On this day in early autumn, when Zhang Weiping was full of ambition to return to the military compound to visit relatives, eighteen-year-old Qiao Nianchao and Fang Wei, who was also eighteen-year-old, walked in the tunnel of the air-raid shelter.

The air-raid shelter in the compound of the military region has been repaired for many years, and since the withdrawal of Soviet experts and military advisers, the situation has suddenly become tense, and Mao ** called on the whole people and the whole army to "dig deep holes and accumulate grain." During World War II, the United States cast too deep a shadow on Japan. The old man called on the people of the whole country to always be on guard against the hegemony of the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result, the compound of the military region, like the rest of the country, vigorously launched a campaign of "digging deep holes and accumulating grain." The air-raid shelter was dug to a certain extent, and it was really a bit like the tunnel when the Japanese were fighting, and in the end, it was family to house, and every household was connected. In the beginning, there was a vegetable cellar under each house. Later, it was connected, and now every family's vegetable cellar has a tunnel. A certain piece of floor in the living room or bedroom, as long as it is lifted, it is a tunnel entrance.

The air-raid shelter in the compound of the military region is usually managed by someone, and any kind of water and electricity have already been connected to it, and a command post has been built in it, and there are also telephones, radios, and so on. In the past, the military region had to conduct several exercises every year, moving the headquarters in the military district building to underground air-raid shelters, where the combat personnel lived for several days and remotely commanding the combat units on the ground, and the ground troops were engaged in extremely arduous battles in front of the imaginary enemy.

Qiao Nianchao and Fang Wei had been attracted by this tension and mystery for as long as they could remember, and they were full of imagination and temptation for everything in the bomb shelter. In the beginning, only once or twice a year during the exercises, they had the opportunity to come to the cave under the guidance of their parents, and for a few days, the bomb shelter became a paradise for children. Because in those days they were justifiably exempt from going to school, and although their movement was somewhat restricted, they were still happy, the lights were always on, they lived in groups, they ate the same meals, they got up and went to bed and listened to the bells, but they could play like crazy, completely ignoring the nervousness of the soldiers. In those days, the children were even happier than the New Year. After the exercise, their high spirits will continue for several days, and the central topic of those days will still be the interesting life in the bomb shelter. In the eyes of adults, life in a bomb shelter is boring and lifeless, but it is very human and interesting for children. As soon as they walked out of the bomb shelter, they began to look forward to the next exercise.

Later, the connection of the bomb shelter was dug into every house, and they could sneak into the ground at any time to find out what was going on. At that time, the management of the air-raid shelter was still very strict, and the soldiers of the guard company often went deep into the air-raid shelter to inspect it, and they also found that some children had trespassed into the air-raid shelter, and they caught the children again and again. The children enjoyed the adventure even more, and they started guerrilla fights with these guard fighters, and they took it as a kind of game. Later, the troops came up with a way to seal some of the holes leading to the war-ready facilities with iron gates, and the parents took strict care of their children, so that they calmed down a little. But the supervision is not visible, and there are still children in and out of the tunnel from time to time. The tunnel is usually not electrified, and the exhaust equipment is not turned on, so if you get lost in it, it is dangerous for a long time.

There was such an incident a few years ago, two children secretly got into the tunnel from the mouth of their vegetable cellar, they went down with a flashlight, and then the flashlight ran out, they lost their way and couldn't get up. In the middle of the night, parents couldn't find their children, so they remembered the tunnel. In the middle of the night, the air-raid shelter was brightly lit, and more than 200 soldiers searched for more than two hours in the tunnel at the fork of the ditch before they found the two dying children. After resuscitation, the two children were brought back to life. These two children are Qiao Nianchao and Fang Wei. At that time, they were in the fourth grade of primary school.

After this happened, the tunnels of every household were strictly managed, some were locked, and some were simply sealed. Since then, children have fewer opportunities to go down the tunnels.

Also a few years ago, a big event happened in the tunnel, a soldier of the guard company fell in love with a female soldier of the signal regiment, and the two of them secretly got into the tunnel, and then I don't know whether they got lost or suffocated, and they were found three days later. They died together, and the posture of the dead was still quite touching, the female soldier hugged the male soldier's waist tightly, and the male soldier held the female soldier's head, as if admiring the beauty of the female soldier. Their expressions are smiling, lover-like smiles, and they don't seem to be aware of the slightest bit of death, and they express their love with all their hearts. They died in love. At the time of cremation, they could not be separated under any circumstances, and in the end, two people were cremated together, and the ashes were divided into two urns, and the parents of both sides took them away in grief.

This poignant love story has been circulating in the military compound for many years, a poignant and somewhat tragic love myth.

This love myth also deeply touched Qiao Nianchao and Fang Wei. They are now young men and women over the age of eighteen, who completed high school in July 1975 and are now unemployed at home. Since they were minors, they have been deeply struck by the love myth of the two male and female warriors, and they have invested in another kind of affection for the bomb shelter, which is not at all the game psychology of their childhood.

In the past few days, they have all thought of the air-raid shelter, first Qiao Nianchao drilled into the hole, he came to the bottom of Fang Wei's house with a familiar car, raised his hand and knocked on the floor of the hole, three times lightly and three times, Fang Wei heard it. If it's safe, she'll dodge into the hole. They're older, and they're already able to easily find the key to lock the entrance to the bomb shelter in their home. If there is someone in the house at this time, if it is inconvenient, she will stomp her feet on the floor three times.

That morning, Qiao Nianchao and Fang Wei walked into the air-raid shelter hand in hand. Qiao Nianchao held up the flashlight, the battery was new, and he still had two spare batteries in his pocket, so they didn't have to worry about getting lost because of the darkness. That morning, their emotions were very high, and the two of them hummed a song: "Tunnel warfare, hey, tunnel warfare, ambushing millions of divine soldiers......"

As they walked, they stopped talking, and they sat down on a platform, their flashlights shining dimly on the opposite wall, and the two men were half in the light, half in the dark.

It's been more than two months since we graduated, what are your plans? Qiao Nianchao tilted his head and said to Fang Wei.

Fang Wei shook her head, bangs dangled on her head, and her eyes were very dark and bright in the light and shadow of the flashlight. After she shook her head, she whispered: I don't know. After a while, he asked Qiao Nianchao again: What about you?

My dad said, let me go to the army.

Then I'm going to be a soldier too.

Qiao Nianchao stood up, and Fang Wei also stood up. The light and shadow of the flashlight in his hand also changed, shooting down the long bomb shelter into the distance, and the huge darkness quickly absorbed the light, and the flashlight felt weak.

The two men stared at each other in the dim light. They went crazy together when they were children, and when they grew up, they both had a sense of strangeness. Soon after they were rescued from the hole, they went to middle school, and from then on, they suddenly became separated, but they still couldn't forget each other. When they are in class, they are in a class, and the eyes of two people will often bump into each other inadvertently, and they will blush and heartbeat. Next, they went to high school together again, and it wasn't until the last semester of high school that the two started talking. It was also an accident. On that day, they walked out of the gate of the military district on their front and back feet to go to school. Fang Wei was in front, his steps were hesitant, neither slow nor fast. Qiao Nianchao was three or two steps away from her, and she didn't know how to look good.

Later, it was Qiao Nianchao who said first: Fang Wei.

The voice was very dry, and there was no luster at all.

She turned around, and he walked over, and he cleared his throat again before asking, "You're about to graduate, what are your plans?"

She whispered: If you don't go to the countryside, you will be a soldier. What about you?

The deadlock between the two was broken that time, and they would want to go together intentionally or unintentionally on the way to and from school in the future. There is no more to talk about studying or plans after graduation.

Two months ago, they really graduated, and in just two months, they seemed to have grown up all at once. They go on frequent dates, and the first place that comes to mind is a bomb shelter. They still have vivid memories of the accident a few years ago.

Today, they were staring at each other in the bomb shelter, so close that they could hear each other's breathing and their drum-like heartbeats.

Whose bodies moved forward, and they hugged each other's bodies almost at the same time. The flashlight fell to the ground, and with a "pop" sound, it rolled twice and stopped. The light burned under their feet.

They began to kiss, their lips moist and trembling, their teeth colliding together with a crisp sound. I don't know how long it took, but the battery of the flashlight that fell to the ground was almost depleted, and it only emitted a faint red light.

Fang Wei groaned softly: Nian Chao, I'm almost excited to death.

Qiao Nianchao said: Then let's die together.

The two of them hugged each other tightly again, and they thought of the pair of warriors who had eaten the forbidden fruit a few years ago, and the poignant myth. They can't get into each other.