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

Wang An was quite skilled and confident in his ability to escape.

Wang An believed that as long as he was determined to run away, even if everyone in DJ County chased after him, they would still have a chance of catching him.

If Wang An hadn't been so rarely matched in battle, which meant he usually didn't have the opportunity to demonstrate his ability to escape, his nickname wouldn't have been "The Madman," but rather "The One Who Can Run Too Fast."

As for what that old scoundrel said—that Wang Anyi goes into a frenzy when he fights, and will fight to the death regardless of whether he can win or not—that is actually inaccurate.

In fact, Wang An had run away from fights quite a few times, but no one could catch him.

Everyone has fear; to keep fighting even when you can't win is just plain stupid!

If Wang An were truly that foolish, he would probably have been killed long ago and wouldn't be alive today.

When Wang An and Huang Zhong finished their noodles and came out of the noodle shop, it was already dark. Wang An looked at his watch and saw that it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

That's how winter is in Northeast China. The days are very short, from sunrise to sunset, it's only about 7 to 8 hours in total.

Wang An and Huang Zhong got into the GAZ truck, and Wang An drove straight towards Taipingtun.

This time, Wang An didn't drive too fast. Since it gets completely dark around 5 o'clock, if Wang An drove slowly, it would be completely dark by the time he and Huang Zhong arrived at Taipingtun, which would be just in time to get to work.

On the way, Wang An suddenly remembered to ask Huang Zhong:
"Xiao Zhong, what happened when you got into a fight with those thugs? What's your stance on this?"

Huang Zhong glanced at Wang An, took out a few hair clips with small flowers on them and a few hair ornaments from his pocket, and then said somewhat embarrassedly:

"I went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought some hair clips and hair ornaments for Xiaoying. Before I came out, I was fiddling with them in my hands, and then I was standing in the way, and someone walked by and bumped into me."

By the time Huang Zhong finished speaking, Wang An already knew how things would unfold.

Because Wang An, as a former gangster, had worked his way up from small-time hoodlums, he knew all too well what kind of hoodlums with awful personalities were like.

If you had to describe this kind of hoodlum in one word, it would be "bad," the kind of bad that radiates from the very core of their being.

If I had to describe him in one sentence, it would be "a twisted, despicable scoundrel who enjoys bullying others."

But if we take it a step further, it would be blatant "picking quarrels and provoking trouble"!

As expected, Huang Zhong's next words were exactly what Wang An had predicted.

Huang Zhong, somewhat indignant, said:

"After he bumped into me, before I could even say anything, he started cursing at me. I figured it was better to avoid trouble, and it wouldn't hurt me if he cursed at me, so I ignored him, glanced at him, and turned away. Hey, guess what happened, bro?"

Before Wang An could voice his guess, Huang Zhong suddenly became somewhat agitated and said:

"Brother, do you think these lazybones are fucking crazy? I can't even leave if I want to. Damn it, I've only taken a few steps when a bunch of thugs suddenly surrounded me, and they all started harassing me right away. I got angry and started fighting with them."

This incident shows that Huang Zhong's character is actually quite upright and decent.

While Huang Zhong might be tempted to stab someone in the back or kill someone when faced with Wang An's troubles, he remains rational when dealing with his own. The term "怼哒" here refers to pushing or provoking, more accurately, minor physical altercations.

After listening, Wang An laughed and said:

"Just take them down. When you run into these scoundrels, you have to beat them to a pulp and scare them until they're terrified, otherwise they'll never stop."

After a pause, Wang An clicked his tongue and said:

"Right, you went a bit too lightly. If you're fighting multiple people, you have to be able to take one down in one go. With all those bricks and stones on the ground, you should just grab one in each hand and start swinging!"

Otherwise, if they grab you and pin you down, you'll be completely finished. If those guys then surround you and kick you, it'll be really difficult for you to get up again.

I'm telling you, you need to play to your strengths. You're so fast, you have to fight while you run. You absolutely can't let yourself get bogged down."

And so, Wang An taught Huang Zhong how to fight while driving, and after nearly an hour, Wang An and Huang Zhong finally arrived near Taipingtun.

As soon as they approached the village, Huang Zhong pointed to one of the houses with a light on and said:

"Brother, that's their house. It's the 7th house from the east on the last trip."

Upon hearing this, Wang An stared intently for a long time, but still couldn't figure out which company was the seventh.

The main problem was that the moon wasn't very bright at that time, and it was already quite dark with a cloudy sky. Also, some families in the village hadn't turned on their lights to save electricity, so how could Wang An possibly see clearly?

So Wang An looked around and parked the car behind a pile of corn stalks.

Living in the forest area, no one burns corn stalks as firewood, because there are plenty of wind-fallen trees and branches in the mountains. Even if you don't cut firewood, just collecting these things is better than burning stalks.

Therefore, the straw in the fields is basically gathered into piles and burned directly. The ash is then returned to the field for disposal, which is both convenient and increases the fertility of the soil.

Strangely enough, no matter how much straw was burned, the sky remained a clear blue, and the air remained very fresh; the so-called environmental pollution seemed to simply not exist.

After parking the car, Wang An put on the cotton-padded jacket, trousers, and cloth shoes that he had kept under the car seat when he went to Yandu to sell watches, which he hadn't been able to bear throwing away.

He tied a rope around his waist, tucked the flashlight into the large pocket of his cotton-padded coat, and then said to Huang Zhong:

"Come on, come with me. Make sure you know which one it is before you come back. Don't get it wrong."

Huang Zhong agreed upon hearing this:
"Okay, brother."

As they spoke, Huang Zhong and Wang An got out of the car and made their way toward the edge of the village.

There was no other way but to sneak towards the edge of the village, because going into the village would definitely cause the dogs to bark, and if that alerted everyone in the village, it would be a big problem.

Soon, two furtive figures, one tall and one short, arrived behind a house in Taiping Village. (End of Chapter)