A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Chapter 1020 Grandpa Zhang, who supports the resistance against Japan

Gui'er couldn't help but say in a rough voice, "Why are you calling yourself a devil too?"

"Why can't I call them Japanese devils? I'm Chinese. I was working a perfectly good job as a clerk in a Japanese trading company, and then suddenly they invaded China, and I became a traitor. Tell me, isn't that unfair? Now I just want to make more money. Once I've made enough, I'll take my whole family to America. I've been looking for a long time, and right now, of all the countries in the world, only America is rich and has a good geographical location, so it won't be invaded. I'm going to open a restaurant. Okay, you guys hurry up and get going."

The bodyguards and several comrades led by Deng Jun carried the cargo bags onto the small boat, making trip after trip to gradually transport the cargo to a remote mudflat.

After most of the goods had been unloaded, Gui'er followed Wu Mingqiang onto the small boat. The icy river water splashed onto her trouser legs. The large boat silently turned around behind her and slowly sailed away.

Gui'er sat in the small boat and slowly came to the shore, only to find that there were already people dressed as villagers on the shore. Some were pulling oxcarts, some were pulling large flatbed carts, and some were carrying large baskets, transporting the supplies away by manpower.

Gui'er, Wu Mingqiang, and A Si quickly went up to help push the cart.

It was only then that she realized there were actually people keeping watch ahead.

After getting ashore, we walked for about half an hour before finally arriving at a courtyard.

This courtyard looks a bit like a bunker in Kaiping. The outer walls are made of solid stone, more than two meters high, and the walls are smooth all around, making them difficult to climb with bare hands.

There are only small square holes at intervals on the top of the wall, which look more like machine gun muzzles than windows.

The threshold at the main entrance is at least half a meter high, and there are stone drums on both sides of the entrance, which clearly indicates that this is not an ordinary household.

At this moment, the two large doors opened inward, and a man who looked like a country gentleman in his forties or fifties came out. Upon seeing them, he hurriedly came out and greeted them, "Quick, quick, quick, move them inside! We've been waiting for you."

Everyone carried the supplies inside, and only then did Gui'er see the courtyard clearly. In the middle was a courtyard with four water features in one hall. The gentry directed everyone to divide the supplies into several batches and put them into different rooms.

After the supplies were finally placed in their proper places, the villagers who had helped transport them stepped forward and said to the man who appeared to be a local gentry, "Grandpa Zhang, we'll be leaving now."

"Okay, okay, be careful on the road, and don't make a fuss."

The villagers left one after another.

Deng Jun stepped forward and said to Grandpa Zhang, "Grandpa Zhang, we'll have to trouble you again this time. There are quite a lot of supplies this time. I've already contacted the comrades, and they will come to pick them up one after another. There's a batch of supplies that are going north. We need to transport them to a warehouse in a nearby city tomorrow and hand them over to the comrades there."

Grandpa Zhang said, "Of course, of course. Everyone must be tired. I asked my family to prepare some food. Please have a bite. It's just simple food, so please don't mind."

Then, I led everyone into the living room where several large round tables were set up. On them were porridge, sweet potatoes, cooked vegetables, a few slices of meat in the vegetables, and a small fish about the size of a palm, which was the only meat dish.

Everyone had been hungry since they set off early in the morning, without a drop of water or a bite of food. They didn't care about anything else and started wolfing down their food.

Wu Mingqiang frowned as he looked at the food, and whispered in Gui'er's ear, "Miss, please bear with it. I'll go out and find a way to get you something better to eat in a moment."

Gui'er quickly said, "No need. We're in a war zone now, and it's probably very dangerous outside. These are edible too."

The two men's subtle actions were immediately noticed by Master Zhang.

He stared at Gui'er for two seconds: "You're a girl?"

Deng Jun quickly explained, "Grandpa Zhang, it's like this. Among the comrades who came to pick up the supplies this time, some of the girl's family members have already gone to Hong Kong. Recently, someone passed away, and they haven't seen each other for several years, so they wanted to take this opportunity to meet."

Grandpa Zhang nodded and sighed, “My eldest son went to participate in the Battle of Shanghai and never came back. His body was never found. I don’t know if he died in battle or what. My younger son wanted to join the army to avenge his elder brother, but I didn’t agree and sent him to Hong Kong. I stayed here to protect this little bit of family property, also to wait for my eldest son to come back.”

Deng Jun comforted him, saying, "Master Zhang has done so much for the fight against Japan, I believe your son will surely turn misfortune into good fortune."

Grandpa Zhang gave a wry smile, then, coming to his senses, called out towards the kitchen, "Is there any more food? Bring some more out."

An old woman brought out two baskets of steamed buns. Old Master Zhang smiled and said to Gui'er, "Girl, eat up. You look so delicate and fair-skinned. You must be a young lady from a wealthy family. You're not used to this simple food."

Gui'er quickly said, "No need, no need, I'm already full. Everyone did a lot of work, so please eat more."

Zheng Huaichang quickly said, "Miss, please eat. We who are away from home all year round are used to it."

Gui'er didn't eat, and the others didn't touch it either, so she took one and said, "I'll just eat one, I'm really full."

After the meal, Grandpa Zhang arranged for everyone to rest. Two rooms were set up for the men, and they were allowed to sleep on the large communal bed wherever they pleased.

They also arranged another small room for Gui'er to sleep in alone.

Gui'er entered the room and found that it was actually a storage room with some old, unused furniture. In one corner of the room was a bed made up of two long benches and a bed board.

She was tired at this point, so she lay down on the bed and fell asleep fully clothed. She thought she wouldn't be able to sleep in an unfamiliar environment, but she fell asleep as soon as she touched the bed.

In the middle of the night, Gui'er suddenly heard footsteps outside in her drowsy state.

She snapped back to reality, sat up abruptly, quickly pulled out her pocket pistol, and crept stealthily behind the door, peering out through the crack.

It turned out that Deng Jun was directing several unfamiliar people to move them into the room today, while supplies from one of the rooms were being moved out.

Only a few dimly lit lanterns hung in the courtyard, and everyone remained silent, even deliberately walking on tiptoe.

Gui'er was wondering when Grandpa Zhang came out and said to Deng Jun, "Do we really have to leave at night? There's a curfew tonight, and part of the road goes through the city, which is very dangerous."

Deng Jun said, "These supplies are going to Guangxi. There aren't enough people there, so these two comrades came. We have to help them get the goods to the city before dawn. Then we'll find our comrades in the foreign firm and pretend that this batch of goods belongs to the foreign firm to sneak into the city. We'll then break it down into smaller parts and transport it to Guangxi. Last time, we were discovered because there were too many goods, and our comrade was killed. This time, we must succeed."