Song Qingshan patiently replied, “That’s public property. The fuel is paid for by the state, so public property shouldn’t be used for personal reasons. I’m the commander of the 307th Regiment, and our unit is independent, with no division commander to supervise. So I have to set an example. Understand?”

This man, so rigid and serious, was almost endearing.

Su Xiangwan smiled and said, “Fine, fine. I’ll make my own money. Once I have enough, I’ll buy my own car. You won’t be able to stop me then.”

“If you really want a car, I can help you get one, but not right now. The situation isn’t good. The jeep is mine, but I rarely drive it. There are some revolutionaries in the county that need to be cleaned up. Once that’s done, the town will be peaceful,” Song Qingshan explained patiently.

Of course, he wasn’t the type of traditional man who thought women should stay at home.

He respected capable women, and many of the female soldiers in his unit were tougher than the male officers.

After standing for a moment, he suddenly asked, “The reason you’ve been upset lately is that you think I didn’t handle Fang Jinhui properly, right?”

Su Xiangwan nodded, realizing that it was indeed the case.

She was a person who valued justice, and she didn’t like hearing excuses made for a kid like Fang Jinhui, nor did she want to accept that he was just a child.

Song Qingshan suddenly asked, “How’s your injury? Is it better?”

“What injury? I’m fine, no injury at all,” Su Xiangwan replied.

“If it’s healed, I can deal with Fang Jinhui the way you want. You just have to take the lead, and it could work out,” Song Qingshan said with a mischievous smile, bringing his fingers together in front of him.

Su Xiangwan had no chance to kick him before he dashed out of the room.

After a while, there was some news.

Song Laosan, Fang Jinhui, and Fang Gaodi had all been hiding at Fang Gaodi’s mistress, Qian Xiaofang’s, house.

Qian Xiaofang’s house happened to be in Xiaoqian Village, at the foot of Xiling Mountain, right above the halfway point of the Qingshui Gorge reservoir.

The county police, armed forces, and the 307th Regiment’s soldiers all mobilized for the mission.

Of course, everyone wanted to join Song Qingshan’s team.

They had heard rumors that he was a sharpshooter, hitting every target without fail, and that when he had been wrongly arrested, he had escaped despite a pursuit by thousands of people.

Such a legendary figure was someone everyone wanted to see in action.

The jeep, which was only used for missions, was driven by the police chief and the armed forces minister, as they were the first to get in.

The county town was under-equipped, and their unit didn’t have such good cars.

They wanted to see just how good the vehicles were for the brigade-level officers.

Mu Qinian said, “Genuine leather seats, and they don’t even smell.”

The Armed Forces Minister said, “I just want to touch the steering wheel. Maybe if we say some good things, Song might let me take a turn.”

As a result, Song Qingshan got into the car and directly took the driver’s seat. “Gentlemen, there’s another car behind, please sit in the back.”

Director Mu and the Armed Forces Minister exchanged glances, thinking, this shouldn’t be, who exactly is Song going on this mission with?

Then, Xiao Lu from the police force got in and sat in the passenger seat, grinning.

Director Mu and the Armed Forces Minister exchanged another glance.

Xiao Lu, who seemed like an ordinary guy, didn’t seem to have any special abilities.

He wasn’t even as impressive as Song Tingxiu.

Why did Song choose him?

Along the way, Song Qingshan asked seriously, “Xiao Lu, I heard you’re young and already have three kids?”

“Isn’t that the same for you, Commander Song?” Xiao Lu, being from the police, was used to mediating civil disputes and was a little nervous since this was his first armed mission.

Song Qingshan said, “What I heard is that you and your wife are especially affectionate.”

“I always listen to my wife at home,” Xiao Lv replied.

His wife was a teacher at a red-themed school, quite beautiful and taller than Xiao Lu.

Whenever they walked down the street, they attracted attention.

More importantly, his wife was deeply devoted to him.

Song Qingshan thought to himself, “At home, I listen to my wife too, but why does my wife seem so indifferent?”

He began to doubt his comrades’ words and wanted to find someone outside the military to get a clearer picture, but how could he bring it up?

“How often do you and your wife have those days of intimacy?” Song Qingshan asked indirectly.

Xiao Lu couldn’t guess what kind of days Song was talking about.

Since Song seemed so serious and upright, he never imagined Song was asking about intimate matters.

After a while, Xiao Lu finally realized what Song meant and quickly replied, “We usually have such days every two to three months, sometimes once a year, just once like that.”

Song Qingshan immediately fell into deep thought, wondering, “Could it be that I’m too greedy?”

On a day with the sky threatening rain in May, a jeep led a long line of military vehicles, rolling over the tender grass by the roadside, heading forward.

Xiao Qian Village.

At this moment, Fang Jinhuan was discussing how to use explosives with Song Laosan and Jin Liang.

The Qingshui Gorge was right under their feet, and it would be easy to charge in.

Fang Jinhuan was smoking when Song Laosan nervously asked, “Jinhuan, is Song Qingshan your brother-in-law or my brother? We can’t do this.”

Fang Jinhuan took a deep drag of his cigarette and said, “Third Uncle, you don’t understand. I was born to be a leader. Anyone who crosses me gets it back tenfold. One time isn’t enough, it has to be a hundred times. Do you know why?”

“Why?” asked Song Laosan.

Fang Jinhuan flicked the cigarette and replied, “Because I never suffered as a child.”

From birth to age three, his parents were busy with work, so he was raised by a nanny.

Qian Xiaofang took care of him and Qian Jian together, spoiling both children.

Later, Song Dahua discovered Fang Gaodi and Qian Xiaofang’s affair, so she fired the nanny and sent Fang Jinhuan back to Xiao Song Village to be raised by the old lady.

The old lady, unwilling to take any nonsense, was a tough figure. She had two sons in the military and a daughter in politics.

Fang Jinhuan was her eldest grandson, and in the village, she was as dominant as a crab.

Fang Jinhuan followed her around like a small crab.

Looking at Song Fu and Jin Gui now, they were exactly the same, all raised by the old lady in the same way.

As for Song Fu and Jin Gui, they were the same; they would even fight for a piece of excrement, just to be the first.

Fang Jinhuan took another drag and said, “You’re right. Anyway, even if Song Qingshan is my brother-in-law, he won’t do anything to me. Let’s blow him up tonight, rescue Qian Jian and the others first.”

Song Laosan still felt uneasy and went to find Fang Gaodi, hoping he could persuade Jinhuan.

Fang Gaodi turned over in bed and nonchalantly said, “I support whatever the kid wants to do. His revolutionary team is by the reservoir, and if we don’t save them, how can we continue the revolution? If there’s blame, it’s on Song Qingshan for arresting Jinhuan’s people.”

The more Song Laosan thought about it, the more frightened he became.

He realized these two were already on the path of crime.

But then he thought of Song Fu. To be honest, he had also been spoiled by the old lady since childhood, never having suffered any hardships.

The moment he faced even a small difficulty, he would roll on the ground, refusing to get up unless adults satisfied him.

Would the child be raised the same way, and one day turn into someone like Fang Jinhuan?

After much thought, Song Laosan seized the opportunity to sneak out under the pretext of going to the bathroom.

No matter what, he couldn’t betray his brother.

However, not long after Song Laosan slipped out of Xiao Qian Village, he saw military vehicles everywhere on the main road, driving back and forth.

He immediately stood in the middle of the road, jumping and shouting, “Liberation Army comrades, I need to report something!”

Song Tingxiu, driving a police car, saw it was Song Laosan and immediately got angry.

She stopped the car, and the officers behind immediately cuffed him. “Where are Jinhuan and Fang Gaodi?”

“They’re discussing blowing up the reservoir, but Second Sister, this has nothing to do with me. I’ve been trying to persuade them, but they just won’t listen,” Song Laosan quickly explained.

“You can still turn back, and you won’t have to die. You fool,” Song Tingxiu angrily punched him on the head twice.

You should know that Song Qingshan and Song Tingxiu had already planned to deal with Fang Gaodi’s scumbag brother-in-law.

If they couldn’t kill him, they would handle it some other way.

Of course, killing someone wasn’t easy, which was why they had set up a plan to have Jinhuan steal the explosives while Song Tingxiu kept an eye on Fang Gaodi’s father and son.

Today was the day they were finally going to deal with Fang Gaodi once and for all.

On the way, Song Tingxiu and Song Laosan discussed the plan.

Song Tingxiu instructed Song Laosan to knock on the door to avoid alarming the suspects.

She also told Fang Gaodi to prepare the explosives in advance.

Song Laosan, being a fence-sitter, was eager to earn merit and get his sins forgiven.

So, of course, he was willing to do it.

The car stopped outside Xiaoqian Village.

Song Laosan, escorted by Song Tingxiu, went up to knock on the door. “Sister, sister, it’s me, open the door.”

Hearing him call Qian Xiaofang “sister,” Song Tingxiu angrily hit him twice. “Laosan, are you still a man? Fang Gaodi’s mistress, and you call her ‘sister’?”

“Laosan, I’m just trying to make a living. Can you let it go?” Laosan ducked away from her punches.

Qian Xiaofang was chatting with Fang Gaodi when she heard Song Laosan knocking.

Annoyed, she muttered, “That dirty old man, why does he always come running like this?”

As soon as she opened the door, it was kicked off its hinges.

Outside, there were huge floodlights and rifles all pointed at Qian Xiaofang’s head.

Qian Xiaofang screamed, “Lao Fang, Jinhui, the police are here! Run, run!”

The explosives, always kept near Fang Gaodi to prevent accidents, were grabbed by him as soon as he heard the commotion.

He turned and ran, grabbing his son Fang Jinhui along the way.

---

Meanwhile, Song Qingshan drove the jeep but didn’t go into the village.

Instead, he turned around and headed up to the reservoir.

After parking, he and Xiao Lü climbed the mountain.

Song Qingshan asked, “So you and your wife don’t talk much, do you?”

“We do! Of course we do! Sometimes we talk so much we go on all night,” Xiao Lu replied enthusiastically. “My wife loves literature, poetry. She especially loves my poems. We often talk about poetry together.”

“What kind of poetry? Let me hear one,” Song Qingshan asked with interest, even though he wasn’t good at writing poems himself.

He saw this as a way to better understand the communication between married couples.

Xiao Lu thought for a moment and then recited, “Heart wandering, thoughts unquiet, my mind restless. I pace and move, but my tired body still refuses sleep.”

Song Qingshan didn’t understand a word of it but still praised, “Good poem. Write it down for me later.”

Xiao Lu was thrilled to hear that Song Qingshan, a man in such a position, was interested in poetry. It was rare in this day and age.

“Song Regiment, two people are coming this way. Wait, it’s Fang Jinhui and his father Fang Gaodi. They’re running up this road,” Xiao Lu quickly said.

This small path was a shortcut created by the cooks during supply runs.

It was the only route into the reservoir construction area that didn’t go through the heavily guarded main gate.

If Fang Gaodi and his son had any shred of conscience or sense, they would have avoided this route.

But from stealing explosives to hiding in Xiaoqian Village, they had made their choices and were now on a path of no return.

Su Xiangwan’s pursuit of food only threatened their personal interests, but their revenge on Song Qingshan, using explosives to destroy the reservoir, was an attack on the country’s interests.

“Are they holding anything?” Song Qingshan asked, handing Xiao Lü a pair of binoculars.

Xiao Lu quickly opened the binoculars and scanned, saying, “Fang Gaodi’s holding a bag.”

“Get your gun out, aim at the bag, and wait for my command,” Song Qingshan ordered.

Xiao Lü took out his gun, focused on the two figures running up the mountain path.

The two men separated for a while, but soon regrouped.

It seemed to Xiao Lu that Song Qingshan was waiting for the right moment to target Fang Gaodi, ensuring that he didn’t accidentally harm Fang Jinhui, who was further away.

Song Qingshan aimed to take down Fang Gaodi while leaving his nephew a chance at survival.

As soon as they were separated enough, Song Qingshan gave the order: “Fire!”

The shot hit, followed by a deafening explosion.

The blast was strong enough to shake half the mountainside.

The heatwave from the explosion knocked Xiao Lu back several meters.

Xiao Lü stammered, “Song Regiment, did we… did we get both Fang Gaodi and his son…”

“Jinhui should be fine. He was farther away from his father,” Song Qingshan said calmly.

Xiao Lü shook his head, “The path was slippery. Just now, Fang Jinhui slipped and fell right into the explosion zone.”

Song Qingshan sighed, looking up at the rainy sky.

He wiped his eyes and took the gun from Xiao Lü. “Let’s go back.”

Song Qingshan had always thought of Fang Jinhui as one of the children he cared for deeply, just like Donghai and Xiling.

He never imagined that his beloved nephew would end up like this.

And the root cause?

He knew, even if he didn’t want to admit it, that the tragedy of Fang Jinhui’s fate was tightly linked to how his mother had raised him.