Chapter 676 - 561: Ten Days 3

Chapter 676: Chapter 561: Ten Days 3

"So you’re saying you did, in fact, take the initiative to contact the protection station?" Zheng Chengbao asked.

Since Wang Wengang took that call, this could be verified.

The most important thing was that although the four of them were trapped in the cabin, they actually had a way to contact the outside world.

Seeing Yang Guofa nod, Zheng Chengbao mused for a moment before asking, "What about later? You called the station on the morning of the 5th, right? Did anything else happen that day?"

"And Wang Shulin, Wang Erpeng—when did they get to the cabin?"

Six people. Two still hadn’t arrived.

And then there was the panda.

At the mention of Wang Shulin, Yang Guofa’s brows furrowed. "Nothing much happened on the 5th. The snow let up a little, but it didn’t stop. It was piled up thick outside, so we couldn’t go far. We just stayed in the cabin."

"Anyway, we had food in the cabin and could start a fire. Li Suhua took her medicine and felt much better. She even took the opportunity to interview us, asking if we’d ever been in a similar situation before."

"As for Wang Shulin, he showed up on the morning of the 6th."

On the 6th.

Liu Baoli got up at the crack of dawn, wrapped himself in a cotton-padded coat, and went to the small adjacent cabin to chop firewood.

In the freezing cold, you couldn’t last long without firewood.

The snow hadn’t stopped, but it had lessened.

The afternoon before last had been a blizzard; now it was just moderate snow.

After the other three got up, they started making breakfast, and Yang Guofa went over to help.

Li Suhua, after another night of rest, was able to get out of bed and walk around.

Lu Weihong stood under the eaves of the cabin with her camera, taking pictures of the snowy landscape outside.

"It’s windy, Suhua. You should get back inside and lie down," Lu Weihong urged.

Li Suhua was feeling much better and shook her head. "No, I’ve been lying down for a whole day and night. I’m fine."

She gazed out at the vast, white expanse of the mountain forest.

The snow was still falling, and the wind hadn’t died down, sending flurries dancing through the air.

The temperature was low, and the mountain was covered in fir trees, creating a scene that almost resembled rime ice.

When the wind blew, the icicles clattered against each other. It was a breathtaking northern vista, refreshing to the soul.

A sight like this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Just as they were speaking, Li Suhua suddenly pointed into the distance and gasped, "Someone’s there!"

Liu Baoli, who was gathering the chopped wood, quickly stood up and looked. He saw two figures, one behind the other, making their way toward them through the wind and snow.

Liu Baoli instinctively tightened his grip on the hatchet.

Before the year 2000, poverty was rampant, and poaching, despite repeated prohibitions, was endless.

Things had gotten better in recent years, but it still hadn’t been completely stamped out.

’People showing up here, at this time... they’re probably...’

The two approaching figures had clearly spotted people at the cabin as well. They hesitated for a moment but continued walking over.

"Wang Shulin!"

Yang Guofa, who was beside Liu Baoli, recognized the man and called out his name instinctively.

Liu Baoli turned his head and asked, "Xiaoyang, you know him?"

Yang Guofa quickly shook his head. "No, I... I’ve heard of him."

Liu Baoli frowned slightly but said no more.

He was also from Liujiaping. Having lived in these isolated mountains for so many years, he knew, frankly, every person of any note in town.

Naturally, Liu Baoli was no stranger to Wang Shulin. They had seen each other around, exchanged a few words, and he knew about his situation.

"Lao Liu, what are you guys doing here? Still out on patrol in a blizzard like this?" Wang Shulin, wrapped in a military greatcoat, wearing a hat, and carrying a bag, his face flushed red from the cold, spoke to Liu Baoli.

He turned his head and was slightly taken aback to see Li Suhua and the other woman under the eaves.

But he didn’t dwell on it.

"I’m freezing to death."

Without waiting for Liu Baoli’s reply, Wang Shulin acted as if he owned the place and barged straight into the cabin.

Lu Weihong and the other woman stepped aside.

As he passed, Wang Shulin gave Li Suhua a couple of extra glances.

Wang Erpeng, following behind, was dressed similarly, with a coarse, hand-knit scarf wrapped tightly around his face. He was also carrying a worn-out backpack, and his eyes, with icicles clinging to their lashes, darted a few glances at Li Suhua before he followed his companion inside.

Liu Baoli followed them in.

Li Suhua asked who they were.

"People from the village," Liu Baoli replied casually and went inside.

Wang Shulin and his companion were already warming themselves by the stove, their hands practically touching it, as if just now coming back to life.

"Damn, it’s cold. The snow came out of nowhere. Nearly froze me to death," Wang Shulin grumbled, pulling a cigarette from his pocket to light it.

Liu Baoli quickly snapped at him to stop.

A major part of their patrol team’s job was fire prevention in the mountains.

Smoking in the mountains was strictly forbidden.

"Oh, come on." Wang Shulin’s tone was dismissive and belligerent. "In this godforsaken weather, you think my cigarette is gonna set the forest on fire?"

Liu Baoli was wary of Wang Shulin, the village’s infamous troublemaker, so he silently sat down nearby and observed the two of them.

Before he could speak, Wang Shulin started asking about Li Suhua.

Wang Shulin gestured with his eyes toward the door. "Who are those two outside? That woman’s pretty. Haven’t seen her around."

Liu Baoli was put off by his hooligan-like tone. "She’s a reporter from Anjing, here to do a story on us."

"Whoa, a reporter! And from Anjing, no less." Wang Shulin raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Well, look at you, Lao Liu. You’re going to be on TV! Can I get on too? I don’t have a wife yet. Once I’m on TV, all the girls in the country will know who I am. I’ll be spoiled for choice!"

Wang Erpeng chimed in dumbly, "Bro, can I be on TV with you?"

Wang Shulin smacked him on the head. "Look at your dumb face. You want to be on TV? In your dreams."

Wang Erpeng flinched but didn’t argue. He turned and asked Liu Baoli where the food was, saying he’d seen the instant noodle packages.

Although Wang Shulin was a scoundrel, he was still from the same village.

With the mountain snowed in, Liu Baoli couldn’t just kick them out.

He got up to get the instant noodles.

Wang Shulin came over to help himself, finding a pot, melting some snow, and tossing in four packs of noodles. He then cracked five or six eggs into it in one go.

"What did you two come into the mountains for?" Liu Baoli asked.

Just then, Li Suhua and Lu Weihong also came inside and sat on the bed, watching the two newcomers with curiosity.

"What do you think?" Wang Shulin retorted.

’I’m the one asking you,’ Liu Baoli thought.

Yang Guofa came in after chopping wood. As he added fuel to the fire, he asked tentatively, "You guys aren’t...?"

He didn’t finish his sentence.

Wang Shulin glared, pointing his chopsticks at Yang Guofa. "Don’t you spout nonsense, kid. Watch out, or I’ll sue you for slander."

Yang Guofa immediately shut his mouth, not daring to say another word.

Liu Baoli’s gaze lingered on the two men’s bags.

Wang Shulin and Wang Erpeng slurped down the whole pot of noodles before they were finally satisfied.

Wang Shulin sidled up to Li Suhua, greeting her and her companion. He asked what they were reporting on, what kind of big-shot reporter she was, and whether she could get them on TV.

Liu Baoli had said they were from the same village.

So, Li Suhua’s guard wasn’t very high. She didn’t think too deeply about why two men would appear deep in the mountains, far from any town, during a blizzard, and started chatting with Wang Shulin.

She even asked Wang Shulin what he did for work.

Wang Shulin chuckled. "My job is to find a wife. Senior Reporter Li, you can see I’m not ugly, right? And I’m built strong."

He patted his chest. "Do you know any young ladies you could introduce me to? A city girl would be best. She doesn’t have to be as pretty as you, just close enough is fine."

Nearby, Liu Baoli coughed twice, signaling for Wang Shulin to tone it down.

Wang Shulin shot him a glare and shouted, "Lao Liu, what are you coughing for? Am I wrong? Let me tell you, I can take on several guys at once. And when it comes to the bedroom, I can make any girl submit to me completely."

He was already making crude jokes.

Liu Baoli just frowned, not wanting to engage.

...

"We were trapped on the mountain, no cell signal, nothing we could do. So we just chatted nonsense."

Yang Guofa took a sip of water and continued, "Then, that afternoon, just before dark, the snow stopped. Lao Liu asked me to go outside with him to chop more firewood, worried we might not have enough later."

"But when we were outside, he suddenly told me there was something wrong with Wang Shulin and his friend. He said he’d been secretly watching them, that they were very protective of their bags and absolutely refused to say why they were in the mountains."

"He suspected they were in the mountains to poach forest musk deer."

He then explained the reasoning.

He said that the snowy months of early winter were the peak season for poaching forest musk deer.

At this time of year, the musk is mature and stable, without the issues of insufficient secretion in summer or self-depletion in spring.

Also, with snow on the ground, the deer’s routes become fixed, making it easier to set traps along their paths.

Poaching in winter also makes it easier to air-dry and preserve the musk.

Furthermore, this time is close to the New Year, when demand on the black market increases.

In previous years, people often came into the mountains to poach musk deer during this period, so the patrol team would always pay special attention.

"Lao Liu’s idea was that you need to catch a thief red-handed. He suggested we make a move at night, tie the two of them up, and hand them over to the police when we got down the mountain."

"He also said there were only two of them, but four of us—three men. If we made a surprise move while they were asleep at night, it shouldn’t be a problem."

Yang Guofa glanced at Zheng Chengbao and continued, "So I fell for his bullshit. But when we made our move that night, we failed. Instead, Wang Shulin and his friend ended up beating us up."

Zheng Chengbao nodded slightly. "Is this why you said earlier that you thought Liu Baoli was a hypocrite?"

Yang Guofa nodded emphatically. "If he hadn’t tricked us into attacking them, and if Wang Shulin’s head hadn’t been busted open, I don’t think Wang Shulin would have gone crazy later and... done what he did."

Zheng Chengbao thought for a moment, glanced at the clock on the wall, and then said, "Alright, you’ve been talking for a while. Why don’t you take a ten-minute break, catch your breath."

With that, he had someone take Yang Guofa to the next room to rest.

As soon as the man was gone, Zheng Chengbao immediately turned to the camera. "Mr. Liu, Director Xu, I think he’s lying."

Off-camera, Yang Zeran immediately nudged Shen Xin and asked what he thought. "Shen Xin, did you notice one of Yang Guofa’s descriptions? I get the feeling he knew Wang Shulin."

A few steps away, Zheng Chengbao was just bringing up this very point. Analyzing Yang Guofa’s testimony, he felt that Yang Guofa and Wang Shulin must have had some prior connection, some relationship.

"There’s one more thing," Zheng Chengbao said. "If, as Yang Guofa claims, Liu Baoli wanted to capture Wang Shulin and his friend at night, with three men on their side, I’d think the success rate should have been very high."

Wang Shulin had boasted about being strong and able to take on several people, but that was most likely just bragging.

One side had a plan; the other was caught unprepared.

A surprise attack on sleeping men—no one could have reacted in time.

’So how could it have led to the series of events that followed?’ Zheng Chengbao thought. ’There must be something more to it, something Yang Guofa is deliberately concealing.’

The guy claimed he would tell them everything he knew, but Zheng Chengbao had dealt with hundreds, if not thousands, of criminals. Every single one of them would intentionally downplay their own actions in their testimony, trying to absolve themselves and frame the narrative in their favor.