After saying that, the old man glanced at the coachman again and said, "You! Have you seen the small slope behind the stone monument? There is no post station at the back, so just go there and wait! There is everything to eat and drink, but
One thing, don’t run around, otherwise don’t blame me if you lose your life!”
After hearing this, the coachman immediately nodded and said: "Don't worry, the little one will stay there obediently and will never run around!"
"Well, that's pretty much it! Go ahead!"
The driver hurriedly responded and then pulled the cart in the direction of the small slope.
"Here, take it!" After sending away the rickshaw driver, Lao Gaoda took out two white paper lanterns from behind the stone tablet and handed one over.
However, Li Qiang had no intention of reaching out to pick it up. He just glanced at it, curled his lips, and said angrily: "What is this for? Where are you going to the grave?"
"Fuck your breasts...cough! It's a crime, it's a crime...you little brat, you almost forced me to break my precepts as soon as I came back!"
Unexpectedly, when these words came out, Li Qiang actually laughed angrily, "Hey! Did I hear you right? When did Wu Sanpao, who was once a powerful figure and a man of all things black and white, change his gender?"
"you!"
Seeing that the old guy was about to get mad at Li Qiang, Haitang on the side hurriedly stepped forward and pulled Li Qiang and said: "Brother A Qiang, what's wrong with you today? Have you taken some gun medicine? Why are you always there?
Which pot shouldn't be opened? Besides, it's been so long..."
Unexpectedly, Haitang had just finished half of what he said. Before Li Qiang could speak, the old man waved his hand and said, "Forget it, girl! I know that even though so many years have passed, the anger in this bastard's heart still hasn't gone away.
!But you can’t blame him, I owe him.”
"No, old man! Please understand, you don't owe me anything, you owe Uncle Gen'er! I will remember you for this grudge for the rest of my life!"
"Okay! It's a lifetime! As I said before, I'm waiting for you to take my life at any time! Let's go!"
However, just when the old man was about to lead the way for the two of them, Li Qiang's voice rang again, "Wait a minute!"
"What's wrong?" Haitang asked immediately.
"We've been delayed here for so long, isn't it strange that the tail that has been following us hasn't caught up yet?"
Not wanting to wait for Haitang to speak, the old man interrupted without warning, "You mean those two guys! Let me send someone to stop them! Don't worry, they won't kill you!"
After saying that, he held his lantern and walked towards the depths of the woods.
Li Qiang and Haitang looked at each other first, and then quickly followed them with lanterns in hand.
"Things in this ghost market are generally kept secret, so they usually only do business with acquaintances, and this white lantern is a token. In this way, the sellers in the ghost market can know who is coming and going through the style of the lantern.
Whose access is there?"
As he walked, Lao Qiao introduced the basic situation of the local ghost market to the two of them in a low voice.
Not long after, the group of people passed through the woods. Only then did Li Qiang suddenly realize that he was already in a mountain col.
"There was originally a small village here, with about sixty or seventy households! Later, the Japanese went into the mountains to suppress bandits and found this place by accident. Since they could not find any trace of the bandits, they simply falsely accused the villagers of being bandits and took them back to collect rewards.
I went and set a fire before leaving, and then it became what it is now."
Although Li Qiang looked very calm after hearing this, he still unconsciously clenched the hand holding the lantern.
And just when Li Qiang thought this was the rumored ghost market, Lao Geda did not take them into the village, but went directly around to the back of the village.
It was only then that Li Qiang was surprised to find that behind the village was a slope, and below the slope was a dense forest. There were faint lights flashing in it. It must be the rumored ghost market.
Coming down the slope, as everyone got closer and closer to the place with the flashing lights, several groups of pedestrians carrying white lanterns also appeared around them. However, just like what Lao Qiao said, the lanterns on those people's hands were all the same.
There are more or less differences.
But most of those people half-covered their faces with face towels, coming and going in a hurry.
"Come on, do as the Romans do, and you can take them with you too!" As he said this, Lao Gao Gao handed the two of them two face towels, one blue and one red.
The two of them didn't say anything. They took the scarf and covered their faces, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
In a short time, the group of people walked through the woods, and then their eyes suddenly opened up. A market that seemed small in scale but well-organized appeared in front of everyone.
Under the night sky, stalls were lined up one after another along the edge of the woods, with large and small lamps illuminating the night like day.
Although the people coming and going all looked in a hurry, as soon as they saw the products they liked at any stall, they immediately stopped in their hurry and began to bargain with the stall owner without politeness.
Although it bears the name of a ghost market, everything inside seems to have nothing to do with "ghost". Instead, it is because of the endless shouts of stall owners, the whispers of patrons, and the fact that you come to me
The bargaining sounds in the past made people feel the full popularity. The excitement was no less than that of the temple fair in the city, but it was a bit more mysterious. For a while, Li Qiang and Haitang actually had an affair.
The illusion of being in a busy city.
"In fact, at the beginning, the ghost market was not opened here, but in Bagua Street, Nanshi. Since the products traded in this market were often contraband, stolen goods, etc., there were often gangs and thugs.
Roosters and dog thieves are everywhere. It is precisely because of the existence of the ghost market that those officials have another channel to make profits. They are happy to turn a blind eye, but sometimes they will show off and copy a few banned items.
But it won't be long before it reopens, and it will even be more prosperous than before. But then the Japanese introduced a strict curfew system, and they had no choice but to move to the Chen family shack. Another year passed.
, even the Chen family’s shack couldn’t be organized, so they moved to this place where nothing matters.”
Just as he was talking, Lao Gaozao suddenly stopped, frowned, and said with a puzzled look on his face: "Huh? What's going on today? Why do so many people appear all of a sudden?"
Li Qiang quickly looked over and saw many people queuing up in front of an inconspicuous-looking stall. There were as many as twenty or thirty people. He couldn't help but curiously asked: "What is that selling? Why?"
There are so many people lined up?”
"Look carefully, that stall doesn't buy anything, it just charges money to do things for others!"
"Supporting someone else's affairs? For such a small stall, the tone is quite impressive!"
"Of course. Even though this stall is not big, the people setting up the stall are genuine Japanese. You must have a gate to your mouth and don't say anything out loud!"
"The Japanese went to the ghost market to collect money to help others? No one would believe it if I told them. There are really all kinds of weird things happening these days!"
Despite what they said, the two of them still queued obediently to the end of the line. They waited in line for half an hour before it was finally their turn.
I saw a wooden table on the stall, with an open account book placed on the table, and behind the table, sat a slightly fat man with a small black beard on his lips, who looked like
A middle-aged man in his thirties.
"Introduced by Lao Qiang?" Before Li Qiang could speak, the man glanced at the lantern in his hand and asked what was written in the account book.
"yes!"
"Tell me, what do you want to do?"
If it hadn't been for the old man's words, he wouldn't have been able to tell that the middle-aged man in front of him was Japanese just from his accent.
"Oh, it's like this. We plan to open a restaurant in the city, but the procedures are not complete yet."
"Open a restaurant? Don't you know the Rice Management Law?" the man asked without even raising his eyelids.
Li Qiang quickly pretended to be submissive, nodded and replied: "I know, I only eat sorghum rice, and killing pigs and cattle must be reported. Of course we are very clear about these rules."
Hearing this, the man nodded slowly and said, "Well, that's pretty much it. Just understand the rules. Did you bring the money? For the sake of Lao Gaoda, I'll just give you three small yellow croakers for the approval and permission."
"Three little yellow croakers?"
"Why, it's too expensive?" Only then did the man slowly raise his head and push his eyes on the bridge of his nose, "You don't even want to ask, Gangzi, I have been in this market for so many years, and I have always been honest.
, I am a child, I always do as much as I charge. If you want to do it, hand over the money immediately. If you don’t do it, just give it up. There are many people waiting behind you!"
"Okay, okay, three pieces, three pieces. Here, here you go!"
After the Japanese who just called himself Gangzi carefully inspected the quality of the three small yellow croakers, he lowered his head and made a quick note in the account book, and then took out a key from the drawer and handed it to Li Qiang.
"Tomorrow night after dark, go to the American Citibank and give the key to the teller on duty. Remember, they only recognize the key but not the person. Don't lose it!"
"Got it." After saying that, Li Qiang took the key and put it away carefully.
"Huh! I didn't expect that the matter could be solved so easily." After leaving the stall, Haitang finally couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief and said with relief.
Li Qiang also nodded, "Yes, I originally thought it would take a lot of trouble, but I didn't expect it to be so smooth."
"In the final analysis, we have found the right person. If it weren't for the help of my third uncle, we would probably be like Chen Ming and his wife, blinding themselves in the hotel!"
"You're here again. I admit that he did help us a lot this time, but I won't forgive him for what he did in the past just because he helped us! If it hadn't been for him in the first place,
Uncle Gen'er will not risk his life in vain! For this one life, I will never forgive him! Never!"
As soon as these words came out, the old man who was hiding not far away and eavesdropping couldn't help but sigh heavily, and then walked away silently with a lonely look on his face.
Haitang couldn't help but look dim, but then quickly shook her head and said to Li Qiang: "Okay, let's not talk about the unhappy things. This is a rare opportunity, so just go shopping with me!"
At the same time, in the Peace Hotel, Yamamoto Kazuki’s temporary office.
"What did you say? You lost me? What do you do for food?" After hearing the report from his subordinate Ozawa, Yamamoto Kazuki couldn't help but scolded him sharply.
"Major, calm down, subordinate... subordinate..."
However, before he could finish his words, he received two loud slaps on the face.
"Trash! A loser!"
Even though Ozawa was feeling aggrieved at the moment, he still had to stand at attention and shouted loudly: "Hai!"
At this moment, Kazuki Yamamoto seemed to suddenly think of something and asked, "Wait a minute, what's the date today?"
"June 20, sir!" Ozawa replied without thinking.
"June 20th..." Kazuki Yamamoto muttered, "Did you see them leaving the city with your own eyes?"
"Yes, my subordinates saw them leaving the city with their own eyes."
"Then I can probably guess where they went. The question is what did they do there?"
However, just when Yamamoto Kazuki was puzzled, a sudden and harsh emergency brake sound completely interrupted his thoughts.
"What's going on? What happened?"
At this time, Yamamoto Kazuki ran out of the temporary office without even having time to put on his coat. He immediately recognized the consulate car parked at the door and hurriedly asked.
Before he finished speaking, a man wearing a light gray suit stepped out of the car.
As soon as he saw this person, Yamamoto Kazuki's expression immediately changed. He hurried forward and said with fear and fear: "Consul Wu... Consul Muto, why are you here?"
However, the man didn't even look at Yamamoto Kazuki. He just said to him in a commanding tone with careful attention to words: "Take me to see the Foreign Minister, quickly!"
"Hai!" Although he couldn't figure out what happened, it was easy to tell from Consul Muto's gloomy expression that something big must have happened.
"Muto-kun, why are you here?" Yosuke Matsuoka was obviously very surprised by the arrival of Consul Muto, but he soon vaguely guessed something, "Is there a response from the United States?"
Muto nodded and said solemnly: "Just half an hour ago, US Secretary of State Hull finally gave a formal reply to our proposal. Not only did he demand that we abandon the Triple Alliance Treaty, but he also rejected other requests we made.
Not only that, Hull even issued an oral statement at the same time as his reply. To the effect that in recent days, the public remarks and hostility released by some Japanese officials have become insurmountable obstacles on the road to negotiations.
…”
"Baga!" Before Muto could finish his words, Matsuoka Yoyo slammed the table and cursed fiercely.
But in fact, although he cursed fiercely, Matsuoka Yoyo was already happy in his heart...
