Chapter 26: Cold Night

  The background of the puppet army is complex, some are prisoners of war who were defeated, some were recruited by government propaganda "curve to save the country", some are bandits and traitors who want money and official positions, and some are miscellaneous troops that were originally under Chongqing's jurisdiction, but were squeezed out by the legitimate military system, so they simply defected to Wang Jingwei. Those who defected to Wang were treated as treasures, with pride and prestige.

  The troops in the truck heading to this camp are a branch of the miscellaneous army derived from the original Beiyang clique, who have just arrived here after a long journey from North China and have just had a small-scale conflict with the local orthodox National Army units. The soldiers were injured and tired, so they asked the Navy for help in Nanjing, requesting support for medicines, especially antibiotics.

  It was already dark when they arrived at the other camp, and after the last box of medicine was unloaded, Huai Jin immediately started the truck to return to the city, not delaying for a moment.

  Just after experiencing such a thrilling and long afternoon, Dong Zhiyu seemed unusually silent. Huai Jin had noticed this for a while, but also kept silent. As things have come to this point, the consequences are gradually becoming clear. Before that, she must take responsibility for the whole thing.

  The truck drove over a pothole and jolted slightly, and Dong Zhiyu, who had been silent all along, suddenly covered her mouth with one hand and hastily reached for the door handle with the other. Huai Jin quickly stopped the car, and before it even came to a complete stop, Dong Zhiyu opened the door and jumped out, bending over and vomiting violently, as if she wanted to throw up all her internal organs.

  Huaijin walked over, handed her a handkerchief and a jug of water. She saw Dong Zhiyu hugging his knees and squatting on the ground, his body slightly trembling, his long eyelashes seemed to be covered with dew, wet and also lightly trembling with his body.

  He turned back to the car, and somehow took out a military blanket and a flashlight. He handed the blanket to Dong Zhiyu, "There's a haystack over there, go lean against it and rest for a bit."

  Dong Zhiyu wanted to stand up, but felt a wave of dizziness, and had to put her hands on her knees. Huai Jin's lips moved slightly, but she still stood by, waiting for her.

  After catching her breath, Dong Zhiyu walked to the side of the haystack with slumped shoulders and slowly sat down. Huai Jin placed the flashlight that had been opened on the ground beside her, "Have a drink of water."

  Dong Zhiyu heard the voice and looked up at her, with a mixture of sadness, fear, and a hint of defiance in her amber-colored eyes. She seemed to be gazing at something in another world, as if she hadn't understood what the other person had said, or even what she was looking at. Her mind appeared to be elsewhere.

  Her body was still trembling slightly, and her eyelashes were shaking along with it, she didn't know if it was because of the cold or something else.

  "Dong Zhiyu." Huai Jin placed his hand on her shoulder, inadvertently touching the exposed skin on her neck.

  It was a warm hand, heaven knows how she maintained her body temperature on such a winter night after giving her overcoat and hat to Dong Zhiyu. This hand was steady, conveying an unquestionable conviction.

  Dong Zhiyu seemed to have come back to her senses, her eyes flashing back, and only then did she see the other person's appearance clearly. She was wearing a thin military uniform, standing in front of herself, under the dim yellow light of the flashlight, her eyes presented layers of deep and shallow autumn colors, complex to the extreme.

  Dong Zhiyu handed her the blanket from his arms, "Use it."

  Huai Jin didn't go to pick her up and just said one sentence: "I'm not cold."

  How could she not be cold, Dong Zhiyu looked at herself, wrapped tightly in her coat, and hurriedly reached out to open it, preparing to return it to Huaijin. But as soon as she opened the coat, she saw the dazzling bloodstain on her chest, as if there was still a wave of pungent bloody smell rushing into her brain.

  Cigarettes, needed a cigarette to resolve the physiological and mental torture, Dong Zhiyu trembled with her hand to search for the pockets on her body, soon found a pack of Camels and a box of matches, Huai Jin looked at her, indulging in her momentary need.

  Her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't light the match, trying one, two, three... Huaijin took over the match, rubbed it lightly and lit it for her.

  She took two deep breaths, perhaps because her body was too weak and her stomach was empty, and she felt another wave of nausea. She frowned and vomited, and Huai Jin pinched out the cigarette between her fingers.

  "My stomach is already empty, there's nothing left to vomit. I painfully turned my head back, two lines of clear tears hanging on my face. 'Why? Why can they trample our home, our compatriots like this? When can we drive them away?'"

  Huai Jin gently closed her eyes, she was always solving doubts and answering questions for others every day. Why? How to do it? She seemed to have answers in her heart all the time, but now Dong Zhiyu's question, she couldn't answer, and this was also a question she often asked herself.

  But she is a strategist, she is "Kui", she must have an answer. "Insist, you, me, everyone, must insist, don't be discouraged," paused, "And you, Dong Zhiyu, should prioritize the overall situation. Your responsibility is not to save thirty women, but billions of compatriots."

  Dong Zhiyu looked at her silently, knowing that she had done something today that the Military Commission would not like and might be very angry about. Huai Jin's appearance and careful arrangements had moved her deeply, and it turned out that the other party was not as cold-blooded and indifferent as she had thought. Although they were enemies, she was also a person with blood and passion.

  She didn't go to pick up Huai Jin. Her gaze calmed down and was no longer as furious as before, "Thank you."

  Hua Jin picked up the flashlight and said, "Let's go back quickly, it's getting late."

  She first sent the truck to the parking place and then went to Dingjiabridge to pick up her own car. "Are you hungry?" Huaijin asked her.

  Dong Zhiyu forced a faint smile and shook his head slightly. His stomach was empty, but where was the appetite?

  Huajin walked past a nearby wonton shop near her home, bought a basket of wontons and handed them to her, then sent her back to her residence.

  The alley was very narrow, and Huai Jin stopped at the entrance of the alley. "Go back and eat some more. If someone recognizes you and me leaving the city together in the future, just admit it and say that because of Ye Ming Tian's relationship, we are familiar with each other."

  "Got it...... We...... will have something?"

  "It's hard to say for now. If nothing happens after tomorrow, it means we haven't left any clues behind. The special task force usually investigates quickly and won't give the other side much time to prepare."

  "Uh," Dong Zhiyu opened the car door, a gust of cold wind came from the alley, blowing her a shock, "you be careful too."

  As she spoke, she got off the car and closed the door with difficulty. Huaijin watched her walk into the depths of the alley, then started the car again, thinking that this girl seemed to have fainted, and in her mind flashed the moment when the car door was just closed, that face was as white as paper.

  Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes, turned around and stopped at the entrance of the alley. Huai Jin rushed out of the car door and ran deep into the alley. Far away, a slender figure lay by the side of the road, and she knew who it was.