After walking along the path for about three or four miles, Shi Dazhuang pointed to a mountain pass ahead and said, "That's Kuaziba."
A short, sturdy, dark-skinned young man walked towards them and stopped in confusion when he saw them.
The young man was stunned for a moment, then suddenly jumped three feet high, threw off his straw hat, and shouted, "Uncle Shi! It's Uncle Shi!"
Shi Dazhuang was stunned for a while before he reacted and asked in surprise, "You're Yusang?"
The young man nodded vigorously.
"Wow, Yusang has grown so much!"
Just as Shi Dazhuang was about to step forward, the young man turned and ran, shouting as he ran, "Uncle Shi is back! I'm going to inform Grandpa Enkun!"
Qingmu said, "It seems you're quite popular."
"This Yusang was kidnapped by a drug cartel and forced into child labor. I rescued him, so we're very close. I never imagined he'd grow up so big!" Shi Dazhuang exclaimed.
They walked towards Kuaziba as they talked.
Before long, a large group of people rushed out of the dam and surrounded them noisily, fussing over Shi Dazhuang, some calling him "Big Brother," some "Uncle," some "Yeye Grandpa"...
Shi Dazhuang smiled and answered each question, then searched through the crowd for a while before asking, "Where is Grandpa Enkun?"
Someone said, "Here he is! Grandpa Enkun old and can't run anymore, he's waiting for you at the dam entrance!"
Someone else said, " Enkun's kid's on drugs again. Enkun's been sulking these past few days!"
Shi Dazhuang nodded, parted the crowd, and strode forward.
Upon reaching the mouth of the dam, Qingmu saw an old man with a wrinkled face sitting on a large rock, his back hunched, holding a pipe in his hand and puffing away. Beside the rock was a black ebony dragon-head cane.
Behind him stood a little girl wearing a floral shirt, with dark skin and two braids at the back of her head.
Shi Dazhuang approached the old man, bent down, and called out, " Grandpa Enkun, I've come to see you!"
"Good that you're here, good that you're here." Old Enkun took a drag of his cigarette and pulled the girl out from behind him. "Girl, come here, call him Uncle."
Shi Dazhuang said, "Isn't this Beauty? She's grown so tall, I almost didn't recognize her."
The girl kept her head down, clutching the hem of her clothes, and didn't say a word.
Old Enkun said, "She doesn't know you, don't be surprised!"
Just then someone called out, "It's getting late, time to eat!"
Everyone responded enthusiastically.
" Grandpa Enkun, Dazhuang is here. Should we get him ready?"
Before Old Enkun could reply, someone else said on his behalf, "Of course! Shayazi, you've brought out all the wine you've been hiding. Let's take him down today, do you dare?"
"You're being too naive. What's wrong with me drinking alcohol?"
Old Enkun tapped his pipe twice on the stone. "Damn it!"
Everyone shouted "Good!" and then dispersed to get ready.
Shi Dazhuang said to the maid, "Come, Beauty, help me help Grandpa Enkun back."
The little girl was obedient at this moment, and she and Shi Dazhuang went to help Old Enkun, one on each side.
Old Enkun shook them off and stood up, leaning on his dragon-headed cane. "I can manage!"
Shi Dazhuang: " Grandpa Enkun's health is still so robust!"
Old Enkun said, "What else can we do but rely on the younger generation? They're really something else!"
Kuaziba is built against the mountain, with houses made of a mixture of earth and wood connected together, and a winding mountain road passing through the dam area.
Old Enkun's house is a two-courtyard house, which is considered a large house in Kuaziba. However, the house has obviously not been repaired for a long time and is already somewhat dilapidated.
Tables and chairs were set up in the courtyard. Old Enkun sat down in a chair, while the little girl Yu Meiren stood timidly to the side.
Seeing Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu putting things on the table, including cigarettes and alcohol, Old Enkun said unhappily, "Why are you giving us cigarettes?"
Shi Dazhuang joked, "Don't worry, old man, this isn't opium!"
Old Enkun chuckled and sighed, "Opium has ruined so many young people!"
Shi Dazhuang said, "I have to thank you, Grandpa Enkun!"
Old Enkun said, "Thank you, government!"
Shi Dazhuang explained to Qingmu that poppies used to be planted everywhere around Kuaziba, and every family relied on them for a living; even this yard was full of them. Many young people, in order to earn more money, did not hesitate to help drug traffickers from abroad transport drugs. Later, when he led a team to crack down on drugs, they encountered a lot of obstacles. In the end, it was Grandpa Enkun who spoke up and personally led the team with the *tu*shu to eradicate all the poppies in their own yard, and only then could the anti-drug work proceed smoothly.
"What mission do you have here this time?" Old Enkun asked.
Shi Dazhuang laughed and said, "What mission? I just came to see you."
Don't lie to me! I'm old, but I'm not senile yet!
Old Enkun's cloudy eyes were filled with yellowish-white discharge, but his black pupils were clear and bright. The wrinkles on his face revealed the wisdom that came with years of experience. "You've come to see the girl, haven't you?"
Shi Dazhuang had no choice but to admit, "Yes, I wanted to take the girl away."
"Oh, good! Good, good!" Old Enkun said several times, "It's good to take him away! It's just that there will be no descendants to visit Gangzi's grave in the future!"
Shi Dazhuang said, " Grandpa Enkun, Yu Gang's identity can now be made public. He will be posthumously awarded the title of martyr, and his grave will be moved to the martyrs' cemetery in a few days."
"Really?"
Old Enkun stood up excitedly, slamming his cane hard on the rammed earth, making a thumping sound.
He looked up at the sky, which was a deep, clear blue, with a few wispy white clouds drifting by.
Qingmu saw that the old man's eyes were filled with murky tears, like a bowl of porridge that was too full, the thick soup overflowing the rim but not flowing down.
"Thank God!"
The old man finally couldn't hold back any longer. He roared in a desolate, hoarse voice, and tears welled up like a burst dam, flowing down the furrows of his old face, which was as cracked as parched earth.
On the way here, Qingmu had heard Shi Dazhuang mention that in the entire Kuaziba, only Enkun knew Yu Gang's identity as a policeman.
Yu Gang was not a local. In order to gain the trust of drug traffickers, he married a woman from Kuaziba. At that time, Mangdian was a bridgehead for drug traffickers to enter the country for transactions, and Kuaziba was an important foothold for them to retreat to Mianyue.
The people of Kuaziba do not despise drugs because they provide them with a means of livelihood despite their poverty. However, this does not mean they do not hate drug dealers, who treat human life as worthless and drag the people of Kuaziba, especially the young people, into an inescapable abyss.
Therefore, the people of Kuaziba have complex feelings towards Yu Gang, just as they have complex feelings towards Shi Dazhuang, who later led the team to take down the drug trafficking group.
In many people's eyes, Yu Gang was an out-and-out opium addict, a bastard, and a devil. He repeatedly crossed the Mianyue border, repeatedly escaped right under the noses of the police, and repeatedly sneaked back to the village covered in blood.
There was once a saying in Kuaziba: When even the dogs in the dam dare not bark, it means Yu Gang has returned.
But Yu Gang had done a good deed for the people of Kuaziba.
He himself was a drug addict, but he held a gun to people's heads and forbade the people in the village from using drugs.
He saved lost young people from the clutches of poppies and death more than once. If it weren't for him, those children who were tricked or kidnapped by drug dealers would have either died under bullets or rotted in the opium heaps of Masuba.
Only Enkun in the entire dam area knew what Yu Gang did for a living.
It is no easy task for an old man to keep such a secret.
"Grandpa, what's wrong? What's wrong?" Yu Meiren shook Old Enkun's trembling hand holding the pipe. "Grandpa, don't cry, Grandpa..."
Shi Dazhuang pulled Yu Meiren: "Come, Beauty, Grandpa Enkun isn't crying..."
Before he could finish speaking, the little girl bit his hand.
Shi Dazhuang hissed in pain and pulled his hand back, leaving a row of teeth marks on the back of his hand.
Yu Meiren stood in front of Old Enkun, her thin face tense, her eyes fixed on Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu, and she screamed hysterically, "You're bad people! You made Grandpa cry, you're bad people!"