Chapter 11 Episode Eleven

Is this the Manwen River? Yes, it is here.Lin Haimeng opened the borrowed military map, and stretched out his brownish-yellow fingers trembling from cigarette smoke along the red arrow, and looked up at the barren river beach full of cobblestones and the tumbling river.That's right, the river beach that Lin Haimeng and his wife imagined is like this, very desolate.The river makes a clever bend here. On the other side of the river is a mountain. On the mountain, there are vaguely a few houses facing each other in the subtropical jungle. On the other side, there is a eucalyptus tree.There is also a eucalyptus tree.Yes, here it is.

Dalin swam from here, went out from here, and never came back alive... Lin Haimeng, his wife, Xiaolin, and Jiang Man, a group of four, arrived at the army where Dalin was alive four days ago.There were too many things to do in the company after the war, and the family members of the martyrs came one after another, supporting the old and the young, the elderly alone, newly married, unmarried...Compared to this, there were too many people from the Lin family.Lin Haimeng was afraid of causing trouble to the troops. He knew that after the war, the company would have to judge meritorious service and disability, and there was still a lot of pension work to be done.On the first day they came to the team, they looked at the exhibition of heroic deeds, and they met the sacrificed Dalin in the dark; Lin's mother picked up some of Dalin's relics, and no one said a word, and it was boring for a day.On the morning of the third day, Lin Haimeng quietly left the camp with his wife and children, took a long-distance bus to the border town, and found a hotel to lie down overnight.At dawn the next day, the old demobilized soldier led his family on foot for more than forty miles with this military map, walking, resting, and asking questions all the way, and finally found the ferry for Dalin Swimming along the river.

"It's here." Lin Haimeng repeated. The old mother's legs gave way and she almost collapsed on the hillside.Kobayashi quickly held up his mother. The river beach is very empty, except for pebbles, they are still pebbles.The hillside is dotted with stars, but it is full of wild flowers, red, purple, and white... Jiang Man picked a few flowers silently, and Da Lin's voice kept lingering in her ears: "Xiao Jiang, don't be like this. No matter our Whatever happens, I will do my best to help you..." That was the first time she met him! Xiao Lin supported the old mother, as if his brother was in front of him again.He remembered that when his elder brother visited his home for the first time after he became a soldier, he stole his elder brother’s military uniform and hat and took a photo in front of the building. His elder brother stuck his head out from the balcony and was furious: “The military uniform is not for you to take pictures…”

The military map in Lin Haimeng's hand rattled and couldn't be folded.This was the river—he had a river in his memory too, and that was the North, the canal.With his boxy luggage on his back, he walked across the canal beach with fluttering reed flowers.Fourteen-year-old Dalin followed him with one foot and one shallow foot.He turned around and shouted at his son angrily: "I'm not going to die, what are you doing with me?" He got on the ferry, looked back from the ferry, and saw that his son's feet were in the water, and there was a row of crooked footprints on the sand behind him.

"I'm going to the cadre school, Dalin! What are you doing with me?" The son is seeing him off, and also protecting him, the "capitalist roader".He understood, the corners of his eyes were so moved by his son's filial piety.But why are you so fierce?Why?Is it because you are upset?You have the right to yell at your son when you are upset?Use him as a punching bag?When the ferry came to the middle of the river, he saw his son still standing in the water.When he reached the other side, Dalin was still looking at him.In the light and shadow of the setting sun, the figure of the son was vague.

Suddenly, the son turned and left, walked across the river beach, and disappeared. Gone, gone.The sound of the waves of the Manwen River remained in my ears. Mother Lin's thoughts were chaotic.She is more regretful, regretting that she gave her son too little maternal love.Before there is time to love, people are gone.Trembling, she took out the diary that Dalin had used, and there were only a few photos of Dalin in it.The old mother can still imagine the scene of taking pictures with her eyes closed, and the son printed on the pictures will also move her eyebrows and eyes at her.In 1955, Dalin was born in a military camp.Military families are like duckweeds without roots or stems. They are in the south today and north tomorrow.When Dalin was 100 days old, he was still taking pictures on his parents' lap, and when he was two years old, he was sent to the countryside to be with his grandmother.When he was seven years old and brought back to Beijing, his parents changed jobs.Later, the "Cultural Revolution"; he joined the queue at the age of fifteen; he joined the army at the age of sixteen; at the age of twenty-four... Mother Lin remembered that Dalin was only five years old when he was sent to the countryside.At that time, she was an obstetrician and gynecologist who could run and jump.In the middle of the night, someone would knock on the door asking her to go to the doctor.She went to the countryside to visit her son. In the middle of the night, a man knocked on the door and hurriedly asked her to deliver the baby. A woman with dystocia was on the verge of death.She went out with someone, and her son chased her, called her, and fell down.

"Mother!—I fell down..." Good son, all he needs is his mother's support.Is he lying on the ground acting like a baby?Or is it really painful?have no idea. "Mother!—I fell down..." Why don't you help your son up?Why are you so heartless to throw him away?Just use your time for a few seconds, just use your angry smile, and your son will laugh through his tears with satisfaction.Why did you let him cry on the ground for so long? ! How many babies has the mother delivered most of her life?How many lives were saved?But facing the sacrifice of his son Dalin?There was nothing she could do.

At this moment, Dalin broke into the memories of four relatives at the same time.The fragments of that life are fragmented and incoherent.The four of them were also unable to communicate.Looking at their expressions, it seems that they have seen the scene that each other is recalling, as if Dalin is here, living with them again. "Xiao Jiang... I will do my best to help you no matter what we do or not..." "Army uniforms are not for taking pictures of you..." "I'm going to the cadre school, Dalin, what are you doing with me?" "Mother!—I fell down..."

Memories are cut into pieces, they don't necessarily contain rationality, and they don't necessarily summarize a person's life.The last photo that Lin Mu found from the diary can sum up everything.Summarize Dalin's filial piety, love, attachment and choice.This was snapped by the propaganda officer of the regiment after the bombardment started and before Dalin swims across.In the photo, the morning mist is misty and the background is a mountain depression. It can be seen vaguely where the mountain pass reveals the bend of the river, and the river beach covered with pebbles.Before entering the water, Dalin turned his head, and the camera left a last glimpse of his life.He seemed to be looking back at the north!The mother didn't dare to linger on the photo any longer - son, son!He just went there naked... No matter what Dalin's comrades in arms said, no matter what the newspapers said, my mother stubbornly believed that Dalin was like this when he was "leaving", when he called "shoot me" in front of the tank Naked!When you close your eyes on the back of your comrades, you are naked... naked!Take nothing!That's what she thought when she saw this enlarged photo for the first time in the exhibition hall of the deeds of heroes and models.This idea is deeply rooted.When she was in the exhibition hall, she couldn't hold back her tears. She squatted down in front of her son's photo and couldn't move anymore.Jiang Man helped her behind the bulletin board, and she let out a cry of grief.

The wife stood there speechless for a long time before saying: "Don't make others sad. Let's go, take a look again. Just take a look and go. Dalin doesn't like you like this..." Yes, look again.Look at this river beach again, besides pebbles, the river beach is still pebbles... Suddenly my mother stumbled from the hillside to the river beach.She is not at all like a fifty-seven-year-old woman who runs so fiercely and fast, with her white hair floating in the afternoon sun.She suddenly fell down on the river beach full of pebbles, then slowly knelt and straightened up, with tears streaming down her face, holding the stones with both hands.Only at a close distance can one see clearly that although the pebbles in the old man's hands are rough, they are manganese red and verdigris, colorful.

Jiang Man and Xiao Lin helped the old man up. Lin Haimeng said, "Let's go?" Mother Lin repeated: "Let's go." Only the parents of the martyrs have such a tacit understanding. When they say "go", they walk along the river beach where Dalin ran, as if they are looking for something.They walked towards the tumbling Manwen River. At this moment, the sun was sinking in the west, and the fire clouds in the sky were immersed in the water, and the wide river was full of fiery red!The river is boiling!This majestic Kongwu battlefield still retains its blazing heat!The four of them walked to the river, but the old mother didn't want to stop, she stepped into the clouds in the water, her knees were soaked in the waves of early summer, Jiang Man and Xiao Lin couldn't stop her. Did she hear her son calling? She is so persistent, her face is full of dreams and sternness.But she finally stopped - at this time, a few girls in tube skirts came down from the mountain on the other side of the river, beside the boundary marker... The two old men boarded the train going north. The train departs. Only Xiao Lin and Jiang Man were left on the platform. In the past few days, Xiao Lin has understood everything. He not only forgives Jiang Man, but also understands her.But Kobayashi couldn't say his apology, he just shouted in almost silent words; "Sister Man, let's go...Let's talk to the head of the military region to join the army." On June 17, 1979, the newspaper published the news report "Martyr Lin Dalin's fiancée and brother honorably enlisted in the army".This is the result of Jiang Man's inseparability from the army, the result of being moved by the head of the military region, and the result of the support of Jiang Man from the Beijing Nursing Training Class.Jiang Man arrived at the field hospital. At this time, Tong Chuan had been promoted to deputy company commander and had gone to the division's teaching team, but they did not meet each other. However, the planted seeds will always germinate. one year, Two years, three years. The flowers are blooming and falling, it is the late spring of 1984 AD.