War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 604

In the night, Wei Ran waved goodbye to the old couple standing at the head of the village, and left the small village with a large bag full of walnuts, dried hawthorns, and five or six catties of dried hawthorn leaves.

But for the gifts he brought, Mr. Zhao Shengli only accepted the bottle of white wine that Wei Ran opened when he was on the phone. As for the rest, he insisted that Wei Ran take it back intact.

"Brother, I hear what that means, is that old man a veteran?" Driving Liu Yanghe asked curiously.

"No, what about the second-level combat hero?"

Wei Ran said with a full face of admiration, "You can probably find his name in your local county annals."

"It's amazing!" Liu Yanghe said regretfully after a word of admiration, "Seeing that old man, I regret that I didn't join the army."

"Why didn't you go then?" Wei Ran asked indifferently.

"You think I don't want to go?" Liu Yanghe sighed, "I was rejected in the first round."

"Physical reasons?"

"I'm fine!"

Liu Yanghe's tone was full of remorse, "When I was in school, I was ignorant and often got into fights, and I was sent to a juvenile detention center for half a year. If I knew it would affect my joining the army, I wouldn't fight back even if my hand was chopped off."

"You can't join the army if you chop off your hand," Wei Ran reminded quietly.

Liu Yanghe grinned, lit a cigarette and said with hope, "If I can serve as a soldier, I have to go to the border to kill those Mai Tai bastards who drink water from the Ganges River."

"You're quite angry." Wei Ran shook his head dumbfounded.

"I have nothing but fighting skills"

Liu Yanghe patted the steering wheel, "You said I'm okay with driving a car, but let me drive a fighter jet or something, I'm probably scared enough to pee in my pants pocket. But I'm not afraid of fighting. Pick 20 of them by myself with a big knife. Not only cowardly.

If I could be a soldier, it wouldn't be a waste to fight those Mai Tai things.If I could get me a blu-rayed Gatling or something, I'd be able to chug them all by myself. "

Seeing this driver whose age was not much different from his own was getting more and more outrageous, Wei Ran somehow wanted to talk to him about the issue of ideological awareness.

When this idea came out of his mind, he couldn't help but smile on his face.Presumably at that time, when Zhao Shengli saw that he wanted to be captured and snatched the watch, his thoughts were probably the same as when he heard the longing of the black car driver now.

Seeing that Wei Ran didn't speak, the driver Liu Yanghe also stopped talking, slightly increased the speed, and drove the car back to Hiraizumi high-speed railway station.

After paying Liu Yanghe an extra two hundred as a thank you fee, Wei Ran returned to the capital by the high-speed train at [-] o'clock that night.

The gift prepared for Zhao Shengli failed to be delivered, so he had to send it back home the next day, and then took the walnuts and dried hawthorns from Zhao Shengli's old couple to Dandong by flight.

This place is only separated by a river from the former battlefield. It was from here that Chen Qi, Zhao Shengli and others bravely crossed the Yalu River.

It's just that after decades of time, some people returned and were buried in the city where they started, while others stayed on the other side of the river forever, continuing to silently guard the land behind them.

Following the address to find the Martyrs Cemetery, and walking among the green pines and cypresses, Wei Ran gradually calmed down.

There are too many familiar names here, as well as more names he has never heard of, and even the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier without a name.

In addition to the clean tombstones that were wiped piece by piece, he could also see old people chatting under the trees enjoying the cool air, parents with their children, and some students carefully wiping the tombstones with towels under the sun.

Wei Ran didn't know why they came here, didn't know why they came here to enjoy the cool and chat, didn't know why they were here to tell stories to children, didn't know why they went to wipe those tombstones.I don't even know what kind of stories they have experienced, and what kind of stories they will experience in the future.

But he knows, and they must know, because they've been here watching and listening and watching and waiting.

"I don't know how many of those children will become heroes like you in the future."

Wei Ran muttered to himself looking at the students who were earnestly wiping the tombstones, and couldn't help but think of the black car driver Liu Yanghe who dreamed of becoming a soldier and finding three pigeons to fight in groups.

In the end, he still lowered his head and looked at the tombstone of "Martyr Lin Yuehua".

On his right, another tombstone is engraved with the name "Martyr Sun Yannian", and on the other hand, "Martyr Li Dali" and "Martyr Gao Qiang".They were soldiers when they were alive, and they still lined up neatly like soldiers after they died.

Silently opened the suitcase, took out the walnuts and dried hawthorns that Zhao Shengli and his wife had given him, and placed them in front of the four tombstones. Wei Ran opened the backpack again, and took out a bottle of white wine and a few Put three glasses in front of the four tombstones and fill them up.

Take out an extra cup and pour it on.After colliding with their cups one by one, Wei Ran raised his head and drank it down in one gulp.

One glass of wine, two glasses of wine, and when the third glass of wine was poured into his stomach, he simply turned around and left the peaceful cemetery.If they could hear, there were things he believed they could hear even if he didn't say them.

"Finally, it's time to see the bugleman Xia Chuan."

Wei Ran rubbed his face, and couldn't help but looked up to the direction opposite the river. The car driver Liu Yijiao, and the squad leader of the assault squad, Shen Shen, they still haven't returned home, and they even want to visit them. It's not that easy to do either.

With a trace of regret, Wei Ran stopped a taxi that happened to be passing by, and motioned for the taxi to drive casually in this city that he had never been to before.And he turned his gaze to the scenery outside the window.

He didn't know what it was like decades ago, what the people in this city did and endured for the war at that time, and he didn't know what happened to the people here when the war ended. How happy it is.

But he knows that the residents here now no longer have to worry about the flames of war burning to their doorsteps again, and they don't have to worry about American planes dropping bombs on their heads.He knows even more that even if there is someone who dares to burn the flames of war here again one day, those children who are listening to their parents telling stories in the cemetery at this time, those students who are carefully wiping the tombstones.

They will still take up arms without hesitation, like those people in childhood hero stories, like those people represented by the wiped tombstones, singing songs all the way and fighting a war that must be won.

"Peace is wonderful."

Wei Ran sighed sincerely from the bottom of his heart, and a look of relief appeared on his dull face for the past few days.

(End of this chapter)