Chapter 587: Xu Damao Crawls Through a Dog Hole

The young man at the checkpoint watched Xu Damao's bicycle go further and further away, then walked quickly toward the woods.

Liu Guangqi leaned in close to him and asked, "Second Brother, didn't you find anything?"

The man addressed as "Second Brother," Liu Jia, kept a sullen face, his eyes revealing displeasure: "Xu Damao must have received word. This kid definitely has a problem; that film canister of his has been modified."

Liu Guangqi hurriedly offered a fawning smile: "Second Brother, I'll stake my head on it! This Xu Damao really hasn't done less than his fair share of profiteering! My younger brother Guangtian was even running errands for him..."

Liu Jia looked in the direction where Xu Damao had disappeared and said, "There's no chance today, let's all go!"

Liu Guangqi's eyes rolled, and he said, "Second Brother, I investigated, and Xu Damao is involved in something shady with Widow Xie from Zhang Village. Once he finishes showing the movie, there's no guarantee he won't make a move. Can we catch him?"

Liu Jia pondered for a moment and nodded: "Fine, let's go to town to eat first."

At the same time, Xu Damao had already pushed his bicycle into the commune courtyard.

Familiar with the routine, he unloaded the projector and film canister from the back seat, set up the screen, and mounted the machine; his movements were smooth and practiced.

When the sky turned dark, he aimed the projector at the large screen and flipped the switch.

With a "swish," a beam of light hit the screen.

But the light was half-blocked by someone sitting on a high stool.

Xu Damao frowned, walked over, patted the person on the shoulder, and said in a rather impolite tone, "Hey, Comrade, you can't sit here, you're blocking the light."

The person turned around and gave him a charming smile.

Xu Damao was stunned; it was actually Widow Xie.

He lowered his voice and warned, "Someone has been investigating me lately. Don't cause trouble! Hurry and move to the side, don't block the light."

"Alright, alright, I know." Widow Xie's eyes shimmered, and as she stood up, she inadvertently leaned into his ear and said, "Don't forget to come find me tonight."

Having said that, she wiggled her plump hips as she sat on the stool. Xu Damao's gaze couldn't help but fixate on her, and his heart felt as if it had been scratched by a cat's claw.

He narrowed his eyes, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and whispered, "Zhang Village is three or four miles away from here... How about after I finish the movie, we find a patch of woods nearby?"

"Shameless!" Widow Xie's willow-leaf eyebrows shot up. "Less nonsense, you must come to my house tonight."

"Fine, fine, I'll listen to you." Xu Damao agreed with a smile, then turned back to the projector, but his mind had already drifted eight hundred miles away.

By the time the movie ended, it was already past nine o'clock at night.

The villagers dispersed in twos and threes, and the field gradually emptied.

At some point, Captain Li approached from behind Xu Damao like a shadow and asked in a low voice, "Comrade Xu, that batch of goods..."

Xu Damao was startled by the sudden voice and hurriedly looked around. Finding that most people had left, he patted his chest: "Captain Li, why do you walk without making a sound? You scared me. Luckily, I didn't bring anything for you today; the people at the checkpoint searched me. We'll talk about this batch of goods in a couple of days."

A flash of disappointment crossed Captain Li's eyes, but his face remained wreathed in smiles: "No rush, no rush, a few days late doesn't matter. So... are you still coming to our village to rest tonight?"

Xu Damao nodded: "Fine, your village has the best conditions in the area. I'll head over in a bit."

After packing up his equipment, he followed Captain Li toward Zhang Village.

The night was heavy, and the crescent moon hung like a hook.

He was completely unaware that five dark shadows were following him from a distance.

As the night deepened, Zhang Village fell into a deep sleep.

Around dawn, Xu Damao gently pushed open the rear window of the house where he was staying, vaulted out, and in a few steps, reached the front of Widow Xie's house.

He knocked lightly on the door.

The door quickly opened a crack, and Widow Xie, wearing only her undergarments, yanked him inside and slammed the door bolt shut with a "clang."

There were no lights on in the room; only moonlight spilled in through the window lattice.

The two had just rolled onto the bed and hadn't had time to do anything yet.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Urgent pounding on the door suddenly rang out from outside.

"Open up! Open the door quickly!"

Xu Damao was so shocked his whole body stiffened, and cold sweat instantly soaked him through.

Widow Xie, however, was unusually calm. She pressed him down and whispered, "Go to the east room, there's a dog hole under the firewood pile in the corner, quick!"

Xu Damao scrambled off the bed, grabbed his shoes and clothes, and ran toward the east room.

He pushed aside the wheat straw piled in the corner, and sure enough, a hole just big enough for one person to crawl through was revealed.

He didn't have time to think and dove right in.

Outside was a haystack, the center of which had been hollowed out, just enough to fit a person.

"Damn, this Widow Xie is no simple character!" Xu Damao muttered to himself.

As he hid inside the hollow of the haystack putting on his clothes, he heard the sound of the door opening with a "creak" at Widow Xie's place.

"Yo, what are you all... in the middle of the night, what's the matter?" Widow Xie's voice was languid, and she kept yawning.

Liu Jia, standing outside the door, kept a cold face and said, "Someone reported you for illicit affairs, we're here to investigate."

"Then come in and look!" Widow Xie stepped aside, letting the group enter.

Liu Jia led the men inside and searched through boxes and cabinets, but there wasn't a ghost of a person in the room. He ran to the east room, but still, there was no one.

Liu Guangqi, standing at the back of the crowd, shouted unwillingly, "There must be a tunnel in this house! There must be!"

As soon as Widow Xie heard this, she exploded, screaming at the top of her lungs: "Help! Someone is acting like a hooligan!"

While she screamed, she gave her own clothes a "rip," tearing two holes and revealing a patch of white skin on her chest.

Liu Jia's expression changed drastically; he cursed under his breath and hurriedly led his men away in a flash.

After Xu Damao crawled out of the hole, he didn't go far, wanting to see who exactly was playing these tricks.

He climbed up the old locust tree at the edge of the village, the dense leaves covering him completely; even if someone passed under the tree, they would never discover him.

He had just caught his breath when he saw a group of people running out from Widow Xie's house in a panic.

When he recognized the figure of one of them, he clenched his fists until they cracked: "Liu Guangqi! You bastard!"

Once the group had gone far away, Xu Damao was shaking with rage.

But then, a second thought occurred to him, and his anger slowly dissipated.

He finally understood; since Liu Guangqi could now even arrange for people at the checkpoint, he, Xu Damao, truly could not afford to provoke such a person.

He had inquired about Liu Guangqi before and discovered that the family of this grandson's girlfriend was not simple; her father was a high-ranking Cadre in the military, and both of her older brothers worked in government agencies, and in important Ministries at that.

Cannot provoke, truly cannot provoke.

Xu Damao slid down from the tree and crept back, hunched over.

Arriving at the straw stack, he familiarly pried open the entrance and quietly crawled back inside.

Xie Guafu was leaning against the head of the bed, gently patting three-year-old Abao to coax him to sleep.

Hearing the movement, she didn't even turn her head, lowering her voice to say, "Wait until I get Abao to sleep, then you go to the east room and wait!"

On the main road, Liu Jia was fuming, cursing as she walked: "This Xu Damao, he really is like a cat, with nine lives!"

Liu Guangqi's face was gloomy, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "I just can't figure it out, where exactly did he dig that hole?"

Liu Jia waved her hand and said, "Guangqi, forget it, I don't have the time to play this game of catching an adulterer with you."