"Alright!" Zhang Shengli was overjoyed to hear his mother's plan.
Not only would he eat fish today, but once his father delivered the gift in the County, it wouldn't be long before he could go into the city and become a worker!
By then, let's see who still dares to look down on him!
Thinking of this, he happily said to Zhang Deben and Liu Guixiang, "Mom and Dad, when I become a worker, I'll bring you to the County to enjoy life!"
Zhang Deben was greatly comforted and nodded repeatedly.
He looked at Liu Guixiang and said, "Wife, our son is sensible now!"
"If you ask me, we should just give the two big fish to Director Li; it'll have more impact than giving a few small ones!"
He had been thinking about this for a long time; he felt Liu Guixiang was a bit petty earlier but hadn't dared to say anything.
It was Zhang Shengli's performance that gave him courage; everything was for his son's future.
Liu Guixiang looked at him in surprise and said, "Alright, Old Zhang, your brain's working pretty well today!"
Then she turned her head and waved at Zhang Shengli, saying, "Then listen to your father!"
County Public Security Bureau.
Chief Qi Dawei was in an excellent mood; yesterday, villagers from the Second Team came to report that they had found traces of the fugitives in the mountains.
Chief Qi wasn't surprised at the time, as they already knew the fugitives were hiding in the mountains in this area, and it was normal for villagers to encounter them if they went into the mountains.
Ever since the assistance request was sent to all the Communes and Great Brigades, villagers had come to report several times, all claiming to have seen the fugitives, and each time the Public Security Bureau had to arrange a meal for the reporting villagers.
But Qi Dawei didn't plan to rashly send people into the mountains; firstly, the mountain terrain was complex, easy to hide in and hard to find. Secondly, the Public Security Bureau was short-handed and had to arrange for militia from the Great Brigades to assist.
This involved many things; first, a formal transfer order and assistance request document were needed, explaining the nature of the arrest mission, the targets, the action time, etc.
Then it needed approval from superiors before being sent to the People's Armed Forces Department.
The action plan also needed to be discussed in depth, and the information of each mobilized militiaman had to be registered for management and task assignment.
Logistics also had to ensure food supply, and if they needed to spend the night in the mountains, accommodation had to be prepared.
Additionally, medical personnel needed to be allocated; going into the mountains in such cold weather, if anyone caught a cold or got injured, they would need prompt treatment.
In short, this was a very unbalanced confrontation.
For the Public Security Bureau to catch them, it was bound to be a major operation, and they might not even succeed.
The fugitives wanted to hide, but they had vast mountains and forests for cover.
If everyone went into the mountains and toiled for several days only to return empty-handed, it would be hard to explain.
Chief Qi hadn't been eating or sleeping well for many days because of these two hardened criminals, and after much thought, he couldn't come up with a good way to quickly catch Erlang.
He had already deployed a considerable number of police officers; a few days ago, he had just sent the joint prevention and control documents to each Commune, and these past two days he had been preparing to arrange for people to go to each Production Team to investigate and interview, analyzing the possible hiding places of the fugitives.
At the same time, he also planned to set up checkpoints at major mountain passes and road junctions to block key routes.
He even arranged for people to go to the neighboring County to borrow police dogs, but they hadn't returned yet.
It wasn't until late that afternoon, almost dark, that another villager came to report that the fugitives had been killed by the Forest Ranger from their Great Brigade!
"What? Killed? Are you sure?" Qi Dawei asked, pulling the reporting militiaman.
"Yes, he was killed by Fugui from our Village, and two guns were seized!" the militiaman said proudly.
"Good, good, good!" Qi Dawei said three "good"s in a row. Then he ran to an office nearby and shouted, "Chen Hai!"
"Here!" A loud shout echoed in the office.
Chen Hai, 45 years old, had been working at the Public Security Bureau ever since he retired from being a scout soldier and transferred to civilian work; a few years ago, he had just been promoted by the organization to serve as the head of the criminal investigation section.
"You take people to Hongxing Forest Farm tomorrow; Erlang was killed by their Forest Ranger!"
"What?" Chen Hai was also greatly surprised; the hardened criminal murderers who had caused panic throughout the province were killed by a Forest Ranger from a Production Team?
Although surprised, with his many years of scout soldier career and criminal police experience, while Erlang were formidable and dared to engage in direct gun battles with the police, it wasn't impossible for them to suffer an unexpected defeat.
If Wang Fang and Wang Li hadn't eaten for several days in the mountains and were dizzy with hunger, it was plausible that they were killed by the Forest Ranger.
"Take this Comrade to the canteen for a meal, arrange accommodation at the guesthouse, and go to Hongxing Forest Farm early tomorrow morning!" Chen Hai said to his apprentice beside him.
Early the next morning, the reporting villager took Chen Hai to Zhao Kaishan's home as quickly as possible.
"Captain, the leader from the Public Security Bureau is here!"
Zhao Kaishan quickly came out to greet them: "Oh, welcome, Comrades from the Public Security Bureau! Please come in quickly!"
Chen Hai also had a good impression of this Production Team Captain who had helped them solve a major case, so he proactively extended his hands to shake Zhao Kaishan's hand and said, "Hello, I am Chen Hai from the County Public Security Bureau. Thank you for helping us solve a major case!"
"I won't go inside the house; I need to quickly verify the situation and go back to report to the superiors!"
"Please take me to see the two fugitives, and also call the villagers who were present at the time."
"No problem, this way!" Zhao Kaishan had also seen the world; he led the two towards the Great Brigade headquarters.
Then he turned his head and said to the villager who had come back with Chen Hai, "Go call Fugui to come to the Great Brigade! Just say the Comrades from the Public Security Bureau are looking for him!"
He then looked at Chen Hai and smiled, "It is our duty to cooperate with the Comrades from the Public Security Bureau! As soon as we received the joint prevention and control notice from the Commune, we held a meeting to convey it to everyone."
"We didn't expect our Forest Ranger would actually encounter them!"
Chen Hai said, "How did this Forest Ranger encounter the fugitives? Was he injured?"
"Oh, Fugui is a Forest Ranger, you see. He usually goes into the mountains for walks when he's free, and it just happened that he ran into them!"
"At that time, those two fugitives probably wanted to rob Fugui's dry food or something, so they hid in the woods and fired sneak shots. They didn't hit him, and when they saw Fugui also had a gun, they wanted to run, but then Fugui chased after them and killed them all!"
Zhao Kaishan didn't mention the matter of Fugui and Quan Fu going into the mountains to catch fish. It wasn't intentional concealment; it was just that this part had absolutely nothing to do with the fugitives, so why mention it?
"Hmph!"
The young policeman nearby let out a scoff and shook his head disdainfully; he didn't believe this version of events.
In his guess, Erlang must have been dazed by hunger and were hit by sneak shots from that Forest Ranger!
Otherwise, based on their understanding of Erlang, it would be impossible for an ordinary mountain dweller to chase after them and kill them!
Chen Hai glared at him, and the young policeman immediately put on a serious, thoughtful expression.
"Amazing! Your Forest Ranger, his marksmanship must be very good, right?"
"Absolutely. Although Fugui isn't very old, he is definitely the strongest in the entire Production Team, oh no, in the entire Commune!"
"He can kill a pack of wolves by himself!" Zhao Kaishan added, fearing they wouldn't believe him.
"Pfft!"
The young policeman couldn't hold back any longer and laughed out loud without any attempt to hide it.
Chen Hai also twitched the corner of his mouth upon hearing this, but he felt there was nothing wrong with villagers liking to boast a bit.
So he said with a smile, "Then I'll have to take a good look later!"