Chapter 295: Trip To Langde Village
“If it weren’t for your reminder, everyone would really have been in danger, Chang Ning.”
Geng Jihui realized the seriousness of the matter, his face full of worry as he racked his brains to come up with a plan.
In the original plot, Group B nearly got wiped out trying to save a dog.
Xia Lan was a factor in this; if she hadn’t lost sight of that kid and his dog, there wouldn’t have been the subsequent danger.
Although Xiao Zhuang bore the most responsibility here—if he hadn’t rushed out to find that dog, the others wouldn’t have been surrounded by the criminal gang.
Since Xia Lan isn’t a stability factor, could she be transferred away?
This idea was immediately shot down by Geng Jihui as soon as it came up.
They were already short on manpower, and even if Xia Lan wasn’t great, she could at least shoot and kill enemies.
But if Staff Officer Xia stays, what position should I put her in?
“What if I put Staff Officer Xia with the village villagers and have her protect them?”
The more Geng Jihui thought about it, the better this plan seemed—it would prevent Staff Officer Xia from joining the frontal battle while still utilizing her strength.
Geng Jihui’s decision sent chills down Chang Ning’s spine; if she were put in charge of protecting the villagers like in the plot, what if she lost sight of that dog again?
Wouldn’t everyone end up surrounded again and nearly become martyrs?
But how could he persuade Geng Jihui?
Chang Ning wanted to persuade him but didn’t know how to broach it, because in trying to find an excuse, he realized Geng Jihui’s decision was currently the best plan.
Who could have thought Xia Lan would fail to keep an eye on a dog.
It seemed he could only approach solving this crisis from another angle.
Chang Ning thought that since he couldn’t move Xia Lan, he could only try to solve the problem with that puppy.
“This is fine too; without Xia Lan in the frontal battle, Ostrich can bring out his strength.”
With a plan in mind, Chang Ning immediately agreed with Geng Jihui’s proposal.
As for how to tell Xia Lan, that was Commander Geng Jihui’s business and had nothing to do with him, Chang Ning.
Having resolved this tricky problem, they could now formulate a plan based on the intelligence provided from Xia Lan’s side.
But they couldn’t just wait idly in the village, so everyone began carrying forward the fine tradition of helping the locals with their work.
“Xiao Zhuang, do you know anyone in the village who speaks Mandarin?”
That day, Chang Ning found Xiao Zhuang and deliberately asked; he knew Xiao Zhuang knew Da Bao and that Da Bao spoke Mandarin.
Connecting with Da Bao was one step in his plan.
“Da Bao speaks it; that kid has a pitiful background…”
As expected, Xiao Zhuang introduced Da Bao to Chang Ning and chattered on about Da Bao’s situation, not forgetting to condemn the criminals selling powder at the end.
While talking, the two found Da Bao—the kid holding the little white dog.
“Hi Da Bao, I’d like to ask you for a favor.” Chang Ning said to Da Bao.
“What favor?” Da Bao asked.
Chang Ning saw timidity in Da Bao’s eyes.
“I looked around and found no well in the village; where do you usually get water?”
Da Bao didn’t answer Chang Ning’s question; he just picked a direction and walked off on his own.
This left Chang Ning very embarrassed; Xiao Zhuang also didn’t know what was up with Da Bao—that kid wasn’t usually like this.
Noticing Chang Ning hadn’t followed, Da Bao turned around and beckoned to him, signaling to follow.
It turned out Da Bao wasn’t ignoring him but was just not good with words.
With the misunderstanding cleared, Chang Ning and Xiao Zhuang followed Da Bao to a place with dense vegetation, where a small path led somewhere unknown.
Weeds on both sides of the small path reached past the knee.
Continuing to follow Da Bao along the small path for a bit, a gurgling stream appeared before Chang Ning and Xiao Zhuang.
Da Bao’s meaning was clear: they usually got water here.
Chang Ning squatted down to check and found the stream water very clear, though the flow was small; he even tasted it himself and found it quite sweet, but unfortunately, the entire stream’s width was no more than thirty centimeters, like two hands side by side.
Could such a stream guarantee drinking water for the villagers?
This was questionable.
Chang Ning called Da Bao over: “Da Bao, how about I dig a well for the village?”
“Are you going to help the village dig a well?”
Da Bao confirmed again; after a few days of interaction, he knew these people in military uniforms were good—they wouldn’t harm him or the uncles and aunts in the village.
“Yeah, but we don’t speak the dialect, so we need you to translate for us.
Would you be willing?” Chang Ning asked, squatting in front of Da Bao.
“Willing!”
Da Bao nodded vigorously, his face beaming with a happy smile.
On the way back, Xiao Zhuang deliberately lagged behind with Chang Ning, walking after Da Bao.
“You know how to dig wells? You can’t brag at a time like this; if you can’t do it, that’ll be deceiving the masses.”
Having spent so much time with Chang Ning, how had he never noticed this guy knew how to dig wells? As far as he knew, Chang Ning’s university major wasn’t geology either.
“I know a lot.”
Chang Ning didn’t explain, which frustrated Xiao Zhuang.
Digging a well isn’t hard; the hard part is finding underground water.
Judging where there’s underground water is a technical skill.
Without any equipment, how could they possibly find underground water?
But seeing Chang Ning so confident, Xiao Zhuang didn’t think he was bluffing, which piqued his curiosity.
Xiao Zhuang thought to himself that he wanted to see how Chang Ning would pull off this venue.
Back in the village, Chang Ning found the Village Chief and, with Da Bao’s help, successfully negotiated; he agreed to let Chang Ning dig a well inside the village.
He had no reason to refuse something that could help the village.
He had wanted to dig a well before, but the village was too far from the county town and the pay wasn’t generous, so no one came, and the matter was shelved.
Now he saw hope for solving this.
Hearing Chang Ning was going to help everyone dig a well, the villagers got excited.
The B Group members reacted the same as Xiao Zhuang—they worried Chang Ning would mess it up, since they’d never seen him dig a well and didn’t know if he’d learned it.
“Take it easy, kid; if you can’t do it, say so early—no shame in that.”
Lao Pao leaned close to Chang Ning and whispered.
He feared Chang Ning would push too hard; failing wasn’t a big deal and not shameful, but stubbornly persisting when it was clearly failing would be.
“Don’t worry.”
Chang Ning gave Lao Pao a confident look.
Though he didn’t know if Chang Ning could pull this off, considering his past behavior of never doing anything without confidence, Geng Jihui thought it should work… probably.
Honestly, seeing Chang Ning about to show off his skills, Geng Jihui was sweating for him.
Surrounded by the crowd, Chang Ning showed no nervousness; he rolled up his sleeves, somehow found two thin iron wires, bent them into right angles, held them outstretched at arm’s length as if gripping them loosely, and walked around the village like that.
