Chapter 42: The Unexpected Intermediary

  In a small alley one kilometer outside the county town, the explosives and special warfare team were waiting for the contact person to appear. Big Cow was playing with the grenade in his hand, complaining: "Hey, why is this thing not as useful as our machine gun."

  The two oxen panted heavily and struck their legs. One of them also complained, "That's right, we've been running for dozens of miles, and we're really exhausted."

  Huoyao was lounging on the grass, with a wild grass root in his mouth, and said with a smile: "That can only be blamed on yourselves. Caixun just left the base and thought of going back to disguise herself. You two brothers just know how to stand there stupidly waiting. Don't you think for yourselves, is it easy to bring such a big machine gun into the county town?"

  Huoyao couldn't help but turn his head to look at Zuo Caiyun, who was dressed as a man. She wore men's clothing, her long hair wrapped in a headscarf, and a thin layer of gray dust on her face and hands. It was hard to tell that she was a beauty.

  Huoyao looked at Zuo Caiyun who was giggling nonstop, and the annoyed Zuo Caiyun gave him a cold stare. Then she pouted her small mouth, turned around and whispered to Yanzhi as they walked away.

  The big cow was still complaining and said: "Every time it's up to you, why didn't you remind us earlier this time."

  Gunpowder had nothing to say, and could only smile apologetically at the big cows.

  They had marched more than ten miles from the base when Gunpowder suddenly remembered that Big Cow and his brother were carrying machine guns. Gunpowder thought the machine gun was too big, and it might be difficult for the contact person to transport it into the city. So he let Big Cow and his brother return to the base, and each of them exchanged a Thompson submachine gun. This made Big Cow and his brother run dozens of miles more, no wonder they wanted to complain.

  Wang Xiaolong, who was standing on the small road and looking around constantly, suddenly said: "Someone is coming."

  The big cow and others quickly hid their guns and pretended to rest by the side of the road.

  An old man in his sixties or seventies with white hair and a bent back, slowly approached while pulling a wooden cart. On the cart was a large wooden barrel, although it had a lid on it, Firework and others could smell a foul odor from far away. Suddenly, a child's head popped out from behind the cart, helping the old man push the cart forward while curiously staring at Firework and the others.

  Everyone who saw the old and young pair thought it was impossible for them to be the ones picking us up. The old man was too old, and the child was too young. They must have been a grandfather-grandson duo specializing in pouring sewage water for city dwellers.

  The old man pulled the cart to the side of Huo Yao and others, but suddenly stopped. He panted and said to several people: "You are from the mountain, right?"

  Gunpowder was taken aback, then returned to the way: "We are from inside the county."

  The old man said: "Oh, it's not peaceful in the mountains, there are many jackals and leopards."

  "Firework smiled and said: 'We are going to the county town to hunt wild rabbits.'"

  I didn't expect this old man to actually come and meet with Huoyao and the others. The hidden meaning in their conversation just now was completely correct. Zuo Caiyun and the others felt embarrassed and put down their hands, no longer covering their noses. Otherwise, it would be too disrespectful to this elderly comrade of theirs.

  The old man also identified the gunpowder. He then said: "Hand over your guns to me, I'll take them into town."

  Huo Yao and others handed their guns over to the old man. The little kid then came over, excitedly saying: "Wow, these are the real deal!"

  The child was just about to reach out and touch the gun when he was tapped on the forehead by the old man's two fingers. The old man said to the child, "Don't move, stay still."

  The child gently scratched his head, leaning on one corner of the cart. He pouted, looking unwilling, but could only watch as the old man stuffed all the guns into the compartment at the bottom of the wooden bucket.

  The old man hid his gun and turned back to ask Firework and others: "Who is the leader among you?"

  "Fireworks smiled and replied: 'It's me.'"

  The old man leaned in close and whispered something in his ear. After a string of words, he asked seriously, "Do you remember everything?"

  "Remember," said Huo Yao with a smile and a nod.

  The old man pulled up the cart and said to the gunpowder: "You go into the county town first, I'll send the guns over later."

  The swallow couldn't bear to watch and said: "We'll help you pull the cart together."

  The old man refused, saying: "No need, others will suspect."

  Gunpowder and the others were walking on a road that cars could pass through, and the city gate was already very close. The pedestrians on the road also gradually increased. In order not to draw too much attention to this group of people, Gunpowder let everyone enter the city separately.

  Dà niú, èr niú cóng lái méi yǒu jìn guò xiàn chéng. Tāmen kàn dào mǎ lù shàng zhújiàng zēng duō xíng rén, yǐjīng shì xīng xǐ yìcháng le. Tīng dào huǒ yào ràng tāmen fēn kāi jìn chéng hòu, liǎng rén yī liū yān de jiù pǎo le.

  Huoyao wanted to instruct a few words, but the two brothers had already run far away. He was also afraid that the two of them were hot-tempered and might accidentally stir up trouble. Huoyao could only let others speed up their pace.

  There were more than a dozen puppet soldiers guarding the city gate. People entering and leaving the city gate had to line up in two queues, subject to inspection by the puppet soldiers. There were also little devils patrolling on the city wall, occasionally poking their heads out of the wall to observe the situation at the city gate.

  Dà Niú, èr Niú pái zài jìn chéng de duì wǔ zhī zhōng, děng dài zhe wěi jūn de jiǎn chá. Dōng zhāng xī wàng de èr Niú tū rán lā bèng le yī xià Dà Niú de yī fu, zài zhǐ zhe chéng qiáng biān shàng guà zhe huà bù shuō: "Gē, nǐ kàn kan, nà shì fǒu tōng jì lìng."

  Big Cow looked in the direction that Second Cow was pointing, and indeed saw a canvas with what seemed to be Liu Tao's portrait on it. Big Cow excitedly said: "Let's go take a look."

  The big cow and the second cow ran out of the formation team and came under the city wall with a painting canvas. They kept pointing and talking non-stop.

  Gunpowder walked to the city gate and heard Big Cow shouting loudly at him: "Gunpowder, come quickly and take a look, what is written on this?"

  Gunpowder shook his head helplessly, those two guys shouting so loudly would definitely attract other people's attention. Gunpowder thought regretfully in his heart "If I had known this earlier, it would have been better to let them come with me."

  The fake soldiers heard the shouting and saw the big cow waving its hand towards the gunpowder. The fake soldiers all looked over at the gunpowder.

  The fake soldiers were looking over here, Huo Yao lowered his head and said to Yanzi and the others, "You all go into the city first." Then he took big strides towards Da Niu and the other two, laughing loudly as he went: "Oh, it's the two brothers of Da Niu! Long time no see! Are you all going into the city?"

  Huoyao spoke loudly, only to tell the fake army that he and Daniu were just coincidentally meeting. Daniu's two brothers didn't quite understand, having not seen each other for just a short while, how could they say it had been a long time? They were about to speak when Huoyao walked up quietly and said: "Shut up, don't talk."

  Huoyao gave a signal to the two brothers, and only then did they notice that the fake soldiers were all staring in their direction. They remembered what Huoyao had said earlier, "Try not to draw attention from others." Only then did they realize they had just been a bit too proud of themselves.

  "Come on, let's get into town," said Huo Yao in a low voice.

  Just as several of them were about to leave, a fake soldier shouted loudly, "Halt!"

  Recommendation.