Chapter 16 6

The moonlight shone into the male educated youth dormitory.There was a slight snoring sound.Wu Zhenqing couldn't sleep at night, lying quietly, staring at the roof in a daze. Suddenly there was a sound of knocking on the rails outside... Shout: "Assemble urgently, the forest is on fire! All must assemble urgently!" In the dark night, people rushed out from various dormitories. In the forest, Wu Zhenqing was struggling to put out the fire with waving branches.Someone passed out beside him. A man wearing a "deputy commander" on his arm shouted orders to him: "You! Take care of her!"

Wu Zhenqing ran over to help the fainted man up—to his surprise, it was Zhang Meng! Her clothes were burned in many places, her short hair was disheveled, and her face was gray and black. Wu Zhenqing wiped her face with the palm of his hand. At the same time, at another place, Wang Xiaosong ran to Han Debao while fighting the fire and asked, "Did you see Wu Zhenqing?" "We were together just now, I don't know when this kid is gone." Tsui Hark was also fighting the fire nearby, he leaned over and said, "Just now I saw that kid Wu Zhenqing, carrying someone and walking to the back."

Wang Xiaosong said: "You nonsense! He won't escape at this time." Tsui Hark said, "I mean, he might have saved someone!" As long as the forest fire burns, it is terrible. As a result, thousands of people from the Production and Construction Corps, the rural commune team, and the border garrison jointly mobilized to suppress the fire. It took two days and two nights of people to fight the fire before finally putting it out. Several educated youths died in the Dozens of people were injured in the fire... It was getting dark.Wu Zhenqing walked blindly in the large forest after the disaster with the unconscious Zhang Meng on his back—obviously, they had been left behind by the firefighting army.Zhang Meng's arms around his neck suddenly loosened, and she woke up from a coma.

Zhang Meng said softly, "Put me down." Wu Zhenqing put her down. Zhang Meng asked: "Why are there only two of us left? Where are the people fighting the fire?" Wu Zhenqing stood sideways, looking away. Zhang Meng asked again: "Who are you? Where are you going to carry me?" Wu Zhenqing turned his face towards her slowly. "You?!" - Zhang Meng couldn't help taking a step back.It shows a kind of psychological alertness, a kind of subconscious defense. Wu Zhenqing said: "The fire went to the other side of the mountain, and you passed out when you put out the fire."

Zhang Meng said, "Where are my shoes?" She stared at him and asked coldly, without letting go of her guard or letting go of her guard. Wu Zhenqing seemed to realize that her feet were bare at this moment, and said dully: "I don't know... Maybe... Maybe I fell off your feet when I was carrying you." Zhang Meng didn't believe it at all: "Give me back the shoes!" Wu Zhenqing said: "I really don't know..." Then he said angrily, "What do I want your shoes for!" He bent down, took off the suede shoes from his feet, and threw them at her feet.

She was indifferent to his actions and his shoes.She glanced over the mountain, the fire had dimmed, the sky was getting dark, and the surrounding fields were silent.She looked down at her bare feet again, hesitated for a moment, then turned around resolutely and walked towards the other side of the mountain. Wu Zhenqing ran in front of her with his shoes in his hand, blocking her way: "You can't catch up with the firefighters." She stretched out one hand under the skirt and stared at him... Wu Zhenqing said: "Be obedient and put on my shoes! I was often barefoot when I was young, compared to you..." Zhang Meng shouted: "Don't come near me!" A dagger was held back in front of his chest in self-defense, pointed sharply at Wu Zhenqing - the dagger was not too long, but it seemed that it could not only defend itself, but also hurt people.

Wu Zhenqing was stunned. He held out a hand to her, and said in as calm a tone as possible: "Give it to me. It will be more useful if it is on me than on you." But she clearly gripped the dagger even tighter. Wu Zhenqing said: "No matter how you treat me, the two of us will only spend the night together." Zhang Meng looked around again, at this time the night had begun to cover.She seemed to realize that spending the night here was the only sane and sensible choice. Still holding the dagger, she stared at Wu Zhenqing, stepped back step by step, and retreated under a big tree. under the tree.She was still staring at Wu Zhenqing, and she was still holding the dagger in front of her chest.

Wu Zhenqing suddenly yelled at the scorched tree roots: "Fuck you!" He kicked with nowhere to vent, forgetting that he was not wearing shoes.Kicking on the broken root of the tree, the pain caused him to hug that foot, grinning his teeth and bouncing on one foot. "Get out! Get away! If the deputy commander-in-chief of Huo Huo hadn't ordered me to take care of you, I wouldn't have carried you! I wouldn't have been thrown off." He limped to a tree facing Zhang Meng. In front of the big tree, he also sat down tiredly and limply with his back against the big tree.

The lingering smoke, the evening fog, and the darkness made it impossible for them to see each other. In the early morning of the next day, the dawn soothed the great forest.Wu Zhenqing crossed his hands and folded his arms, opened his eyes, and looked opposite first, but Zhang Meng was gone. His shoes are by his side.He immediately stood up, turned around, searched around, and finally found her——she was sitting on the ground, looking at him, as if she wanted to ask him for help, but she didn't seem to want to. Wu Zhenqing put on his shoes, stood up again, and strode away without looking at Zhang Meng.After walking a dozen steps, he slowed down, stopped, and looked back at Zhang Meng.

Zhang Meng was still looking at him. He turned back and walked towards her. He walked up to her, and found that she was crying silently and desperately, with tears streaming down her face—there was blood on her feet, and she was stabbed.With his back to her, he squatted down. Zhang Meng said: "No, I don't need you to carry me. I can still walk...as long as you don't ignore me in this situation." He said: "Don't talk nonsense, I don't have that much patience to wait." Zhang Meng fell on his back helplessly. Wu Zhenqing walked out of the burned forest with Zhang Meng on his back, but there was nowhere to go in the unburned forest.

Zhang Meng said: "You can't carry me anymore...put me down...take a break." They sat down with their backs against the same big tree. Wu Zhenqing looked around and said, "We're lost." Zhang Meng suddenly leaned forward and fell to the ground. Hearing the sound, Wu Zhenqing hurriedly helped her up: "What's wrong with you?" He touched her forehead with his hand: "I have a fever!" Zhang Meng said: "I'm still hungry, very hungry... cold and hungry." Wu Zhenqing said: "I'm hungry too, hold on, don't be discouraged, let's go back!" "How far do you have to go?" "It's only two hundred miles away. I can definitely take you out. You have to trust me." "Okay... I believe it." They leaned on each other and walked back the way they came... Suddenly Zhang Meng's eyes noticed something, she got rid of Wu Zhenqing's support, took two steps forward alone, and picked up half a steamed bun from the ground, which was covered with ants.She stroked the steamed bun a few times with her skirt, and immediately gobbled it up... Wu Zhenqing guessed that she had swallowed half of the steamed bun before turning around. Zhang Meng looked at him with crumbs of steamed bread sticking to his dry lips, and suddenly covered his face and cried.She said, "I...I'm so selfish, don't look down on me." "Where is it! I'm not very hungry." Wu Zhenqing walked up to her, supported her again, and said as he walked, "The firefighters must have fallen. We're probably not far from the edge of the forest." They walked by each other. They stopped suddenly, with great fear in their eyes... A black bear stood more than ten meters away from them, staring at them intently.Wu Zhenqing pulled Zhang Meng behind him, and although he was unarmed, he was ready to protect her with his life. Xiong confronted them for a moment, then slowly dropped his front paw like a stranger who met him on a narrow road, and walked away swaggeringly.Cold sweat dripped from Wu Zhenqing's forehead, he swayed, almost collapsed, and was supported by Zhang Meng. She stuffed something into his hand at the same time.He looked down and saw that it was the dagger.They went on again. The carcass of a burned animal lay before their eyes.They looked at each other and walked around silently. Rain... Zhang Meng slipped and fell.She said: "I... I can't walk anymore... You can go by yourself... Leave me alone." She was trembling all over.Wu Zhenqing said, "Even if I hold you with my mouth, I will take you out of the big forest." He carried her on his back. Wu Zhenqing chopped off a branch with a dagger, cut his hand, and then propped up a small "curtain" that can shelter from the rain.He picked up Zhang Meng and sat under the "curtain". She lay motionless in his arms. Zhang Meng was still saying, "You...leave me alone." Wu Zhenqing said, "No..." Zhang Meng said: "I know...in your heart, you are definitely not as...hostile to me as you usually pretend...in fact, in my heart...I am also...I think you...are righteous...like a boy So...but...as long as I live...I can't...love you...for my father...I pre-sold myself to others...my words...make you despise?" Wu Zhenqing shook his head and burst into tears. Zhang Meng continued: "When we broke up, he... gave me that dagger and told me... to carry it with me at all times... for him, to protect me...I could have returned to the city...but...the procedures were rejected. The regiment has detained it...for fear of letting me go...cause the educated youths...to take root in their thoughts...Let me be a salesperson in the canteen of the regiment for a while...are you crying?" "I didn't cry, it was rain..." "You are crying." Wu Zhenqing couldn't help but buried his head in her chest, weeping.Zhang Meng said: "Don't cry, my face is dirty...isn't it? You can wash it with rainwater for me..." Wu Zhenqing pushed her hair away from her face, and used one hand to catch the rainwater dripping from the "curtain" to wash her face clean.Zhang Meng grabbed his hand, held it gently, and murmured, "Listen, I feel...I'm going to die...it's like I'm soaking in ice water...it's cold, it's cold...it's so cold ...While I am still alive...I am willing to give myself to you...to repay you...for taking care of me...I should repay you...or I feel very guilty...I don't want to owe others... ...what, ...then you killed me with a dagger...and buried me..., go by yourself...go!" Zhang Meng passed out.Wu Zhenqing held Zhang Meng's face with both hands: "Zhang Meng! Zhang Meng! You can't die!" He looked around in bewilderment and shouted: "Someone! Come here! Come and save us!" The rainy night in the big forest was unusually quiet. He hurriedly unbuttoned his clothes, and also Zhang Meng's, and hugged her tightly to his chest, warming her body with his own body.
A group of people from the firefighting army came over, all carrying tools.Wang Xiaosong and Han Debao were also among them. They were exhausted, their clothes were burnt, and their faces and hands were covered in black ashes. Tsui Hark ran over from the forest, panting with exhaustion: "There is no sign of him anywhere, I think it's probably..." Wang Xiaosong glared at him: "Don't talk nonsense, he won't die easily." Han Debao said: "Let's look for it again?" Tsui Hark said: "Those companies are also missing, I always have a hunch... let's not talk about it." Wang Xiaosong pondered: "I have to report to the company commander first." Several people quickened their pace.
The sun shines into the forest and shines on Wu Zhenqing and Zhang Meng.They still hold each other so tightly. Zhang Meng was the first to slowly open her eyes—she noticed that Wu Zhenqing seemed to be still sleeping with her arms around her, and closed her eyes again.The sunlight reflected on her face, making her face look charming again. A bird fluttered away from the tree, Wu Zhenqing also woke up.He didn't seem to have expected that he and Zhang Meng would be hugging each other so tightly - quickly let go of her, and buttoned her clothes like a sin. Zhang Meng still pretended to be asleep.Wu Zhenqing buttoned his clothes and wanted to carry her on his back. Zhang Meng opened his eyes: "Let's walk slowly while supporting each other." Wu Zhenqing said: "You...don't think that I...you burned so badly at night, I can't think of any other way...I'm not that kind..." Zhang Meng's hand gently covered his mouth, not allowing him to continue confessing.She said: "If we can really walk out alive, I will never forget these two days and two nights in my life." They looked at each other. Zhang Meng slowly put her arms around Wu Zhenqing's neck, stood up, and suddenly couldn't help but kiss Wu Zhenqing deeply... They walked supporting each other.Wu Zhenqing suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "Look!" A blouse was stretched open by a tree branch and hung from a tree—an arrow had been marked on it with a branch. Following the direction indicated by the arrow, they found many coats and vests hanging on the tree... Wu Zhenqing picked up Zhang Meng and ran away.Gunshots... The sound of metal knocking... Shouting: "Wu Zhenqing! Hey... ho ho ho... squad leader..." Wu Zhenqing, who was running, stopped suddenly - not far from him, Wang Xiaosong appeared. Wang Xiaosong held a plowshare in one hand and a hammer in the other. Wang Xiaosong's figure was blurred in Wu Zhenqing's eyes... the world was spinning... Wang Xiaosong shouted: "Squad leader!..." However, what awaited Wu Zhenqing was a criticism meeting a few days later, because one of his secret "small productions" was discovered by one of his fighters.A chairman’s badge—but inside the plastic film case, instead of Chairman Mao’s portrait, Zhang Meng’s head—reminds us of the day Zhang Meng left the company, Wu Zhenqing picked up most of the burned photos by the fire. Zhang Meng was inside the plastic film shell, smiling—so conceited and confident.