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

Below the rails are sleepers, and below the sleepers is ballast, which is made up of crushed large stones.

Therefore, there are actually many, many large stones of substandard material left behind on both sides of the railway, as well as excess, unused large stones.

Therefore, although Wang An and Wang Li kept discussing the details they could see when the flashlight beam shone through, determining the parking location was still not an easy task.

There's no way around it; on the one hand, there are just too many similar scenarios!

On the other hand, the branches on the elm stump will also grow, and in half a year, it is enough for the elm stump to grow more elm branches.

Furthermore, the elm branches that were already there will inevitably grow larger and longer, although it's also possible that they have already been cleared away.

The two brothers encountered many large rocks and elm stumps, but after searching for a distance to the east, they both realized that none of them were where the money was hidden.

As a result, both of them were a little discouraged.

The key issue is that this constant back-and-forth travel is indeed quite time-consuming.

Most importantly, although these two were carrying dry rations, they didn't even waste a moment to eat a meal. Instead, they searched for a place to hide the money in the windy and howling mountains while munching on the roasted fruit they had bought in DJ County.

Soon, more than four hours had passed, and even the sun was already in the western sky, about to sink into the distant mountains.

Wang An looked at the setting sun, glanced at his watch, and turned to Wang Li, saying:

"Fifth brother, let's go back. We've walked almost 50 miles already. It'll be another three or four hours before we get back to the guesthouse, and it will be dark by then."

The two were currently located in the Changbai Mountain range, and the number of ferocious beasts and wild animals in the Changbai Mountains was no less than that in the Lesser Khingan Mountains.

It's really not safe to stay in these mountains in the dead of night.

The main problem is that we can't risk both of us getting back into these mountains just for money that we might not even be able to find, can we?

Besides, to be honest, Wang An had already given up.

Because the two of them are now less than 10 miles away from CT, and according to the time when the train left CT, the original stopping point should have been within a range of about 30 miles from CT.

Of course, this calculation may not be accurate. After all, without a reference point, one can only calculate the approximate distance the train travels based on the approximate travel time and the train's speed at that time.

To put it bluntly, Wang An and his companion had already gone too far in their search, and there was no point in continuing.

After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li looked north along the railway tracks and said with great reluctance:
"This is really damn amazing. We're almost at the CT scan point, and we still can't find it. Holy crap."

Although Wang An was also unwilling, having lived two lives, he remained very rational. Therefore, Wang An said again:
"Alright, stop nagging and let's go. If we don't leave now, we'll both be caught cheating."

Wang Li nodded, turned around and walked towards Wang An, glancing back with a look of resentment as he went.

Wang An glanced at Wang Li's expression but didn't offer any words of comfort. Mainly, Wang An himself was in a very bad mood at the moment, so he had no intention of comforting Wang Li.

After walking for about an hour and a half, Wang Li, looking very dejected, asked Wang An:
"Fourth Brother, shall we come back to look for it again tomorrow?"

Wang An pondered for a while before saying, "Don't come tomorrow. Let's go sell those bear bile and bezoar first. We need to hurry up and get the money to go home. We need to collect as much bear bile as possible before winter, and we can collect more before the New Year. This money is the main source of income, so we can't delay."

Wang Li nodded with an "Oh," but didn't say anything more.

Wang An turned to look at Wang Li's dead body and helplessly offered a word of comfort:
"Alright, stop worrying about it. It's not a big deal. Besides, the three of us already got 9 yuan, so what's there to worry about? If it really comes down to it, we can come back and check it out when we have more time."

At this point, Wang An suddenly couldn't continue. Instead, he pointed blankly to a discarded tree trunk in front of him and said in a trembling voice:
"Fifth brother, look at that piece of wood. The broken parts on it look like they were shot out by a bullet."
As he spoke, Wang An ran ahead.

Wang Li was taken aback upon hearing this, and then followed Wang An as they ran toward the small piece of abandoned wood.

Immediately afterwards, Wang An struggled to pull a section of tree trunk, only about half a meter long, out of the snow.

On one side of this tree trunk, besides the bark being broken off, several pieces of wood were also missing, as if a dog had chewed them up.

Most importantly, two bullets were embedded closely together and deeply into the tree trunk.

At that time, the vast majority of timber from Northeast China was transported to various places to support construction in those regions.

As is well known, people from Northeast China value face, and anything given away must be the best, including timber.

Furthermore, at that time, Northeast China was also known as the "Big Brother of Northeast China," so it paid even more attention to quality issues.

Therefore, the quality requirements for timber in each forest farm have always been very high, and damaged timber like this is naturally considered substandard timber.

Therefore, it became a very natural practice to saw off the qualified parts of the wood and take them away, and to saw off the unqualified parts and throw them away.

Actually, there are quite a few pieces of discarded wood like these in the forest. They are usually dried and then taken away to be used as firewood. However, pieces as thick as this are very rare.

Looking at the wood in Wang An's hand, Wang Li said with a face full of surprise:
"Fourth Brother, this piece of wood must be from the tree you shot at so many times. Otherwise, who would be so bored as to shoot at a tree for fun? Fourth Brother, I think the place where we hid our money must be right here, hahaha."

Looking at the tree trunk in his hand, Wang An was overjoyed. He never expected that such a miraculous turn of events would occur just when he was about to head home.

After hearing Wang Li's words, Wang An chuckled and said:

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. This thick piece of wood can't be moved too far before it's cut and loaded onto the train. It must have been all the way to the front of the train before the inspector found out that the wood was substandard and then sawed off that section."

Wang An casually tossed the piece of wood on the ground, looked around, and found that there were no elm stumps nearby, only a small pile of dry elm branches.

In other words, the elm stump was probably in the way and has already been cut down.

Wang An and Wang Li looked at the small pile of dry branches, exchanged glances, and said nothing.

It's perfectly normal for tree stumps to be cut down; they're definitely in the way because they were in the way.

Then, the two of them looked to the east and saw two simple stoves made of large stones not far away.

That's right, it's one of those makeshift stoves built with large stones. (End of Chapter)