Problem teenagers
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Gao Junxiao, with his injured shoulder in a sling, was helped out of the town hospital by Lu Xian and Chen Yao, one on each side. Finally, unable to bear this strange situation any longer, he suddenly broke free from the two of them: "You two, that's enough, it's just a minor injury."
"Xiao, listen to me, you lost 20 units of blood, that's no small matter. You lost so much blood last night, I'm worried you'll feel dizzy, watch your step." Chen Yao gently draped a coat over him.
“Yes, brother, press on this injection site a little longer, or it will bruise.” Lu Xian said earnestly, pressing on the inside of Gao Junxiao’s arm.
"The doctor said to press for three minutes, but I've already pressed for five minutes. I'm not pressing anymore!" Gao Junxiao shook his sleeves and asked Lu Xian where the prisoners were being held, as he was going to interrogate them.
The shouting between the bandits didn't stop last night, but unfortunately, plans can't keep up with changes. When Gao Junxiao recovered some strength and arrived at the southwest corner, he only saw the bandits excitedly trying to take the hostage down with them. He wanted to slap Chen Yao for his impatient shouting. He could only grab the megaphone and negotiate personally to buy time for the raiding team.
Before his voice went hoarse, the raiding team finally wiped out all the bandits. However, due to his excitement while speaking, his newly stitched wound reopened, and he bled profusely. Chen Yao and his men rushed him to the county hospital for a blood transfusion.
Upon learning that the prisoners were being held in the town's police station jail, Gao Junxiao was about to head over when Chen Yao stopped him. Chen Yao had already instructed his adjutant, Zhang, to personally interrogate Lei Huozi and the others, assuring him that he could rest assured.
"Don't worry!" Gao Junxiao frowned, wishing he could grow wings and fly over on the spot. Although Zhang Weiguo, the adjutant, was also a soldier he had trained, he was most afraid of letting Zhang Weiguo interrogate prisoners. That kid was ruthless and heavy-handed when interrogating people. He didn't get anything out of them, but he killed them all.
On the way to the prison, Gao Junxiao and Chen Yao ate breakfast in the car and exchanged their spoils. The fake county magistrate of Qiandeng Town, who was also the bandit Lei Huozi, was the mastermind behind the robbery of military funds. The little brat Lei Shanhai was his adopted apprentice since childhood, and could be considered Liu Shengqi's brother-in-law.
They definitely know where Liu Shengqi is!
"And yesterday, my men rescued three more hostages, one of whom, the bearded man, is the mayor of Qiandeng Town. I've already sent someone to take him back," Gao Junxiao said seriously. The little brat's suit was also taken from another hostage.
"Ah Xiao, I've had this question on my mind for days. How do you know that Mayor Liu is a fake?" Chen Yao asked, his face full of doubt.
That morning, they set up camp outside the town, and at noon a guard came to report that the mayor of Qiandeng Town had brought local gentry to visit the army, which was quite normal.
But Gao Junxiao glanced out through the curtain and said the town mayor was a fake. Then he immediately swapped his collar insignia with Zhang, who was similar in build to him. He pretended to be the adjutant and followed Chen Yao. He even canceled the banquet that evening and went to rescue the hostages based on the intelligence report.
“Because I’ve seen the real mayor of Qiandeng Town in the newspaper,” Gao Junxiao said with a half-smile.
It's a classic case of "the flowers you plant with care may not bloom, but the willows you plant unintentionally may thrive." Gao Junxiao had planned to showcase his intelligence to Qingcheng on the Lantern Festival, so he read many newspapers about lanterns beforehand, including a special report on Qiandeng Town.
Mayor Liu is indeed a master lantern maker. He personally wove a nine-meter-tall dragon lantern at the Shanghai City God Temple Lantern Festival. This interview left a deep impression on Gao Junxiao.
Upon hearing this explanation, Chen Yao couldn't help but marvel at Gao Junxiao's excellent memory. If he had seen it, he would have forgotten it completely in less than five minutes. How could he have remembered it for a month and a half?
Gao Junxiao then pointed to the lantern shops on both sides of the street and explained that Qiandeng Town was named so because almost everyone in the town made a living by weaving lanterns. In the area he pointed to, many townspeople were sitting in front of their shops, skillfully weaving reeds.
Knowing this, one can tell that Mayor Liu is a fake. If Mayor Liu were a local, anyone who has ever made lanterns would have several thin scars on the palms and backs of their hands. Anyone with common sense knows that reeds are sharp and can easily cut fingers. Moreover, due to frequent contact with paste, one's hands will be chapped to some extent, and it is difficult to wash off clothes if accidentally stained.
Although the fake mayor's clothes had paste stains on them, his hands and fingers were unusually clean, indicating that the clothes were most likely not his own, but borrowed to save face or accidentally rubbed off.
Of course, there is another possibility: the mayor is a clerk transferred from elsewhere who doesn't know how to make lanterns. But how could someone who works in an office all year round have thick calluses on his hands and palms, and dirt under his fingernails? These are not the hands that should be used for delicate work.
The hypothetical scenario left Chen Yao stunned. He blinked, seemingly processing the information he had just received, and it took him a while to react: "So when you were helping Qingcheng make the lantern, your hand was also cut?"
"Of course I'll go...tsk! Is that the point?!" Gao Junxiao's smile gradually disappeared. Don't even mention it, he was still furious. None of the Lantern Festival programs he had carefully prepared were performed, and he even had to go back and apologize for standing his girlfriend up.
Chen Yao seemed to sense his change in mood and could only change the subject, saying, "Don't be angry. Qingcheng is a reasonable girl. Go back and buy her some special gifts to coax her."
“I know, but she has everything. What is special to her?” Gao Junxiao muttered to himself.
Chen Yao stuffed a large pancake into Gao Junxiao's hand, telling him to eat something when he couldn't figure things out.
"It's so dry!" Gao Junxiao complained. Chen Yao immediately unscrewed the water bottle and fed him water. This was probably the treatment a wounded soldier should receive.
Outside the interrogation room, Lieutenant Zhang reported the progress of the interrogation to the two officers who had arrived. All the bandits had been reviewed, but Lei Huozi and Lei Shanhai refused to say a word no matter how they were tortured.
This situation was within Gao Junxiao's expectations. Through the small window on the iron gate, he could see Lei Huozi lying on the tiger bench with his head hanging down, his body covered in bloodstains. At his age, he had been subjected to severe torture and was probably crippled.
However, one of the bandits, nicknamed "Little Cat," was a coward. He confessed everything before the fight even started. It turned out that the bandits had set off from Mangshan, outside Dangshan County, and after robbing the government silver, they planned to return to report. However, their retreat was blocked by Wang Weitao's anti-bandit squad from Nanjing, and their path was further obstructed by Zhang Fuguan's anti-bandit squad from Hangzhou.
Moreover, once the bandit suppression brigade from Shanghai joined forces with the two other teams, they attacked from three sides, leaving the bandits with nowhere to retreat or go. They were also carrying several carts of silver dollars and couldn't move fast, so they could only lead the bandit suppression team to circle around Taihu Lake.
"Is Liu Shengqi's lair in Mangshan, outside Dangshan County?" Gao Junxiao immediately grasped the key point.
"Reporting, sir, that's correct," Lieutenant Zhang confirmed after reviewing the interrogation records.
"Ah Xiao, now that we know where the enemy's stronghold is, let's go back and make some arrangements, and just send a large force to crush them," Chen Yao said excitedly.
"Reporting to the commander, it might not be that simple." Lieutenant Zhang gave a brief introduction to the bandits' situation.
Now Liu Shengqi has formed a bandit alliance with four other bandit leaders from different mountain strongholds. Liu Shengqi is the leader, and the other four bandit leaders are Qiao Jie from Fengshan, Wu Yulou from Wudongshan, Hei Xuanfeng from Mazigou, and Wang Huzi from Wangxizhai.
Normally they acted independently, but in critical moments they would help each other to resist government troops' suppression. Therefore, if the bandit suppression team wanted to completely wipe out the bandits, they had to fight their way from Fengshan outside Xuzhou City all the way to Mangshan outside Dangshan County.
Ha, how come there are more and more of those damned bandits the more we try to eradicate them? Gao Junxiao and Chen Yao exchanged a helpless glance. Well, in fact, they both knew that the years of war had caused many people to be displaced, and sometimes, in order to survive, they had no choice but to become bandits besides begging.
Moreover, with warlords ruling their own territories and each acting independently, the people could veto the officials' whims without any investigation. The direct consequence was that the banditry was like leeks after spring, growing back after being cut down, with roots that never ceased to grow.
They could only cut the chives in their hands first. Gao Junxiao decided to interrogate the kitten first, because he needed to know the situation of the main culprit Lei Huozi and the little rascal.
Inside the interrogation room, the bandit cat, Little Cat, kept his head down, fiddling with his yellow belt, occasionally glancing at Gao Junxiao and the others out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, Gao Junxiao turned the desk lamp towards Little Cat, the blinding light causing him to reflexively raise his hand to shield his eyes from the light.
Before Gao Junxiao and the other man could ask any questions, Xiao Mao said in a tearful voice, "Sir, I... I've only been on the mountain for three months, and I've told you everything I know."
Chen Yao said coldly, "You can only speak when I tell you to. Answer whatever I ask, understand?"
"I understand, I understand." The kitten nodded repeatedly on its slightly childish face.
"What's your full name?" Gao Junxiao asked in a slightly stern tone.
"Gou Mao, Mao." The little cat reluctantly revealed his name, and Chen Yao couldn't help but laugh as soon as he finished speaking.
"Is it a dog or a cat?" Gao Junxiao slammed his hand on the table, startling the kitten into trembling.
"My surname is Gou, and my given name is Maomao. There's an old saying that giving someone a humble name makes them easier to raise, and my dad thought dog hair was sturdy. But I like kittens, so I changed my name to Xiaomao (Little Cat)," Xiaomao said in one breath.
"How old are you this year?" Chen Yao asked immediately.
"Seventeen... I'll be eighteen in two months," the kitten said obediently under Chen Yao's intimidating presence.
“We won’t talk about your question today. Tell me about Lei Huozi and Lei Shanhai. For example, what did they do before they went up the mountain? How long have they been up there? Who do they have a grudge against?” Gao Junxiao continued to ask questions. He might be the key to getting the two of them to talk.
Under Gao Junxiao's gaze, Xiao Mao began to speak with a lack of confidence. He and Lei Shanhai were both from Xuzhou. Lei Shanhai was a little over a year older than him, so Lei Shanhai took special care of him in the mountain village. In fact, Lei Shanhai had only been up the mountain for half a year longer than him.
Strictly speaking, Lei Dangjia hadn't been on the mountain for very long. The old man had previously been a traveling performer, and Lei Shanhai was an orphan adopted by Lei Dangjia. He inherited Lei Dangjia's true skills, and his disguise, magic tricks, and bone-shrinking techniques were all surpassed by his master.
It turns out that Lei Shanhai didn't know sorcery, but rather magic tricks.
"Since he's a traveling performer, earning a living through his skills, why would Lei Huozi, who's over fifty, suddenly abandon his law-abiding citizenship and become a bandit?" Chen Yao asked疑惑地.
This brings us to Lei Huozi's only daughter. Everyone has seen how frightening Lei Huozi's face is. He was poor and only married an old widow with a visual impairment when he was over forty. He had only one daughter when he was over fifty. His daughter was quite pretty and had already been betrothed, but unfortunately, she had a hard life. When she went up the mountain to collect firewood, Liu Shengqi kidnapped her and raped her.
Lei, the head of the family, disguised himself and infiltrated the mountain stronghold to rescue his daughter. But somehow, his daughter ended up becoming Liu Shengqi's first wife. Xiao Mao guessed that since the deed was done, the original betrothed family obviously didn't want his daughter anymore, so Lei simply gave his daughter to Liu Shengqi in marriage.
The two agreed on the terms: Lei's daughter would become Liu Shengqi's first wife, while Lei's husband would stay in the village to serve Master Qi. Not long after, the old man recruited his eldest apprentice, Shan Hai, to come up the mountain with him.
Gao Junxiao hadn't expected that Liu Shengqi had this connection with these two. They were clearly enemies, yet he had to work for them. How could Old Lei be so cunning! And what right did he have to negotiate with Liu Shengqi? It was truly strange.
“Sir, this is my first time doing this kind of business. I don’t even know how to kill anyone.” Little Cat lowered his head in shame after saying this. “Brother Shan Hai doesn’t allow our team to touch civilians. After taking the money from the hostages, he releases them. But he never takes the lion’s share; he shares it all with the brothers. I guarantee this with my life. But we can’t interfere with the dirty work that others do.”
Even after the two left the interrogation room, Gao Junxiao was still pondering that the kitten's account did not match their intelligence. Liu Shengqi was not some Robin Hood-like saint who robbed the rich to help the poor; he was a real scoundrel who committed murder, arson, and all sorts of evil deeds.
Could Liu Shengqi really have someone like this under his command? Not motivated by money, nor is he the kind of pervert who enjoys killing and committing evil. Heh heh, that little brat's purpose in staying on the mountain is quite intriguing.
However, Gao Junxiao was in no hurry to meet him. He wanted to put the kid through some hardship first so that he would behave in the future.
The iron gate of the cell was pulled open, and the prisoners, as always, began to shout and yell when they saw people. Lei Shanhai was covered with a black hood and was roughly dragged into an interrogation room by the prison guards before the hood was removed. There was only one interrogator in the room, Gao Junxiao.
Actually, this isn't a real interrogation room. There are no branding irons, no tiger benches, no sound of whips. It's just an ordinary office with bright, open windows.
He could see the lush vegetation outside the window. Lei Shanhai took a deep breath of air facing the window, his eyes filled with a longing for life. If the prison guards hadn't been holding him back, he probably would have opened the window to feel the breeze outside.
"Want to open the window?" Gao Junxiao, his hand dangling from his clean and crisp yellow-green woolen military uniform, smiled and suggested to Shan Hai, then sat down opposite him and opened the interrogation notebook.
Lei Shanhai snorted coldly without answering, but suddenly his expression changed as he thought of something. He slammed onto the table and roared at Gao Junxiao, "You are that adjutant, no, you are the real Director Gao!"
He didn't even recognize himself, probably because their faces were blackened by smoke during their fight. Gao Junxiao watched as the agitated Lei Shanhai was pushed back to his seat by the prison guards and decided to give him a hint: "Oh, not too stupid. It's good that you can figure it out. You little brat, does your leg still hurt?"
"So you're that old bastard who talks a lot of nonsense." The chains on Shan Hai's hands and feet jingled as he shook them. "Hahaha, you got shot too, so what are you so cocky about?"
Gao Junxiao did not respond to his sarcasm: "My surname is Gao. Why don't you try introducing yourself first, so we can get to know each other?"
"When the King of Hell asks you, remember, my name is Lei Shanhai." Lei Shanhai suddenly freed his hands from the handcuffs, and somehow the prison guard's pistol appeared in his hand.
"Come on!" The expected gunshot didn't come. Lei Shanhai kept pulling the trigger, unwilling to give up. On the other side, Gao Junxiao cheered without changing his expression, praising Lei Shanhai's escape trick. He said that if he had a gong, he would have thrown money up as a reward.
These words made Shan Hai's face fall, his eyes filled with anger and resentment. He probably couldn't understand how he could have fallen into the hands of such a corrupt official. After his outburst, he was handcuffed again by the prison guards, his thumbs were tied, and he was locked up again.
"Let me give you some bad news first. You'll be beheaded and displayed to the public the day after tomorrow at noon. Well, no, I mean executed by firing squad." Gao Junxiao said solemnly, his smile fading. "Originally, you could have kept Lei Huozi company on the road to the underworld, but alas, the old man is too old to withstand the torture. Alas! He'll go first. His body will be disposed of in the mass grave as is customary."
Upon hearing the news of Lei Huozi's death, Shan Hai was even more dejected than he had imagined. Two clear tears streamed down his cheeks as he choked back sobs, forcing back the tears that followed. It seemed that his weakness had been revealed.
"Why are you crying? Young people should be responsible for their actions. Since you chose to be a bandit, it was only a matter of time before you ended up dead in the wilderness," Gao Junxiao said calmly.
"Then what the hell is there to ask?" Shan Hai said through gritted teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
"Just asking as usual. Do you have any last words or unfinished business? I'll take care of it for you so you can leave in peace." Gao Junxiao stood up and walked to the window with his back to him.
"No!" Shan Hai angrily kicked the table with his good leg.
The little brat was shot and tortured for several days, yet he still had the strength to kick the table. Gao Junxiao couldn't help but marvel at Lei Shanhai's tenacious vitality, like that of a wild beast. Such a person was indeed difficult to deal with as an enemy, but if he were one of his own, he would definitely be the sharpest knife in his hand.
Wow! Gao Junxiao was already itching to get started just thinking about it. Through the reflection in the glass, Lei Shanhai's dirty little black face looked much better. However, before using him, he had to make sure that Lei Shanhai was a "person".
"Alright, that makes it simple. Have a safe journey the day after tomorrow." Gao Junxiao suddenly pressed down on Lei Shanhai's injured leg, ignoring Shanhai's groans, and whispered in his ear, "Little cripple, you have no chance to save your senior sister. Without her backing, she probably won't live to see me rescue her. Take her away."
Following Gao Junxiao's order, Shan Hai, who was struggling violently, was hooded and dragged back to his cell by the prison guards. "When talking to Da Congming, you have to say half of what you mean and let him overthink it," Gao Junxiao thought, a strange smile creeping onto his lips as he looked at the bloodstains on his hands.
A day later, a prison van drove out of the prison at a steady speed, and soon another green SUV followed. When the prison van turned the third bend, Shan Hai suddenly spoke up and said, "Officer, I need to take a dump. Could you do me a favor and let me leave cleanly?"
"Hold it in, you'll have time to poop and pee before the execution," one of the prison guards said menacingly.
"Officer, this guy just can't hold it in anymore." Shan Hai bent over in pain, his face looking terrible. He heard two prison guards whispering among themselves, probably worried that he might need to relieve himself in the car.
"Alright, alright, consider it a good deed on our part. Don't come looking for us when you die," the prison guard reluctantly agreed.
Once the car had come to a stop, Shan Hai, his voice hoarse, began to make another request: "Officer, could you please take off your hood? Otherwise, I'll have to trouble you again later."
The prison guard cursed and roughly ripped off his hood. Shan Hai slowly opened his slightly narrowed eyes, but the moment he saw the prisoner opposite him, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his lips trembled uncontrollably, as if he had lost his voice, forcibly suppressing the call that was about to come out.
Before he could get a good look, the prison guard next to him shoved him off the bus. He limped along the tree-lined path. Yesterday, that corrupt official clearly said that his master was dead. Who was that prisoner wearing the hood just now? How could he be wearing his master's clothes? Those clothes were sewn by his master's wife herself. His master's wife's eyesight was not good, so the stitches were uneven. He couldn't be mistaken.
Could it be that the corrupt official lied to him? Why would he lie to him? But without seeing his face, it's impossible to be sure. It might just be a smokescreen set up by the corrupt official.
Whether it was true or not, his primary task was to escape; only by escaping could he have a chance to rescue his master and senior sister. Having made up his mind, Shan Hai hummed to himself while telling the prison guards to stand further away, ostensibly to avoid bothering the officers with the smell.
Once in the bushes, Shan Hai pulled out the pen cap he had stolen while climbing the table yesterday, broke off the clasp and used it as a key to unlock the lock. He didn't immediately break free of the chain, but rather wore it loosely. The bone-shrinking technique was still somewhat harmful to his body, and he wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary.
Next, they had to deal with the prison guard. Just as Shan Hai was gripping the barbed wire and approaching the guard step by step, suddenly the guard on the prison van shouted for help. Thick smoke was billowing from the van; it seemed to have spontaneously combusted.
The driver and another prison guard had already run far away and hid behind a rock. The prison guard in front of him was at a loss for what to do, so he suddenly pulled him behind a tree and whispered, "Let's not go over there. You should stay safe. It's always good to live a little longer."
"There's someone else in there, aren't you going to rescue them?" Shan Hai frowned, his heart filled with disdain, his hand still tightly gripping the buckle, intending to find an opportunity to kill them with one blow.
“He’s a death row inmate anyway. We’re just doing this to make a living, there’s no need to risk our lives. What will happen to my wife, children, and elderly parents if I die?” the prison guard said, seemingly lost in thought. Shan Hai appeared somewhat moved, and the hand gripping the murder weapon loosened slightly.
"Officer, what's wrong with that guy? He's in deep trouble, why doesn't he climb out himself?" Shan Hai asked tentatively.
"Why are you climbing? You were already beaten to the point of barely breathing. I heard you were a newly captured big bandit. Your face is really scary. Luckily you're wearing a hood so I don't have to keep looking at your face." The prison guard rolled his eyes at Shan Hai in annoyance.
After hearing the prison guard's description, Shan Hai's eyelids twitched violently. His master took out a copper coin from his hat to buy him candied hawthorns to cheer him up. His master used his rough hands to perform magic tricks for everyone. His master taught him boxing in the woods. His master pulled him out of the dark well with his face covered in blood. All the past flashed into a bright light before Shan Hai's eyes.
Before he could think it through, his body reacted first, rushing straight towards the prison van. What if it really was his master inside? He couldn't let his master be reduced to ashes; he owed his master too much.
When the prison guards came to their senses, they saw Lei Shanhai desperately dragging another death row inmate out of the vehicle. Before they could run far, the huge wave from the explosion behind them knocked them both to the ground. The prison guards were about to go forward to check on them.
Just then, a squad of armed soldiers rushed out of the woods. The officer in charge inspected the condition of the two death row inmates, waved his hand, and the two were carried away on stretchers. Soon, everyone was gone, leaving only three prison guards standing bewildered in the wind.
On the hillside, Gao Junxiao took in everything through his binoculars. Chen Yao snatched the binoculars from Gao Junxiao and handed them to Zhang, then tugged at Gao Junxiao and urged him to get in the car: "Stop looking, let's go eat first, you need to replenish your energy."
"What are you talking about? Go eat if you're hungry. I haven't even finished negotiating the deal with that brat yet." Gao Junxiao broke free from Chen Yao's arm and told Lieutenant Lu to drive to the hospital.
"What's wrong with you? Even if you threaten him with Lei Huozi and force him to work for you, so what? You can't tame a wolf cub like that." Chen Yao shook his head, not optimistic.
"Hehe, if he's a wolf cub, then I'm the wolf king." Gao Junxiao laughed out of the blue. He was growing to like this little brat more and more. Now that he had passed the humanity test, all he needed to do was train him properly and he was sure to amount to something.
"Alright, alright, you wolf king, even a wolf king needs to eat." Perhaps seeing that Gao Junxiao was not cooperating, Chen Yao decided to take a hard line: "If you don't cooperate, I'll go to the telegraph office right now and send a telegram to tell your dear Miss He that you have suffered a gunshot wound and lost too much blood here, and ask her to come to Qiandeng Town to take care of you immediately."
"Why bring her out here? She's far away and the emperor doesn't care what she does!" Gao Junxiao suddenly raised his voice, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes.
“Let’s try and see if Qingcheng will put aside her work to come see you, and also test your true feelings for each other. Is work more important to her or you?” Chen Yao winked at Gao Junxiao.
No, you can't test people's character like that. What if she doesn't come? No, it would be even worse if she did come! He still has his pride. How can he let Qingcheng see him looking so pathetic with his arm dangling in his hand?
Gao Junxiao took a deep breath, put on a professional fake smile, and tried to negotiate: "Can we change it to braised pork? I don't like offal or dates. Even a god couldn't stand eating that every day."
"I didn't tell you to eat offal or dates, I told you to drink the soup. How about we add some spinach today? The soy sauce will leave a scar, so you can't eat that," Chen Yao advised.
"Tch, should I go get a new skin?" Gao Junxiao couldn't help but joke.
"Telegram!" Chen Yao stopped wasting words and brought up the mountain, and Gao Junxiao instantly lost his temper and obediently got into the car.
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