While on the train, Tong Jia was just glad that this train to the northwest was not as crowded as the one to the provincial capital.

But when she got off the train and walked outside the train station, she understood why the train was not crowded.

After leaving the train station, there were almost no civilians within a five-mile radius, except for the Northwest Army.

She carried an empty suitcase with only a few pieces of clothes in one hand, and held Tao Junle's hand in the other, and walked into the city in a daze.

After walking for about half an hour, they finally saw a rickshaw. The driver was so skinny that Tong Jia couldn't bear to let the driver pull both herself and Tao Junle at the same time.

But she still wanted to ask the driver something, so she let Tao Junle carry the box and sit in the rickshaw, while she followed the driver.

The driver must have been hungry for a long time. He had no strength left and could not run. He slowly pulled the rickshaw forward, even slower than Tong Jia.

Tong Jia asked, "Master, isn't this our northwest provincial capital? Why is there no one around after leaving the train station?"

The driver licked his cracked lips with his tongue, then slowly said, "It's been two years of drought. Not even a blade of grass grows in the fields, let alone crops.

All the food in the store should be sent to the bosses. The bosses won't have to worry about food and drink, and we, the people below, also have to survive, right?

Those who have connections will find their own way out. Ordinary people like us who have no connections can only go out as little as possible, so that we can eat less and save some food for the family.

If it weren't for the three kids at home crying out in hunger, I would have come out to try my luck, otherwise I wouldn't have come out."

After the driver's reminder, Tong Jia realized how dry the northwest was.

Along the way from the train station, there was really not a single green plant to be seen.

Pulling a cart is tiring, and so is talking.

After saying these words, the driver stopped talking and focused on pulling Tao Junle towards the hotel.

On the way, he tried to speed up, but he didn't have enough physical strength and was almost knocked down by the car because he couldn't control it.

Tong Jia couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so she opened the suitcase and pretended to take out two cornmeal pancakes from the Yang family's kitchen and gave them to the driver.

The driver felt a little embarrassed at first, but when he thought of the hungry children at home who were crying, he only broke off a small piece to fill his stomach and put the rest in his arms to take home for his children to eat.

But he had been hungry for too long, and just a bite or two of food was not enough to restore his strength.

Tong Jia didn't bother him. He waved to Tao Junle and said, "Master, you can rest for a while and then go home. I know how to get to the hotel you mentioned. It's not far. We can just walk there."

After saying that, he pulled Tao Junle towards the hotel.

Both of them were in a very heavy mood. Neither of them had expected the Northwest to be like this.

Tao Junle had never traveled far before due to health reasons. He thought that even if there were differences between other places and the provincial capital, the differences would not be too big. He was shocked by the reality for the first time and was a little dazed.

Tong Jia was hit hard by reality.

The reason why she was willing to live again in place of Grandma Rong was not only because she had the RV and the awl, but also because of two other things that made her feel that she could get by easily in the 1930s.

One is Grandma Rong’s big feet. Although Grandma Rong’s father was a private school teacher, he did not let Grandma Rong bind her feet. When she walked, her pair of size 37 feet were so big that they made the wind fly under her feet.

The other is the cultural knowledge such as history and geography that she learned in modern times.

She believed that with these two things, she would be able to have no worries in this era.

But the reality was not as she expected.

Although I never had my feet bound, my shoes didn't fit me well, and I still got blisters from walking so much.

No matter how well you learn history and geography, or even if you have experience in field travel, that is the result of development by several generations in peacetime.

Looking at the deserted streets, Tong Jia began to doubt whether she could find Yang Jixia.

Thinking of the promise he made to Grandma Rong and Grandma, Tong Jia felt that he could not be so passive and lazy. When he was about to cheer himself up, he suddenly heard a "bang..." gunshot, which made Tong Jia shudder.

Before they could react, their bodies instinctively pulled Tao Junle to find a place to hide, but the gunshots were directed at the two of them.

The person leading the group was the rickshaw driver who had just pulled them.

After seeing clearly who the leader was, Tong Jia simply stopped hiding and directly pulled Tao Junle to stand there openly, waiting for those people to run to her.

There were four people in total, including the rickshaw driver and three other men.

These three men were different from the skinny rickshaw driver. Each of them was a burly, strong man with a broad back and a sturdy build.

Tong Jia sneered and asked, "Master, please don't tell me that these three are the three hungry children in your family?"

The rickshaw driver no longer looked as honest as before, but now looked ruffian and vicious.

He said jokingly, "Haha... you're quite quick, little girl. My three brothers are indeed eagerly waiting for you to feed them."

I originally thought that you two siblings are delicate and tender, so you could be a perfect treat for us brothers.

But you are such a great girl, we brothers changed our minds after discussing it.

Just use your brother as a snack, the less meat, the better, and you can use it for other things...ah..."

Before the man could finish his words, Tong Jia killed him with a Browning rifle.

Seeing the man who was so arrogant just now fall to the ground without even struggling, Tong Jia, as the one who fired the gun, was still extremely panicked.

But they couldn't show it on their face, after all, there were three men standing behind them, staring at them covetously.

Especially when they saw their companions fall to the ground, they immediately surrounded Tong Jia and Tao Junle.

Tong Jia took advantage of the suitcase to hand Tao Junle a paper cutter.

After Tao Junle took the knife, he quickly rushed towards the tallest of the three men.

Tong Jia thought to herself, "Not good." She felt that Tao Junle was too impulsive.

He immediately shot at the other two people, wanting to get rid of them as quickly as possible and then go to help Tao Junle.

But Tong Jia had only touched a rifle during military training before, and had never touched a pistol. He was lucky enough to kill the rickshaw driver with one shot.

This kind of good luck will not favor her one after another.

After firing five shots in a row, only two hit the target, and neither of them hit a vital spot.

One person injured his hand and the other injured his foot, which only affected the speed of their actions but did not affect their desire to catch Tong Jia to vent their anger.

Just as they were cooperating to capture Tong Jia and snatch the Browning without bullets to show off, two consecutive gunshots rang out, and the two men were shot in the head.

It turned out that Tong Jia had deliberately allowed herself to be captured by the two men, so that she could take the opportunity to take out another Browning from the space, approach the two men, and hit them with one blow.

He didn't bother to pick up the Browning that fell on the ground, and rushed directly towards the big man and Tao Junle.

Because she saw that the place where the two people had rolled over was covered with bright red blood.

But looking at the two people rolling together, Tong Jia didn't dare to shoot, for fear of accidentally hurting Tao Junle.

Just when Tong Jia was at a loss, a scream of "Ah" ended the struggle between Tao Junle and the big guy.

Tao Junle quickly stood up and walked to Tong Jia, with panic and determination in his eyes.

Tong Jia first patted Tao Junle soothingly before turning her gaze to the big man.

I saw him covering his private parts with his hands, rolling and groaning on the ground. Two steps away from him there was a paper cutter and a section of... a big man's organ on the ground.

I really didn't want to listen to the big guy continue howling, and I couldn't ask what I wanted to know from the big guy who only knew how to groan, so I just let him go.

After dealing with the big guy, Tong Jia picked up another Browning and put it back into the RV together with the one in her hand.

When I wanted to pick up the paper cutter, I ran into trouble.

If I recycle it, it's disgusting. If I don't recycle it, it's a pity.

Tao Junle saw Tong Jia's hesitation. He walked over, picked up the paper cutter, and rubbed it on the big man again and again. Then he picked two relatively clean clothes from the four people and continued to wipe the handle until he felt it was clean before handing it to Tong Jia.

Tong Jia put the paper cutter into the RV and pulled Tao Junle to leave.

But Tao Junle didn't move. Tong Jia looked back at him. He made a "wait a minute" gesture to Tong Jia and started touching the four people lying on the ground again.

The rickshaw driver had a bunch of keys on him, the other two had nothing on them, and only the big guy who was finally dealt with by Tao Junle and Tong Jia had something on him.

He had five silver dollars and two letters on him.

Tao Junle took out all the things and handed them to Tong Jia. Tong Jia looked around and found that no one was watching them, so he put the things into the RV and pulled Tao Junle in the opposite direction.

Since this road was pointed out by the rickshaw driver, it should be for the convenience of their robbery. If they continue walking down this road, they will most likely reach the lair of those people directly.

Tong Jia felt that he did not have the ability to fight ten people alone, so he decided to go to a safe place first.

The two walked back to the train station and saw teams of people wearing Northwest Army uniforms queuing up and walking into the train station.

Tong Jia grabbed an officer standing at the train station entrance to maintain order and asked, "Sir, is there a man named Yang Jixia in our Northwest Army? I'm his...his wife's cousin. I happened to be out attending school, and I'm here to bring him a letter at his wife's request."

Do you know him?"

The person she held may not have seen his family for a long time, and can fully understand the feeling of family members missing him.

He said very good-temperedly: "I don't know Yang Jixia, there are too many people in the team, it is impossible for me to know them all.

If you are sure he is in our team, then after we send these soldiers on the bus, you can follow us to the headquarters.

When the time comes, I'll have someone check for you to see where the person you're looking for has been assigned."

It would be great if someone is willing to help find it.

Tong Jia immediately thanked him, then stood quietly aside waiting.

An hour later, the train started moving. The person who had just promised to take her back to the military headquarters to check the files actually left with the train, which made Tong Jia a little dumbfounded.

Fortunately, before leaving, that person explained her affairs to another person who came to take over, and did not let her wait in vain.

So, Tong Jia took the fourth means of transportation since she came to this era - a military jeep.

After entering the military headquarters, Tong Jia and Tao Junle were taken to the reception room, and then two female soldiers came. They asked Tong Jia to write down Yang Jixia's detailed information on paper, and then arranged food and accommodation for Tong Jia and Tao Junle.

The room was very simple, with only two beds and no other furniture. At first glance, it looked a bit like a prison cell with slightly better conditions.

Tong Jia couldn't be picky now, and she had no room to be picky.

To put it nicely, this place is a reception room, but in fact it is a place of temporary imprisonment.

Tong Jia and Tao Junle have to abide by the rules here since they live here. Since they came here, three meals a day are delivered to them by people from outside, and even someone follows them to the toilet.

It was not until three days later that the two female soldiers who had come to get Yang Jixia's information came again.

This time their attitude was much better than before, and they even took the initiative to introduce themselves.

The taller one said, "Hello, Ms. Tong. My name is Pan Meiying, and her name is Song Yuanyuan. We were sent by higher-ups to help you find someone."

According to the information you provided us before, we can confirm that there is no such person as Yang Jixia in our team.

Of course, we also went to his hometown to investigate his situation. Based on his previous experience, it is indeed very likely that he would come to us for help.

But now, the person is definitely not here, so you are not related relatives.

So, here... you can't live here anymore.

You said before that Yang Jixia's wife is your cousin, and that you were asked by your cousin to come look for her while you were at school. I wonder which school you attended? We'll send a car to take you there now."

Where is the school? That was just an excuse Tong Jia made up.

Moreover, they were able to investigate Yang Jixia's case in three days, so they must have also investigated Rong Xintong's family's case.

Tong Jia was silent for a moment, then said directly: "If you can find out about Yang Jixia, you should also be able to find out who I am, right?"

Pan Meiying said: "Unfortunately, we have limited manpower and have not been able to investigate Ms. Tong's identity, but one thing is certain, you are definitely not a relative of the Rong family.

We are really curious about why Ms. Tong came here from afar.

Tong Jia's mind raced when she heard that.

He sighed calmly and said, "I'm not a relative of the Rong family, but I was asked by Rong Xintong to come here to look for someone."

Seeing that the two people opposite still looked unconvinced, Tong Jia pulled Tao Junle over, pointed at him and said, "His name is Lele, and he's my cousin. Because his parents died young, he was poisoned and mute by his uncle and kicked out of the house.

By chance, he begged at the door of the Yang family and met Yang Jixia who had run away from home, and delivered a letter to the Yang family.

Through this, I got to know the second young lady of the Yang family. A distant relative of mine happened to be studying in the Rong family's school. After learning about this, he sent someone to inform me.

I originally just wanted to convey a message to Yang Jixia on behalf of the Yang and Rong families, and took my cousin to see a doctor for his throat. I didn't want to make any more fuss about the relationship between the two families, but I didn't expect it would cause unnecessary misunderstandings."

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