beacon fires

A warm yellow tinge appeared at the far end of the pitch-black sky. The donkey cart slowly slowed down. To protect the witness, Lu Wei's smoking cessation clinic was located in a village halfway up a mountain in the suburbs, offering a panoramic view of Ruijin City.

Before Zhao Fengnian even entered the courtyard, the aroma of medicine wafted over him, and a row of stoves gurgled and steamed, while the owner of the pharmacy, Doctor Niu, sat in the courtyard kneading medicinal pills.

Chunmei seemed to be quite familiar with the old gentleman. She ran into the inner room like a rabbit without even saying hello. Zhao Fengnian shook his head helplessly, asked Doctor Niu about Lu Wei's recent situation, and then he had a better understanding of the situation.

The bedroom door was wide open, and Lu Wei had already gotten out of bed. Dressed in coarse cloth clothes, he sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes fixed on the chattering Chunmei, a gentle smile on his lips.

Dodo.

Upon hearing the knock, Lu Wei's smile froze on his face, replaced by a stinging sense of desolation. He nodded to Zhao Fengnian and then told Chunmei to go out and help Doctor Niu make medicine.

Chunmei pouted, looking unwilling. Lu Wei's tone became more forceful: "Go away, go away, get as far away as you can, don't hang around in front of me, it's annoying."

She slowly moved out of the room, and before leaving, she turned back to look at Lu Wei and warned, "Don't bully our Section Chief Zhao. Let's talk this out."

"What do you take me for?" Lu Wei retorted, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Chunmei wrinkled her nose, made a face, and hopped out of the bedroom as if she knew the way well, closing the door behind her.

Zhao Fengnian, who had been observing from the sidelines, twitched the corner of his mouth and did not intervene in the two's "fighting". Lu Wei's gaze followed Chunmei's footsteps all the way to the window.

After a while, he spoke softly, "Section Chief Zhao, I've never had the chance to thank you in person. If it weren't for you, my situation might have been more complicated than just being discharged and going home."

"You don't need to thank me specially, it's all the organization's decision," Zhao Fengnian replied with a smile. "Dr. Niu praised your positive treatment attitude. In just a few months, you only need to mix 20% opium into your smoking cessation pills. Try to quit before the end of the year and go back to your hometown to live a good life."

"Sigh," Lu Wei replied with a low voice. After a moment of silence, he looked up and met Zhao Fengnian's concerned gaze: "I know you came here today for news about Zero, but before I tell you, promise me one thing."

Zhao Fengnian frowned slightly: "What?"

"You must take good care of her." Lu Wei's voice was low and resolute.

"Her? Zhang Chunmei?" Zhao Fengnian asked, somewhat surprised.

“She’s the only woman here. I don’t know any of those matchmaker’s words. Anyway, she doesn’t eat much, she can take care of herself without any trouble, she’s a decent cook, she knows at least a thousand characters, and she can also make fertilizer, fish, and row a boat… Although she looks a bit thin, she’s strong and muscular. She’s almost never lost a fight; one punch from her could knock down an ox. If we feed her more, she’ll definitely be easy to raise.” Lu Wei said solemnly.

"Are you misunderstanding something?" Zhao Fengnian's eyelids twitched more and more violently, and his head was buzzing.

“What misunderstanding? She’s getting on in years. If she doesn’t get married soon, she’ll be wasting her life. You’re not a high-ranking official, but you’re still a cadre. She won’t lose out by marrying you.” Lu Wei glanced out the window.

The abacus beads were almost hitting someone's face when Zhao Fengnian interrupted Lu Wei in time: "First of all, Comrade Zhang Chunmei is an independent individual, and she has the right to choose her partner freely. No one can interfere. Secondly, I am already married. My wife is also a Party member, and she is currently doing propaganda and united front work in the White Area."

"Huh?" Lu Wei pleaded, "Then, then introduce her to someone, he must be a cadre, we won't marry anyone lower than that."

"You're only four years older than her, why do you talk like her father?" Zhao Fengnian said, puzzled.

“You probably don’t know this, but after her mother gave birth to her, she was so hungry that she couldn’t produce milk. My mother happened to be breastfeeding my brother, so she breastfed her at the same time. Later, her mother also passed away. Her third uncle had to work during the day, so my mother took care of her. So she is my half-sister, and I will be her family from now on. I will make up for her dowry.” Lu Wei had just finished speaking.

Bang! The window shattered with a loud crash.

Zhang Chunmei suddenly jumped down from the windowsill, grabbed Lu Wei by the collar and yelled, "You stinking bull! Who wants your tattered dowry? You're so poor you can't even afford a wife, and you still dare to meddle in my business!"

"Why not take it if it's free? You're not good-looking, and you have a bad temper. If your dowry isn't generous, which cadre would want you?" Lu Wei's face turned bright red.

"Whether I'm ugly or not is none of your business!" Zhang Chunmei, enraged, suddenly swung her hand at Lu Wei's stomach.

Lu Wei, caught off guard, fell to the ground in pain, clutching his stomach and groaning, "Ouch! If you had used this energy on your marriage, you would have married a cadre long ago!"

"You damned bull, you stinking bull, get up!" Chunmei lifted him up again and slammed Lu Wei against the wall. "You greedy official, you can't become an official yourself, so you've set your sights on me. Who said I wanted to marry a cadre?"

"You said it yourself, Red Army soldiers on horseback are so impressive, I must marry someone like that in the future. Can non-cadres ride horses?" Lu Wei rubbed his stomach, looking aggrieved.

"Bullshit! I never said that!" Chunmei's delicate eyebrows furrowed even more, and a storm of punches rained down on the man.

"Hiss~ This girl is too ruthless!" Zhao Feng saw Chunmei's temper flaring up and quickly stepped forward to pull her back and dissuade her: "Don't hit him, don't hit him, he's not fully recovered yet."

"Never mind him. I'm going to kill him."

"You brat, that hurts! Hit me again and I'll fight back!"

Clang!

Don't hit him, don't... Sigh, when people are angry, you can't persuade them at all. They are both young and full of vigor. Zhao Fengnian scratched his face, a deep sense of powerlessness spreading over him. Oh well, respect other people's fate, just don't kill them.

The two of them exchanged punches and slaps, not forgetting to bring up each other's shortcomings. Lu Wei accused the other of blaming him for blowing up a chicken coop with firecrackers when he was three years old, causing him to be severely beaten by his father, his buttocks so sore that he could hardly go to the toilet.

Chunmei retorted without backing down, saying that when he was nine, he got together with Sanlu from the next village for a group fight, and when he couldn't win, he threw her there to fight the four of them alone. "Pah, not a man!"

They were arguing so loudly that Zhao Fengnian couldn't help but shout, "Stop! If you break anything, Doctor Niu will get angry!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Wei loosened his grip on the other woman's neck. Taking advantage of the moment, Chunmei tripped him, throwing him away. He scrambled to his feet, clutching his backside, and pointed at Zhang Chunmei, cursing, "You little brat, you ambushed me! Try it again if you dare!"

“It won’t work no matter how many times we try. This is called all's fair in war.” Chunmei clapped her hands, quite pleased with herself.

Zhao Fengnian quickly separated the two: "Stop arguing, Lu Wei. I can't grant your personal request, but... since you're not married, why don't you try? There aren't many men as resilient as you."

"Section Chief Zhao~ Who wants to marry him?" Chunmei shouted, her neck stiff, a suspicious blush rising on her face.

Hearing Zhao Fengnian's teasing, Lu Wei turned his face away and said, "Section Chief Zhao, don't talk nonsense. She's my sister."

"Are you sure?" Zhao Fengnian suppressed a laugh. "Look at her eyes, they're not innocent at all, especially when she was praising her just now, they were so sweet they were practically dripping with affection. If you think you two have a family relationship, go back and look at your mother with those eyes, see if she'll slap you."

"Hehehe, let me see what kind of eyes you have." Chunmei turned Lu Wei's face around with great interest.

Lu Wei instinctively tried to dodge, but Chunmei forcefully pulled him over and pinned him to the wall. The moment their eyes met, they both froze, and a faint electric current seemed to flicker in the air.

They really didn't treat him like an outsider. Zhao Feng coughed twice, and Chunmei hurriedly looked away and turned to leave as if she were fleeing, leaving Lu Wei standing there dumbfounded, his cheeks flushed.

Zhao Fengnian walked up to Lu Wei and patted him on the shoulder: "Lu Wei, you really should try your best. The result might not be bad."

With a wry smile, Lu Wei replied softly, "I'm not good enough for her. I can't ruin her future; she deserves someone better."

Zhao Fengnian stopped trying to persuade him: "It's up to you. I'm just trying to be helpful. Just because you're not an official doesn't mean you can't do revolution. The organization hasn't expelled you from the Party. Even if you go back to your hometown, you should actively contribute to its development and build socialism. So I hope you'll stand on the people's side and tell me about Zero as soon as possible. Your information could save many people."

"Section Chief Zhao, stop beating around the bush. I don't want to beat around the bush either. I was following behind Zero when he made a deal with Xie Gaosheng once," Lu Wei said bluntly.

"So it was you." After his initial surprise, Zhao Fengnian asked coldly, "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

“If Xie Gaosheng doesn’t fall, your work simply can’t proceed. Rushing forward will only provoke Zero. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered. Zero is lurking in our Soviet area and knows our Party’s methods of struggle very well. If he sows a few discordant words, we’ll start fighting among ourselves. To put it bluntly, the Anti-Counter-Revolutionary Committee is about to become an office of the Nationalist government,” Lu Wei sighed.

"Oh, has Zero started recruiting downlines inside?" Zhao Fengnian keenly caught the meaning behind his words.

Lu Wei nodded: "Yes, I know a few. I can write down their names for you, but you must not touch them. You might get yourself into trouble. Just have Comrade Wu Hao find an opportunity to marginalize them. If they don't have access to core secrets, they will have no value to the Nationalist government."

"Understood." Zhao Fengnian couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. He should have ridden his own horse to propose to the girl he loved, but time could not be reversed, and a rising star was thus cut short in the gutter.

"Now I'm asking you to identify number zero. Can you recognize it?" Zhao Fengnian raised his eyelids, his gaze becoming more earnest.

"No, Zero is very cautious; he was covered in a black cloak from beginning to end," Ruwei admitted.

“But you have someone you suspect,” Zhao Fengnian said definitively. Lu Wei was one of the best reconnaissance soldiers; he could catch the slightest clues.

Lu Wei opened his mouth, but no words came out, as if he had some concerns. Zhao Fengnian was so anxious that his stomach hurt, so he simply took his hand and wrote a character in his palm—"Bow and Long Zhang".

“He is not my teacher.” Ruwei abruptly pulled his hand back, uttering a nonsensical sentence, seemingly suppressing immense anger.

“Where is it not?” Zhao Fengnian asked again.

"Nowhere!" Lu Wei shouted, grinding his teeth as if venting his emotions. "The person rescued from the White Bandit prison is not our Master Zhang!"

"How can relying solely on a sixth sense convince everyone?" A trace of worry flashed across Zhao Fengnian's eyes: "Evidence, I need concrete evidence."

“If I had evidence, I would have produced it long ago.” Lu Wei took a deep breath and said slowly, “I don’t have it, but Xie Gaosheng does. Do you remember that one of Xie Gaosheng’s crimes was murdering a military doctor for money?”

Zhao Fengnian nodded slightly: "I remember, for three silver dollars and a gold ring, the inner band of the ring was engraved with the names of the military doctor and his lover. Xie Gaosheng admitted this himself. Did he want to take the blame for Zero before he died?"

"Of course not. He wasn't that kind. On the contrary, without any witnesses, he deliberately brought up the matter and even handed over the gold ring. Under what circumstances would someone who murders for money keep evidence of a murder they committed a year ago instead of melting it down and selling it for cash?" Lu Wei pointed out.

"In order to drag another accomplice down with him," Zhao Fengnian continued happily. "You mean, the military doctor knew some of Zero's secrets, so Zero used Xie Gaosheng to get rid of the military doctor, but Xie Gaosheng secretly kept a backup plan."

Lu Wei affirmed, "Yes, you'd better check that army doctor's belongings, such as his work notes, clothes, cigarette case, tobacco pouch, books, and the like."

This is indeed an important clue. A question suddenly popped into Zhao Fengnian's mind: "That night you followed them, did Zero really not reveal a single flaw?"

Silence fell in the room. Lu Wei neither nodded nor shook his head, staring blankly at his knees. Zhao Fengnian knew he had asked the right question and patiently waited for Lu Wei to come to his senses.

After a moment, Lu Wei seemed to have made up his mind and replied carefully, "That night, Xie Gaosheng gave Zero a bag of gold bars. Judging from the weight, I estimated there were about ten bars. Zero couldn't have gone far with such a large sum of money. He must have hidden it first. Later, I followed Zero all the way to the cooperative's chicken coop."

"And then, did anyone come out?" Zhao Fengnian asked urgently.

"No, I waited until four in the morning and no one came out." Lu Wei couldn't help but sigh. "I was thinking of going to check the chicken coop, but unfortunately I didn't have time."

“Then we can just find an excuse to search the chicken coop. Things are tense lately, I don’t think Zero will transfer this wealth so quickly.” Zhao Fengnian stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Lu Wei was shocked: "No, you've forgotten whose territory the chicken coop is. No matter what excuse we make, we'll alert him."

"Oh right, I almost forgot," Zhao Fengnian rubbed his temples, reminding himself to stay humble and not be arrogant. Zero has existed for so long, so he must have his own ways of surviving. He digs up trees and roots, otherwise he shouldn't dig at all.

The window creaked open again, and Chunmei muttered, "Section Chief Zhao, why is there another power outage in Ruijin City? When will the power supply be stable again?"

"Isn't this normal? The voltage is unstable." Zhao Fengnian was thinking about Zero when he casually replied, "Just wait. It seems that some of the comrades who withdrew from Shanghai to the Soviet area this time are engineers. They should have a solution when they arrive."

"No, it's been dark for quite a while now, the whole city is dark. It's never happened before," Chunmei said, pointing to Ruijin City below the mountain.

"Let me see." Lu Wei was even more excited than Zhao Fengnian. Chunmei pressed herself against the wall, not daring to look at Lu Wei.

Unfazed, Zhao Fengnian slowly approached, about to offer his opinion, when a deafening engine roar shook the entire mountain.

A gust of wind blew past, stinging their eyes. The three of them looked up in alarm at the same time. A huge shadow covered the sky above the thatched hut, like a ferocious Kun from legend. Chunmei was the first to react: "Enemy planes! It's enemy planes!"

Oh no, without electricity, the air raid sirens can't sound. With a loud bang, they watched helplessly as several blinding orbs of light erupted from Ruijin City, followed by billowing smoke that scorched the darkness.

Outside the window, flames blazed fiercely, but Zhao Fengnian felt icy cold all over. He slumped to the ground, his ears ringing so loudly that he couldn't hear anything.

Wrong guess, wrong guess, all wrong guesses! They were completely fooled by his feint; Zero's chosen mission wasn't the 62nd Division, but Ruijin City.

Snap!

His face stung with pain, and Zhao Fengnian's lips trembled a few times. Lu Wei's voice came through: "Go back to the city quickly."

"It's too late, you must evacuate the people first." Chunmei's face shone in the firelight. "Dr. Niu, quickly go to the cave to take shelter."

As they were talking, the shells went off again, one after another raining down, getting closer and closer to the village. Ignoring the shaking ground, Zhao Fengnian and Lu Wei plunged into the noisy crowd.

Boom!

A burst of crimson blood mist erupted, and the severed leg flew to the top of the camphor tree. The shockwave whipped up rubble that, like sharp blades, instantly pierced the trachea, causing blood to spurt out and stain the earth red.

A gust of hot wind swept in, carrying a strong smell of blood. The surviving villagers were in chaos. When fleeing for their lives, there was no regard for age or status. Almost everyone trampled on their convulsing compatriots and pushed forward like madmen. Once they fell, they could never get up again.

The lone child burst into a piercing wail. Zhao Fengnian, without bothering to comfort him, scooped the child up and rushed forward. This wouldn't do; they needed to disperse and take cover. However, Zhao Fengnian's heart-wrenching shouts were completely drowned out by the roar of the engines.

Perhaps sensing the danger, Lu Wei grabbed a copper basin and, while banging it, directed the villagers to retreat to the nearest cave. Zhao Fengnian and Lu Wei escorted the villagers all the way to the cave.

The ground was still shaking outside, but fortunately the mountain was a natural air-raid shelter, so there was no immediate danger, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly a huge rock fell. In a flash, Lu Wei grabbed Zhao Fengnian and rolled over. The rock crashed to the ground, scattering dust everywhere. The two coughed a few times and didn't get up for a long time.

"Everyone, try to find a rounded cave ceiling," Zhao Fengnian shouted, panting heavily, though his voice was already hoarse. He nudged Lu Wei beside him, wanting him to shout for him.

However, Lu Wei was trembling with his arms crossed, his pale face twitching uncontrollably. It was over, his drug addiction had relapsed. Zhao Fengnian looked at the large cut on his palm that was bleeding, and in a moment of quick thinking, he pressed his palm against Lu Wei's forehead, and blood flowed down Lu Wei's cheek.

Zhao Fengnian explained in a hoarse voice to the villagers who came to help: "He hit his head, quickly stop the bleeding."

Everyone hurriedly carried Lu Wei to the side. Doctor Zhu took out a packet of medicine powder from his pocket and sprinkled it on the "wound." Lu Wei opened his tightly closed eyes a crack and murmured in an extremely weak voice, "Xiao Meizi, where is Xiao Meizi?"

"Chunmei, Zhang Chunmei!" Doctor Zhu called out several times, but the villagers looked at each other, none of them knowing where Zhang Chunmei had gone.

Just then, a child crawled out from under the adults' feet and said timidly, "I saw Sister Chunmei go to the cowshed. It looks like she's going to collect cow dung."

What was she going to do with the cow dung? To compost it. Zhao Fengnian was at his wits' end, racking his brains for a way to save Zhang Chunmei, when Doctor Zhu exclaimed in surprise, "Little girl, you've taken my bag of moxa wool!"

"She wants to make a signal fire! I'm going to find her." Lu Wei suddenly realized, struggled to stand up, but the cave shook and he knelt down again, cold sweat soaking his back.

Zhao Fengnian immediately caught him, his throat burning with pain: "What smoke signal? This isn't the Northwest."

“You city folks don’t understand. Little Plum, Little Plum…” Lu Wei’s body trembled again as he struggled to crawl forward, muttering to himself.

"Don't move, going out is suicide. I'll think of something." Zhao Fengnian pulled Lu Wei tightly, his pleading eyes turning to Doctor Zhu.

Doctor Zhu immediately rummaged through his pockets, eventually finding nothing but a few packets of medicine powder. He shook his head awkwardly at Zhao Fengnian.

Without nicotine pills, I can only tough it out.

Holding Lu Wei's hand tightly, Zhao Fengnian felt a surge of guilt that was more bitter than swallowing a whole bowl of Chinese medicine.

What's the situation in Ruijin City now? When will reinforcements arrive? Is Zero still in Ruijin City? What do we do if the gold bars have been taken?

A series of problems overwhelmed Zhao Fengnian. He hadn't expected this turn of events. He had thought that with Zero showing signs of life, arresting the suspect would be just around the corner, but he had underestimated the enemy. He, Zhao Fengnian, had let down not only Chunmei, whose fate was unknown outside, but also the people of Ruijin City, and the comrades defending the city…

"Look, look! There are red fireflies outside! They're so beautiful!" a child exclaimed excitedly, pointing outside.

The villagers' attention was all focused on the outside of the cave. Lu Wei inexplicably forced a smile and asked to go and take a look. Zhao Fengnian couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he helped him up and moved step by step to the cave entrance.

"She succeeded." Ruwei's voice trembled with excitement.

Looking out, Zhao Fengnian could hardly believe his eyes. Countless small red dots slowly rose up and converged into a towering red beam of light. The beam of light remained unmoved amidst the gunfire, truly a legendary smoke signal.

What made Zhao Fengnian even happier was that Chunmei might still be alive!