Captain Wang

The Shaling Brigade is located at the foot of the mountain. The houses are arranged in a semicircle, and the straight line is a yellow earth road that can accommodate ox carts. One end of the road leads to a village deeper in the mountain, and the other end leads to the commune and the county town.

Across the road is a gentle hillside. The trees on the hill are not tall, but very dense, especially at the lower part, where dead branches are spread out, bushes are growing, and weeds have grown to knee height.

Meng Cheng was in the woods at this moment, wearing a tattered straw hat on his head and old gloves on his hands. He held a sickle in one hand and a dead branch in the other, and he could chop a handful of them with just one move.

At this time, trees cannot be cut down indiscriminately, or you may be criticized and beaten if caught, but dead branches and shrubs can be brought back for burning, and these lush weeds can also be cut back in the fall to use as firewood.

But Meng Cheng came here not to cut dead branches for firewood, but to wait for someone. While cutting dead branches, he raised his head from time to time to look in the direction of the Shaling Brigade.

Many people go to the commune or county on Sundays. From time to time, people walk on this road. Most of these people are in groups, and there are very few people who are alone.

After waiting for more than an hour, I finally saw someone walking alone.

Meng Cheng stood up and looked over. In order to avoid being seen clearly, he picked up the towel on his shoulders and wiped his face.

He had good eyesight, and he was looking down from a high place, which gave him an advantage. He could see the man's appearance clearly from a distance. He looked very similar to the photo he saw at Captain Chen's place.

However, the photo Captain Chen got was taken of Tian Mengjun a few years ago, and he looked a little immature. But now he is in his twenties and looks much more mature.

But from this perspective, Tian Mengjun's temperament is not quite what Captain Chen and Ye Min described.

In their words, Tian Mengjun is a cheerful and optimistic person with a gentle temperament and a willingness to help others. But at this time, he may be alone, taking off his usual disguise, and looking a little gloomy.

Meng Cheng didn't look at it for long. He quickly bent down, tied up the waste that he had chopped in the past hour, tied it into a shoulder pole, and walked down with the waste on his shoulder after Tian Mengjun passed by, following behind him not too far away.

Tian Mengjun was very alert. She noticed someone was following her. She looked back at him several times, then simply stopped and waited for him to pass by.

Meng Cheng didn't expect him to be so vigilant, but in order not to be exposed, he could only carry the load and pass him.

Fortunately, he was well prepared. After walking to the front and putting some distance between him and Tian Mengjun, he took out a broken mirror with the edges wrapped in cloth from his pocket and used the shadow of his hat to reflect the back of his eyes.

After taking the photo for the third time, Tian Mengjun's figure disappeared from the mirror.

Meng Cheng stopped, put the firewood on the side of the road, found a larger stone to sit on the ground, took off the water cup on his waist, raised his head to drink big gulps of water, and wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.

According to the distance between him and Tian Mengjun when he looked back the second time, he would normally reappear in his sight within three minutes.

But Meng Cheng sat here and waited for nearly five minutes, but Tian Mengjun didn't show up...

There are only two possibilities. One is that he was exposed. The other is that Tian Mengjun's target was not the commune and he turned around on the way.

If it was a turn, where would Tian Mengjun go?

Meng Cheng closed his eyes and began to think.

This winding dirt road has high and low mountains on one side and low sky or village on the other side. There are many forks in the road leading to the village, and there is one in the middle when he picked up the mirror for the second and third time.

But if Tian Mengjun's purpose was to connect with his superiors, he would not go to a crowded village, because transportation was inconvenient at that time and every stranger entering the village might be watched.

The most important thing for a spy is not to attract attention.

So, did Tian Mengjun go into the mountains?

There was indeed a path leading to the mountains between the places where he picked up the mirror twice.

When the troops organize a training, they usually survey the terrain first and decide where to go based on various data. Although the training site is usually chosen to be a place with few people, the survey area will be wider.

Meng Cheng was often in charge of this task. He had basically memorized in his mind every mountain, every river, and every village around his station in the form of a map.

Although he had not followed the path he had just passed into the mountains, based on the direction he remembered, he should be able to reach Hongqi Commune by following the path over three mountains.

Just at this moment, a person appeared in the direction he came from. Meng Cheng raised his head and drank the last sip of water in the cup, then stood up and stopped the person, asking, "Hello, where are you from?"

The person who was stopped by Meng Cheng looked at him suspiciously for a moment and asked, "What's the matter?"

"It's like this. I just went up the mountain to chop two bundles of firewood, but I just twisted my ankle and can't carry them back. If you live nearby, I'll give you these two bundles of firewood. You can just carry them home and return the loads to me."

The man looked at the two bundles of firewood on the roadside and smiled immediately: "Oh, how can this be so embarrassing? You worked so hard to cut the firewood, how can I carry it back? How about you go back and call for help, and I'll help you keep an eye on the firewood here?"

"My wife is weak and can't carry these two bundles of firewood." Meng Cheng said, "It's fate that we met. If you carry the firewood back, it will be considered a good deed on my part."

At that time, firewood was used for cooking in the countryside. No one would be willing to give up two bundles of good firewood for free. After hearing what Meng Cheng said, the man did not continue to refuse. He rubbed his hands and said, "Okay, I'll carry the firewood back. Don't worry, my home is at the entrance of Chenwan Village. It only takes ten minutes to go back and forth."

Chenwan is the village he passed by before raising the mirror for the third time, and it is also a place where Tian Mengjun might go with a small probability.

Meng Cheng asked, "It's really close. Did you see a young man on your way here?"

"What young people?"

"A young man wearing a white shirt and black trousers. He has medium-length hair and fair skin. He is about this tall."

Because he got two bundles of firewood for free, he was happy to answer Meng Cheng's question. After thinking carefully, he shook his head and said, "No, you are the only young man I saw along the way."

Meng Cheng said "Oh" and asked what was at the end of the path leading to the deep mountains.

"Isn't it just a forest?" The other party shook his head and said, "Oh, I remember now. Walk three or four miles in, on the second hill, there is a dilapidated temple on the hillside. It used to be very popular, but no one went there after the Four Olds Movement." After saying this, he remembered and asked, "Why are you asking this?"

"Just asking." Meng Cheng said with a smile, "Then you can go as soon as possible and come back as soon as possible. I will wait here for you to bring the shoulder pole back?"

As soon as the topic turned back to firewood, the other party stopped thinking about it, said yes happily, and went home with his shoulder pole.

The man kept his word. Ten minutes later, he came back with a shoulder pole and asked Meng Cheng where he was going. If it was on the way, they would go together. But Meng Cheng pointed in the direction he came from and said, "Maybe not. My home is over there."

"Well, if you sprain your ankle, can you go back alone?"

"It's okay, it's not serious." Meng Cheng said, pretending to limp a few steps.

Seeing that he was walking fine, the other party was relieved and turned to walk to the other side. Meng Cheng limped to the path leading to the deep mountains. Before going up, he squatted down and carefully observed the weeds that grew in the middle of the path because few people went into the mountains. After confirming that there were traces of people walking on it, he stood up and tiptoed along the traces of people walking on the path.

After walking for nearly twenty minutes, Meng Cheng climbed over the first hill and saw two diverging roads in front of him.

According to the map in his memory and the person he just met, Meng Cheng felt that the path on the left should lead to the third mountain, and the path on the right might lead to the ruined temple.

The dew in the deep mountains was very heavy, making the ground slightly moist, so it was easy to leave footprints when stepping on it. Footprints could be seen on both forks in the road in front of Mengcheng.

Meng Cheng squatted down and observed the footprints carefully. He soon discovered that the footprints on the road to the left were in the opposite direction of his. People should have come from the third mountain. There were two types of footprints on the road to the right, one large and one small.

Apparently, the ruined temple was where they met.

After looking at the direction of the footprints, Meng Cheng carefully observed the details of the two types of footprints.

The soles of the smaller footprints are smooth and the imprints are slightly shallow, so we can basically judge that the owner of the footprints is not tall or fat, and is wearing cloth shoes, which is consistent with Tian Mengjun's situation.

The big footprints are slightly deeper and have creases. The owner of the footprints should not be short or thin. In addition, he was wearing leather shoes. Look at the pattern...

These are officers' leather shoes issued by the army.

Meng Cheng's eyes darkened and he pursed his lips tightly.

After he stood up, he did not move forward, but stepped back, exited the path, walked along the main road to the commune, and headed straight for the back door of the Revolutionary Committee.

He drove here, and in order not to arouse suspicion, he parked his car outside the Revolutionary Committee, creating the illusion that he was there to do business.

After entering the Revolutionary Committee, he went directly to the director's office to change his clothes, and after greeting people, he left through the main entrance.

After driving back to Hongqi Commune, Meng Cheng did not go back to the unit directly. Instead, he parked the car at the foot of the third mountain, opened the window, lit a cigarette and waited patiently.

We waited for half a morning. When the military green figure came down the winding path, the sun was already high overhead, and the sunlight shining down was warm and dazzling.

The man had adapted to the coolness in the mountains and felt a little uncomfortable coming out. He raised his hand to press down his military cap and adjusted his military buttons twice.

During this time, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of the front of a military jeep at the end of the winding mountain road. He froze in his tracks until the vehicle got closer and stopped in front of him.

Until the window was rolled down by the people inside, the man in the driver's seat stuck his head out and said with a stern look, "Captain Wang."

Captain Wang's throat rolled, and he said with a dry laugh: "Captain Meng, why are you here?"

Meng Cheng said coldly: "I should be the one asking you this."

Captain Wang explained in a pale voice: "I had nothing to do, so I went up the mountain for a walk."

Meng Cheng snorted, but did not expose him. Instead, he turned his eyes to the front and said, "Get in the car."

"No, I can go back by myself."

Meng Cheng turned his head, looked directly into Captain Wang's eyes, and said coldly: "Do you think I'm asking for your opinion?"

Although Captain Wang felt guilty, he was still a little annoyed by Meng Cheng's strength.

Yes, when his wife gave birth, Meng Cheng and Ye Min reached out to them, but he had already visited them to thank them, so he didn’t owe them anything!

At work, he and Meng Cheng are both battalion commanders, and there is no difference in rank. Who does Meng Cheng think he is? Why does he think he should obey his orders?

Thinking of this, Captain Wang took a step back and said, "I still have something to do."

Meng Cheng opened the car door directly, took out the pistol from the holster on his waist, pulled the slide, then raised his hand and put the muzzle of the gun against Captain Wang's head.

"Meng Cheng!" Captain Wang was instantly furious and shouted, "You are a soldier, your gun can only be aimed at the enemy, your current behavior is a serious violation of discipline!"

Meng Cheng refused to give in and said, "Meeting with a suspected spy, I have reason to suspect that you are an enemy!"

"What?"

Captain Wang turned his head suddenly, and the point of his gun changed from pointing at his temple to pointing at his forehead. He was a little nervous, but he was sure that Meng Cheng would not dare to shoot. He took a deep breath and said loudly: "You are framing me! I, Wang Hui, am upright and I don't know the spy you are talking about!"

"Tian Mengjun, do you know me?"

Captain Wang shook his head reflexively: "Meng Jun? Impossible, she is a good girl!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the skin on Captain Wang's dark face twitched slightly, and a hint of regret appeared in his eyes.

Meng Cheng looked surprised, but when he remembered what Ye Min said, that the educated youth named Tian in the original novel happened to be a pregnant woman, he understood a little more and chuckled and said, "Captain Wang, you may not know that the good girl in your heart, Tian Mengjun, is a man."

Still regretting that he had quickly disclosed Tian Mengjun's existence, Captain Wang, who was thinking about how to save her, suddenly burst into tears: "Impossible! He is obviously a woman!"

Seeing him like this, Meng Cheng put away his gun and reported Tian Mengjun's information: "Tian Mengjun, male, 23 years old, from Chuzhou, his parents are capitalists, both parents died after the Great Movement, and he is currently working in the Shaling Brigade."

Except for gender, the information about Wang Mengjun from Meng Cheng basically matches what Captain Wang knows.

Although he was unwilling to believe it, Captain Wang's lips couldn't help trembling.

"I don't know how he deceived you, but according to the information I found, Tian Mengjun is very likely an enemy spy. Come back with me and tell the truth. Maybe you can keep your military status, but if you refuse to tell the truth, you know the consequences."

Captain Wang's straight shoulders bent slightly. After listening to him, he smiled bitterly and asked, "If he is really a spy and I have been deceived, can I really keep my military status?"

Meng Cheng did not answer. They all knew that if Tian Mengjun was really a spy, it would be impossible for Captain Wang to retain his military status and he might even end up in prison.

After all, Wang Hui and Tian Mengjun have a special relationship. He went to the temple today not to meet with spies as Meng Cheng thought, but for a tryst.

The army paid the most attention to lifestyle issues. Even if Tian Mengjun was not a spy, the fact that he cheated on his wife was enough to make Wang Hui drink a pot of wine. Who knew how long they had been secretly in Chen Cang's affairs, and how many army secrets Wang Hui had revealed to Tian Mengjun during this period.

Finally, Meng Cheng just turned sideways, pointed at the door and said, "Get in."

This time, Wang Hui did not refuse sternly as he did just now. Instead, he silently lowered his head, opened the car door, and sat in the passenger seat.

…

Ever since Meng Cheng left home in the morning, Ye Min has been feeling uneasy all day.

Previously, she had gone to the countryside to provide free clinics to find the educated youth named Tian who was suspected to be a spy. Although this was risky, even if she found a suitable candidate, she would not have to confront him face to face.

In a situation where the enemy is in the light and we are in the dark, the risk factor is not high.

But Meng Cheng went out today to track Tian Mengjun, who was suspected to be a spy. It would be fine if this person was not a spy, but if he was really the person who pretended to be a pregnant woman in the original book, Meng Cheng would most likely meet the people behind Tian Mengjun today.

It is now late April, and it will be May in less than ten days. According to the original plot, those people must have stored a lot of explosives and perhaps even pistols.

No matter how powerful Meng Cheng is, he is only one person, and two fists cannot beat four hands. Ye Min is very worried that something might happen to him.

Originally, she did not support Meng Cheng to follow Tian Mengjun. She felt that since this person was behaving strangely, it would be better to report him directly and let the army send someone to investigate.

But Meng Cheng felt that although Tian Mengjun changed her weekly behavior and stayed in the team after noticing that Zhao Zhiqing had started to follow her, which was strange, it did not mean that she was definitely a spy.

If we report it directly, and the troops dispatch force and find out that Tian Mengjun is not a spy, not only will we alarm the enemy, but by the time that group actually takes action in May, it will be difficult to mobilize so many people in advance.

In order to take the initiative, he had to follow the situation himself.

Before leaving, he assured her that if he found something wrong, he would retreat immediately and would never act rashly. But Ye Min still couldn't control her worries. She didn't even have the energy to make lunch, and took the brother and sister to the army to deal with it casually.

She was also restless in the afternoon. When Liang Juan came to talk to her, she looked up and out of the yard ten times in three minutes. Liang Juan noticed that something was wrong with her and asked, "What's wrong with you today? You look absent-minded?"

Ye Min pursed her lips and smiled: "Is there?"

"Yes," Liang Juan nodded affirmatively, "How about you repeat what I just said?"

Ye Min opened her mouth, but she really couldn't say anything. She smiled bitterly and admitted, "Well, I was a little restless today."

"Why?"

"Meng Cheng is out on business today, and I'm a little worried about him."

Liang Juan knew about this, but today was a day off and she hadn't heard that Meng Cheng was on a mission, so she thought he was out for some private matter like mailing something or a letter back home, and she didn't understand why Ye Min was worried.

Because of my confusion, I started to think: "You have been married for many years, why are you still inseparable?"

Ye Min felt a little embarrassed by the teasing and denied it, "No way."

Liang Juan didn't believe it and said with a smile: "If you are not inseparable, why are you so reluctant to let Captain Meng go out to do something?"

Seeing that she believed in her imagination, Ye Min didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but in the end she didn't explain, because it was best to keep it a secret until the result came out.

I was in a state of panic until around two in the afternoon when someone finally came to report the news.

The person who came was a soldier from Mengcheng Camp. He didn't even drink water when he entered the room, and said directly to Ye Min: "Our battalion commander said he will be very busy today and is not sure when he will be back, so you can go to bed tonight."

Ye Min quickly asked: "Do you know what he is busy with?"

The other party shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"Is he in the army?"

"He was there when I was told to do this. He may be out now."

Ye Min figured out that Meng Cheng went out today to follow Tian Mengjun. If he didn't get any results, he wouldn't come back early.

Even if Tian Mengjun was just traveling normally and went to the county to buy daily necessities and then returned, and there was nothing unusual, Meng Cheng should have gone straight home after the surveillance ended instead of going to the army.

He went to the army and told them that Tian Mengjun was abnormal. He discovered the problem, so he went directly to the army leader to report it after he came back.

If he has to go out now, it may be because he is going to arrest someone. If he cannot come back at night because he is busy, it may be because he needs to interrogate someone.

If someone needs to be arrested, Meng Cheng probably won't go alone.

There may be conflicts or even fights during the arrest process, but as long as it is not a one-on-one fight, Ye Min believes that Meng Cheng will be able to return safely, and he feels a little relieved.

…

Meng Cheng is definitely not in the camp at this moment.

He led a team of people and drove to Captain Wang's place at noon, then followed the path up the mountain to the ruined temple.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the dilapidated temple was once prosperous and occupied a large area. However, during the Four Olds period, many things were smashed and destroyed. After so many years of wind and rain, several rooms of the temple collapsed. Currently, there are only two rooms in the backyard that can shelter from the wind and rain.

Meng Cheng went to check on the two compartments. He found that the wooden bed in one of them had been repaired. It was padded with straw and covered with an old patched sheet.

Obviously, this is where Captain Wang and Tian Mengjun usually have their trysts.

According to Captain Wang's confession, he had never had sex with Tian Mengjun, so he didn't know that the other person was a man.

After entering the room, Meng Cheng felt that this statement was doubtful. He did not believe that two people who had not had sex would deliberately make a bed in a place where they were having a tryst.

It was impossible to have an outsider living there. Cheating was a lifestyle issue, and if it was discovered, one's military status might not be preserved. Captain Wang didn't like Tian Mengjun to such an extent, otherwise they wouldn't have met in such a remote place.

If there were other people living in this dilapidated temple, Captain Wang would definitely find another meeting place.

There is another room opposite that can shelter from wind and rain. This room is quite strange. There is a wooden barrel and a water tank inside. It seems that someone is washing here.

Under the broken wooden bed, Meng Cheng found a cloth bag filled with women's clothes and wigs. It seemed that this room was where Tian Mengjun usually dressed up.

But then again, if Captain Wang knew that Tian Mengjun was a man, why would he dress up secretly? How stupid must a person be to be deceived by a man for a whole year?

After Meng Cheng checked the two rooms, people who went to check other places came back one after another, and they did not find anything unusual.

Meng Cheng frowned after hearing this: "I have checked everywhere. Are you sure there is nothing unusual?"

"I've checked everything. I've knocked on the walls and the ground. There's nothing unusual."

After he reported Tian Mengjun's abnormality and interrogated Captain Wang under the arrangement of his superiors, the leader originally planned to arrest Tian Mengjun first. It was he who proposed to check the temple at the same time and insisted on leading the team here himself.

After learning the original plot from Ye Min, Meng Cheng had been wondering where the explosives in the hands of those spies came from and where they were hidden before the mission began.

It is almost May now, and the first question is difficult to answer, but we can look for the hiding place of the explosives.

After learning from the person he met in the morning that there was a ruined temple in the mountains, Meng Cheng felt that he had found the answer.

A ruined temple hidden deep in the mountains, away from people, what a perfect place to hide things!

But now, they searched the ruined temple inside and out, but found nothing.

Meng Cheng was unwilling to give up, so he checked room by room, but just as the people he brought with him said, there was nothing wrong with the walls and floors.

Standing in the main hall with most of the tiles broken off, Meng Cheng knocked slowly from the entrance until he came to the statue of the Bodhisattva, which had become mottled due to the sun and rain. He turned around and asked the people around him, "Have you seen the statue?"

"No." The other party shook his head and asked hesitantly, "But isn't the statue solid?"

Meng Cheng did not answer. He just looked up at the Bodhisattva, whose face was bleached but still kind, and said, "Knock on the statue from head to toe."