Chapter 5: The Innocent (Fourth)

Although some vendors began to leave before the last performance ended, there was still some congestion at the market entrance. This summer's big market attracted more than three times the usual people and pushed the cargo throughput of the Crescent Lake market to a new peak. Before leaving, many vendors quietly went to the market management office to book stalls for the autumn big market in two and a half months. That would be the last chance for travelers to make a fortune this year. After that, most roads on the grassland will be covered with snow, and the Crescent Lake market has quickly returned to a state where only local vendors and people participate. Not only is the scale incomparable to the three quarterly big markets in spring, summer and autumn, but the types of goods on the market have become very few.

Zhang, from Lucheng, Shandong, has been quietly waiting for all the vendors to disperse, with a peaceful and satisfied smile on his face. This is not the first time he has been waiting for his younger brother. When the third son Songling was in elementary school, he was also the brother who was responsible for picking up and dropping off every day. At that time, their mother had just passed away, and his father could not withstand the instigation of the matchmaker and married a stepmother for the third brother. As the eldest son of the family, he had to spread his wings like a newly grown rooster, protecting the two younger brothers firmly behind him. At the same time, he carried half of the home for his father with his tender shoulders, so as not to be deceived by the new woman and defeat the entire family, so that the three brothers would be left on the streets from then on.

Fortunately, the stepmother is not as mean as all the stepmothers in the legend. Although she is too careful in life, she rarely tries to think about the expenses of the three brothers. Her father did not forget her children when she married a new woman, but she trained all three of them to become talents at all costs. Especially the investment in the third child is far more than the training costs of ordinary merchants and other people's children. He graduated from junior high school. After learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, he interchanged to the shop run by his elders as an apprentice. After he could stand alone, he would go back to his home to help his father support his family business. However, under the joint care of his father and his brother, the third son Songling went from junior high school to junior high school, and from junior high school to national and provincial high school. If it weren't for the damn war, with the intelligence of the third son and the Zhang family's family's wealth three years ago, it would be no problem to finish graduate school or even the legendary doctorate.

However, whether the war broke out or not was not something that the lower-class people like the Zhang family could decide. The Japanese were preparing to attack Beiping City, and the third brother's life trajectory quickly turned a huge turn. He went to the 29th Route to join the army, but he became a lieutenant of the 26th Route, and then suddenly turned into a cold medal and a letter of death. He was sent back.

The moment the provincial officials beat gongs and drums to deliver the medal to the shop, Zhang Boss saw his father's body shaking and broke down like a crop hit by hail. Fortunately, the guys were quick to hold him with their shoulders, which made his father not fall on the spot. Then, the sun and moon were gone for half a year. The atmosphere at home was as cold as an ice cellar, and everyone couldn't lift their energy when doing things. Fortunately, God opened his eyes and couldn't bear to watch the Zhang family's father and son continue to be depressed, and actually changed the third brother back to the grassland. This time, the third brother was even less worry-free than before. Although the third brother in the past made the family worried, he still knew what he was doing and who he was working for. This time, he didn't even explain who he worked for, and he just stuck his head on the grassland.

Then there was a more difficult wait. In countless times, Zhang Shouling saw his father get up in the middle of the night, walked towards the gate with a lantern, opened the door and looked around for a while, then slowly closed the door again, and blew out the light and moved into the back room with the starlight. His father was looking forward to the third brother's return, but at the same time he was afraid that the detective team in the county town would come to see the enemy. In order to perform his merits in front of the Japanese, the beasts in the skins kept a close eye on all families related to the anti-Japanese team. Although the grass on Zhang Songling's grave had been pulled out several times, the traitors in the detective team hoped that the people in the grave could come out alive. In that way, they could catch Zhang Songling and receive rewards, and they could also copy the Zhang family, making a fortune that would wake up in their dreams.

Therefore, the news that the third son Songling is still alive is that only the Zhang family and the two friends in the shop in the entire Lucheng City have known that their father and Zhang Shouling have never told anyone about it. Even when their friends expressed their condolences to the father and son with kindness, they pretended to be sad and wiped their eyes, and never dared to expose the secrets in their hearts. Especially after the third son Songling became a Communist, the entire family was even more careful. Even going out to the frontier to do business has become that Zhang Shouling personally led the team every time. In addition to the two friends who Zhigenzhidi trained as his own people since childhood, he did not even dare to hire a small worker who helped take care of the animals along the way.

More than once in private, Old Man Zhang discussed with Zhang Shouling, who had already taken charge of the entire family on his behalf, hoping that he would find an opportunity to pull the third son Songling back from the grassland. Even if he didn't want to be a 26th-way deputy, at least he wouldn't follow the Communist guerrillas. That matter would be glorious, but who knows what the market will be like in the future? If one day the Kuomintang and the Communist Party turned their faces like they did back then, wouldn't they be killed by the Japanese again and be killed by the government army? Are they enemies on both sides?

Zhang Shouling originally agreed with his father's proposal, but since he had drunk a few drinks with Hongbei this spring, he completely gave up this idea. Whenever his father nagged in his ears to ask him to find his younger brother, he would smile and respond seriously, "Just that third brother's temperament, even if you tie him back, it will take three days, he will have to go to Qinglong Mountain to continue carrying a gun and kill the Japanese. He is going to take risks, so it's better to let him continue to be out of his mouth. At least he will not be recognized by the Japanese and traitors and implicated in his home. If one day the Japanese are really beaten away, he will be a great hero. He will ride a horse and take the guards to the door of our house. The whole county grocery will have to leave you in the future."

"Yes, but now he is following the Communist Party, the Communist Party." Old Man Zhang ordered his eldest son not to move, so he had to repeatedly emphasize the risks faced by his younger son. "At that time, Chairman Han and Chairman Han killed, but killed the entire Communist Party in southern Shandong.

"That's why Chairman Han was shot by Chairman Jiang. When he died, there was no one to plead with him." Boss Zhang looked at his father and continued to whisper, "When we do business, we all pay attention to the preciousness of things. The Kuomintang is good, but there are a lot of top students who graduated from the military academy. Who would treat the third brother as a treasure? And the Communist guerrillas, people like the third brother who have studied and know how to fight are short of stocks and can't even ask for money. Besides, in the future, who can guarantee that the world will be the Kuomintang. What if the Communist Party can do it, our family will make a fortune."
Chapter completed!