Chapter 2 Rural Village Life

  In November, the southeastern part of Shanxi Province has already turned yellow, and the mountains and forests are covered with a layer of golden leaves, giving the Taihang Mountains, which have already entered winter, a yellow cloak.

  Qin Wei, who had been living in Chenjiapo for nearly a week, was recovering quite well. In fact, Qin Wei was very lucky, as he was kicked out of the driver's cab by an old driver during the bombing, and the roadside ditch saved him. Except for some concussion and superficial injuries, there were no major injuries. After being examined by the old doctor from Changshui Town, it was said that with a few days of rest, Qin Wei would be fine.

  Qin Wei was delighted that his injuries were light, which meant he could recover faster and return to the rear as soon as possible.

  On that day, Qin Wei was lying on the kang, when the old village chief of Chenjia Slope came into the yard and shouted loudly: "Little Qin, Little Qin, are you there?"

  Qin Wei, who was lying on the kang, heard the voice of the old village chief and rolled over on the kang, sitting up at the edge. While putting on his boots, he loudly replied: "Old Village Chief, I'm here! I'm here!"

  "Little Qin, I've brought some eggs for you. Your injury isn't healed yet, so I'll give you some extra nutrition." The old village chief said as he pushed open the door and entered the house.

  "Hehe, old village chief, you're too polite. Staying here for so long has already caused everyone a lot of trouble, and the villagers are really too enthusiastic." Although he hadn't been in the village for long, the villagers of Chenjiapo still had a good impression of this quiet and gentle young man, even though when they brought him back, he was still wearing the uniform of a lieutenant in the National Army.

  "Oh, Xiao Qin, what's the point of saying these things? Rescuing you is what we should do. Now that we're at war with the little devils, we'd be delighted to rescue an officer like you back." The old village chief said with a smile.

  "By the way, Little Qin, those companions of yours who were killed in the bombing, I've already had everyone bury them. When people die, they should rest in peace. Some things on their bodies, I've already had everyone collect them. Alas, it's really too tragic, several young men didn't even have a complete corpse left... it's truly heartbreaking." As he spoke, the old village chief's eyes were filled with sorrow.

  Qin Wei was also a moment of gloom, especially when Master Sun kicked Qin Wei off the car, making Qin Wei never forget that if it wasn't for that lifesaving kick, he might have ended up lying in the grave with those thugs.

  "Old village chief, I thank you on behalf of those deceased brothers. Let the families of the brothers have a place to burn paper in the future. This is accumulating virtue." Qin Wei's voice was somewhat choked with sobs.

  "Alright, alright, Little Qin, don't say such sad things anymore. Just focus on recovering from your injuries and when you're healed, go kill a few more devils to avenge those brothers." The old village chief gently patted Qin Wei's shoulder.

  Qin Wei nodded silently, he knew what the old village chief meant.

  "Then I'll go first, Little Qin, take good care of your injury, the eggs are left here." After finishing speaking, he put down the wicker basket containing eggs and took a glance at Qin Wei who was still silently pondering, shook his head lightly and left.

  He knew this young man was experiencing life and death separations for the first time, let him think about it himself.

  Watching the old village chief leave, Qin Wei slowly remembered those who had set out with him, the young lieutenant Huang Kei who led the team and escorted the car, the old soldier Lao Bao, the new recruit Egg Three Dogs, the cunning rich and noble, and the silent old driver Sun Shifu. These companions who had left Taiyuan together were now gone like this.

  Although this was just Qin Wei's memory, Qin Zige, who inherited these memories, also felt a deep sense of loss and longing for the departure of these familiar yet strange companions.

  Just as Qin Wei was in a daze, the wooden door creaked open slowly.

  A small head slowly poked into the room and looked at Qin Wei, who was sitting silently on the edge of the bed. In a low voice, it said: "Uncle Qin, what are you doing again?"

  Qin Wei, awakened by the crisp and tender voice, looked at the little head poking in and felt the heaviness in his heart dissipate like a wisp of clear breeze. "Dabao, come on in, what are you doing standing at the door?"

  "My mother doesn't want me to disturb your rest, Uncle Qin." answered Da Bao in his clear and crisp childish voice.

  "Hehe, it's okay, your mom can't see either. Come on in quickly, it's so cold outside, I can see the snot freezing on your nose." Qin Wei beckoned to Da Bao who was lying at the door.

  "Uh, uh, uh, never mind, if Dad sees it, he'll spank my butt." Dabao seemed to have thought of the most terrifying thing and his little face turned pale.

  "Hehe, our big treasure is still afraid of your dad spanking you, it's okay, Uncle Qin let you in, your dad can't hit you." After finishing speaking, Qin Wei got up from the kang and walked to the door, stretched out his hand and picked up Big Treasure.

  "Oh no, Uncle Qin, my mother said you're still hurt, put me down!" The little kid said anxiously.

  "It's all right, Uncle Qin is fine." As he said that, he and Da Bao bumped heads with the cow, immediately followed by the sound of children's laughter ringing throughout the entire house.

  Dabao played with her for a while, then ran out at the sound of her mother's calls to do some chores that she could handle.

  Qin Wei was also bored, sitting on the kang, taking out his trusty 'Big Power' and slowly disassembling it, wiping down each part with a cloth stained with gun oil.

  After a while, the door creaked open and a sturdy man with a smile on his face came in, carrying a long blue bundle on his back. "Qin brother, Qin brother," he said loudly, "how are you feeling today? Are you better?"

  Qin Weidong focused his eyes and took a look, it turned out to be Chen Dakang who had carried him back on his back. He quickly got up and came forward, saying: "Brother Chen, you're much better today, thank you for your concern, where are you going?"

  "Hey, I'm telling you, brother, if your injury is healed, go out more often. The doctor said it's nothing serious, so you should get some exercise." Chen Dakang said with a smile.

  "Alright, I'll listen to you, there's nothing much going on so I'll go out and move around a bit." Qin Wei also smiled and nodded in response.

  "Alright, today I brought back a few things, take a look." As he spoke, he walked to the edge of the kang and put down the blue cloth bundle in his hand on the kang, and after putting it down, he also went to the door and inserted the door bolt.

  Looking at Chen's mysterious appearance, Qin Wei was also a bit bewildered and said in a daze: "Chen, what is this thing?"

  "Good stuff, you'll know when you see it."

  As he spoke, he opened the blue cloth package. The package was wrapped very tightly, and even Chen Dakang had to use a lot of effort to open it. As soon as the package was opened, two long guns, one short gun, and one submachine gun appeared before the eyes of the two men.

  Looking at the guns and weapons in front of him, Qin Wei was taken aback and said: "Brother Chen, where did you get these from?" As he spoke, he picked up a rifle in his hand, deftly opened the safety catch, pulled back the bolt to reveal the shiny bullets inside, and then swiftly pushed the bolt back into place and closed the safety catch.

  "Big brother, this is the Taiyuan Arsenal-made '65' rifle, no different from the 38 big cover. He pointed to the other two guns on the kang and said: "That short gun is Shanxi-made big eye box cannon, and that submachine gun is a genuine German 9mm 'flower machine', Brother Chen, these things look familiar to me."

  Chen Dakang smiled wryly and said, "Qin brothers, these are yours. The other guns were all blown up, only a few branches are left."

  Qin Wei was somewhat dazed, gently stroking the weapon placed on the kang with his hand, and Qin Wei's heart had some unknown thoughts.

  Slowly picking up the box of bullets, gently disassembling the handgun, slowly wiping away the dust that had accumulated on the weapon, Qin Wei's mood was somewhat heavy.

  Looking at Qin Wei's somewhat unsightly complexion, Chen Dakang didn't know what to say and simply patted Chen Dakang's shoulder lightly. Seeing Chen Dakang's hesitant expression, Qin Wei smiled faintly and said: "Brother Chen, I know what you want to say, don't worry, I can hold on, in these chaotic times, human life is like grass, this principle I understand."

  "That's good, Qin brother, I thought you were going to be stubborn." Chen Dakang let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.

  Actually, Chen Dakang didn't know that Qin Wei had some sadness in his heart, but after all, he hadn't seen those death scenes with his own eyes, the sensory stimulation wasn't very strong, and those scenes from memory were still somewhat distant.

  After wiping several firearms clean, Qin Wei looked at the condition of the guns and thought they were still pretty good. He turned his head to look at Chen Dakang who was hesitating beside him and said with a smile: "What's wrong, Brother Chen? You seem hesitant about something. If there's something on your mind, just say it. We're all brothers, what can't be said?"

  Chen Dakang smiled foolishly and said hesitantly: "Brother Qin, you also know that the world is in chaos now. Can these few guns be left to our village? We have something for self-defense."

  "Haha, what's there to say? These few guns were all found by the villagers, and they told me that although my brothers have left, the weapons in their hands can protect the villagers. They will be happy down there too." Qin Wei was quite open-minded about it.

  "That's good, I thought Qin brother would disagree." Chen Dakang scratched his head with a silly expression.

  Finally, Chen Dakang left when Hai asked Qin Wei to teach the village's young people how to use guns. Qin Wei also agreed happily, and seeing Qin Wei agree so readily, Chen Dakang left with a happy heart.

  Qin Wei shook his head and smiled as he watched Chen Dakang walk away with a light step, preparing to find a few young villagers who were familiar with him to come to Qin Wei's place to learn how to shoot.

  Qin Wei slowly loaded the magazine of his 'Big Power' pistol with bullets, closed the safety catch, looked out the window and said in a worried tone: "I hope the war doesn't reach here."