Chapter Fifty-One: The Department of Merit Presents Its Achievements

  Soon, Zhao Erhu carried that black leather bag and appeared in Li Guoting's ward.

  As soon as he entered the ward, Zhao Erhu quickly closed the door and walked quickly to Li Guoting's bedside.

  "Big brother, second brother, look, there's nothing missing from the bag. It's all here." Zhao Erhu stretched out his hand to open the leather bag, turning it upside down for Li Guoting and Ma Fei to see.

  Li Guoting and Ma Fei looked into the leather bag together, and indeed there were many silver coins inside.

  "Second brother, take the silver coins in the leather bag and go buy a birthday gift for Miss Ye first. I still have some money on me that can be used for a while." Li Guoting said to Ma Fei after checking the contents of the leather bag.

  Ma Fei reached into his leather bag and pulled out a handful of silver coins, glanced at them, then looked up and said, "Let's put it aside for now, maybe the three of us will have a bigger use for it in the future."

  "Hey, Second Brother, take this for now. Later on, if we run out, we'll think of something else. A living person can't be starved to death by holding in their pee." Zhao Erhu grabbed a few silver dollars from his leather bag and stuffed them into Ma Fei's hand.

  "Alright, you count them, how many in total. I'll take some," Ma Fei said.

  Zhao Erhu counted out the silver dollars in his leather bag. After finishing counting, Zhao Erhu smiled and said: "It's really not a small amount, sixty-seven pieces."

  "Oh, so many? What are those two men and women doing with so much silver?" Li Guoting asked in surprise.

  "Don't be in a hurry, big brother. Look, there are still these things in the bag." Zhao Erhu pulled out a stack of colorful paper tickets and two black file folders from the leather bag and handed them to Li Guoting.

  Li Guoting took over the things handed over by Zhao Erhu and handed them over to Ma Fei.

  "Second brother, take a look. I don't recognize many characters. You have a look instead." Li Guoting said.

  Ma Fei took the things from Li Guoting's hands, looked at them carefully, and said: "These are all written documents and contracts between the buyer and seller. Let me see what is written on them."

  Ma Fei looked carefully, and as he did, a smile spread across his face. After finishing with the IOUs, he hastily opened the two file folders, took out the documents inside, and read through them. Suddenly, he let out a burst of 'heh heh' laughter: "Great, Captain Zhang of the Third Regiment is actually in cahoots with merchants from the south to sell opium." Ma Fei said.

  "Isn't selling opium punishable by death? Isn't that Zhang Battalion Commander in charge of suppressing the opium trade? How can he be involved in smuggling opium?" Li Guoting asked.

  "Big brother, don't you understand? They openly ban smoking, but secretly sell cigarettes." Ma Fei said.

  "That's right, big brother, if Captain Zhang does it this way, can't he make a lot of money privately? You say, isn't that so?" Zhao Erhu said.

  "Hmm, you're right. What should we do?" Li Guoting asked Ma Fei.

  Ma Fei's eyes rolled, and a cold smile flashed at the corner of his mouth: "Good, this thing is too good. Let's hand it over to Captain Ye. Maybe Captain Ye is looking for it everywhere. Haha——." As he said that, Ma Fei suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Second Brother is right. Last year, our Captain Ye also told Captain Zhang in the headquarters that his military discipline was not strict, and new recruits even got into group fights. He was scolded by the commander," said Zhao Erhu.

  "That's right, I remember now. Later, Captain Ye even scolded Deputy Liu severely for this matter." Li Guoting said.

  Ma Fei thought for a moment, then said: "Third brother, you stay here with big brother. I'll take these things to the captain." Ma Fei said, picking up the black leather bag and taking out the things from it, then putting them back in again. He only took out all the silver coins inside.

  "Big brother, third brother, you guys quickly hide the silver coins, this can't be given to him, it will make him suspicious. I'll only bring other things." Ma Fei said.

  "Hmm. We'll hide this pile of silver coins right away. Second brother, you're just sending it over like that, what if the captain asks where you got it from? You can't say it was stolen by third brother." Li Guoting said.

  "Brother, don't worry, I'm not that stupid." After saying that, Ma Fei took the black leather bag containing those things and left Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu, heading towards the team department.

  The regimental headquarters was on Han Zheng Street, still two miles away. Ma Fei jogged all the way and soon arrived at the regimental headquarters.

  Ma Fei told the guard that he had important intelligence to report to the battalion commander. The guard then let Ma Fei into the battalion headquarters.

  The courtyard is an old-fashioned Western-style two-story building. In front of the building, there is a fountain pool with goldfish swimming inside and some lotus flowers planted around it. It's summer now, and the lotus flowers are in full bloom, looking extremely beautiful and elegant.

  Ma Fei was in no mood to appreciate these things. He carried his bag and hurriedly went to report to the team leader, running towards the small Western-style building.

  Two sentries stood at the gate of the small Western-style house. One of them saw Ma Fei running over, immediately took down the rifle on his shoulder, blocked Ma Fei and asked loudly: "What are you doing? Show your ID."

  Ma Fei pulled out a pass from the pocket of his military uniform and handed it to the sentry, then hastily said to the sentry: "I have an emergency situation that requires me to report to the regimental commander immediately."

  The sentry took over Ma Fei's pass and looked at it for a moment before saying: "Wait, I'll go report to the regiment commander."

  The sentinel entered the small Western-style house. After a while, the sentinel returned again.

  "The squad leader lets you in." The sentry stepped aside.

  Ma Fei hugged the pile of things and walked into the team department.

  In the first floor hall, Captain Ye stood in front of a huge map with his hands on his hips, frowning as he looked at the map.

  Liu Deputy Officer and Battalion Commander Xiao Yaotian stood beside him.

  "Reporting to Captain, new recruit company five squad leader Ma Fei has an important matter to report."

  Captain Ye turned around, his eyes fixed on Ma Fei: "Ah, it's you again. What is it?" Captain Ye recognized the new recruit Ma Fei, who had been warned by him before not to bother his daughter.

  "Report to the team leader, I picked up a black briefcase by the dock. There are some documents inside." Ma Fei said, handing over the black leather case in his hand.

  Deputy Liu took a step forward, taking the black leather bag from Ma Fei's hand. He opened the bag and pulled out the contracts and documents, lowering his head to examine them. As he looked at them, a sly smile spread across Deputy Liu's face. After thinking for a moment, he hastily handed the documents and contracts in his hand over to Captain Ye: "Captain, this is indeed an important piece of intelligence."

  "Ah, let me take a look." Captain Ye took the stack of things from Deputy Liu's hand and examined them carefully.

  "Great, too great. His grandma's place. Damn Zhang Chaoyang. He framed me multiple times in front of the commander. Do you think I wouldn't catch your handle? Haha... Okay, okay. This time, let you young man have a good time." As he said this, Captain Ye turned around again, stretched out his hand and slapped Ma Fei's shoulder hard, saying excitedly: "Great, you young man have made great contributions this time! I will heavily reward you. You are my daughter's classmate, what's your name... Ma... Ma..." Captain Ye was stunned. He couldn't remember Ma Fei's name.

  Ma Fei hastily stood up straight and raised his hand to report to Captain Ye: "Reporting to Captain, I am Ma Fei."

  "Alright. Alright, it's Ma Fei. Good job. You go back first. Leave these documents here. I'll reward you after I finish my military duties." Commander Ye said to Ma Fei.

  "Thank you, Captain Ye." Ma Fei said to Captain Ye and Deputy Officer Liu. The regiment commander Xiao Yaotian saluted, then turned around and left the regiment headquarters.