As soon as Ma Liang entered the room, he was immediately grabbed by the corner of his clothes by the anxious Xiao Hongying: "How is it? How is it? What did the regiment commander and the political commissar say?"
"The regiment commander is going to lead a company to lure the enemy. The political commissar asked us to hurry up and eat, and then guard the road to Xinghua Village." Ma Liang was excited about getting the mission.
Xiao Hongying stamped her feet impatiently: "Who asked you these useless questions! I'm asking about our excuse for going to Xinghua Village. Has it been exposed?" In the little girl's mind, she didn't think it was a big deal whether the Japanese came or not. The secret action of Class 9 was the biggest matter.
Ma Liang was in a hurry to report the news along the way, so he forgot about it for a while. Now he realized it after hearing Xiao Hongying's question. He immediately touched his forehead and thought for a while, then said: "Except for the matter of the devils, the regiment commander didn't ask anything, and the political commissar... didn't ask anything else! But... I seem to have heard the regiment commander say that the third company is in Xinghua Village."
"Ah?" The little girl was stunned.
Ma Liang sat down at the table tiredly and sighed: "Right now, the regiment commander and political commissar are anxious and angry, so they can't remember this matter, but after the incident, it's hard to say."
Seeing Ma Liang and the little girl turned into clay Buddhas, Luo Fugui finally spoke up: "I say, two gods, can you please stop standing there? You are not hungry, but I am starving. The political commissar has ordered us to eat, why don't we hurry up?"
Xiao Hongying was so angry that Luo Fugui urged her: "Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating! Do you have any heart?"
Luo Fugui curled his lips and said, "It was all a lie in the first place. It was all just talk. The key is to inform the landlord. As long as she is willing to help us keep it a secret, it doesn't matter whether the third company is in Xinghua Village or not! Can we just say we are going to build a house somewhere else?"
Ma Liang and Xiao Hongying looked at Luo Fugui at the same time. It made sense. It was just a lie, so just make it up in any way that makes it sound good. There was no point in thinking about it any more now. So they went to eat.
The landlord, widow Sun, was called Sun Cui. She was not very old. Country people get married early. She was only 28 or 29 years old this year and quite pretty. Although her parents were in Xinghua Village, they had passed away and only left a room in Xinghua Village. After the Eighth Route Army arrived in Dabei Village, they did ideological work on the villagers, but Sun Cui was still a backward element and her consciousness was not high.
The people of Xinghua Village are now rushing to Dabei Village. Sun Cui is among them with a small bag. When she is about to enter the village, she meets the ninth shift who has just set out after dinner. The moonlight is dim and the details cannot be seen clearly, but Luo Fugui's sturdy figure is particularly conspicuous, so Sun Cui immediately identifies the person and greets him.
Just when he was about to fall asleep, a pillow fell from the sky. When Ma Liang saw that it was Sun Cui, he immediately perked up and hurried to greet her: "Sister Sun, it's you! Are you okay?"
Ma Liang was a lively and capable young man, and Sun Cui liked him even more when they were negotiating the rent. So she immediately smiled and said, "Xinghua Village was attacked by the Japanese invaders, so I have to come back and stay for a few days. I hope it won't bother you guys?"
"It's originally your room, Sister Sun. Why are you being so formal? You can just live in the same room with our girl. Well, Sister Sun, I have something to discuss with you right now." Ma Liang led Sun Cui to the side of the road and whispered to her that he hoped she would help him.
After listening to Ma Liang, Sun Cuiquan understood and chuckled: "I thought it was a big deal. I'll help you with this! It's true that the Third Company has been to Xinghua Village. So, just say that I asked you to go to the relatives' house in the south to help with work, that's all."
Seeing that the landlord Sun Cui was so straightforward, Ma Liang felt that the dark clouds in the sky immediately dissipated: "Sister Sun, this is really... How can I thank you!"
Sun Cui pretended to be angry and said, "Ma Liang, you are being too formal with me. Why are you talking about thank you or not? Just go and do your own thing!"
Ma Liang smiled and said, "Okay. Sister Sun, I'm going to go on a mission, you can just go home."
Sun Cui watched Ma Liang's figure return to Class 9 and then gradually disappear under the moonlight, and couldn't help but laugh softly. The discipline of the Eighth Route Army is very strict. Your Class 9 colluded with me today to give this confession, which is equivalent to handing your braids to me. It's like pie in the sky. I have to think carefully about how to use it.
Daybreak, the gorgeous glow gradually reflected the red sky, gradually reflected the red of the rolling hills, reflecting the purple air, which was even more cold. A small path, unobstructed, meandered through the valley, leading to the bottom of the glow.
On a low hill by the roadside, Ma Liang rubbed his bloodshot eyes, and finally changed from lying to sitting, clamping his shoulders, and rubbing his cold hands vigorously. He had been lying on this low hill by the roadside for a whole night, but no one came up to relieve him. What kind of awareness was this? Even if they came up to ask about my well-being, it would be fine.
A few dozen meters behind the hill, there was a man-made deep pit. Although it was already daybreak, he could still faintly hear snoring coming from the pit. Ma Liang became more and more angry as he listened. He grabbed the dirt and clods around him and threw them into the pit behind him.
Crackle, crash - waves of broken soil rolled down the slope and fell into the pit. Several people who were curled up at the bottom of the pit were hit by the broken soil and could not move. They finally woke up drowsily and climbed out of the pit one by one.
"Damn it, can I ever get a good night's sleep? That damn girl kicked me all night and I finally fell asleep just now. What are you doing now?" Luo Fugui rubbed his eyes in dissatisfaction and complained to Ma Liang as he walked to the top of the slope.
Seeing a few people staggering up, Ma Liang said unhappily, "Do I owe you this or do I owe you this? Are you counting on me alone? Can I switch shifts?"
"The squad leader is not here, what kind of job is he changing?"
Luo Fugui's reason almost pissed Ma Liang off to death: "What does changing shifts have to do with squad leaders? If that's what you say, why should I stay up here all night?" Then Ma Liang turned to Liu Jianqiang who had just come up and said, "Runny Nose, you have a high level of awareness, right? Where did your awareness go all night?"
Liu Jianqiang found a flat spot and sat down, resting his gun against his chest, with his hands tucked into his sleeves: "Ma Liang, stop being so pretentious, why do you control me?"
On weekdays, Ma Liang is Hu Yi's favorite, which makes Liu Jianqiang very indignant. You are capable, so you deserve to be frozen all night.
Ma Liang was speechless. Now that the squad leader was gone, the Ninth Squad was in disarray and no one could be relied on. It wouldn't matter if nothing happened at other times, but now they were on a mission. If something really happened, wouldn't it be a mess
Ma Liang stared at Liu Jianqiang for a long time, and finally suppressed his anger: "Okay, okay. I can't control anyone! Now I propose to hold a democratic meeting and temporarily elect a squad leader, okay?"
Before Ma Liang said this, he had actually considered it. In order to prevent Class Nine from falling apart, he had to elect an acting monitor. Ma Liang certainly felt that he was the most suitable candidate. If it was a democratic election, it would probably only be between two people, one would be himself, and the other would be Liu Jianqiang, because after all, he had legitimately been the former monitor. But if there was a vote, Luo Fugui was a selfish person and would definitely abstain. Wu Shitou was stupid and would probably also abstain. The key point was Xiao Hongying, who definitely looked down on Liu Jianqiang, so she had a great chance of winning. Even if Xiao Hongying also abstained, it would still be a tie, which was irrelevant. At least he had to fight for this opportunity.
When they heard Ma Liang's proposal, they looked at each other blankly. They had nothing to do anyway, so they decided to choose! The four big men and one small man gathered together immediately.
Ma Liang was the first to speak: "I choose myself. I think I am the most suitable person to serve as the acting monitor." In front of those idiots in Class 9, Ma Liang didn't feel that there was anything wrong with what he said. It was the truth.
Liu Jianqiang curled his lips and said, "Tsk—I choose myself too. It turns out that I am the squad leader. In every aspect, I am the most suitable one!"
Luo Fugui yawned and said, "I think you guys are just bored. You can do whatever you want. I don't care."
Wu Shitou suddenly found that everyone was looking at him, and he didn't know what to say. Wasn't the monitor not here? Why did we have to elect a monitor? After a long pause, he finally said, "I'll listen to the monitor." Naturally, this was considered abstention.
Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang immediately turned their attention to Xiao Hongying. This was the last vote and also the crucial one.
Xiao Hongying tightened the marching blanket that was still wrapped around her body, raised her head slowly, and stared at Liu Jianqiang with big eyes: Annoying! Then she twisted her pigtail and winked at Ma Liang: Last time you wanted to use the bullshit democracy to trick me, I haven't settled the score with you yet, you want to be the squad leader? Dream on!
"I choose myself!"
Ma Liang was stunned. You want to be the monitor too? Isn't this the expected result? But it's almost the same. So he said, "There's no other way. Three people are running for election, and each has one vote. If we can't elect a winner, then..."
"Who said everyone has one vote?" Xiao Hongying immediately interrupted Ma Liang.
Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang looked at each other, and then looked at Xiao Hongying, not knowing what was going on.
The little girl was seen twisting her body a few times in the military blanket, as if she was groping for something inside. Then she stretched out her little hand and threw something into Luo Fugui's arms.
Luo Fugui hurriedly caught it, raised his hand and took a look. A piece of Morinaga milk candy was emitting a faint milky fragrance under his nose. Without even raising his head, he shouted, "I agree that the girl should be the monitor!"
Plop, plop—Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang fainted at the same time in the morning glow…