Although Zhong Ying and Hu Erhua didn't stay to eat, the appetites of the others were not affected much, on the contrary, because of Zhong Ying's stirring, Hu Jianqiang and Hu Jianjun's wine was a lot higher, so they drank a few more glasses in the staggered time.

Even Zhang Qingping drank too much and didn't go home, staying to sleep with Hu Jianqiang that night.

The night in the countryside is very peaceful, except for the stars in the sky and the insects on the ground, there is generally no other noise.

That night, Hu Mingchen slept soundly, however, in the middle of the night, he vaguely heard a sound of footsteps on the road behind the house.

At the time, he didn't pay much attention to it, and thought that it was someone who had something to do or came back.

But after waiting for ten or twenty minutes, Hu Mingchen heard a noisy sound again.

Feeling strange, Hu Mingchen turned over and got up, opened the door and walked to the courtyard, and saw two flashlights and a torch lit up on the road behind. He listened carefully, it was Tong Baiguo, Tong Zhifa and Tong Bailiang talking.

"Daddy Tong, Second Master Tong, what's wrong? Why haven't you slept in the middle of the night, is something wrong?" Hu Mingchen ran to them and asked.

Hu Mingchen had already looked at his watch, and it was only 3:40 now, which was the middle of the night of the authentic third watch.

"Xiao Chen, you were disturbed, my cow was stolen, let's get up and look for the cow. Tong Baiguo hit the light of the flashlight on Hu Mingchen's body and said.

"The cow has been stolen, oops, then I'll go and call my dad up and let him look for it with me. As soon as he heard that the cow was stolen, Hu Mingchen felt that it was a big deal.

In rural areas, cattle are extremely important for agricultural production, a cow costs thousands of dollars, and in many cases, cattle will be the most important property of a family.

Recently, cattle thieves have become more and more rampant, and from time to time you can hear that a certain family of cattle in a certain village has been stolen. Even if the masses go to the township police station to report the case, because the location of the cattle theft is relatively remote, and the time is often three watches in the middle of the night. Therefore, it is relatively difficult for the police station to solve the case, and sometimes, even if the case is solved and the person who steals the cattle is caught, the cattle have already been sold.

Hu Mingchen ran back to call Hu Jianjun, and Hu Jianjun on the bed heard that Tong Baiguo's cattle were stolen, so he got up without saying a word. Then Hu Mingchen called Hu Jianqiang again and asked Hu Jianqiang and Zhang Qingping to get up and help.

When Hu Mingchen ran back to call someone, Tong Zhifa also ran up to Xu's house to call Xu Jinnan and call more people for help.

In many cases, cattle thieves do not commit crimes alone, so it is better to have more people. Moreover, the country roads are tortuous and horizontal, and it is more certain that more people will start from multiple directions. And there is also a preparation for a fight in case the other party resists, some cattle thieves are bold, and if they can't steal, they will use robbery instead.

"Isn't your cattle pen locked every day when it gets dark?

"It's locked, I bragged at Hu Jianjun's house for dinner last night, and I specially asked Li Xiuju to go back and lock the door. And when we went home, I also looked at it, and the cows were still there. I woke up in the middle of the night and found that the cow was gone. Tong Baiguo scratched his head and said.

"And I didn't hear a sound in my house, and the lock wasn't smashed, as if it had been opened with a key. Tong Zhifa added.

"Alright, it's useless to talk about this now, let's hurry up and divide it, maybe the cattle thief hasn't gone far yet, and we can still chase it back." Hu Jianqiang yawned.

"Yes, yes, hurry up and divide the labor, you won't be able to see the cow hair when it's late. "Tong Bai Grain Road.

"Hu Jianjun, you come to arrange, how do you say to divide it? We are such people, do you think it is appropriate to divide into several groups?" Tong Baiguo asked Hu Jianjun for advice.

"Hmm...... I think it is divided into three groups, one group to look up, recently I heard that there are many people in Wenshan Village who will steal pigs and cattle, you can follow the road to Wenshan Village to find, the other group to the direction of Sanjiazhai, if you have not found it in Sanjiazhai, you will continue to look for the Qingshui River in the big turn, the third group will go down, find the Gan River, if you have not met it to the Gan River, you can continue to Fanger Town, if it is the people who come to steal cattle from Fanger Town, they will go along the road. Xu Jinnan, you take Zhang Qingping and Tong Zhifa to find Sanjiazhai here, Tong Bailiang, you and Hu Jianqiang look for the Ganhe side, you can also call Hu Mingyi together, Tong Baiguo and I go to Wenshan Village to find it, I, Hu Jianqiang and Zhang Qingping have phones on them, if you find any situation, call in time. Hu Jianjun took it upon himself to make arrangements.

"Dad, then I'll go all the way with you. Seeing that he was not mentioned, Hu Mingchen simply took the initiative to ask.

"You...... Well, if you're going, you're going with me. Hu Jianjun originally wanted Hu Mingchen to go back and rest, but when he thought that he was doing things for Tong Baiguo's family, if he let Hu Mingchen go back to rest, it would inevitably make Tong Baiguo have ideas.

After the direction was decided, the three groups searched in the assigned direction.

Cattle thieves will not use flashlights for fear of attracting attention and suspicion, and it is easy to give directions to cattle hunters with flashlights. However, people like Hu Mingchen who are looking for cattle have to use flashlights or torches, they have to catch up with the speed, and they have flashlights or torches in their hands to check whether there are any cow footprints on the road.

Of course, there are people grazing cattle on these three roads every day, and the ground must be covered with jagged hoof prints, which does not mean that the sight of cow hoof prints means that they are fleeing in a certain direction, but at least that is one of the instructions.

Hu Mingchen, Hu Jianjun and Tong Baiguo cautiously looked for it all the way. They did not find the shadow of the cattle thief along the way, and stopped to listen carefully, nor did they hear the bleating of cattle or the conversation of people.

Of course, if the cattle thief is really in front, and he sees someone chasing after him with a flashlight at a glance, they will definitely take precautions, and it is impossible to expose themselves easily.

"Could it be that we are looking in the wrong direction, we have walked for several miles, and we still haven't seen the shadow of the cow. After finding it for more than an hour, Tong Baiguo himself was no longer confident.

"The other two parties didn't call, which means that they haven't found it either, didn't you just say that the cow's hoof prints you saw on the ground are very similar to your family?" Hu Jianjun took out a cigarette and handed one to Tong Baiguodao.

"It's like it, but I'm not sure it's so, and the marks of which cow and which one are similar. Tong Baiguo took the cigarette and lit it.

Just when Tong Baiguo and Hu Jianjun stopped to light a cigarette and smoke, Hu Mingchen squatted on the ground to study all possible situations.

"We shouldn't be wrong in the direction we are looking for, the cow is pretty much going this way. Hu Mingchen squatted on the ground and used a flashlight to illuminate the ground and the small grass path on the side of the road.

"Why did you decide? Did you find anything?" Hu Jianjun took two steps forward and asked behind Hu Mingchen.

"I won't talk about the footprints, the footprints may have been left during the day, but I found a situation along the way, we walked on this road, many of the grass leaves on the side of the road did not have dewdrops, indicating that someone or livestock had just walked this road and touched the dewdrops. And you look here, this slip should be left by the cow urinating, so I judge that the cow of Daddy Tong's family was stolen and walked along this road. Hu Mingchen pointed to the clues on the ground and analyzed.

Tong Baiguo and Hu Jianjun are both authentic rural people, and after Hu Mingchen's explanation, both of them immediately felt that Hu Mingchen's judgment was reasonable.

"Then just call the other two and tell them to stop doing useless work, and it would be better if they could come to our side to help. Tong Baiguo said.

"Forget it, what if that's not the case? Let them continue, and if our side is wrong, they still have a chance. What's more, we have already found out that it is so far away, and they have probably traveled a lot of distance, and if they let them come to join us again, they don't know the Year of the Monkey. Hu Jianjun said.

A cigarette was smoked, and the three of them continued to look for it.

Although Hu Mingchen already had good evidence that the cow was driven away in this direction, they accelerated their pace all the way, and when they found Wenshan Village, they still did not find the shadow of the cow.

"Paralyzed, it's dawn, and I haven't found anything, it seems that I really can't find it. Standing in front of the village committee of Wenshan Village, Tong Baiguo scolded in frustration.

"It's a bit of a problem, if the cow is driven into the cowpen, no one dares to call it their own cow. Hu Jianjun followed.

All the way uphill, Hu Mingchen and the three of them walked sweating profusely, and in the thin morning mist, the heads of the three people were emitting misty white smoke, as if they had practiced to the realm of selflessness in the TV series.

"Oh, I'm sorry to trouble your two fathers and sons, and then I found Tianliang, but there was still nothing. Tong Bailiang said apologetically.

"What are you doing here, it doesn't matter if you're tired, the key is that you haven't found the cow, since you came to Wenshan Village, you don't want to sit at my second sister's house, make a cup of tea at his house and go back." Hu Jianjun shook off the wet mud on his feet, and took out his cigarette again.

Although it didn't rain last night, there was a lot of dew in the mountains, and there were yellow muddy paths along the way, so when you walked far, your feet would be covered with a thick layer of mud, and these muds would even have to be scraped on the stones and brushed with a brush to get them off completely.

Hu Mingchen's second sister-in-law, Hu Youqin, was married to Zhu Fei from Wenshan Village, so Hu Jianjun had this proposal.

"Dad, don't we continue to look for it?" Hu Mingchen wondered.

"If you can't find it here, it's hard to find it down, on the one hand, it's dawn, and the people in the village get up to drive cattle up the mountain to work, and on the other hand, from Wenshan Village, you can go to the pass, the crow rock and the dry ditch, we can't find it in any direction. Hu Jianjun explained.