I found clothes from the pile of rags that I had brought back from Qingshan Village and changed them.
He had a bayonet on his waist and a box gun on his back, but nothing else.
I stepped out of the door and looked up. The sun had already set, leaving only a red sky.
Walking towards the beach, the water surface has begun to look dark, and the boundary with the beach is particularly conspicuous.
The political commissar was there, and so was she. She had changed her clothes, which were shabby and worn, but she still looked good in them, perhaps because she was too fair, or perhaps because of her black satin-like hair. When flowers bloom in the soil, even the soil is beautiful. Or perhaps, it was because she saw it with her own eyes, and was deceived by her own eyes.
He walked up to the political commissar and said, "I can do it alone."
Before the political commissar could speak, she said, "I must meet Li Youcai in person once. I must get to know this person."
I couldn't help but turn my head and look at her calm and determined eyes. Her black pupils were like the river behind her, reflecting the sunset. "He is not the kind of person you think. He will not be controlled."
She looked at him calmly, and suddenly asked, "What about you?"
After a moment's hesitation, he replied, "It's different. I'm a soldier."
The political commissar on the side said appropriately: "Well... If we can win this person over, it will be very beneficial to us."
She added: “I am the person in charge of this, so I have to meet this person.”
He had nothing more to say, nodded, picked up two leather bags tied with ropes, and began to tie them around her shoulders.
…
The river is flowing, slowly passing by both banks.
This stupid woman was pretending to be calm, her hands tightly grasping the piece of wood in front of her. Her fingers had turned white from excessive force, and her arms were shaking slightly, not because of the cold but because of fear. She had never been in the water before.
Always swim behind her, keeping a distance of about two meters so that you can respond at any time if she gets into any dangerous situation.
"Are you scared?"
She didn't look back or speak.
"Don't always think about stepping on something, don't always think about grabbing something, think about floating, think about flying." He said this deliberately to ease her tension.
"You have enough skin on your shoulders. Holding on to that piece of wood will only make you more tired."
She ignored him and continued to hold the wood tightly, trembling slightly.
Soon, we saw a dark cliff approaching ahead and the river flow was slowly accelerating.
The visibility was getting worse and worse. There were rapids and bends ahead. She could no longer drift on her own. Once out of the limited range of vision, this stupid woman might drift directly out of Meixian.
He swam up behind her, grabbed her under the armpit with his right hand, and pressed her back against his chest.
"Ah—" She let out a crisp and thin scream. She was suddenly frightened and struggled instinctively. She let go of the wood in her hand, raised her arms in panic, tried to pull back, and kicked desperately.
For someone who can't swim like this, it would be very dangerous to face her head on, so he could only grab her from behind. A series of reactions were all expected. He wrapped his right arm around her tightly and let her swim violently. From time to time, water from the river surface would rise up and hit her face.
“Beast!... Scum! You... cough... cough cough..." The voice was hysterical.
"The more I tell you to drink, the more you drink."
"Let me go!... Ahem... I'll kill you..."
"Shut up! You stupid woman! Is there any place on you that I haven't touched?" He was annoyed by her struggle, and his tone finally turned into a beastly roar. The arms around her unconsciously exerted force, flattening her full breasts. He tried to open his eyes wide, trying to see the rapids ahead, paddling with his left arm, trying to control the direction of drifting, and he didn't realize that she in his arms suddenly stopped struggling.
It was pitch black all around, and the sound of the rushing river was getting louder and louder. I could hear the sound of the rapids rushing against the steep river bank, and I could feel the water surface beginning to rise and fall sharply. The dark outlines on both sides of the river were moving faster and faster.
…
Unable to see anything clearly, she just felt like she was floating and spinning in the darkness, with water splashing on her beautiful white face.
She couldn't hear anything clearly. She only heard the rushing and surging around her, and the heavy breathing behind her ears.
In the face of majesty, reserve is so small and powerless.
Gradually, she felt the warmth of the broad chest behind her. Amid the surging waves, this warm feeling was so clear that she could feel it bit by bit, and the continuous trembling of fear actually stopped because of it.
Gradually, she felt the strong arms around her chest became a source of security. She stopped trying to pull him away and let her arms gradually spread out in the water, floating and flowing. She could feel every bit of the water. It turned out that water has thoughts. If you obey it, it will become docile, not like what you see. It seems that, as he said, it is like flying.
Gradually, she felt the two balls of shame in her chest warm up, and this feeling made her unconsciously want to be calm, but she couldn't be calm. He must know how fast her heart was beating, fortunately he couldn't see her face, fortunately he didn't have to face it, so even her breathing became smooth and natural.
Why don't I feel repulsive? Why don't I repulse him? On the contrary, I secretly like this in my heart? Is it because it's him? I can't think like this! This is too despicable! It must be because I'm not strong enough, not strong enough!
I don’t know how long I drifted or how far I drifted.
The water surface turned calm again, but she still relaxed her whole body, allowing him to drag her along in the swim, not daring to speak.
…
"Haven't you reached the bottom of the river yet? Do you still want me to carry you ashore?" he suddenly said.
She seemed to wake up suddenly, twisting her body in panic, her feet gradually touching the bottom of the river, and she fiercely pulled away his arms that were still wrapped around her shame, and silently waded towards the shore.
The river water fell above her waist and gradually above her knees. She suddenly turned around, wet, and kicked hard at the dark figure behind her who was wading to the shore, kicking with all her might in anger.
Splash—water splashed everywhere, and he fell into the water unexpectedly.
He climbed out of the water in a panic, wiped his face and asked the woman who didn't even turn around: "Is this your way of thanking me?"
Unfortunately, no answers were received.
…
Late at night, north of Luoye Village, at the mute's residence.
Li Youde entered the room and Hu Yi was sitting at the table, dressed in commoner's clothes, which were still wet. Su Qing thought her wet clothes were unsightly, so she hid outside and waited.
"Haha, long time no see." Li Youde knew that this was a business opportunity, so he didn't care whether Hu Yi would respond or not, and sat down opposite him, smiling slightly: "No need to reminisce about the past,"
Hu Yi said nothing, took out a sealed small bottle and pushed it in front of Li Youde.
He opened it, took out a folded piece of paper, unfolded it, and looked at it closely under the light. It was a list of items.
After carefully examining all of them, he raised his head and said, "These are all things that cannot be taken out of the city. They are difficult to deal with."
Although Hu Yi was not a businessman, he knew what he meant. Difficult? He didn't say it was impossible: "Don't bargain with me. I'm just an errand boy. I don't make the decision. Just tell me the price."
After looking out the window at the night in silence for a while, Li Youde said, "Okay, I won't argue with you. I'll prepare all the things for you, and it's up to you how to get into the mountains. As for the price... These are all restricted goods. If I want less, I'm not interested. If I want more, I guess you can't afford it... How about this, you do something for me to pay for the goods."
"What's up?"
"Hekou Camp, you know what? If we take down Hekou Camp, we'll be even."
Hu Yi frowned and stared at Li Youde without saying anything. He didn't expect Li Youde to ask for this condition. What was he after? He couldn't figure it out.
"Of course, I trust your credibility. I can pay for the goods first, but the Hekou Camp must disappear within three months. If you agree, then do it. If you don't agree, we will be righteous."
"How do you deliver the goods?"
"I will store these things in a room in Luoye Village. You can come and raid them when you have time to take them away. But you must inform me two days in advance so that I can prepare them."
Hu Yi nodded and said, "Send people to the gun tower construction site at the mountain pass within three days to keep an eye on the mountain. A green flare at midnight means approval, and you can start making preparations. If no flare is seen within three days, then forget it."
"Can."
"Goodbye."
"No."
Hu Yi disappeared into the night.
…
It's dawn, south of Lushuipu, beside the Hunshui River.
Two people stood, one tall and straight, the other graceful, several meters apart, looking at the green water in the morning light.
Hu Yi turned his head and looked at the cold face not far away: "He will not join your transportation organization."
Leng Li didn't even look at Hu Yi: "You can't represent others."
"I don't represent him, but I understand him."
"If you don't even understand yourself, how can you understand others?"
Hu Yi was speechless. After she said that, it seemed that she really didn't understand him.
A figure appeared in the distance, wearing a black and white shirt and swaying easily. When he saw the two people by the river, he trotted a few steps and came to Hu Yi. He deliberately put on a serious face and clasped his fists: "Commander Hu." Then he tilted his head to look at Su Qing next to him, looked her up and down, and unconsciously smiled: "This is... sister-in-law, right?" Then, regardless of Su Qing's surprised and cold face, he quickly straightened up and bowed, smiling and said: "Hello, sister-in-law."
Su Qing was a little dumbfounded and felt very angry.
Hu Yi said nothing, but tilted his head to look at Su Qing. He knew clearly in his heart that Li Youcai was doing it on purpose. He was very slick. The two of them were standing so far away, and her face was so cold, how could she be associated with her sister-in-law? It was obvious that she was deliberately flattering Hu Yi. The level of flattery was really extraordinary. Don't you want to win him over? Go ahead and fight for him. I'll pretend I didn't hear anything.
Hiding his embarrassment and suppressing his unhappiness, Su Qing said solemnly: "Hello, I think you misunderstood. I am Su Qing, the political officer of the independent regiment."
Li Youcai immediately showed surprise: "Ah? Oh, look at me, I'm so ashamed... Haha, then I have to call you Sister Su, and I'm Li Youcai."
After a while, Hu Yi walked away for a distance to see the morning mist on the water. Not far behind him, Su Qing and Li Youcai were talking, and a lot of the content could be heard vaguely. Su Qing kept asking questions, wanting to know some of the situations in the county that she was concerned about. Li Youcai acted serious and seemed to be telling everything he knew, and they actually got along quite well.
"… I hope you will think carefully, don't make the same mistake over and over again, and stand up with dignity for the broken mountains and rivers, for the suffering compatriots…"
"... Sister Su, don't worry, I, Li Youcai, can tell right from wrong... In the future, I will definitely do my best to help you in any way I can. But the situation in the detective team is very tense right now, so you wait for me to get through this period, and I guarantee to give you a satisfactory answer..."
Su Qing knew that Li Youcai was just being perfunctory, but she was not in a hurry. She still had to say what she had to say, and she would take her time later. For the intelligence work of the Independent Regiment, he was a precious chess piece, and she had to do her best to win him over no matter what.
On the surface, Li Youcai looked like he was willing to learn, but in fact, he was thinking about irrelevant things. He had been around a lot of girls and was good at capturing small details. Li Youcai felt that there must be something wrong between this pretty female Eighth Route Army soldier and that evil star. If they were colleagues, why did they stand so far away from each other? Who hated whom? Or who was secretly in love with whom? It was quite interesting.
Hu Yi was waiting for their meaningless nonsense to end quickly. He could only rely on Li Youcai to take care of the matter of returning to the mountain. He would have to change his clothes and become a traitor, right? But she... Even with the hat on, her face was too white. Should she put some dust on it? Whatever, let Li Youcai, the traitor, worry about it...