"Bang!" One of the soldiers slapped him on the back of the head.
He said angrily, "Don't waste time, we only have half an hour."
The fascinated soldier snapped out of his reverie, quickly lit a cigarette, and the three of them squatted together, puffing away, each holding a gun with Chinese characters engraved on its butt.
"Is she a villager from a nearby village?" They couldn't go up and strike up a conversation, but that didn't stop the three of them from discussing.
"It should be."
"Our border villagers live in peace and contentment, untouched by war; the other side has been completely emptied out, hahaha..."
The three men were soldiers from the Yue Kingdom. They squatted by the roadside and talked about the battlefield situation without any hesitation.
"This fish is about to die, why are you selling it to us at the price of a live fish?" Ah Ying frowned and looked at the boss with displeasure.
The boy next to him, A Xiang, said indignantly, "Yeah, boss, you're too cunning."
The catfish was half-up, belly up, and looked like it was about to die. If the owner sold it at the price of a dead fish, he would lose money.
He wanted to sell it quickly before he died.
"He's not dead yet, is he?" the boss refused to back down.
Ah Xiang clenched his fists, very unhappy. Ah Ying tugged at him, her tone cheerful, "It's okay, we can wait. We can buy the fish after it dies."
boss:"......"
Passersby who overheard their conversation all looked at them with admiration.
A soldier who was smoking half a cigarette by the roadside exclaimed, "She's such a smart girl."
If it weren't for the war, they might have gone up to chat with the girls, hoping to win their favor.
After waiting for ten minutes, the catfish finally died, and the owner reluctantly sold it to Ah Ying at the price of a dead fish.
"Great! We'll have fish tonight!" Ah Xiang yelled like a monkey.
Ah Ying always had a tolerant smile on her face. The two strolled around the market, stopping frequently. When they passed a Western-style shop, Ah Ying's gaze lingered on a white man for a few seconds.
When the white man noticed, he smiled sheepishly.
“He doesn’t look like us.”
Ah Xiang was shocked. "You don't like those foreigners, do you?"
Ah Ying stomped her foot and reached out to pinch him, "That'll teach you to talk nonsense..."
The two left, bickering and joking. The white man wearing sunglasses who was buying coffee powder in the Western-style store didn't suspect anything. While waiting for the coffee powder, he kept his eyes on the radio antenna of the simple post office across the street.
There is a Red River Tavern on the east side of the market, which is the most famous place within a hundred miles.
The corrugated iron roof bore the dents and bumps from artillery shells, and the door curtain was sewn from fertilizer bags provided by China, printed with the words "Urea Daqing".
There were only seven or eight people in the tavern. A radio in the corner was playing Ho Chi Minh's speech, but the tape was probably stuck, and only the repeated tremolo of "comrades..." could be heard.
The tavern owner behind the counter was acting rather furtively; it was unclear what he was doing.
In the darkest corner, a man sat with three empty wine bottles in front of him. He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table, his eyes closed as if deep in thought.
Not far away, at a table, three men, slightly intoxicated by fake alcohol, were loudly discussing the war between China and Vietnam.
Those who don't know the situation might think that a military expert has fallen into civilian hands.
"Finally found it." A man and a woman lifted the curtain and walked in.
He placed the plastic wine jug on the counter and said happily, "Boss, please make a jug of rice wine."
These two people were Ah Ying and Ah Xiang. Their sudden movements startled the boss, causing his hand to tremble and administer too much dosage.
"What? Can't you keep your voice down?" The shopkeeper looked at the ruined pot of wine, his mouth twitching with heartache, and took his anger out on the two men.
Ah Xiang scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.
Ah Ying stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry, boss, I startled you."
An apology couldn't make up for the boss's losses. Even though Ah Ying was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, it was hard to quell his anger.
“An apology is useless. You have to pay me back. Look at this pot of wine, it's all spilled.”
While the two weren't looking, he tilted the wine jug, spilling some of the wine, and then lifted the jug up so that everyone could see it.
"I...we have no money." Ah Xiang and Ah Ying didn't expect to be scammed. Thinking about the little money they had left in their pockets, they looked very anxious.
The boss looked at the two of them like they were lambs to the slaughter, saying, "Even if you don't have money, you'll still have to pay. How about..."
As he spoke, the boss chuckled lewdly, rubbing his hands together and staring intently at Ah Ying.
"How about you stay and work to pay off the debt?"
Ah Xiang shielded Ah Ying behind him and roared angrily, "It wasn't us who spilled the wine, why should we pay for it?"
The boss's expression hardened. "Not going to pay? Either you leave this woman here, or you save your life."
As soon as they finished speaking, three or four tavern employees ran over from backstage and surrounded the two of them.
Ah Xiang's hands trembled with fear. The country boy had never seen anything like it. "Ah... Ah Ying, run!"
"Hahaha." The boss laughed and walked out from behind the counter with a smug look on his face.
He reached out to touch Ah Ying, "Where are you running to?"
"You must be from one of the surrounding villages. Staying with me not only includes room and board, but also a salary. Aren't you tempted at all?"
The boss originally only wanted Ah Ying's, but after seeing Ah Xiang's face, he thought the kid was not bad-looking either, so he might as well keep them all.
After all, there are quite a few officers who have a taste for this.
It's worth it.
"Get away from us, don't touch us!" Ah Xiang was as angry as a bull.
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