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Chapter 59 Catching the Thief
"It's almost the autumnal equinox, and there are still so many mosquitoes?"

"Pah!" Yang Limin slapped his arm hard, killing the two mosquitoes. Then he looked at Xie Hushan, Han Hongbing, and Chen Daxi who were playing poker by the small oil lamp:

"How long do we have to live in this shack? Isn't it a bit unfair that you stupid commandos are on duty every night?"

At this time, he was sitting in a shack that was about four or five meters above the ground. Looking around, under the bright moonlight, there were endless corn fields. Only when the night wind blew, the corn leaves swayed and rubbed against each other, making a rustling sound.

The shape of this shack is like four chopsticks stuck in a cornfield, with a steamed bun on top. The only way to get in and out is with a ladder made of thick ropes.

The purpose of its existence is to prevent theft. There are bad people in the countryside, especially in well-known large-production teams like Zhongping Brigade. Every year, members of other brigades come in the middle of the night to steal hundreds of ears of corn.

After being caught, he still acted like a rogue, saying that he thought Zhongping Brigade had plenty of grain and land and could eat his fill, so he didn't care about the gains and losses of a few hundred ears of corn.

Good people must be pointed at with guns? Harvest Brigade must be robbed?
How is that possible? The Zhongping militia are not there to do nothing.

Standing on the high shack with the bright moonlight, one can clearly see in which area of ​​dozens of acres of land the corn leaves are swaying abnormally and someone is walking underneath.

If someone was stealing food, once discovered, the militiamen between several shacks would use flashlights to signal each other, go around and catch the person, beat him up first, and then throw him to the brigade headquarters.

Generally speaking, the brigade would not make the matter a big deal and alert the commune, but would notify the brigade to which the thief belongs to come and pick him up.

And the brigade accountant will calculate with the other party one corn kernel at a time. For example, if this thief broke ten corn cobs from the Zhongping Brigade, it would cause the Zhongping Brigade to harvest at least 100 kilograms less grain, and the brigade would not be rated as advanced this year. It must compensate for the loss. If the other party refuses to compensate, then the brigade will report the case to the special commissioner and send the other party to jail.

The wormwood rope lit nearby to repel mosquitoes was completely ineffective, and the tattered mosquito net provided by the team was full of holes. Mosquitoes desperately rushed towards the oil lamp in the middle of the shack.

Yang Liming went from chasing mosquitoes when he first came to the shack to now being in a transcendent state where mosquitoes won’t bite him as long as he doesn’t feel or see anything.

He somewhat regretted insisting on coming to stand guard with them, but his dignity as a man made him hold on. If he ran back to Xie Hushan's house halfway, the way his childhood friends addressed him as "Leader Yang" would only become more frivolous and playful.

"Leader Yang, if you can't stand it, just go back to Hu Saner's house and sleep. It's okay, you don't have to accompany us. We have been doing this job since we were sixteen years old and we are used to it." Han Hongbing said to Yang Liming with a bunch of newspaper strips stuck on his face. He turned his head and looked scarier than a ghost.

Daxi was shuffling the playing cards while saying, "No one rotates. It's the same every year. During the day, the Iron Girls Vanguard Team is on duty, and at night, our Silly Boys Commando Team is on duty. I tell you, Leader Yang, this is nothing. When the autumn harvest comes, you will understand what unfairness is. That's when they really treat us, a group of silly boys and girls, like animals."

Xie Hushan had his back to Yang Limin, sitting cross-legged in the shack, smoking a cigarette and playing cards. He suddenly threw the cards away when he looked up, staring at the direction he was facing. Far away was another shack where the brigade was on night duty. A flashlight was lit up and shining in their direction, flashing continuously:

"Ma San'er is sending a signal, there is movement here!"

Han Hongbing and Chen Daxixi threw their cards away, wiped the papers on their faces, and reached for the rifles beside them. Xie Hushan stood up and sent a signal back with a flashlight, indicating that he had received it. Then he began to look for any unusual movements in the large cornfield he was responsible for, using the moonlight and his eyesight.

"Leader Yang, don't move. Just act like a dummy. The corn thief will look up at the shack every once in a while. You sit next to the shack and use the light and mosquito net to make him think you didn't notice. Let's go down to work!" Han Hongbing instructed Yang Liming, and he and Chen Daxixi were already climbing down the rope ladder slowly with guns on their backs.

When Xie Hushan discovered that the corn stalks in a certain cornfield seemed to have a small wave, swaying and moving forward, he also picked up his bayoneted rifle and shouted to Han Hongbing and Chen Daxi, who had already landed and stood in the cornfield like two shadows:

"I observed that with the shack as the center, at the southeast four o'clock direction, there were probably two people breaking four rows of corn at the same time. Daxi went around the back, Chief of Staff Han was in front, and I went straight in. Ma Saner and his group rushed over from the other side, just in time to surround them from all sides!"

But after saying it loudly, he immediately whispered, "Dahei, stay with me."

After he finished speaking, Chen Daxixi put his hands in front of his forehead and dived into the cornfield which was more than two meters high and ran towards the north. Han Hongbing also nodded to indicate that he understood, then patted Dahei's head, turned around and went in the designated direction.

The two waves were based on the shack and extended rapidly in the cornfield. Looking down from a high place, it looked like two small bags appeared on the grass and moved quickly in the grass. "I'll go too..." Yang Limin was a little nervous because of the three people's words and reactions. Seeing Xie Hushan also climbed down the rope ladder, he quickly spoke.

It's the middle of the night and I'm alone in this shack. I feel it would be safer to go down with them.

But Xie Hushan did not move after landing, but looked up at Yang Liming. The moonlight shone on his face, which was expressionless, and did not look like the excited look he had just shown when he was giving out tasks at a very fast speed.

"Shh~" Xie Hushan put his finger to his lips and whispered to Yang Limin who was looking at him:
"Those two people must be fake, used to attract attention. A real thief can't be exposed so easily. Now shout 'wait for me', then blow out the oil lamp and climb down."

"Fake..." Yang Limin was slightly stunned, and subconsciously asked: "Is it necessary to steal some corn?"

"Don't underestimate the country thieves." Xie Hushan said.

Yang Limin blew out the oil lamp, took a deep breath, and shouted to the people below: "Wait for me! I'll go too!"

Then he climbed down from the shack. Xie Hushan and he stood opposite each other in the cornfield and motioned Yang Liming not to make a sound. They remained silent for nearly a minute, until the sound of Han Hongbing and Chen Daxixi running in the cornfield could no longer be heard nearby. Only then did Xie Hushan grab the rope ladder and nimbly run back to the shack like a civet cat. He crawled on the ground with his whole body, slowly looking around for a new target.

"How do you know it's fake?" Yang Liming looked at Dahei, with whom he had become familiar, under the shack and whispered to Xie Hushan.

Xie Hushan continued to search around, whispering, "I'm an amateur thief who's going to steal some watermelons. I even knew to send out Dahei as a cover to attract attention before I took action. Han Laoer and the others will probably come up empty-handed. Those two will definitely pretend to be good citizens."

"Farmers are so capable that they know how to cover up their theft of corn?"

"Nonsense, this world was conquered by peasants, don't you think that's awesome?" Xie Hushan suddenly stopped drawing circles on the wooden boards of the shack with his body. Han Hongbing and Chen Daxixi also shouted loudly, and it was obvious that they had surrounded the bait.

Xie Hushan seemed not to hear and stared at the southwest direction:

"Here they are, two people, stealing along the edge of the field. They are a little different from the thieves of previous years. Why are these two stealing so slowly? Are they unprofessional?"

Xie Hushan climbed down from the shack, took off the bayonet from his rifle and put it on his waist, then threw the rifle to Yang Limin:
"There are no bullets left. Keep them for courage. When you hear me whistle, climb up and signal them to come over here!"

Then he greeted Dahei with a slight whistle, and the man and the dog quickly rushed towards the approximate direction where the abnormality was discovered.

The corn stalks were swaying to both sides as they were knocked by Xie Hushan. The sharp burrs on the edges of the half-yellow and half-green corn leaves cut his hands and face with burning pain. Xie Hushan's head was now covered with pollen that had fallen from the top ears of corn stalks. From a distance, it looked like a bunch of birds that had taken laxatives had just completed a free flight above his head.

After running for a long distance in the cornfield, Xie Hushan stopped and looked at Dahei. He led Dahei in the first half of the way, and let Dahei listen to the movements and determine the location in the second half.

Dahei stood there with his ears erect for more than ten seconds, then rushed in one direction, even making threatening growls from his mouth.

"Woof!" With a dog barking, Xie Hushan also heard the sound of someone tearing corn in front of him, and shouted loudly: "Don't move! I am a militiaman from the Zhongping Brigade! If you move again, I will shoot!"

Then he whistled loudly: "Dahei, go!"

The noise from the other side suddenly became louder, and it was obvious that they dropped the corn and turned around to run, but in this kind of terrain, how could a person outrun a dog! Dahei rushed forward and threw one of them to the ground from behind! His sharp canine teeth were almost touching the back of the other person's head, and he screamed wildly!

"Don't move, or the dog will bite you to death!"

(End of this chapter)