Siheyuan: I am a trader in both worlds!

Ximen Lang had seen his share of people who courted death, but this was the first time he had ever seen someone so eager to die!

Why dig in the middle of a coal mountain of all places? Aren't you just asking for death?
The scene was simply too terrifying and too dangerous.

The coal chunks on the coal hill were falling down in a clattering sound because of this person's suicidal digging.

They didn't even bother to criticize the mine's chaotic management and the workers' lack of safety awareness.

Ximen Lang immediately yelled at the man who was still waving his pickaxe halfway up the mountain.

"Hey you, the one hanging around halfway up the mountain looking for trouble, I'm ordering you to stop right now, you hear me! After you're done, get down from there right now, don't make me repeat myself!"

It's clear that Ximen Lang is genuinely worried because of this person's outrageous behavior.

Not only was Ximen Lang anxious, but Bai Ling and Lao Luo, who were standing to the side, also looked very upset when they saw what was happening.

They had just patted their chests and boasted to Ximen Lang that there would definitely be no problem this time.

And then this happened!

This is why it's not time to hold anyone accountable yet. Otherwise, everyone involved in this matter, not one by one, will be dealt with seriously!
This made Lao Luo so angry that his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

However, because the man on the coal hill was indeed in a dangerous situation, Lao Luo ultimately did not react.

Instead, he joined Ximen Lang and the others in shouting at the man.

Logically speaking, it's quite unusual for so many high-ranking officials to be shouting at you to stop immediately and wait until things calm down.

Any normal person would stop and see what's going on.

Then decide whether to go down or take advantage of the chaos to escape.

But this person is like someone with donkey hair stuffed in their ears.

Faced with so many people, and so many high-ranking officials whose identities were clearly extraordinary, he pretended not to hear them at all and continued to dig even harder on the coal hill with the almost worn-out manuscript in his hand.

This is a direct slap in the face to Ximen Lang!
Brother Lang has been wandering around Beijing for so long. Go ask around and search the entire city. Who would dare to disrespect Brother Lang?

As a result, this guy actually slapped himself in the face in public, and his good intentions were completely ignored. He bit the hand that feeds him, and he didn't appreciate the kindness he received.
It would be truly strange if Ximen Lang could tolerate this!

In his extreme anger, he rolled up his sleeves and shouted angrily.
"Hey, you think you can handle my short temper?!"

Meanwhile, Ximen Lang was about to climb up the coal hill to show this guy how powerful he was.

Upon seeing Ximen Lang, he was about to act rashly.

Old Luo, who was not afraid of anything except that something might happen to Ximen Lang, quickly stopped him.

"Ah Lang, don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive! Impulsiveness is the devil, impulsiveness is the devil!"

Together with Bai Ling, they used both hands and feet to finally restrain Ximen Lang, who was just as stubborn as a mule.

Without giving Ximen Lang another chance to lash out, Lao Luo pointed at the guards who were already waiting nearby and roared out loud.

"Go, call the person in charge of the mine here, and make him run over to see me!"

The guard was about to turn around and run towards the group of workers who had already been stopped by the guard battalion to ask who was in charge here.

Before the guard could speak, a strong-looking man, his skin stained black from years of working in the mine, quickly stepped forward, wiping away cold sweat.

"Sir, I am the mine manager of this mine, and also the person in charge here."

This guy is obviously the mine manager and the person in charge of this mine.

Taking three steps at a time, Lao Luo grabbed the mine manager by the collar and began to question him sternly.

"All the rules and regulations have already been issued to each unit. Why don't you strictly follow the rules and regulations for construction?! That person was messing around right under your nose, why didn't you stop him?! If an accident happens, can you bear the responsibility?! How many heads do you have to dare to treat the orders from your superiors like a joke!"

Three murderous questions in a row frightened the mine manager, who was already somewhat frightened, so much so that he broke out in a cold sweat.

As Lao Luo spoke, his hand reached directly to his waist.

It's not just a guess, it's the truth!
The next second, a pistol was pressed directly against his forehead!

Seeing that Lao Luo really wanted to shoot him dead!
The mine manager, who also came from a military background and knew best how to deal with military leaders, cried out that he was wronged.

"It's a misunderstanding, sir! We've always been strictly following the rules and regulations set by our superiors and working cautiously, without any compromise! To ensure this is done properly and to prevent our fellow workers from being negligent, I've been going down into the mine with them to correct their bad habits! We dare not be negligent in the slightest!"

Luo and the others were completely stunned when they heard this.

Then I looked at the mine manager's clothes, which were already stained black, and the blackness had almost seeped into his bones. I also saw the group of workers next to him who immediately started to speak well of the mine manager when they saw that he was about to be shot.

Seeing that the mine manager's words did not seem to be false, Lao Luo asked in bewilderment.

"So what exactly happened? And what's going on with that over there?!"

Seeing that Lao Luo had finally gotten to the point, the mine manager, with tears streaming down his face, quickly explained to Lao Luo.

"Sir, that man is a madman! Ever since we took over this mine, we've been trying to persuade him to stop digging and not cause any more accidents. But he not only won't listen, he even hits people! Anyone who dares to try to persuade him, he'll hit them with his pickaxe! No matter how we try to talk to him, he won't listen. We have no choice but to pretend we didn't see anything and let him do as he pleases."

"So, he's not one of your mine's employees? Then what the hell are you doing?! You dare to hit someone?! You've gone too far! Where are the security guards? Are they just sitting around doing nothing?! Can't you send them to handle this?!"

“We called him, but when we couldn’t stop him, we immediately notified the security department, but it was no use. He has connections, even the head of the security department is his brother, the kind of brother who would risk his life for him. Not only did they not allow us to stop him, they also spoke to us more than once, telling us not to make things difficult for him.”

Old Luo was so angry that he immediately picked up the gun he had just put down.

Even Ximen Lang found it utterly unbelievable when he heard about this.

Upon seeing that there really was such a person, Ximen Lang, who had never tried to expose his background and intimidate others before, was immediately displeased.

"Damn! I'm so powerful, and I've never done anything like this before. Who does he think he is, daring to do this? Tell me his name, and I want to see how arrogant he is to act like this!" Seeing that these big shots, whose backgrounds were far beyond his imagination, were about to deal with this group of people seriously.

Although this matter did cause him a great headache, and even made him lose face.

"But they are all good people, sir! And there was a reason for this, so we can't blame them entirely."

Then, the mine manager recounted the entire story to Simon Lang and the others.

Simply put, the madman on Coal Hill wasn't really a madman.

On the contrary, he is not crazy at all, but a veteran who has made great contributions and a true hero.

As for why this veteran turned out this way...
"Sir, his entire company was wiped out in a blocking battle. So many old brothers, and now he's the only one left. Of course, if that were all, it wouldn't be so bad."

"After all, how can there be no war without deaths! Let alone just a company, there are many entire battalions and regiments that have been wiped out! Compared to them, his loss is nothing!"

"The key point is that all the brothers in his company were classified as missing because their remains were never found and their old unit could not be found to issue a certificate from their old unit."

"A perfectly good hero, because of this disappearance, has caused many families to lose face, with neighbors misunderstanding and saying that their family has a deserter. This..."

This is indeed something that, if not universally prevalent, is at least frequently occurring in this era.

Because of so many battles, so many troops are stationed here.

With so many troops, they were reorganized whether they won or lost.

If a unit falls behind in a battle, its old units from the First Field Army might be reassigned to the Second or Third Field Army.

After going back and forth several times, coupled with the fact that the archival system was not perfect in that era, or even if it were perfect, it was very likely that some parts would be lost in the war, or the whole thing would simply be lost.

In this situation, it's perfectly normal not to be able to find your old unit.

Naturally, getting a certificate from the old military unit became virtually impossible.

"But how could so many remains just disappear like that? We can't find the old unit, but we can find the remains, right? We should go back to where the battle was fought. Once we find the remains, everything will be solved, won't it?"

“That’s true, and that’s exactly what he did. Look, do you see the coal mountain he dug? That’s the position they defended when they fought the ambush. Back then, this was an old kiln site. During the war, they couldn’t take care of it, so he put all his comrades’ bodies into the kiln. To prevent the enemy from desecrating these remains, he even blew up the kiln.”

"Now, so many years have passed, and the original cave dwelling has long been buried somewhere! Of course, it's not that we can't help him dig, but even he himself doesn't know the exact location. What if we can't find it and all that manpower and resources is wasted in the end? We can't bear that responsibility!"

"And then there's this... Of course, this is just hearsay. There's a rumor that he was captured by our army while wearing enemy uniforms. Given this, no one would dare take such a big risk to help him! But he is indeed pitiful."

"We figured we couldn't stop them anyway. Even if you shot someone like that, they wouldn't stop. Their spirit is dead, there's nothing you can do about it. Plus, we've already given instructions from above, so we've just let them be."

Hearing these words, Ximen Lang felt a pang of sadness and quickly asked the mine manager for confirmation again.

"No, are all these things you're saying true? Was he originally one of our people?"

Seeing that Ximen Lang had asked about this again, the mine manager frowned and pondered for a moment before continuing.

"He's definitely one of ours, otherwise he wouldn't have been so fierce when fighting the South! You know that brother of his who's a high-ranking official I mentioned earlier, right? He's the one who risked his life to save him! Otherwise, he wouldn't be so loyal! I've met that leader; once he's made up his mind about someone, there's no mistake!"

The series of twists and turns immediately gave Ximen Lang a strange sense of familiarity.

Even Bai Ling, who had secretly watched many movies from later generations, was inexplicably familiar with this matter, let alone him.

I glanced again, almost unconsciously, at the coal mountain that was no shorter than a building, and at the people on it who were still desperately digging at the coal with picks.

Suddenly, a jolt of electricity washed over them, and both Ximen Lang and Bai Ling felt completely refreshed.

He just shouted out that name.

"The rallying cry! It's the rallying cry!"

As the two called out the name, they understood. Bai Ling and Ximen Lang finally understood.

He quickly checked with the mine manager to confirm if the man halfway up the coal hill was surnamed Gu and named Gu Zidi.

Although I don't know the person's specific name, I know that his nickname is indeed Old Gu.

There's no doubt about it, it's definitely the rallying cry!
"I was wondering why these stories sounded so familiar. Oh, it's the assembly call! That confirms it, this Gu Zidi is indeed one of ours! Not only that, but a great hero! As for being captured, that's completely fabricated! The situation at the time..."

Just as he was about to blurt out the whole plot of Assembly, Ximen Lang froze halfway through.

He couldn't help but be stunned.

The main problem is that I don't know how to put it. Should I say that I know so much about it because I've seen the movie "Assembly"?

How could you possibly say that!

And then there's Bai Ling.

"If I remember correctly, when I said 'assembly call' just now, she seemed to repeat 'assembly call' along with me, right?"

"If I remember correctly, I don't think I took her to see the movie 'Assembly'. I didn't even take her to see it, but she still knows about it. This..."

He glanced at Bai Ling subconsciously, and as if by telepathy, Bai Ling's gaze also turned towards Ximen Lang.

Startled, Ximen Lang quickly averted his gaze, and Bai Ling immediately turned her head away, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

While struggling with what to do, Bai Ling was also worried that if she revealed her true feelings and broke their tacit understanding, Ximen Lang might not be able to accept it and would just run away. What should she do then?

Just when everyone was feeling really bad, a savior appeared.

That's right, it's Deng Chao, the actor who had a life-or-death bond with Gu Zidi in the movie. He's appeared. (End of Chapter)