Berechnen

Kapitel 3

"Look at my health now, I'm out of shape. I get out of breath after just a few steps. Heh heh, back in the day, my name, Tiezi, was known throughout the streets. I also had another name, Yang Tiedan. If you angered me, I wouldn't hesitate to beat you up no matter how powerful you were. Little Liu, who was my nemesis across the street, brought in a squad leader from the police station to try and intimidate me, but he only managed to get a bunch of his brothers..."

I thought to myself, I never imagined that this old man was once a gangster boss. Now he's talking animatedly, his voice gradually picking up, and he even clenches his fist every now and then. Perhaps those fists were feared by everyone back then, but today they're withered and emaciated. But this is really getting off-topic. I didn't come here to hear your "glorious deeds" from back then.

I gestured several times before Yang Tie finally stopped. He took a sip of tea, blew on the tea leaves in the cup, but his hand holding the teacup was trembling. I assumed it was because he was still excited from earlier.

Yang Tie also noticed his trembling hands. He put down his cup and chuckled, "I'm old and useless now. The Yang Tie of yesteryear is now so afraid just thinking about that flag. Hehe."

"What I was telling you earlier was actually to tell you how strange that flag was. Someone as daring as me, who has even slept on graves and dared to beat up the police, felt a chill run down my spine the moment I saw that flag." As he said this, Yang Tie took another sip of tea, as if trying to use the steaming tea to suppress the chill in his heart.

“If I felt this way, then others must have felt even worse. At first, no one dared to get close to that flag. Just seeing it from afar would make their legs go weak and their hearts race. So, wherever those four people and the flag went, there was no one around. They were all scared away by the flag.”

At this point, Yang Tie took another big gulp of tea, and judging from his posture, it was as if he was drinking strong liquor like Shaodaozi, not West Lake Longjing tea.

"Haha, but my name, Yang Tiedan, isn't just for show. Back then, I thought, if those four dared to walk with that flag, how could I not even dare to get close? I not only wanted to get close, but I also wanted to touch that flag. Later, after seeing that flag many times, my panic subsided a lot, and my legs stopped feeling weak. One time, I boldly followed behind them, getting closer and closer. Hehe, guess what?"

My curiosity had been piqued, so I followed up with, "What's wrong?"

"When I got to within thirty or forty paces of the flag, the feeling completely changed. Don't call me a fanatic, but the feeling was real, like jumping from the twelfth lunar month to the beginning of spring."

The four brothers carrying the flag (3)

"From winter to spring?" I frowned, trying to decipher the meaning behind the words.

"Not only am I no longer afraid, but I also feel warm all over, as if I have inexhaustible energy. Isn't that strange?"

"So you touched that flag?" I asked.

"No, the four masters of the Sun family won't let me touch it." Yang Tie looked dejected.

"Hehe, aren't you even afraid of the police station squad leader? The four Sun brothers don't want you to touch that flag, so you don't touch it?" I asked with a smile.

"Ha, it's been sixty or seventy years. What's the use of provoking me? Let me tell you the truth, I practiced boxing at a martial arts school for a few days when I was young. My skills may not be up to par, but I still have a good eye. The Third Master Sun holding the flag is not just all muscle. I can tell at a glance that his external skills are extraordinary. Someone like me would break my bones with just a light touch."

I nodded. Sun Dianying was a former general, and his men were all fierce and ruthless. He was no ordinary person to have become a deputy division commander.

Yang Tie finished the tea in his cup in a few gulps, then stood up to refill it and continued telling the story of what happened back then.

"Later, something happened. After that, the four Sun brothers stopped carrying their flags around. They acquired four plots of land and drew a circle around them. They promised each household in the circle a thousand silver dollars to move out. If they still wanted to return to the residential area, they could move into the building two years after it was completed, but they would only get five hundred silver dollars per household. Hehe, that was quite a generous offer back then! I was one of the households that benefited from that. The neighbors outside the circle were so envious, but the four Sun brothers just wouldn't let them in. What could they do? Later, the four brothers passed away, and the Nationalist government wanted to take back the houses, but those of us who held the property deeds were still able to move in smoothly two years later."

I was completely confused by what Yang Tie said; there were quite a few problems with it.

"Wait, Mr. Yang, you said something happened later, what was it?" I asked the first question I didn't understand, in order.

Yang Tie frowned and shook his head, saying, "I really can't explain that matter clearly, because I wasn't there when it happened, and the people who experienced it can't give a clear account, and they were all terrified."

"I can't explain it. How could that be?"

"That's how it is. I only heard that it happened suddenly when the four Sun brothers were carrying the flag and walking down the street. Everyone around was frightened. But when I asked several people, they either didn't want to talk about it or didn't know what they were talking about. Since that incident, they haven't shown the flag again. Hmm, it seems that the incident happened at the place where that three-story building in the middle is now located."

"So what do you mean by drawing a circle?" I continued.

"Aren't those four buildings quite far apart?"

"yes."

"That's it, all the neighbors on the ground in the middle are in the circle."

Old Yang's explanation was unclear, and I had to ask him several times before I finally understood what kind of circle it was. I really didn't expect that what I thought was the biggest mystery surrounding that photo would be resolved in this way.

The four Sun brothers drew a circle with the central three-story building as the center and the distance to the three outer buildings as the radius. All the residents within this circle were quickly moved away under their silver-spray offensive.

I couldn't help but gasp. Such a large place must have housed so many people, and how much money did these four brothers spend? No wonder Yang Tie said, "What a huge sum of money!"

They bought such a large plot of land, but only built four high-rise buildings. The other low-rise houses were said to be used to build gardens, and then to build a few more buildings. In short, the Sun brothers sent a construction team to demolish all the houses, but they never actually built anything.

This means that before the Japanese bombing, the area between the four three-story buildings was already a ruin. The Japanese didn't carry out the surgical precision bombing that was impossible at the time; rather, they didn't bomb anything within the area of the four three-story buildings at all. It's just that after the bombing, there were rubble and debris everywhere, creating an illusion in the photograph.

Therefore, the question has now shifted from "why the Japanese planes didn't bomb these four buildings" to "why they didn't bomb this whole neighborhood." This remains an unsolved mystery.

"Old Yang, you just said that the four Sun brothers are gone. What do you mean by 'gone'?" This question is very important to me because I had already started to plan to take action against these four brothers. If I could find them or their descendants, everything would be solved.

The four brothers carrying the flag (4)

"They've disappeared. Nobody knows where those four went. It was about a month after the Japanese bombing. They didn't allow anyone to go into that area after they bought it, and with the chaos after the Japanese came, I don't know exactly when they disappeared. I heard the police station even opened a case to investigate, but there were no results."

That night, I sat leaning against the headboard. The paper in my hand looked slightly yellowed in the light of the bedside lamp.

Before I left during the day, I asked the old man to draw this for me; it was what the strange flag looked like in his memory. The flag had left a deep impression on him, and he quickly drew it out with a ballpoint pen, pointing to the patterns drawn on the flag and confidently telling me, "That's exactly it."

There's no doubt this isn't a national flag. You don't even need to look at the drawn flag; just think about all the mysterious things surrounding it, and you'll know where such a strange flag comes from. I just hope to figure out the flag's origin from the patterns on it. With my experience, I'm not as clueless about many mysterious symbols as the average person.

But I couldn't see anything. Faced with these crooked, tadpole-like curves, I simply couldn't connect them with any of the symbols in my memory.

After staring at it for a while, the curves seemed to twist and turn. I casually placed the paper on the bedside table beside me, knowing it was just my imagination, like how staring at a character for too long can make even a familiar Chinese character seem strange. The flag drawn by old man Yang Tie clearly lacked the magic of the real flag that Grandpa Sun held high in his memory.

After a series of adventures, while I wouldn't readily believe in mysterious events, I'm still willing to speculate. If such a terrifying flag truly existed, the mystery of the "three-story building" surviving the war could be solved. Given the bomber capabilities of the time, low-altitude bombing relied on the pilot's naked eye, and if the pilot saw the flag and felt fear, he wouldn't dare approach, thus preserving the area. If, as Elder Yang Tie said, the flag had such a powerful psychological effect, those Japanese pilots were remarkably brave not to crash.

Now, I've solved the mystery of the "three-story building's" preservation with my incredibly bold hypothesis, but so what? Even if I believe it, will anyone else? Can I write a headline like, "A Ghost Flag Drives Away the Japanese Army"? Can I write something like that? I'd be fired immediately!

Moreover, according to Old Yang's recollection, the flag driving away the Japanese invaders was purely a side effect. The fact that the four Sun brothers used that flag to draw a circle and drive away everyone within it suggests they had ulterior motives. What were they after? And what kind of flag was it?

Sigh! Lights out, time for bed.

The next morning, I knocked on Fu Xidi's door.

Once she started talking, the old lady poured out all sorts of stories from back then. She was always a bit long-winded; what Yang Tie could say in a minute, she needed twice as long to recount.

Women's memories are generally better than men's, especially when it comes to a ghost flag that left such a deep impression on her. Yes, the old lady clearly referred to it as a "ghost flag."

So I heard many details, but those details were irrelevant to my purpose, and the old lady often went off-topic, for example, from the ghost flag to her needlework.

"It's beautiful, so lifelike!" The old lady painstakingly rummaged through the bottom of the box and pulled out the needlework from back then. As a guest, I had to offer my praise. And the embroidery was indeed excellent; women back then generally had a very high level of skill in this area.

Seeing the old lady's beaming face, I knew I had to try to steer the conversation back on track. I really couldn't understand it. We were talking about something mysterious and eerie, and she herself clearly remembered being terrified back then, so why was she going off-topic?

I coughed lightly and said, "I heard that something happened back then, and after that, the four Sun brothers stopped carrying the flag in the streets. Were you there when that happened?"

The old lady's hand trembled, and the brocade handkerchief embroidered with two mandarin ducks fluttered to the ground.

"You...you know about this too?"

“I went to see Old Yang Tie yesterday, and that’s what he said. But he wasn’t there when it happened, so he didn’t explain it clearly.” I bent down to pick up the handkerchief, dusted it off, and placed it on the coffee table next to me.

The old lady sighed softly, "I really wish I weren't here!"

"So you were there at the time?" I was overjoyed.

The four brothers carrying the flag (5)

"I've lived all these years, and I've never been this scared, not even when I've encountered ghosts."

A thought struck me: this old lady had apparently encountered a ghost? But many people have experienced ghost encounters; often it's just self-inflicted fear. However, there are truly inexplicable paranormal phenomena, even more frightening than ghost encounters—those can be truly terrifying.

"I had just left home when we ran out of salt and were about to buy some coarse salt when the four Sun brothers walked by carrying a flag."

I didn't even glance at that ghost flag. Except for the first time when I didn't know, no one would deliberately look at that flag, except for that reckless Yang Tie. Normally, if you don't look at a ghost flag directly, it's fine; at most, it might seem a little eerie. But that time, I didn't even look, and I ended up sitting on the ground with a thud. Looking around, there wasn't a soul standing on the street except for the four members of the Sun family. I'm not afraid to admit it, I was so scared I peed my pants. Don't think it was just me; four or five out of ten grown men would be like me, some even went crazy from fright.

"Are you scared out of your wits?"

"There were three or four, and quite a few others who became a bit superstitious afterward, so I was considered quite bold."

"But what exactly happened?" Even now, I still don't understand how Fu Xidi was so frightened.

"No one could explain it clearly, and suddenly everyone was frightened. Looking back, they didn't hear or see anything, but they suddenly felt panicked, as if the sky had fallen."

I asked repeatedly, but I still only got an extremely abstract feeling. No wonder Yang Tie couldn't figure it out either; even the person involved didn't know how they were frightened. When ordinary people are frightened, they see or hear something, there's a reason, and then the feeling of fear arises. But everyone on that street back then was directly struck by fear; a huge fear arose in their hearts all at once.

This is truly a ghost flag, so mysterious that it leaves no trace. Even if the person involved is found, it will not help to solve the mystery of that year.

I shook my head, feeling utterly helpless. I took out the paper with Yang Tie's drawing of the ghost flag from my bag and handed it to Fu Xidi.

"Is this the flag?"

"Who said that?! That's not how it is." But to her surprise, the old lady shook her head vigorously.

"Oh, this was drawn for me by Old Yang. He even patted his chest and said it was definitely not wrong."

"Tch! He's senile, but I'm not. Although I only glanced at it, I'll never forget that look until I die." Fu Xidi said, turning the paper over and drawing a flag with a pen.

The flag features a spiral pattern that can easily dazzle the eye.

“There are many circles from the inside out. I don’t know exactly how many circles there are. I only took one look and then I didn’t dare to look again, but it must be this shape,” Fu Xidi said in an unquestionable tone.

Looking at the completely different patterns on the front and back, I speechlessly put the paper into my bag. Logically, Yang Tie should have a deeper impression of the flag after seeing it many times, but judging from the regularity of the patterns, it was Fu Xidi's drawing that seemed more realistic.

It seems that when Zhong Shutong returns from Paris, we'll have to let him identify it.

When I returned to the newspaper office in the afternoon, I ran into the last person I wanted to see, Blue Head.

"How have things been going these past few days? When will the manuscript be ready?" he asked me with a smile.

Damn it, didn't he just tell me "don't worry about the time"? Why is he asking again now that we're here? But this was exactly what I expected, so I really didn't want to run into him.

What should we say this time? Say there's a ghost flag that keeps strangers away, regardless of whether they're Chinese or Japanese?

"The interview went fairly smoothly." I was a little unsure of myself and hoped to get through it for now.

"Really? Have you figured out how the four buildings were preserved? What did those elderly people say?"

"Isn't he busy?" I complained to myself.

"They talked about the builders of these four buildings, but..." I hesitated for a moment, but I still had to say something. "These two old men were not there when the Japanese planes bombed them, so they don't know the specific reasons."

"Oh..." he drawled, his face darkening.

"There's one more person I haven't interviewed yet, Zhong Shutong, a famous historian and also a long-time resident of the 'three-story building.' He called a few days ago to say he went to Paris and hasn't returned yet."

The prominent signboard successfully diverted attention. Blue Head raised an eyebrow and said, "Zhong Shutong? I really didn't expect that. Call him again later, and he'll go interview him as soon as he gets back. Let him talk more from a historian's perspective."

I verbally agreed, but inwardly I cursed. Talk more from a historian's perspective? What to talk about? The bombing from a historian's point of view, or those four buildings? It sounds sophisticated, but upon reflection, it's utterly meaningless.

The four brothers carrying the flag (6)

However, since the leader had given the order, the first thing I did after returning to my seat was to pick up the phone and call Zhong Shutong's home.

Surprisingly, he came back this morning.

Although I thought to myself that such an elderly person should be given a few days to adjust to the time difference, I still asked out loud, "Are you free tomorrow?"

A journalist's nature is to drive people to their deaths without hesitation; otherwise, they are not a good journalist.

The old man agreed.

Shanghai's traffic is getting worse every day. Zhong Shutong's residence is in the city center, which, according to the map, is much closer than the homes of Yang and Fu. However, it is possible to take the subway to the homes of those two people. On the other hand, I had to change buses twice to get to Zhong Shutong's residence, getting stuck in traffic at every intersection. Surprisingly, the time spent on the road was the longest.

His housekeeper led me to the living room, and the first thing she did upon seeing Mr. Zhong was to take out the piece of paper from her bag and place it in front of him.

Do you recognize the flag depicted on this?