The head teacher of Shi's class picked up a little girl. The little girl was only four years old and was dirty all over. Only those eyes were frighteningly bright. Shi's leader kept her in the troupe, named her Shi An, and taught her how to play. Strange to say, the girl was extremely talented and studied every move from her master very seriously. An acquaintance joked, "Master Shi, you got another role," but Master Shi just laughed.
In the 28th year of the Republic of China, the Japanese occupied this small county and asked Shi's class leader to take Shi's class to perform for the commander. The class leader refused to obey and was stabbed to death by the Japanese in the street. His head was hung at the door of Shi's class. The next ones who fell were the senior brother, the second senior sister, the third senior sister, and the fifth senior brother. No one wants to sing for the Japanese. This is the rule set by the class leader. She said that our lives as opera singers are cheap, but our bones are strong. The Shi family class will never allow anyone to sing for the Japanese.
But Shi An stood up. She smiled flatteringly at the Japanese, and she couldn't wait to ask how much the reward was. Just like a pug wagging its tail to the Japanese. The senior brothers and sisters hated her so much that they called her a white-eyed wolf. When they threw Shi An out, they spit on her several times, calling her ungrateful, unjust and shameless, calling a thief his father, lacking the righteousness of his family and country, a pig or a dog, a beast, even if he was not worthy of being a human being.
One afternoon half a month later, people heard loud noises coming from the Japanese headquarters in the north, followed by flames reaching into the sky. Mixed with the shrill wails of those Japanese devils. The fire has been burning for a long, long time...
