In the early days of liberation, there was little change in the university compounds. The gate tower is still like the southern archway, but there are more rain shields on the top and a guard post for the PLA soldiers below. Entering the school gate is a small square, with a pool built in the middle, and a rockery in the middle of the pool; Behind is the second-story school building, the stairs and compartments are all wooden, and people will squeak and squeak when they walk through it. There is a small conference room on the left, a large poplar forest on the right, and there are many sheep intestine paths in the woods, a small open space, and a small stone table in the open space. In the summer, it is a good place for students to relax, study, laugh and relax. Because it was the early days of liberation, in order to prevent the enemy from sabotaging, the school teachers and classmates were told to stay in the dormitory as much as possible after dark, so there was basically no one to move around the school courtyard after dark.

After the beginning of winter, the north arrives in the number of cold days, which is also the shortest time of the year, and it will be dark as soon as it passes half past five in the afternoon. The girls studying in the doctor's class had dinner early, returned to the dormitory and chatted for a while, then quieted down, and everyone held a book and began to study. Yi Xiaoyu was particularly upset today, she knew that tonight was the last time she and he would meet in China, because he had signed up for the Volunteer Army and was going to North Korea to participate in the war. As an intellectual youth of New China, she especially supported his feat of defending his family and country. She also signed up, thinking that he would serve the motherland side by side and be an intellectual couple in New China on the battlefield. However, the army did not recruit female soldiers for the time being, and the head of the unit encouraged her to study hard, complete her studies, and make greater achievements in building a new China. Tonight was the send-off meeting organized by the college for the students who participated in the volunteer army, and the leaders of the college all went, in the small conference room. To say that she was very supportive of him when she signed up, but when she knew that she was going to leave, she was very entangled in the past few days, she couldn't eat well, couldn't sleep well, and often had nightmares; I dreamed that he was covered in blood, standing in front of her, without saying a word, waving his hand, turning his head and leaving. She cried and chased, but she couldn't catch up, and when she woke up, her pillow was wet with tears, and the same dream was made several times, and some of her were really afraid, worried that this time the separation would become their forever. She sometimes even regretted agreeing to him to join the army, but she knew the discipline of the army, and she would never turn back when she fired her bow. The meeting was scheduled for seven o'clock, and she estimated that it would be finished around eight o'clock. She was going to be there by eight o'clock where they used to meet, and she knew he would go straight there to meet her after the meeting. She told him to pay attention to safety, protect himself, and return home safely after the battle. She raised her hand and looked at the watch on her wrist, it was only seven o'clock, she picked up the book and read a few lines, put it down again, stood up and walked a few steps, and then returned to the bed to pick up the book, read a few lines, and couldn't stand it; Picking up the mirror and looking at it, she pulled her hair back, and put some powder on her face, she wanted to leave the pretty side she knew best.

After half past seven, the light rain carefully slipped out of the dormitory, the quiet and quiet in the corridor was a little scary, and I looked at no one before and after, for fear that the half-high heels under my feet would make a noise, and tiptoed downstairs to the place where she and he often dated, Yang Shulin.

Yi Xiaoyu was born in Shanghai, she has a gentle southern character, a thin figure, a well-dressed appearance, and a generous smile. After two years of college life in the north, she has the ability and straightforwardness of the northerners. Her white skin, beautiful figure, beautiful eyelids, and big talking eyes are always so youthful and energetic. Her father was a businessman in Shanghai, and because her mother had been in poor health, she wanted to be a doctor since she was a child. His lover's name is Liang Guocheng, a native of Shanxi, and she and his father are business partners. At that time, it was very important to be a good match, and the two families had the same background, and they were both students of the same university; The difference is that she studied medicine, and he studied mathematics; Under the mediation of the two parents, both of them were satisfied, and they became lovers.

To get to the poplar forest you have to cross the square in front of the college gate and bypass the pool. Xiaoyu trotted all the way into the poplar forest. Counting nine cold days, the poplars have already lost their leaves, the bare trunks, one by one, lonely, the ground is full of withered yellow leaves, the cold wind blows through the sand, and the rustle rattles. On a cold and cloudy day in winter, there was no moon and stars, and it was pitch black in the poplar forest, and the light rain came and stomped her feet in the cold wind, pacing back and forth, rubbing her hands, and from time to time putting her hands on her mouth and exhaling with her mouth, and for a while she shivered from the cold. He heard a sound outside the woods, and she ran out of the woods excitedly, and it turned out to be the sound of the wind blowing the leaves. He looked in the direction of the conference room, which was brightly lit and showed no sign of adjournment, so he sat down on the stone bench and quickly stood up again. The cold air on the frozen stone she felt had entered her body and her bone marrow as if it had entered her heart and lungs. She doesn't like winter in the north, and there is winter in the south, which is damp and cold; The winter in the north is freezing, and the frozen body hurts, especially when the cold air comes, and the northeast wind blows on the eyelids like a knife.

The conference room is a product left by the old government, a one-color blue brick and brick structure of the bungalow, two wooden doors in front and back, chest-high old-style carved windows, more than two meters wide from south to north outside the window, and the thick wood at the mouth of the bowl is supported, shielding from wind and rain. There is a small flower pond in front, planted with white, yellow and red chrysanthemums, there are special florists, the flowers rise in autumn, compete with each other, attract countless butterflies to step on one after another, showing so youthful vitality. This is also the favorite place for female students to go to laugh and laugh. The conference room could not accommodate 120 people at a time, the walls were bare bricks, there were rows of benches for four people, and there were rows of teachers' desks on the rostrum, and the leaders of the college sat behind the desks. Liang Guocheng stood in front of the stage and spoke on behalf of more than 20 college students who participated in the Chinese People's Volunteers. He was tall, burly, with a loud voice and a steely character, and at the age of twenty he was a man of the north. He was emotional, his face flushed, his voice trembled a little, and he was proud that he was one of the first college students to join the army in New China. He thought about the scene of himself wearing a new military uniform, carrying * majestic, and high-spirited across the Yalu River Bridge. In that era of political leadership, composition, and origin, a person like him, who was born in a merchant family, would not have been allowed to join the army. Just because he actively participated in the school protection activities led by the underground party before the PLA entered the city, he was elected as an activist and joined the party, and now he has been approved. When he finished speaking, he walked off the stage and returned to his seat. He looked at the door of the conference room, he knew that she was waiting for him, this was a tacit understanding between him and her, there was no need to meet at a time and place, the appointment was always so punctual. Since he and her confirmed the relationship, she has become his only one, his lifelong partner, he loves her passionately, wants to see him every moment, and even if he doesn't see her after ten minutes of class, he feels upset, and he can't give up in the next class. He could tell her footsteps in the classroom from the chaotic footsteps of the girls, he could see her for the first time in the crowd, and he could even tell the breath of her breathing.

A few people spoke in the back and said something, but Liang Guocheng didn't hear it at all. When the President of the meeting announced the end of the meeting, he was the first to rush out of the room. Trot all the way to the poplar forest. When he ran into the woods, he saw Xiaoyu's shrunken neck from a distance, rubbing his hands incessantly, stomping his feet back and forth, and looking anxiously in the direction he came from. He ran a few steps to her and held her tightly in his arms. He felt her tremble slightly, as if she were sobbing, and he let go of her, clasped her head with both hands, and saw tears in her eyes. He thought she was frozen. He knew that she was born in Shanghai and didn't like the winter in the north, especially after the ninth count, the air was dry, and the sky was icy and snowy. He was a little overwhelmed and quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, I'm late." ”

Xiaoyu sobbed and didn't speak. Liang Guocheng took off his coat and draped it on Xiaoyu's body, and helped the two of them to sit on the stone board: "Is it frozen?" He took out his hand from his trouser pocket and wiped her tears to comfort her: "In the future, I will not be by your side for two or three years, so pay more attention to your body." ”

"When are you leaving?" Xiaoyu stopped sobbing and asked suddenly.

"Assemble at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, and then go to the military station to change into military uniforms." Liang Guocheng replied.

Before parting, the two of them knew that what was left for them was the last night, and they both had a sense of urgency in time, and they both felt that they had a thousand words to say to each other, but when they faced each other, they didn't know where to start, and their brains were as chaotic as each other, staring at each other, and their brains were quickly sorting out their thoughts. There was a deathly silence in the woods, time seemed to stand still, only the sound of dead leaves and sand falling on the ground blown by the north wind. It was Xiaoyu who broke the silence first and said, "I'm a little scared, and I regret that I shouldn't have let you join the army." ”

"As a college student of New China, responding to the party's call to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and defending the country is the glory and great mission of our contemporary young people of knowledge! How can you say regret it? Liang Guocheng became excited.

"Of course I understand that."

Liang Guocheng said impassionedly: "I am willing to contribute my youth and even my life for the sake of New China!"

"I think the same way, I will give my life when the motherland needs it." Xiaoyu also said excitedly.

"Then what is there to regret?" Liang Guocheng asked. After a moment of silence, Xiaoyu suddenly got up and pounced on Liang Guocheng, hugged him tightly and cried again. Choked up and said, "I'm afraid of losing you." He had never thought about it. He is still young, only twenty years old, and young people are not afraid of death, because death is too far away for him. When an elderly person asks him how old he is, he always has to add a sentence in front of him, and only when he is still young, he says how old he is, because he has a sense of crisis. He didn't think about dying either, because he didn't have the slightest sense of crisis, and he was never in danger by his side. He grew up in a merchant family, carefree, and did not worry about food and clothing; Unlike children from poor families, they see their parents working all day long, eating the last meal but not the next, and having no money to see a doctor when they are sick. Especially in winter, the children of poor families cannot wear cotton clothes, the family has no money to buy coal, and the frozen hands and feet are cracked and bleeding; That year, there were no dead children who were not clothed, not warm, not well fed, and died of cold and starvation, and threw them under the city walls. Therefore, the children of poor families have shadows in their hearts about life and death when they are very young, and he is born in a merchant's family without any feelings at all.

Xiaoyu said that when he lost him, his heart did tremble, after all, it was a battlefield, how could there be no dead in a war? Some fear appeared in his heart, but it quickly passed. As a young man, his enthusiasm for New China trumped everything.

Liang Guocheng comforted Xiaoyu and said: "In North Korea, I estimate that hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the enemy and us are fighting, how can they just stop me?" ”

Xiaoyu said: "Bullets don't have long eyes. ”

"The head of the substitute soldier said that our college students go to the army according to the treatment of PLA cadres, supplement the lack of education of the volunteer army, and assign them to various units as staff officers." Liang Guocheng is full of confidence.

Xiaoyu stopped choking, wiped her tears and said, "I have had the same dream several times in a row, and each time I dreamed that you were covered in blood, standing in front of me, not speaking, waving your hand, turning your head and leaving." I'm chasing after me, but I can't catch up. ”

Liang Guocheng smiled, grabbed Xiaoyu's hands and said, "You are so innocent and cute!" Dream and believe. ”

Xiaoyu also smiled and said innocently: "Don't believe it, and don't believe it all." ”

Eliminating his worries, the two of them held hands, Xiaoyu leaned on Liang Guocheng's shoulder, snuggled up to him, and happily walked on the woods path. When people in love are together, two fires are lit in their hearts, which can melt ice and snow and withstand the cold, and happiness seems to be around them. They talked and walked, as if there was an aura in front of them, and they kept walking beyond that aura, and that was the end of their happiness. There were no cold days, no biting north winds, and I forgot that the school told me not to go out of the dormitory at night. Until the old staff guarding the school gate spotted them and shouted at them, "This is the student in that class?" It's so late, and I don't go back to the dormitory to sleep! ”

When the two of them heard the scream, they were stunned for a moment, and when they came back to their senses, they realized that it was too late. Xiaoyu raised her hand to see what time it was on the watch on her wrist, and on the night after the dazzling moon, she couldn't see clearly at all by the glimmer of the stars, so she had to give up. Xiaoyu threw himself into his arms, Xu'er came out again, and the two stood face to face, staring at each other, a thousand reluctances, ten thousand reluctances, or Liang Guocheng broke the stalemate in the factory: "Too late?"

Xiaoyu's face suddenly lost expression: "It's too late!"

"The porter is urging?"

"I hear you."

"Go back to the dorm, right?"

"Go back to the dorm."

The two looked at each other reluctantly, stepping back step by step, and neither of them wanted to turn their heads first. Suddenly, Xiaoyu ran back, hugged Liang Guocheng and kissed him on the face, smiled, and ran out of the woods. People in the fifties, and only highly educated lovers, would hold hands, and only in the evening. If you go shopping during the day, you are also in the front and one in the back, and it is rare to walk side by side. Xiaoyu's actions tonight seemed almost crazy at the time, and even Liang Guocheng was stunned. When he came back to his senses, he touched his face with a smile, put it on his nose and smelled it, and a faint fragrance rushed into his lungs and abdomen, making him unforgettable for life.