"Why doesn't Wenqing go hide? In case someone identifies you, wouldn't it add trouble?" Qi Huishen felt Chen Ke's insistence on staying at the school was a bit rash. As he spoke, he glanced at He Ying beside Chen Ke out of the corner of his eye.

Those policemen from the police station were all exasperated, running around the school like mad dogs. For fear that his wife would be harassed, Chen Ke simply let He Ying follow him. Hearing Qi Huishen's words, He Ying looked normal, just gently holding Chen Ke's arm.

"Yesterday during the day, we both went to visit the prison, and at night, people were hijacked. Today we both play missing; what does this count as? Confessing without being pressed?" Chen Ke gently patted his wife He Ying's hand while laughing in a low voice.

Actually, Qi Huishen also held such a thought, so he stayed here. Watching Chen Ke chatting with him calmly, he couldn't help sighing, "Wenqing, you are really bold. Although you covered your face, your figure..."

Chen Ke's figure might not be too conspicuous in the north, but in the south, it stood out like a crane among chickens. Among the people searching the school, there were a few policemen knocked out by Chen Ke yesterday. Not knowing if it was a psychological effect, anyway, Qi Huishen felt their gaze towards Chen Ke was full of a dangerous flavor.

"Even if recognized, so what? Do they dare to arrest people? This isn't the concession. This is our school. In the tradition of the British, without major events or special evidence, the government cannot come to the school to arrest people. They can't even enter Fudan Public School, let alone come here to arrest people. Besides, this isn't a big case. No one died. Don't worry," Chen Ke laughed.

"Having done such a big case, recalling it now is really satisfying." More than a hundred kilometers away from Chen Ke's location, Chai Qingguo suddenly laughed. This Shandong hero actually didn't like to laugh much, but at this moment, he laughed very happily.

Wu Xingchen, who was on the same boat as Chai Qingguo, was actually quite happy too. Although his face remained calm, Chai Qingguo had a life-and-death friendship with him and could still see it. "Big Brother Wu, why didn't you let me finish off those few policemen knocked down outside?" Although he said so verbally, Chai Qingguo didn't really care much about not killing anyone.

Last night, Wu Xingchen and Chai Qingguo suddenly saw Hua Xiongmao rush out of the police station, and they were really startled. The four people carried two guns; Chen Ke had one, and Wu Xingchen had one. Chai Qingguo thought something big happened inside the police station and had already pulled out his small axe.

Wu Xingchen stopped Chai Qingguo who was about to rush in. Just in this moment, Hua Xiongmao had arrived close. "Wenqing started to act. He asked us to prepare to pick people up."

"Can he hold out alone?" Wu Xingchen asked in a low voice.

"I have seen Wenqing's skills; there should be no problem." Hua Xiongmao still remembered the swift and thunderous movements he saw when he first met Chen Ke more than half a year ago.

Time seemed to pass for a long, long time. There seemed to be some sound inside the police station, but people outside couldn't hear clearly. The only thing they could be sure of was that no gunshots came out; Chen Ke shouldn't have used a gun. But the three people hiding in the dark didn't see Chen Ke come out either.

Wu Xingchen's hands pressed on the shoulders of Hua Xiongmao and Chai Qingguo. Whenever they moved slightly, Wu Xingchen's powerful palms would press on their shoulders. In the training these days, using voice to transmit signals was always discouraged. Among various simple gestures, this hand gesture commanding stop and attack was the simplest. Wu Xingchen's action was the signal to stop all actions. Just at this moment, two figures appeared on the street. Looking at their attire, they should be two patrolling policemen. Obviously, these two policemen didn't notice the three people in the shadows, let alone know that a fierce fight was taking place inside the police station. It was already very cold at midnight; they rubbed their hands while walking quickly towards the gate.

Just as these two policemen turned around, with their backs to the street, preparing to step into the police station, Wu Xingchen pushed Chai Qingguo and Hua Xiongmao. This was a signal trained hundreds of times. Although their hearts might not be in sync with Wu Xingchen, their bodies moved before their thoughts. More accurately, Hua Xiongmao had a stronger consciousness of offense. If the two policemen were allowed to enter the police station, it would be too dangerous for Chen Ke.

Chai Qingguo didn't have such strong fighting consciousness as Hua Xiongmao; he was really waiting for Chen Ke to come out. Both rushed forward involuntarily, but whether they rushed forward sincerely made a big difference. Just a moment slower in thought, Chai Qingguo was surpassed by Hua Xiongmao by more than a meter.

Hearing the footsteps behind, the two policemen stopped almost simultaneously. Hua Xiongmao was on the left. The policeman he locked onto didn't have time to turn his head back; Hua Xiongmao chopped a palm on the large artery on that policeman's neck. This fierce blow instantly blocked the blood vessels from transporting blood to the brain. Hua Xiongmao didn't even look at the policeman whose body started to sway. His other hand had already grabbed the throat of the other policeman. With a little force, a slight strange noise came from that policeman's throat, and he could no longer make a sound. Hua Xiongmao had already turned behind this policeman, and his other arm strangled the policeman's neck like an iron hoop. Just at this moment, Chai Qingguo arrived. Seeing Hua Xiongmao had already subdued two enemies, somehow, a feeling of being useless popped up. Chai Qingguo subconsciously pulled out his small axe, raised it high, and chopped towards the chest of the policeman struggling desperately with a stiffened body.

Hua Xiongmao didn't expect Chai Qingguo actually wanted to kill someone. He was trying hard to strangle the policeman's throat, with his other hand pressing on the large artery on the policeman's neck. As long as the blood supply to the human brain is interrupted for three seconds, one will fall into a coma. He used both hands in the effort to make the policeman faint and had no way to stop Chai Qingguo from killing anymore. He could only drag slightly backward, trying to keep the policeman as far away from the axe as possible.

The policeman was attacked from behind and was already scared enough. Seeing a small axe about to chop into his chest, not knowing if he was scared or due to insufficient blood supply from the large artery, anyway, Hua Xiongmao only felt that the policeman's originally stiff body suddenly softened like a deflated ball. Fortunately so, Chai Qingguo's small axe only cut the clothes on the policeman's chest and didn't chop into the chest as expected.

Chai Qingguo didn't hit with one axe, which aroused his ferocity instead. He took a step forward and raised the axe again. Wu Xingchen was too burly. Although he let Chai Qingguo rush up and followed quickly himself, he wasn't as fast as the two. Now finally catching up, he was quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbing Chai Qingguo's wrist. "This is saving people; don't kill indiscriminately first." Wu Xingchen could still maintain basic calmness and said in a low voice.

The three left the fainted policemen behind, but heard Chen Ke's voice coming, "Xingchen guard the door; others follow me in." Not knowing when, Chen Ke had already arrived at the dark place of the door. After speaking, he ran towards the prison first. Hua Xiongmao followed without hesitation. A bit later, Chai Qingguo also followed.

The effect of training was fully displayed at this time. In the police station he had never entered, Chai Qingguo ran as if flying. Not seeing clearly in the dark night, completely following the trained habits, it was very easy instead. There was a lock on the cell door. Chen Ke waved the axe, cutting off the iron chain with a slash swift as thunder. He kicked open the cell door and rushed in. When Chai Qingguo ran close, the door of the room next to the cell was wide open. Several people lay inside, life or death unknown, just motionless. Looking by the light, he saw the iron chain, thick as a finger, was actually chopped into two pieces neatly. Then Chen Ke shouted something in the cell. When Chai Qingguo followed in, he saw Chen Ke forcing two guards with a pistol. Hua Xiongmao detoured behind them and gave each a palm on the neck; the two guards fell to the ground immediately.

Chen Ke stuck the gun back into his waist and rushed to the innermost cell. This time Chai Qingguo kept up with Chen Ke's pace. He saw Chen Ke didn't make any preparation in front of the door, just raised the axe. His axe waving was so fast that it couldn't be seen by the naked eye. What could be seen was the severed iron chains on the door suddenly springing up like two mad snakes, making a shrill cry in the air, then hitting the cell door; the severed parts actually plunged into the wooden board fiercely. As soon as the cell door opened, the two outside rushed in and, without explanation, dragged people out. The comrades inside were sleeping groggily and were scared by this fierce change. They screamed a few times, but seeing the people outside where there was light were obviously not policemen. At this time, Chen Ke and the others didn't care about that much. According to training, everyone picked a comrade who looked more heavily injured, carried them on their backs, and ran out. The remaining comrade was also clever and ran fast behind the three. He had been taken out for interrogation and torture many times after all; the road was considered familiar.

When the three arrived at the gate, they saw Wu Xingchen covering his nose with his hand. Chai Qingguo smelled a very fresh smell of feces and urine. While puzzled, Wu Xingchen released his hand. "A policeman seems to have shit his pants." After rushing in, Chai Qingguo had been very nervous. Suddenly hearing this, he couldn't help laughing out loud. The group completely followed the plan; three people carried three comrades, and Wu Xingchen dragged another comrade, disappearing into the dark night.

While talking to Wu Xingchen, Chai Qingguo suddenly remembered the policeman on the ground with feces and urine flowing in his crotch again, and couldn't help laughing heartily again. He had laughed many times today. Although Chai Qingguo and these few rescued People's Party comrades were strangers, recalling a few years ago, he was chased by the Beiyang Army and foreign devils, hiding here and there; where was the time to save arrested brothers? The success of this operation made Chai Qingguo feel somewhat comforted in his heart.

He suddenly remembered that when parting at the pier, Chen Ke took the initiative to go back. For the first time in his life, he worried about Chen Ke's safety. "Big Brother Wu, Wenqing will be fine, right?"

"Since Wenqing said he's fine, presumably he should be fine," Wu Xingchen said calmly.

"Although saying so, I'm still a bit worried. Those foreign devils are very domineering. We hijacked people this time; presumably, Shanghai has already been turned upside down."

"Qingguo, I know you and Wenqing have some small knots (grudges). After this matter broke out, the party organization will definitely go to Anhui. I want to hear what plans you have." Wu Xingchen saw no one around and asked in a low voice.

Everyone was on one boat. The shipowner was the same person who provided the boat during the social investigation last time. When Hua Xiongmao woke the shipowner up, the groggy shipowner actually still had an impression of him. This boat wasn't small; everyone could sit down. At this time, Hua Xiongmao was taking care of the four comrades in the cabin. Wu Xingchen and Chai Qingguo stood at the bow, and no one disturbed them.

The water towns in Jiangnan were very different from Shandong and Hebei. Chai Qingguo had taken off his black jacket and draped clothes borrowed from the shipowner. Although the sun was bright today, facing the wind containing moisture at the bow was also quite cold.

"I'll follow you, Big Brother Wu," Chai Qingguo pulled his lapel and said, feeling a bit cold.

"Depending on the situation, I will return to Hebei immediately." Wu Xingchen stood motionless like an iron tower, letting the cold wind blow on his face. The borrowed clothes didn't fit well; Wu Xingchen's chest had nothing to block it. He just draped the borrowed clothes over the black clothes.

"Then I'll go back to Hebei too," Chai Qingguo said quickly.

Wu Xingchen didn't express agreement or disagreement directly. "Qingguo, you are also a probationary Party member now; you should know."

"I know."

"Being a probationary Party member doesn't mean you can attend all meetings, but the results of each meeting will at least be notified to everyone. This is not too important either. Anyway, as for you, whether you can attend the Party meeting is just a matter of whether you have face. But as a Party member, first you have to listen to the Party. It's not that you can do whatever you want."

Chai Qingguo knew Wu Xingchen's meaning. He lowered his head and wrapped his clothes. "Big Brother Wu, I still want to work with you."

"Then what do you think is wrong with Wenqing?" Wu Xingchen continued to ask. "Comparing martial arts, comparing wit, comparing capability, in which aspect is he not stronger than you?"

"I don't understand the affairs of those scholars."

"The things I said were all learned from Wenqing; why didn't you say you didn't understand? Don't pretend with me. I just ask for a straightforward answer: if the party organization asks you to stay, will you stay or not?"

Chai Qingguo knew Wu Xingchen wouldn't take him back to Hebei this time. The so-called questioning was actually just persuading him. He simply spoke his mind, "I'm afraid of being bullied here."

"You have recited the Party's organizational discipline many times. If you feel bullied, you can report to the party organization. Who dares to bully you?"

"Wasn't I bullied in Beijing?" Chai Qingguo made final resistance.

Wu Xingchen didn't fall for this trap at all. "Don't make excuses for me. That time in Beijing was completely different from now. In Beijing, you ran; I dared to take you to find Wenqing to talk about it. If you run for me this time, I don't care how aggrieved you are; I'll just find you and beat you up first."

Seeing Wu Xingchen's attitude was very firm, Chai Qingguo finally asked, "Big Brother Wu, why do you want to work with Chen Ke and the others? If saying some things haven't been learned, with your intelligence, what should be learned, you have learned long ago. What should be mastered, you have also mastered. Just based on the principles you talked about before, what are we afraid of in Shandong? We can deal with the government and foreign devils. Isn't it just run if we can't beat them; if we can beat them, stall them first, wait for them to weaken, and then we attack. Why must we be under the command of some party organization here? You also said this party organization expands very fast. Rather than mixing with those strangers, how good it is for us to do it ourselves."

Hearing this, Wu Xingchen sneered, "Were Uncle Zhao and Uncle Jing good to us back then?"

"That is naturally good." Chai Qingguo answered categorically.

"Then regarding yesterday's matter, if you let Uncle Zhao and Uncle Jing lead us to do it, could it be done so beautifully?"

"This..." Chai Qingguo was speechless. Back then, he attacked churches under Zhao Sanduo. That took immense effort and many people died before capturing the church. The preparation training before the war was far worse than Chen Ke's side.

"I'm not trying to speak ill of the two uncles, but we might be okay fighting and killing in the countryside. If really letting you fight with foreign devils with real swords and guns, do you dare to say you are stronger than the two uncles? I don't think so."

"Chen Ke and the others only have a few people; do they dare to compare with the two uncles' hundreds of thousands of people?"

"Yes, they can achieve this level with only these few dozen people. What level can they achieve when they have hundreds of thousands of people? You say I have learned everything; what have I learned? You tell me." Wu Xingchen asked back. Seeing Chai Qingguo didn't make a sound, he continued to persuade, "Qingguo, you are a good brother. Sometimes, we have to accept fate. People are stronger than us, so we work with them. I have followed Wenqing for half a year now. They may not compare to the two uncles in doing things now, but the way they do things, the two uncles simply can't compare. We don't like scholars, but Wenqing and the others are different from those scholars. Have you seen those scholars personally lead teams to hijack people? Have you seen them personally lead everyone in training before hijacking people? Why is this? Isn't it just not wanting everyone to die or be injured? Compared to relying on piling up people in our previous battles, he is different. Qingguo, is a person with such thoughts really a bad person?"

Chai Qingguo still didn't make a sound. Breaking into prison last night, he was deeply impressed by Chen Ke's action of chopping open the iron chain. He had hijacked prison vans before. That time, after subduing the soldiers, Chai Qingguo also used an axe to chop the chain. Several people chopped for half a day and didn't cut it open. Don't look down on just that one wave; without firm belief, concentrating all attention on that one wave when striking, just having great strength is useless. Chai Qingguo was also a good hand, so he knew better that people who could achieve this step couldn't succeed just by hard practice. This was already a matter of character. Those who could achieve this step were all people with resolute and decisive nature.

Chai Qingguo had seen such people—they were all very scary people. When these people reached critical moments, they never had any fear; life and death had long been disregarded. Just like when he led the cavalry team to rush out of the Beiyang Army's encirclement back then. That wasn't just abandoning brothers without horses; even among brothers riding horses, one out of two failed to rush out. Chai Qingguo knew very well how much determination that required. Because Chai Qingguo himself was such a resolute figure.

Thinking of this, Chai Qingguo opened his mouth, "Big Brother Wu, you know my character. I don't care about life and death anymore. But I have already sold my life to Uncle Zhao once. After Uncle Zhao died, I don't want to sell it easily a second time. Since Big Brother Wu says so, I will make an agreement with you. I will follow Chen Ke for another year. If I keep my life after this year, and if I still want to leave then, you can't stop me."

"Done (*Zhong*). Just say so. One year." Wu Xingchen replied.

Chai Qingguo nodded but stopped speaking. It was already noon. There was a slight warmth in the wind on the river surface, feeling much more comfortable.