There was a faint light, very weak, a small red dot, flashed once and disappeared. I really admire Cha Wenbin's eyesight, if it were me, I wouldn't have noticed that dot.

  When fatty does something serious, as long as his attitude is correct, he still has two brushes: "It's the light of cigarette butts, there are people smoking opposite."

  Some people mean that our guesses might be correct. On a cold winter night, I wouldn't go out to eat frozen treats instead of staying at home and keeping warm.

  "We don't even get a holiday in January, these guys are really something. How about it, shall we go take a look?"

  Zha Wenbin patted my shoulder and said, "Let's go."

  Rowing was not an easy task for the few of us, especially since the current was much stronger than we had imagined. It was pitch black and to avoid exposure, we could only grope our way across the river in the dark. By the time we reached the other shore, we were already about 100 meters off course.

  The reeds on the shore were as tall as a person, and several people rubbed against the reeds like thieves, feeling their way forward. When we felt our way there, we found that this mine entrance still had a small house, through the window, you can see two or three silhouettes inside, and outside, there was also a dog.

  "Go around?" I asked Pangzi, this kind of thing he's the most experienced at.

  Fatso observed the terrain in the grass heap: "We can't get around, guarding the only road, and there are dogs. As soon as we move, they'll know on that side. Either we rush in and knock down the people inside, or wait until they fall asleep before making a move."

  "When people sleep, dogs don't necessarily sleep." I grew up in the countryside, so I'm familiar with these things.

  "Look at me!" Then Fatso threw a stone forcefully towards the door of the small hut.

  "Woof... woof woof..." The dog immediately sensed the movement, but the people inside didn't react, still continuing to wave their wine glasses.

  The fat kid picked up an even bigger rock, this guy had a lot of strength, and hit it with precision, staring at the dog's head, it was a solid hit, and the dog jumped up, then flew towards us.

  Before I could see clearly, the dog was already clamped under Fatso's arm, its four legs kicking wildly. Then Fatso grabbed the dog's whiskers and gave them a fierce tug, and half of the dog's whiskers were gone.

  "If you make another sound, I'll pull out the one on your side too!" Then, Fatty did something even more outrageous. He took a goose egg-sized rock and forcibly stuffed it into the dog's anus...

  That poor dog was let go, and it ran back much faster than when it came. I reckon if it had stayed in the clutches of that evil fat man for another two minutes, it would have thought its life was over. It darted into the small hut in one swift motion, and then began to let out a series of mournful wails.

  A moment later, three men came out with lanterns in their hands, two of whom were holding long objects.

  "Damn it, there's a gun!" This was beyond my expectation.

  "Don't worry!" It's time for Wen Bin to perform, but fortunately the dog is cooperative enough. I vaguely heard someone on the other side say, "Is this dog crazy?"

  The poor dog kept spinning around in circles, desperately trying to bite its own butt with its mouth. However, its owner didn't understand the meaning behind it. One of them lifted their foot and kicked the unfortunate dog hard, then continued back into the small hut.

  "Haha, fatty, you're really something else."

  "In the past, all the dogs in the military compound were dealt with by me like this. As long as I let out a shout, none of them dared to make a peep."

  We hid in the haystack for a full three hours, and that dog remained motionless in front of the hut. It wasn't until the lights began to go out in the opposite hut that we made our move.

  A very comical scene appeared when the fat man stood up from the bushes, and that dog ran away like it had seen a ghost. In an instant, it was gone, which allowed us to pass through the first level smoothly.

  The entrance of the tunnel was sealed with an iron gate, on which hung a "U" shaped padlock that had just come into fashion at that time. But this thing couldn't stop us!

  I and Fatso are doing what, that is collecting waste, collecting waste can't avoid dealing with a kind of person, that is thief!

  Three hundred and sixty lines, every line produces a champion, don't underestimate the thief, I know a guy from Guangxi who can open an anti-theft door in three seconds, he's also my old customer. Actually, everyone in this business knows that you sell and I buy, we all make some money, no one exposes anyone, after getting familiar with each other, this guy became friends with Fatso because Fatso said he was loyal!

  At that time, Guangzhou had just opened up, and countless people from all over the country flocked in to make a fortune. At the same time, many were also being swindled. This guy used to be an honest person, making a living by selling locks, but later he was cheated by a group of northerners, went to report to the police, but no one cared, and with nowhere else to turn, he became a thief.

  This guy only steals from officials and bosses, not from poor ordinary people. From time to time, he would also go under the Liangyi Bridge to help some homeless people. Nursing homes and orphanages were also places where he often appeared. In those years, there was a shocking theft case in Guangzhou, where a bureau-level cadre's home was stolen of one million Hong Kong dollars overnight. At that time, such an amount was astronomical. According to what Fatso said, it was done by that guy. Anyway, it ended up being unclear who confessed and how the money came from.

  The heroic brother and the fat man had become familiar with each other after a few encounters, and he had also taught him some tricks. Although the fat man couldn't open the door of an imported small bridge car, he was more than enough to deal with this kind of lock. He found a discarded iron wire on the ground at the entrance of the tunnel and poked it into the lock core twice to open it.

  But Fatso has a shortcoming, that is, he likes to pretend. After finishing, he pushed the iron door and made a gesture to Cha Wenbin and me: "Two gentlemen, please!"

  Whether from the outside or inside, this is a coal mine, with coal slag all over the ground, making a "crunching" sound when stepped on. We only have one flashlight, and in such a place, the light of the flashlight is almost pitifully weak. The general situation inside is similar to what Zhou Youcai described, the tunnel is a slope, about 100 meters deep. The bottom has been concreted with cement, and the wooden boards from back then are long gone.

  We searched around this small place for a whole circle and didn't find the pit where Lao Gua fell down that year, it's all coal slag except for coal slag.

  "Can't be that old man is telling lies?"

  "No way!" Fatso stomped his foot twice and said, "This thing is empty underneath. You guys take a look at this cart, it was originally used to haul coal, but not only is there no coal in the cart, there's also a lot of yellow mud."

  After hearing what Fatso said, Cha Wenbin dipped his finger in the mud on the side of the car and rubbed it under his nose. He smelled it and said with certainty: "That's right, it should be true."

  We kicked and swept the coal cinder under our feet to both sides, after about 20 cm of coal cinder was shoveled away, a wooden board appeared, with a lock on it, which was also easily solved by Fatty.

  The moment the door panel opened, a cold gust of air hit my face, giving me the feeling that I had entered an ice cellar. When I shone my flashlight inside, it was like entering a black hole - there was no sound at all, just a vast expanse of darkness, with only a faint glimpse of a steel staircase leading down.

  "Down?"

  "No way, we came out too hastily and are unfamiliar with the terrain. Let's retreat first and come back in two days."

  "Too bad..."

  "You go down alone, we'll leave first."

  "Hey, hey, hey, Little Yi, you damned fool, don't go, shine a light for me..."

  It was later proven that Zhang Wenbin's stoppage was correct, if we had gone down to the place that night, I'm afraid we wouldn't have had the chance to sit down and tell you stories today.

  This vast world has everything, and the Chinese Empire's 5,000-year history is still not fully understood by us, so don't think you can grasp it all.

  The other party had a gun, which is what we were more wary of. Fatso had a handgun at the time, and he had it since his days mixing in Xi'an. Later when he went to Guangzhou, that gun was pawned off as travel expenses. At that time, rural areas hadn't started cracking down on guns yet, so guns weren't too hard to come by. I helped Fatso get a Type 53 rifle. This was the first batch of standard-issue rifles equipped by China at the time, modeled after the Soviet Union's 1944 cavalry rifle. In Fatso's words, it wasn't even as good as the Japanese Type 38 Arisaka rifle.

  This rifle was originally a militia reserve, and later it was given to one of my dad's friends as a hunting rifle. It has been well-maintained, but there are only twenty or so bullets left. Additionally, there are some miner's lamps, ropes, and a folding engineer shovel. Three pairs of long rubber boots were also specially prepared.

  Cha Wenbin's requirements are a bit strange, such as black dog blood, horse tail whiskers, and old glutinous rice. His menu even includes a pair of donkey hooves, as well as peach wood nails and inkstones, making him look like a carpenter.

  Why bother preparing these things, everyone knows what's going on. Although I and Fatso have left the fighting world for many years, who doesn't know what's really underneath that wooden board?

  However, what we are interested in is completely different from Cha Wenbin's. He cares more about who that person is?

  The next afternoon, after finishing packing and just about to leave, a brand new sedan appeared in front of my house.

  I'm really puzzled, what's our family status? Counting back eight generations, they were all peasants, and the relatives and friends around us are either poor or poorer, I've never heard that my dad has any rich friends, how come today the sun rises from the west.

  "Ka", the door of the driver's cabin opened, and a woman wearing a sable coat, a purple hat, and deep bucket boots got out, saying: "Oh my, I'm exhausted, it's really hard to find this place in the countryside."

  If it were just a matter of recognizing someone, I wouldn't be so sure, but this standard Shanghainese accent and her slightly upturned mouth, as well as those bright eyes, the expression that seemed to be smiling without actually smiling, all added together, who else could this person be?

  "Yuan Xiaobai!" Myself and Pangzi shouted out this name at the same time...