20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 785: Ghost knocks on the door and beheads for evidence

If you often walk around in the world, you should always be careful about what is happening behind you.

Jiang Lianheng is not a fool. Although he does not have eyes behind his head, he can often react in time at the slightest sign of trouble.

In an instant, when he saw Xu Ruqing's face showing fear, he immediately realized that there was someone behind him.

The old lady was busy pushing him to her side, and he took the opportunity to pull the old lady to dodge.

The gunshots rang out at this moment!

In the icy snow, the aunt and niece fell one after another; in the darkness, all they could hear was the sound of Xu Ruqing falling to the ground getting heavier.

Jiang Lianheng had no time to get up, so he rolled over on the ground, lying on his side and firing back with his gun.

I thought that when I turned around, I would see a group of fierce thugs behind me; but unexpectedly, there was only a lonely figure at the end of the dark alley.

However, at this critical moment, how can we care about so many doubts?
The two sides exchanged fire and pulled the trigger almost at the same time.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Gun flames burst out and flickered frequently in the deep dark alley. After each strong light, each other's hideous faces were frozen in time.

Jiang Lianheng had been dealing with guns for many years, and based on the sound alone, he immediately concluded that the other party was holding a homemade pistol. Not only was its power inferior to his Continental revolver, but its rate of fire was also far beyond his reach.

After a few gunshots, the opponent quickly dodged into the corner to avoid the sharp attack.

Jiang Lianheng took advantage of the situation and knelt up. Just as he was about to move forward to threaten his opponent, he suddenly heard a crisp "click" sound coming from the gun barrel!
The magazine is empty!

It turned out that Jiang Lianheng had just killed two robbers in a row and had used up half of his bullets. He subconsciously reached for the large mirror, but suddenly remembered that the large mirror had been given to Li Zhengxi before. As the situation was extremely urgent, he had to quickly take out the spare magazine and prepare to continue firing.

However, in a life-and-death moment, every minute and every second matters.

The man sensed an opening and immediately dodged, raised his hand and pointed his gun, and shouted: "Jiang Chenghai, it's time for you to pay with your life!"

Jiang Lianheng was stunned!
The man pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"boom!"

Jiang Lianheng shrank his head in response. He didn't expect the bullet to deviate so much and hit the wall on the other side of the alley.

When he looked up, he saw the man kneeling on one knee. He suddenly turned the gun and fired several shots at his left side.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The gun flashed again.

Jiang Lianheng took advantage of the gap in the other side's exchange of fire to quickly reload the magazine for his Ma Pai revolver, then stood up and took aim, shooting the man in the ribs. He was about to run over and fire a few more shots, but suddenly a figure jumped out from the alley, fired two shots at the robber lying on the ground, and then turned his head and shouted in this direction:

"Godfather, is that you?"

After hearing this, Jiang Lianheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, his heart was in his throat again and he quickly turned around to check Xu Ruqing's injuries.

It was late at night, cold and windy. In his panic, he couldn't even see where the old lady was injured at first. It was not until a dark spot gradually spread across the pale snow that he realized that the bullet had pierced the old lady's shoulder.

"Aunt...Aunt?"

Jiang Lianheng pushed him twice gently, but Xu Ruqing lay on the snow without any response.

At this time, a rustling sound of footsteps in the snow sounded behind him.

Hai Xinnian ran over and almost slid to his knees to pounce beside Xu Ruqing. He took a look at the old lady's injuries, then quickly untied his belt and strangled the old lady's armpits. He turned his head and saw a scarf hanging around Jiang Lianheng's neck. He took it off and tied it tightly around the old lady's wound.

Xu Ruqing still did not respond from beginning to end.

"Godfather, where is the nearest hospital?"

"what?"

"Hospital!" Hai Xinnian repeated hurriedly, "Where is the nearest hospital?"

Jiang Lianheng was so worried that he suddenly woke up from his dream. He immediately picked up Xu Ruqing and looked around anxiously.

The two best hospitals in Fengtian are: one is the Affiliated Hospital of Manchuria Medical University, located in the Nantie Concession; the other is Shengjing Shi Hospital, located near Xiaoheyaner; however, this is a commercial port area, too far away from both hospitals, and there are mostly shops nearby, and even pharmacies are rare.

Jiang Lianheng was too busy looking for a specialized hospital at the moment. He just hoped that someone would take her in. So he held Xu Ruqing in his arms and walked away, saying, "During the New Year, we will knock on every door. It doesn't matter how much it costs. Let's find a place for the old lady to lie down first!"

Hai Xinnian nodded and hurriedly followed his adoptive father, looking around, alert to the situation around him, while desperately knocking on the doors of shops along the way.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom boom!"

In the darkness, Jiang Lianheng didn't know whether it was a knock on the door, a heartbeat, or both. He just felt deafening.

It is said that the dead are much heavier than the living, so he felt that Xu Ruqing was very light, as light as the snow in front of him.

So, he gritted his teeth, straightened his back, and ran quickly in the wind and snow holding his aunt, passing through two alleys. His strength gradually became exhausted, and he gritted his teeth and weighed himself up, and his breathing became heavier.

Seeing this, Hai Xinnian quickly suggested, "Godfather, how about I take over?"

However, Jiang Lianheng was reluctant to let go, for he was afraid that if he let go, the aunt and nephew would be separated and never see each other again.

"Go knock on the door!" he shouted. "Go knock on the door!"

Hai Xinnian didn't dare to persuade him anymore, so he had to quicken his pace and knock on the shops on both sides of the street.

Unfortunately, after knocking on more than a dozen doors, the store was as dark as ink and no one responded.

Finally, Jiang Lianheng got anxious and shouted, "Just break the door open and find a way in first!"

Unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, he heard a response from a shop nearby.

However, the response was not in Chinese, but a string of foreign words.

"Who is it?"

The voices in the store were trembling and seemed to be very timid.

Jiang Lianheng and Hai Xinnian stopped and looked up at the door lintel. It turned out to be a foreign company selling groceries.

"Open the door!" Hai Xinnian rushed over and shouted, "Someone is injured, open the door!"

A response came from inside the store, with someone shouting in broken Chinese: "Back off, back off, you are not welcome here!"

"Someone's injured!" Hai Xinnian reiterated, "Help, don't you understand? Help!"

The owner hesitated and remained silent for a moment before slowly pushing open the door.

However, the first thing that caught my eye was not a human face, but the pitch-black muzzle of a gun.

Then, a blond, blue-eyed foreigner poked his head out from the crack of the door and asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Quick, save people!"

Jiang Lianheng didn't have time to explain, he carried Xu Ruqing and walked towards the store.

Seeing this, the foreigner also raised his gun, exclaimed "Jesus", then opened the door, turned around and said a few words to the room. Jiang Lianheng didn't wait for explanation, and immediately walked into the foreign company, and Hai Xinnian naturally followed closely behind.

As soon as I entered the store, I found two suitcases at the door.

It seems that the foreign devil had originally planned to seek refuge in the South Railway Concession, but due to the sudden riot in the customs area, he decided to close the door temporarily and wait until the storm was over before setting off again.

Just when the chaos was going on, a thin-faced foreign woman came into the store and hurriedly walked towards them.

She spoke fluent Chinese. She looked at Xu Ruqing and asked on the spot, "Where are you injured?"

"Shoulder!" Jiang Lianheng looked around hurriedly, "Do you have a bandage? Stop the bleeding! My aunt needs it!"

"Come with me, quickly!"

"And what medicine do you have? I have money, I can buy it!"

"How was she injured?"

"Gunshot wound. I ran into a robber."

The foreign woman took Jiang Lianheng to the back room of the shop, which seemed to be a restaurant. She hurriedly picked up the tablecloth and moved the cups, plates and tablecloth aside to make room.

Jiang Lianheng put Xu Ruqing down, his arms trembling slightly, and asked again: "Do you sell any medicine here, any to stop bleeding or something?"

"Sir, sir!" The foreign woman had to remind him, "Please calm down, leave this to me, please go out and wait, Emerson!"

The foreigner followed and said a few words in foreign language, as if asking if there was anything he needed, then turned around and left quickly.

"Leave it to you?" Jiang Lianheng was a little worried, "Is your phone line still working?"

"It's been broken for a long time!" The foreign woman was busying around the table, the cross on her chest flickering slightly in the light. "Sir, I'm a female teacher at Wenhui Academy. The nearest hospital here is more than 20 minutes away. Whether you like it or not, you have to trust me now, understand?"

Wenhui Academy?

Jiang Lianheng suddenly remembered that it was the girls' school where Jiang Ya studied. It was originally built by the Presbyterian Church and the school did have medical knowledge courses. Although it was not as good as those of professional medical staff, it was at least much better than the two of them.

As they were talking, the foreigner named "Ai Mosheng" had also returned, holding an iron tray with gauze, cotton balls and some bottles and jars of medicine on it. He was still speaking foreign languages ​​and the situation seemed quite urgent.

Jiang Lianheng quickly dodged to the side, but his eyes could not leave Xu Ruqing who was lying on the table.

The old lady was not in any pain. She had fainted and seemed to be sleeping soundly, but her face looked too pale.

Hai Xinnian patted his godfather on the shoulder and whispered, "Godfather, shall we go out and wait?"

Jiang Lianheng nodded, and suddenly took out all the money he had on him, along with his gold watch, gold bracelet, and jade ring, and placed them all on the table. He looked deeply at the Emersons and said humbly, "Please!"

The Emersons were busy with their own things and had no time to pay attention to Jiang Lianheng's instructions.

Afterwards, the father and son left the restaurant one after another.

There was no light in the store. Jiang Lianheng found a chair in the dark and sat down. He took out his cigarette box, knocked out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and then reached for a match, trying to light a cigarette, but the matchstick was broken. He took out another one, but it didn't light a cigarette. He was so angry that he just threw the matchbox on the ground.

Hai Xinnian walked over, picked up the matchbox, struck a match, and steadily handed it to his adoptive father.

Jiang Lianheng was stunned for a moment, then leaned over and lit a cigarette.

After taking a few deep breaths, he gradually calmed down and suddenly asked, "Xin Nian, did you bring a knife?"

Hai Xinnian patted the fork on his waist, nodded and said, "I brought it."

"Just this one?" Jiang Lianheng asked.

Hai Xinnian then pulled out his leg forks and said, "Just these two."

Jiang Lianheng raised his hand and said, "Okay, pass it to me!"

Hai Xinnian brought the two daggers over and presented them to his godfather, asking, "Godfather, what are you going to do? How about I do it for you?"

Jiang Lianheng shook his head and said, "I'm going to get some physical evidence and practice my skills at the same time."

"Practice?" Hai Xinnian didn't understand what he meant.

Jiang Lianheng was too lazy to explain to him. He took the two daggers and walked towards the door of the store, saying as he walked, "Yeah, I have to practice. If I don't practice, I'll get rusty. If I don't practice, those bastards will soon forget who I am."

Hai Xinnian hurried over and tried to persuade him, "Godfather, what do you want to do? Just let me go!"

"You stay here to look after your aunt, I'll be back soon."

"But……"

"When you came to Fengtian with me during the New Year, what did your father tell you?"

"Well, my father told me to listen to you in everything."

"Then what nonsense do you have to say?" Jiang Lianheng scolded in a low voice, "Just follow my arrangements, don't worry about other things, wait until I come back."

"Godfather, it's too dangerous outside right now. Zhao asked me to follow you. If anything happens to you, what will godmother and the others do?"

Hai Xinnian’s concerns are not without reason.

Only as long as Jiang Lianheng is alive can Hu Xiaoyan and others have a place in the Nantie Concession.

However, Jiang Lianheng was determined to leave. When he arrived at the door, he couldn't help but turn around and corrected: "New Year, now is not the most dangerous time in the city."

"Isn't this dangerous?" Hai Xinnian was a little surprised. "There are open fire robberies everywhere in the city!"

Jiang Lianheng suddenly sneered, but without any explanation, he pushed the door and left.

The wind and snow outside were still strong, and the snow on the road was already above the ankles.

Jiang Lianheng did not go far, but returned to the dark alley where the gunfight had just broken out.

He cautiously moved closer, only to see that at the foot of the wall, the bodies of the two robbers had already cooled down completely, with a thin layer of snow covering their faces.

Jiang Lianheng glanced at the two corpses, seemingly not in a hurry, and walked towards the alley intersection on the snow. He found the assassin who had just taken the opportunity to attack, squatted down, and turned him over.

What came into view was a face of a man in his late 40s, who looked quite unfamiliar.

Jiang Lianheng looked at him carefully for a moment, then looked left and right, then dragged his body to the corner of the alley, pulled out a dagger, inserted it into his throat, pushed forward and pulled back, ready to cut off his head.

At this time of year, it was freezing cold outside the Great Wall. Not only were there dead bodies lying on the ground, but even a living person's blood would have coagulated after being frozen outside all night.

The blade pierced the throat, cut the flesh, and finally stopped when it reached the cervical spine.

Because the knife was not heavy enough to chop down, Jiang Lianheng simply stood up and kicked the man's head several times before he was able to chop off the head.

Then he turned around and chopped off the heads of the other two robbers.

The snow had not stopped falling, but Jiang Lianheng was working hard. There was no emotion in his eyes, nor any fear, as if he was just doing an ordinary thing.

Of course, he did it not just to vent his anger, but also to obtain evidence and clues for revenge in the future.

Jiang Lianheng was right. Now was not the most dangerous time for the city, because he had not yet responded...

(End of this chapter)