Chapter 4: Secret Words on a Snowy Night
Shen Xi thought her arrangements were secretive and thorough, but she hadn't expected Yin Chuan, who had exceptional hearing, to overhear everything. Yin Chuan had a clue, but he kept quiet. Instead, he quietly finished his meal with everyone else, listening to Du Yunzhang's complaints.
When the orderly took away the dishes and chopsticks and they were the only three left in the barracks, Yin Chuan told Du Yunzhang and Linlang what he had just heard.
Du Yunzhang glared at them and asked in a low voice, "What on earth are they planning to do to us?"
"I think both Captain Shen, the top official here, and his brothers seem to be particularly interested in Linlang." Yin Chuan said.
"Damn it, I knew they had bad intentions. That battalion commander, Chen Xi, has been staring at Lin Lang with those sneaky eyes!"
"Although Chen Xi most likely has ill intentions towards Lin Lang, I feel that Captain Chen Hui seems to have other plans. However, I still can't figure out their intentions in detaining the three of us in the barracks."
Linlang silently stood up and pushed open the barracks door, intending to leave. Outside, she saw the snow falling harder and harder. Two soldiers stood guard, their rifles slung over their shoulders. They were standing guard, but in reality, they were just watching them from the doorway. As soon as Linlang left, the two soldiers approached, staring at her intently without a word. It was clear they were not allowed to move around freely.
After understanding the situation outside, Linlang returned to the barracks. "Sure enough, we're under house arrest. And it's snowing heavily, I'm afraid it won't stop for a while. But even if the snow stops tomorrow, I don't think they'll let us go."
Yin Chuan smiled slightly, "It doesn't matter. It's not easy for us to leave in such heavy snow anyway. We might as well stay in the barracks with food and water and see what they can do to us."
In this way, the three of them decided to calm down and deal with all kinds of changes with the same attitude.
After an unknown amount of time, Du Yunzhang and Linlang both felt sleepy and found comfortable places to doze off. Only Yin Chuan was still thinking about the past. Suddenly, Yin Chuan heard some soft, low voices, which seemed to come from the barracks next door. Curious, he went to the side of the barracks and listened carefully.
"Are you all ready?"
"Be prepared. Don't forget what you promised me."
"Don't worry, our boss always keeps his word."
"When are you going to take action?"
"What? You want to trick me?"
"How could that be? You're worrying too much."
"Just do what you're supposed to do, and you don't need to worry about the follow-up actions."
"I'm just afraid that the heavy snow outside will be detrimental to your actions."
"This snow should be even more disadvantageous to the Braid Army."
"Okay, the regiment has made arrangements, and the follow-up depends on him."
"He wasn't originally in the plan, so you'd better not make things more complicated."
"Don't say that. After all, you guys succeeded, and I still have a mess to clean up."
"Then we won't care. But if you interfere with the operation, beware of the lives of your family!"
"Yeah... I understand."
The conversation ended here. Yin Chuan felt that one of the people here seemed to be the voice he heard outside the regimental barracks. It seemed that he must be a senior officer in this braided army. After listening again, the two people seemed to be leaving the barracks, so he leaned over to the crack of the barracks door and looked out. He saw that two more people were standing guard at the door of the barracks next to him. They looked like personal guards of senior officers. When the door opened, two people walked out, one in front and one behind. The patrol sentry saluted the one walking in front and said, "Staff Officer Han!"
The man nodded to the sentry, then said to the person behind him who was wearing an ordinary soldier's uniform: "The reconnaissance intelligence you reported is very important. I will report it to the deputy commander. You go first." The other person saluted and turned to leave.
Staff Officer Han looked up at the increasingly heavy snowfall and asked the sentry, "Is Deputy Commander Situ in his barracks now?"
“I just saw Deputy Commander Situ go to find Commander Shen. He should be in the commander’s barracks now.”
Staff Officer Han nodded, watched the sentry walk away, took something out of his arms, looked at it carefully, then wiped off the snow on it, put it back into his arms, and walked in another direction with the two personal guards.
Just as he saw this, Yin Chuan felt someone pat his shoulder from behind, "Brother Yin, what are you looking at?"
Yin Chuan was startled and looked back, it turned out to be Linlang.
"Oh... nothing, I just wanted to see how big the snow was outside."
Linlang also went to the door to take a look. "It's even heavier than before. How could it be snowing so heavily when the twelfth lunar month is almost over? It looks like the heaviest snowfall I've ever seen in my life."
"Indeed, I've never seen such heavy snow. What time is it now?"
"It's probably around ten o'clock. Brother Yin, I still remember that time in Wuhe County, after a heavy snowfall, I accompanied you to the graves of your deceased wife and child. I still can't forget your sorrowful voice. Now that the investigation into the bombing is making some progress, have you been able to let go of that mother and child?"
For some reason, Linlang suddenly brought up this topic, leaving Yin Chuan at a loss for words. But before he could think clearly, he heard a loud commotion outside, followed by the sound of many people's feet crunching on the snow.
"What's going on outside?" Yin Chuan pushed open the barracks door and looked out. The two guards in front of the door were still there, but they were not guarding them wholeheartedly. Instead, they were looking at the regimental barracks not far away, where several senior officers were gathered in front of the regimental headquarters.
"It's snowing so heavily and it's the middle of the night. What are they doing?" asked Linlang as she followed him out of the barracks.
Yin Chuan shook his head and was about to get closer to take a closer look. The two guards then noticed them and hurriedly stood in front of them.
"My two lords, what's going on over there? Why is it so noisy in the middle of the night?"
One of the guards replied expressionlessly: "I don't know."
"I see you're also concerned about what's going on over there. Could it be that your leader wants to urgently arrange some special mission?"
The guard rolled his eyes at Yin Chuan and said, "Look carefully, that's not the regimental headquarters, it's Captain Li's barracks."
Yin Chuan was a little surprised, because that was clearly the barracks he had entered before.
"Why are you telling him this? Hey, go back quickly and don't hang around outside." Another guard stepped forward and held the rifle in his hand, intending to drive Yin Chuan and Lin Lang back to the barracks.
Perhaps Linlang's words had touched some soft spot in his heart that he couldn't express. For some reason, Yin Chuan felt a surge of stubbornness, determined to find out what was going on. But he was stopped by two armed guards, unsure how to get past them. Coincidentally, he spotted Staff Officer Han there, and suddenly an idea struck him. He shouted, "Staff Officer Han! I can help you clean up that mess! That mess!"
It seemed that Staff Officer Han heard someone shouting behind him. When he heard the word "mess", his face suddenly changed. He turned around and saw Yin Chuan.
"You two—let him come over!" Staff Officer Han shouted at the two guards.
When the guards saw that it was their superior who had spoken, they could not disobey, so they had to step aside and let Yin Chuan and Lin Lang pass.
When they came closer, Staff Officer Han asked with a smile, "What did you just say?" Although his tone was low and gentle, there was a hint of coldness in his eyes.
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