Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

It took Wang Li more than an hour to drive to the riverbank.

At this moment, the river surface was covered with thick white snow, completely blending with the snow on the land, making it look almost indistinguishable from normal land.

As the car headlights swept across the river, only scattered snowdrifts on the surface could be seen, indicating that someone had previously chiseled holes in the ice to catch fish.

After getting out of the car, Wang An strolled around the riverbank with a flashlight, then said to Mu Xueli:
"Xue Li, take off the snow chains and put them back on, lest you slip and stop halfway through."

Mu Xueli agreed and turned to walk towards the trunk of the car.

As a pure off-road vehicle, the GAZ has no problem driving on snowy roads, but Wang An is worried that ice might suddenly appear on the river, which is over a thousand meters wide.

If you wait until then to put snow chains on your tires, it will be a real pain.

In those days, snow chains were all made of iron chains. Driving in Heilongjiang Province in winter, these things were almost a necessity. Even the large Liberation truck had to use them, and sometimes even four-wheeled vehicles had to use them.

In later generations, people in Heilongjiang Province would typically prepare a set of snow tires when buying a car, and would immediately switch to them as soon as winter arrived.

There's no way around it; once winter arrives, heavy snow is inevitable. Ordinary tires simply can't keep up with the road, and braking is a pipe dream. Every time you step on the brake, the tires slip and you can't stop at all.

Four snow chains were laid in front of the four tires, and under Wang An's direction, Wang Li put all four wheels on the snow chains.

After attaching the clips and giving it a strong pull, the snow chains are firmly attached to the tires.

After hanging up the snow chains, Wang An said to Wang Li:
“I’ll drive. After we cross the river, you two can take off the snow chains.”

Even with snow chains on, Wang An dared not be careless. He knew that it was only in this era that people could cross the river on ice in winter. In later generations, people would be strictly prohibited from going onto the river.

Unfortunately, this vast river is both very safe and extremely dangerous. After all, there are bound to be ice holes or cracks in the river, and if you fall in, the outcome is unpredictable.

As they spoke, the three turned and got into the car. Wang An followed the tracks left by the horse-drawn sleigh and drove directly across the river.

Fortunately, it was winter, and the river was covered with a thick layer of ice, making it passable by car. If it were summer, you would have to pay to take a ferry.

To be fair, putting protective chains on the car tires was actually the right thing to do. In a stretch of about 500 meters in the middle of the river, perhaps because the wind was so strong that it blew away all the snow, the entire river surface looked like glass—it was incredibly smooth.

In this situation, without snow chains, the GAZ tires would inevitably spin without moving.

After crossing the river and reaching land, Wang An finally breathed a deep sigh of relief.

The main problem is that the water in this river is deep in some places and shallow in others, but the exact depths are completely unknown.

Regardless of the depth, there is flowing water beneath the ice. If a car happens to fall into the ice hole while passing by, then Wang An and his two companions, along with the car and the 58 yuan worth of goods on board, will all be swept away by the river to meet Buddha.

After crossing the river, it was already past 5 p.m., and the sky was completely dark.

After removing the snow chains, Wang An sat in the car, looked at the map, and calculated the time.

I found that if I wanted to get to CC, it would take more than 3 hours to get there given the current road conditions and driving speed. However, CC is still more reassuring than Songyuan, since CC is the provincial capital.

Just as Wang An looked up to speak, he saw several flashlight beams gathering near the car in the distance.

By the light of his flashlight, Wang An saw that these people all had a red armband on their left arm and carried identical Type 56 rifles on their backs. It seemed that these people were patrolmen or members of the company defense team.

Wang An saw the flashlight beams, so Mu Xueli and Wang Li naturally saw them too. Mu Xueli, sitting in the driver's seat, asked Wang An:

"Brother-in-law, what do we do now?" It was pitch black outside, and they couldn't see anything around them. Their opponents were all armed with Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, so running away seemed unrealistic. Therefore, Wang An thought for a moment and said:
"You two stay in the car and don't move. I'm going out to see what's going on."

Wang Li immediately said:

"Fourth Brother, how about I go? If anything happens, just leave me alone and drive away immediately. Once you've sold these bear bile and stuff, you can give it to me."

Before Wang Li could finish speaking, Wang An impatiently interrupted:

"Alright, alright, it's not that serious. Didn't you see that these people are wearing red armbands and haven't even taken their guns off?"

"The words on the red band were too small for me to see clearly, but I think they weren't robbers, but rather patrolling the riverbank."

Soon, these people surrounded the car and stood about three or four meters away from it.

Wang An didn't wait any longer, opened the car door and got out.

Upon seeing Wang An alight from the carriage, one of these people shouted:

"Where did you come from? Where are you headed?"

Wang An remained calm and composed, saying without changing his expression:

“We are Xingjing from DJ County, Heilongjiang Province, and we’re here in Yi Province to handle a case.”

For this outing, Wang An made a special effort to wear the new standard military overcoat issued this year, the new standard cotton hat, and the new standard military boots.

It must be admitted that the saying "clothes make the man" is absolutely true, because Wang An's words at this moment are absolutely upright and righteous, and he looks quite serious.

Throughout the entire ordeal, these people did not make any move to remove their guns, so it is clear that they were all legitimate.

Upon hearing this, the man immediately laughed and said:
"Oh, so you're from DJ County, huh? We're from the inspection team. They've been cracking down hard these days. Could you show us your identification so we can register you?"

Wang An smiled and said:
"It's my duty, I understand, I completely understand."

As he spoke, Wang An took out his identification and letter of introduction and handed them to the man.

After the man took the document, another person immediately stepped forward to help by shining a flashlight.

The man quickly returned the identification and letter of introduction to Wang An, saying as he did so:

“Recently, a group of armed robbers have been roaming back and forth between the two sides of this river. There are quite a few of them, and they have already robbed quite a few people. You must be careful.”

Wang An frowned slightly at the man's expression, then quickly relaxed and smiled:
"It's alright, we have Type 56 rifles in our car. If we run into them, we'll do whatever it takes to catch them and earn credit, hehehehe."

In this situation, Wang An definitely couldn't tell the truth. Who knew if the two groups knew each other or not? What if they were actually exchanging information and helping each other? Wouldn't Wang An and his two companions be getting into trouble for no reason?
The man was taken aback by Wang An's words, clearly not expecting such a remark. He simply smiled and said:

"Yes, yes, that's right. To do what we do, we have to have the courage to fight against bad guys. Combating crime is our duty."

Wang An felt that this person must be from Lingdao Island, otherwise he wouldn't be rambling on and on about so many useless things.

After exchanging a few perfunctory words, Wang An pretended to glance at his watch and said:

"Alright, comrade, we'll be going now. This case is quite urgent; we need to get there as soon as possible." (End of Chapter)