Guts (short story)

There are more than 40 people in the martial arts team of Bailong District, tall, short, fat, thin, white and black, the most courageous is the captain Jiang Biao, and the least courageous is Xiao Lao Zhang.

Jiang Biao's boldness can be proved by any team member with three or five things. For example, he single-handedly entered the yamen of Wulongcheng County at night and carried the traitor county magistrate who had just helped the devil to come to power from the bed to the Nanshan base area; For example, when he went back to Bailong Town, he bumped into Zhao Baoyuan's four plainclothes who were in conflict with the Eighth Route Army, recognized him, and he was not chaotic, wise and brave, and finally got out, and calmly visited his parents and so on. As for Xiao Lao Zhang's timidity, except for Jiang Biao who was clear and the veteran team members had a little experience, the rest of the people didn't know much. Xiao Lao Zhang is the most taboo for others to say that he is timid. He also thought of some ways to change his image, but every time he came to a critical moment, he couldn't get the courage to come.

Jiang Biao and Xiao Lao Zhang are cousins. Xiao Lao Zhang's grandmother is Jiang Biao's grandmother.

The two of them are tall and short, one fat and one thin, just because the little old Zhang Luocao was half a year early, Jiang Biao deigned to call him the second brother. For the sake of Xiao Lao Zhang, the second brother who is not angry, Jiang Biao doesn't know how many times he has lost his temper and scolded his mother.

Once, when I went to Wangshi Village to carry out work, the martial arts team and Zhao Baoyuan's grain collection team met. The two sides had a verbal discord and a group battle began. First he slapped his fist, and then he picked up the butt of the belt and gun. The grain conscription team is all medium and formal spears, but most of the martial arts teams are inserted with short guns such as chicken leg boxes, home-made oars, and single-fight guns. Both sides happened to be 12 people, so the martial arts team suffered a big loss.

Among the two gangs, Xiao Lao Zhang was carrying a machete on his back, and Jiang Biao used a large mirror gun to smash the head of a Zhao Baoyuan soldier, and shouted loudly: "Second brother, take the back of the knife and shoot hard!" How do you know that Xiao Lao Zhang is holding his hands, trembling all over, and stammering to fight: "All of them are anti-Japanese teams one by one, let's forget about it in the freshman year!" "Who listens to him? Everyone was stirred up, and the red blood flowed.

The chief of the village saw that he was going to die, and asked the village to organize more than 40 strong men to pull the two sides apart and reassure them. Seven people in the martial arts team were smashed on their heads, and Jiang Biao burst into his heart with a nameless fire, and scolded at Xiao Lao Zhang: "I'll fuck you blood-" The word "mom" was about to be exported, and suddenly realized that his mother was his own aunt, so he hurriedly changed his words - "I'll fuck you godmother!" The people on the food team burst out laughing.

There is another thing that only Jiang Biao knows, he has never said it to others, and if he says it, he will inevitably lose face.

That time, Jiang Biao took Xiao Lao Zhang across the Bailong River to deliver a letter. As soon as I walked on the river beach, a group of devil soldiers appeared on the river embankment upstream. As soon as he looked at him, Xiao Lao Zhang couldn't hold his breath and jumped into the river. It was autumn, but the river was not deep, and it was just knee-deep. Xiao Lao Zhang's run attracted the devil's gun, and the 38 lid horn sounded on the ground. Bullets from the machine gun were bogged into the river, making splashes of water with a clatter. The grenadiers also exploded with a gloss. Little old Zhang squatted in the water. Jiang Biao stretched out his arm to pick him up, climbed the river embankment, and took three steps and two steps into the sorghum ground. After stumbling and running for a while, Jiang Biao put down Xiao Lao Zhang and wanted to see where he was injured, but who knew that Xiao Lao Zhang stood up as soon as he touched the ground, wet all over, but there was no red at all. Jiang Biao was stunned for a moment, and then said, "There is no one like you in the Eighth Road." You can go today, love wherever you want! Little Lao Zhang cried with a sad face and said, "Good brother, where do you call me to go?" Mom and Dad have died a long time ago, and if I don't follow you in our team, how can I live? "Little Lao Zhang died his parents since he was a child, and he grew up with Jiang Biao on his grandmother's door. As he spoke, he burst into tears. Jiang Biao is a tough guy, if other team members wipe their eyes and tears in front of him, he will be slapped in the face. He sighed and said, "Hold that cat pee!" Don't be embarrassed in the future! ”

Jiang Biao knew that the second brother was born of flesh grown from bones. When he was a child, he was timid. On the thirteenth day of the first month of that year, Jiang Biao and his second brother said that there were flowers selling on the street, did they think of a way to steal a few? On the fifteenth night of the first lunar month of every year, I went all over Bailong Town to see the rich people putting flowers, and my heart was itchy! The second brother glared at the boss with two eyes, and said that it was terrible to let someone catch him, so I wouldn't do it. Jiang Biao didn't curse him, he thought about it in his heart, and suddenly thought of the idea of going to the Bailong River to smash ice and catch fish for flowers. The second brother was busy saying yes, yes, yes.

Escaping the adults with a shovel and a small pickaxe, they went to the White Dragon River. In winter, the banks of the Bailong River are bare, and only some reed stubble chirps in the northwest wind. The frozen river was bent and shiny as far as the eye could see. The two of them found a place with an inlet and smashed the ice hole. After smashing for a long time, the back of his hand became a small dumpling, and he caught seven crucian carp with a finger long. They took the seven small fish and the old man who sold the flowers for a big flower that was arm thick and half a foot high.

On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the streets were full of children scurrying around with lanterns. Jiang Biao and the second brother held the big flowers, and shouted everywhere: "Put the flowers, enlarge the flowers!" "Look at the crowd behind you, and then pick a high place and plant the flowers. When someone ordered this baby flower, Jiang Biao and the second brother had an awkward quarrel. The second brother said that he was big, and he should order it, Jiang Biao said that he came up with the method of catching fish for flowers, and he should order it. The two fought to the end, and Jiang Biao let him.

The second brother's body was far away, pinching the incense head and stretching out his arms to order flowers. His arms trembled, and the incense swayed, and he couldn't touch the twists of the flowers. Jiang Biao shouted: "You are timid, it's better for me!" The second brother screamed: "Who said I was cowardly? I dare to hold the flowers one by one! "Net blow!" "Just dare!" "Don't dare!" "Bet!" "Bet!" The children around them also shouted in unison. The second brother really held the flowers with his right hand and used his left hand to point them. "Squeak-" The flowers grew bigger and bigger, and Jiang Biao saw a smile on the second brother's face. The smile was like crying—the corners of the mouth were grinning at the base of the ear, the nose was wrinkled into a little garlic, and the two eyes were staring at the boss. After putting the flowers, the second brother's face was blistered, and a small machine cloth gown covering the openwork cotton jacket was burned into a sieve. When they got home, the two of them were beaten by the elders on the pestle, and their cheeks were so swollen that they didn't dare to touch the kang for several days.

Ever since Bailonghe bumped into the devil, Xiao Lao Zhang lowered his eyebrows in front of Jiang Biao all day long, and he was timid, Jiang Biao said one and he didn't say two. When someone makes fun of him for being timid, he doesn't make as much noise as he used to. He had a bitter look on his face, as if there were thousands of bitter tastes surging in his heart. It wasn't until he died that Xiao Lao Zhang smiled. The day Xiao Lao Zhang died was a day when the Bailong District Martial Arts Team suffered heavy losses.

Actually, it was a good day. The spring breeze that blew for three days and three nights blew out the fields on both sides of the Bailong River a little bit of goose yellow, and there was a white sun with a thousand rays of light hanging in the tile-like blue sky. The martial arts team of Bailong District, which had been frozen in the mountain nest for two months, was like a long worm after a sting, squirming along the dry path towards Wangshi Village. The body is warm and peaceful, and the triangle seems to be its own world. Everyone in the team was talking and laughing.

Turning into a small ravine, suddenly you are in trouble! The guns chirped and drilled, and the little melons exploded and became dusty. The devil somehow got the news, and secretly came out of Wulong City to set up an ambush in this small ditch.

In half an hour, most of the martial arts team was killed and wounded. Jiang Biao was lying on the ground and pondering while shooting, the devil's cotton clothes and pants and big cotton shoes couldn't catch up with his subordinates with two bloomers and a small jacket, so he jumped up and shouted: "Fucking run!" The team members who were not put down followed Jiang Biao like rabbits to the invisible Wangshi Village.

There was a crackling and booming rumbling behind the belly. I saw the fence wall of Wangshi Village, but I heard a few neighing sounds. Jiang Biao turned his head and saw that the dog mongrel devil even used the horse team! Two-legged and four-legged than running. Jiang Biao's heart was beating like a drum, panting like a cow, and he finally climbed onto the wall. Jiang Biao saw that there were only five or six people left around him. Looking out of the waizi again, Xiao Lao Zhang was standing more than a dozen fucking steps away from the waizi. "Hurry up on the fence, hurry up!" Everyone shouted. Xiao Lao Zhang still did not move, facing the galloping horse team, his hand bent behind his shoulder, and slowly pulled out the machete on his spine.

Jiang Biao hurriedly shouted. A few men fired some guns and knocked down three horses. The four horses that did not fall blew like the wind. Jiang Biao saw the thief's saber and heard the roar of the devil soldiers. Xiao Lao Zhang was surrounded by four large ocean horses. The devil soldier hooked his horse pedal and reached out to grab Xiao Lao Zhang. Suddenly, the little old man jumped left and right and picked up his knife indiscriminately, and three horses told him to cut him down in a panic. The rest of the horse raised its front hooves at Xiao Lao Zhang and pounced. The saber cut off the top of Xiao Lao Zhang's felt hat. The horse could not contain his hooves and ran under the fence. Two shots rang out on the fence. The devil soldier pulled the reins hard, and the horse whirled in place, rolled up a cloud of dirt, neighed and went back.

Xiao Lao Zhang held the machete horizontally in front of his chest with both hands, and stood as straight as a stake. His face was right in front of Jiang Biao, who was lying on the sir. Jiang Biao smiled when he saw his face, exactly the same as the smile he had when he held the flowers on the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of that year. So, Jiang Biao's heart was cold. The saber swept under the sun like a flash of thunder. Jiang Biao saw Xiao Lao Zhang's head draw a straight line between heaven and earth. The short body did not fall immediately, and the blood spurted suddenly from half of the neck. Pillars of blood soared into the sky, and then fell from the air in bits and pieces. The blood flowers were red and shiny. Jiang Biao suddenly thought that when he was a child, he and his second brother traveled around Bailong Town on the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, but he had never seen such beautiful and dazzling flowers. The pillar of blood gradually shortened, the blood flower slowly retracted, and finally, the headless body shook twice and pounced on the earth.

Jiang Biao screamed.

Author: Xin Ximeng, a native of Laiyang City, Shandong Province, a student of the first seminar of Lu Xun Academy of Literature, a member of the China Financial Writers Association, a member of the Shandong Writers Association, the deputy director of the editorial department of Financial Literature, and the vice chairman of the Laiyang Writers Association. Since publishing the second title of the series of novels "People in the Triangle" in Jiaodong Literature in 1988, he has published more than 9 million words of novels, short stories and prose essays in newspapers and websites at all levels across the country, such as "Financial Literary Circle", "China Urban and Rural Finance News", "Agricultural Development and Finance", "Rural Youth", "Shandong Literature", "Popular Daily", "Shandong Economic Daily", "Starting Point Chinese Network", "Whale Reading" and other newspapers and websites at all levels.

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