C38 Returning to the 1960s: Starting with Digging for Fo-ti

The army-green jeep rattled along the mountain road, heading toward the county seat.

After hearing the explanation, Liu Xiuyun realized Du Jianguo hadn’t done anything wrong, so she felt relieved to let him go with the public security officers. After all, going to the county meant earning a subsidy of 2.5 yuan per day, which was far better than digging up potatoes in the fields.

“This mountain road is terribly bad,” said He Yong, gripping the steering wheel tightly. He was tossed about so badly he felt dizzy and couldn’t help but mutter complaints.

Du Jianguo chuckled from the passenger seat. “Mountain conditions are like this. You can’t compare them to the roads in the county town.”

“That’s true,” He Yong nodded. “There are no roads this bad in our county. Even the worst ones are flat and well-maintained yellow clay roads. Despite being made of clay, cars don’t even kick up dust when driving on them. I wonder when the countryside will be as good as the county town with smoother roads.”

Du Jianguo thought for a moment and said softly, “Probably another fifty or sixty years. By then, even the villages will have straight concrete roads everywhere.”

“Haha, Comrade Jianguo, you’re really daring to imagine that!” He Yong laughed and shook his head, clearly not taking the idea seriously.

In his eyes, cement was already a scarce material even for building houses. How could it possibly be used to pave roads in the countryside?

He couldn’t know that the concrete roads Du Jianguo mentioned were something he had personally experienced in the future. When rural revitalization was fully implemented, every household had smooth roads right in front of their doors, and Du Jianguo, even in his old age, enjoyed those conveniences for a few years.

…

“Forget it, I won’t fight with this terrible road anymore,” He Yong said, reaching into his upper pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes.

Du Jianguo glanced at it and recognized it as a pack of “Menggouzi” brand cigarettes, costing 1.5 yuan per pack.

After lighting up, He Yong asked, “Du Jianguo, do you know why the gun accuracy of the officers in our bureau is not that good?”

Du Jianguo cleared his throat and replied, “Although most of the officers in the bureau are educated, not all of them are like you, Comrade He Yong, who graduated from the police academy.”

He paused and sighed gently. “Our country has only been established for a few years. The police academy hasn’t produced enough trained personnel yet. Many officers were recruited later; some used to be local militia, others were returning veterans. In terms of formal firearms training, they indeed lack a bit.”

“Exactly,” He Yong nodded, his voice growing a bit heavier. “Take our county public security bureau for example. Out of everyone, only I graduated from a proper police academy. There are only three others who are veterans and still get to handle guns regularly. The remaining dozen or so officers, including our bureau chief, were transferred from other places. Their marksmanship is really not good enough. Sometimes, when they go on field missions, their aim isn’t even as good as that of some local hooligans. It’s embarrassing to talk about.”

“When you become an instructor in a few days, you’ll have to really work these people hard. I don’t expect their shooting skills to match yours, but at least they should reach about sixty or seventy percent of your level.”

Du Jianguo nodded and agreed, “Alright.”

After a bumpy ride of over two hours, they finally arrived at the county public security bureau.

The bureau looked quite simple, with only a modest three-story building and a few scattered single-story houses in the yard.

He Yong led Du Jianguo into the courtyard and said, “Come on, let’s go to the warehouse first to get you a gun.”

“Get a gun?”

Du Jianguo’s eyes lit up immediately. He quickened his pace and followed He Yong toward the warehouse.

He Yong picked a gun from the shelf and handed it to him. “Use this one. It’s an older model that was retired, but as an instructor’s training weapon, its performance is more than enough.”

Du Jianguo took the gun and examined it carefully like it was a precious treasure. It was a Type 56 rifle.

He had some knowledge about firearms and knew that this model was a Chinese copy of the Soviet SKS rifle. Its performance was quite excellent and was one of the mainstream service rifles in the country at that time.

“During the days you serve as an instructor, whenever you come to the bureau, just sign a slip at the warehouse to check out the gun. Before you return to your lodging at night, sign another slip to return it.”

He Yong turned around and emphasized with extra weight, “Under no circumstances should you take the gun out privately. This gun still belongs to the bureau. If you’re caught taking it out, not only will you have trouble, but the bureau will also be held responsible.”

Du Jianguo nodded. “I understand.”

Just as He Yong was about to show Du Jianguo around other parts of the bureau, someone suddenly rushed into the warehouse entrance and bumped squarely into He Yong.

“Old Li? What are you doing here?” He Yong steadied himself and asked.

The person called Old Li also paused for a moment. When he realized it was He Yong, he replied, “I came to get some oil to maintain my gun. What about you?”

“I’m here to pick up a gun. Let me introduce you to someone.”

He Yong stepped aside to reveal Du Jianguo.

“This is the instructor we invited, specifically to guide the bureau’s personnel in shooting practice. His name is Du Jianguo.”

Then he turned to Du Jianguo, “This is Captain Li Yang of our bureau’s First Division. You can call him Captain Yang.”

Du Jianguo hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, but Li Yang frowned and sized him up, his tone filled with suspicion. “This is the guy you said has amazing marksmanship? He’s so young. How many times has he even held a gun?”

He Yong joked, “Why do you care about his age? Don’t you know you can’t judge a book by its cover? His shooting skills are good enough to beat three of you.”

“Hmph!” Li Yang snorted in disbelief. “I’m a veteran from the army! My shooting skills might not be as good as yours, but they can’t be worse than some kid’s, right?”

“You really can’t beat him,” He Yong shook his head with certainty. “Not just you, even my own shooting skills are a bit inferior to his.”

“I just don’t believe it!”

Li Yang suddenly got excited. He dropped the topic of getting oil to clean his gun and stared intently at Du Jianguo, his tone challenging.

“Kid, do you dare to go to the shooting range and have a match with me? Right now, other members of the police team are also training there. Let everyone see what level this new instructor is really at!”

Du Jianguo touched the gun he had just been given and smiled at the corner of his mouth. “Alright.”

When it came to marksmanship, he had never been afraid of anyone.

The three of them walked to the shooting range together and indeed saw many members of the police team there.

He Yong and Li Yang introduced Du Jianguo to everyone. Hearing that the new instructor was so young, everyone in the team felt doubtful in their hearts. They thought that even if he was good at shooting, he probably wasn’t much better than them.

“How should we compete?” Du Jianguo asked first.

Li Yang smiled faintly, his words carrying a challenge. “We won’t shoot at fixed targets. Let’s do something more daring.”

He took a matchbox out of his pocket, raised it in front of him, and said, “You claim to be a sharpshooter, right? At a distance of twenty meters, I’ll hold this matchbox steady. You shoot and pierce it. If you succeed, I’ll admit you’re great. If you don’t have the guts to try, then you lose.”

“Li Yang, are you crazy!” He Yong immediately rushed forward to stop him, alarmed. “Bullets don’t grow eyes! What if he makes a mistake?”

“You always say this young man is amazing. Why not let him try?” Li Yang refused to back down.

“No! Absolutely not! Put down the matchbox, now! Did you hear me?”

The two started pulling at each other on the spot, completely unaware that Du Jianguo had already quietly stepped back to twenty meters away and was squinting to aim.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed as Du Jianguo pulled the trigger.