The military salute of the weak old man made the eyes of these soldiers, who had been separated from him for half a century, suddenly wet.

Chen Chengwu almost subconsciously straightened his body, and said loudly with the most standard military posture and military salute, and in the most hoarse voice: "Senior, Chen Chengwu of the Yunzhou Provincial Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, salute you!"

Under Chen Chengwu's roar, the other soldiers put down the equipment and materials in their hands, stood upright with red eyes, saluted, and saluted the old man loudly.

This battle made Li Mu, Liu Xin and others who accompanied him instantly moved to tears, and two lines of tears welled up in the old man's wrinkled eyes.

At this moment, the old man abandoned the local dialect he had spoken for decades, and said in standard Mandarin one by one: "National Revolutionary Army, Air Force, Sixth Brigade, Major Pilot, Sun Xiaozhong, thank you...... Thank you for ......."

For the old man, due to many special historical reasons, the identity of a soldier has been buried in his heart for more than half a century, and he longs for the day when this society can remember his former soldier. Recognize the contributions he has made, rather than shouting alone, but after so many years, he has become more and more aware that this wish is actually a luxury, half a century of ups and downs, the country has undergone countless changes, and his deeds back then have become more and more impossible to be remembered, and his identity may only be brought into the soil by himself.

It wasn't until a few days ago that a few young people who claimed to be volunteers went into the mountains and inquired about their names in the village, and he learned that his deeds had not been completely forgotten by the society, and that there were very few people who found their names by searching for the information of the Flying Tigers and the records of local governments in various places that year, and found Baofu Village step by step.

The volunteers brought him some pastries and gifts, and also gave him 2,000 yuan, the old man had never touched the hundred-yuan bill several times in his life, and his hands trembled when he saw so much money, and the thickest coffin he dreamed of and made by the carpenter in the neighboring village was only sold for 1,000 yuan.

But the old man did not ask for the money, for he had already received a greater fortune than it, because there were still people who remembered him, and there were people who knew who he was, and who knew what he had done.

The people of Baofu Village have been with the old man for decades, and they don't know what the old man does, they just call him Lao Sun Tou, because his name Sun Xiaozhong sounds too bookish, and the people in the mountains don't understand and say that they are not used to it, and the titles between them are mostly "surname" + "Ah Zi" + brother, sister-in-law, uncle, uncle, such as Brother Zhang, Sister-in-law Chen, compared to the old man's name with a strong Republic of China atmosphere, the name of the villagers is much more down-to-earth.

In the eyes of the villagers of Baofu Village, the old man is an old bachelor, since the day he entered the mountain, he is a bachelor, in the words of the village elders, the old man came to the mountain year, like a defeated rooster, Like a lost dog, he came to Baofu Village in rags, begging the villagers to give him a place to settle down, although the land of Baofu Village is worthless, but the closed village generally does not like outsiders to enter, not to mention that the old man's local dialect at that time was not so standard, but the old village chief at that time did not know why, or agreed to his request, and said to him, the small dirt slope in the east of the village is uninhabited, if you want to settle down, go there and build a thatched hut yourself.

So, the old man silently built a thatched hut by himself, and found a piece of mountain field in the far side of the mountain that no one wanted to cultivate, and he gathered two acres of land, planted food, and really settled down in Baofu Village, which is more than 30 years.

For more than 30 years, the old man was the most pitiful old grandson in the village in the eyes of the villagers, and people always used him to educate their children: if you are disobedient, the old grandson will arrest you and eat you; if you don't work hard, you will not be able to get a wife like the old grandson in the future; if you can't get a wife, you will be like the old grandson who has no one to support the old man and send him to the end, and when he dies, there is no one to carry the coffin......

When these gossips gradually became popular, the old man was almost demonized in the eyes of the children in the village, and many children screamed and left in horror when they saw him, and some bold children would pick up the lump of dirt and throw it at the old man nervously and vigorously, and then whether they hit it or not, they would turn their heads and run away screaming, and their parents would rarely care, because they felt that letting the old man stay in the village all these years was already an endless favor to him in the village, and this little thing was far from enough for him to repay the villagers and his kindness.

The old man never cared about this, he was not angry, whether it was the child's horror and teasing, or the ridicule and sympathy of the villagers, he was not angry, nor sad, he always held that proud head high in his heart, even if he was rickety, it was the same, for decades, not even a single tear had been shed.

He always comforted himself like this, when he drove the plane to fight with the Japanese, every time he took off, he was ready to die with the determination and courage, with the continuous take-off and landing of fighters, his spirit has long been honed into an iron tree that will never wither and never fall, this iron tree has stood for decades, withstood the attack of Japanese fighters, and withstood the baptism of historical catastrophe.

is such a strong old man, and now when facing these PLA soldiers, he can't stop tears like rain in an instant.

Different from the recognition of him by volunteers a few days ago, these people wearing military uniforms are all active-duty soldiers, and their recognition is the most gratifying and moving for the elderly.

For many years, the pilot of the national army named Sun Xiaozhong, the pilot who once guarded the southwest with the American Flying Tigers, did not feel the excitement and excitement anymore, and after the disappearance of his wife and children, his life was like a stagnant water, without the slightest wave, and the silence was terrible, and at this moment, this pool of water was completely boiling.

The image of a dozen active-duty soldiers and the elderly saluting each other was still for a few minutes, but fortunately two cameras did not stop shooting from the moment they entered the mountain, and the photographer wanted to capture the hardships of the mountain along the way, and it was precisely because of this that they were lucky enough to capture such a completely unintentional and completely visceral image.

At this time, the old man took the lead in breaking this stagnant picture, and said with a chagrined expression: "I should invite you into the house to sit, but the house is too small and too broken, and there is no place to put your feet......

Chen Chengwu wiped his tears and said, "Seniors, we won't go in, but they ......"

Chen Chengwu turned around as he spoke, pointed to the two videographers with cameras, as well as Li Mu and Liu Xinxin, and said to the old man: "They are from Yanjing, and they want to give you an interview, report your affairs, and let more people know the stories of you and other veterans of the Anti-Japanese War." ”

The old man nodded lightly and said, "Several young people who have come here before have told me, how to interview you, I will cooperate, but ......"

Speaking of this, the old man was entangled for a moment, and pleaded: "It's just that can you record a video for me to broadcast it, I want to find my wife and children, if they are still alive, maybe they will have a chance to see them." ”

Liu Xin hurriedly stepped forward and said to the old man: "Senior, you can say anything you want to say to the camera, and we promise to spread the video to the people of the whole country, not only to see, but also to let them know that you and other veterans have made great contributions to this nation." ”

The old man hurriedly waved his hand: "I dare not be ashamed, I can't talk about contributions, it's all our business, and the rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of the husband, not a merit, but an obligation!"

The village chief was stunned and didn't speak for a long time, and suddenly said something with a shocked face.

The old man laughed and coughed twice, and replied a few more words in a dialect that everyone did not understand.

The guide told everyone that the old village chief's words were surprised that the old man Sun could speak official language.

Mandarin is a kind of name for Mandarin by the locals, many people can understand but can't speak, and there are many old people who can't understand it, like the local villagers of Sun's seniority, almost no one can speak Mandarin, so when he began to speak Mandarin, the village chief felt as if a villager in his village suddenly could speak a fluent foreign language.

The old man's answer was: "I am actually not from this province in the first place, I have been speaking official dialect since I was young, and I only learned the local dialect little by little after coming to Yun Province for 37 years." ”

The village chief was shocked beyond measure, as if his entire life and three views had been subverted.

didn't have the energy to take care of the surprised old village chief, Li Mu and Liu Xin followed the old man into his thatched hut with the cameraman.

After entering, everyone really realized what is called hardship, the impact of reality on people, countless times more real than the pictures sent back by the volunteers before, looking down is the muddy land, looking up is half pulling the white clouds, Yun Province is located on the plateau, the clouds look much closer than the plains, the scenery was originally very beautiful, but seeing the white clouds from the roof, people feel sad or sad.

The old man took off his tattered cotton clothes, took out the clean Zhongshan suit and put it on, and then sat on the bed he built on the adobe bricks, took a small iron box from the bedside, took out a medallion in the shape of an eagle's wing, and then carefully hung it on his chest, looked down at the medal, and the old man sighed: " I haven't worn it again for decades, and when I was criticized, I was afraid that it would be copied, so I hid it in a swallow's nest and took it up the mountain, and this is the first time I have worn it in so many years. ”

A female reporter who accompanied him hurriedly squatted in front of him and asked, "Senior, can you tell me about the origin of this medal?"

The two photographers also knelt down on one knee to shoot the old man and the medal from a low place, Li Mu was so busy pulling Liu Xin to sit cross-legged on the ground together, in this dilapidated thatched house, the old man should be the tallest one.

The corners of the old man's mouth bubbled with saliva, and his lips moved for a long time before he said: "This is the Star Order Medal, after the start of the Anti-Japanese War, the National Government specially set up a medal for the pilots of the National Air Force, which has ten levels from 1 to 10 stars, according to the rules of the National Government at that time, only pilots who have shot down enemy planes are eligible to be awarded, shoot down an enemy plane, award a one-star prologue medal, shoot down two enemy planes, and then award a two-star prologue medal......

Li Mu looked carefully at the medal on the old man's chest, in the center of a pair of golden eagle wings, there was a star in the center of the circle on a white background, and there was a star in the above, lower left, and lower right of it, with the layout of a trident, a total of four.

The old man stroked his medal and said softly: "Actually, I only shot down three Japanese planes, and the fourth one was shot down by one of my wingmen pilots at that time. ”

The young female reporter was ashamed and said, "I'm sorry old-timer, I don't quite understand what you mean by wingman, can you teach us a lesson?"

The old man let out a sigh of relief, recovered from the heavy thoughts just now, and said: "At that time, the planes were all formation tactics, divided into long planes and wingmen, the long plane was the commander of this formation, when the battle was lifted into the air, the wingman unconditionally carried out all the orders of the long plane, and the tactics adopted by the national government at that time were one commander and two wingmen, three aircraft formation, I was the long plane, and there were two other wingmen. ”

Speaking of this, the old man sighed and said, "Since the death of my wingman pilot, the number of planes in the National Air Force is insufficient, so we have changed to one captain and one wing, and three to two......"