in a deep voice with a solemn expression.

 “The subordinate is here!”

  “The subordinate is here.”

 The two said in unison.

 …

 French Concession, East District.

He Guan was walking quickly in the wind and snow with a briefcase in his hand.

 Near the entrance of the alley, he took a look at Amai's tiger stove.

 Laohuzao is a small shop that sells hot water. Because the stove that boils water looks like a tiger, it is named "Laohuzao".

"Mr. Guan, are you off work?" Amai greeted enthusiastically, "Would you like some more hot water? It's cold to soak your feet."

 “My wallet is flat and I can’t afford to spend money.” He Guan said with a smile.

 His mind recalled the scene in which he was scolded by his fiancée Huang Xiaolan.

 One time, he came back with pickled pig's feet and a bag of brown sugar.

 Huang Xiaolan happily took the sauced pig’s feet and sugar, and then ‘taught’ him.

 Huang believes that the two of them are now a poor couple pretending to come to Shanghai to seek refuge. In this war-torn world, which poor couple can be so "lavish"?

 He Guan is surprised.

 He even thought of his eldest brother Liu Bo and his second brother Fang Muheng, who had taught him a lot before.

Of course, forget about the second brother Mu Heng. He Guan feels that Fang Muheng is not as good as him in this kind of details. After all, he is also from a patrol family.

 In Huang Xiaolan, He Guan regained the long-lost feeling of being taught.

He Guan is a person with a stubborn temper, but he is not unreasonable. As long as what Huang says is right, he is willing to accept criticism.

 In the days that followed, if He Guan was unsure, he would discuss it with his fiancée Huang.

 Every time he gets more, he can gain something.

In this way, even He Guan himself feels that he has made great progress.

For example, now, if it was his previous habit, he would naturally agree and buy two more pots of hot water.

However, He Guan declined directly and complained about the high price of water. In order to avoid detection by the patrol house, he and Huang Xiaolan's living standards had dropped again. It was obviously unreasonable to buy two more pots of hot water.

As he spoke, he took out his cigarette case, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Pretending not to see Amai's eager eyes staring at his cigarette case, he put the cigarette case back into his pocket.

  He touched his pocket again and found no match box.

 As soon as he looked up, he saw Amai holding the matchbox in his hand and smiling happily.

 …

"You've earned it again." He Guan took out the cigarette case, handed Amai a cigarette, and wanted to take the match box.

Ahmai refused and lit a match himself. He first lit it for himself and then when he was about to light a cigarette for He Guan, the match went out.

 “Look at you, you should give it to me first…”

He closed his mouth and saw Amai hand over his cigarette.

 He took it, held it against the fire, and handed Amai's cigarette back to him.

"I'll light a fire for myself first. I'll definitely be able to light it myself. If mine catches fire, yours will also catch fire." Amai showed off triumphantly, "I'll light it for you first, Mr. Guan. If you don't cooperate well, you won't light it." Go on, wouldn’t it be a waste of a match?”

Looking at Amai's happy and proud look, He Guan felt that he was speechless.

 …

 Two people were smoking and chatting.

 He Guan would chat with Amai for a while every time he came back from get off work.

 Laohuzao is usually located at the entrance of the alley or on the side of the road.

Ah Mai is here every day, staring at several roads with his eyes, and he can't hide the slightest disturbance from the store in Laohuzao.

He didn't hear anything unusual in Amai's words, so He Guan took out the money again, bought a pack of tobacco leaves from Amai's cupboard, and carefully carried the tobacco leaves back.

 “Back?” Huang Xiaolan popped up from the kitchen.

 Her eyes rested on the tobacco leaves held in He Guan's hand.

 “Just bought it?” Huang Xiaolan asked.

"Yeah." He Guan looked at Huang and said with a hint of showoff, "Our family is very tight now, and I can only smoke leaves now."

 “Have you bought any old newspapers?” Huang Xiaolan asked.

 The smile on He Guan's face faded and he looked at Student Huang.

 Huang Xiaolan put a plate of green vegetables and two bowls of rice on the table, ignoring He Guan's confused expression.

He Guan figured it out and smiled bitterly, "I thought I was very smart, but now it seems that this kind of sudden good idea may not be well thought out."

 …

He understood what Huang Xiaolan meant. He bought tobacco leaves, and he should buy old newspapers from Amai. The old newspapers can be cut into tobacco leaves.

 It cannot be said that there are obvious loopholes in He Guan's approach, and outsiders do not know whether He Guan's residence has old newspapers or other papers.

 However, strictly speaking, this is not quite consistent with the practice of a long-time smoker who rolls his own cigarette leaves:

 Old smokers who roll their own cigarettes often choose to buy old newspapers from stores. Some of the old newspapers collected by stores are picked up or recycled at low prices. Buying old newspapers from them is the most cost-effective.

 A cash-strapped old smoker will try to save every penny.

 This is a habit.

 Having incorrect habits often means that it is easy to arouse suspicion.

Huang Xiaolan looked at He Guan and smiled, "I'm too smart. Others are not as smart as me."

 “How can there be a king who sells melons and boasts about himself?” He Guan said with a smile.

"I'm not bragging, you took the initiative to like me." Huang said.

He Guan looked at Mr. Huang, nodded vigorously, and said seriously, "Yes, I am attracted to you, and we will grow old together."

 …

"It's too expensive. Why has the price increased again?" An old aunt accused Amai of selling cooked water that was too expensive.

“Old man, it’s not that my Amai’s prices are high, the prices have gone up. No wonder my Amai’s prices are high,” Amai said in exasperation.

 The price of water in Laohuzao was indeed quite cheap in the past. Because housing prices were low and coal prices were cheap, cooked water was also sold cheaply.

 A large sum of money can buy a ladle of boiling water.

 Now it costs five grand to buy a spoonful of cooked water.

reason?

 The Japanese occupied Shanghai, and citizens from the Chinese community poured into the concession in large numbers.

 Vegetable prices, oil prices, rice prices, housing fees, and coal prices are all rising.

 Even the price of manure has increased.

 The reason is that due to rising prices, people are not eating as well as before, so that the fertility of their feces is insufficient.

 …

 Inspector Xiao Cheng returned to the central patrol room.

 I saw Lao Huang shoveling snow.

 Lao Huang winked at him.

“Old Huang, are you secretly drinking while I’m away?” Cheng Qianfan understood and said immediately.

“Don’t talk nonsense, it’s not because I, Old Huang, don’t want to treat you to a drink.” Old Huang burped, “I’m addicted to alcohol. You’re not here, so you can’t blame me.”

 Cheng Qianfan laughed loudly, waved his hands, and returned to his office.

 He has received a signal from Lao Huang: There is no situation in the patrol room.

 ‘I’m addicted to alcohol and you’re not here, so you can’t blame me’, which means everything is fine.

If Lao Huang said, "I'm addicted to alcohol, don't blame me," he was sending a warning to Cheng Qianfan.

 The absence of the three words "you are not here" means that something happened, and it is directed at "you", Inspector Cheng.

Of course, this is a common warning.

If an extremely dangerous situation occurs, for example, Cheng Qianfan’s identity is exposed and the police station is setting a trap, waiting for him to fall into the trap, in this case:

 Cheng Qianfan ‘accused’ Lao Huang of drinking secretly.

 Lao Huang's reaction will be - I'll die if I don't admit that I drank!

 (End of this chapter)