Chapter 14: The Big Traitor and the Little Traitor

  "Die, you traitorous dog!"

  "Hit him! Hit him!"

  "Wait for me, I'll go get my dad - Ahh!"

  ……

  Suddenly, several shouts were heard in the Sino-Japanese Friendship School. Ouyang Yun and Chu Tian Ge looked at each other, first surprised, then laughed. Ouyang Yun said: "I didn't expect that today's children are also quite hot-blooded."

  "Let the kids have their fun."

  "We can't say that, little kids will grow up after all. They are flowers now and will be the pillars of the country in the future - shall we go in and take a look?"

  "There is a guard at the gate."

  "What's there to be afraid of? We're parents."

  "Ah, I'll listen to big brother."

  Two men swaggered inside and were stopped at the door by a middle-aged guard who politely asked, "Gentlemen, can I help you?"

  Ouyang Yun handed him a cigarette and said, "Come see my nephew, it's been a long time since I've seen him."

  "Please register."

  "What a hassle?!" Ouyang Yun glared at him and picked up the pen to scribble on the registration form in Japanese.

  The guard surprisingly turned out to be a "scholar", recognizing it as Japanese, immediately breaking into a cold sweat, nodding and bowing: "So it's the Imperial Army?! Please come in, please come in. May I ask which officer your nephew is? I'll help you find him."

  "It's not troublesome," Ouyang Yun kicked Chu Tiange who was standing by in a daze, and swaggered into the room.

  The guard watched as the two figures disappeared around the corner, muttering under his breath and cursing in a low voice: "Japanese devils!"

  Chu Tian Ge's face was full of surprise at this time: "Big brother, why did he call you Huang Jun?"

  "Haven't you seen the Japanese I wrote?"

  "That's Japanese, isn't it? - I almost forgot, Big Brother can speak Japanese. Big Brother, how did you learn to speak Japanese?" Chu Tiange had heard him speaking Japanese at the Liu Chuan Wu Guan before, but at that time his emotions were tense and he didn't have the chance to ask questions, now he started asking shamelessly.

  "Learned it! Tian Ge, you're a great person, just a bit too three-dimensional."

  "San Ba!?"

  Ouyang Yun was most afraid of Chu Tian Ge's habit of asking questions until the bottom, as a traverser, he had too many new terms and was used to spouting one out at any moment. If every single one needed to be explained, wouldn't that be exhausting? He shouted: "Stop it, aren't we watching 'Nephew'?"

  "Hehe, almost forgot."

  In a corner of the school wall, six or seven students were beating up a fat boy. Seeing two strangers approaching, several people stopped their hands, and the leader said, "Who knows them?"

  Everyone stopped and looked at Ouyang and Chu, shaking their heads one after another, or saying "Don't know them."

  "Isn't he just following Cheng Ruhua around?"

  "I've seen his followers, no."

  "Why don't we go back to the classroom first?"

  "Alright," just as everyone was about to leave the humming Cheng Ri on the ground and open their distance, they saw a stranger smile.

  "Are you beating up traitors?"

  Everyone looked at the leader, who straightened his waist, took a step forward, stretched out both hands to shield his companions, and provocatively said: "What's it to you?!"

  Ouyang Yun smiled and said: "You're quite capable, what's your name?"

  "Don't tell him! He might be a traitor," said one of the tall students, eyeing them warily.

  Chu Tian Ge opened his big mouth, and the temper of these children was quite to his taste. He laughed loudly and said: "Don't worry, we are not traitors." After a pause, he added: "Since you dare to beat up little traitors, why are you afraid of being known by the name of big traitors? A real man should be brave and take responsibility, humph! Beating up a small traitor is nothing impressive. If you want to make the big traitor hear your names and tremble with fear... a true hero should kill without leaving any trace..."

  Ouyang Yun saw that he had even brought up the phrase "a man should kill people", fearing that it would mislead these children, and hastily interrupted him, saying: "Don't mislead the younger generation, on Japanese territory, killing is a must, but it can't be taken lightly, if everyone takes it lightly, then isn't killing one traitor equivalent to sacrificing one comrade?" He glanced at the little fatty who was cowering on the ground, and the other person trembled with fear. He smiled and said: "Why do you say he is a traitor?"

  The leader said: "His father is the manager of the North China United Preparation Bank, Cheng Xi-geng. He talks about the Imperial Army every day, you say he's a traitor?!"

  Chu Tian Ge was furious and shouted: "Traitor! A typical traitor, deserves to be beaten!"

  Ouyang Yun glared at him and asked the leader: "What's your name?"

  The tall student pulled his sleeve and said: "Huang Jiahua."

  "And you? Dare to tell me?" Ouyang Yun looked at the tall student who seemed to be the strategist of this small group.

  The tall student looked at him hesitantly, and Huang Jiahua said: "What's the point of telling them? Today we beat up Cheng Rihui, and the traitors will eventually know our names. Besides, this big brother is right, we want to make the traitors afraid when they hear our names!" After finishing, he also glared at Cheng Rihui fiercely.

  The tall student no longer hesitated, puffed out his chest and said: "My name is Feng Yuanyu."

  Note: There was a historical figure named Feng Yuan, who was originally a student at Tianjin Zhongri Middle School. In 1937, he joined the Anti-Japanese Assassination Team and in 1940, he enrolled in Beijing Furen University. Feng's family background was quite prominent, with his uncle being Qi Xueyuan, the director of the North China Puppet Security General Bureau. Taking advantage of his uncle's name, he often had opportunities to enter military camps, where he practiced shooting under the guise of learning to shoot and hunting, developing excellent marksmanship skills and becoming an outstanding sharpshooter in the resistance team. He participated in several missions to assassinate Han traitors, with the most famous one being the assassination of Wu Juchun, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the North China New People's Daily, in July 1940. Due to the success of this mission, the Japanese military launched a bloody "August Mass Arrest", during which Feng unfortunately met his demise. For dramatic purposes, this book has increased his age by two years.

  Cheng Ri suddenly shouted: "Feng Yuanyu, you shameless thing. Alright, my old man is a traitor, but do you dare say your uncle isn't a traitor? Your uncle is a big traitor, and you're a little traitor."

  Feng Yuansheng's facial muscles twitched as if stung by a wasp, and he clenched his teeth in pain that was not to be shared with outsiders. He forced a smile and said: "But I don't spend all day talking about the Imperial Army's length and shortness, nor do I take pride in my own uncle."

  "Japan is stronger than our country, don't you think that the so-called National Government is just a bunch of parasites? Our country has been eaten away by them and is on its last breath. The Japanese, as a strong nation and friendly neighbor, couldn't bear to watch this anymore, so they lent us a helping hand..."

  This is too ridiculous, even Ouyang Yun couldn't bear to listen anymore. He went up and kicked him: "Get out of here! Was it your father who taught you this?! I'm going to kill you, are you trying to bully me because I don't hit kids?!"

  Chu Tian Ge had long been filled with righteous indignation, and he pulled out a concealed dagger from his body, its tip pressed against Xiao Pangzi's neck. The hand holding the knife trembled, as if it might slip and cut down at any moment.

  Cheng Ri had never seen such a spectacle before, and was so shocked that his mouth was wide open but he didn't dare make a sound. The two pieces of fat on his buttocks trembled violently, and with a "plop" sound, he actually farted and urinated at the same time.

  Other students were also shocked, after all they were still young. Although they hated Cheng Rihui's traitorous words and deeds, they absolutely did not think of taking the life of their own classmate - in front of real knives and guns, many people were intimidated.

  Ouyang Yun didn't expect Xiao Hanjian to be so incompetent, and hastily jumped aside, pinching his nose and saying: "Go back and tell your dad that you don't want to end up like Hu Enyu and Bai Yuheheng. Be more low-key as a person. I know it's not easy being a traitor, but after all, we're all Chinese, so let's not take things too far!" He pulled away Chu Tiange and let Cheng Rihao go.

  "Isn't it easy to be a traitor?!" Those traitors, if they knew that the one who said this was actually the true culprit behind the "Hebei Incident", I wonder if they would feel grateful or cry bitterly.

  Chu Tian Ge was used to his unbridled speech, and had long since become desensitized to it. Huang Jia Hua and the others, on the other hand, looked like they were hearing a revelation from the heavens. Many people stared at him, their eyes blinking rapidly. Feng Yuan Xiu's eyes lit up as he listened - he had heard this from his uncle before, but back then he had scoffed at it with disdain. Now, however, it had a different flavor to it. He took two steps forward, lowering his voice to ask: "You two brothers, are you from the 'Special Task Force for Eliminating Evil'?"

  "Special Task Force to Eliminate Traitors?!"

  Feng Yuanshu thought they were afraid of revealing their identities, so he lowered his voice even further and said: "Big brother, do you know Pang Wenhui? I'm very familiar with him."

  Ouyang Yun looked at the fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy in front of him, still with a childlike appearance, but his eyebrows and eyes showed a hint of precocity, his eyes were very deep, thinking of his previous performance, he was cautious everywhere, thinking that he was quite a good spy candidate, but didn't know what his ambitions were. Some thoughts flashed through his mind, and he asked in a low voice: "Are you not afraid of us now?"

  Feng Yuanchu smiled somewhat bashfully and said: "You don't look like ordinary people, and there are too many traitors in Tianjin, so I have to be careful."

  Ouyang Yun smiled and said: "Not bad, calm enough, just don't know if you have the guts."

  "It depends on what you're going to do."

  "Come on, let's go out and talk about it, how about it?"

  "Can I call my friend over?" Feng Yuanshu looked at Huang Jiahua not far away.

  Chu Tian Ge had been listening on the side and intentionally or unintentionally blocked others' line of sight, at this time smiled and said: "You're quite loyal."

  Ouyang Yun shook his head: "I'm only looking at you now, you know that some things can't be done just with a passionate heart. Your friend is very loyal and has strong organizational skills, but he's too impulsive. Honestly, I think you guys were a bit too harsh on that little fatty earlier. Have you thought about it? He didn't actually do anything that serious. As the saying goes, 'people are born good; if they turn out bad, it's because of their parents.' With a traitor father like his around..."

  "Brother, 'Man's nature is originally good' was said by Confucius, not some other master."

  "I know that certain son is Confucius."

  "Isn't this child Zhang Yimou?"

  "This child is not that child."

  "Oh, I see, this 'certain' is a euphemism."

  Ouyang Yun glared at Chu Tiange, seeing his serious face, she couldn't help but want to kick him in the face - this wooden-headed guy, how could he not have any sense of humor?

  Feng Yuanshu gazed at the two of them in stunned silence as they seriously discussed the "certain child" issue, his face twisted in a mixture of confusion and amusement. He began to doubt whether it was really them who had done something in the Japanese concession area - in his imagination, for two people to have killed two traitors and over a dozen Japanese soldiers in the heavily guarded concession area would be a heroic feat worthy of Jing Ke, not something that would leave them entangled in such a trivial matter for half a day.

  Chu Tian Ge was given a burst of applause, and Ou Yang Yun turned to Feng Yuan Xiu, only to find that the other's expression was strange. He knew that the trust they had just established had been broken, and helplessly said: "It seems that today is not suitable for further discussion."

  "No, I'd like to talk with you."

  "Oh," slightly surprised, Ouyang Yun looked at him and found that he had underestimated the young man, saying: "Follow me."