The old camel ran all the way to the corner before he began to recover from the effects of the bad news. He didn't slow down his unusual pace in the slightest, and still ran forward frantically. Suddenly, a carriage sped past him, and the pedestrians screamed at the sight that he was almost buried under the car, and he was so frightened that he returned to the sidewalk.

The old camel tried his best to bypass the busy streets, dodging through the narrow roads and alleys, and finally came to Honghua Mountain. When he got here, his steps were faster, and without delay, he turned into a short alley. It was only then that he seemed to realize that he had entered his own territory, and he resumed his usual lazy gait, and his breathing seemed to be freer.

This narrow, gloomy alley leads to Honghua Mountain. Several of the dirty shops in the alley are lined with old silk handkerchiefs of all kinds and colors, and the vendors who buy them from the thieves live in the shops.

Thousands of hands dangled from bamboo nails outside the window, or on doorposts, and the shelves were full of hand towels. It's dirty, but it also has its own barber shop, teahouse, hotel and butcher shop.

It is a self-contained business district, a market for petty theft. From early morning till dusk, there are taciturn vendors roaming the area, necessitating business in the dark back wings, leaving as mysteriously as they came.

Here, tailors, shoemakers, and collectors all lay out their goods, which is tantamount to a billboard for a thief. The filthy cellar was stockpiled with scrap ironware, bone products, and piles of woolen and linen fabrics, which smelled of musty and rusted and rotted.

It was the old camel that came into this place. He was very familiar with the yellow-faced and skinny residents of the alley, and when he walked over, many of the people who were doing business in front of the shop nodded to him affectionately, and he nodded in return, nothing more.

He didn't stop until he reached the end of the alley and greeted a skinny shopkeeper who was squeezed into a child chair and smoking a pipe.

"Hey, as long as I see you, the old camel, the blind man can open his eyes." The venerable trader said and thanked the old camel for greeting him.

"It's a little too hot in this area." The old camel raised his eyebrows, crossed his hands on his arms, and said.

"Yes, I've heard of this grumble once or twice," replied the boss, "but it will soon cool down, don't you realize?" ”

The old camel nodded approvingly, pointed in the direction of Honghua Mountain, and asked if anyone had gone up there tonight.

"You're talking about the Cripple Hotel?" The man asked.

The old camel nodded.

"I think about it," the boss thought for a moment, then said, "yes, there are always six or seven people going up there, as far as I know. Your brother doesn't seem to be there. ”

"Didn't see Fat Zhang, did you?" The old Jew asked with a look of disappointment.

"Not there," the little man shook his head, and said a broken local dialect with a very sinister look. "What do you have for me tonight?"

"Not tonight." So the old camel turned and walked away.

"Old camel, are you going to the lame shop?" The little man called to him from behind, "Wait a minute." Even if it's there to drink with you for a couple of glasses. ”

The old camel just turned his head and looked at it, and waved his hand, indicating that he would rather go alone, and besides, it was not easy for the little man to break free from his chair, and when he finally stood up, the old camel was gone.

Old man Wei stood on tiptoe, thinking that he could still see his figure, but his hope was disappointed. He leaned into the little chair again, nodded to an old woman in the opposite shop, with obvious suspicion and distrust, and then took up his pipe in full swing.

The sign of this hotel, a group of regulars used to call it a lame shop, and Zhang Fat and his dog have already made an appearance in this hotel.

The old camel gestured to a man, went upstairs, opened a door, and slipped in. He blocked the light with one hand and looked around anxiously, as if he was looking for someone.

There were two gas lamps lit in the room, the windows were closed, and the faded red curtains were drawn tightly so that no light could be seen. The ceiling was painted black, and any other color would have been blackened by the candle flame anyway.

Smoke billowed from the room, and when you first entered, you couldn't tell anything. Gradually, however, some of the smoke escaped from the open doorway, revealing a large area of heads as messy as the noise that poured into the ears.

As the eyes adjust to the environment, onlookers can see that there are many visitors inside, with men and women huddled around a long table and listening to a woman sing a little song.

The old camel walked in lightly, and the girl's fingers slid swiftly over the strings in the manner of an overture, which drew a general cry for a song.

After the clamor stopped, the girl presented a ballad to everyone's applause.

It's also really interesting to look at some of the best faces. The proprietor was a vulgar and irascible fellow, with a round waist, and as the singing went, his eyes kept rolling as if he were intoxicated with joy, observing with one eye what was happening, and listening to everything that was being said with the other.

The girl beside him, with a look of professional indifference, accepted everyone's praise and drank the liquor offered by the increasingly noisy admirers. The evil expressions on the faces of these admirers can be said to be almost everything, and they are present at almost every stage, and it is this hateful and hateful expression on their faces that makes it impossible to look at them.

The treacherous, vicious, and varying degrees of drunkenness on their faces are vividly expressed. Women - There are a few women who still have the last vestiges of youth, almost fading.

Other women have lost all the characteristics and traces of being a woman, and are only a disgusting shell of crime and crime, a few are mere girls, and the rest are young women, all of whom have not yet passed the golden age of their lives—constitute the darkest and most bleak part of this terrible picture.

It was not noble feelings that the old camel was troubled by, and as all this was going on, he eagerly followed the faces one after another, but apparently did not see the man he was looking for.

Then, when he finally caught the boss's gaze, he beckoned to him slightly, and left the room silently as he followed.

"What's the matter?" The man followed to the top of the stairs and asked. "Aren't you going to have fun with everyone? They must be happy, and all of them will be happy. ”

The old camel shook his head irritably, and whispered, "Is he here?" ”

"Not there." The man replied.

"There's no news of Zhang Fatzi?" The old camel asked.

"No," replied the man, who was the owner of the lame shop, "and he would not come out until he was safe." I'm sure there's a clue over there, and if he makes a move, he'll mess up the matter right away. He's fine, or I should have heard from him. I bet Fat Zhang will do it safely. And I left it to him. ”

"Is he going to be here tonight?" The old camel, as before, said the word "he" with great weight.

"You mean?" The boss asked hesitantly.

"Shh The old camel said, "Yes." ”

"Definitely coming," said the boss, pulling out a gold watch from his watch pocket. "I thought he was here, you just have to wait ten minutes, he'll be right-"

"No, no," said the old camel, as if he was glad to see him, and glad that he was gone. "Tell him that I have come here to find him, and that he must come to me tonight. No, just tomorrow. Since he's not here, it's tomorrow. ”

"Okay." The man said, "Nothing else?" ”

"There's not much more to say at the moment." The old camel said as he walked downstairs.

The other man poked his head out of the handrail and whispered hoarsely, "Now is the right time to do business." ”

The boss followed the old man and went back to the guest. There was no one left or right, and the old camel's face immediately returned to its previous worried expression.

He pondered for a moment, then called a cab and told the coachman to drive to the Besler meadows. He got off the carriage a few hundred meters away from Zhang Fatzi's house and walked the rest of the short road on foot.

The old camel grunted and knocked on the door. "If there's any trick up here, I'll find out from you, my chick, whatever you want."

The woman who opened the door said that Aju was in the room. The old camel crept upstairs and walked in without even asking. The girl was alone, unkempt on the table.

"She's drinking," thought the old camel indifferently, "maybe there's something sad about it." ”

The old man thought so, turned around and closed the door, and the sound suddenly woke Miss Azhu awake.

She stared at the shrewd face of the old camel, asked if there was any news, and listened to him explain the situation in detail. When the matter was finished, she didn't say a word, and lay on the table as she had just done, without saying a word.

She pushed the candle aside in frustration, and once or twice, she nervously shifted her position, her feet rustling on the floor, but that was it.

While they had nothing to say, the old camel's eyes swept around the room with anxious eyes, as if to confirm that there was indeed no sign in the room that the fat man had sneaked back.

This tour apparently pleased him, and he coughed three or two times, and tried in every possible way to open the subject, but the girl ignored him, and thought him only to be a stone man. At last he made another attempt, rubbed his hands, and said in the most tactful tone, "You should also think, where is he now?" ”

The girl* gave a reply which she could only half understand, and she could not tell, and judging by the muffled voice she uttered, she seemed to be about to cry.

"And the child," the old camel looked at her expression with wide eyes. "Poor little doll. Throw it in the ditch, you think about it. ”

"That child," said Aju, who looked up suddenly, "is better anywhere than among us." As long as it didn't bother him, I wish he had died in the ditch, his bones rotting there. ”

"Oh!" The old camel was taken aback and shouted.

"Well, that's it," replied the girl, who met his stunned gaze. "I'd be glad if I never saw him again. I can't stand having him around. As soon as I saw him, I hated myself, and I hated all of you. ”

"Phew!" The old camel said contemptuously, "You are drunk." ”

"Am I drunk?" The girl cried out sadly, "It's a pity I'm not drunk, it's not your fault." According to your mind, you wish I hadn't been sober for the rest of my life, except for now—what, you don't like this temper? ”

"yes." The old Jew was furious, "I don't like it." ”

"Then change my temper." The girl replied, and then laughed out loud.