Chapter 58
"Please, please, where is this?"
"Comrade..."
"Squad leader, what if anyone pays attention to us?"
Five young men stood in the street in a daze, wrapping their worn-out coats tightly. When they saw a girl walking over in leg socks, they quickly looked away, and their cheeks were red with shame.
"I heard from the storyteller in the town that someone would come to a place isolated from the world by chance." The squad leader touched the pistol jacket on his waist. Although it was just a shell without a gun, he would feel more at ease with this shell, "Can they be the people here and don't understand what we are talking about?"
Their squad all came out of Shu to fight the enemy. The commander told them that because of insufficient resources, each squad was only equipped with one gun and his military uniform was a bit worn.
However, the country is in a critical moment, and the conditions are difficult and there is no way. In just one month of war, the comrades in their class sacrificed several under the enemy's artillery fire, leaving only five of them. The gun they equipped with in the class has been lost in the artillery fire.
In the evening, they received an order from the company commander to bury landmines on the road that the enemy must pass. Landmines are rare things in the company. If it were not for the purpose of cutting off the enemy's ammunition, food and supplies, the company commander would not be willing to waste such good things.
"Squad leader, our mines..." Only then did several young people realize that the mines they were protecting were gone.
"I clearly remember that by passing through that small river, I could reach the road that the enemy must pass. Why..." The young man who said this was only fifteen or sixteen years old. It would be better to say that he was a young man than to say that he was a young man.
He was very thin and thin, but his head was big and round. He wore new straw sandals on his feet, but it was a bit unfit. This was what a big brother in the company saw that he had no shoes to wear. When he passed by a village, he asked a fellow villager to ask for a few handfuls of grass and made it for him overnight.
The day he put on his new straw sandals, he followed the squad leader to do a mission. Unexpectedly, he came to a novel place for no reason. He was still young and a little scared.
"Don't panic first." The squad leader looked the most mature, but in fact he was only in his early twenties. He sternly said: "The situation is not right. You are so panicked when you encounter something. What if the enemy comes? You are panicking, what should the people behind us do? What should I do if my mother at the house? I've gotten it up for me. Whoever dares to mess up? I'll deal with him when I go back."
Although he said this, the squad leader was not very at ease. He remembered it very clearly. When he crossed the small bridge by the river, he carefully checked the mines he carried on him. Suddenly, there was a heavy fog. When he came to his senses, he stood here.
I don’t know where this place is, the place is so bright, and the bright thing... is the electric light mentioned in the radio? The electric lights in big cities are so bright, even hanging outside the house. What if the enemy breaks in and blows up?
What a pity.
Did they really come to another world?
The girl just now had yellow skin and dark eyes, but had red hair. Could it be that this was the child born after Chinese and foreigners got married?
He glanced at the four comrades with a somewhat panicked expression, took a deep breath, and plucked up the courage to say to the two young women who came to them, "Two girls, may I ask..."
The two girls ignored him and ran straight towards him, scaring the squad leader to hide behind. He was a big man, so he could not take advantage of the young girl at will.
The squad leader was a little embarrassed by being ignored like a transparent person, but now he is the chief among the five and must stand up. His eyes flashed through the crowd and saw a young man pushing a man towards him.
"Little comrade, may I ask... where is this?" The squad leader took a deep breath again, ready to be ignored.
Unexpectedly, the other party stopped, his clear eyes facing his gaze: "Hello?"
Chen Changan looked at the young man in front of him, wearing yellow and worn clothes on his body, without a belt around his waist, and was tied casually with a few grasses. His trouser legs were shorter, revealing his frozen purple ankles.
My feet wearing straw sandals were a little deformed and even had pus.
"Here..." Chen Changan turned his head and looked at the four thin and short teenagers behind the young man. These four teenagers were as embarrassed as young men, without even a pair of cloth shoes. They stood restrainedly behind the young man, with surprise and uneasiness in their eyes.
Chen Changan suddenly understood something. He had a hot air in his throat. He blinked his eyes several times before pressing down the sourness of his throat. "Where are you from?"
"You can understand what we say, that's great." The squad leader was a little excited, "Do you know how far Tengzhou is from here?"
“Tengzhou is more than 700 kilometers away from here.”
"More than 700 kilometers?!" The soldier, who was only fourteen years old, said in surprise, "Squad Leader, we smashed more than 700 kilometers in one night, but we suffered. How could we get back now?"
"You are going back?" Chen Chang'an looked at their bleeding feet and their throats rolled, "There is no war here, so there is no need to go back."
"Which one thing is good?" The soldier tied the straw that was loose on his waist tightly. "We can feel at ease when we go back early to drive the enemy out. When we left, my mother told me that when I finish fighting the enemy, she will make me oil residue noodles."
"Little comrade, can you tell us how to return to Tengzhou from here?" The squad leader was a little anxious. The task was arduous. If the enemy broke into the rear, I wonder how many ordinary people would suffer.
"Don't worry, the battle in Tengzhou has been won." Chen Chang'an's eyes were a little red, "not only was the battle in Tengzhou victorious, but the battle in our entire country was won."
"The enemy... was beaten away?" Xiaobing looked at Chen Chang'an blankly, "Are you lying to us?"
"I didn't lie to you." Chen Chang'an pointed ahead, "This is the capital of our new China."
"New China..." Xiaobing looked at the brightly dressed passers-by around him, and after a long time he couldn't come back to his senses, "The war... was won?"
"Yes, we won." Chen Changan knew that his words and deeds at this moment might be very neurotic in the eyes of Dao Nian and others, but when faced with these five young people who were younger than him, he could not pretend not to see them.
"Then, are the people in Tengzhou nothing more?"
Chen Chang'an nodded.
"What about our Shu Province?"
Shen Chang'an focuses on the key points.
"That's great." Xiaobing showed a childish smile, "Then my mother and her younger brother and sister must be safe."
Chen Changan followed and laughed: "Yes, that's great."
"Then let's go and go back to the team to find the company commander, and then go back to eat the oily noodles made by my mother." The soldier jumped up in joy. "Squad leader, Lao Gen, Zhu Erduo, Brother Qiang, you all go to my house, I'll treat you to noodles."
"You...you will leave after watching the national flag raising." Chen Chang'an was silent for a moment, "After the enemy was repelled, our country has become better and better."
"Squad Leader..." Xiaobing looked at the squad leader, and could see that he wanted to see the national flag raising.
"Okay." The squad leader was also a little moved. He nodded, "Little comrade, please trouble you."
"No trouble." Chen Changan looked down at Daonian. Daonian also looked up at him. The corners of his lips moved and bent down in his ear and said, "Daonian, let's talk about anything when we go back, okay?"
Dao Nian nodded silently.
"Is your friend's legs also hurt by the enemy?" Xiaobing secretly glanced at Dao Nian sitting in a wheelchair, "But the chair he was sitting on was really good. It would be great if the old company commander could use it."
After the old company commander was blown off by the enemy's artillery fire, he sent him to the rear. I don't know if he saved his life.
"Dongwa!" the squad leader scolded, "Shut up."
The soldier who asked Dongwa quickly shut up and apologized to Chen Chang'an, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't mention such sad things."
"It's okay." Chen Changan shook his head slowly, "I also hope that your company commander would use a wheelchair later."
They followed the crowd and came outside the square. At this moment, there were already many people wearing thick coats standing outside. Chen Changan looked at the straw sandals on the feet of the five people and silently looked away.
"It's been a long time since the sky was dawn?" Xiaobing's personality was a little unrestrained. He had been quiet for less than an hour and began to ask around Chen Chang'an again, "These hair colors are not black, aren't we Chinese?"
"Some are foreigners, but more are us Chinese." Chen Chang'an explained to him carefully, "and only used a potion to dye his hair with other colors."
"There is such a powerful thing?" Xiaobing touched his head and smiled, "It looks a bit good."
The squad leader looked at everything around silently, and his doubts were getting more and more. However, as Dongwa was happily talking to the brightly dressed comrade, he would bother him even if he was not good.
Time passed little by little, and when it was almost dawn, the flag-raising ceremony began.
The five men looked into the distance with their toes and were stunned when they saw the soldiers in neat clothes, wearing white gloves and leather boots coming out with the national flag.
When the soundtrack sounded, the red flag slowly raised the flag. They found that the crowd around them were singing something silently. The soldier asked Chen Chang'an: "What are they singing?"
"National Anthem." Chen Chang'an said, "A song that everyone in our country can sing."
"It's great." Xiaobing said with a smile, "I will learn to sing after I go back."
When the red flag flew to the top of the flagpole, there was applause from the scene. The squad leader looked around in a daze. Everyone here was wearing beautiful and thick clothes, and everyone was wearing relaxed smiles.
He saw that there were old people and children, and the shoes on their feet looked very warm.
When the first ray of sunrise rose, he suddenly remembered.
They did not lose the mines, but after the mine exploded, they died together with the enemies who were about to escape.
But...he forgot.
They are dead.
The sun shone on his young face, as if it had been stained with a layer of light on his whole body.
“What year is it now?”
“2018.”
"Has the war really been won?"
"Everyone won." Chen Chang'an nodded, "Everyone has clothes to wear and food to eat, so don't worry that the enemy's artillery fire will fall from the sky."
"That's great." The squad leader grinned, "An Yi."
"Thank you." Chen Chang'an bowed to the five of them.
"Then... it's time for us to go back."
"Where to go back?" Xiaobing asked, "Go to report to the company commander?"
"No, let's go back to Shu Province together." The squad leader said, "There are still people waiting for us to go back there."
Chapter completed!