Chapter 7

The small-scale Sino-Japanese conflict that took place at the "Ghost House" ended with a Pyrrhic victory for the Chinese side. Ouyang Yun was fortunate enough to be the last sparrow to appear. Reflecting on the events afterward, he deeply regretted not acting sooner, which had led to the unnecessary sacrifice of several compatriots. But then again, these compatriots had come with the intention of silencing him, which provided a somewhat comforting reason for his self-reproach.

The car parked outside the door belonged to the Japanese. Ouyang Yun was most worried that some of them might escape and expose the secret of the "Ghost House." He inquired and confirmed that the car had been parked there since early morning. Considering that the five men had squeezed into one car, it was unlikely that anyone had stayed overnight. There was no need to be polite with the Japanese, so he naturally took the old Ford for himself.

The neighbors, who had long heard of the "Ghost House," were very concerned about a young man living alone with ghosts. Well-meaning uncles and aunts suggested inviting a master to exorcise the place and introduced a bunch of fake monks and shamans. Ouyang Yun, in jest, told them: "There are indeed ghosts in the house, but I have made a deal with them. We don't interfere with each other and live in peace." Many of the uncles and aunts had been scared by Bai Liusu's portrayal of a "hanged ghost," and their faces turned pale. After a moment of muttering, they concluded that perhaps the young man had strong yang energy, which kept the ghosts from harming him. One uncle, thinking he was being clever, asked, "Young man, are you still a virgin?" This left Ouyang Yun in a state of both laughter and tears.

The car couldn't be driven into the courtyard, so Ouyang Yun parked it in an alley and hid it well. When he returned, he saw that Bai Liusu was sleeping soundly and didn't wake her. The events of the previous night had clearly been a great blow to her. Her face was still streaked with tears, and the bedsheet under her cheek was wet, indicating that she had cried for a long time even in her dreams. Looking at the scar on her face, he imagined what it would be like to lift it off like a worm and sighed softly.

The heavens are always unfair, or perhaps the world is inherently unpredictable. That's why China, before the Qing Dynasty, considered itself the Celestial Kingdom, with the emperor called the Son of Heaven. But starting from the late Qing, the world turned upside down. Not to mention the so-called barbarians of the West, even a small country like Japan could ride on the back of a giant and lord over it. If the spirits of Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Genghis Khan were still around, they would surely have many thoughts to share!

The girl in front of him, before the scar on her face, must have been incredibly beautiful, envied by many young women and causing many men to pine for her. But the scar had taken all of that away. Now, calling her a "woman of no beauty" would even offend the original "woman of no beauty": her ugliness was due to her parents, but what was this? A result of poor postnatal care.

Placing the soy milk and buns by the bed, he was about to leave when Bai Liusu opened her eyes.

He said softly, "If you promise not to run around, I'll untie you."

Her gaze moved from the soy milk, and the confusion and sorrow in her eyes disappeared, leaving only deliberate hatred: "I won't run around, but I will kill you!"

"Fine, as long as you have the ability." He untied her, gathered all the bodies in the main hall, and covered the bodies of the compatriots with the bedsheet from his bed. Then, he put the burlap bags and wooden boxes back in the cellar and closed the wardrobe.

Bai Liusu watched all of this coldly, her left hand reaching into her waist several times but finally pulling it out. Finally, she sighed softly, picked up the bowl with her left hand, and used her right hand to pick up a bun with chopsticks, starting her breakfast.

"We'll bury them tonight," Ouyang Yun said, sitting on a chair and watching her finish her breakfast quietly.

Bai Liusu's gaze fell on Shen Jian, her eyelids becoming even more swollen. She rubbed her eyes hard, holding back tears.

Ouyang Yun looked at the tear stains on the bedsheet, thinking that women were indeed made of water, with tears as deep as the sea. He stood up and walked out, thinking that letting her cry for a while would be beneficial for her mental health.

"Thank you for the breakfast." Bai Liusu said, and then slammed the door shut.

Ouyang Yun smiled, feeling more confident about winning the big prize. The money was his goal, not for buying a supercomputer or building a hope school, but to drive away the Japanese.

After the battle in the early hours of the morning, killing several Japanese, he finally understood the true intentions of the two elders and realized what he should do and what he could do.

Lying in bed, he had no sleepiness. He took out his handheld computer and slowly started browsing.

First, he adjusted the search date to April 25, 1935, and pressed the confirm button. A diary-style historical record appeared on the screen—Beiping, as a special city, was still under the control of the Nationalist government, with the 3rd Regiment of the Military Police, led by Jiang Xiaoxian, stationed there. However, with the impending signing of the He-Mei Agreement, the 3rd Regiment of the Military Police, the 51st Army of the Northeastern Army stationed in Tianjin, and the 2nd and 25th Divisions of the Central Army stationed in other parts of Hebei would all withdraw along with the Nationalist government. At that time, Song Zheyuan's 29th Army would enter Hebei at the invitation of the Beiping Military Commission and become the actual ruler of the Beiping-Tianjin region. After that, until the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Beiping would enjoy a rare period of peace.

At the start of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Japanese army did not have an advantage in the Beiping area. If Zhao Dengyu's troops had been able to annihilate the surrounded Japanese army, the Marco Polo Bridge would not have fallen, and history might have taken a different path.

According to the historical records in the notebook, the Beiping-Tianjin campaign triggered by the Marco Polo Bridge Incident ended with the 29th Army of the Nationalist Party withdrawing from Hebei and abandoning Beiping and Tianjin. Analyzing the reasons for the Chinese side's failure, while there were certainly issues of strength, the decisive factors could be attributed to two individuals: Song Zheyuan, the commander of the 29th Army, and Pan Yuguai, the head of the Political Affairs Office under Song.

History has given Song a high evaluation—anti-Japanese hero, skilled in both military and civil governance. However, this is not entirely accurate. In the Xifengkou battle, the 29th Army indeed fought with spirit and courage, and at that time, calling Song Zheyuan an anti-Japanese hero was not an exaggeration. However, from the time he entered Chahar, the halo of the anti-Japanese hero began to fade.

However, by carefully reading the growth history of Song and the 29th Army, it is not difficult to understand why he underwent such a transformation. The 29th Army was formed after the Central Plains War, a recombination of the Northwest Army that had been severely weakened. Having experienced the Central Plains War, Song deeply understood the suffering that internal wars brought to the country and people. Therefore, from the beginning of the army's formation, he clearly proposed the slogan "No internal war, guns outward" and received the unanimous support of his subordinates. Later, when Chiang Kai-shek attempted to dispatch the 29th Army south to suppress the Communists, Song always found various reasons to refuse. Due to his deep distrust of Chiang's manipulative tactics in the warlord conflicts, Song always harbored suspicions about the Nationalist government led by Chiang, which influenced many of his important decisions and was the main reason for his appeasement of the Japanese during his tenure in Chahar and Beiping.

Due to not being a direct subordinate of Chiang, the 29th Army faced numerous difficulties in terms of military funding and equipment from the beginning. The soldiers were poorly dressed, looking like beggars, and had to march at night when they were transferred to Chahar to avoid being mistaken for bandits and frightening the people during the day. As a result, the cold weapon, the saber, became a standard equipment for the 29th Army. Therefore, the saber combat techniques of the 29th Army were more out of necessity than innovation. The great victory at Xifengkou, where the 29th Army used sabers to gain a formidable reputation, was indeed a remarkable feat.

The situation of the 29th Army improved somewhat after they were transferred to Chahar in 1932, with Song Zheyuan appointed as the chairman of Chahar Province, and the 29th Army finally had a place to rest and recuperate.

Six months later, the Great Wall Campaign broke out, and the 29th Army fought a bloody battle against the Japanese Suzuki and Hattori brigades at Xifengkou. They used sabers and hand grenades to counter the advanced weapons of the Japanese, killing 5,000 enemies and gaining fame in one battle, but also suffering over 10,000 casualties, severely weakening their strength. However, due to the dissolution of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army organized by Feng Yuxiang in Chahar by Chiang Kai-shek, the 29th Army was able to pick up the pieces and gain new life—expanding to four divisions with over 60,000 troops and receiving a large amount of weapons and equipment from the Anti-Japanese Allied Army, including over 30 mountain guns from the Northeastern Army's Tang Yulin unit, making them a significant military force that could influence the situation in North China.

That period was also the most glorious time for Song Zheyuan and the 29th Army. As news of the 29th Army's battle at Xifengkou spread across major cities, the composer Mai Xin even created the "March of the Big Saber" in their honor, making the 29th Army's saber team and Song Zheyuan famous nationwide.

Due to the stark contrast between their past and present, Song deeply understood the importance of having a territory to stabilize an army. Therefore, he tried to maintain his territory by being cautious between the Nationalist government and the Japanese, hoping to preserve his land.

However, human plans cannot match the will of heaven. The Japanese had too much ambition, and the Nationalist government was too weak.

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Song hoped for a political solution to preserve the last territory of the 29th Army. Despite the clear military advantage, he still chose to compromise, sending his aide Pan Yuguai to negotiate with the commander of the Japanese North China Garrison, Shigeki Kiyoshi.

Pan Yuguai, a traitor, betrayed Song at a critical moment, revealing the 29th Army's troop deployment to the Japanese. As a result, in the subsequent battle at Nanyuan, the 29th Army was always on the defensive, and their defeat in the North China campaign was inevitable...

"Pan Yuguai! Pan Yuguai..." Ouyang Yun softly repeated the traitor's name several times, harboring murderous thoughts. If he killed Pan Yuguai now, would the history of the 29th Army change? No, it wouldn't be that simple. As long as Song Zheyuan insisted on a "political solution," there would be a second or third Pan Yuguai. Killing Song Zheyuan? This was not a result that a small butterfly like himself could bear. If the 29th Army split as a result, then—

He closed the computer, took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a few puffs, then started coughing violently. This cigarette, a cheap street product, was nothing like the ones from the 21st century, and it was choking him.

Fiercely throwing the cigarette away, Ouyang Yun began to laugh bitterly: What was the point of thinking so much? Take it one step at a time. A small butterfly, what could it do? Sleep!

"Brother, I often hear you recite Li Bai's 'Thoughts on a Tranquil Night,' but I never really understood it. Now, now I understand... Before my bed, the bright moonlight, I wonder if it's frost on the ground. I raise my head to look at the bright moon, and lower my head to think of my hometown. Brother, did you foresee this day? We, the wanderers from Sichuan, will ultimately be buried in a foreign land... I will bury you here, so you can often see the moonlight. You are well, with rats and bears for company, but you left me all alone..." Bai Liusu sat on a new mound of earth by the window, looking up at the moon, which was fuller than the night before, and said softly.

Ouyang Yun opened his eyes groggily, shook his heavy head, and reached out on the bed, only to find nothing. He was startled and sat up. The moonlight was bright, and through the window, he could see the objects on the bed clearly. Everything was there except for the laptop.

"How could I sleep so long? It must be that woman's doing. Ah, how could I be so careless, she's a ghost after all!" Thinking this, he was furious, not even bothering to put on his shoes, and hopped to the door. Hearing her low chanting, he thought, "I didn't expect this woman to have a taste for poetry." Remembering her grief, he sighed and sat down on the threshold.

There were three new graves in the yard, with small wooden plaques in front of them and paper banners fluttering in the moonlight, giving off a ghostly aura. This yard, already known as the "Ghost House," now truly lived up to its name. He looked into the main hall, which was empty, and was surprised. "Where are those Japanese ghosts?"

"In the outhouse!"

"The outhouse, Sister, you're ruthless!" Ouyang Yun gave her a thumbs up and walked to the outhouse, thinking he still needed to bury them to avoid trouble. When he got there, he saw no bodies. "Really in the outhouse?"

"Uh-huh."

"Is this outhouse deep?"

"I dissolved them."

"Dissolved?"

"Using bone-eroding powder. Want some?"

"Bone-eroding powder?" This was something he thought only existed in martial arts novels. Now he knew this vicious substance was real, and he shuddered. "No, no, you keep it. By the way, where's my laptop?"

"What laptop?"

"A plastic box."

"I took it."

"Oh." For some reason, confirming this made Ouyang Yun feel relieved. "Give it back. If you're interested, I can teach you how to use it."

"Is it very valuable?" Bai Liusu's voice was raspy, magnetic, and pleasant to hear, though it always gave a cold feeling.

"Of course, it's priceless!" Ouyang Yun said proudly, immediately regretting it when he saw her dig it out from the soil by the grave marked "Brother Shen Jian's Tomb" and wipe it before putting it in her own chest.

"Damn, you're trying to seduce me? If I were a girl, my belly would be swollen by now!"

"What nonsense! Do you still want this thing?"

"No."

"Really?"

Ouyang Yun turned to walk back into the house, grinning and showing his white teeth, thinking, "Trying to trick me, huh? No way."

"I'll throw it in the outhouse then." Bai Liusu said lightly, her body moving lightly.

Ouyang Yun was shocked, "No" slipping out. Turning around, he saw the corner of her mouth curl up, revealing her first smile since they met. He knew he had been tricked and couldn't help but laugh bitterly, shaking his head. "I didn't see that coming. You're a negotiation expert. What do you want in exchange?"

"Help me deliver all the burlap bags and wooden boxes to Nanjing." Bai Liusu said, holding out the laptop and adding, "If you don't agree, I'll throw it in the outhouse."

The laptop couldn't get wet; if it went in the outhouse, it would be ruined. Reluctantly, he said, "I agree."

"Good, when you deliver the items, I'll give you the box."

"Really?" He smiled, his right hand flicking out a steel needle.

Bai Liusu sensed something was wrong when she saw his smile and quickly moved back, but it was too late. A white streak pierced her waist, and she only managed to say, "Vile," before collapsing, losing consciousness.

A few minutes later, Bai Liusu opened her eyes, finding herself on the bed. She moved her hands and feet, surprised to find them free. She jumped out of bed, feeling her weapons were still there, and was overjoyed: "This scoundrel was careless, he didn't search me for my weapons." She held a short sword in her right hand and a throwing knife in her left, slowly walking to the window.

The night was deep, the moon brighter, and the insects were chirping. In the moonlight, incense burned in front of the three new graves. Ouyang Yun stood straight in front of Shen Jian's grave, saluting: "Live as a hero, die as a hero. Brother Shen Jian, rest easy. Your sister will be taken care of by me, and your unfinished cause will be completed by me. Rest in peace!"

Bai Liusu, who had been filled with hatred, wanting to flay him alive, was momentarily stunned: "Live as a hero, die as a hero—" She repeated softly, lost in thought.

Ouyang Yun sincerely paid his respects to the martyr, without any ulterior motives. Seeing her, he said sincerely, "Miss Shen, I'm really sorry for deceiving you just now, but this box is too important to me, so—"

"My name is Bai, not Shen. Are you Ouyang Yun?"

"Yes."

"Will you keep your word to my brother?"

"Of course, a man can deceive others, but not ghosts, and Brother Shen is a hero!"

"Good, then please deliver these burlap bags and wooden boxes to Nanjing." Bai Liusu said, her