An old comrade-in-arms wrote that he had returned to Yimeng Mountain and went to Swallow Cliff......

The first time I went to Swallow Cliff was in the year of Japan's surrender. In the middle of the night, it was snowing heavily, and the team was very tired from walking, and climbed mountain after mountain, and came to a few stone houses on the top of this high mountain. The secretary and a few villagers with hands in hand greeted us at the head of the village, calling one class at a time, and after calling a class, one of the villagers took us away. When the team headquarters was called, a big man who looked like a black tower in half a section said angrily: "Come!" Without looking back, he led us into a passageway, into a small courtyard, and opened a door. The house was lit with lights, grass was laid on the floor, and hot air was bubbling from the flaming stove along the lid of the pot.

"See what's missing?"

Under the lamp, I saw that the words of this urn came from an old man with a white beard.

We thanked him and said we didn't want anything.

"Then go to sleep, and have something to say tomorrow!"

The old man walked out on his own, and then heard the door of the hall ring.

The next day, when I opened the door, I saw that the mountains were all white.

The habit of the troops, the first thing to do when they get up in the morning is to carry water and sweep the yard. The captain is a lesbian, and the instructor is powerful, so the errand of carrying water naturally belongs to me, who is the communicator. But I'm afraid of carrying water, not because I'm tired, but because I'm afraid of the water-carrying house. In this place, I don't use sawdust iron buckets to carry water, but use clay pots, and my allowance has been paid for all the crockpots in the past two months.

I found a hook and a clay pot under the eaves of the hall and picked them out. However, there is no well in this place, so all the draught has to go down to the ravine to fetch spring water. Two or three miles up and down, when I brought back a load of water, my whole body was steaming, and my sweat-soaked cotton hat was cold. I trembled, twisted step by step to the courtyard, gently put down the crockpot in front of me, and then squatted down, at this moment, my feet slipped, only to hear the sound of "pop", and when I looked back, the jar behind me was bottomless, and the water flowed to the ground.

I was angry and annoyed, and looked at the broken jar on fire. Suddenly, I heard a crisp voice behind me and said, "What are you looking at? It's broken! Before I could turn back, a girl with braided hair, wearing a half-worn safflower cotton jacket and moon cotton trousers, strode up to me, reached out and grabbed the hook, turned around and walked towards the hall. When I walked to the door, I turned around and said, "If you don't know how to pick, don't pick, what can you do!" ”

"Hey, why do you talk like that?" I was already on the fire, of course, I bumped into it, "I'll pay you for the broken jar......"

"You Eighth Route Army have money! There's nowhere to spend the money, so where can I pay you for it? ”

"If you don't have any money, I'll pay you, I'll review the ...... if I smash the jar."

"You Eighth Route Army have idle time! I have nothing to do and I will ask you to review it! ”

At this time, the hall and the West House shouted at the same time: "Come back, what are you arguing about?" The landlord and the captain went out of the house at the same time, and each pushed one and pushed us back.

At this night's life meeting, I really made a review. Not to smash the jars, but because of my attitude towards the crowd, I was blushing and inspecting the first and second places, when there was a quarrel outside the door.

"What are you going to do when the team is in a meeting?"

"I'm going to make a review, if I don't review, I'm going to call him for a review, and the quarrel was the beginning of me!"

Except for me, everyone in the room laughed. I gave up this inspection halfway. Life would turn into a symposium, and the two of them chatted with us for an evening. Only then did I know that the old man had been in Kanto for more than 20 years, and when he left, he was alone, and when he came back, he took a four-year-old girl with him. said that it was a home built outside, and his wife passed away halfway. After more than ten years of resistance in his hometown, he only had a house after reducing the rent and retiring the postponement. The old man's name is Qi Wu, and the girl's name is Yufeng.

It was just after Japan's surrender and before the War of Liberation began. People had just survived the eight-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and overthrew the feudal landlords with high eyebrows, so they treated every day as a holiday. The sound of gongs and drums is non-stop day and night. If you find a reason, you will twist Yangge and step on stilts to be lively for a while. The old and the young are all lively, as soon as the meeting is held, the old man will practice the "soul breaking knife", Yufeng will twist Yangge, often the two of them make trouble and no one will cook, and squat on the stove with a face full of fat powder to roast sweet potatoes to eat. Yufeng is not only an amateur actor, but also takes care of miscellaneous things. Whether it is twisting Yangge or acting in a show, there is no silk or oil paint, she says: "Look for me!" "Actually, she didn't have any other tricks, but she came to our team headquarters to borrow it. Even if you say the heavens, what she wants to borrow will have to be borrowed in the end!

One day, our captain grabbed Yufeng and said, "You come all day to borrow this and that, and today I want to have a relationship, so I want to borrow something from you!" ”

"The heavy ones don't borrow the grinding plate, the light ones don't borrow chicken feathers, and the rest are lent to what!"

"Did you have the final say?"

"Say the same!"

"I'll lend you!"

Yufeng blinked and didn't say anything for a long time.

"Let's make a play, if we don't have a little girl, how about borrowing you?"

"It's not easy, I have to calculate it!" Yufeng suddenly put away her childish face and wrinkled her brows.

The captain was surprised. In the Yimeng Mountain base area, there is a shortage of actors on weekdays, and the literacy classes are rushing to come, and they may cry when they can't take their turns. Why did this little girl who was obsessed with acting all day hesitate?

"How many days are you going to borrow me?" Yufeng asked, "Do you want to go far away?" ”

The captain said that he would borrow it for two months, and only perform in the vicinity, not far away.

"Did you tell my dad?"

"Let's hear your opinion first. If you agree, we will discuss it with the uncle, and we will discuss it with the village government! ”

"I agree. But there is one condition. ”

"You say."

"I'll lend you to act, but I have to promise to come back on time to clean up the housework, cook and carry water. I'll play where I can take care of my home. It's far away, and you can't reach home, so you find someone else. ”

"Okay."

"One more."

"You're not old, and you still have a lot of conditions!"

"Ugly words ahead! My father wants to come and ask for something for me, don't agree, I am in charge of my affairs, and it doesn't count if you agree. ”

The captain thought it was all a child's move, so he casually agreed. Therefore, I didn't rush to talk to the old man.

The next day, there was a market in a village five miles away. Yufeng carried a basket to sell thread early in the morning. Uncle Qi pulled the cigarette pouch into the team headquarters. He first made a fuss in the local area, asked a few words that didn't matter, and then said in a rambling voice: "Have you negotiated with Nizi?" ”

The captain asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"Didn't you borrow someone?"

"yes, what do you think?"

"Disagree!"

"Why don't you agree?" The captain explained, "We borrowed her to participate in the acting, and we also went around these three miles and five villages, and we didn't delay her to go home to cook during the day, and we still sent her back to sleep at night." According to the regulations, during the borrowing period, someone will be sent to you to plough on your behalf, and you will be treated according to the military family. Don't you think it's good? ”

"Not good!"

"What about your opinion?"

"You officially took her in."

"The official income needs to be approved by the superiors, and we only have the right to borrow."

"It's okay to borrow, then you have to borrow it officially. You're borrowing and you're doing an expedition. The child is the exercise, the more the drill is like the real one, the better, I heard that I joined the army and went home to cook every day? If you borrow it, you will treat it as your people, even if she still lives in this courtyard, and she is not allowed to take care of the affairs of the house. ”

The captain said, "Then let's talk to her personally?" ”

"No need to talk about it, I am in charge of her affairs, you accept my conditions, and I will send someone over early tomorrow morning......"

As he spoke, there was a crisp shout outside. "Dad, you're going to the team headquarters, aren't you?"

When the old man heard this, he panicked and hurriedly asked, "When did she come back?" ”

I said, "She came back to look for gloves and listened outside for a long time." ”

At this time, Wang Feng stomped his feet outside and shouted: "No need to mutter, I'm not going, I'm not going!" ”

The old man said: "Look, it's a mess, isn't it? He hurriedly walked out. The two men followed each other into the hall, closed the door, and began to argue in a whisper.

As soon as the captain saw that the matter was messed up, he discussed it with the instructor. The two went to the village chief again and asked the village chief if there was any way to turn things around. The village chief said: "It's hard to say, it's hard to talk about the two of them, I'll go talk to the person in charge of the literacy class!" As long as Nizi nodded, the old man said that his Nizi was the head of the family. ”

That afternoon, we went to the military headquarters to listen to the report, and we didn't know how the village chief and the literacy class were doing. Early the next morning, Uncle Qi led Yufeng to the team headquarters with a smile and said, "I'll send someone to you." ”

The captain asked, "Have you negotiated?" ”

Yufeng said: "I have made a treaty, and my father agreed, I will come back every two or three days to spread pancakes and clean up the housework." ”

The life of the propaganda team members is much more tense than outsiders imagine. Drilling, shouting, reciting words, rehearsing, sewing curtains, washing costumes...... Except for the waiting scene, there is not much idle time. The captain thought that Uncle Qi was such a baby girl, and he had no mother since he was a child, so he should be pampered, but who knew that Yufeng was a very hard-working girl. There is willfulness, too, but that's in the little things. In terms of knots, she is more sensible than the older children on the team. Formal work is busy. As soon as she blew the rest whistle, the other children were like birds out of the cage, playing with their cries and jumps, but she swept the station clean and tidy up the housekeeping in an orderly manner. Whoever has a broken collar and a button is off, she will sew it with a needle. At first, because she was a borrowed crowd, people still fought with her for grabbing, but as the days went by, everyone became a habit, shouting whenever something happened: 'Feng Nizi! In this way, her pancakes were always stacked in baskets, and bundles of firewood were piled up in the courtyard. Everyone couldn't figure out when she did it. But our team knew that it was after the end of the show and before the morning exercise. Naturally, we also help the handle, and the main work is still done by her.

After borrowing for two months, everyone was very satisfied with her, and the leaders secretly agreed to officially recruit her into the army. Soon, the team received an order to transfer, and the captain found Yufeng at the team headquarters.

"What do you think of our job?"

"It couldn't be better."

"Do you want to be a propagandist?"

"Yes!"

"Tell you, silly Nizi, the superiors have agreed to formally absorb you, it depends on your opinion with your father! Do you agree? ”

Yufeng was shocked and lowered her head. I saw that her face was flushed, and the green tendons on her temples jumped violently. When he looked up again, his eyes were full of tears, and he choked up and said, "No, I don't participate." ”

Everyone was surprised. The instructor asked, "Why?" ”

"The comrades on the team are good to me, and I can't bear you, but I can't participate. If I don't serve my father into the ground, I won't leave him for a single step! With that, she crouched in the corner and began to cry.

Yufeng is an only daughter, and she should not have been mobilized to join the army, but when she saw that her father had the intention to ask her to participate, and she had the conditions to learn as an actor, the team considered it so. Now I don't want to, of course I just give up. The instructor and captain comforted her for a while and sent her back to the class. Before leaving, she said solemnly: "You have to remember me and have a little benefit, promise me not to talk about this matter with my father, don't talk about it." The captain also solemnly agreed to her.

The next day, everyone gave Yufeng two military uniforms, some daily necessities, and measured five buckets of wheat to the old man, which was counted as Yufeng's allowance, and sent Yufeng home lively. Although Uncle Qi was full of thanks and courteous, his face was faintly uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything.

A day later, the troops set off at dawn. At the time of the meeting, the hall was closed, and neither father nor daughter came out. Thinking they hadn't woken up, we quietly packed up the hay, swept the house, and walked out with our backpacks. Two miles out of the village, the sky was also bright, and I saw a person sitting on a stone in the distance smoking. When the team approached, he stood up and greeted him, it was Uncle Qi.

Everyone waved to him, and he waved his hand, until the captain approached, and he said, "I want to ask something!" ”

"You talk!" The instructor and the captain came out of the line, and I accompanied the instructor to the side of the road with a gun on my back and let the team go first.

"Nizi made a mistake on the team?"

"No, well done!"

"She's not material to be a propagandist?"

"Very talented, one in a hundred!"

"Then why don't you keep her?"

The captain looked at the instructor, and the instructor said, "You are only a daughter, and you can't recruit her into the army according to the regulations!" ”

"Well, what's that?" The old man shook his head and said, "I'm tough and tough, and I don't need to serve." What can she do with me? I'm just this one child, and seeing her have a whereabouts, I don't have anything to worry about in this life. Why don't you discuss it with me? ”

Because he had promised Yufeng not to tell her father the content of the conversation with her, the captain had to comfort him and said that now that the team had been opened, it was too late to change, and the next time he walked here, he would discuss the matter with his old man.

"You must have talked to her, but this Nizi doesn't want to." The old man said, "You know it from me." ”

The captain and instructor just laughed, not affirming or negative. The old man shook his head, sighed, and walked towards the swallow cliff without even saying goodbye.

The propaganda team drove to Linyi City with the military headquarters, where they stayed for more than half a year. In the autumn, the Liberation War began, we fought a few battles in the Lunan Plain, and after the solar calendar year, we turned around and drove north, and returned to the Yimeng Mountains overnight.

This night, it snowed heavily. Before dawn, when we walked to a fork in the road, the messenger sent a notice of camping, and the propaganda team's station was Swallow Cliff again.

As we climbed the hill, it was already dawn, and we could hear the sound of the village bell ringing in the distance. The bell was very close, but it took me a long time to climb the mountain, and by the time I reached the head of the village, there was already a large group of people led by the village chief. As soon as the villagers recognized it as the propaganda team, they even shouted and shouted around to hold hands with this one and pat that on the shoulder. The village chief announced loudly in the noise: "Come on, there is no need to assign houses anymore, and whoever lives in the original will go there." ”

A few people from the team headquarters followed Uncle Qi to the west room again, where the lights were still lit, grass was spread on the ground, and hot air was suddenly rising along the lid of the pot on the stove.

When Uncle Qi beckoned everyone to sit down, he himself sat down. He asked us about the battle in Lunan over the past year, and we told him about the battle to eliminate the 26th Division and the 3rd Brigade of the Kuomintang. He slapped his thigh and laughed when he heard it, and said vigorously: "Grandma, this is called happiness!" Grandma, that's what makes you angry! Then he asked us, how will the battle develop? Will the enemy soon move into the mountains? The captain said that in the end, of course, we will win completely, but I am afraid that we will go through a difficult stage at the moment. We don't know for sure when the enemy will enter the mountain, and I'm afraid we must come.

Uncle Qi nodded contemplatively.

We asked why we didn't see Yufeng? He said that Yufeng participated in the war service class and went to the district to receive training and learn to care for the wounded. I said I finished today, but I didn't come back for some reason.

At dawn the next day, the troops assembled and set off. Uncle Qi was neatly dressed and came with a small baggage. It turned out that the village had sent him as our guide. The captain asked: "Take a ten-mile journey and come back, what are you doing with a burden?" He said: "Since the war, I have not left anywhere in this little bag, who knows how the situation has changed?" If something happens and I can't come back, I don't have to catch blind. ”

He led us over two mountains, and when we reached the point where we were beaten, the captain asked him to go back. Before leaving, he took out a handkerchief bag sewn with thread from his arms and said, "This is for Yufeng, I thought I could meet her on the road, but who knows if I ran into her." I guess you'll be able to meet her any further on, so I'll leave it to you to bring her. ”

The captain said, "She'll be back soon, what are you doing with this?" ”

The old man said: "Being a father is such a heart." It doesn't matter if you don't touch it. Their training class lives in Hutou Cliff, you must pass through, and you can inquire and hand it over to her when you get there. I haven't come back yet, and maybe the training class has been postponed. ”

The captain took the bag and placed it in his leather satchel.

The team continued to march and never encountered the jade phoenix. Passing by Hutou Cliff in the afternoon, the brigade rested outside the village, and the captain went into the village to inquire, and said that the village had never held any training classes. And it doesn't belong to the same county as Swallow Cliff. The captain felt that he had done a reckless act, and took a bag that could not be transferred, so he had to put it in his backpack and carry it!

Before the lunar calendar, the team drove to the vicinity of Laiwu. One day in the middle of the night, I walked to the foot of a high mountain. The guide said that when you climb to the top of this mountain, you can see the train in the distance on a sunny day. Before going up the mountain, the captain ordered a quarter of an hour of rest, and those who could smoke were able to smoke bag cigarettes, and those who did not smoke chewed dry food to slow down. Prepare to climb over the mountain in one go, in case you are still moving on the mountain after dawn, and the enemy plane discovers the target and exposes the direction of action.

While resting, I heard someone shouting something in the distance. Because there were troops marching in front of and behind, no one paid attention to it. After resting, and about to move forward with his backpack on his back, a cavalryman flew up and said angrily: "Are you propaganda teams all deaf and blind? You can't hear it, and you can't look at it if you lose it? ”

Everyone asked, "Who lost someone, and who lost?" ”

"Your teammates! A second hair, fell behind and fell into our company! Are you going to wait a minute or send someone to pick it up? ”

The captain hurriedly asked each class to count the number of people, and the results of the investigation were not many. Just say; "What kind of cannon are you firing without investigating and researching? None of us are left behind, you're in the wrong place! ”

As he was saying this, a crisp voice shouted from behind: "Captain, wait for me!" Along with it, a figure in a military uniform with short hair came over in the moonlight. Everyone was still wondering, the man stood up with his feet straight, saluted and said, "I'm Qi Yufeng!" ”

The queue that had already stood in a column suddenly became chaotic, and everyone gathered around, shouting nonsense, especially female comrades, crying, laughing, shouting at the top of their voices, everything. The captain shook his hand and said: "Discipline, discipline, this is a night march, I said comrades......"

The cavalryman muttered angrily as he turned his horse and walked away, and he probably scolded the free soldiers twice, but no one bothered to listen, and those who heard it did not bother to talk to him.

The team fell silent, and while walking up the mountain, Yufeng asked, "Where is my father?" ”

"Your father?" The captain said strangely, "Your father is at home, why did he come here to look for him?" ”

"He didn't come with you?" Yufeng stood on her feet and opened her eyes wide.

The people around me said, "No! He sent us to Dajian Station that day and went back! ”

"That's weird!" Yufeng said, "When I came home the night you drove away, the door was locked. I asked my neighbors, and they all said that my father had left as a guide for the propaganda team, and left a message for me to come immediately! I don't even have a route, where can I catch it? When I saw our team, I inquired, and it was these days! At the beginning, I said that I was your landlord, and people advised me to go back, and sometimes they didn't tell me the truth for the sake of secrecy. Later, I had an idea and put on this military uniform, saying that I was left behind in the propaganda team! Alas, this only worked, and no one persuaded me to go back, and no one kept it a secret from me. It happened that I met the cavalry company just now, and they said that they saw you walking over! It's weird, why didn't my dad come? ”

Even though her father didn't come, he couldn't tell her to go back. Not to mention the distance, the battle has developed rapidly in the past few days, and Swallow Cliff has become a place where the enemy is entrenched.

The captain told her to go with the team, and she said, "I have nowhere to go except to follow you." But I still don't join the army, even if I borrow it, I can count it as a civilian husband, and I will never eat idle meals in the team. One day I found my father, and I hope you will let me go back. ”

After arriving at the campsite, Yufeng still returned to live in her former class. When the captain was carrying the backpack, he saw the handkerchief bag, took it to find Yufeng and said, "Here you are, this is what your father asked me to bring you, and he also said that we can meet you." If he had acted with us, he would have used me to support him, so it can be seen that the neighbor had mispassed the message. ”

Yufeng bit the sewn thread with her teeth, opened the handkerchief bag, and there was a cloth bag inside, and when she opened the cloth bag, she revealed the lock worn by a silver child. Everyone gathered around to see the rarity, and it turned out that the lock was engraved with words: "Cui Yufeng". A small spring on the back, which can be opened with a pinch of the hand, has a small photo inside, which is the head of a nursing doll.

This thing is too luxurious in the mountain village, and it comes from the hands of a poor old man, and people find it even rarer. Everyone invariably raised their questions to Yufeng with their eyes, only to see that Yufeng was trembling all over, and her tears kept rolling down, and she was already choked up. The captain made a look, let everyone disperse, stroked Yufeng's shoulder and asked, "Child, if you have anything to say, don't just cry!" Yufeng put his head in the captain's arms, Suo Xing cried, and said word by word: "I joined the army, I joined the army." ”

The captain took a closer look at the photo of the doll and vaguely recognized it as Yufeng. It is not surprising that Uncle Qi broke through the Kanto region and saved money to make a silver lock for his beloved only daughter, but it is clear that the lock is engraved with the surname of Yufeng and the surname Cui is not surnamed Qi, which must be asked.

When Yufeng collected her tears, the captain led her to the team headquarters and asked her softly: "Yufeng, what is going on, you tell me, you have to explain your background history clearly before joining the army?" ”

Yufeng said that when she was a child, she lived in Shenyang and lived with a grandmother surnamed Chen. The grandmother washed other people's clothes, and there was an uncle pulling a foreign car. Everyone has a father and mother, she doesn't have a father and mother, Yufeng is very strange and asks the grandmother. Grandma said, "Your father went out to mess around, and when he got mixed up, he will come back to pick you up." Yufeng asked, "What is my father like?" Grandma said, "I can't tell." But I know that when your father came, he had a silver lock with your name engraved on it, and a picture of you hidden in the lock. Yufeng, you remember, if there is no grandma in the future, you have to talk to your uncle, and whoever leads you will not go, if we see someone holding the lock, you will follow. "I said this for half a year, and sure enough, a middle-aged man came who claimed to be surnamed Qi, saying that he was Yufeng's father, he was not wide at all, his clothes were in tatters, and his face was full of stubble, but he held this lock in his hand. Grandma put Yufeng's clothes in a small bag, handed it over to someone to hold, and he carried Yufeng on his back and went out. Yufeng asked her father, "Where is our family?" He said, "In Guanli." Then he asked, "Where is Guanli?" He said, "far, far away." ”

They walked along the train track. Hurry in the morning and stay overnight. Sometimes when he came across a big village, Uncle Qi would stay and find some short-term work. Catching up with the bazaar and temple fair, Uncle Qi opened the scene to practice the style, collected a few dollars, bought a meat bun and oil fruit for Yufeng, and nibbled on a stick cake with a small handful of green onions. saved money to make a new dress for Yufeng, and bought a half-worn jacket for himself; There are also days when you can't meet the temple fair and can't find a short-term job, at that time, Uncle Qi will carry the jade phoenix on his back and reach out to beg, saying that he is in despair in Guandong, the woman is dead, and he takes the child back to the house in Guanli. Fortunately, along the way is the countryside, and the villagers who come from Guanli can't be broken, and whoever meets the old and the young will give a cake nest, and finally didn't encounter too much embarrassment.

After walking for a month, I arrived in the Hebei area. At this time, it was the early autumn season, a gust of west wind passed, and it rained, and the father and daughter were walking halfway, not in front of the village and not in the store. That night, when she stayed in a small shop in a town, Yufeng coughed vigorously, and by midnight it burned like coals. Uncle Qi didn't close his eyes overnight, and the next morning when he saw that the child was burned in a daze, and it was impossible to hurry again, he told the shopkeeper to help him watch the child, and he went out to find a doctor. In the middle of the afternoon, the doctor came, and after taking a few payments of medicine in a row, Yufeng was cured, but the two of them couldn't leave if they wanted to, because when they asked for a doctor, Uncle Qi told people that they would pay back the medicine money for a year.

They stayed in this place for more than a year, paid off their accounts, and then set out for the south. Because there was still a few dollars left after the settlement, they took a train, and arrived in Jinan in the late spring, in Jinan City, Uncle Qi inquired about the address and found a middle school, saying that he was looking for a gentleman surnamed Cui. At that time, there happened to be a man in a suit and a top hat standing in front of the porter, and as soon as he heard that he was looking for the surname Cui, he looked the father and daughter up and down and asked, "Where did you come from?" Uncle Qi said: "From Kanto! The man asked, "Who are you?" Uncle Qi said, "Folks." The man shook his hand and said, "Go, go, there's no surname Cui here!" Uncle Qi said: "If you don't have the surname Cui, you ask me what I'm doing with the bottom up?" Am I you kidding? The man said, "It's cheaper to ask here, but it's not the same way to ask in another place." Uncle Qi was still arguing, and the old man who was guarding the door on the side rang the bell vigorously, and at the same time said to the top hat with persuasion: "Director, you are too angry with him as a countryman to lose your identity, and when it's time, I'm still waiting for you to lecture at the court meeting!" ”

The man glared at the father and daughter, and said, "Drive away, drive away!" "I turned around and went into the courtyard. Uncle Qi was still angry, and the old man who rattled the bell whispered: "Old brother, let's go, Mr. Cui had an accident last year." Uncle Qi asked, "What's the matter, it's a lawsuit?" The old man put his mouth into Uncle Qi's ear and said, "Communist Party." asked Han Fuyu to shoot him. ”

Uncle Qi stretched out his hand to pick up Yufeng and staggered out of school. Yufeng felt that her father was trembling, and secretly looked at his face in fear, and for the first time, she found that her father was crying, and such big tears flowed down her cheeks. Yufeng also cried in fright.

"Don't cry, don't cry, my good boy." Uncle Qi pressed his tearful face against Yufeng's tearful face and said, "Let's go through it together, from now on, my neck will be lowered, and I will learn to endure it......"

The captain asked suspiciously, "You were only four or five years old at that time, how can you remember it so clearly?" ”

Yufeng said: "I don't remember clearly, some things have long been forgotten, and some things are remembered in a trance." Two years ago, when I went to a literacy class, I once organized a Yangko team to use silk, and I remember that there was a piece of silk at the bottom of my house that had been withdrawn from the landlord. When I found the silk, I found the lock wrapped in the silk. Seeing it reminded me of the impression I had when I was a child. Later, I saw my name engraved on it, and I didn't have the surname Qi, so I remembered that my father took me to Jinan School to find a teacher surnamed Cui. I was looking at the lock, not watching out for my dad coming from outside. He snatched it from my hand, his face was swollen and red, I grew up so big, I never saw him so angry with me, chased after me and asked me what is it about? What do you see? I said that I was looking for silk, and I accidentally saw such a rare thing, and what I saw was this lock, and I never saw anything else. He threw the silk at me and tucked the lock into his waist. ”

"That night, I couldn't sleep tossing and turning, and I heard my father coughing and sighing in that room all night. It was almost dawn, and I connected these things, only to realize that he was not my father, and it turned out that the old man was afraid that I would change my mind with him! Actually, since I can remember, my grandfather and I have lived heart-to-heart and life-to-life, and I can't change if I want to change! What's more, the father surnamed Cui is dead! I pretended not to know, but since then I have been more affectionate and filial to my father, he looked at me for a few days, the awkwardness on his face disappeared again, and my father and I lived peacefully as before. From then on, I made a vow, not to serve my father in the earth, not to go anywhere, not to leave him a single step. ”

The captain asked, "Have you not seen this lock since?" ”

"No, he hid it so tightly that he wouldn't let me see it. But last year, shortly after the war of self-defense began, one day he solemnly took out the lock. Say to me, 'Take a good look at it.'" I said, 'I've seen it once, but it's not much to look at.' He said: 'Look carefully.' In the future, when we start fighting, we may have a day when we get separated. If you are separated, remember, I will ask someone to find you, so that he will take this lock, and when he sees it, he will see it as if he saw me. Whoever holds this lock will go with him, and I will not give the lock to someone who is not extremely reliable. At that time, I casually promised him, thinking that the old man was too old to talk about children, how could there be such a day! I didn't expect this to be answered today. It turned out that he was afraid that I would not give up his participation in the propaganda team, so he made a plan. ”

After hearing this, the captain comforted Yufeng and said that she was right to be responsible for the care of the elderly, but Uncle Qi was strong, and leaving now would not affect his life, and he would not be able to do well in the future, and the organization would try to help her fulfill her obligations.

Yufeng became an official member of the propaganda team. The propaganda team helped her inquire about Uncle Qi many times, but because Swallow Cliff had become a guerrilla area behind enemy lines, she didn't hear any results.

In 1947, after the enemy launched a major attack on Yimeng Mountain, normal performance activities could no longer be carried out, and the propaganda team was divided into small groups and went down to the troops to carry out combat work.

During the Battle of Menglianggu, I followed the captain to escort a group of wounded soldiers down from the front line. The battle was in full swing, the enemy planes blocked our mountain road to the rear, we took three stretchers, walked a few steps and hidden, and the speed of our advance was very slow, until it was dark, and then we came to the Yihe crossing, and when we used a flashlight to see that the bridge made of wooden stakes and straw had been blown up by the enemy planes. The wounded were carried on three stretchers, and no risky action was allowed, and the captain ordered them to stop by the river and discuss a proper solution.

It was proposed to go twenty miles downstream, and to wade through the open field; Someone suggested that someone in the village should help repair the blown bridge, saying that it would not take much time than a twenty-mile detour; There are also those who advocate sending a wading water expert to explore the way, and maybe find a shallow route. While they were arguing, they heard something strange about the flow of the river, and the captain said, "Don't squeak, it looks like someone is wading across the river." ”

Everyone listened to it, and it was like the sound of wading water, and the captain took the electric baton and shone it into the river, and heard someone shouting: "Close, close, my eyes are glazed, how can I move?" The captain immediately turned off the electric baton, and at that moment everyone saw a soldier wading through the water with his hands over his eyes, and the water was up to his knees. A few stretcher bearers ran to the river and asked loudly, "Hey, can the stretcher pass?" ”

There was no answer. I only heard the sound of wading water. The captain beckoned me, and we hurried to the river, where the man had gone ashore and was being asked by the stretchers who were surrounding him, "Do you speak, can you pass the stretcher?" ”

"Yes and no!"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone can lead the way to find a shallow place to walk, but no one can lead the way! If you have the strength to carry the stretcher on your shoulder, you can walk, but you can't carry it by hand while still hanging the mixing belt! ”

The man said as he threw the water on his body, and he could hear that his teeth were shaking with cold.

The stretcher bearers commented: "It is easy to carry the stretcher on the shoulder, and the people on the three stretchers are gathered together, and one pair is carried over and then another." But where can I find someone who knows the road in the middle of the night? ”

The man said, "As long as you can carry the stretcher, the one who leads the way will not worry." ”

People say, "Where? ”

The man said, "Am I not one?" ”

People asked, "You're just jumping here!" ”

The man said, "That's what I remember!" ”

People ask, "Doesn't it affect your work?" ”

The man said, "I'll just run a few steps when I turn around, and I won't be warm if I don't run like this!" ”

The question was thus decided: the stretcher bearer gathered together to carry one pair of stretchers, and the man led them across the river, and the captain and I took care of the two stretchers on the bank, and when the first one had been carried over, and the people could find their way, we asked the comrade to take care of the stretchers on the other side of the river, and everyone came and carried them again. Then the man took off his clothes and took up the stretcher, and went down with the man into the river.

Three stretchers, it took more than an hour to go back and forth. When the last pair was carried out, I crossed the river with the captain. The river was fast and cold, and the stones under his feet were hard and slippery, and the deep places of the water overflowed his chest, so it was not easy to stand firm without pulling each other down. It was only then that I realized that the comrade was able to wade across the river alone with a little perseverance. And after wading over, he voluntarily led us back, and then he had to trample a third time, which could not have been done without a high sense of revolutionary responsibility.

As we approached the other side, the soldier had already approached us and asked in a loud voice, "Are you all here?" Is there anything else over there? ”

We said, "It's all here." ”

"Then I'll go mine!" As he spoke, he went into the water and staggered towards us, and everyone thanked him in a gossiping manner.

"Nonsense, the Eighth Route Army still uses this set against the Eighth Route Army."

But the captain still ran over, turned on the flashlight, shook his hand and said, "No, comrade, you helped us to complete the task, how can you not even say thank you!" ”

"Hey, you're ......" the man couldn't help but say, snatched the flashlight, shone it on the captain's face, and said loudly, "Aren't you the propaganda captain?" ”

"yes, you're ......"

"I am who I am!" He raised the flashlight and illuminated his face, and we looked at it for a while, and were surprised to find that under the military hat was actually Uncle Qi with a beard.

The captain asked, "Uncle, what are you ......?"

"I've all become soldiers, what are you still called, uncle! On the day I went out with you, I didn't go back, I left you, I found a health team, first with the health team migrant workers to carry the stretcher, and then to help the room cook, and when their migrant workers changed guards, I didn't leave, they knew that I singled out one, not the migrant workers' team. They told me to go home, but I said that my home was occupied by the Central Army, and there was nowhere to go back. I took out the propagandist's medal issued by the district, and they kept me and approved me to join the army. ”

"Why don't you send a letter to Yufeng?"

"I couldn't write before I joined the army, for fear that she would know that I was still a common man and come to take care of me. Now bring a message, I am an organized person, I don't need her to worry, just let her feel at ease revolution. ”

"That's all?"

"Also, but just tell you, I don't need to tell her, when I was arrested by the puppet Manchukuo to work as a laborer, I met an old man surnamed Pan in the labor team, and we slept head to head in the shack, and then this old Pan was tortured and became seriously ill, and when he died, he entrusted me with one thing, saying that his friend had a child in Shenyang, raised by an old lady. The child's mother used to live in the same hospital as the old lady, and was arrested and shot by the Japanese military police because of the anti-Japanese resistance, and the old lady took the child in. The child's father is a teacher in Jinan, and he can't do without himself, so he asked Lao Pan to take advantage of the opportunity of a business trip to the Northeast to bring the child back, but Lao Pan didn't wait to pick up the child after finishing his official business, so he asked the devil to arrest the laborers. Lao Pan said: 'People are desperately bleeding for the Chinese people, and I haven't even done this, and I can't close my eyes to death.' You are young, if you can escape from the labor team alive, for the sake of sharing the hardships, you can help me no matter how you want to do it. That winter we snatched the guards from their guns and escaped from the labor camp, and I took the token that Lao Pan had given me and found the child. But when I ran to Jinan with my child, I learned that her father was also a revolutionary and sacrificed for the country. In this way, I, who have never started a family in my life, have a home from now on. I just tasted the taste of having a relative. I planned to help each other survive in this life and this life, but you came, I hesitated, she is a descendant of the Communist Party, how can I selfishly detain her in her own small household forever and take her for myself? From the last time you borrowed her, I can see that she will not give up on me and persuade her, so I thought of such an idea. I'm sad to be sad, but in fact, in this way, I let go of my hands and feet. When I was young, I practiced boxing and martial arts, fought when I saw injustice, never refused to eat a mouthful of whimsy, caught up with unpleasant, and ran away after a fight, so I never got married. Since I have her, I have to endure any anger, I have lost my temperament, as soon as she leaves me, I have the courage again, the Kuomintang entered the mountains, the landlord counterattacked and I can't bear this breath, or join the Eighth Route Army to fight for the people of the whole country......"

The old man laughed. Someone shouted on the shore, and the captain realized that everyone else had come ashore, and we were still standing in the water.

"Alas, we're all crazy!" The captain smiled and said, "Quick! Go to the shore and say. ”

"No, I've delayed a lot of work, and I still have a task!" After Uncle Qi finished speaking, he learned the habit of being a soldier and beckoned, walked towards the river, and turned back and shouted: "You don't have to talk about this to Yufeng, lest the child know and be sad." Let's just say that I miss her a lot, and I will go to see her when I have the opportunity in the future. With that, he walked deeper into the river.

I said to the captain, "Tell him that Yufeng knows everything." ”

The captain poked his hand and whispered, "No need, maybe he will be sad in the meantime!" He shone a flashlight on Uncle Qi's back again until he completely disappeared into the sound of the river.

After that, I didn't see Uncle Qi again, and soon I was transferred out of the propaganda team and separated from Comrade Yufeng.

I asked the comrades who had been to Yanziya recently if they had heard the news of Qi's father and daughter, and he said no, the young people did not know that there was such a family in the village; The old man said that after the two disappeared on the same day, neither of them was seen again. Yufeng should be forty-six or seventeen years old this year, and if the old man is still there, I am afraid that he will be in his early eighties. She may have reunited with each other earlier.

February 1979