Chapter Fifty: Turning Calamity into Blessing

  Let that strike leader go. Wei Baosheng advised Li Guoting: "Brother, if we let him go and he returns, we won't be able to explain ourselves. Why don't we take a risk and join the revolutionary party in the south with our guns?"

  Li Guoting was at a loss. Yes, letting the leader of the strike escape, the regimental commander would know about it and wouldn't let it go easily. This time he went to make up an excuse but couldn't come up with one, so he had to wear the hat of sympathizing with the strikers and releasing the culprit. He was taken out and shot. Alas, they didn't think carefully about the consequences of letting him go, just following a momentary impulse. Now, having listened to Wei Baosheng's words, they had gotten themselves into a deadly trouble.

  Li Guoting seemed to wake up suddenly, he hastily lifted his head and looked forward, the alley in front was already empty. Where did that strike leader who let him go just now go?

  However, since it's done, there's no place for regret. As for Wei Baosheng advising him to join the revolutionary party in the south, Li Guoting didn't think it was a good idea. Firstly, he had been with Commander Ye's troops for over a year and had some nostalgic feelings. Secondly, he hadn't discussed it with his sworn brothers Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu, how could he just run off by himself? Wouldn't that be going back on the oath they took when they became sworn brothers? Thirdly, he didn't understand those revolutionary parties in the south. In the new recruit regiment, what he heard most was what the regiment commander said, that those so-called revolutionary parties in the south were just a bunch of chaotic parties, specializing in killing people and robbing goods, no different from bandits. And their troops were sworn enemies with those chaotic parties in the south.

  Li Guoting did not want to leave the Garrison Command. Even more, he didn't want to run alone to the south. He said to Wei Baosheng: "I don't want to go to the south. I still have two brothers in the company. If I ran away, it would be unfair to them."

  Wei Baosheng took a look at Li Guoting and said, "Don't worry. Let's run over first, and then come back to persuade them to surrender with us, isn't that okay?"

  Li Guoting thought for a moment and said, "I still don't want to go. How about this? You can go if you want to, I'll go back and take all the responsibility. If they want to kill or punish me, let them do as they please."

  "Li Guoting, are you really going back?" Wei Baosheng asked again.

  "En, go back. You go." Li Guoting said.

  Wei Baosheng saw that Li Guoting was unmoved by his persuasion, so he turned around and said: "Fine, since you don't want to follow me, then I'm sorry," and raised his gun, firing a shot at Li Guoting's arm.

  Li Guoting was stunned by Wei Baosheng's sudden move, and when he came to his senses, he felt blood flowing from his arm, a sharp pain piercing his heart. He hastily covered his injured arm with his hand and glared at him, shouting: "What do you want to do?"

  Wei Baosheng slung his gun over his shoulder and smiled at Li Guoting, saying: "Brother, you can go back now. Just say I wounded you and let the person go. Hehe, I hope we'll meet again someday."

  Wei Baosheng finished speaking and turned around to run towards the alleyway in front of him. In a flash, he disappeared at the end of the alleyway.

  His arm was still bleeding, Li Guoting gritted his teeth and walked back, after a while, he felt the wound on his arm hurt badly. Li Guoting thought to himself, this Wei Baosheng, maybe he is one of those revolutionaries. But what that strike leader said made sense. Every sentence hit home. He must be a good person, speaking up for the poor. In any case, letting him go would be worth it.

  It was just me who got hurt this time, that's all.

  Li Guoting furrowed his brow.

  Just then, Li Guoting raised his head and saw several soldiers with guns running towards him. After a closer look, he found that those soldiers were from the same company as himself, all new recruits, so he shouted: "Save me!"

  Perhaps the shout was too loud, and with a burst of strength, the wound on his arm began to bleed again. Li Guoting felt the wound on his arm ache to the core, and everything went black before his eyes.

  The soldiers who came running were ordered to go to another dock to perform a blockade mission. One of the soldiers knew Li Guoting, and when they saw Li Guoting lying on the ground with one hand covering his bleeding arm, they quickly carried him back and sent him to the new soldier team.

  When Li Guoting came to, he was lying in a snow-white hospital room, surrounded by a group of people, with Ye Tuanzhang standing in front of him.

  "Was it with you that little kid who was taken away by the prisoner?" asked Ye Tuanzhang as he saw Li Guoting wake up.

  Li Guoting nodded.

  "Hmm, did that kid shoot at you?" Captain Ye asked again.

  Li Guoting nodded again.

  "Captain Ye turned around and shouted: 'Vice Officer Liu.'"

  "Arrived." Deputy Liu replied, stepping forward.

  "Send someone to catch the escaped prisoners at once. Make sure they're all caught." Captain Ye ordered.

  "Yes, Captain. I'll send someone to catch the escaped prisoners right away. We must bring them back." Deputy Liu replied.

  Liu's deputy was ordered to leave.

  Ye Tuanzhang walked up to Li Guoting, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Well done, kid. You're that classmate of my daughter's who introduced you to join the army, aren't you?"

  "Yes, Captain." Li Guoting replied.

  "Hmm, good job, I didn't misjudge you. I'm appointing you as the class leader of your class right now. Take care of your injuries and rest well. Once you've recovered, work hard for me. In the future, I'll promote you." Captain Ye said.

  "Thank you, Captain Li, for promoting me. I will definitely work hard." Li Guoting was taken aback by the sudden surprise. Isn't this a blessing in disguise? It seems that fate is indeed at play.

  "Take good care of your wounds, kid. I'll definitely catch the one who beat you up and shoot him dead myself." Captain Ye said.

  After Ye Tuanzhang and his men left, Li Guoting couldn't help but secretly laugh to himself. It seemed that Ye Tuanzhang didn't suspect him at all, and instead still regarded him as a heroic resistor.

  The next day, Zhao Erhu and Ma Fei also rushed to the hospital room after hearing the news to visit Li Guoting.

  "Big brother, what's going on here? You didn't even put up a fight. How did Wei Baosheng manage to hurt you?" Ma Fei rushed forward upon hearing the news.

  Zhao Erhu said: "Yes, big brother. I think that kid won't be your opponent. Usually seeing him is just a radish that can't be lifted up, how could he have injured you?"

  Li Guoting made a hushing gesture with his hand towards Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu, then signaled to Zhao Erhu to go to the door and take a look.

  Zhao Erhu saw this and walked to the door, looked around, didn't see anyone, turned back and shook his head, saying: "No one."

  Li Guoting said in a low voice to Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu: "The person was released with my consent."

  "What? Big brother, you agree to let him go." Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu were both shocked.

  "Yes, I agreed to let them go." Then Li Guoting told Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu about how he had secretly released the strike leaders along with Wei Baosheng, and how Wei Baosheng had persuaded him to flee south to join the revolutionary army, and later shot and wounded his arm.

  "It seems we wronged Wei Baosheng. He was thinking for the sake of his brother, afraid that if he let you go and returned, he would be unable to explain himself, so he performed a self-sacrificing act for you. Haha..." Ma Fei laughed.

  "Shh, keep your voice down, don't let it get out." Li Guoting reminded Ma Fei.

  Ma Fei hastily covered his own mouth with his hand.

  "Oh, right, second brother, why haven't I seen you much lately? Where have you been running off to? Are you following those military officers to visit brothels?" Li Guoting asked.

  "What's with visiting brothels? The few military allowances we get are barely enough to spend, and yet you're still visiting brothels?" Ma Fei said.

  "No hanging out in the kiln, how come I haven't seen you coming to our class? Are you too proud of being a class leader and looking down on your brothers?" Li Guoting said.

  "See what Big Brother said. Am I that kind of person? Ask Er Hu, their class is very close to ours. I often look for him." Ma Fei said.

  "Yes, yes. Second Brother often looks for me. We two are always together." Zhao Erhu hastily said.

  "See, big brother, I didn't lie to you. Second Tiger knows." Ma Fei said.

  "How have you and Ye Xinyi been lately?" Li Guoting asked with concern.

  Ma Fei frowned and said in a bad mood: "Last year, when we were fighting with the eighth class, wasn't it Liu Deputy Officer who wanted to have me beaten thirty times? I told you before that Ye Xinyi came to let Liu Deputy Officer spare me. Later, she called me out and said her father had already contacted a school in Shanghai and she would leave for Shanghai the next day. Tonight was just to say goodbye to me. We were talking on the road outside the military camp when we met Colonel Ye driving over. He saw Ye Xinyi and me together at a glance, stopped the car, got out, and swung his whip to hit me. It was Ye Xinyi who blocked her father's whip with her body and told me to quickly return to the military camp."

  "Oh, you didn't tell us about what happened afterwards." Li Guoting said.

  "It's all in the past, what's the point of mentioning it. It doesn't make any sense," Ma Fei said.

  "What happened next?" Zhao Erhu asked curiously.

  "Later, Captain Ye also called me over and warned me not to get too close to Xinyi, telling me to keep my distance. If he finds out that I'm with Xinyi again, he'll expel me from the army camp." Ma Fei said.

  "Is Commander Ye unwilling for you to go?" Li Guoting asked again.

  "Hmm, I guess it's still not good enough."

  "Second Brother, what about Ye Xinyi later?" Zhao Erhu asked.

  "The next day, Ye Tuanzhang sent her to Shanghai. However, Ye Xinyi has been communicating with me all along." Ma Fei couldn't help but feel a little proud again.

  "Haha, Second Brother is really something. It seems that Miss Ye has genuinely taken a liking to you." Li Guoting said.

  "Yes, Second Brother is blessed." Zhao Erhu said.

  "Damn, and I'm still lucky. I don't have a single penny on me, but I'm still lucky to have my head. Two days ago, Xīnyì sent me a letter saying that the 23rd is her birthday. These two days, I haven't had a single cent on me, and I've been worried about how to get some money to buy Xīnyì a birthday gift to send over. Alas, not having money is really frustrating." Mǎ Fēi said.

  Li Guoting thought for a moment and said, "Second brother, I have saved some money, about ten silver dollars, which I have accumulated over time without spending. You can take it."

  "Never mind, you can keep that little money, I'll figure something out myself," Ma Fei said.

  Zhao Erhu's eyes rolled around, and he suddenly remembered something. He immediately said to Li Guoting and Ma Fei: "Big brother, second brother, do you still remember last year when I ran out of the hotel and bumped into you two? The black leather bag that was slung over my shoulder, which I had stolen?"

  Li Guoting and Ma Fei said after hearing: "I remember, there was such a thing."

  "Second brother told me to hide that package first and take it out when I need it urgently in the future."

  Ma Fei suddenly remembered: "Right, I'm the one who told you to hide. How...".

  "Hey, Second Brother, there's still a lot of silver in that package. I didn't touch a single coin, and there are some documents inside too. They're all well-hidden. Now take them out for urgent use. Can't let the swan fly away with the goods. And another thing, those documents might be useful to Captain Ye as well." Zhao Erhu said.

  Li Guoting and Ma Fei hurriedly urged Zhao Erhu: "Third brother, you quickly go back to get it."

  "Wait for me, brothers," Zhao Erhu said on horseback. "I'll go get it." With that, Zhao Erhu turned around and walked out to retrieve the leather bag that had been hidden for over a year.