Night had fallen, and the moonlight shone on the dim mountain path, making it barely possible to see the way. An elderly man, over fifty years old with half his hair and beard turned white, struggled to carry Wang Han, who was only wearing a pair of trousers, along the mountain path by the moonlight.
"Grandpa, why don't you light a torch?" A thin young man carrying a torch came up from the foot of the mountain path and quickly asked the old man.
"You brat, put out the torch right now!" the old man said to his grandson. The torches were too conspicuous at night; although they could scare away wild animals, they would also attract those beastly Japanese devils.
Upon hearing the old man's words, the young man quickly extinguished the torch in his hand and asked, "Grandpa, who are you carrying on your back?"
“Your brother,” the old man said.
“I don’t have a brother. My brother died when I was little, and he doesn’t look like him either,” the young man said.
“I said he’s your brother, so he’s your brother. If anyone asks, just say he went out to make a living and he’s not dead at all. If I get angry, I’ll say he’s already dead. Why are you so talkative? If you let it slip, I’ll beat you to death.” The old man glared and cursed at the young man’s words.
"Yes, yes, yes, he's my brother, he's my brother." Hearing the old man's angry voice, the young man shrank back and quickly answered.
"Erdan, you carry him on your back. I'll go prepare the donkey and cart. We'll head to town tonight; we can't stay in the mountains any longer." The old man handed Wang Han to the young man and hurried down the mountain path. Before leaving, he reminded him, "Remember, carry him down the mountain quickly. Don't delay. If anyone comes looking for you with torches, whoever it is, you must hide carefully with him on your back. Don't let anyone find you. I'll tell you the rest later. Remember!"
"Understood, Grandpa," the young man said, carrying Wang Han on his back.
He and the old man were farmers who made a living by farming down the mountain. They grew some vegetables to sell in nearby towns. Since there weren't any particularly fierce wild animals in the nearby mountains, they would usually go up the mountain to hunt wild animals like pheasants and rabbits when they weren't farming, and take them to town to sell. Wang Han was lucky; he was run into the old man who had just caught a rabbit and was on his way back.
The young man was much stronger than the old man, so he carried Wang Han down the mountain path much faster. Soon they arrived at a thatched house at the foot of the mountain, which was also his and the old man's home.
In front of his house, the old man had already led a small donkey, put the cart on the donkey's back, and was holding a set of clean clothes and two cloth bundles in his hands, waiting anxiously.
"Grandpa," the young man approached the old man, helped Wang Han into the car, and asked, "Who exactly is this?"
"Help him change his clothes. He was probably a prisoner of war captured by the Japanese a few days ago. He must have escaped. I found him on the mountain path near the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp." The old man said as he and Erdanzi helped Wang Han change his clothes. "When I found him, he was already unconscious from exhaustion and covered in blood. Fortunately, he didn't have any wounds. I tied his clothes to two wild rabbits I caught, sprinkled some chili powder on the road, and then quickly carried him down the mountain."
"Erdan, let's go. We can't stay here any longer." After helping Wang Han change his clothes, the old man quickly took Erdan and, in the dark, drove the donkey cart away from there.
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"Baka yarou..." The Japanese company commander, who had been chasing after the rabbit, was brought before him with half of his prisoner's clothes tied to him. He cursed angrily.
"Useless...useless..." After slapping the Japanese soldiers in charge of tracking the dogs hard across the face with his already swollen hands, the Japanese company commander ordered, "Split up immediately and search the entire mountain. He's alone, so he shouldn't have gone far. Also, immediately inform the regimental commander of the situation here. We've lost him and need to send more support to assist us."
"Hey..." The Japanese devils immediately began to move.
Soon, the Japanese regimental commander, having received the news, led a battalion of over a thousand Japanese soldiers to the scene. They quickly sealed off the entire mountain and joined the search operation.
As night fell, thousands of Japanese soldiers blockaded the entire mountain, searching like savages climbing trees and burrowing into caves all night long, not daring to miss a single spot. More than ten people were injured in the process. They still couldn't find Wang Han by sunrise. When they discovered the deserted thatched hut at dawn, they learned that Wang Han had been rescued by the residents at the foot of the mountain and had left overnight.
"Baka! You piece of trash! You good-for-nothing!" The Japanese regimental commander slapped the Japanese company commander hard across the face. The people had already been rescued from the mountains, yet they didn't even know, and had so many people search the mountains all night.
"Head to the nearest town immediately. Also, have the guards at the surrounding checkpoints, roads, and mountain paths keep a close watch on everyone. Do not allow a single person to leave." After slapping the Japanese company commander, the Japanese regimental commander immediately gave the order and then led his men to hurry towards the nearby town again.
"Baka, trash, good-for-nothing, good-for-nothing..." The Japanese battalion commander came up to the Japanese company commander and slapped him more than a dozen times before quickly following him to the nearby town.
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Grandpa Erdan and his grandson rushed Wang Han to the town overnight, secretly led him into the town, and hid him in the home of a trusted acquaintance.
After spending the entire night in fear and anxiety with a family I knew, not a single Japanese soldier appeared.
As dawn broke, just as they breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the Japanese soldiers hadn't pursued them, thousands of Japanese soldiers outside the town, their eyes bloodshot and red, rushed into the town. Without a word, they kicked open doors and stormed in, frantically searching every house, turning everything upside down, even water tanks and stoves. The search was extremely thorough, and everyone was thoroughly interrogated.
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