hob meat

The son of the Niu family's voice gradually faded away, like a gust of wind that left no trace. Several pairs of eyes looked back and forth, all with a hint of disbelief.

It was actually the Confiscation Committee! Zhao Fengnian held his head and repeatedly chewed on those five words. He hadn't managed to swat the mosquito, but instead, he had swatted out his own rotten intestines.

The confiscating of land from landlords and wealthy people involved not only land but also the wealth they had exploited. The confiscation committee in Yudu County was subordinate to the Soviet Anti-Counter-Revolutionary Committee, so it would be difficult to obtain evidence if they were embezzling.

Yudu County has an excellent geographical location, bordering Ruijin to the east and the middle reaches of Gongshui River to the south. At present, Xingguo County is at war, and almost all the goods exported from Ruijin will pass through the waterways of Yudu County. Zhao Fengnian immediately thought of the intelligence sent back by the comrades in the White Area: there is a smuggling route from Ruijin to Shanghai, and the person who actually controls this smuggling route is Zero.

If Zero had colluded with the Yudu County Confiscation Committee to secretly smuggle money, then indeed no one would dare to interfere. Zhao Fengnian deeply felt that this matter was of great importance, and he had to report it to Comrade Wu Hao as soon as possible.

Turning his gaze to the Niu family's son, Zhao Fengnian coldly asked, "What task did they assign you?"

“Find an opportunity to kill the male patient in the family; he knows too much.” The Niu family’s son quickly glanced at the unconscious Lu Wei, then looked away as if he had been electrocuted.

Almost no one knew that Lu Wei was recuperating here, and Zhao Fengnian couldn't think of anyone who had leaked the information. He could only continue to ask, "That's not all, was it? Didn't they also ask you to help with the poison gas attack and assassination attempt on me? How did they contact you, and when did they contact you? When did you start impersonating Doctor Niu?"

After being questioned three times, the son of the Niu family explained that around noon yesterday, a man came to his home in Yudu County. He didn't recognize the man, but the man had the committee's badge and identification. After wandering to Yudu County, he had been working as a mule for the committee for many years, transporting grain, salt, and opium, so he got on the cart with the man without any suspicion.

The carriage took him from Yudu back to Ruijin. It was nearly midnight when they arrived at the cave. There was another man in the cave, and they asked him to lure the old man into the cave. Then, they trimmed and dyed his hair white, just like the old man's.

After a series of operations, the son, who originally resembled his father by seven or eight points, was transformed into another Dr. Niu. In order to make him cooperate, he was given a bag of silver dollars. Zhao Fengnian frowned and took a deep breath. They were not fighting against Zero, but against endless greed!

Niu's son then recalled that after they changed his clothes, they didn't let him go straight home. Instead, they took him through the side paths of the cave, especially to the place where he had marked the spot. They asked Niu's son to bring all the villagers to the spot where he had marked it the next day and to use a mirror to illuminate it.

"Aren't you afraid of getting dragged down with you?" Zhao Fengnian couldn't help but interrupt.

"I was a bit confused at first, but I didn't realize it until the enemy planes appeared. They were colluding with the White bandits. Haha, such a big handle, I have to keep my life and squeeze them for money." The son of the Niu family revealed a despicable smile. "I've been playing in this cave since I was a child, and I know the cave's structure much better than those two outsiders."

Zhao Fengnian nodded slightly without changing his expression: "Alright, you're right about everything else, but you only mentioned that they were involved in embezzlement and smuggling. I don't care about that part. Besides, you only arrived in the village last night, so this should be our first meeting. I only mentioned my surname. How can you be sure that the person you want to kill is me?"

"You're paying extra. The person who brought me to the village left first, but another person secretly gave me a headshot. He said he'd kill you as soon as you came to the village, and he also gave me a small box of tobacco paste, worth a full five taels. I take the money and do the job; I don't care about the reasons." The Niu family son's words revealed a ruthless edge; he was truly a tough nut to crack.

What a generous offer! Five ounces of opium paste is worth at least fifty silver dollars. During the crackdown in the Soviet areas, the price on the black market would be even higher. However, Zhao Fengnian believed him at most 30%.

Suddenly, Chunmei grabbed Niu's son by the collar and slapped him: "Pah! You little rascal, you're not being honest! You carry mugwort and quicklime powder with you, you know perfectly well they're going to release poison gas bombs, and you're pretending to be innocent."

Before Zhao Fengnian could offer any advice, Chunmei slapped him again: "From Yudu County to Ruijin, the road is full of streams and mountains. Even if you have a carriage, it would take you a whole day and night to get there, and you think you can get there in half a day? Do you think you can take a big boat?"

After two slaps, the Niu family's son's face immediately swelled up, and blood kept flowing from his nose: "I...I remembered wrong. We took a carriage for a while and then a boat."

Hearing the explanation from the Niu family's son, Zhao Fengnian's face darkened even more. He swallowed his words of advice, looked away, and thought, "You have to use a sharp blade to cut a tough nut."

"Bullshit! It rained every day last week, and the river swelled. No boatman dared to cross the river. Tell me, where did you come from?" Chunmei kicked Niu's son in the stomach. Perhaps seeing that he didn't answer, she clenched her fist and swung it at his ribs with a short, sharp blow. Thud! Niu's son cried out in pain, and blood gushed from his eyes.

"Ah—don't hit me! Ah, I'm from the White Area! Heroine, spare me! Spare me!" The son of the Niu family cried out, clutching his stomach.

"Who gave you the pass?" Chunmei grabbed Niu's son by the neck, looking fierce and menacing.

“My superior bought it from the Yudu County Party Committee. It’s true, it’s true, my pass has the official seal of Yudu County on it.” Afraid that Chunmei wouldn’t believe him, Niu’s son gestured for Chunmei to take a pass out from the sole of his shoe.

Chunmei covered her nose and handed the pass to Zhao Fengnian. He immediately scanned it and saw that it was indeed the official seal of the Yudu County Party Committee. The pass was issued three weeks ago, proving that he was a craftsman who came to Ruijin to do small business. Humph, he was clearly a spy. However, the Yudu County Party Committee was indeed not clean.

"White Dog, what's your superior's name? What's the mission he gave you?" Chunmei angrily punched him on the head.

Niu's son said with a bitter face, "I don't know his real name, I only know that his code name is Viper. My mission is to scout out the troop deployment around Ruijin and make contact with an undercover agent called Zero to get the latest city defense deployment map."

Zhao Fengnian suddenly looked up, unable to hide his excitement. He had searched high and low without finding it, but it came to him without any effort. He had met Viper, this spy, before. This man had been causing trouble on the border between the Red and White factions for many years. He never expected that he would be Zero CC's contact.

"Have you seen the contact?" Zhao Fengnian asked calmly, regaining his composure.

“No, that coward hid very well. Both times it was a contactless meeting. He asked me to do two things for him before he would give me the map.” The Niu family’s son looked dejected.

"Heh, it's not like they're planning to kill me and Lu Wei, is it?" Zhao Fengnian smirked, his words laced with sarcasm.

Having his plot exposed, the Niu family son looked strange. After a long while, he said, "Uh, um. He gave me two photos. I saw you next to Secretary Deng, so I didn't have much of a chance to make a move. I've been looking for the other person for a long time, but when I secretly went home, I found that he was with the old man, so I plan to kill him first."

"Are you stupid? Zero isn't your superior, so why should he order you around? Why don't you go to your superiors and report him? What if he's already turned to communism and is deliberately not cooperating?" Zhao Fengnian smiled and patted the dust off his clothes.

“I’ve already reported him, but the higher-ups don’t dare to mess with him at all. I also heard from them that if Zero cuts off the smuggling routes, nobody will have anything to eat. As long as it doesn’t go too far, I’ll help him out for now. So I confessed to the higher-ups that I’m the son of the Niu family, and that I’ll take care of things.” The son of the Niu family lowered his voice.

Zhao Fengnian narrowed his eyes and asked calmly, "What about the enemy planes and the poison gas bombs?"

"About six days ago, my superiors asked me to pass on an order to them, using the highest level of encryption. I don't know the content. Zero seemed to be scared, and the next night he sent me half a map, with a red five-pointed star drawn on it and four small characters: 'Slaughter the pig and pluck its hair.'" The Niu family son's words were too reactionary, and the surrounding villagers were eager to fight, their eyes gleaming red.

Niu's son hurriedly added, "I was just following orders and sending the map back. Yesterday, my superiors sent someone to warn me to be careful of drugs, and that's when I found out that planes would be deployed to drop gas bombs. Then Zero, as if he had supernatural vision, left a message forcing me to impersonate the old man, take Lu Wei to a designated location, and have the planes shoot him down, or else he would report me. I really did kidnap the old man last night, and I found that Lu Wei was nothing to worry about. It's better to deal with you first."

So that's how it is. According to the investigation by the comrades in the White Area, Zero is a multi-faceted spy who has been taken in by at least two different parties. So we specifically targeted his superiors. One was to poison the 62nd Army, seriously injuring our main force, and the other was to find out where the leaders were holding a secret meeting and sabotage it.

If Zero chooses to poison the meeting, it will be postponed indefinitely; if he chooses to disrupt the meeting, martial law will be declared in Ruijin City, and not only will the 62nd Army be unable to enter, but Zero himself will also be unable to leave.

Want to wait for the right opportunity to wipe them all out? Both companies are working on the same task, with a one-week deadline. Time is tight and the task is heavy. Zero doesn't want to become a pretzel, so he can only choose one randomly depending on the situation.

This was a calculated scheme devised by the White Area comrades for Zero. Those who could see it had to choose sides, and those who couldn't had to choose sides even more. However, Zhao Fengnian had indeed made the mistake of underestimating the enemy. He gritted his teeth inwardly, determined to arrest Zero personally.

Of course, now is not the time. There are still many things he needs to plan, such as utilizing the agents' special communication methods, cutting off Zero's smuggling routes, and gradually eroding his living space. In addition, Zero still has half of the city defense map to hand over, and CC will never give up that half of the map.

"Commander, I've told you everything I can. Can you tell me where my weaknesses lie?" The Niu family's son asked urgently.

"Besides the smell, there's also the posture. Dr. Niu has gout and can't sit cross-legged at all," Zhao Fengnian casually remarked. He had no intention of giving a lecture to a spy who was full of lies.

Aside from that, the most obvious flaw is actually his hands.

Dr. Niu is a doctor with both high medical skills and high medical ethics. He is afraid of hurting patients when taking their pulse, and he pays special attention to the care of his hands. Although he is almost sixty years old, his hands look like those of a thirty-year-old scholar. This is because he developed a kind of ointment that can moisturize and prevent chapping. The ointment has been widely promoted throughout the army and has received excellent feedback.

The son of the Niu family is different. He has thick calluses on the web of his right hand and his index finger, indicating that he handles guns, while Doctor Niu handles pens. His fingers are slightly yellow, indicating that he has a smoking habit, while Doctor Niu is a health-conscious person who doesn't smoke.

There were black stains under his little fingernails, most likely from fiddling with the pipe's outlet with his little finger when smoking. Meanwhile, Dr. Niu almost always wore homemade leather gloves and a gauze mask while making the nicotine pills, fearing the toxins might seep into his skin.

Alas, good bamboo produces bad shoots!

"Are you sure you've confessed everything?" Zhao Fengnian asked sternly, his face glancing over. The Niu family's son shrank back slightly, but eventually relented.

The earth-shattering roar outside the cave did not affect the meticulous interrogation inside. Zhao Fengnian closed his work notebook, and the bombing outside had almost stopped.

Zhao Fengnian instructed Chunmei to stay in the village, keep an eye on the spy, then turned and called Hong Xiaogui, telling him to quickly take him to Secretary Deng. Hong Xiaogui happily saluted and rushed out with his thin body.

Ashes and smoke mingled, forming a chaotic curtain, as the two slowly groped their way through the boundless darkness. Zhao Fengnian was faster, and soon climbed out of the ruins first.

Suddenly, a clucking chicken jumped out of the ruins, startling the two of them with its head bobbing. The little boy's eyes were glued to the chicken. It wasn't until Zhao Fengnian gently patted his head that the boy came to his senses. He scratched his eyebrows sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, comrade, I almost forgot the main task. Please don't tell Secretary Deng, or he won't want me anymore."

“Okay, let’s keep it a secret between us. Pinky promise!” Zhao Fengnian replied good-naturedly.

The child shyly stretched out his finger and tugged at it. Then, like a nimble monkey, he nimbly climbed up the tree to observe the situation. After a few breaths, he gave Zhao Fengnian a safe signal.

The entrance to the air-raid shelter was just ten meters away. Zhao Fengnian gestured for the child to come down quickly and go in together, but the child was still thinking about the chicken and said he wanted to go back to salvage public property. Zhao Fengnian couldn't control him and reminded the child that he had to come back within half an hour or he would be poisoned. Then he plunged into the passageway of the air-raid shelter and took off his mask.

Townspeople with dirty faces squatted on both sides of the passageway, their trembling shadows cast by the torchlight. Zhao Fengnian's eyes welled up with tears of guilt, but he forced himself not to cry out. If his wife were beside him, she would surely laugh at him for being a crybaby.

"Xiao Zhao, you're alright? That's great. Did you see the little devil?" Secretary Deng appeared out of nowhere, hugged him tightly, and patted his back several times.

"If you see him, remember to give the young soldier a certificate of merit." Zhao Fengnian felt as if he were walking on clouds, so excited that he couldn't walk. A sincere greeting between comrades is better than any fancy words.

"Definitely. Hey, where's the kid?" Secretary Deng asked.

"He went to catch chickens, or I'll go pick him up." Zhao Fengnian was a little worried. Even though the little boy was wearing a military uniform, he was still just a child of about ten years old.

"It's alright, boys are a bit mischievous, and he knows the city well, he can't cause any trouble." Secretary Deng changed the subject, "Xiao Zhao, I was just looking for you."

Suddenly, a sinister gaze shot out from the darkness. Zhao Fengnian looked sharply into the shadows and saw a large group of people walking towards them. Xia Lang was at the front, followed closely by several young officers.

"Deng Gangpao, everyone is busy with disaster relief, and you still have time to chat?" Xia Lang's words were barbed from the start.

"I'm waiting for Xia (Xia) to give orders, how dare I act on my own?" Secretary Deng said with a smile, his words carrying a double meaning.

Xia Lang didn't understand, but instead showed pride on his face. He waved his hand and said, "Then you guys go and help count the number of people. Old Zhang is already counting them."

Zhao Fengnian looked at Secretary Deng with surprise, while Secretary Deng gave him an OK sign, as if to say that it wouldn't be so easy for him to leave.

"What are you two laughing about? Get up and go! You idiots, you have no sense of responsibility as Party members at all!" Xia Lang glared at him, looking imperious.

Zhao Fengnian and Secretary Deng exchanged a smile, not minding at all, and continued to talk about their situations as they walked.

Half an hour ago, Ouyang was the first to receive the telegram from Shanghai. He immediately reported it to Secretary Deng and asked him to make the decision. The comrades in Shanghai would not send such a warning telegram in the middle of the night for no reason. It is better to believe it than not to believe it.

Secretary Deng rushed into the Military Commission alone to explain that the main leaders had unanimously decided to evacuate the city's residents first, but not to cause panic. So they used the pretext of a surprise exercise to have the soldiers knock on doors and organize the residents to move to air-raid shelters as soon as possible.

At the same time, Secretary Deng did not forget about the problematic Old Zhang. He personally led a team and had soldiers forcibly carry him into the air-raid shelter for one-on-one surveillance.

"Well done! I caught a CC spy in the village; he's their contact." Zhao Fengnian lowered his voice and drew a circle in Secretary Deng's palm.

Secretary Deng narrowed his eyes knowingly, gave a thumbs up, and then said with concern, "Xiao Zhao, you look a little pale. Go see a doctor later, lest you develop a chronic condition. Health is the foundation of everything."

“I’m fine, but I smelled that pungent odor on the way here. Ruijin City needs to be thoroughly cleaned up and made sure it’s safe before we let the people out. If we can’t get out tonight, we should prepare some blankets and quilts for the night,” Zhao Fengnian said, frowning.

"I know," Secretary Deng replied.

During their conversation, they arrived inside the air-raid shelter. Villagers were coming and going, busy moving tables and chairs. They looked in the direction the movement was taking and saw a room with a door filled with green instruments. A familiar figure ran out.

It was Ouyang. Ouyang grabbed his head and roared, "Where's the antenna? Is the antenna set up yet?"

"Not yet." A faint reply came from afar.

"Hurry up!" Ouyang's hair was a mess as he paced back and forth anxiously, almost bumping into Secretary Deng. He jumped up and exclaimed, "Ouch, you scared me to death! Secretary Deng, don't block my way!"

“Comrade Ouyang, you’re being unreasonable! It was clearly you who bumped into Secretary Deng,” Zhao Fengnian said righteously.

Ouyang then realized there was another person. His sleepy eyes snapped open instantly, and he grabbed Zhao Fengnian and dragged him into the house: "Fengnian, come help me tune the radio, I'm so anxious."

"The antenna isn't even set up yet, and besides, Commander Xia asked us to help Old Zhang with roll call," Zhao Fengnian said with a wry smile.

"Let him wait, I'm in a hurry!" Ouyang domineeringly pulled Zhao Fengnian into the room and slammed the door shut.

Before Zhao Fengnian could react, the earphones were already on his head, and Ouyang pressed him back into his seat and turned on the power button.

A buzzing sound came from the headphones. As Zhao Fengnian adjusted the frequency, he said, "Ouyang, I need your help to send a telegram to Comrade Wu Hao. It's very important."

“I also wanted to contact Wu Hao. Today is Thursday. Here’s what we’ll do: you can send it yourself after you’ve finished adjusting it.” Ouyang calmed himself down a bit, took out a copy of Gorky’s “My Apprenticeship” from the table and handed it to him. Just then, someone outside reported that the antenna was set up, so the two of them settled down to adjust the machine.

Dodo!

Zhao Fengnian hurriedly stuffed the book into a pile of documents, and Ouyang called out irritably, "Who is it? Come in later, I'm busy."

"It's me. I have something to say." Secretary Deng's tone was not as amiable as before; it was somewhat sharp.

"Come in, come in." Ouyang reluctantly opened the door for him.

Secretary Deng pushed open the door and entered, angrily saying, "That damn spy, that bastard, I'll chop him into eighteen pieces and throw him into the river to feed the fish."

What's wrong? Zhao Fengnian was confused. Everything was fine just now. Secretary Deng didn't speak. With red eyes, he took out a small, blood-stained cloth bag from his pocket. It looked like a handkerchief wrapped around something, but the large bloodstains on it exuded an ominous aura.

Zhao Fengnian carefully opened the package, and a golden light flashed inside, revealing a bright yellow croaker. What... what's going on here?

For some reason, the outside was bustling with noise, like a market. Zhao Fengnian squeezed into the crowd and stared blankly at the small corpse on the ground. The little devil was gone!