Chapter 63 Get Lost and Stay Away

Poor Brother Duck, who was naturally the tallest and most handsome among the group and had even rushed to the front while fleeing earlier, ended up becoming the prime "target of care" for Fat Aunt.

At this moment, several large bumps protruded from his head, the corners of his eyes were swollen high, and his glasses had flown off to goodness knows where.

Fortunately, Yang Chun's nearsightedness was merely feigned. Wearing glasses on usual days was merely to put on airs of a cultured and refined person. Whether he wore them or not had no significant impact on his vision.

Li Haibo frowned and turned to look at Hou Yong, who was acting as if nothing had happened.

This scoundrel was the shortest, had the slowest reactions, and had even stayed at the very back while fleeing earlier. Yet, unexpectedly, he was the first to squeeze out through the gaps in the crowd, taking hardly any blows at all. How lucky for him!

Li Haibo waved a hand and commanded, "Monkey, get over here!"

Hou Yong's heart skipped a beat, and with a crying face, he said, "Brother Bo, I was wrong! I truly know I was wrong!" Even as he spoke, his feet involuntarily took several steps backward.

Seeing this, Xiong Kui strode forward, grabbed Hou Yong by the collar as if lifting a small chick, and dragged him directly in front of Li Haibo.

Li Haibo narrowed his eyes slightly, raised a hand to gently slap Hou Yong's cheeks, and said word by word, "Monkey!

Look at this fine mess you made, getting the brothers into such a miserable state and losing all our face.

Tell me, shouldn't you make some compensation to everyone?"

Hou Yong said pitifully, "Brother Bo, I really have no money! My pockets are cleaner than my face!"

"Can the brothers' beating be taken in vain? Huh?

How about this, you go buy a roast chicken for each of us, just to calm our nerves!"

Upon hearing this, a flash of light suddenly appeared in Hou Yong's eyes, and he asked cautiously, "A roast chicken for each person is enough?"

Li Haibo glared at him and retorted unpleasantly, "In your dreams! Add one silver dollar of medical expenses for each person, just to treat these injuries on our bodies!"

Hearing this, Hou Yong almost jumped up and, with a weeping tone in his voice, said, "Brother Bo, I really don't have that much money! You are practically demanding my life!"

"If you have no money, you can run a tab. Aren't we about to distribute money from the residential permit processing business?

We'll deduct it directly from there! One dollar per person, three silver dollars from you!"

Hearing this, Hou Yong could not help asking, "Brother Bo, you want one too?"

Infuriated, Li Haibo raised his hand as if to slap Hou Yong, shouting, "Damn it! I am a wounded man, already injured to begin with, and after running all that way just now, my wounds have torn open! Shouldn't you pay some money to compensate me?"

Startled into a shudder, Hou Yong hesitated for a long time before saying with extreme reluctance, "Well—fine!"

Thus, flanked and guarded by several men, Hou Yong dragged his feet toward the delicatessen.

Upon reaching the delicatessen, Hou Yong was still scheming in his heart and actually had the audacity to say to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, pick three small roast chickens for me!"

Consequently, he was greeted with a barrage of heavy kicks...

The midday sun was pale and feeble, and the chilling wind swept past like a cutting knife.

It was freezing cold. Having rushed out of the hospital in such a hurry that he didn't even wear an overcoat, Li Haibo shrank his neck and hurried home carrying the roast chickens.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, with a squeak, the front door flew open, and Xiaohua and Xiuxiu shouted, "Big Brother, you're back!" as they hopped and bounded toward him.

A forced smile appeared on Li Haibo's frost-reddened face. He spread his arms wide, his voice slightly hoarse from the cold: "Ah, my precious little sisters."

Xiaohua bolted straight up to Li Haibo, snatched the roast chickens right out of his hands, and shouted with excitement, "Yay, it's roast chicken!" before turning around and rushing back into the house.

Li Haibo froze, his hands still maintained in an outstretched posture, a look of sheer disbelief on his face. He looked at Xiuxiu.

Xiuxiu hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting back and forth between Li Haibo and Xiaohua's retreating figure.

In the end, she stamped her foot, turned around to chase after Xiaohua, and cried out, "Wait for me!"

As Xiuxiu turned away, Li Haibo noticed a crystal-clear trail of saliva swinging from the corner of her mouth like a playground swing.

Cheers from the children immediately erupted from inside the house.

Gritting his teeth, Li Haibo muttered, "A bunch of ungrateful little wolves, I'll send you all to an orphanage sooner or later."

Soon it was lunchtime. Steaming hot white rice was served on the table, yet Li Haibo's bowl contained nothing but plain rice.

He looked at Xiaohua and asked, "Huahua, where are the chicken legs?"

"We ate them!" Xiaohua replied with her mouth full of food, her words indistinct.

"Weren't the chicken legs supposed to be saved for Mom and me?"

Xiaohua answered rightously, "Neither of you eats them anyway, and in the end they would just be given to us. Might as well let us eat them first, saves so much trouble!"

"I am going to—! Don't even think about eating white rice tomorrow, you're all having coarse grains!"

...

The night fell like ink. Under the cover of darkness, Li Haibo walked briskly and alone toward the direction of the Bookstore.

Arriving at the bookstore's entrance, he paused slightly, raised a hand to touch the weapon concealed at his waist, and then activated his clairvoyant hearing to scan the surroundings repeatedly. Confirming it was safe, Li Haibo took a deep breath and stepped into the bookstore.

Inside the bookstore, the lights were dim, permeated with the scent of aged paper.

Old Zhang was sitting behind the counter, reading a tattered book by the faint light. Hearing the door creak, he instinctively raised his head. Upon seeing Li Haibo enter, he gave a violent start, hurriedly laid down the book, walked around the counter, and led Li Haibo into the small partition room in the back with a tense expression.

Old Zhang closed the door of the partition, turned to look at Li Haibo, and his eyes were filled with worry: "What happened? I heard you were injured. Is it serious?"

Li Haibo waved his hand slightly. "Minor injuries, not worth mentioning. I came here this time to ask how the newly established transportation line is operating."

Old Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. "The transportation line has been very successful. We have already begun transferring personnel and supplies to the Fourth Brother and the Eighth Brother!"

At this point, his brows furrowed slightly again. "It's just that we are a bit short-handed right now!"

"Short-handed?" A hint of puzzlement laced Li Haibo's tone. "Doesn't the guerrilla force have plenty of people? Just transfer them over. Handling transport isn't anything complicated; anyone can do it, right?"

Old Zhang smiled. "Not long ago, Comrade Zhengguo raised a massive batch of supplies for the Eighth Brother—huge in quantity and extremely critical.

Most of the comrades from the guerrilla force went to escort these supplies.

Moreover, the organization has arrangements: once these comrades reach their destination, they will directly enlist in the army to reinforce the Eighth Brother's main forces.

Consequently, the guerrilla force now has only about thirty people left, most of whom are just newly joined recruits lacking experience.

However, it doesn't matter; the organization has already begun transferring reinforcements from other counties and districts, and personnel will arrive very soon. It's just that..."

"It's just what?"

"It's just that weapons are rather tight!"

"Did the veteran members take all their weapons with them?"

"Not all of them, but mainly because the main force also lacks weapons, and since the guerrilla force is executing an escort mission this time, Commander Li and Political Commissar Chen had them take most of the weapons along."

Li Haibo frowned slightly. "We can only figure something out later. What about the veterans I sent over earlier?"

"They all went to the Eighth Brother's side together!" A gleam flickered in Old Zhang's eyes. "Those veterans are treasures indeed. Political Commissar Chen attached great importance to them and personally had a private talk with each veteran.

When they heard they could join the Eighth Brother's main force, they were all extremely happy, and their morale is soaring.

Only Little Ma and Big Bolt have been left behind from those veterans to handle transportation exiting Shanghai, and all the others have gone!"

"That's good, it can be considered putting everyone to their best use!" A satisfied expression appeared on Li Haibo's face. "How is that female doctor I sent over a few days ago?"

"You mean Comrade Bai Jie?" Old Zhang said. "She was originally one of our own comrades anyway. According to the plan, she is to be sent to the military hospital, where professional medical personnel are desperately needed."

"Damn wench, she'd better drop dead far away from me!" Li Haibo suddenly cursed through gritted teeth.

Old Zhang looked astonished. "What's wrong?"

A trace of anger flashed in Li Haibo's eyes. "The knife wound on my body was inflicted by her. That thrust was truly ruthless, it almost did me in!"

"What?"