The forest farm was very quiet in the early morning.

The new battalion commander sent by the military was none other than soldier Li Wei.

He is temporarily taking over the position of battalion commander. When a suitable candidate is found, he will naturally step down and return to the military headquarters.

Early in the morning, he gathered the educated youth and villagers in an open space, holding a detailed work assignment sheet in his hand, and loudly read out each person's position.

"Zhao Xiaoyan and Wang Lili, you are both meticulous and responsible for the forest farm's accounting and inventory."

“Zhang Guoming, Wang Lei, you’re both strong. Learn timber sorting from the older villagers, and you won’t have to do heavy and tiring work anymore…”

Zhao Xiaoyan and Wang Lili exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

Not only was the newly assigned work easier, but Li Wei also specifically mentioned that from now on, the canteen would distribute food in full according to the workload, and there would be no more deductions.

The educated youth cheered, and even the villagers laughed along.

This new brigade leader is clearly someone who gets things done!

After settling the daily routines at the forest farm, Li Wei, along with two officers and several soldiers, headed towards the nearby Stone Village.

As soon as we entered the village, we saw Chen Hu and his group squatting by the cattle pen, holding pitchforks and picking up cow dung. They were covered in filth and looked exhausted.

Several villagers stood guard nearby with whips, occasionally shouting at them, "Hurry up! Are you dawdling and want a beating?"

Chen Hu and his men dared not utter a sound and could only speed up their actions.

When they were sent to work in the village, the villagers said that they didn't care about their social class, only whether they could contribute their labor.

If you slack off, you'll be beaten; if anything goes wrong, former captain Zhang Qiang will take the blame!

They've been scolded a lot these past few days and haven't even had a proper meal.

Li Wei frowned and looked at them for a moment, then said to the accompanying officer, "Go and tell the villagers that I'm taking these people back; the forest farm has work to do."

Chen Hu, with his sharp ears, heard this and dropped his pitchfork on the ground with a clatter. His face lit up with surprise and delight. "Really...really can we go back to the forest farm?"

The others also stopped what they were doing, their faces filled with disbelief.

They dream of going back!

I never thought my dream would come true so quickly!

"Stop talking nonsense! Pack your things and come with us!" the officer said impatiently.

Chen Hu and his companions were overjoyed, thinking that Zhang Qiang had finally agreed to take them back out of consideration for their past relationship.

They hurriedly went back to pack the few bundles containing clothes, and jogged after Li Wei towards the forest farm.

But as soon as they stepped into the forest farm gate, the smiles on their faces froze.

As the saying goes, if you've done something wrong, you'll be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door.

Many soldiers stood on the open ground of the forest farm, holding guns and looking serious.

Chen Hu's heart sank instantly, and he stopped in his tracks, instinctively backing away like a mouse seeing a cat. "How...how come there are so many soldiers?"

"What are you trying to do? We haven't done anything!"

"What's all the noise about?" Li Wei turned around and scolded.

Chen Hu was trembling uncontrollably. He suddenly grabbed the arm of an officer next to him and shouted, "I want to see Zhang Qiang! I want to find Captain Zhang!"

Li Wei sneered, his tone icy, "Zhang Qiang? He's already been arrested. You won't be able to see him."

"Arrested?" Chen Hu was struck dumb, his face turned deathly pale, and his legs went weak, almost causing him to fall.

The others were also terrified, their previous joy vanished, and they fell silent, not daring to even breathe.

With Zhang Qiang arrested, those who worked for him will certainly not fare well either!

Li Wei ignored their panic and waved his hand, "Take them to the former captain's office."

Two soldiers stepped forward and helped the distraught Chen Hu and the others toward the office.

Pushing open the door, Li Wei pointed to the outer wall and said, "Wait here, and don't whisper to each other."

After saying this, he had two soldiers stand guard beside him, while he went into his office to look through some documents and leisurely made himself a cup of tea.

The office was eerily quiet, with only the ticking of the wall clock.

Chen Hu and his men stood outside, looking at each other with fear in their eyes, none of them daring to utter a word.

After a long while, Li Wei finally made a move. He took his thermos and walked out of the door, casually pointing to the tall, thin young man on the far side, "You, come in."

Among Chen Hu's group of older educated youth, the young man was the most timid.

He shuddered, slowly stood up, and shuffled into the office.

Li Wei put down the documents in his hand, picked up his thermos and took a sip of water, his gaze not even falling on him. "I'm asking you, what happened to Wang Yanan, the female educated youth who died last year? And what other things did you do with Zhang Qiang and the others? Tell me as much as you can remember. The more detailed you are, the less responsible you will be. If you dare to hide a single word, it will be an even greater crime when it is found out."

After saying that, Li Wei held the thermos cup and sat there quietly without saying another word.

The office fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the tense breathing of the educated youth.

He kept his head down, his palms were sweaty, and his mind was racing.

He knew about Wang Yanan's death, and he was the only one who hadn't forced Wang Yanan; therefore, his guilt was the least.

Although he was unaware of Zhang Qiang's background, he was fully aware of Chen Hu's actions.

After all, Chen Hu used to be Zhang Qiang's lackey, and it was only because of this relationship that he was able to run rampant in the educated youth settlement!

"Comrade Li, I don't know about Zhang Qiang's matter, but I know everything about Chen Hu's matter!" The educated youth didn't hold back and poured out all of Chen Hu's evil deeds.

He was the one who orchestrated Wang Yanan's incident. He was also the one who bullied the educated youth, forced them to do chores for him, and always stole other people's things.

The educated youth didn't miss a single thing that could be said.

Li Wei nodded repeatedly, a satisfied look on his face, and said, "You've explained it very clearly. We will consider reducing your punishment accordingly."

As he spoke, he handed over a package, indicating that the other person could leave.

The educated youth clutched his belongings and hurried out the door, only to be surrounded by the gazes of a group of older educated youth as soon as he reached the entrance.

Chen Hu stood in the crowd, his eyes eager to go forward and ask what was going on, but with soldiers standing beside him, he could only hold back.

The educated youth dared not look him in the eye, and ran away with their heads down, pushing through the crowd.

Then, the second educated youth was called in.

Li Wei deliberately skipped over Chen Hu and kept asking the same questions, so the educated youth took the opportunity to confess about Chen Hu.

After that, all the educated youth who went in did the same thing, each of them bringing up Chen Hu's evil deeds, and each of them deliberately avoided Chen Hu's gaze when they came out.

Chen Hu stood there, looking at those evasive eyes, a wave of unease washing over him, and his heart sank to the bottom.

Finally, Li Wei's voice came from inside the house, "Chen Hu, come in."