sinovels Chapter 1789 Saving Han Shengli
Chapter 1789 Saving Han Shengli
Chapter 1789 Saving Han Shengli
"Zhendong, what's going on?" Li Meijuan asked Pang Zhendong anxiously from the outer yard of the Han family's house, "Why are they arresting us?"
“I told my brother to mark the tree,” Pang Zhendong said. Li Meijuan pressed, “What did you say?”
It wasn't that Li Meijuan didn't hear what Pang Zhendong said, but rather that she found it hard to believe.
Let alone the men who run up the mountain, it's quite normal for women like them to break off branches when they go up the mountain to collect firewood in the fall.
If you could get caught just for making a mark on a tree, then the forest rangers would have caught everyone in the residential area long ago.
“I told my brother Han that he had marked the tree,” Pang Zhendong repeated, “and then the forest ranger got upset and insisted on fining us fifty yuan. My brother Han argued with him for a bit, and then a bunch of guys came and arrested more than twenty of them.”
At this moment, Li Meijuan sensed something was wrong and immediately asked Pang Zhendong, "Have you guys avoided offending anyone?"
“It must have been Ergudong who messed with us,” Pang Zhendong said. “When I was running back, I heard my brother Han shout something about Ergudong.”
"Ergudong?" Li Meijuan reacted quickly and immediately understood. She slowly said, "Is it because of that big black dog?"
"Oh dear!" Upon hearing this, Pang Zhendong suddenly realized, "Could it be that Zhang Jimin said something to him? Is he going to send someone to sabotage us?"
"What do you mean, can't we?" Li Meijuan sat down on the stool, waved her hand towards the outside, and said irritably, "No matter what I say to your brother Han, he won't listen. I just told him to hurry up and send that big black dog back to them. They'll give us a thousand yuan. Wouldn't it be great if we could take the money?"
That bastard insisted on doing it, and now look what happened! We didn't get the dog, and now we've lost all five of our own dogs too.
After saying this, Li Meijuan calmed down a bit, and then said, "Back then, my brother Han and Ergudong didn't get along. It was fine when they quarreled, but can we afford to offend them now?"
“That’s for sure,” Pang Zhendong chimed in. “Sister-in-law, you know, even that Ergudong has a life of his own. Who would have thought he could get up?”
"Why are we talking about this now?" Li Meijuan slapped her thigh and said, "Come on, brother, come with me to Zhang Jimin's house."
"Sister-in-law, would it be of any use looking for Zhang Jimin?" Pang Zhendong said. "If you ask me, let's see if Song Fu'an is home. Isn't he the forest ranger captain?"
“Brother, haven’t you figured this out yet?” Li Meijuan said earnestly to Pang Zhendong, “Zhang Jimin is definitely involved here, but Song Fu’an may not necessarily be involved.”
“Hmm.” Hearing Li Meijuan say this, Pang Zhendong nodded and said, “Sister-in-law, you’re right. Zhang Jimin is the best at flattery. I didn’t see him today, but I have a feeling he’ll be involved in this.”
The two of them talked and then walked out, hurrying to Zhang Jimin's house first.
When they arrived at Zhang Jimin's house, they saw that the fence and gate of his yard were hanging with wire, indicating that no one was home.
"He's gone to work in the fields, hasn't he?" Pang Zhendong said to Li Meijuan. "Sister-in-law, why don't we go up to the fields and take a look?"
“Let’s go check out Old Song’s house first,” Li Meijuan said. “If no one’s home at Old Song’s, then we’ll go to Dadi.”
The "Old Song's family" that Li Meijuan mentioned refers to Song Fu'an, the captain of the forest ranger team. At this point, she had already guessed that Zhang Jimin would most likely hide, which was why she thought of going to Song Fu'an's house to check on him.
Pang Zhendong responded, and the two hurriedly headed towards Song Fu'an's house.
It was afternoon, the busy time for farm work. When they arrived at Song Fu'an's house, the gate to his courtyard was closed.
Undeterred, the two headed towards the dry fields north of the village. Since everyone lived in the same village, they all knew which family owned which land.
Pang Zhendong first went to Zhang Jimin's land and saw Zhang Jimin's wife, Sun Yunxia, leading her son to work in the field, but he did not see Zhang Jimin.
"Hey!" Pang Zhendong called out to Sun Yunxia, "Where's your Zhang Laosan?"
Sun Yunxia looked up, wiping her sweat as she replied to Pang Zhendong, "He went to work. What's up? You need him for something?"
"Ah, alright then." Pang Zhendong knew there was nothing more to say to Sun Yunxia, so he waved his hand and said, "You're busy, it's nothing."
After saying that, Pang Zhendong led Li Meijuan toward Song Fu'an's land.
When they arrived at the place, they happened to meet Song Fu'an and his family of four resting at the edge of the field.
As Song Fu'an was taking a sip of water with his ladle tilted back, he suddenly heard someone call out, "Brother Song!"
The sudden shout startled Song Fu'an. He coughed several times, then turned around and saw Pang Zhendong and Li Meijuan walking hurriedly towards him.
Seeing this, Song Fu'an frowned, wondering: Why are these two hanging out together?
Regardless of what he was thinking, Song Fu'an still stood up and greeted the two of them, asking, "What's wrong, Zhendong and Sister-in-law Han?"
"Brother Song!" Li Meijuan exclaimed urgently as she approached, "Why did your forest rangers arrest my husband, Lao Han?"
"What the heck?" Song Fu'an asked, looking completely bewildered. "Sister-in-law Han, what did you say?"
"I said your forest rangers took my husband, Lao Han, away!" Li Meijuan said, her voice already trembling with tears, and her eyes slightly red.
"What? Our forest rangers arrested your brother Han?" Song Fu'an said in shock. "How could that be? What did your brother Han do?"
At this point, Pang Zhendong chimed in, "They didn't do anything special, they just drew a mark on the tree, and then your forest rangers quit."
On the way here, Li Meijuan specifically instructed Pang Zhendong not to mention Han Shengli's wrongdoing against Zhao Youcai. She was afraid that if this matter were exposed, even if Song Fu'an wanted to help, he wouldn't dare to.
“How could that be?” Song Fu’an frowned and said, “It’s such a small matter, there’s no need to arrest people.”
Song Fu'an rose through the ranks from forest ranger to team leader, and he knew perfectly well what kind of people and groups forest rangers would make things difficult for.
Although Han Shengli hadn't been back in the village for long, he knew Han Shengli was a hunter. Hunters carried guns into the mountains, and forest rangers generally wouldn't easily provoke them.
Furthermore, Han Shengli is not a fool. If a forest ranger really wanted to arrest him, he would definitely mention himself as the captain of the forest ranger team.
Moreover, if it were really just a mark on a tree as Pang Zhendong said, that wouldn't meet the standards for a forest ranger to arrest someone.
Suddenly, Song Fu'an remembered something and hurriedly asked Pang Zhendong, "Did my brother Han make a mark on the yellow glass?"
After saying that, Song Fu'an added, "It's not that serious. It's just a mark; there's no need to arrest someone."
Yellow glass is a special type of wood used in the military for making gunstocks. Therefore, yellow glass has been protected since the Yong'an factory was established. However, as long as it's not illegally logged, even just drawing a few lines on the bark won't lead to arrest.
“Brother Song,” Pang Zhendong said to Song Fu’an, “we avoid yellow glass when we go up the mountain, it’s not like that at all.”
After saying that, Pang Zhendong changed the subject and said, "Brother Song, you'd better hurry up and find a way to save my Brother Han and Wenxue. Your forest rangers have tied them to trees."
"What?" Upon hearing Pang Zhendong say that the forest ranger had tied Han Shengli to a tree, Song Fu'an's expression changed, and he asked, "Which forest ranger? Do you know him?"
“I don’t know them, they’re all from outside our village,” Pang Zhendong said. “But there are a few that look familiar, they seem to be from Yongfu Village… Yongsheng.”
"How many?" Song Fu'an caught the key information in Pang Zhendong's words and asked, "How many people arrested Brother Han?"
“I reckon there are more than twenty people.” As soon as Pang Zhendong said this, Song Fu’an’s face darkened instantly. At this moment, Song Fu’an knew that Han Shengli must have offended someone, and someone had set a trap for him. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made two marks on the tree and arrested him, nor would they have sent so many forest rangers to deal with him at once.
At this point, Li Meijuan knew she couldn't let Song Fu'an ask any more questions. If he did, her husband Han Shengli wouldn't be able to come back.
Thinking of this, Li Meijuan acted decisively, kneeling down on the ground and shouting, "Fu'an, please save my husband Lao Han!"
"Oh dear, sister-in-law, what are you doing?" Song Fu'an quickly reached out to help her up, and his wife also helped pull Li Meijuan up.
“Fu’an!” Li Meijuan said with tears in her eyes, “We live in the same village and usually get along very well. You have to help us now.”
Han Shengli may be a dog, but he's not stupid; he understands human relationships. During the spring hunt, Han Shengli killed so many bears, and he made arrangements for all the forestry cadres and workers' families in the village.
Han Shengli and Li Meijuan had also delivered bear meat to Song Fu'an's family, so Song Fu'an couldn't refuse Li Meijuan's request for help.
"Sister-in-law, don't cry, your brother will definitely help you," Song Fu'an comforted Li Meijuan, then asked Pang Zhendong, "Do you know where they tied up Brother Han?"
“I know,” Pang Zhendong said. “I didn’t see that many of them came, so I didn’t dare to go forward. I thought I would come back and report.”
"Alright, let's head up the mountain right away." Song Fu'an took on the task, saying with great bravado, "Let's see who dares to kidnap my Brother Han. Is there no one else here?"
It wasn't Song Fu who installed it; the forest ranger team didn't have a deputy captain, he was the only leader.
"Brother, thank you so much, sister-in-law." Li Meijuan clasped her hands together and shook them repeatedly at Song Fu'an.
At this moment, Song Fu'an's wife took Li Meijuan's hand and comforted her gently, "Sister-in-law, it's alright. Let Lao Song go; he'll be fine once he gets there."
“Old Kuai,” Song Fu’an said to his wife, “I’m going up the mountain with Zhen Dong. You go back with Sister Han.”
……
Song Fu'an was quite decisive and hurriedly followed Pang Zhendong into the mountains. By the time they arrived at the scene of the incident, it was already past five o'clock.
By this time, the numerous forest rangers, as well as Han Shengli and Han Wenxue, were long gone.
"Where is he?" Song Fu'an asked Pang Zhendong, who was also bewildered. The two of them wandered around and saw the character "Wei" carved by Gu Yang on the tree.
Pang Zhendong pointed and called to Song Fu'an, "Brother Song, it's right here! Look, this mark is right here!"
Song Fu'an looked up and then frowned, saying, "This doesn't warrant arresting Brother Han."
“That’s right,” Pang Zhendong said, “I didn’t even dare to tell Sister-in-law Han. Those guys gave Brother Han and Wenxue a beating.”
"Don't talk about that yet," Song Fu'an stopped Pang Zhendong and said, "Did you see where they took Brother Han?"
“No, I saw them tying up Brother Han, so I just pulled the pole,” Pang Zhendong said. Song Fu’an sighed and said, “Let’s go, you come with me up the hill. I reckon they’ve taken Brother Han and Wenxue to that explosives depot on the back hill.”
Back when the forest farm was clearing mountains and building roads, they built many explosives depots and detonator warehouses in the mountains to store explosives and detonators for the purpose of clearing mountains and building roads.
After the road was repaired, the explosives room and detonator storage were abandoned and turned into rest huts by the forest rangers.
If you cross the mountain from here, there's a shack converted from a dynamite depot on the very top of the other mountain.
Song Fu'an and Pang Zhendong hurried there. By then, the sun had set, so they broke off some pine nuts and lit them to light their way.
When they arrived at the rangers' rest hut, it was already past 7 p.m.
At this time, eight forest rangers were sleeping on the large communal bed in the shack, including Liu Xiaodong from Yong'an Village.
Behind the hut, Han Shengli was tied to a linden tree, and Han Wenxue was tied to an oak tree not far away.
Although it was already the end of May, the temperature in the mountains at night was only around ten degrees Celsius. The mountain wind could easily penetrate even a thin cotton-padded jacket.
Inside the shack, a heated kang (a traditional heated bed) and a stove were burning, and the eight forest rangers slept soundly and comfortably.
Outside, Han Shengli and Han Wenxue were covered in snot and tears.
These were all frozen.
Ever since he was tied to this tree, Han Shengli's snot has never stopped, hanging down above his lips, making his philtrum feel slightly stinging.
What made it even harder was that Han Shengli only ate breakfast and then didn't eat or drink anything all day. He was starving and thirsty.
Song Fu'an and Pang Zhendong came from the front of the shack and did not see Han Shengli and Han Wenxue, who were tied up at the back of the house.
Upon reaching the shack, Song Fu'an raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Open the door! Open the door!" Song Fu'an shouted, and everyone inside and behind the shack heard him. Han Shengli and Han Wenxue, who had been hanging their heads to avoid the wind, suddenly raised their heads, their eyes filled with hope and expectation.
Han Shengli tried to shout for help, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.
"Who is it?" Liu Xiaodong's voice rang out from the shack, followed by Song Fu'an's reply: "It's me, Song Fu'an."
Upon hearing that it was him, Liu Xiaodong hurriedly got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), and groped his way to the door in the dark to move the tree stump leaning against it.
As soon as the door opened, Song Fu'an and Pang Zhendong were seen standing in the cold wind outside, holding torches in their hands.
"Captain, what brings you here?" Liu Xiaodong asked. Song Fu'an didn't respond to him, but instead asked, "Where's Han Shengli?"
"Who is Han Shengli?" Liu Xiaodong's eyes flickered, and he deliberately feigned ignorance. "Does our forest ranger team have such a person? I don't remember him."
"Go to hell!" Song Fu'an was completely enraged by this feigned ignorance. He raised his hand and shoved Liu Xiaodong, causing him to stumble. Holding the torch, he strode into the shack.
The firelight illuminated the small space inside the shack, and Song Fu'an quickly scanned the area. Not seeing Han Shengli and Han Wenxue, Song Fu'an whirled around and demanded of Liu Xiaodong, "Where are you arresting those two?"
To Song Fu'an's surprise, as soon as he finished speaking, Liu Xiaodong laughed and said, "Captain, don't ask anymore."
"What?" Song Fu'an was taken aback, then heard Liu Xiaodong say, "These two's affairs are none of your business."
Song Fu'an: "..."
(End of this chapter)