Chapter 16: The Husband and the Female Major

  "Have you forgotten what I do? Counter-espionage, monitoring Japanese military radio communications, and translating Japanese military messages are my job."

  "I understand, sister has received special training." Dong Li Mao looked at the wounded person sitting in the yard and said: "Sister, it seems that you don't have many people left." He saw Dao Lan Xiang bandaging their wounds.

  Li Yuanyuan seemed to be unconcerned about the casualties among her subordinates, and only glanced at the wounded with a light expression. Then she fixed her beautiful eyes on the burnt-out bamboo building and asked: "Was it your people who did that?"

  Zhu Yongsheng hastily replied: "It was our company commander who risked his life to blow it up with a jeep, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to annihilate the enemy completely now."

  "Do you know what you've done?" Li Yuanyuan stared at Dong Limao, her pretty oval face stern.

  Dong Li Mao Zhen couldn't see through this woman's mind, her unpredictable expression and cold tone of voice made him very uncomfortable. He retorted sharply: "At least my men are better than yours, if it weren't for me and the brothers tonight, I'm afraid you and your subordinates would have died without even knowing how!"

  "There are files inside that can't be exchanged for any number of lives! Li Yuanyuan raised her voice: "During wartime, sometimes it's not just about fighting to defeat the enemy! Do you understand?"

  Dong Li Mao was shocked by Li Yuanyuan's words. She actually regarded human life as lighter than a few pieces of paper: "You... know? If there were no people, even the most important documents would be useless!"

  "Rude man!" Li Yuanyuan perhaps didn't expect Dong Limao to speak to her in such a tone, and she angrily turned around and went towards the backyard.

  Dong Li Maogazed at the back of Li Yuanyuan, and after a long time, he muttered to himself: "Am I a boor?" He turned his head towards Zhu Yongsheng, as if seeking an answer from him: "Am I a boor?"

  Zhu Yongsheng pretended not to hear, coughed and walked towards Zhang Dali and the others: "Heavy machine gun, let the brothers carry out the dead and bury them outside the official village!"

  Dong Li Mao seemed to have become a neglected and lonely person, standing under the banyan tree, scanning his eyes around, finally fixing his gaze on the place where Jian Lan Xiang was treating the wounded, he walked over step by step.

  Dolan Xiang saw Dong Li Mao approaching, and said to him with a bitter smile: "Two of them must be sent to Dean Jin's place. If the bullets on their bodies are not removed, they will die."

  "Lan Xiang, are you alright? Were you frightened just now?" Dong Li Mao asked with concern, his tone full of tender care.

  Dolan Xiang focused on bandaging the wounded, but her mouth replied: "When I heard the gunshot, I ran out of the room and saw a man in black heading towards the building where Dong Ge and my sister lived. I was really worried to death, thinking that..." She felt that the rest of the words were unlucky, so she didn't say them out loud. Instead, she looked up at Dong Li Mao and said: "Thank you, Dong Ge, you saved me again, and also saved our whole family."

  Dong Li Mao stared blankly at Dao Lan Xiang, thinking to himself: She is much more gentle and affectionate than Ruo Shuang. If only Ruo Shuang treated me like this, how wonderful it would be.

  As soon as he thought of Bai Ruxue, Dong Li Mao seemed to return to reality. He let out a sigh and turned around to leave, thinking to himself that if Bai Ruxue knew he was dead, would she be sad enough to cry? Would she regret slapping him in the past?

  Thinking of his own death, Dong Li Mao felt a deep sense of sorrow. He was in the 1940s, fighting in the anti-Japanese war, but his parents and grandmother had no idea where he was, they probably thought he was already dead, and were now overcome with grief.

  "How can I get back?" Dong Li Mao began to consider this problem: "Must I die in the Songshan War two years later like Taizong's grandfather?" He started to fear that he couldn't go back: "It's all because of the photo! If it wasn't for Taizong's grandfather's damn photo, I wouldn't have become a human-ghost hybrid!" Thinking of the photo, Dong Li Mao thought again in his heart: "Taizong's grandfather took that photo after being promoted to captain, and it was taken with the Nujiang Bridge as the background. And I crossed over here just to get back the photo, so without that photo, it seems like going back is impossible."

  It seems that Dong Li Mao has figured out what he should do: 'Right, I must find a way to take that photo. To take that photo, I have to go to the special task force now and put on that lieutenant general uniform.'

  "Old Zhu! Tell the brothers, the task of burying the dead is handed over to the officials, you gather the brothers!" Dong Li Mao decided to leave Qie Lan Xiang's home and set off for the Fifth Army headquarters under the cover of night.

  Zhu Yongsheng gathered eleven people under the banyan tree beside Dong Limao.

  "Brothers, take all the cleaned-up weapons and ammunition with you. We'll set off in ten minutes!" Dong Li Mao said briefly. He suddenly realized that this might be Old Master Ta's style. Just now, he had learned from Zhu Yong Sheng that Old Master Ta rarely consulted with others when doing things, and the decision he made at this time was entirely for his own purposes, without considering that his subordinates were already exhausted.

  As expected, Zhu Yongsheng and others felt inexplicable, but no one asked questions. Instead, they followed Dong Li Mao's orders and began to act separately, moving all the weapons and ammunition that had been cleaned up, including those on the black-clad men and Li Yuanyuan's subordinates, onto the truck.

  "What are you doing?" Li Yuanyuan walked out and saw Dong Limao's men moving things onto the car, so she quickly walked to Dong Limao's side and questioned him.

  She changed into a military uniform, and Dong Li Mao looked her up and down. The female soldier's hat, resembling a sailboat, was tilted to the right on her fluffy hair. She wore a short-sleeved shirt without shoulder badges, with a tie tied around her neck, and lieutenant colonel rank insignia on both sides of the collar. Her shirt was tucked into her waistband, and her utility belt, fully loaded with bullets, hung loosely towards her right hip. The handle of the revolver protruded from the holster on her hip, and she wore a pair of brown half-high leather boots that covered her pant legs. She carried a canvas bag for marching in her hand.

  "Hmm... " Dong Limao had seen the American-style uniform worn by female military officers in movies and TV shows before, and Li Yuanyuan in front of him was almost identical to those characters. If she didn't hold a handbag, Dong Limao would have thought he saw a star dressed up: "Sister, as they say, 'people rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles', this military uniform is even more dazzling than the Dai ethnic minority girl's costume you wore during the day..." Before he finished speaking, Li Yuanyuan interrupted him.

  "Didn't you hear the officer's question?" Li Yuanyuan asked with a frown.

  Dong Li Mao immediately stood at attention, gave her a mischievous salute and replied loudly: "Reporting to the superior officer! Captain Dong Jia Cheng of the Special Forces wants to lead his brothers to report to the military department. May I ask for your instructions, sir?"

  "I'll go with you." Li Yuanyuan threw the bag in her hand to Dong Limao.

  Dong Li Mao caught the package with both hands, stunned for a moment, and immediately replied loudly: "Yes!" Then he handed the package to Hu San: "Put the officer's package in the driver's room."

  Dolan Xiang walked over at this time, her hands covered in blood: "Sister, Brother Dong, what about these wounded people? Someone has to take them to Director Jin."

  "Another truck is left for them." Li Yuanyuan said to Dong Limao after glancing at another truck parked beside.

  "But, Brother Dong, your wound..." Knife Lanxiang furrowed her brow and looked at Dong Limao's chest.

  Dong Li Mao also felt strange, his wound didn't feel anything, as if he had never been injured before. He touched his chest with his hand and pressed down hard, but it didn't hurt. So he laughed and replied: "Lan Xiang, my injury is healed, not hurting at all." He opened his shirt buttons: "Don't believe me? Take a look."

  Dalan Xiang stepped forward, and from the outside of the bandage, there was no bloodstain on the wound, indicating that the wound had not been torn open during the battle earlier. She carefully unwrapped the bandage: "Huh..."

  "What's wrong?" Dong Li Mao lowered his head and smelled the scent of her black hair, which was the same as the faint fragrance of orchid on her body.

  "Last night it didn't look like this, how did it all heal?" said Dao Lanxiang with a puzzled expression.

  Dong Li Mao only then realized that last night after he got drunk, Qie Lan Xiang had helped him change his medicine and bandages.

  "Hehe...... I'm fine physically, so I recovered quickly." Dong Li Mao also found it unbelievable, no wonder he didn't feel any pain during the fight just now.