Chapter 2 (19)

  As the sky brightened, Xiao Hei remained motionless, lying in the woods by the riverbank, staring at the highway on the opposite shore, without saying a word.

  Gao and Wu Dafu didn't know what trick Xiao Hei had up his sleeve, so they anxiously asked him about the next step in their plan. Xiao Hei only said one word: "Wait".

  After breakfast, the police stationed in Zhang Wang Cun found Blue Army Commander Jin Cheng and informed him of the theft at the barber shop, asking Jin to go with them to the scene.

  Jin Cheng's first reaction was that it was impossible, as the troops had been training in this area year after year without any conflicts with the local people, and there was no way they would commit theft. But the police officer said he had sufficient evidence to prove that it was indeed a soldier who did it, because he found an armband at the scene which was identical to the one worn by the Blue Army.

  Perhaps the rural police officer was so excited to encounter this case after a day of doing nothing. The police officer carefully took out the armband wrapped in a plastic bag, which was exactly what Xiao Hei lost at the barber shop last night.

  Jin Cheng saw the armband and knew that things had become complicated. If it was indeed done by the troops, not to mention that he would have a hard time explaining it to his superiors, the relationship between the troops and the masses would be greatly affected when they came to this place for exercises in the future.

  Jin Cheng decided to go with the police to see the scene, but suddenly changed his mind when he was about to get in the car. Dealing with the masses should be left to the political commissar, but the Blue Army didn't have one since it was organized like a foreign army. So he let Xu Chun, the deputy chief of staff of the Wild Wolf Brigade and the deputy commander of the Blue Army for this exercise, ride in his car instead.

  Afterwards, Xu Chunlai called to report the theft at the barber shop, saying it was very troublesome. The owner of the shop did not want the troops to just pay compensation and settle the matter, but instead wanted to find the troops to make things right.

  A noisy voice came over the phone, Jin Cheng let Xu Chun come back quickly to conduct an internal investigation first. It is not known whether Xu Chun heard or not, the phone hung up.

  It wasn't until nearly noon that Xu Chun didn't come back. Jin Cheng felt that something was off, so he ordered the head of the military affairs section, Xie, to lead some men over to take a look.

  After Xie Guzhang left, Jin Cheng felt a bit anxious and walked to a small shop not far from the front of the command post, bought a bottle of beer, and drank while looking out at the highway towards the village head.

  At this time, a water-spraying agricultural tricycle drove towards the small sales department. Before it arrived at the small sales department, it stopped and parked in the middle of the road. The dirty driver got out and crawled under the car to tinker with it for half a day but couldn't fix it, so he walked towards the small sales department.

  Jin Cheng originally wanted to ask if he was from Zhang Wang Village, but from a distance, he smelled a strong smell of sewage on the man's body, shook his head and avoided him.

  The newcomer took a glance at Jin Cheng, didn't say anything, walked into the small shop and said to the boss: "The car broke down, make a phone call."

  The boss covered his nose and pointed to the phone. The person who answered the call said: "The car has broken down, bring all your stuff and come over as soon as possible, the sooner the better."

  After the man finished the phone call, he came out of the small shop and started tinkering under the car. At this time, Jin Cheng had finished drinking his beer and was about to head towards the Blue Army headquarters when the driver of the agricultural vehicle poked his head out from under the car and shouted at Jin Cheng: "Leader, are you with the troops?"

  Jin Cheng couldn't stand that sour smell, wrinkled his brow, didn't even look at the driver under the car, and continued to walk forward.

  The driver said: "Boss, can I borrow a large adjustable wrench from you? Can you help me out?"

  Jin Cheng still didn't react.

  At this time, the driver muttered to himself: "What's wrong with your troops? They see death but don't save, if I had known earlier that it was your bald deputy commander, I wouldn't have saved him either."

  Jin Cheng's foot, which had stepped forward, retreated back again. "What did you say?"

  The driver crawled under the car again.

  Jincheng Mao lowered his waist and asked: "What did you say, Deputy Commander?"

  The driver said gruffly: "I don't know."

  Jin Cheng politely said: "You've spoken, I'll immediately have someone fix your car."

  The driver took a glance at the intersection and said, "No need, my people will be here any minute."

  Jin Cheng took out his mobile phone and dialed Xie Guzhang's number. After the call connected, he heard Xie Guzhang say that his tire had blown out and he hadn't arrived at Zhangwangji yet.

  Jin Cheng hung up the phone and turned to walk towards the command center. At this time, he heard the driver under the car say: "He was beaten unconscious, if I hadn't seen him, it would be... hard to say..."