Seeing Qin Yuhu like this, Lian Youming said with a grin, "Uncle, how about we talk once we get back?"
In fact, Qin Yuhu had regretted it the instant the words left his mouth. Realizing he had lost his composure, he nodded with a grunt of assent, then glanced at Yan Lingyun, who was averting her eyes and burying her head like a quail. His lips twitched into a kindly, gentle expression. "Lingyun, don't go back to the Logging Camp today. Go home with this lad. I'll have my wife make something nice. It's all thanks to you bringing word. You must be exhausted. Don't worry, we'll make it up to you, no matter what."
Who knew what it was with this girl? Whenever anything happened, she would first lower her head and eyes. But the moment she heard there would be good food, she perked up, raising her head and widening her eyes.
Qin Yuhu smiled. "This lad's mother-your Auntie Zhao-is a cook beyond compare. She sent a few pounds of cured pork and sausages after New Year. You haven't tried them yet, have you? Give them a taste later. They're different from what you eat in Guangxi-tingly, spicy, and wonderfully fragrant."
"Huh?"
Listening beside them, Lian Youming froze. Back in March or April, when Shen Qinghong was about to give birth, his mother, Zhao Lanxiang, had sent plenty of things over, all favorites of Qin Yuhu's family. Those cured meats and sausages were rare treats, made with cured pork aged for two or three years. Even Lian Youming had barely managed to cadge a couple of meals.
"What the hell are you grunting for? I'll settle accounts with you when we get back."
Turning toward Lian Youming, Qin Yuhu's gaze filled with disdain again, his expression far from friendly. Then he turned and hurried toward the two corpses.
Although they had not killed these two desperadoes, this was still a major achievement. Both men were serious criminals wanted nationwide.
If nothing else, they could at least secure an additional resettlement payment on top of the existing compensation for the brothers they had lost earlier.
They had all been born to parents who raised them. Having given their lives, they could not be shortchanged, whatever happened.
If they could also get hold of the map to the Kwantung Army's underground fortress, that would be another great achievement. Even if the credit went to Lian Youming, they could at least get a sip of the broth.
What a blessing from heaven.
Lian Youming did not know whether to laugh or cry, but seeing Qin Yuhu's old face relax for the first time in ages, he too breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since losing an arm, the man had seemed breezily indifferent on the surface, as though he had not taken it to heart. Yet his face had grown older and older, the furrows between his brows deepening until he was almost a little old man.
Lian Youming naturally knew what was on his mind. In a person's lifetime, apart from a wife and children, all that remained to hold dear were the kindness of parents and the bonds between brothers. Otherwise, he would not have had Yan Lingyun bring Qin Yuhu word first.
But his smile must have tugged at his wound, and he could not help coughing twice.
"Cough, cough..."
At this, Yan Lingyun's heart rose into her throat again. "Lian Youming, are you all right?"
Lian Youming shook his head. He looked around, and seeing that everyone was some distance away, lowered his voice. "Don't worry. I accomplished the mission."
With that, he led Yan Lingyun a little way to a secluded spot, then unearthed two washbasin-sized pieces of tree bark from a pile of leaves. Sandwiched between them was a piece of turf with a small mound of black soil. In the soil, they could just make out a wild ginseng root, crowned with flowers and leaves and trailing numerous rootlets. It looked like a plump little baby.
No more, no less-exactly eight leaves.
Eighth-leaf wild ginseng.
The thing had actually grown inside that emerald-green old tree, as though deliberately hiding from people. Lian Youming had searched around several times and almost failed to find it.
"I was afraid I'd be clumsy, and it was too dark to dig it out carefully in time, so I simply dug up the ginseng with the soil. It took a tremendous amount of work."
Yan Lingyun examined it carefully. Although the ginseng flowers had yet to fade, and the eighth leaf was smaller than the others, it was already enough.
Lian Youming was about to say more when he saw the girl before him crying again. His head aching, he said, "Oh, come on, why are you crying again? I counted them-not a single rootlet broke. Don't try to blame me."
Yan Lingyun pursed her lips. "The ginseng's perfectly fine. I'm just scared thinking back on it. If something had happened to you, I..."
Lian Youming grinned. "You wouldn't have been able to go on living?"
At those words, Yan Lingyun immediately stopped crying. She was already full to bursting with anger.
Without further ado, Lian Youming took off his shirt and carefully wrapped up the two pieces of bark. "Wait until you get back before taking the ginseng out. It's delicate work. It nearly did me in-I practically stared my eyes blind."
Actually, Lian Youming had considered returning once the eighth leaf had fully grown. But it was not the unlikely that frightened him-it was that one chance in ten thousand. Even though the place where it grew was well hidden, what if another mountain forager discovered it in the next few days? After turning it over in his mind, he had decided to dig it up first.
"Mm!"
Cradling it as though she had found a priceless treasure, Yan Lingyun followed Lian Youming back to Qin Yuhu like a chick trailing a mother hen.
The two sleeping children had also woken. Held in the arms of two soldiers, they stared at the village woman's corpse and cried without stopping, setting Yan Lingyun wiping away tears as well.
Only after the group had gathered up the bodies did they set off back.
But they had not gone far when Lian Youming suddenly looked back, as though prompted by some unseen force. With a trace of puzzlement, his gaze swept the lush mountain forest as though searching for something.
Qin Yuhu also glanced back. Seeing nothing around them, he could not help asking, "What is it?"
Lian Youming shook his head. Taking one last look at the heap of ashes Third Brother Xie had become, he said quietly, "Nothing. Let's go back."
The group receded into the distance, leaving the forest deathly silent.
By the time everyone returned to Pinecone Ridge, it was already noon.
Without the slightest delay, they boarded a truck and headed for Tahe.
Seeing Lian Youming covered in blood and grime, and Yan Lingyun still cradling something like a treasure, Qin Yuhu gave the soldiers a few instructions, then took the two of them home.
By now, Qin Hongxiu had returned to school, while Shen Qinghong was juggling work and childcare. She had visibly lost a great deal of weight and looked considerably more haggard.
Lian Youming saw it and sighed. Of course he could not trouble his elder any further. After washing off the blood and grime and changing his clothes, he went into the kitchen and picked up the spatula. Then, under Yan Lingyun's astonished, peculiar gaze, he prepared a tableful of home-cooked dishes.
Then, while Qin Yuhu was out reporting the news, he returned to his room and took out the Jade Casket Third Brother Xie had given him.
The Jade Casket was long and narrow, its design simple and archaic. Plenty of dried mud remained embedded in its grain. In all likelihood, it had been dug out of the ground.
Lian Youming had already examined its contents.
The reason he thought there was more to it was that, besides the photograph and address of Third Brother Xie's granddaughter, there were actually two maps.
One was probably the map of the Kwantung Army's underground fortress, located near Changbai Mountain. It bore numerous Japanese annotations marking hidden passages, slopes and ridges, along with symbols for firearms, ammunition, and military supplies.
The other map, however, was very strange. It depicted one undulating mountain peak after another, with neither annotations nor writing. There was only a mountain-and it was actually Changbai Mountain as well.
Lian Youming studied the peaks on the map from every angle. "Could there be two maps of the underground fortress?"
But no sooner had the thought arisen than he discarded it.
These two maps did not belong together at all. The former was paper and the latter leather, yet both depicted Changbai Mountain.
"Third Brother Xie didn't even explain before he died. What exactly is this thing? Or is it simply useless?"
As he pondered, his gaze fell on the Jade Casket on the table. An idea suddenly stirred, and his eyes shifted. "Could the leather map have come with the Jade Casket, while the paper map was put in separately?"
After all, the Jade Casket was clearly old, while the Kwantung Army dated back only a few decades.
The more Lian Youming thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
After much deliberation, he decided to take out only the paper map and put away the leather map and the Jade Casket.
(End of chapter)
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