Chapter 8: Naming the War Eagle Sniper Unit

  "These damned things should be blasted one by one!" Old Zhang seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with Chen Shaoqin letting the fake soldiers go, but because Chen Shaoqin had saved him and his life-saving sweet potatoes, he couldn't blame Chen Shaoqin for anything, so he could only temporarily hide this faint dissatisfaction in his heart.

  Facing Xue Yumei and Zhang Lao Han's questioning eyes, Chen Shaoqin could no longer remain silent. He pulled open the gun bolt, walked to their front, and said: "You see for yourselves, my gun has no more bullets. If the puppet army finds out, not just you, Master Zhang, but even us will hardly escape their poisonous hands!"

  "Did you just have two bullets left in your gun?" Xue Yumei couldn't believe her eyes, she never thought that Chen Shaoqin would take such a big risk with her this time. If she had known about it earlier, how could she possibly stand there and talk without feeling pain in her waist? She might have already gone weak in the knees and wouldn't be able to stand up at all.

  "Hey kid, I owe you an apology. To be honest with you, just a moment ago I was still blaming you for not killing those bastards!" Old Man Zhang saw that Chen Shaogin's rifle was empty without a single bullet left, and suddenly felt a wave of uncontrollable unease on his face, so he took the initiative to come forward and apologize to Chen Shaogin.

  "Grandfather, as soldiers, our duty is to protect the border and ensure the people's safety. Now that the little devils are running amok, I, Chen Shaoqin, have not driven them out of our home, and you don't blame me for it, which already makes me very grateful!"

  "Children, this is not your fault, it's those little devils being cruel. Besides, you've already helped me a great deal today and saved my food for the year!" Old Zhang was so grateful that he was choked with sobs as he grasped Chen Shaoqin's hand, his voice trembling with emotion.

  "Old man, we just killed the puppet soldiers here. They will definitely report this to the little devils when they go back. You can't stay here anymore. Take those sweet potatoes you've collected and leave tonight. I'm afraid tomorrow, the little devils will come looking for trouble!" Chen Shaoqin didn't have time to say much more to Old Man Zhang, but first analyzed the danger and had him leave immediately that night.

  Old Zhang nodded repeatedly and said he would go find an ox cart to load the sweet potatoes that had been dug up by the puppet army here and take them away, then left.

  Xue Yumei felt very embarrassed in her heart because of the unjust blame she had placed on Chen Shaoqin earlier, and she didn't dare to look at Chen Shaoqin again, fearing that Chen Shaoqin would take the opportunity to mock her, making her even more ashamed. But after all, this was something she had done wrong, and since she had done wrong, she should have the courage to take responsibility for it.

  At this point, Xue Yumei mustered up the courage to apologize to Chen Shaoqin, but before she could speak, Chen Shaoqin beat her to it: "Alright, no need to look at me with such a pitiful expression, and don't bother apologizing either. I won't mind those things!"

  Chen Shaoqin said as he pushed the gun bolt back with one hand, then bent down to pick up the rifle on the ground.

  Xue Yuemei was stunned, probably because she hadn't expected Chen Shaoqin not to blame her, and even didn't want her to apologize for those words that made her lose all dignity and status. This couldn't help but make her re-measure the man in front of her with a new yardstick.

  "What are you standing there for? Do you think I can pick up all these guns by myself?" Chen Shaoqin saw Xue Yumei standing stupidly in place, staring at him motionlessly, and immediately began to complain. He didn't want to be the only one to bear such a burden.

  "Oh... okay, I'll help pick it up!" Xue Yumei was much more obedient this time and didn't argue with Chen Shaoqin. Instead, she helped him gather the guns and ammunition on the ground and put them together. "Do we need to take away so many guns?"

  "Of course not, we'll wait for Old Zhang to deliver the sweet potatoes and then have him take the guns away too. Let Old Zhang help us hide them, and we'll just take two of the guns and some ammunition to use first!" Chen Shaoqin explained as he moved the guns around. He had already thought this through thoroughly and was determined to make full use of these things without wasting a single bit.

  "Your idea is not bad!" Xue Yumei was very much in agreement with Chen Shaoqin's approach, after all they currently had no way to communicate with the outside world and needed to solve their own problems of weapons and ammunition. This batch of fake military supplies was certainly timely for them, she had no objections to this handling, but her heart still felt some unease. "We just walked away like that, what if those little devils come into the village tomorrow? The ones who will suffer are all the villagers! I've heard that these little devils are ruthless and cruel, every time they enter a village, they slaughter all the villagers, they have no humanity!"

  "In this way, when Old Zhang returns, you and Old Zhang will mobilize the fellow villagers to take their families and hide in the mountains for a few days!" Chen Shaoqin thought that this was a good idea and it must be put into practice first. They were going to attack the Japanese devils and puppet troops, and they couldn't let the ordinary people suffer along with them.

  "Don't worry, I'll definitely get this done!" Xue Yumei assured.

  Chen Shaoqin put down the gun in his hand and walked into Zhang Lao Han's thatched hut, took out a extinguished stick and wrote a word on the wall of the thatched hut: "Eagle!"

  "What do you mean?" Xue Yumei didn't understand what Chen Shaoqin was doing, and what the underlying meaning was, so she asked.

  "The cruelty of the little devils I know, we must leave some marks on the little devils, so that they will set their target of hatred on us and not entangle our folks all the time!" Chen Shaoqin explained, in the current situation, it seems that these are more important than anything else. "This eagle is my code name in the army!"

  "I don't think this is enough!" Xue Yumei didn't fully agree with Chen Shaoqin's writing, so she snatched the brush from Chen Shaoqin's hand and added a traditional character for "war" in front of the eagle character, and added the three words "sniper team" after the eagle character. Then, she threw away the brush and continued to say to Chen Shaoqin, "You are fighting against the devils, so 'War Eagle' is the most suitable name. But you're not alone, aren't I also here with you? So we are a team, and most importantly, your marksmanship has already made the little devils tremble with fear! Therefore, I believe that once this name gets out, it won't just be famous in our small Yang Village, but throughout the entire anti-Japanese war zone!"

  "Mountain Eagle Ambush Team, what a great name! You're indeed a top student from Yanjing University!" Chen Shaoqin couldn't help but praise her for coming up with such a name. He believed that these few words would be deeply etched in the minds of Nomura and Hamada Ikuo from today on, impossible to erase.