Chapter Seventeen Bullets Fly

  Under the desolate earth mound, the cold moonlight covered the overgrown small path. Near the roadside was a winding small river. The water quietly flowed south along the muddy beach with rotting mud.

  Close to the earth mound below, another earth mound, the earth mound is like a curved sickle, surrounding a large stone. Forming a natural depression.

  In the pit, a pile of firewood was lit up. Next to the burning firewood, Zhao Erhu was kneading a lump of mud. His two hands were covered with mud. Beside him lay the stolen big rooster whose neck had been twisted and belly slit open.

  Beside the bonfire, Li Guoting kept adding branches and dry grass he had picked up from the woods and riverbank.

  Flames rose from the damp hay, sending up a cloud of ash and thick smoke that made Li Guiting's eyes water.

  "Second Tiger, hurry up, aren't you done yet? We're running out of firewood." Li Guoting turned his head and looked at Zhao Erhu, who was covered in mud, urging him on.

  "That's it. No firewood, you go pick some more." Zhao Erhu said without lifting his head.

  "You little scamp only knows how to order me around. Fine, I'll go pick it up. Hurry up! If you burn it again, you can go pick it up yourself." Li Guoting said.

  Li Guoting went to the riverbank again to pick up those dry firewoods that had been swept by the flooded river water and dried in the sun.

  Zhao Erhu had already prepared the mud, he took the chicken over and put it on the prepared mud, stretched out his hands and smeared the mud onto the chicken's body.

  "Two Tigers, aren't you going to eat the roast chicken? Why are you smearing mud on the chicken's body? Once you've smeared mud on it, you can't eat it anymore." Li Guoting, holding a large bundle of firewood picked up from the riverbank in his arms, stood beside Zhao Erhu and asked in confusion.

  "Look, I'm telling you, country bumpkin, you don't know, and I guess you've never had it either. This is what they call a beggar eating chicken - with mud. Do you understand? If not, then follow me and learn a bit." Zhao Erhu said to Li Guoting with a loud laugh.

  Li Guoting stretched out his right foot and kicked Zhao Erhu's buttocks. "Are you still pretending to be confused? Don't I understand? Isn't it just smearing mud on a chicken and calling it a delicacy? You're really putting on airs, aren't you?"

  "Heh heh, isn't this just testing Big Brother?" As he spoke, Zhao Erhu put the skewered rooster on a sharpened tree branch and began to roast it over the fire.

  Li Guoting put down the firewood he was holding in his arms next to the bonfire and started slowly adding it to the fire.

  The flames grew stronger and stronger as more firewood was added. The tongues of flame rose from the crackling pile of firewood, licking at the wooden skewers held by Zhao Erhu's hands, making a series of "sizzling" sounds.

  Li Guoting added firewood to the bonfire while staring at the roasted chicken skewer, his stomach growling in response, "Gurgle gurgle".

  Zhao Erhu was like a wolf that had been starving for a long time, with two hungry eyes staring tightly at the food being roasted in his hands.

  "Are you done yet, Zhao Erhu? I'm starving to death. Let me tear off a piece to eat and see if it's cooked." Li Guoting was so hungry he couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to grab the chicken from Zhao Erhu's hands.

  "Hey big brother, don't be impatient. We've only just started the exam and the ink hasn't even dried yet. It's just getting started." Zhao Erhu said.

  The two of them endured for a while, saw the mud on the rooster's body turn yellow, and then, regardless of three or seven or twenty-one, the two of them pried open the mud and started eating that called flower chicken.

  They were too hungry and didn't care whether it was cooked or not. Anyway, everything tastes good to a starving man.

  The chicken wasn't even half-cooked, and when they tore open the skin, there were still bloody streaks inside. The two of them didn't care about any of that, their eyes fixed greedily on the half-raw chicken in their hands as they wolfed it down.

  Li Guoting ate too hastily, a piece of unripe chicken leg meat got stuck in his throat, choking him to roll up his eyes and vomit continuously.

  Zhao Erhu saw the situation, got scared, quickly put down the chicken in his hand, ran over, stretched out his hand and slapped Li Guoting's back hard. Fortunately, the piece of chicken stuck in his throat was slapped out by Zhao Erhu's slap, and Li Guoting finally took a deep breath.

  "It's all because of those damned rich bastards that we've ended up like this, like a stray dog. They're going to be the death of me!" Li Guoting said indignantly.

  "Yes, big brother, in the future if we make something of ourselves, we must avenge this grudge." Zhao Erhu wiped away the chicken oil flowing from the corner of his mouth and continued to speak.

  Two people, guarding by the bonfire, eating stolen chicken, complaining.

  Gradually, the eastern sky was lit up with the white belly of a carp. In the desolate wilderness at dawn, the chirping calls of small birds could be heard again.

  The morning wind blows through the distant forest, making a rustling sound, like countless troops waving large flags and passing by.

  Li Guoting raised his head and looked around, saying to Zhao Erhu: "As soon as I heard the sound of the wind blowing through the branches, I thought it was those house slaves of Chen Guangfu, that dog landlord from our place, chasing after me. Damn it, one day I'll have to settle this account with those dog legs."

  "You thought it was the sound of their footsteps chasing you, but I still heard the gunfire that killed my master by those soldiers. Listen, 'Bang, bang——.' " Zhao Erhu imitated the motion of the soldiers aiming and shooting with guns.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Suddenly, a burst of gunfire really rang out above the heads of the two people, and the bullets flying over brought a terrifying whistling sound as they flew over the depression where the two were hiding. One bullet hit the top of the earth mound, splashing up a piece of mud.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu were both shocked by the sudden arrival of the bullet. Zhao Erhu tightly hugged his head, shrinking his body into a pit, without even daring to turn his head back, and asked Li Guoting: "Brother, is it the wind blowing from above or the sound of gunfire?"

  Li Guoting was also stunned by the sudden gunfire, and he had not yet determined where the bullets flying over and hitting the earthbag were coming from. Hearing Zhao Erhu asking him, he plucked up his courage and stuck his head out of the earthbag to look towards the riverbank.

  On the other side of the riverbank, a white horse flew over and ran towards them. On its back was a person riding it. Li Guoting didn't see clearly what kind of person it was.

  Behind the horse, the sound of gunfire continued to ring out, and in the distance, the sounds of pursuit and shouting could still be faintly heard.

  "Bang bang ----." Another row of bullets came over. Li Guoting was so scared that he quickly shrunk his head into the trench.

  "Brother, there's a man on horseback running towards us, and it seems like someone is chasing him from behind. These bullets are coming from the back of the horseman." Li Guoting said to Zhao Erhu.

  "What's to be done, big brother? We can't become fools and let those who fired the shots get killed like live targets. That would be a disaster." Zhao Erhu still hugged his head, crouched on the ground, not daring to lift his head.

  "Let me take another look, if those people chase us over here, then we'll run," said Li Guoting.

  Li Guoting finished speaking, slowly raised his head, and as soon as he exposed his body from behind the mound, he saw that the horseman had already rushed to the front of their hiding place. At this moment, another burst of gunfire came from the woods on the riverbank behind the horseman, hitting the horseman's big white horse. The horse let out a loud whinny, stumbled and fell to the ground.

  The man riding the horse was also thrown off without noticing and fell on the mound in front of Li Guoting.