"Smack!" With a muffled thud, another mosquito was swatted dead.
Xiao Yichen frowned, looking at the small amount of crimson in his hand.
He rubbed his hand on the leaves of a nearby tree.
Then he raised his hand and scratched his neck.
There are just too many mosquitoes in these mountains.
The key issue is that it bites and causes intense itching.
"Old Xiao, do you think that person can come back?" a deliberately lowered voice asked.
Captain Zhang from the county public security bureau was also nearby, occasionally waving his hand to shoo away the mosquitoes.
Both of them were dressed in civilian clothes at the time.
Patches upon patches.
A man was chopping wood on the mountain, holding a large machete.
Xiao Yichen threw the withered tree branch he had cut down on the ground.
He took out his peeling military water bottle and took a sip of water.
The bottom of the kettle is deformed; it looks like it was dropped and hit.
He remained calm, but lowered his voice and replied, "He should come back. Our operation has been kept secret, and he was caught off guard."
Even if he didn't want to come back, he couldn't possibly bring everything with him; he'd always come back to get his things.
According to Zhou Yizhi's recollection, he and the person who informed him were in the woods at the time.
The man was very familiar with the situation in the woods.
They guessed that there must be a base here, or at least that someone came here frequently.
With no other leads, the only option is to assign people to stake out this area.
Xiao Yichen put down the kettle and then continued chopping wood.
Old Zhang was also picking up tree branches nearby.
If it's too long, you have to grab it with both hands, bend it towards your knees, and break it in half.
The thin, long kind breaks easily when bent with both hands.
It made a crackling sound.
"Can we just stay here and keep watch? It's been almost half a day and there's still no movement. Is this not working? Should we go into hiding?" Old Zhang was not very reassured.
His tone was full of doubt.
Xiao Yichen tied the chopped firewood together with hemp rope.
After catching his breath, he whispered to Captain Zhang, "It's probably not going to work if we lie in wait. We don't know their exact hiding place, only the general area."
In order not to alert the enemy, we can only proceed in this way, investigating bit by bit.
If a large number of people came and conducted a large-scale search of the mountain, the people would have already escaped!
Captain Zhang wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Hey, these damn things are really good at hiding. Where are they? It's so stuffy and hot in this forest, how can they stand it?"
Xiao Yichen wiped his sweat and replied with a smile, "Anyway, we're out of firewood in this area. Let's go back. This load of firewood can still fetch a good price!"
Captain Zhang wiped his sweat and laughed heartily.
"Yes, quite a lot of money. At the supply and marketing cooperative, firewood sells for three cents a pound, and if we buy it, it'll probably only be a little over two cents. We've been busy all morning, and after deducting losses, we can still make three or four yuan. Not bad."
Xiao Yichen smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Not bad. I heard from my dad that last year, our family of ten only received a little over a hundred yuan in cash for the whole year, after deducting food such as grain and vegetables. It’s not bad that we can earn this much this morning.”
Captain Zhang also tied the firewood together with hemp rope.
Then he lay down on the ground with his back against the firewood.
Then slowly exert force to get up.
This bundle of firewood is too heavy; this is the only way to carry it.
Xiao Yichen was the same way; before he joined the army, he often came to the mountains to collect firewood.
This process is also familiar.
The two descended the mountain.
After walking for a long time, we finally came to a small path leading up the mountain.
Captain Zhang stopped to catch his breath. "This money is really hard to earn."
Xiao Yichen chimed in, "Of course! Hurry up, let's go faster. If we don't make it in time, we'll have to deliver it tomorrow."
Just then, a figure emerged from around the corner of the road.
He appeared to be a man of average height, not very tall, and rather thin.
He was carrying a basket, and it looked like he was going up the mountain.
Xiao Yichen continued chatting with Lao Zhang about how difficult it is to make money.
It was as if the two of them didn't care about this person at all.
The man continued to approach them.
The three met.
Then they went their separate ways.
After taking a few steps...
The man suddenly turned around, pulled a pistol from the basket, and fired a shot at Xiao Yichen's back.
It was as if Xiao Yichen had eyes in the back of his head.
He dodged it.
The man fired several more shots in quick succession.
Xiao Yichen and Captain Zhang dropped the firewood on their backs and dodged left and right.
In a sorry state.
Xiao Yichen's arm was scraped, and Captain Zhang's thigh was punched through.
Xiao Yichen seized the opportunity and lunged forward.
He tackled the man to the ground.
With a strong twist of both hands, he subdued both of his arms.
With a little more force, pressing down on his back with my knee, the man knelt on the ground.
The man was pinned to the ground before he finally reacted, yelling, "Let me go! Let me go!"
Captain Zhang was initially startled by Xiao Yichen's actions, but he quickly recovered, found the rope for binding firewood, and tied the man up.
Then, using the tattered towel around his neck, he rolled it up and stuffed it into the person's mouth.
In the sweltering summer heat, he had spent another day working in the old forest.
This tattered towel has been wet and dried countless times.
That taste...
"vomit!"
The man felt like vomiting.
Unfortunately, his mouth was gagged.
The stench made him roll his eyes.
After finishing all that, Xiao Yichen and Captain Zhang bandaged themselves up.
Xiao Yichen was alright, he just had a minor scrape.
Captain Zhang's thigh was seriously injured; it had been pierced by a bullet.
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