Chapter 10

Landlord Dan Chengfu was so frightened by the soldiers that he made his wife take his daughter-in-law and grandson to hide under the bed. He then came out to the yard, trembling, and said, "Sir, Sir, what do you need?"

An aide asked, "Where is Jin Yong?"

"Jin Yong? Who is Jin Yong?" Dan Chengfu didn't know Zhou Hexuan's pen name. He quietly slipped two silver dollars into the aide's hand, smiling nervously, "Sir, you must have the wrong place. I don't have anyone here with the surname Jin."

The aide, seeing only two dollars, immediately became angry, "Do you take me for a beggar!"

Seven or eight soldiers raised their guns simultaneously, the sound of the bolts being pulled back echoed, all aiming at Dan Chengfu's head.

Dan Chengfu, frightened, fell to his knees, his teeth chattering, "Sir, spare my life, spare my life!"

"Ah!"

The door of the east wing suddenly opened, and Zhou Hexuan stepped out, his face expressionless, "I am Jin Yong."

The aide immediately waved, "Take him away!"

The soldiers ignored the landlord and surrounded Zhou Hexuan. Two of them grabbed his arms from either side and dragged him away without a word.

Zhou Hexuan immediately became agitated, shouting, "Hey, at least tell me what's going on! I haven't broken any laws."

"Shut up!" The aide turned and walked away, casually pocketing the two silver dollars from the landlord.

Zhou Hexuan was utterly frustrated, a thousand curses on the tip of his tongue. He thought he hadn't offended any powerful groups since he came to this era, so why was someone suddenly coming to arrest him?

What a damn world!

Finally, the courtyard quieted down. Dan Chengfu, his legs weak, stood up and crawled back to the main house, saying to his wife and daughter-in-law under the bed, "Come out, it's all over."

"How did the soldiers take Mr. Zhou away?" His wife asked curiously.

Dan Chengfu replied, "He might be a Red Party member. I heard that Marshal Zhang is arresting Red Party members all over Beijing. It seems it has started in Tianjin too."

His wife lamented, "Mr. Zhou is a good person. Why did he have to join the Red Party?"

"If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have rented the house to him," Dan Chengfu regretted, fearing that he would be implicated and bring trouble to his whole family.

...

The military truck sped down the street, and the passersby quickly moved out of the way, as if the vehicle carried a plague virus.

Zhou Hexuan stood in the back of the truck, surrounded by soldiers. The aide was sitting in the passenger seat, greedily eating a Tianjin bun—this gentleman hadn't had lunch and was starving.

Zhou Hexuan took out several dozen silver dollars, the gleaming silver catching the soldiers' eyes.

To save his life, Zhou Hexuan didn't hesitate to part with his money, handing over all the silver dollars and said, "Gentlemen, what exactly did I do wrong?"

Money talks, and the soldiers, having received the silver, now had a much better impression of Zhou Hexuan. One of them laughed, "Sir, don't worry. We're just taking you to see the Marshal."

"Marshal Chu?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"Yes," the man explained, "The Marshal enjoys reading your novels and asked us to invite you over."

"Inviting me my ass!"

Is this how you invite someone?

Zhou Hexuan was torn between laughter and anger, feeling a mix of absurdity and rage, and couldn't help but shout in his heart: Chu Yuxu, I'll f*** your grandpa!

Since his life was not in immediate danger, Zhou Hexuan finally calmed down. He had traveled the world for five years and had been to many dangerous places, even once being taken hostage by a South American gang. He could handle a bit of trouble.

With the silver dollars paving the way, Zhou Hexuan soon began chatting with the soldiers: "Speaking of England, it's not a monolithic country. The Scots and the Irish often rebel. The Scots are the most interesting; the men love to wear skirts, especially bright red and purple ones. They also wear small leather shoes and long stockings. If you only see their lower half, you'd think they were women!"

"Ha ha ha!" The soldiers laughed.

One of them added, "So, are all Scottish men homosexuals?"

"Exactly, British gentlemen love men," Zhou Hexuan revealed, "and the Irish love to play with ewes!"

"Really, ewes can be f***ed?" The soldiers were stunned.

Zhou Hexuan winked, "There's a Chinese idiom, 'a narrow path like a sheep's gut,' which must have some origin."

The soldiers were silent for half a minute before they burst into lewd laughter.

Perhaps their noise was too loud, and the aide in the passenger seat shouted, "Shut up!"

The soldiers immediately fell silent, one of them muttering不满地, "What's so great about a poor teacher becoming a secretary? He's just a lackey."

Seeing that he seemed to be the leader, Zhou Hexuan asked softly, "Sir, may I ask your name?"

The soldier handed Zhou Hexuan a cigarette and lit one for himself, "I'm Zhang Wuwei. We're all part of the Marshal's guard, and we're from the same hometown as him." He then pointed to the front, sneering, "That secretary isn't from Wenshang. He just writes well and acts all high and mighty, using a feather as a command to boss us around."

Another soldier added angrily, "If it weren't for the Marshal protecting him, that bastard would have been dragged off to feed the dogs long ago."

"You gentlemen are truly mighty warriors. When Marshal Chu becomes emperor, you will all be prestigious imperial guards," Zhou Hexuan said, bowing in flattery, though he inwardly despised them, thinking how easily they were fooled.

The soldiers were delighted and asked, "Sir, what rank are the imperial guards?"

Zhou Hexuan replied, "At least a sixth-rank official, while a county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty was only a seventh-rank."

"Wow! Higher than a county magistrate," the soldiers exclaimed.

"Not just that," Zhou Hexuan added, "the head of the guards is a first-rank official. Do you know Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Zeng Guofan?"

Zhang Wuwei nodded, "They were all high-ranking officials in the Qing Dynasty."

Zhou Hexuan said, "They were all first-rank officials. If Marshal Chu becomes emperor, Brother Wuwei, as the head of the guards, would be on par with Li Hongzhang."

"So, being an emperor's guard is that prestigious!" the soldiers exclaimed.

Zhang Wuwei lamented, "The Marshal shouldn't have given Beijing to Zhang Zuolin. He should have become emperor himself!"

"Disrupting the troops!"

The aide in the passenger seat heard a few words and shouted, "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll shoot you!"

Before Zhou Hexuan could say anything, Zhang Wuwei retorted, "Shen Laosan, shut your mouth, or I'll shoot you!"

"Calm down, gentlemen, calm down. We're all on the same side, let's talk it out," Zhou Hexuan immediately played the peacemaker.

Zhang Wuwei said, "You're a scholar, look how reasonable Mr. Zhou is. You, Shen Laosan, are far behind."

The aide, with a dark face, said nothing. A scholar meeting soldiers, there's no reasoning with them. Although he was a secretary in Chu Yuxu's camp, he was just a lackey and an outsider. If he were killed by these soldiers, there would be no one to seek justice.

"We've arrived." The military truck stopped in front of a small Western-style building.

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