Chapter 29
There was silence for a moment.
Chen Lanjun was the first to react. She gathered the snakeskin bag, held it in her hand, and stepped onto the bicycle.
“Run!”
Ali nimbly grasped the four corners of the mat on the ground and tied a knot. While he was packing up, Cao Hongyao also hurriedly jumped on the bicycle, took over the big bag seamlessly, and pushed his foot, and the hinges made a "swish" sound.
As agreed before, Cao Hongyao took the goods and rode her bike southward; Ali and his friends scattered like birds and beasts, running as hard as they could in all directions.
It was so smooth and flowing that Ah Jing was stunned.
Chen Lanjun pedaled her bicycle northward a few times, turned around, and found Ah Jing standing there in a daze.
She braked suddenly and stopped with her legs slanted on the ground.
"What are you doing here? Come here!"
"Sister Lan——"
In the dark night, several beams of flashlight shone in, making her ponytail look like golden hair.
"Don't run, stop right there!"
“Don’t run!”
Chen Lanjun was so anxious that she shouted at her:
“Run over here!”
Ah Jing was confused and started running towards the direction where she was.
"Stop right there in front! Don't run!"
Only a fool wouldn't run!
Ah Jing exerted force suddenly, and Chen Lanjun reached out and pulled her, finally pulling her onto the bicycle.
"Hold on tight."
Chen Lanjun threw the woven bag to Ah Jing, leaned forward, and pedaled the wheel with all her strength. The wind blew in her ears, her hair slapped her face, and her heart was beating wildly in her chest, but she didn't care at all and just rushed forward.
But you must not get caught!
Chen Lanjun used all her strength to pedal the bicycle, almost causing sparks to fly. Finally, the sounds of people chasing and beating her from behind gradually faded.
He looked back as he rode.
The people who were in charge of the fight were tired and angry. They held their knees with their hands, gasped for breath, and cursed in their direction.
"They are all cockroach wives, running so fast!"
Chen Lanjun just rode furiously for a long, long time, until she could no longer see the people behind her except the night, and then she dared to stop.
When she stopped, she realized that her legs were weak.
Chen Lanjun leaned over the bicycle, gasping for breath, and turned to Ah Jing and said, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Ah Jing obviously hadn't come to her senses yet. She held the woven bag tightly, like a frightened squirrel holding its last pine cone.
Chen Lanjun inexplicably wanted to laugh.
"Okay, no one is following."
The girl stared at her blankly, tears falling from her eyes.
Chen Lanjun was stunned: "What... happened? Where are you hurt?"
Ah Jing shook her head and cried, "It's so dangerous, and you still want to help me..."
"Okay, we are all classmates, help each other." Chen Lanjun advised, "Don't cry, it will attract people and that will be bad."
Ajing stopped crying immediately.
When we returned to school, the other students were already chatting under the camphor tree at the entrance.
Ali acted out the performance vividly: "That person was chasing me from behind, so I ran forward desperately! His legs were so short, how could he catch up with me? Ah, Sister Lan is back."
"Sister Lan, are you okay?"
"I just saw you suddenly stop. I was scared to death."
Everyone greeted Chen Lanjun.
Chen Lanjun agreed to everything one by one and counted the number of people. Only after she found that there was not one less or more, did she feel completely relieved.
"Is it fun today?"
She asked with a smile.
"It's fun! So exciting!" Ali laughed.
Chen Lanjun raised her hand and gave him a smile: "It won't be fun if you get caught!"
They had encountered people from the "Anti-Japanese Office" who came to arrest them once or twice before, usually with only one or two people, and Chen Lanjun and his team easily escaped. But this time, the other side sent out at least four or five people.
It is obvious that either they are angry about the "cat catching the mouse and letting the mouse run away", or there is an order from above to catch it strictly.
Whatever the reason, it's not a good sign.
Chen Lanjun thought for a moment and said, "Everyone should take a break tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to avoid the limelight for two days. Let's see if this can be sold within the school."
"It should be no problem." Cao Hongyao said, "We have had several reservations before, and we are worried about the lack of stock. It's a good opportunity for everyone to rush to buy more in the next two days."
Thanks to Chen Lanjun's proper arrangement, the speculative team composed of classmates fully implemented the policy of "when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we advance". Although they were chased away several times in a month, they were never completely caught once.
*** ***
"Count it and see if you have enough money."
In the apricot grove at dusk, Chen Lanjun opened an army green luggage bag. Inside was a lot of yellow and green banknotes and coins.
The first and second place in mathematics, Cao Hongyao and Liu Li counted one side each, and one pair said: "345 yuan!"
As soon as this number came out, the students who were surrounding the classroom in three layers all exclaimed "Wow" in unison.
"Adding the previous ones, that's enough! Enough!" Xiaonian jumped for joy, his two little braids swinging back and forth.
Chen Lanjun put the sorted money into a bag and handed it to Ah Jing: "Here, we did it."
Ah Jing held the bag, her throat choking with sobs: "Thank you, everyone."
"Hey, hey, it's a happy event, don't cry." Liu Li deliberately put on a stern face to scare her, "If you really drop the gold beans, I will steal the money."
"You dare!" Cao Hongyao glared at her.
Liu Li made a face in return fearlessly.
Chen Lanjun laughed. After sitting side by side this time, the relationship between the classmates became more harmonious.
She patted Ah Jing's shoulder and said, "Why don't you stay in the dormitory for one night? Tomorrow, I will go home with you."
Although the money was enough, Chen Lanjun was a little worried about Ajing's family. What if Ajing's father and brother wanted both sums of money? She had to help them to the end and send them to the west.
Ah Jing nodded: "Okay."
The next day, Chen Lanjun drove Ajing home.
New Year's Day is in two days, which is the slack season for farming. Farmers in the countryside are mending tiles or sitting at their doorsteps basking in the sun, leisurely and relaxing. The clouds are so white and close that they seem like they can be picked off with just a raise of the hand.
Ah Jing, who was sitting on the back of the bicycle, was humming a tune from The White-Haired Girl, "I hope my father is happy, I am happy when he comes back, my father will bring back flour, let's spend the New Year happily, let's spend the New Year happily!"
The singing was flying in the wind, and the bicycle was up and down on the bumpy road. Suddenly, there was a "pop" sound, and Chen Lanjun grabbed the handlebars tightly to prevent herself and the bicycle from falling down.
"What's wrong?"
"It looks like the rear tire blew out."
Chen Lanjun observed that there were many sharp pebbles on this dirt road, which might be the reason for the puncture.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. If you hadn't come to my house, the tire wouldn't have flattened." Ajing felt embarrassed.
"It's okay, as long as it can be fixed."
Chen Lanjun stood up and said with a smile, "It's just right for a walk."
The wall of Ajing's house is in sight.
When they reached a place where the bicycle could not be ridden, Ajing helped push the bicycle.
Almost there.
Ah Jing shouted happily: "Grandma, I'm back."
She helped park the bike, sniffed it, and frowned, "It smells like pesticide. Who knocked the bottle over?"
Chen Lanjun was a little surprised. Although the use of pesticides is common nowadays, it is obviously not the busy farming season, so it is unreasonable for rural people to waste pesticides.
Suddenly, she had a bad feeling in her heart, took three or two steps forward and stopped at the door.
The closer you get to the door, the stronger the smell of pesticides.
"Open the door quickly." She turned and looked at Ajing seriously.
Ah Jing's face turned pale, and her hand was shaking as she took out the key. She put it on the door lock, but held it upside down, and couldn't get it into the keyhole.
Chen Lanjun held her hand, took the key, aimed it at the keyhole, and opened it.
As soon as the door opened, the smell of pesticides hit my nose, mixed with a hint of alcohol.
"grandmother!"
Ah Jing cried out sadly and rushed inside.
Chen Lanjun stood by the door, with her back to the light. A pesticide bottle fell quietly to the ground, the glass bottle was covered with dust, and the light shone on the bottle, refracting small colorful lights.
Above the light were Grandma Ajing's old, shriveled hands. She sat quietly in an old wooden chair with her eyes closed, wearing her most decent clothes with only one patch on it.
There was a piece of paper on her knees. This old lady, who had only had the opportunity to attend a two-day literacy class after the liberation, wrote a few words in crooked handwriting: "Ajing, don't listen to them. You have to be good."
Ah Jing rushed forward crying and hugged her grandmother: "Grandma, don't scare me, grandma - I'm sorry, I'm back, Ah Jing is back, grandma!"
Chen Lanjun took a deep breath, walked forward to check, and pressed her fingers on Grandma Ajing's carotid artery.
There is still a faint pulse!
She immediately squatted down and said, "This is not the time to cry. Give me a hand. I'll carry her and you push the cart. Let's go find a doctor."
The brigade's clinic was an extremely simple house. When the doctor heard that the patient had drunk pesticides, he immediately ran to the dry toilet with his experience, scooped up a gourd of yellow soup, and tried to force the patient to vomit.
However, Grandma Ajing was determined to die. Although she was unconscious, her teeth were clenched tightly.
The doctor was stinking, but still couldn't do anything. He said helplessly: "No, the folk remedy won't work. We have to send him to a higher-level hospital."
"Do you have a car?" Chen Lanjun asked, "It's too far from here to the county hospital. I'm afraid it will delay things, and my bicycle is broken."
The doctor turned around and shouted, "Ada, where's the tractor? Call her over quickly, the tractor driver from the commune."
"No, I'm out doing something today."
Chen Lanjun gritted her teeth and said to Ah Jing, "Ah Jing, you push grandma on the bike and I'll run to the main road ahead to see if I can stop a car."
She rushed out along the path with all her strength. She ran too fast and tripped over a stone on the ridge of the field. She fell. Not caring about the pain in her knees, she supported herself on the ground with her hands and continued to rush forward.
She kept running, and the smell of blood rose from her lungs, but she didn't care. Chen Lanjun kept looking around as she ran, hoping for a miracle to happen.
Come get a car!
Please give me a car!
After running to the main road and running for a while, Chen Lanjun finally saw a car.
From a distance, she stood in the middle of the road and waved continuously.
"Stop, stop!"
The car stopped two meters away from her.
Chen Lanjun tried her best to remain calm and walked quickly to the car.
When I rolled down the car window, I saw a beautiful face I hadn't seen in a long time.
Chen Lanjun didn't care about anything else. She leaned over to the car window and said, "Shao Qinghe, please help me. There is an old lady who is seriously ill and needs to be rushed to the county hospital. Can you help me?"
Shao Qinghe frowned slightly, but still nodded.
With a car, the time spent going to the county hospital was instantly shortened a lot.
With tears on her face, Ajing was stopped outside the emergency room by doctors and nurses from the county hospital.
She paced back and forth, lost in thought, and could only mutter over and over again: "How could this happen? How could this happen?"
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