Chen Zikun's memorial ceremony was held in Chuqimen, Chongqing. On the huge venue, tens of thousands of people stood solemnly in the rain, armed guards with white flowers on their chests, standing on both sides of the coffin, on a large portrait in the rostrum, the young general was full of spirit, and his voice was like that.

The drizzle was drizzling, the mourning was low, a black car drove slowly, Chairman Chiang and his wife came to attend the ceremony, the audience stood up and saluted, the chairman of the committee wore a black veil, his face was sad, Mrs. Chiang wore a black cheongsam, face to the sky, the expression was sad, the couple ascended the rostrum, and personally delivered a speech, reviewing the revolutionary life of Chen Zikun, praising him as a good student of the former prime minister, an outstanding son and daughter of the Chinese nation, and awarding the highest honor of the state government, the National Glory Medal, and a certificate of honor and mourning to the widow.

Chen Zikun's widow sat under the canopy at the front of the rostrum, Yao Yilei and Jianbing both changed into black mourning clothes, their arms wrapped in black yarn, and a pair of children wearing linen and filial piety, with red circles under their eyes.

Yao Yilei came to the stage and received the medal and certificate of honor issued by the chairman, although she was very sad, but this moment must not be out of shape, in the end, everyone was born in a beautiful background, carrying the pain of losing her husband, in the face of tens of thousands of people, she was still calm and calm, and she talked well: "The sacrifice of the first husband, we are all very sad, in order to fight against the Japanese invaders, soldiers can be sacrificed, generals can also be sacrificed, the Chinese nation has reached the most dangerous juncture, I hope that the death of the late husband can inspire the people, unite to resist Japan, defend every inch of the country, defend every compatriot, we do not cry." , because those who are about to become slaves of the country are not qualified to shed tears. ”

The loudspeaker broadcast Yao Yilei's pure and soft Beiping Chinese to the audience, and everyone was moved, and a student-like person raised his arms and shouted: "Down with Japanese imperialism." Then there was a thunderous shout.

Another girl shouted: "General Chen through the ages!" "It's still a response.

Then, tens of thousands of people sang the March of the Volunteers in the rain: "Arise, you who do not want to be slaves, take my flesh and blood to form our new Great Wall ......"

Although she said that she would not cry, the scene in front of her made Yao Yilei can't help but recall that in the spring of the eighth year of the Republic of China, she and Chen Zikun were still young people in their prime, the bright lights of the Liuguo Hotel, the excited Zhaojialou on Chang'an Street, and the earth-shattering kiss goodbye at the Tianjin Wharf, tears suddenly burst out of her eyes.

Chiang Kai-shek and his wife stepped forward to shake hands with Yao Yilei, and Mrs. Chiang said, "Mrs. Chen, if you need any help, you can come to me." ”

"Thank you, madam, thank you, Chairman." Yao Yilei wiped her tears and returned to normal.

A man dressed in a tunic with sword eyebrows and starry eyes walked over, with a Huai'an accent: "I am Zhou Enlai, General Chen and I have been old friends for many years, this is a little bit of our heart from the Eighth Route Army Office in Chongqing, please Mrs. Chen must accept it." ”

As he spoke, he handed over an envelope, and the two staff members behind him unfolded the scroll, and five big characters on the rice paper were hearty: "The horse leather shroud is returned." ”

Yao Yilei couldn't help but have a sour nose, her husband died tragically, and she didn't even leave a whole corpse, she was sent back with a charred corpse wrapped in a tarpaulin, which was in response to these five words.

People from all walks of life have presented elegiac couplets and wreaths, Feng Yuxiang, Song Ziwen, Chen Guofu, Dai Jitao, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, etc.

Yao Yilei Jianbing took the two children to thank them constantly, bowing mechanically, and her heart was full of grief.

After the memorial ceremony, Chen Zikun's ashes were buried in Beibei Yutai Mountain, tens of thousands of people saw them off in the rain, and three Japanese planes flew over Chongqing at the right time, but did not drop bombs, but scattered countless blank papers like flowers, and the Japanese army used this form to express condolences to the first enemy general who bombed the Japanese mainland.

……

North Thailand, the vast green gauze tent, the battle has just ended, Chen Zikun led people to attack a lone devil squad, annihilated the enemy, the battle was very hard, after the loss of North Thailand, the bullets could not be supplied normally, the portable machine gun that consumes bullets is not available, can only use rifles to go into battle, without armored vehicles and artillery, the lack of tactical literacy of the North Thai army was exposed, more than 100 people besieged twenty or thirty Japanese troops, the fight was still quite hard, and finally had to bayonet to solve the battle.

Chen Zikun sat on the ridge and smoked, suddenly sneezed, wiped his mouth and continued, and hit seven or eight in succession, and couldn't help muttering: "Who cares about me." ”

……

After the funeral, the family returned to the hostel exhausted, facing the crowded and messy corridors, the peeling walls of the room, Yao Yilei began to regret not buying real estate in Chongqing in advance, she bought a villa in Hankou, but who would have expected that the national army would be defeated so quickly, Wuhan had fallen, and the house could only be cheaper than the Japanese.

Although extremely sad and tired, but a large family waiting for dinner, Yao Yilei had to beat her spirits, convened a meeting of widows, Beitai was lost, not only Chen Zikun died in the plane crash, but the soldiers who stuck to the last moment also lived and died with the city, Yan Su, Chen Shou, Chen Qilin, Xue Bin, the wives and children of these people, all crowded in this hotel, at this moment, Yao Yilei is everyone's leader.

A group of orphans and widows are sad and bleak, sighing for a long time, in fact, their family foundation is not thin, there are always hundreds of thousands of yuan in deposits, but they are all stored in the bank in Shanghai, there is no way to withdraw in Chongqing, from Beitai in a hurry, did not bring a few changes of clothes, the money on the body is not much, and now it is difficult to even eat.

"The top priority is to find a place to settle down, and staying in a hostel is not the way to go." Yao Yilei said.

"I'm going to look for a house." Chan's wife raised her hand.

Yan Su's wife said: "I remember one thing, the machinery and equipment from Beitai seem to have been shipped to Chongqing, and they are all our things, even if they sell scrap iron, they are worth a lot." ”

Yao Yilei's eyes lit up: "Of course you can't sell scrap iron, what men can do, we can do the same, wait to settle down, find this batch of machines, and build the factory!" ”

Everyone was moved by her bold words, and they were ready to go, Yao Yilei returned to her room and saw Yan'er lying on the bed, her eyes closed and motionless, her heart was in pain, her daughter and her father had the deepest feelings, and she cried like a tearful person at the funeral, and she would finally fall asleep.

When I used to help her cover the blanket, her forehead was hot!

Yao Yilei suddenly panicked, just as Jian Bing came in, and after checking it, she said, "I have a high fever, send it to the hospital immediately." ”

There is a clinic on this street where the hostel is located, and you can see a white-bearded old man sitting on the clinic when passing by, and there are many people who ask for medical advice, which should be a famous local doctor.

Yao Yilei hurriedly picked up the child and went, there was only a big girl in her twenties in the clinic, wearing a Yin Dan Shilin cloth skirt, reading an old medical book, and when she saw the patient coming in, she stood up and greeted: "See a doctor." ”

"What about Lao Langzhong?" Yao Yilei couldn't wait.

"Grandpa went to the doctor, I'm afraid I won't be able to come back until the evening." The eldest girl said.

"What can I do?" Yao Yilei was so anxious that she stomped her feet.

"Let me take a look." The eldest girl put down the medical book and helped the sleeping Yan'er take her pulse, Yao Yilei had no choice but to let her diagnose.

"My little sister is too sad." The big girl smiled.

Yao Yilei was shocked: "How do you know?" ”

"You can feel it on the pulse." The eldest girl took out a pen and paper and began to write a prescription, and the hand-held small letters were extremely beautiful, not like Lang Zhong prescribing medicine, but like a female student in the school painting red.

"Just take the medicine and decoction according to this, rest more, and have a heart medicine doctor for heart disease, accompany her more, enlighten and enlighten." The eldest girl handed over the prescription.

Yao Yilei was skeptical, and Jian Bing took the prescription on the side and saw that it was all some calming medicine, so he nodded at Yao Yilei.

"How much?" Yao Yilei took out her wallet.

"No money." The eldest girl smiled quietly and wiped the hair on her forehead.

Yao Yilei still put down the five yuan fiat currency, hugged her daughter and grabbed the medicine, after decocting according to the prescription, Yan'er really got better, but she was still depressed, and the pain of losing her father was afraid that only time could smooth it out.

In the evening, Chen Qilin's daughter-in-law Zhang Huiru came back happily, saying that she had found a house, with ten bedrooms upstairs and downstairs, as well as a yard and garage, and the location was also good, but the owner only sold it and did not rent it, and the price was not high, 10,000 yuan of legal currency. It's just like giving it for nothing.

Yao Yilei and Jianbing glanced at each other, and they both felt that this house was worth buying.

"The landlord's family wants to get rid of it and go to Hong Kong quickly, just let me meet it as soon as it is listed, I will give him a fixed fee of 100 yuan, let him not sell it to others, two sisters, I will cut it first and then play, don't you be angry." Zhang Huiru said complacently.

"Make a decision right away, do a good job, let's go and see the house." Yao Yilei patted Zhang Huiru on the shoulder and praised.

The house is as good as it is said, it is suitable for them to live in, the next day, Yao Yilei took the promissory note to the central bank to withdraw 10,000 yuan in fiat currency cash, and took Zhang Huiru to buy a house.

The transaction went very quickly, the owner was a man in his thirties with oily hair and flour, took them to the district office to trade and transfer, bought a few revenue stamps, pasted them on the new deed, the money was paid, and the house was in hand, everything went very smoothly, which made Yao Yilei a little unbelievable.

It turned out that her hunch was right, when a group of orphans and widows dragged their luggage to the house, a stout man in a silk trouser gown came out of the room, shook off the gold and black folding fan in his hand, a big jade wrench on his finger, a fat neck and shoulders together, and round sunglasses stuck on his face, full of momentum.

"What are you doing here?" The man blocked the way.

Yao Yilei said: "This is my house, I haven't asked you yet, what are you doing here?" ”

The man sneered: "It's weird, it's obviously my house, how did it become yours?" ”

Yao Yilei walked to the window and saw that there was a table of eight immortals in the room, three men with big shoulders and round waists were building mahjong, and there were wooden shells of top hats and box guns hanging on the wall.

She understood that this was a trap and was deceived.