Go back to the past to plant trees

"Old Wei, you don't have any lights over there, so I'll lend you this kerosene lamp for now."

After the meal, everyone started to leave. Zhang Fulin, Wei Fugui, and Huang Qiang stayed in the nearby dugout, the one that Zhao Tianshan had cleaned up a couple of days ago.

The dugout was dilapidated and filthy, and neither Zhao Tianshan nor Zheng Erqiang wanted to live there, so they both chose to stay with Feng Cheng.

When Wei Fugui and the other two returned, Zhao Tianshan gave them a lantern. The lantern belonged to Zhao Tianshan, but he hadn't used it because Feng Cheng had one. Now he lent it to Wei Fugui and the others.

"Captain, we have oil lamps."

"Oil lamps consume oil and are not safe. If we didn't have them, we wouldn't talk about it. But now that we have them, we'll use this one."

Without saying a word, Zhao Tianshan shoved the lantern into Wei Fugui's hand.

"Thank you Captain."

Wei Fugui had no choice but to accept the lantern.

After Wei Fugui and the others left, Feng Cheng looked towards the doorway, where Zhang Fulin's departing figure remained. In the story, Zhang Fulin was a fugitive who had conspired with others to rob two horseshoe-shaped gold ingots, and his companion had also committed murder.

In the drama, Feng Cheng only found out about this much later, and he also made Zhang Fulin turn himself in. In the end, Zhang Fulin served ten years in prison. After returning, he went back to the forest farm. Many people say that Zhang Fulin is the biggest winner in this drama. A criminal who had been imprisoned for robbery not only got a government job but also lived a stable and worry-free life. His son later became the director of the forest farm.

Judging from the TV series, Zhang Fulin is a good person, but even so, he had several attempts to kill Feng Cheng because he thought that Feng Cheng and Xiao Liu had discovered his secret.

In the drama, Feng Cheng survived due to a series of coincidences, but he didn't know if he would have that kind of luck again.

Entrusting one's life to outsiders is extremely irresponsible. Feng Cheng does not deny that Zhang Fulin is a good person, but many murderers are also good people, yet they all eventually went to extremes.

Zhang Fulin is now like a frightened bird; the slightest disturbance could drive him to extremes. If he finds out that Feng Cheng knows his secret, he will most likely take a dangerous risk.

Therefore, sending him to prison is the best thing for Feng Cheng, since it's not yet a time of turmoil. If he surrenders now, he can get a lighter sentence. If he waits a few years, he might get a much heavier one.

As for what will happen to Zhang Fulin now that he's gone and has lost his connection with the advance team, and won't be able to enter the mechanized forest farm in the future, Feng Cheng doesn't care about that. Everyone has to pay the price for their mistakes; no one can escape it.

If Zhang Fulin finds Feng Cheng after being released from prison, Feng Cheng wouldn't mind pointing him in the right direction, since Zhang Fulin had saved Feng Cheng in the drama.

Countless examples from his past life have taught Feng Cheng that it's good to be kind, but the premise is to ensure one's own safety; the premise of doing good deeds is not to put oneself at risk.

Zhang Fulin is an example. Feng Cheng can save his life, but this could very well put Feng Cheng in danger, even to the point of risking his life. Feng Cheng would never allow that to happen; his own life is the most important thing.

Having made up his mind, Feng Cheng no longer hesitated. The next day, Zhang Fulin and Huang Qiang went out to work with Zhao Tianshan early in the morning, while Feng Cheng deliberately stayed behind. After they all went to the nursery, Feng Cheng took Xiao Liu into their dugout.

There were three bundles on the kang (a heated brick bed). Feng Cheng picked up the first one and shook it, but there was no sound. He then picked up the second one, and a clinking sound came to his ears.

Feng Cheng unpacked the package, and inside, two gleaming gold coins, shaped like horseshoes, appeared before his eyes.

Feng Cheng glanced at it, then tied the package back up and put it back in its original place.

After leaving the dugout, Feng Cheng took Xiao Liu to the nursery.

"Old Zhao, come here for a second, I need to talk to you about something."

Upon arriving at the nursery, Feng Cheng called over Zhao Tianshan, who was working there.

"Feng Cheng, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? If you're not feeling well, take a couple of days off. There are plenty of people around now, we don't need you."

Zhao Tianshan has a loud voice; his voice could be heard even before he arrived.

"Something came up; let's talk back at camp."

"Is there something you can't say here, and have to say back at the camp?" Zhao Tianshan asked, somewhat puzzled.

Feng Cheng smiled, glanced at the people working, and then said, "You'll see when you come back with me."

"Mysterious."

Zhao Tianshan muttered something, but still followed them into the camp.

Back at the camp, Feng Cheng went straight to Zhang Fulin's dugout, took his package, and opened it.

"Hey…"

Zhao Tianshan was about to stop Feng Cheng, but before he could speak, he was drawn to the two gold ingots inside the package.

"Feng Cheng, what is this?"

"I don't know either, but it looks like it's gold."

"Gold? Whose package is this? And how did you know there was something inside?"

"I don't know whose package it is. I came here to get some tools, and Xiao Liu followed me in and started yelling at this package. I felt something was wrong, so I opened it and saw this."

"Feng Cheng, although this gold is quite valuable, it belongs to someone else. We shouldn't be rummaging through it!" Zhao Tianshan felt that it was inappropriate for him and Feng Cheng to be rummaging through other people's things.

"Old Zhao, don't you understand? This is gold, gold, very valuable. Just these two pieces of gold are worth one or two thousand yuan just for the gold itself. And that doesn't even include the cultural relic value. If you include the cultural relic value, it will be even more expensive, possibly tens of thousands."

"So expensive?"

Upon hearing how valuable these two items were, Zhao Tianshan finally realized what was going on.

"Feng Cheng, are you implying that these two items are of dubious origin?"

Feng Cheng nodded. "Very likely. Think about it, if it were really legitimate, it could be exchanged for money anywhere. With so much money, where wouldn't you live a good life? What kind of place is this? It's all yellow sand, there's no one here, no goods. Who would want to come here besides the locals?"

“Look at these three people who came up here. Which one of them looks like they’re from a wealthy family? Aren’t they all struggling to make ends meet and only doing this job because they had no other choice? Do you think people like that have anything to offer? Is that reasonable?”

"That's really unreasonable."

After thinking about it, Zhao Tianshan admitted that Feng Cheng's words made sense.

"No matter what, we have to take this matter seriously. We should at least investigate it. If the item is indeed a family heirloom, then we can admit our mistake, apologize, and accept punishment. But if the item is of dubious origin, then we have an obligation to find the bad guy and send him to the police station."

"Yes, you are right."

Zhao Tianshan, a former soldier, was intolerant of any wrongdoing. If there had been nothing unusual about this matter, it would have been fine, but now that something was amiss, he had to investigate thoroughly. He wouldn't allow any bad people around him, nor would he allow any bad people to get away with it.