Go back to the past to plant trees

Feng Cheng's words were met with a long silence from Zhang Fulin.

After Feng Cheng finished speaking, he stopped talking and sat on the kang with Zhao Tianshan. They didn't chat, but just looked at Zhang Fulin who was hiding.

After Wei Fugui finished cooking, Zhao Jinquan brought in two large bowls, giving one to Feng Cheng and one to Zhao Tianshan.

"Let's get him something to eat too!" Feng Cheng said, pointing at Zhang Fulin.

"it is good."

"Jin Quan, go down to the dam later and go to the Forestry Bureau to find Director Qu. Tell him about this and ask him to contact the police."

“Okay, I’ll be down in a bit,” Zhao Jinquan nodded in agreement.

"Feng Cheng, I'll go down in a bit. I can ride a horse faster," Zhao Tianshan said immediately upon hearing this.

“Old Zhao, you can’t go down there. You have to stay here and watch over him with me.”

"Can…"

Zhao Tianshan wanted to say more, but Feng Cheng turned his head closer to him and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "And those two pieces of gold ingots, it won't be safe for me to be here alone."

"You mean..."

"To guard against external threats, wealth can be a powerful motivator."

Zhao Tianshan frowned, then nodded.

"Jin Quan, you should go down to the dam soon. Hurry up, or we won't get to the county town before dark."

Zhao Jinquan replied, "No, I can ride a horse very fast."

"Hey, Brother Feng, I'm going down now. Is Erqiang still coming back to my team tonight to call for reinforcements?" Zhao Jinquan asked, remembering the tree planting recruitment.

Feng Cheng said, "Let's not go back yet. We'll talk about it after this is over. It won't take too much time. You can go back tomorrow night, or at the latest the day after tomorrow night."

"I see."

Zhao Jinquan nodded and said nothing more.

In the afternoon, Zheng Erqiang and the others didn't go to work either. Given the situation, no one was in the mood to work.

Wei Fugui and Huang Qiang were somewhat uneasy. After all, Saihanba was a remote mountain area, far from the reach of the emperor. They were genuinely afraid that Zhao Tianshan and his group might do something outrageous. They were just ordinary people, and they were also worried that Zhao Tianshan and Feng Cheng would try to harm them.

"Brother Zheng, if those two horseshoe-shaped gold ingots that Zhang Fulin had really were his family heirlooms, what are Technician Feng and the team leader going to do then?"

Wei Fugui was cautious and kept to himself, preferring not to speak unless absolutely necessary. Huang Qiang, on the other hand, couldn't help but ask Zheng Erqiang, who was standing nearby.

"What can we do? Apologize and compensate, didn't Brother Feng say that?"

"What if the police force a confession under torture? What if they insist that Zhang Fulin stole it?"

It wasn't that Huang Qiang didn't trust the police, but the country had only been established for a little over a decade. Everyone knew what kind of people the police and public security officers were like in the old society—it was the kind of thing that made people shudder just by hearing about it.

“Probably not,” Zheng Erqiang shook his head decisively. “Zhang Fulin is, after all, an employee of our Forestry Bureau, not an ordinary citizen. If the police try to force a confession, the leaders in the bureau will not agree. After all, if a criminal comes out of our team, it won’t look good for the leaders.”

Huang Qiang opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but in the end he swallowed his words.

He really wanted to say, what if the bureau leaders colluded with the police and embezzled the gold ingot? After all, it looked very valuable.

However, Huang Qiang was not a child after all, and he knew what he could say and what he couldn't say.

"By the way, how did Technician Feng and the team leader discover that there were gold ingots in Zhang Fulin's package?" Wei Fugui, who had been silent, suddenly asked his question.

"That's right! Weren't all of Zhang Fulin's packages well-wrapped? How did Feng Cheng and the captain know there were gold ingots inside?"

Huang Qiang also voiced his doubts, or rather, his concerns that his package might be rummaged through at will. Although there was nothing valuable in his package, he couldn't just let others see it!

"this…"

Zheng Erqiang didn't know how to answer, because he didn't know why either.

"It was Xiao Liu who discovered it," Zhao Jinquan said as he entered, defusing the situation.

"After Xiao Liu entered the dungeon, he started barking wildly at the package. Brother Feng didn't know why, so he ignored it at first. But Xiao Liu bit the package off. Brother Feng thought there was opium inside, so he opened it and saw the horseshoe-shaped gold ingots inside."

"So it was Xiao Liu who discovered it," Zheng Erqiang said with a look of sudden realization. If it was Xiao Liu who discovered it, then it made sense.

"But how could Xiao Liu know the package was wrong? Gold ingots aren't opium, you can't smell them, and gold doesn't have a smell," Huang Qiang asked again, expressing his doubts.

"Brother Feng said that these gold ingots were once part of the imperial family in ancient times, and many were used as burial goods. These two gold ingots may have been dug out of a tomb. They have the smell of dead people, or they may have been stained with human blood. Although they have been cleaned, Xiao Liu's nose is very sensitive, so it is normal that he can smell it."

"Alright, everyone, don't overthink it. We just got to the dam and this happened, so everyone's in a bad mood. The team leader said we should rest today and get back to work after this is all sorted out."

"Erqiang, I'm going to the county town later to inform the bureau leaders and the police. Don't go back tonight either. We'll go back together after I get back."

"Row."

After Zhao Jinquan finished speaking, he packed his things to prepare to go down to the dam. Actually, there was nothing to prepare, so he just packed two steamed buns. When he went down to the dam before, it was too late. He didn't arrive until evening, and there was nowhere to eat by then. He would definitely not arrive down to the dam until evening today. If there was something to eat then, that would be fine. If there was nothing to eat then, two steamed buns would at least fill his stomach.

...

"Feng Cheng, I'll keep watch for the second half of the night, and you keep watch for the first half."

After dinner, Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan took Zhang Fulin to their dugout for a look.

"Row."

Feng Cheng didn't try to be brave. He managed to get through the first half of the night, but the second half was when he was most tired, which was a great test of his mental strength.

"Brother Feng, why don't we get him drunk by pouring him half a jin of baijiu? That way we won't have to worry about him running away," Zheng Erqiang suggested.

Zhao Tianshan's eyes lit up. "That's a good idea. If he gets drunk, he won't be able to run far even if he wants to."

Feng Cheng shook his head: "Forget it. What if he has a high alcohol tolerance? What if he pretends to be drunk to lower our guard? We might as well just tough it out for one night. It's only one night anyway, we can just endure it and it will be over soon."

"What you said makes sense."

Zhang Fulin has given up hope. He made a scene for quite a while in the afternoon, but Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan remained unmoved. The two were determined to take him to the police station and refused to listen to any of his explanations.

Feeling somewhat exhausted, Zhang Fulin was, after all, just an ordinary person. He wasn't a notorious bandit, and his ability to withstand pressure wasn't strong. At noon, he was just struggling to survive. He was tense at that time, but now that so much time had passed, he had relaxed, and exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed him. Before Feng Cheng and the others who were watching over him had even gone to sleep, he had already fallen asleep.