Siheyuan: No One Can Be Left Behind

"Unless what?" Chief Engineer Qian asked quickly.

"Unless they deliberately left us behind and changed their route halfway, or went straight back to Urumqi by skipping the campsite," the division commander interjected.

Chief Engineer Qian is still very angry. He glared at the commander, saying that this is all his fault. If you had informed me earlier, things wouldn't have turned out like this.

Feeling Chief Engineer Qian's anger, the division commander shrank his neck, stepped aside and said nothing more.

General Chen glanced at him and then said to Chief Engineer Qian, "What he said makes sense. Otherwise, where could they go when there is no one living here for hundreds of kilometers? And the wheel marks only disappeared near here. I think they must have hurried forward."

"Then what are you waiting for? Keep chasing!" Chief Engineer Qian's mind is now full of Li Dongfang's formulas. He can see that Li Dongfang knows as much about this as he does, and may even know better than him.

General Chen quickly stopped Chief Engineer Qian who was about to get in the car and said, "Old Qian, don't worry for a while. I'll have someone scout the surrounding area to see if we can find any traces of them. You should eat something and drink some water first. Otherwise, if we don't find them, you can come back and fall down."

"Oh, I'm fine..." But thinking about it, what General Chen said made sense. He should first ask someone to see if they can find the wheel tracks of Li Dongfang and the others. Once they are confirmed to be in front, it will not be too late to chase them. Otherwise, if they go in the wrong direction, they will come back as soon as he leaves. That would be troublesome.

Li Dongfang was eating around the campfire at this time. Although he was eating braised meat, he always felt that his mouth was full of sand. Now he felt a little regretful. If he had known earlier, he would have stopped at the campsite. Now he was not only bothering others, but also self-abuse.

Instead, the soldiers sat around the campfire eating the braised meat sent by Li Dongfang, with excitement on their faces, and even sang revolutionary songs.

The bonfire was reflected on the faces full of vicissitudes of life. They were smiling brightly. Li Dongfang suddenly felt his nose a little sour. After all, they were the cutest people. Suffering was a common thing for them. Now that they could eat a piece of meat, they were extremely happy.

Li Dongfang blamed himself even more. He felt very uncomfortable letting them suffer with him.

Slapping his thigh, Li Dongfang stood up and prepared to ask them to go back to the campsite, so that at least they could have a good sleep today.

At this moment, the soldier standing guard on top of the truck shouted, "Platoon leader! There's a car!"

Following the direction of the soldier's finger, Li Dongfang could vaguely see a light source, which should be a car light.

"Be alert!" The platoon leader was obviously not as relaxed as Li Dongfang, and shouted immediately.

All the soldiers immediately raised their guns, found cover, and stood ready in the direction of the oncoming vehicle.

Li Dongfang also hid beside the truck and asked the soldier next to him: "Isn't there not many people here? Is it necessary to be so nervous?"

The soldier looked straight at the direction of the approaching car, and whispered without turning his head: "Leader, you don't know, our place is not peaceful. There are not only bandits, but also saboteurs from abroad, so you'd better hide first."

"Beep!" A car in the distance honked its horn and drove towards us. When we got a little closer, we heard someone shouting, "We are Company X of the camp. Which unit are you from?"

"We are the X-platoon of the X-army guard company in Urumqi..." the platoon leader also answered loudly.

The car on the opposite side stopped 100 meters away. A man got out of the car and walked over alone. Not only did the platoon leader breathe a sigh of relief, but even Li Dongfang recognized the person. He was the one from the camp. He was the one who received them last time. The most important thing was that this person had a very distinctive look, with a round face, which was really round. Li Dongfang remembered it very clearly.

After confirming the identity of the visitor, Li Dongfang heard that Chief Engineer Qian and General Chen were also there. He felt that he should not go too far. After all, the two were real big shots, especially Chief Engineer Qian, who had made great contributions to future generations. He still had to show his respect.

Without saying much, Li Dongfang and the others followed the newcomers back to the campsite, which was the regular transit station to the base. The supply point was only a temporary shelter in case of unexpected situations, such as sandstorms.

As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the campsite, Li Dongfang saw Chief Engineer Qian waiting at the door. The reason why he recognized him at a glance was that Li Dongfang had seen his photo in his later life. However, Chief Engineer Qian now looks much younger than in the photo and is in his prime.

As soon as the car stopped, Li Dongfang got out quickly, stretched out his hand and walked towards Chief Engineer Qian, "Engineer Qian, I've heard a lot about you. Today I finally get to see you alive... in person!" Li Dongfang wiped a cold sweat from his heart and almost said what was in his mind.

"Are you Li Dongfang? You are really young and promising! Your formula..." Chief Engineer Qian is a technician after all, so he started talking about work as soon as they met.

General Chen interrupted quickly, "Old Qian, they just arrived, let them rest for a while before talking about other things."

Chief Engineer Qian slapped his forehead and said, "Yes, yes, you guys go wash your faces and have a rest first. We can talk about it tomorrow if we have anything."

Li Dongfang was not tired. He had been lying in the guesthouse for the past few days and was almost rusty. He smiled and said, "Mr. Qian, I'm fine. How about we chat in the room?"

When Chief Engineer Qian heard this, he was immediately happy and said, "Let's go. If you're not tired, we can have a chat by candlelight at night. It would be a good thing."

He kindly took Li Dongfang towards the largest room in the camp. Li Dongfang couldn't help but sigh that a person's reputation is like the shadow of a tree. He didn't have such treatment when he came here last time. He lived in a four-person room, nothing like the large suite he has now.

"Dongfang, is it okay for me to call you that?" Chief Engineer Qian asked someone to bring a wet towel to Li Dongfang.

Li Dongfang wiped his face and said with a smile, "Of course, you are my idol. When my dad talked about you to me, he admired you very much."

"Thank you for the compliment. By the way, you are Mr. Li's son, so don't call me Qian Gong, just call me Uncle." Chief Engineer Qian then remembered that Li Dongfang was here to visit relatives. Now their relationship was further strengthened and he didn't have to worry about the conversation anymore.

"Uncle Qian!" Li Dongfang was of course happy to have a relationship with someone like Chief Engineer Qian, so he immediately changed his words.

"Okay, okay! Old Li gave birth to a good son. Can you tell me where you got that formula?" Before they had even talked for a few words, Chief Engineer Qian got back to business. This may be a common problem among scientific researchers.

Li Dongfang thought for a while and said, "If I say this was a dream, would you believe it?" Li Dongfang asked tentatively.

Chief Engineer Qian was stunned. He thought that maybe Li Dongfang got it by chance, or maybe he figured it out by himself, but he didn't expect Li Dongfang to say so. However, he smiled and shook his head and said, "You are not honest at all. Do you think I will believe it?"