Below the rails are sleepers, and below the sleepers is ballast—crushed stone—which is made by breaking down large rocks.
Consequently, there were actually a great many large rocks left behind along both sides of the railway, either because they didn't meet the material standards or were simply surplus.
Therefore, although Wang An and Wang Li had been discussing the detailed scenes they could see when the flashlight beam had swept past, determining the exact location where the train had stopped remained a difficult task.
There was no helping it; on one hand, there were simply too many similar scenes.
On the other hand, the shoots on elm stumps continue to grow. Half a year was more than enough time for an elm stump to grow more shoots.
Furthermore, the shoots that were already there would inevitably have grown larger and longer; of course, it was also possible they had already been cleared away.
The two brothers encountered many large rocks and elm stumps in succession, but after searching a distance toward the east, they both simultaneously determined that none of these were the spot where the money was hidden.
As a result, both of them couldn't help but feel a bit discouraged.
The key was that going back and forth like this time and time again was truly a waste of time.
More importantly, although the two were carrying dry rations, they didn't dare waste even the time it would take to sit down for a meal. In these mountains where the wind howled, they chewed on the roasted chestnuts they had bought in DJ County while searching for the hidden money.
Soon, another four-plus hours passed. Even the sun had moved to the west of the sky, looking as if it were about to drop into the distant mountains.
Wang An looked at the sun in the west, checked his watch, and turned to Wang Li.
"Lao Wu, let's go back. We've walked nearly fifty li. It'll take another three or four hours to get back; it'll be dark by the time we reach the guesthouse."
Their current location was within the range of the Changbai Mountain branch. The fierce beasts and wild animals of Changbai Mountain were no fewer in number than those of the Lesser Khingan Mountains.
Staying in these mountains in the dead of night was truly not very safe.
Mainly, they couldn't risk losing their own lives in these mountains for the sake of money they weren't even sure they could find, right?
Moreover, in truth, Wang An had already given up.
Because their current position was now less than ten li from CT. Based on the time the train had left CT, the stopping point should have been within a range of approximately thirty li from CT.
Of course, such a calculation wasn't necessarily accurate. After all, without a reference point, one could only estimate the distance traveled based on the approximate travel time and the speed of the train.
To put it bluntly, Wang An and his brother had actually searched too far; there was no longer any point in continuing.
After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li looked north along the tracks and said with great reluctance
"This is fucking unbelievable. We've almost walked to CT and we still fucking can't find it. Ah, goddammit!"
Although Wang An was also reluctant, having lived two lives, he remained very rational. Thus, Wang An spoke again
"Alright, stop rambling. Let's go. If we don't leave now, we'll be caught in the pitch black."
Wang Li nodded and turned to walk toward Wang An, though he kept looking back with a face full of reluctance.
Wang An saw Wang Li's expression but didn't offer any persuasion. Mainly, Wang An's own mood was not very beautiful at the moment; he had no heart left to comfort Wang Li.
After walking for about an hour and a half, Wang Li asked Wang An in a low spirit
"Fourth Brother, should we come back and search for another day tomorrow?"
Wang An pondered for a long while before saying
"Don't come tomorrow. Let's go sell those bear galls and ox biles first. We need to hurry and get the money home. While bear galls are plentiful before winter, we need to collect more before the New Year. That money is the main bulk; we can't afford to delay it."
Wang Li let out an "oh" and nodded, but said nothing more.
Wang An turned to look at Wang Li's miserable face and comforted him helplessly
"Alright, stop overthinking it. It's not that big a deal. Besides, didn't the three of us already take nine thousand yuan? What the hell is there left to worry about? If all else fails, we can come back for a stroll when we have time in the future..."
At this point, Wang An suddenly stopped. He pointed straight ahead at a discarded section of a tree trunk, his voice trembling slightly.
"Lao Wu, look at that piece of wood. That jagged part—doesn't it look like it was chipped by a bullet?"
As he spoke, Wang An ran forward.
Startled, Wang Li followed Wang An toward that small discarded piece of wood.
Immediately after, Wang An struggled to pull a tree trunk about half a meter long out of the snow.
On one side of this trunk, besides the bark being shattered, several chunks of wood were missing, looking as if a dog had chewed on it.
Most crucially, two bullets were embedded deeply and side-by-side into the trunk.
At that time, most of the timber from the Northeast was transported to various regions to support regional construction.
As everyone knew, Northeasterners cared deeply about "face"; anything sent out had to be of the best quality, and timber was no exception.
Furthermore, the Northeast at that time held the title of "Big Brother of the Northeast," so they were even more attentive to quality issues.
Therefore, the quality requirements of the various forestry farms were always very high. Damaged wood like this was naturally considered substandard.
Thus, it became a very natural operation to saw off the qualified parts of the timber to be hauled away and saw off the unqualified parts to be thrown away.
In fact, there were quite a few such discarded pieces of wood in the forest; usually, once they dried, they were hauled away to be used as firewood, but pieces as thick as this were very rare.
Looking at the wood in Wang An's hand, Wang Li said with a face full of surprise
"Fourth Brother, this piece of wood must have been sawed from that tree you fired so many shots into! Otherwise, who would be bored enough to shoot at a tree for fun? Fourth Brother, I bet the place where the money is hidden is definitely right around here! Hahaha!"
Looking at the trunk in his hand, Wang An was also full of joy. He never expected that just as they were about to head home, such a miraculous turn of events would occur.
Hearing Wang Li's words, Wang An said with a smile
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. This thick piece of wood couldn't have been moved too far before being sawed and loaded. It must have been brought right to the train, where the inspector found it was substandard and sawed this section off."
Wang An tossed the piece of wood onto the ground and scanned the surroundings, only to find that there were no elm stumps nearby—only a small pile of dried elm shoots.
In other words, the elm stump might have been in the way and had already been cut down.
Wang An and Wang Li's eyes both fell upon that small pile of dry branches; they looked at each other but said nothing.
Because it was very normal for an elm stump to be cut down, certainly because its position was an obstacle.
Then, the two of them looked east together and saw that not far to the east, two simple stoves built from large rocks were sitting there.
Yes, simple stoves built from large rocks. (End of Chapter)