When the Ninth Platoon arrived near Lushuipu, they found that it was not so easy to return to the mountain because the Japanese had already started building the foundation of the artillery tower at the mountain pass. The mountain pass had now become a messy construction site with Japanese, puppet troops, civilian laborers, and sentries working together.
Helplessly, they continued to head north, toward Luoye Village. Fortunately, construction had not started in Luoye Village, but they had already begun surveying and building a gun tower, and sentries had been set up at the mountain pass. For this reason, the 9th Platoon spent a whole day near Luoye Village, and only sneaked into the mountain late at night.
Xiao Hongying had no more troubles. With the protection of the traitorous captain Li Youcai, she left the county gate without much trouble and went all the way to Lushuipu. Li Youcai then escorted her across the mountain pass and said goodbye to her outside the construction site of the artillery tower.
Because the Ninth Platoon stayed in Luoye Village for a day, they returned to Dabei Village almost at the same time as Xiao Hongying, so I will not go into details about the details.
In a blink of an eye, it was the second day after our return. In the morning, the sky was clear and the weather was good again.
It was Dabei Village again, there was a soapberry tree in the yard again, and it was Class 9’s nest again.
Hu Yi sat at the broken table in front of the window, holding a broken teacup and looking at the blue sky outside the window, thinking about whether to build another house in the yard. Now there are eight more people in Shi Cheng's squad, and the new recruits will be assigned in the next two days. A second squad will be formed immediately, and the exact number of people is not known yet. More than a dozen people slept in this big house last night, it was too crowded, and we had to think of a solution.
Ma Liang suggested that the maid temporarily move to the medical team, so that two rooms would be enough, but Hu Yi had no such intention. Even if the nine rows were crowded like dogs, the maid's room was not allowed to be occupied. The rotten garlics under his hand were not as valuable as a maid. The more the little girl could show off, the more satisfied and comfortable Hu Yi felt.
Shi Cheng and several others had just received their new military uniforms. They were all happily sitting in the room, adjusting each other's hats, pulling at each other's clothes, and practicing tying their leggings. Only then did they feel like they were real Eighth Route Army soldiers, and their hearts were bubbling with joy.
The door curtain was lifted, and a woman walked out from the inner room, wearing a pair of small mandarin duck shoes, purple pants, and a small flowered jacket. Her hair was braided with thin pigtails that were tied into circles on both sides. She twisted her little neck and yawned.
Hu Yi saw it with his own eyes, and smiled in his heart. He put down the broken teacup and asked, "Girl, when will you return to the team?"
The little girl deliberately rolled her eyes at Hu Yi, walked to the table, picked up the broken teacup that Hu Yi had put down, drank it all in one gulp, and wiped her lips: "You don't want me anymore, so what should I return to? Now I am a commoner, a member of the masses, and the people. You can't control me anymore!"
Seeing her behavior, she didn't even change her military uniform. In order to maintain that pretty hairstyle, she probably had a stiff neck last night. Hu Yi knew clearly that her real purpose was to show off her outfit. Common people? Just an excuse to be vain! However, it was really beautiful, Hu Yi loved to see it, and even hoped that she could really become a common people, an ordinary little girl, and be vain without worries. Unfortunately... Where is the pure land in the broken mountains and rivers? Can we really defeat the devil? At this moment, Hu Yi was a little confused.
The little girl didn't notice Hu Yi's brief distraction. She lowered her head and looked around carefully. She bent down and carefully dusted the dust off her shoes. Then, ignoring everyone, she walked towards the door in a crooked manner.
"Uncle Niu left breakfast for you, and it's been kept warm." Hu Yi added, but unfortunately she deliberately didn't even turn her head.
As she pushed open the door, her petite body was immediately bathed in the bright morning sunshine, which was so bright that it dazzled her eyes. She clenched her fists, opened her chest, stretched herself hard towards the sunshine, took a deep breath, and then squinted her eyes to look around the yard.
Wu Shitou was sitting by the well washing clothes, and turned around to give a silly smile to the little girl who had just left. Not far from him, Li Xiang was busy making a small stool, sweating profusely.
She stuck out her tongue and made a cute face at Wu Shitou, then looked to the other side of the yard and was stunned.
Three people stood side by side in the sun: Liu Jianqiang, Luo Fugui, and Ma Liang. They stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the sun, sweating profusely and unable to open their eyes, and all looked listless.
"Oh? Three soldiers... are you practicing formation?" The little girl took three steps at a time and deliberately walked past them with a bright smile.
Liu Jianqiang rolled his eyes and looked up at the sky, Ma Liang looked at the ground with a bitter face, and Luo Fugui drooped his eyebrows and whispered, "Two unlucky guys, fighting to death for a shitty second squad leader. Girl, please help me talk to Boss Hu. I really have nothing to do with this. I was trying to stop the fight. I am innocent! If I stand there any longer, I will be dried up by the sun."
Hehehe… In front of the three people, the little girl grinned until the corners of her mouth reached the back of her head and laughed to her heart’s content. Then, she put her hands behind her back and raised her face high as she walked out of the gate, saying, “It’s a pity that I am a commoner now. I can’t interfere with your military affairs.”
"You wicked thing, the road is on the ground and you are looking at the sky. Be careful of the caterpillars, you have no conscience." Luo Fugui cursed in a low voice.
Oops—whoa—there was a scream of someone falling outside the door.
…
The political work department's office had its windows and door open.
Su Qing sat behind the desk, holding the Zhongzheng rifle she had just polished horizontally, pulling the bolt, making a crisp metal friction sound, and the magazine was empty. She put the butt of the rifle against her shoulder and aimed at the blue sky outside the window, but unfortunately she didn't have enough strength, and the gun body kept shaking slightly. After a while, her arm was sore, so she had no choice but to put it down.
I caught a glimpse of Xiao Bing passing by the door, so I invited him in.
"Secretary Su."
"Please convey two things to me. First, ask Li Zhen to move out of the confinement room and live in the medical team, next to my bed. Let her help out in the medical team first. Second, go and call Xiao Hongying over for me."
"Yes." Xiao Bing turned around and trotted out the door.
This person named Li Zhen is No. 21 who came back with the 9th row. She was put in the confinement room last night. This is a necessary step before her identity is confirmed. However, the underground organization in Mei County has been completely destroyed, and No. 21 is a single offline person, so it is difficult to confirm her identity.
Su Qing used to work in intelligence, and he knew the pain of not being able to prove one's identity. No matter how difficult or suspicious it was, there had to be solid evidence. The provocation he used to deal with No. 3 was no longer applicable, and he had to find another way.
The Ninth Platoon was let go by the Japanese, otherwise they would not be able to leave Xiaojiao Village. This must be a conspiracy. Su Qing firmly believed that this was a conspiracy. She had been thinking about it all the way after the breakout, and she had been thinking about it all night last night, and she has been thinking about it until now. She directly ruled out the people in the Ninth Platoon. Shi Cheng's team was just assigned to the Ninth Platoon from the Qingshan Village Guerrillas and had not been checked yet. It was not without a chance. Except for Shi Cheng, the squad leader, all other members were listed as suspects in Su Qing's mind.
However, the two biggest suspects were the last to appear, one was No. 3 and the other was No. 21 Li Zhen. Although No. 3 was dead, the enemy knew that No. 3 was dead after the 9th platoon broke out. Su Qing didn't know what the gunshots at the gate of Xiaojiao Village were like, so she naturally attributed No. 3 to one of the possibilities.
Of course, it is also possible that there is no suspect, but other reasons, or there is a special problem on the enemy side that caused the 9th platoon to successfully survive. Su Qing sighed deeply, this matter is very troublesome!
Xiao Hongying, who was originally feeling the center of attention at the edge of the playground, walked into the political work office very unhappy.
Placing the Zhongzheng rifle horizontally on her legs, Su Qing helplessly looked at the little ancestor who had just entered the room. She was simply a little butterfly! Yesterday, she had already been all over the place in a gorgeous way, and the whole regiment was almost blinded by her. Hasn't she had enough of it yet
Xiao Hongying was naturally unhappy when she saw Su Qing. Without waiting for Su Qing to speak, she spoke first: "Why? Do you also want to put a deserter sign on me? Do you also want to drag me to the playground to set an example? I'm telling you clearly, I am a deserter! Please make the sign bigger and the platform higher. I'm small and I'm afraid people standing far away won't be able to see it!"
Su Qing subconsciously clenched the rifle across his legs, trying not to recall the heavy rain, calming himself down and saying calmly, "I need to know what's going on in the county."
"The county town is very lively, it's nice." The little girl acted indifferent and looked around with her head tilted.
"Tell me about Li Youcai's situation."
"I'm not familiar with it. I can't tell."
"Can you tell me the details of your time when you left the county gate?"
"Knock on the door, open the door, and then come out."
"Girl, I hope you can put aside your prejudice against me first. I have important things to do now and need to learn more about the situation in the county."
"Why don't you go and see for yourself?"
Su Qing was helpless. She asked Ma Liang alone yesterday and learned about the general process of the girl's escape. Only then did she realize that there was such a weirdo as Li Youcai. She really wanted to learn more details from the little girl and find a breakthrough in the problem, but the girl refused to cooperate at all.
After a moment of silence, Su Qing picked up the rifle and placed it on the table. Then he stood up, propped his hands on the edge of the table, looked out the window, then looked out the door, and confirmed that no one was nearby, so he whispered, "Talk about the terms."
The little girl withdrew her wandering gaze and stared at Su Qing's calm face, as if to confirm whether she had heard it wrong.
"What do I need to do to make you cooperate?"
"Are you serious?"
"I am the political officer, and this is the political office."
A pair of beautiful eyes stared at Su Qing, her eyebrows slightly raised. After a moment of silence, the little girl finally spoke: "Go to the confinement room for three days."
"… "
Su Qing had not expected this condition. This girl was too tricky. If it was just to understand the situation, Su Qing would never agree to this condition, but she suddenly remembered that the window of the confinement room had been nailed shut, and it was the girl who was inside at that time.
"What? Are you afraid of being embarrassed? Haha, you act as if you are invincible. Political Department, political officer, it's all fake!" Xiao Hongying showed an extremely hateful look, the kind of look that would make anyone who saw it want to kick this naughty kid twice.
"If I agree, can we reconcile later?" Su Qing suddenly asked.
Xiao Hongying was stunned. Would she really agree? This was a good opportunity to watch a joke. No matter what, she had to push her into the river first and then say, "Half settlement."
Half reconciliation? What does this mean? Su Qing really can't understand. Does it mean that he doesn't bear grudges anymore? Or does it mean that he will be obedient in the future? He didn't want to argue with this kid about these ridiculous issues anymore, so he finally bargained: "Five more bullets."
Xiao Hongying looked at Su Qing in surprise, then glanced at the Zhongzheng rifle on the table, turned around, moved a stool to the door, put it in front of the desk, and sat down casually: "Ask."
"To what extent was the county gate on guard?... When did it start?... How did Li Youcai know you?... What? The military police captain died?... You said that it was No. 2 who identified the body of the courier?... What else did Li Youcai say?..."
The doors and windows of the political work department office were closed. One person kept asking questions, while another person described vividly that the regiment compound was empty and enjoying the summer sunshine...