Chapter 287 Broken Bridge Memories
He Shu kept this sentence in his heart: a woman who can live a down-to-earth life.
He thought that after he married Xia Miao, Xia Miao would live a stable life with him.
After arriving home, He Shu had another video call with Xia Miao while his godfather went to take a shower.
Xia Miao will be back in about a week. He Shu thought about it and made an agreement with her that after she came back, they would go see Teacher Li together.
I haven't visited Teacher Li for a long time. Although He Shu occasionally sent a few messages to Teacher Li after he was released from prison, they haven't seen each other for more than a year after all.
Xia Miao also agreed, and after chatting for a few words, a wealthy old lady entered the camera.
"He Shu, this is my grandma."
He Shu quickly sat up straight: "Hello, grandma, my name is He Shu."
Grandma Xia Miao didn’t really understand video chats, so she watched for a while out of curiosity: “Oh wow, I can even hear people talking.”
Then, He Shu heard Xia Miao's grandmother asking Xia Miao: "Whose child is this? Is he your classmate, Miao Miao?"
Xia Miao introduced generously: "Grandma, this is my boyfriend."
"Boy friend?"
"That's my partner!"
"Oh, let me see, let me see." The next second, grandma's face came up, filling up the video screen, and was very close.
Listening to Xia Miao talking to her grandmother over there, He Shu didn't dare to move. It took a long time for Xia Miao's grandmother to understand what was going on.
She told He Shu to come to her house next time and He Shu quickly agreed.
Grandma's intrusion made Xia Miao say a few words to He Shu and then quickly turned off the video. After a while, she sent a message on her mobile phone.
"My grandma said you are really pretty." With a cute expression of shyly covering your face...
The next morning, He Shu got up early.
He is going to the cemetery with his grandfather today, so Zhao Qishui is not going to go with them.
After breakfast, Zhao Qishui drove He Shu to the guesthouse. Shortly after he registered at the door, Xiao Ding came out to pick him up.
"Godfather, you go back first."
"Okay, I'll treat the old man and your aunt to lunch at noon."
He Shu nodded and followed Xiao Ding into the guesthouse. In the corridor, they met a group of people in military uniforms coming out of their rooms and preparing to leave.
Grandpa and aunt also got up early. After asking He Shu, they learned that he had finished breakfast, so they did not delay.
Xiao Ding got a car from somewhere, with a license plate of the local military district.
Seeing that Xiao Ding still wanted to check the map, He Shu volunteered to drive. Grandpa smiled and let Xiao Ding sit in the passenger seat.
He Shu drove very steadily. In other words, he drove very slowly, especially since he had his grandparents in the car with him, so he basically drove at the minimum speed limit on the road.
Fortunately, he hadn't driven for a while and was not in a rush, so he arrived at the cemetery smoothly.
After getting out of the car, Xiao Ding took out a small flower basket, paper money and some offerings from the trunk that he had prepared at some unknown time.
He Shu supported his grandfather and led them along the smooth stone road inside.
Grandpa has been looking around this place and found it clean and tidy, surrounded by mountains and forests, and full of greenery.
The entire cemetery is well planned, with an antique mountain gate pavilion and a pagoda specifically for burning paper.
Very satisfied, he said to He Shu: "Xiao Shu, this is a great place you chose for your mother."
My aunt remained silent. In fact, she hated coming to places like this, but she was worried about the old man coming alone.
I don't know what I was thinking about, but my eyes were slightly red as soon as I entered the cemetery.
When we arrived at Qi Yue's tombstone, the flowers that she and her aunt had placed there during the Qingming Festival had already been swept away.
Xiao Ding helped arrange the flowers and offerings, then stepped aside.
The old man stared at Qi Yue's tombstone and looked at the words engraved on it, and couldn't help but burst into tears.
"You are such an unfilial girl..."
Old Master Qi only uttered these words. What else could he say to his daughter whom he had not seen for many years and who died young?
Thousands of words finally turned into this one sentence.
Zhu Yu watched from the side, just feeling sorry for the old man, and actually didn't have much affection for Qi Yue.
When my brother-in-law, mother-in-law and son passed away, this aunt never came back. To Zhu Yu, Qi Yue was almost like a stranger.
Today, the old man came to see his stubborn daughter who never returned home until her death, and the relationship between father and daughter came to an end.
No matter what the relationship between father and daughter was like when they were alive, the past is the past, and when they are separated by life and death, all the grudges will disappear.
Mr. Qi has spent his entire life in the army and has witnessed many deaths and lives. He knows that when a person is gone, they are gone and nothing will be left behind. He can be considered a true materialist.
But today he asked Xiao Ding to prepare a lot of paper money for the dead and take it to the designated incineration tower to burn.
My aunt Zhu Yu lit the paper money and threw it in one by one. My grandfather took a bamboo pole to help turn it over.
The old man didn't say anything during the whole process. He waited carefully until all the paper money was burned out, threw away the bamboo pole and turned his head to look again.
"Let's go."
Xiao Ding supported the old man and walked in front, while He Shu followed behind with his aunt.
There was no conversation along the way until we got in the car, then Mr. Qi spoke: "Let's go for a walk by the river?"
After Xiao Ding responded, he drove the car directly to the iron bridge by the river, which is a tourist attraction of the Dan River.
The two iron bridges, one new and one old, over the Green River bear witness to the war-torn years .
The old man got out of the car, walked to the riverside, and looked at the half-broken bridge from afar.
He Shu said, "Grandpa, how about I go up with you to take a look?"
This place has become a tourist attraction and now you need to buy a ticket to enter.
Grandpa shook his head: "No, I'm afraid if I go up, I'll disturb them..."
The old man recalled that year when he was only 12 years old. He secretly followed the large army to aid Korea, but was thrown back when crossing the bridge.
At that time, his father and brother were already on the other side of the river. He saw that half of the bridge had been blown up, planes were flying in the sky, and there were bombs roaring below...
The first battle ended in failure due to lack of weapons and insufficient time to prepare.
Just as the second battle began, we encountered a cold winter that occurred once in 50 years.
In temperatures of more than 40 degrees below zero, the soldiers were still wearing thin cotton coats and cloth shoes, and the troops suffered no less than a hundred non-combat casualties due to frostbite every day.
But even in such a harsh environment, the volunteer army still pushed the front line to near the 38th parallel.
During the third battle, his brother was sent off the battlefield because of frostbite in his legs and faced amputation, so he was evacuated as well.
Although Mr. Qi did not cross the river due to his young age, he never left and helped the medical soldiers treat the wounded who were sent back, and witnessed the cruelty of war.
Those soldiers who had their limbs amputated due to frostbite, those who screamed in agony that they could not bear, and those who would never come back.
Among them was Mr. Qi’s father. The Korean War also made him a fatherless child...
Later, according to statistics, a total of 190,000 Chinese volunteer soldiers died in the Korean War alone.
Who are these people's fathers? Whose sons are they? Whose family's pillars are they?
The former 13th Corps (under which were the 38th, 39th and 40th Corps) and the 42nd Army formed the Northeast Frontier Defense Army.
Based on the "no expansion " policy, the border defense army was transformed into a volunteer army and participated in the Korean War in order to safeguard the security of the northeastern border.
Today, the banks of the Dan River and the Green River are covered with high-rise buildings. Apart from the bullet holes on the broken bridge, there is no trace of the past.
Isn't it what they want to see that the motherland becomes more prosperous, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, there is peace everywhere, and there is no more war?
Now that all these have been realized, have they seen it again?
