Back To The 80s-Chapter 187: Cleverness_1

Gu Xiaobei didn’t dare to slack off either. She quickly obeyed and ran to the toilet. Her eyes continued to surveil her surroundings. She had never been here before. She didn’t even know where to run to, concluding that her best option now was to wait for the right opportunity.

Seeing Gu Xiaobei so obedient, Li Hao felt somewhat smug. As he watched her emerge from behind the house, he said, "Why were you so bossy towards me before? Do you think I would have done this otherwise?"

"Why did you bring me here?" Gu Xiaobei feigned ignorance and asked.

"Don’t ask what you don’t need to know. It won’t do you any good," Li Hao impatiently replied.

"Hmm," Gu Xiaobei responded obediently.

"Behave yourself these next couple of days. Don’t even think about escaping, or else the man inside won’t be so lenient," Li Hao threatened.

Gu Xiaobei obediently nodded. She re-entered the house with Li Hao, where the muscular man from earlier was now awake. As he caught sight of her, his eyes lit up. He appraised her from head to toe with a lascivious glint in his eyes.

Gu Xiaobei felt a chill. This situation just turned much worse. She pretended not to have noticed and entered the inner room to sit down. Inside, she was calculating a way out. This man was way too dangerous.

The muscular man was called Hei Ge. Upon waking, he took notice of Gu Xiaobei’s fair complexion and was immediately charmed, telling Li Hao, "Get us some food. We’re staying here for quite some time."

Li Hao was also afraid of Hei Ge, so out of necessity, he left to search for food down the mountain.

Overhearing the outside conversation, Gu Xiaobei secretly tucked the dagger wrapped around her waist under the haystack on which she was sitting.

Once Li Hao had left, Hei Ge approached Gu Xiaobei with a lewd smile. "I didn’t realize the soldier’s wife could be so beautiful."

Rigidly, Gu Xiaobei sat still and remained silent. She knew that pleading nor talking tough would be of any help. She had already prepared herself to fight back until the end.

Seeing the placid look on Gu Xiaobei’s face, Hei Ge grew increasingly intrigued, asking, "Aren’t you scared?"

"Does it help if I’m scared?" Gu Xiaobei asked calmly.

"No, but if you’re willing to cooperate, I think we could have some fun," Hei Ge replied, his gaze lingering on Gu Xiaobei’s chest.

Gu Xiaobei did not respond, but watched Hei Ge closely with her hand hanging at her side.

Hei Ge reached out to squeeze Gu Xiaobei’s face, leaning his own face in closer. As he did so, Gu Xiaobei let him touch her face while her hand found the dagger hidden under the hay. As his lips were about to touch hers, she turned her head aside and forcefully stabbed him in the stomach with the dagger, audibly puncturing his gut.

At the same time, a dull thud was heard as the muscular man fell onto Gu Xiaobei.

Wei Xiaobei, crushed beneath him, saw Hei Ge’s face inches away from her own, and thought she might vomit from disgust.

"Are you okay, aunty?" Chen Gang dropped the rock in his hand and quickly pushed Hei Ge off Gu Xiaobei, helping her sit upright.

"I’m fine. We have to get out of here quickly," Gu Xiaobei quickly got to her feet without asking how Chen Gang had ended up there, thinking it was essential to escape quickly.

Seeing Chen Gang out of the grass hut, Gu Xiaobei looked around, and said, "Chen Gang, we should run uphill. Descending now might lead us straight into their hands. Run uphill, and when we find a chance, we’ll descend."

"Okay," agreed Chen Gang, whose footsteps were fast and strong. He dragged Gu Xiaobei along uphill.

The pair didn’t know how long they ran till they entered the Fir Forest where they finally took a break.

Exhausted, Gu Xiaobei collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, feeling as if her heart would jump out of her chest.

"Chen Gang, how did you get here?" asked Gu Xiaobei after catching her breath.

"When I saw you getting captured yesterday, by the time I caught up, they’d already shoved you into a car. I tried to chase the car, but I wasn’t fast enough. I then followed the road and was thankfully able to keep track of the tire marks even though it was raining. I ran in that direction and found the car just as I made it here. I kept it low, staying hidden in the straw fence," explained Chen Gang, feeling lucky about his experience catching porcupines.

"Aunty, where should we go now?" Chen Gang asked.

After a pause, Gu Xiaobei looked around and replied, "We need to go around the main road to descend the mountain. We’ve come pretty far, and if they catch us again, we’re done for."

The duo ventured into the Fir Forest, and after a lot of meandering, Gu Xiaobei realized a harsh reality: they were both lost.

"Aunty, we should head down this slope. We’ll come across a road eventually," Chen Gang suggested.

Gu Xiaobei was left scratching her head, having no other choice. They proceeded downhill, feeling their way around.

.........

When Li Hao returned, he saw Hei Ge lying on the ground and immediately recognized that trouble was brewing. After checking that Hei Ge was still breathing, he quickly attempted to rouse him, "Hei Ge, Hei Ge...."

Awakened to the intense pain in both his head and stomach, Hei Ge touched his stomach and found it covered in blood. "Damn woman, she hit me hard. She’d better not let me catch her."

"Are you okay? If the boss finds out, we’re finished. We need to go after them now," Li Hao said anxiously.

Supporting himself against the door after stumbling twice, Hei Ge told Li Hao, "You go ahead and chase them. I’ll follow."

Seeing this, Li Hao had no choice but to follow the trail downhill.

......

It wasn’t until past noon that Chen Gang and Gu Xiaobei finally found their way to the foot of the mountain. They were dumbstruck again, finding themselves in a completely unfamiliar place. The only indicator of a path was a narrow, winding trail, meaning they had escaped to a place hidden behind dens.

Chen Gang squatted down to inspect the trail, saying, "Aunty, look at these hoofprints. If we follow them, they might lead us to some people."

Weary and hungry, Gu Xiaobei had no other choice. Suddenly, she remembered to ask, "Chen Gang, how far are we from the troop?"

"I’m not sure how far, but I ran the whole night without stopping," replied Chen Gang, unaware of the direction or the distance.

Gu Xiaobei gave a cry of despair, realizing that they had to find a house and rest their feet.

Based on Chen Gang’s advice, they followed the hoofprints and walked for over an hour. As the path grew wider and a few huts came into view, Gu Xiaobei grabbed Chen Gang’s arm in excitement, "We’re not going to starve to death now."

This was the final resting stop for the nomads in migration. The nomadic family they encountered decided to migrate later to save on some grass fodder at home, hence their late descent from the mountain.

Gu Xiaobei and Chen Gang were remarkably lucky to have run into this last nomadic family in migration.

The family, with the last name Ma, were in their thirties and had sun-kissed, dark reddish faces, showcasing the robustness of the northern people. Ma’s wife was strong and sturdy due to years of hard labor, and they had a son in his teens.

Hearing that Gu Xiaobei and Chen Gang had lost their way, the family invited them into their hut without asking further questions.