"Commander! We just received an urgent telegram from the military region!" Xiao Li's voice was extremely low, carrying a rusty, cold tone.

"Eagle reports back with confirmed information! The target cargo will be transported out of the country at 3 PM today by Mole through the abandoned logging road on the west side of Black Bear Ridge! My elite detachment is ordered to intercept the cargo at all costs before it crosses the boundary marker!"

Black Bear Ridge! Logging trail on the west side! 3 PM!

"I understand. We'll meet at the campsite later."

Xiao Li stamped his foot and saluted: "Yes, sir!"

Howard approached the room and paused in front of Mingzhao's door. After thinking for a moment, he went back to the small room next door, changed his clothes, and went out.

He met Aunt Gou, who worked in the kitchen of the canteen, and thought about Mingzhao's meals these days. So he gave her 10 yuan and asked her to deliver meals to Mingzhao every morning, noon and night.

Thanks to her keen spiritual perception, Mingzhao woke up when the footsteps stopped at the door.

But when he heard that Howard didn't intend to come in, he didn't take it seriously.

After getting up in the morning, I started busying myself with my own things.

Feeling hungry, she wandered around the kitchen and discovered that Howard hadn't left her any food today.

Recalling what happened that morning, Mingzhao realized that Howard had gone on a mission.

This means she is free! She no longer has to worry about being watched all the time and not daring to do anything out of line.

She can secretly cause trouble while Howard is away.

With someone watching, she needs to constantly justify her behavior; whatever she does when no one is watching can be explained away without a trace.

She rubbed her rumbling stomach, remembering the delicious steamed egg cakes still inside, but because she couldn't bear to part with them, she only ate one a day.

I went to the cupboard, found one, ate it, and drank a large glass of water. That filled my stomach.

After Howard left, the small courtyard of the family compound was so quiet that only the faint whistling sound of the wind blowing through the cracks of the newly built red brick toilet could be heard.

Mingzhao curled up in the rattan rocking chair, holding the book "Fundamentals of Aerodynamics," reading with extreme concentration, occasionally drawing a few smooth auxiliary lines on the sketchbook with a pencil.

The focused tranquility was broken by another clear gurgling sound from her stomach.

She looked up blankly at the sun high in the sky outside the window. It was time to eat. Howard was gone.

Mingzhao closed the book and stood up. She walked to the stove, looking at the large, dark iron pot and the pile of firewood beside it. The scene of Huo Hua cooking flashed through her mind: lighting the fire, adding firewood, putting in rice, adding water.

The logic was clear, and the steps were well-defined. Mingzhao felt that once his mind understood, his hands could execute the plan.

She picked up the matchbox from the stove, and imitating Howard, pulled out a match and struck it with a "snap." Simple!

A faint flame flickered. She carefully brought the flame close to the few kindling sticks stuffed in the stove.

The flames licked the dry firewood, making a soft crackling sound, and a wisp of smoke rose.

Mingzhao looked at the faint firelight and remembered that Howard would usually add some kindling. She picked up a few thin twigs and carefully placed them in the fire, one by one. It was very simple!

The flame seemed to flicker for a moment, but quickly, because the new firewood hadn't been in full contact with the fire source, and because she added it too slowly and too carefully, the pitiful flame struggled for a few moments, and then... *poof*, it went out.

Only choking blue smoke and a few wisps of white vapor remained in the stove.

Mingzhao frowned slightly as he looked at the completely extinguished stove.

She decisively struck another match. This time, instead of carefully adding the thinner pieces one by one, she grabbed a large handful of the thicker firewood and stuffed it all into the still-warm stove!

The sparks were extinguished instantly by the large amount of new firewood, and only thicker, blacker smoke surged out from the stove opening and the gaps in the flue!

"Cough cough..." Mingzhao was choked by the thick smoke and took a step back, her beautiful brows furrowing even more.

Thick smoke billowed like an out-of-control black dragon, quickly filling the entire kitchen and spilling out through the cracks in the doors and windows.

The neighboring courtyard.

Li Xiaocao was sitting on her doorstep picking green beans when she suddenly smelled a pungent, burnt smell. Looking up, she saw thick smoke billowing out of the kitchen window of Commander Huo's house next door!

"Oh my God!" Li Xiaocao was so startled that she dropped the green beans in her hand. Commander Huo wasn't home, but Mingzhao was still inside!

Could this be a fire?!

She jumped up, not caring about avoiding suspicion anymore, and rushed towards the neighbor's courtyard.

The gate to the courtyard wasn't latched, so she pushed it open and rushed in, just in time to see Mingzhao standing at the kitchen door, choked by the thick smoke, her little face blackened by the soot, staring helplessly at the billowing smoke from the stove.

"Mingzhao! Are you alright?!"

Li Xiaocao's heart was in her throat. She rushed over and pulled Mingzhao to a well-ventilated spot in the yard. She looked her up and down and saw that apart from being a little disheveled from the smoke, she was fine. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Looking at the stove, which was crammed full of firewood that was only smoking and not catching fire, he was both amused and exasperated.

"Oh my silly sister!" Li Xiaocao slapped her thigh, feeling both sorry for her and amused.

"This is not how you start a fire! You've stuffed so much firewood in, cramming it in tightly, it's just smoking and won't catch fire, it could suffocate a person!"

She rolled up her sleeves and strode into the kitchen.

The room was still thick with smoke. She held her breath and deftly used a fire poker to shovel out most of the firewood that was packed full of firewood from the stove, leaving only some half-burnt charcoal and a few kindling at the bottom.

Then, he poked around in the ashes with a fire poker to reveal the glowing embers, and then picked up a few thin pieces of dry firewood and gently placed them across the embers.

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