When Brandi rode Jueying to the Horse Palm Lookout, the rain was so heavy that neither the man nor the horse could lift their heads.
When the black horse took Brandy into the dense forest surrounding the horse palm lookout, Brandy clearly felt that the sound of the rain had become much quieter, and the heaviness of the rain curtain on her body had also faded a lot. Jueying He also neighed with relief. Such heavy rain was not what this Turkmen horse, which had lived in an arid environment since childhood, liked.
"who is it!"
Suddenly, there was a shout from the right front. Brandy gently pulled the reins to stop the horse, and saw a blond woman walking out from behind the tree holding a repeating rifle.
Although his sight was blocked by the raindrops, Brandy was also severely dazzled by the two headlights on the woman's chest. He subconsciously pressed the brim of his hat, cleared his throat, and said, "It's me, Brandy." Dee."
"Brandy?" The woman was stunned for a moment, then reacted and said, "You're back? Your injury..."
"It's done, Karen." Brandi smiled slightly, gently clamped the horse's belly with her legs, and Jueying kicked the horse's hooves and continued to move forward.
Passing through the sentry set up by the gang, when a striking big tree appeared in front of him, Brandy understood that after nearly two years, he had finally returned to the first real camp of the Van der Linde gang since the snowy mountains.
Near the big tree, there is an open horse grazing land. Several horse fences cleverly separate the camp and the horse grazing land, so that the horses will not stray into people's residences and affect the hygiene of the camp. On the horse farm, horses belonging to gangs and individual gang members were scattered here, wandering and neighing, including the huge black Shire horse named Big Li by Brandi.
Seemingly seeing a familiar figure, Da Li snorted, slowly came closer, raised his head and rubbed against Brandi's abdomen.
"Oh, long time no see, brother," Brandi gently stroked Da Li's forehead, then turned over and dismounted, and whispered to Jueying, "This is Da Li, you two should get to know each other first, and don't forget to meet other brothers. The sisters also have a good relationship."
Jueying neighed softly, then turned around and took the initiative to touch noses with Da Li.
"This guy is not as unruly as I thought." Brandy looked at the two horses who seemed to have a good relationship, and thought happily while turning around and walking towards the camp.
After the horse stables, there were several large and small tents in the open space surrounded by sparse trees.
Some of these tents are very simple, just a canopy that seems to be unable to withstand even ordinary wind and rain, and a narrow floor. Some are more complicated, or are used for camp activities, such as The conspicuous Pearson's carriage, with kitchen utensils, tableware, beer crates, animal meat and carcasses and various miscellaneous items placed under its canopy, may be the private tents belonging to certain gang members, such as Arthur, the carriage Various things are piled or placed under the bucket and the canopy, such as John, a large pointed tent. You can't see what's inside, but you can tell that at least John is treated differently from other members. of.
As for the tent located in the center of the camp, with the best view and looking like a palace compared to the other tents, it belongs to the leader of this gang, Dutch Van der Linde.
At this time, due to the rain, the overall activities of the gang were basically at a standstill. Except for the uncle, who always slept wherever he was drunk, and Kieran, who was still a prisoner, the others basically stayed under the roofs of their respective tents. Down.
The curtain of Dutch's luxury tent was closed at this time, so he couldn't see what was going on inside. But seeing that Dutch and Hosea were staying under the canopy that extended next to the tent, one sitting on a chair and the other standing aside, you could guess that , Dutch's mistress and the gang's unnamed sister-in-law, Molly was staying in the tent.
However, Brandi has no interest in this "sister-in-law" at all. In fact, when he used to play games, Molly was the Van der Linde gang woman he hated the most. For Molly, he only had a little pity at most, but definitely not much. Good impression.
He only focused on that tent because Dutch and Hosea were gathered around it, and it looked like the two gang leaders were arguing about something.
"Dutch, let me get this straight," Hosea sighed and said, "We really should consider getting out of here, from Valentine
After the incident ended, I have been worried. Detective Pinkerton visited the town a long time ago. Although our confidentiality work was very good, they did not get much useful information, but with their methods, Sooner or later we will be dug out. If we wait until then, it will be too late. "
"I still say the same thing, Hosea, your worries are too much," Dutch said with a hint of nonchalance in his tone, "As you said, Detective Pinkerton has indeed been to that town? Wrong, but the purpose of their visit was to investigate that cult. What does this mean? It means that those lunatics were dragged into the water by the tricks created by O'Drisco and themselves. Now almost all the governments of Ambarino and New Hanover Or private judicial forces are all investigating that cult, and no one will care about us, a mere twenty-something people."
"This is only temporary, Dutch. After the police and Pinkerton detectives deal with the cultists, or after they lose interest in clearing them, it's hard to say whether we will suffer," Hosea insisted, " Take the previous incident in Snow Mountain, for example. We robbed a private train in Cornwall. Do you think he would not pursue it? He must have spent a lot of money on Pinkerton just to find us out."
"That's really hard for the big boss," Dutch said with a confident smile, "Don't forget, Hosea, a few days after dear Mr. Cornwall was robbed by us on the private train, a fortune in his name A convoy was also robbed and massacred. Only his daughter and his daughter's maid survived, and the culprit was our old friend, Colm O'Driscoe."
Hosea seemed to remember this and was speechless for a moment.
"Now, old man, think about it, does Mr. Cornwall care more about his stack of bonds worth one or two thousand dollars at most, or his baby daughter?" Dutch's smile became more confident, "So, we Thanks to our old friend, thanks to his plan and series of actions that helped us divert Detective Pinkerton's attention, we can live a stable life today."
"Oh, well, I have nothing to say about this," Hosea sighed and said, "But we really have no reason to stay here anymore, even if we wait for Brandi and Sean to return to the team, It’s only going to be a few days, why not prepare early?”
"Who said we have no reason to stay here?" Dutch smiled slightly and said, "We still need money, old man, a lot of money."
"Don't we already have ten thousand dollars?" Hosea was confused. "This amount of money is enough for all of us to buy some good land in the west and live like a farmer."
Dutch shook his head and said: "No, Hosea, in fact, the ten thousand US dollars is not enough. Don't forget, this ten thousand US dollars is the commission we received for defending Valentine, so half of it is returned It is privately owned by those who participated in that operation. This is a rule. You should know that, then, what the gang really owns is only 5,000 US dollars, and a considerable part of the 5,000 US dollars was used to buy that The owner’s gun shop is no longer in the house, and part of it is used by me to organize things up and down to ensure that our whereabouts are not exposed. The remaining part is used to purchase new items for the camp. I clearly write down all these expenses. In the ledger, you might as well open it now and calculate how much of the five thousand dollars is left."
Seeing that Dutch's reasons were so good and everything he said was true, Hosea had nothing to say and could only express his worries: "Oh, you are right, Dutch, I'm just worried. Although we didn't take the initiative to deal with Valentine, there was still too much noise after all. Almost everyone in the town recognized the familiar faces among us on the wanted posters, and they almost directly participated in the defense. The fact of the war is out there. Although this is not a bad thing, the aftermath of the vote in Blackwater Town is too great. No matter whether we do good things or bad things, as long as we are too high-profile, it is very likely to cause trouble. Pay attention to Pinkerton..."
"Relax, old man, relax," Dutch comforted Hosea and said, "Judging from all the previous signs, things have turned around for us. In fact, we have already reached the bottom before, no matter how far we go, It’s time to go up, and when all of us return, it’s time for us to prepare for the return of the king.”
Until now, the two people who had been chatting for a long time noticed
Noticing Brandy who was already sitting under a tent nearby, Dutch looked very surprised, but there was a slight teasing in his tone: "Ah, isn't this Mr. Munny? It seems you are finally willing to come back. Yeah."
Brandi smiled slightly and said, "I could have come back earlier. I helped the store solve some problems and went to Strawberry Town, so I was delayed." Then, he immediately told the two of them the whole story.
In any case, even if you are really fishing for legitimate reasons, you cannot let your boss see that you are fishing. If you want to do this, you must actively show your achievements to your boss. Although sometimes it may not be enough to impress the boss, in the end it will not leave a bad impression on the boss. This is Brandi's experience in his previous life, and he feels that it is also applicable now.
Just as Brandi thought, after listening to his narration, Dutch also suppressed his ridicule, paused slightly, and said: "Well, it seems that Colm is indeed in trouble and needs to distract his men from doing this. It’s done.”
"Under the current circumstances, I don't think he has the energy to make money in this way," Hosea analyzed. "Colm must have other uses for the new weapons that he robbed and flowed into the black market."
"It's true that it's not for sale, but it won't be used for anything else," Dutch said with a confident smile, "There is only one possibility, and that is that these new firearms are for their core team's own use."
Hearing this, Hosea thought for a moment, nodded, and agreed with Dutch: "It seems that his life is indeed difficult now."
"That's right," Dutch said, standing up from his chair, "When your enemy is in trouble, it's not wise not to add insult to injury."
"Are you going to take action now?" Hosea suddenly became nervous. He felt that this was too risky.
"Of course not now, Hosea, of course not now," Dutch shook his head slightly and said, "But don't worry, I have a plan, and this plan will be foolproof, but right now, this plan is still missing key elements. At the same time, There are still some necessary details that need to be polished, so now is not the time to implement it."
Having said this, he stretched out his hand and reached out of the tent. He only felt the slightest cool breeze, and the big raindrops had disappeared. He smiled and said to Brandi: "Now that you are back, enjoy the camp." Live a leisurely life, you have been spinning around and been seriously injured during this period, it is indeed hard work."
"As long as it can make the gang better, I will do whatever it takes." Brandi expressed his determination at the right time.
"Hahaha, okay, relax, I know you are indeed loyal to me," Dutch smiled and encouraged this newcomer who had only joined for more than two months. He looked again at the people who had gathered near the stew pot. The man and woman said, "Well, the stew has actually been made a long time ago, but because of the rain, the pot has a lid, so we haven't eaten. But now, the only obstacle that prevents us from filling our stomachs no longer exists. , so now why don’t you go eat a steaming bowl of stew and drink a cup of fragrant coffee?”
"To be honest, I can't wait." Brandi smiled and stood up.
Holding the iron rice bowl that was temporarily his own, he lined up behind the men and women in the camp, and after scooping up some sticky soup from the still steaming stew pot, Brandi sat on the table he usually used. When I came to the dominoes table, I looked at the bowl of something called "food" in front of me and fell into deep thought.
To be honest, let alone calling this bowl of food food, even if it was called swill, Brandi felt offended by the swill. Except for the color of this bowl, which looked like stew, it was almost The pungent sour smell, the pieces of meat from unknown creatures floating on the soup noodles or sinking at the bottom of the bowl all honestly told Brandy that the thing in front of her was like shit-flavored chocolate, and she would feel sorry for herself if she ate it. I'm sorry for the spoiled ingredients.
Brandi looked up at Pearson's carriage and found that Pearson was sitting behind the chopping board, tasting his masterpiece, frowning from time to time, mumbling something to himself, then put down the bowl and spoon and walked over .
"Mr. Pearson." Brandi walked to Pearson and called softly.
"Ah, Brandi
"Welcome back," Pearson said, as if awakened from deep thought, "Why, aren't you hungry?"
"I was hungry at first, but after smelling your masterpiece, I was full." Brandy tried to make her words less direct.
"Ah, I'm really sorry," Pearson heard what Brandi meant, but he just spread his hands and expressed helplessness, "But I need materials, sir. Without materials, I can't cook good food."
Brandi expressed his understanding. After all, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, so he asked: "How long has this been going on?"
"It's not long, a few weeks. To be more precise, it should start when Mr. Morgan and Mr. Smith leave the camp." Pearson's voice revealed helplessness. "It was okay at the beginning. There were still some stocks in the camp, but it couldn't stop them. Of course, people still go out hunting every day, but that guy Williamson doesn’t know how to hunt at all, and Marston is another unlucky guy. He brings back at most some rabbits, raccoons, and even skunks every day. , what can I do? Whatever they give me, I have to think of ways to make those things into food for adults, ah, but it seems that today is another day where the challenge failed."
"Tsk, this is really something that needs attention," Brandi said, rubbing her chin, "Whose turn will it be to hunt tomorrow?"
"Bill," Pearson replied.
"Hey! Bill!" Brandy turned and shouted to Bill who was swallowing his food hard, "I'm going hunting tomorrow, how about that?"
"Huh? Okay," Bill was stunned, and then agreed, "I don't want to waste my time on this kind of thing anyway. If you want to go, you can go."
"Okay, it's settled," Brandi said, turning to Pearson, "So, if I can bring good ingredients, can you at least make a decent meal?"
"Oh, of course, Mr. Munny," Pearson felt offended by his status as a chef, so he dragged his fat body up from the chair and said, "If you can bring good ingredients, I promise You can make delicious food. Of course, if you can also get ingredients like the white bison in the snowy mountains, I will let you know what delicious food is."
"Well, I'm looking forward to it," Brandi smiled slightly, turned and left, and said, "On the one hand, it's the expectation of meeting those legendary animals, and on the other hand, it's more. Don’t let everyone down with their expectations for your cooking skills.”
"Just pray that you can catch a good prey tomorrow, brat." Pearson responded not to be outdone.
"Ah, Mr. Munny," Susan Grimshaw came over and said, "I think you should have time to come and take a look at your bed?"
"Oh, of course, Ms. Grimshaw," Brandi nodded slightly and smiled in a gentlemanly manner, "I really want to rest now."
"Very good, Mr. Munny. Compared with the other gentlemen here, you are a breath of fresh air." Susan was very helpful to Brandy's politeness, which is an extremely rare virtue in the barbaric-themed American West. While leading Brandy, she introduced him, "Did you see the carriage on your right now? I think you should be familiar with it, right? Yes, that is your own carriage, because you You have a lot of things, so I arranged you alone between the men's bunkhouse and my carriage. This is a rare good treatment, so you don't have to endure the snoring of those rough men, and we come together every day. What you see at first glance is the card table that men love most. However, unfortunately, you don’t have a bed, so you can only sleep on the floor temporarily. But if you can get a bed in the future, you can also bring it back. The girls and I I will arrange it for you. Apart from that, all your things are still in the carriage compartment. You can pack them up as you find convenient. I won’t let my girls interfere in this regard."
At this point, Susan looked at Brandi and said, "How is it? Are you satisfied?"
Brandi smiled, nodded, and said, "It couldn't be better, thank you."
It seems that it's because she really likes this polite young man, and it seems that it's also because she's getting older. Once Susan's chat box opens, there's a feeling of an endless stream. Introduction
After checking Brandy's place, she began to introduce all aspects of the camp to Brandy. Of course, she didn't think it was superfluous. After all, in her knowledge, it was Brandy's first time here. camp, so naturally she had to explain every aspect to him clearly, so that if there were any problems in the future, she would have to help clean up the mess.
However, Brandi himself naturally knows that he has already wandered in this peaceful and peaceful camp countless times as Arthur. Any tent here, any carriage, or even piled on the outside of the camp Brandi is extremely familiar with the haystacks. He even confidently boasts that he knows the haystacks better than Susan Grimshaw, the Vanderlinde Gang's logistics director.
However, he did not interrupt Ms. Grimshaw's tirade. He just listened quietly and responded from time to time, just like a wanderer returning home after a long trip, listening to his old mother reminiscing about the treasures. Things like Chen sesame and rotten millet were told over and over again, but I didn't feel bored.
Perhaps, as early as in his previous life, he had regarded this small camp, which could only be seen through the computer screen, as his other home.
