The War of Resistance Against Japan: Starting with a Calm View of Life and Death

Zhou Jindong took the pencil and deliberately held it awkwardly in his hand.

He frowned slightly, as if trying to recall, and then slowly poked the pen tip onto the paper.

The first stroke was crooked and uneven.

Wang Yuan almost burst out laughing.

The second stroke went a little better, but it still looked bad.

However, starting from the third stroke, Zhou Jindong suddenly increased his writing speed!

The trembling of the wrist seemed to find a certain rhythm in an instant!

He no longer "draws" stroke by stroke, but has begun to have a coherent sense of writing!

The pencil moved swiftly across the paper. Although the strokes were still somewhat clumsy, he managed to imitate the skeleton and structure of the characters, especially the strong, angular feel of Minister Li's handwriting, almost perfectly!

The four large characters "Defend the Homeland" may not be as skillfully and beautifully written as Minister Li's, but they are definitely clear and legible, capturing both form and spirit!

This handwriting would definitely be considered excellent among students who have attended private schools for a few years!

"hiss--!"

"My goodness..."

"You...you really wrote it down?"

"It...it even looks a bit like Minister Li's handwriting?"

A collective gasp of astonishment filled the threshing ground.

Zhu Zi and Shui Sheng's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as they stared at the words on the paper, then at Zhou Jindong, and then at the original version written by Minister Li, as if they had seen a ghost!

How is that possible? How can someone who has never written before write at all, after just a short time, produce such a high level of writing?

Wang Yuan's smile froze completely, then turned into utter astonishment.

He snatched the notebook from Zhou Jindong's hand, examining the four characters over and over, then looked at Minister Li's original version, muttering, "No...it can't be...Dongzi...you...you kid, have you secretly practiced your handwriting? Hiding it for over ten years, just waiting to fool me today?"

He simply couldn't accept this fact.

Minister Li was also shocked!

He took the notebook and compared it carefully, his eyes shining with admiration!

He writes in running script with a touch of regular script, which has its own unique characteristics.

Although Zhou Jindong's handwriting is still immature and lacks calligraphic skill, the skeletal structure of the characters is imitated extremely well. He even captured the angularity of the turns and the subtle direction of the brushstrokes that he is used to when writing!

This is definitely not something that can be written by luck!

This requires extremely strong observation and memory skills!

A photographic memory? This kid might not be exaggerating!

"Comrade Zhou Jindong! Your memory... it's simply amazing!" Minister Li exclaimed sincerely, looking at Zhou Jindong as if he were a priceless treasure.

Zhou Jindong was secretly pleased, but outwardly remained "humble": "Minister Li, you flatter me. Maybe...maybe my brain is just a little sharper? It's just that I didn't have anything to learn before, and no one taught me, so I was too lazy to put in the effort."

Wang Yuan was still reeling from the devastating blow. Pointing at Zhou Jindong, he finally managed to stammer, "You...you brat...you must have been secretly practicing all along! Yes! Definitely!"

He still refused to believe it.

Seeing his stubbornness, Zhou Jindong decided to give him a strong dose of medicine.

His gaze swept across the room and he spotted Su Zhan huddled behind a pillar not far away, peeking out.

He immediately called out, "Su Zhan! Come here!"

Su Zhan shuddered and quickly jogged over, bowing and scraping as he greeted him, "Brother Zhou... Brother Zhou, did you call me?"

Zhou Jindong pointed at Su Zhan and said to everyone, "See? There's a ready-made 'sir' here. Su Zhan, don't you speak Japanese? Can you even write a few Japanese characters?"

He turned to the crowd and said something astonishing: "Minister Li, Brother Yuan, Zhu Zi, didn't you all doubt my abilities? Fine! Today I'll learn right here and now! I'll learn the Japanese language! I'll learn to write Japanese characters!"

"You have Su Zhan say a few words and write a few Japanese characters for me to see, and I'll imitate them right here and now! If I can't, I, Zhou Jindong, will call you all 'brother' from now on! If I do imitate them perfectly, what will you say?"

These words caused an uproar throughout the entire venue!

"What? Learn the Japanese language?"

"You're even learning to write Japanese characters on the spot?"

"My God! Dong-ge... no, Deputy Captain Zhou! You're exaggerating... way too much!"

"Su Zhan's Japanese language is so gibberish, it sounds like birds chirping. You think he can learn it after just one look?"

Zhu Zi thought Zhou Jindong must have gone mad.

"Writing is even harder! Those Japanese characters are all crooked and twisted like earthworms!"

Shui Sheng couldn't believe it either.

Wang Yuan, as if grasping at a lifeline, immediately jumped up and shouted, "Fine! Zhou Jindong! I'll bet you! If you can hear Su Zhan speak Japanese once in front of me and learn to speak it, and see him write a Japanese character and learn to write it exactly the same!"

"From now on, I'm not just calling you 'brother'! I'll be your lackey, running errands for you! I'll even bring you water to wash your feet! If you don't learn, you'll be emptying my chamber pot for a month!"

Upon seeing this, Zhou Jindong smiled slightly and said, "Brother Yuan, you've narrowed your path!"

A dozen minutes later, chaos erupted at the scene!

While everyone was still shocked that Zhou Jindong could actually chat with the Japanese prisoners, no one noticed that Su Zhan and Zhou Jindong's expressions had changed.

While Zhou Jindong and the Japanese were having a conversation in a mix of Chinese and Japanese, Su Zhan listened intently from the side.

Although he didn't understand all of the Japanese language, he was very familiar with the term "puppet army"!

I vaguely heard keywords like "a company" and "arrive before dark".

Seeing Zhou Jindong's suddenly changed color, and combining that with what he had just heard, Su Zhan's mind went blank!

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Commander! Captain Wang! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened! These Japanese devils say... they say there are more puppet troops behind them! A company! More than a hundred men! They'll be there before dark!"

boom!

This caused an uproar at the threshing ground!

"What the hell? Over a hundred puppet troops?"

"Damn it! They'll be there before dark?"

"We just finished fighting the Japanese and now they're sending in puppet troops? Are they trying to kill us?!"

"A whole company! We...we only have so few people..."

"The gun hasn't even been warmed up yet!"

"These bastards, they'll never stop..."

The guerrillas, who had just been stunned by Zhou Jindong's incredible skills, suddenly panicked.

The initial admiration on Shui Sheng and the others vanished instantly, leaving only a trace of bewilderment.

Wang Yuan's face also turned ashen in an instant.

Minister Li frowned, his gaze sweeping over the trembling Japanese prisoner before turning to Zhou Jindong. He asked in a low voice, "Is the information reliable?"

All eyes were drawn to Zhou Jindong.

Wang Yuan opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he closed it, staring intently at Zhou Jindong.

Zhou Jindong stood there, his face now completely expressionless.

He lowered his head slightly, pondering to himself. A hundred or so puppet soldiers—it wasn't a lot, but it wasn't a small number either.

We definitely have to fight, but how exactly should we fight?