20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 778 Chaos

On a snowy night, everyone in the Jiang family got on the car one by one.

In the first car, Zhang Zhengdong was driving, with Xu Ruqing, Hu Xiaoyan and Jiang Ya sitting in the back seat, and the co-pilot was left for Jiang Lianheng.

The second car was driven by Zhao Guoyan, with Sister Hua, Jiang Chengye and Guyu and her daughter sitting in the back seat, and the co-pilot was left for Li Zhengxi.

There were eight "Xiangzi" escorting the two cars, followed by a blue-covered carriage loaded with luggage and Chuanghu, which was also looked after by two brothers.

The women were already seated in the car, while the men were still in the courtyard checking for omissions and making arrangements for some trivial matters before departure.

The car was started and preheated, everything was ready, just waiting for the west wind to return.

However, no matter how long he waited, the west wind never returned.

No one doubted that Li Zhengxi would abandon the Jiang family. Everyone was just worried about the unrest in Guanxiang. He only brought two helpers with him and wondered if he would encounter any accidents.

Jiang Lianheng glanced at the time and saw that there were only five minutes left, so he quickly walked to the gate to ask.

"Old Yuan, Xifeng hasn't come back yet?"

Yuan Xinfa turned around at the gate and shook his head helplessly.

There was still no news. Not only did Xifeng not come back, but even none of his brothers in the hall came to report the news.

Seeing this, everyone's mood became even gloomier.

Guyu rolled down the car window, stuck his head out, and said palely, "Brother, how about I stay and wait for Xifeng to come back?"

"Don't," Jiang Lianheng said hurriedly, "Sister-in-law, if you stay, you might not be able to leave later. I'll send you to Nantie first, and then I'll go find him later."

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Ma and Yingzi came out of the mansion.

The two men carried the wheelchair, walked down the steps, and hurriedly pushed it to the vicinity of the carriage.

Song Ma said softly, "Master, you don't have to bring anything else, but you must bring the wheelchair, so that Madam won't be inconvenienced over there."

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand, paced back and forth in the yard and said, "Don't ask me about such a small matter, just do it yourself!"

Upon hearing this, Song Ma hurriedly called for help to load the wheelchair into the carriage.

However, the car was already full of suitcases and Chuanghu was sitting in it. The wheelchair was not foldable, and after trying for a long time, he still couldn't squeeze it in. It seemed like a burden.

Chuanghu was very conscious and quickly suggested: "How about I come down?"

There's no point in coming down. How much space can his small body take up?

If we had the time to put everything in order, the wheelchair might not be too big to fit. But at this critical moment, everyone seems to be getting more and more chaotic the more busy they are, and getting more and more chaotic the more busier they are.

Hu Xiaoyan saw it, immediately rolled down the window, and shouted: "What are you doing with it? I'm not going to die without it. Push it back quickly, don't waste time here!"

Song Ma felt a little aggrieved, and hurried forward, whispering, "Madam, you left in such a hurry, and I'm not by your side. I'm afraid it will be inconvenient for you!"

"It's embarrassing, take it away now!"

"OK then……"

Mother Song pushed the wheelchair aside and came back alone, rubbing the back of her hands with her hands folded. She looked a little embarrassed, but still had no intention of going back to the house.

Seeing this, Jiang Ya felt a little unfair, so she said, "Mom, why are you so angry? I'm doing this for your own good!"

Before she could finish her words, she suddenly heard someone calling her from the other side of the car window.

"Miss, miss—"

Yingzi knocked on the car window gently, handed over a few hairpins, and said with a smile: "You forgot to bring your things, here you go!"

Jiang Ya took it, but before she could respond, she saw Yingzi hurriedly walking towards another car.

"Master, Master——"

As usual, she knocked on the car window and handed Chengye the brush, inkstone and inkstone wrapped in rice paper. She smiled and said, "I don't know how many days you will stay there, so I'll bring it over to help you pass the time!"

Jiang Chengye took it, nodded solemnly, and said, "Thank you, Auntie. You should go back soon. It's snowing too heavily outside."

Yingzi agreed readily, but still stood in the courtyard, stamping her feet and blowing on her hands to warm them.

Time flies, it's time to go.

The west wind was still nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Lianheng made a final inspection and gave each person an extra gun. He also handed Hu Xiaoyan a Snake brand pistol, a German-made, pocket-sized version suitable for women to defend themselves. He then gathered the remaining pistols and divided them into two halves, giving one half to Chuanghu for safekeeping and the other half to Yuan Xinfa for backup.

"Old Yuan," he ordered the brothers who stayed behind in the house, "There are still a few rifles in the gatehouse warehouse, you can take them out and carry them!"

Everyone nodded in response.

Yuan Xinfa said: "Boss, don't worry, I'm here!"

The old door god has been guarding the gate for the Jiang family for more than ten years and has never made any mistakes. Now the job of guarding the house naturally falls on his shoulders.

True trust does not require repeated reminders.

Jiang Lianheng said nothing else, turned around, and asked the brothers who were accompanying him, "Everyone, do you have a bell in your hand?"

Everyone took out their guns, checked the ammunition, and nodded, saying, "Boss, take it."

"Okay, I have a few more things to say to everyone!" Jiang Lianheng reminded loudly, "When we leave the city later, if we encounter refugees on the road, we must try our best to avoid disputes. In everything, we must give priority to escorting the convoy. Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not shoot easily, so as not to cause trouble and delay everyone's journey!"

Everyone responded in unison: “Got it!”

After all, in the three provinces of Kanto, civilian guns are rampant. Although it cannot be said that every household has a gun, most families that have guns have more than one.

At this juncture, if people are pushed into a corner, the situation will only get worse.

Seeing everyone ready to go, Jiang Lianheng asked one last time: "Has Xifeng returned?"

Yuan Xinfa went outside the door and looked around, then shook his head and said, "No, the Third Master hasn't come back yet."

"No more waiting!" Jiang Lianheng walked quickly to the co-pilot seat, turned around and ordered, "Xinnian, go to that car and come with us!"

Hai Xinnian responded and quickly lowered his head and got into the passenger seat.

Soon, the gates opened and two cars came out, followed closely by a horse-drawn carriage carrying luggage.

In an instant, they were about to part, and Yuan Xinfa and several others, together with Song Ma, Yingzi and other servants, gathered near the gate of the courtyard, watching them say goodbye with concern in their eyes.

"Master and Madam, be careful on the road!"

"We are here at home. If you need anything, just send us a message and we will deliver it to you tomorrow!"

In the bitter winter snow, the Jiang family's carriage drove slowly along the alley towards the nearby main road. When it was about to turn the corner, it suddenly blew the horn, which could be regarded as a response from the host.

Soon, the car lights at the alley entrance dimmed, and the Jiang family's carriage had gone far away.

It was snowing heavily, and before long, even the ruts on the road seemed to be almost invisible. Suddenly, gunshots and shouts were heard in the distance. "That's enough, let's all go back!"

Yuan Xinfa asked the maid to return to the house, and then ordered the brothers around him: "You two, go back to the house, put on two more cotton clothes, take your rifles to the roof, and the rest of you, follow me to get the ladder and guard the corner wall. And don't forget..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a rumbling sound, and the gate of the mansion slowly closed, just like the curtain fell on a stage, and silence returned...

…………

The Jiang family's convoy set out from the north of the city and headed southwest towards Xiaoxigang Street.

Logically speaking, Jiang Lianheng's car should be placed in the middle for the safest purpose.

But the current situation is different from the past. He is the boss. At this time, he has the final say on which route the team should take, so he took the lead.

At first, the road was relatively smooth and we drove steadily for three to five minutes without encountering any problems. It was not until we approached Xiaoxi Gate that signs of chaos became increasingly obvious.

From time to time, there are people running around on the street with luggage in their arms. I don’t know whether the luggage is their own or has just been stolen. Anyway, they are like ghosts, suddenly appearing from nowhere, and in a blink of an eye, they disappear without a trace and no one knows where they are.

The traffic at the border was so turbulent that the car kept stopping and starting and could never speed up.

Naturally, all the shops and businesses along the way had already closed down.

The people were in a panic, and even the most honest people who were usually the most timid showed a ferocious look at this moment.

The refugees in the city came in groups of three or five, carrying axes and sticks. They rushed into any shop, smashing and looting it. Those who had food looked for food, and those who had no food looked for gold and silver.

Of course, there are also many unlucky people who follow others and want to take advantage of the chaos to rob. They rush into shops, smash windows and break doors. As a result, before they can break in, they hear a loud "bang" in the house, and the whole person falls to the ground and suffocates to death.

Then, the shopkeeper kicked out of the house with a homemade rifle, swept the muzzle of the gun left and right at the street, and shouted loudly:

"Fuck you, who dares to rob me? Come and try if you are not afraid of death!"

Seeing this, the refugees did not want to confront the enemy head-on, so they immediately turned around and ran towards another shop.

As they were talking, someone rushed in front of the Jiang family's convoy, and Zhang Zhengdong quickly stepped on the brakes to slow down.

When the bright car lights shone on him, the man immediately protected his eyes, and when he put down his arms, looking at his expression, it was clear that he was eager to try.

Seeing this, the Jiang family's accompanying "Xiangzi" immediately separated two people, drew their guns, stepped forward, and drove them away in a stern voice: "Get out, don't fucking block the way!"

The man stood still for a moment, looked around, knew he was outnumbered, but was unwilling to give up. He then ran away, shouting, "Second brother, second brother!"

"Xiangzi" of the Jiang family wanted to give chase, but before he could take a step, he saw some refugees with shining eyes, walking around the convoy with bad intentions, like hungry wolves in the mountains pretending to be lame and pitiful, coming over with crutches, pretending to beg, but actually waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The crowd had no choice but to turn around quickly and concentrate on escorting the convoy and driving away the surrounding crowd.

"What are you looking at? Get the hell out of here!"

Intimidation, threats, warnings, crying, begging, begging...

All kinds of life are heard one after another.

However, two fists are no match for four hands. Not to mention that the Jiang family only has ten people to escort, even if there are twenty or thirty people, they are still not as many as the refugees.

As the situation became chaotic, one problem arose while another arose, and the situation gradually became one of losing sight of the big picture.

Jiang Lianheng sat in the passenger seat, alert to the chaotic situation around him. He silently took out the large mirror and turned off the safety button in case of emergency.

In the back seat, Hu Xiaoyan looked relatively calm, but Xu Ruqing was already pale, and he just kept muttering in a low voice: "It's okay, it's okay, Xiaoya, don't be afraid, nothing will happen..."

That's what she said, but it sounded like the old lady's self-consolation.

Seeing this, Jiang Ya couldn't help but murmur, "Aunt, are you okay?"

"Me?" Xu Ruqing hurriedly shook her head, "I'm fine, I'm fine, my brother is still waiting for me over there!"

Jiang Ya stopped talking and gently grasped the back of her aunt's hand, which was cold.

Just at this moment, a woman with a baby in her arms suddenly rushed over and knocked on the passenger window several times.

"Master, master!"

The woman cried out in the snow, "Master, please be kind and take my child with you. He is still young and doesn't take up much space. If you give him some porridge, he will survive. I give it to you for free. Please open the door. I beg you, I beg you..."

Jiang Lianheng turned a blind eye and watched coldly, the expression on his face was more chilling than the heavy snow that was covering the sky.

"Master, I beg you, I kneel down for you!"

As she spoke, the woman knelt down in the snow and kowtowed desperately.

Jiang Ya couldn't help but leaned forward, looked outside, and subconsciously called out: "Dad——"

"Shut up!"

Jiang Lianheng sternly stopped the good thoughts in his daughter's heart.

As soon as the words fell, the Jiang family's "Xiangzi" turned around from not far away, grabbed the woman's messy hair, dragged her to the side of the road on the snow, and shouted and threatened: "You slave, if you dare to come closer, I will kill your child!"

The woman was completely desperate and sat down on the street corner, unable to do anything except cry to the sky.

The strange thing was that after listening for a long time, I could only hear her crying but not the child's crying.

Perhaps her child had already died, but she did not notice and was still running around with the corpse in her arms, desperately trying to find a way for the child to survive.

By this time, the scene was already chaotic as it could not be any more.

The Jiang family's convoy moved slowly, like a whale entering shallow water, struggling hard in the mud.

When they arrived at Xiaoxi Gate, they saw a huge crowd of people blocking the city gate, and they could not force their way through.

The cars were stuck in front, and the situation with the horse-drawn carriages behind was not much better.

Although there were two brothers surrounding the carriage to prevent refugees from stealing luggage in the chaos, the crowd pushed each other and even the best of their skills could not be used, so it was inevitable that some mistakes would be made.

Fortunately, Chuanghu was sitting in the carriage and was able to keep an eye on the luggage, but from time to time someone would lift the carriage curtains and look inside, which was annoying.

As he was talking, a thief took advantage of the chaos to sneak over. Just as he was about to tiptoe to look inside, he saw a short stick poking out from inside, almost blinding his eyes.

Chuanghu stuck his head out and cursed, "Look, what are you looking at? There's someone else in the car! If you're not a girl, get out of here!"

The man was hit by a toilet plunger, covered his eyes, and ran away again.

Chuanghu was very proud and was about to lower the curtains and retreat back into the car, but he caught a glimpse of someone and his expression froze.

Through the snow curtain, I saw stars and a light of fire in the distance. At a glance, there were at least dozens of people, like a fire burning the sky, rushing towards this side.

"Hey, no, no!"

Chuanghu shouted to Jiang's "Xiangzi": "There are professional crossbars ahead, let's not worry about the amateurs for now!"

(End of this chapter)