Li Long was something of a celebrity in the County Seat, and the Forest Public Security officers knew him, so they did not interfere with him much. When they parted, they told him to go home and stay there, saying they might need to take his statement after they finished up in the mountains. Then they hurried off on their sidecar motorcycle to get reinforcements.
Li Long drove the Land Cruiser back to the County Seat. Rather than going straight home, he first went to the Department Store to buy some things, then drove to the Purchasing Station.
When the Land Cruiser pulled into the back courtyard, Li Long's expression was grave. Liang Shuangcheng thought something might have happened and cautiously greeted him. Seeing little response, he quietly went back to sorting dried mushrooms.
Li Long took the rifle and cleaning cloth out of the vehicle and spread them out in the shade in front of the storeroom. Liang Shuangcheng hurried over with a small stool. Li Long accepted it with a nod, and Liang Shuangcheng returned to work.
Li Long had obtained this gun-cleaning kit from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative: an eighty-by-sixty-centimeter piece of canvas wrapped around strips of cloth soaked in gun oil, an oil bottle, and other supplies.
The cleaning rod and accessories on the Type 56 were all for cleaning the rifle. Li Long usually cleaned it at his own Big Courtyard, but he had not gone back today. Going there now felt inauspicious, so he would do it here.
As Li Long pulled out the cleaning rod, removed the accessories, and disassembled the Type 56, he thought back over what had happened in the mountains.
Although shooting someone dead had not left him with much psychological burden, it was impossible not to feel frightened