Chapter 350 - 235: Burning the Bastards

Chapter 350: Chapter 235: Burning the Bastards

"Old Nian, have everyone gather the rations and grain we brought. Also, find two of the bigger wild wolves and send everything to their production team’s cafeteria."

"Right away!"

Zhao Lao Nian took his orders and left. Soon, two large male wolves, along with various rations and grain, were collected and sent to the cafeteria. The cadres and villagers of Phoenix Village were immensely grateful when they saw this. A few elderly women even started to kowtow to Zhao Wendong, who was so startled he quickly helped them up. In the distance, Elder Master Teng leaned on his cane, silently watching it all unfold.

In this day and age, grain was life. Not only had Zhao Wendong and his men saved everyone’s lives, but they had also brought them rations and wolf meat. This wasn’t just simple grain and meat; it was something that had saved their lives all over again.

By noon, Zhao Ergou still hadn’t returned, and Zhao Wenjun was getting anxious.

"Third Brother, why aren’t Er Gou and the others back yet?"

Zhao Wendong, however, wasn’t worried. He glanced at Li Dawei, who immediately smiled and explained to Zhao Wenjun, "Something this big has happened. Feng County is sure to send people to investigate, and our own county will send people too. They’re probably waiting to meet up and come together. If they’ve already received the news and set out, they should be here soon."

Sure enough, just over an hour later, two large trucks tore into Phoenix Village at lightning speed.

"Where are those people? Take me to them."

The Feng County secretary who got out first waved a hand at Zhao Wendong and his group, then froze. He sized Zhao Wendong up for a few moments before exclaiming in surprise.

"My goodness, Captain Zhao, what are you doing here? Huh? The one who helped kill the bandits and rescue the entire village was Captain Zhao?"

"We just happened to run into the situation. You flatter me. Sir, you know me?"

"Ha, of course I do! A few days ago, at the regional general meeting, I was in the audience. I never expected it to be you, Captain Zhao!"

After speaking, he turned and shouted to the surrounding crowd, "You all might not know who this is! This is Captain Zhao Wendong of Dragon King Pond! He’s the very labor model the entire region has been called to learn from, and the one who was gifted calligraphy by the elder!"

The villagers immediately grew excited. They had heard Zhao Wendong’s famous name many times recently but never expected the young man before them to be him. The crowd instantly started cheering for Zhao Wendong, who could only wave awkwardly to the people around him. In the back of the crowd, Elder Master Teng had a smile on his face, nodding repeatedly.

"Well now, Comrade Wendong, I didn’t expect you to have such a big reputation even here in Feng County!"

Jiang Weimin and his group had also gotten out of the truck. Walking over and seeing the scene, they immediately began to tease Zhao Wendong.

Zhao Wendong hurried forward to greet them. Jiang Weimin chuckled and extended his hand, only to see Zhao Wendong walk right past him and hurry over to Lin Zhiyin, who was standing behind him.

"Honey, what are you doing here?"

Jiang Weimin brought his outstretched right hand to the back of his head, pretending to scratch it. Beside him, Yang Wenxue and Niu Yuesheng wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, their faces turning red from holding it in.

"I went to the county yesterday for a meeting on your behalf. It got too late, so I was planning to head home today, but then I heard the news from over here and came along with them!"

"Secretary Jiang and the others are waiting for you!"

Seeing that Zhao Wendong’s first concern was for her, Lin Zhiyin felt a sweet warmth in her heart, but she still reminded him of his duties right away.

Only then did Zhao Wendong remember Jiang Weimin and the others. He turned around in embarrassment to greet them. "Oh! Secretary Jiang, you’re here too!"

Jiang Weimin: ...

After everyone had inspected the scene, gotten an account of the previous night’s events, and examined all the bodies, the secretary from the neighboring Feng County introduced two men in military uniforms who had come with him to Zhao Wendong’s group.

"These two comrades are from our border defense regiment."

They all shook hands one by one. The two men from the border defense regiment looked at Zhao Wendong with complex expressions, a mixture of scrutiny and respect.

"Comrade Zhao Wendong, thank you for your hard work. We have a general understanding of what happened, but we still need to conduct detailed interviews to get more information. Is that alright?"

Zhao Wendong nodded. "No problem. We’ll cooperate fully."

What followed was a more detailed inquiry. Zhao Wendong explained the sequence of events clearly: after entering the mountains to exterminate the Wolf Pack, they were passing through this village intending to ask for lodging for the night. They discovered the village had been taken over by a group of people from a neighboring country, who had even shot and killed some of the villagers. Therefore, they decided to intervene and rescue them.

As for what those people from the neighboring country were there for?

"We don’t know. We didn’t get a chance to ask. They started shooting the moment they came out, so we had no choice but to return fire. In the end, we burned the house down."

Zhao Wendong made no mention of the cowhide parchment found on one of the bodies. The newcomers didn’t ask about it, nor did they ask for the belongings of the stripped corpses to be returned. They only said they needed to take the weapons and other such items.

"Comrade Wendong, is this the Wolf Pack you were sent to deal with?"

Seeing that the investigation was wrapping up, Jiang Weimin pointed at the White Wolf King among the pile of wolf carcasses, his interest piqued.

"That’s right. It took us days and nights of hard work to find these beasts. They even tried to ambush us. Luckily, we had a lot of people with us this time. We took down the White Wolf King and wiped out the dozens of other wolves as well."

Yang Wenxue slammed a fist on his thigh. "Good! That’s great! This menace has finally been dealt with. The Commune will be waiting for your return, and they won’t short you a single cent of what they promised."

"Haha, good, good. The reward for eliminating the wolf menace, and the reward for helping a neighboring county rescue its people—the county will make sure you get it all next time."

Jiang Weimin was also very pleased. This time, Zhao Wendong and his men were unmitigated heroes. Their counterattack was clearly self-defense, no question about it. Moreover, since the other party had been the first to kill, there would only be accolades, not any accountability.