Start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 5 Ten Thousand Miles Goes to the Army

early morning.

The mountains at the edge of the sky are slowly lighting up, there are early fishing boats everywhere around, the sound of chanting is one after another, and there are faint crescent moons and stars hanging in the sky.

Xu Qing didn't sleep well last night, it was the first time she slept in a boat and felt dizzy, and it was difficult to close her eyes all night.

While half asleep and half awake, I suddenly heard voices outside.

He woke up with a start.

——Wu Qianli is leaving?
He turned over and over again and again, and opened his eyes to see that the seat next to him was already empty, the luggage was gone, and there was no one in the cabin.

Lift the curtain.

From a distance, I saw two old people standing hand in hand, and they were seeing off five thousand miles in front of the small pier. The big and small bags of luggage were buried in the boat long ago, and it was Liu Yuzi who punted the boat.

In the morning, there was a wind blowing on the lake, blowing coolly, and the voice came through the gap in the wind:

"I'll be back in Lichun, and I'll build a new house for you..."

"It's gone...Let him sleep well..."

"Take care of yourself..."

Xu Qing leaned on the keel, watched Wu Qianli standing still on the boat in a yellow military uniform, smiled and waved his hands, and gradually moved away between the two rows of maple leaf forests along the bank as Liu Yuzi swung his oars.

Looking up again, the boat is no longer visible.The two old men stood on a rock far away, stopped for a long time, and walked back slowly until they couldn't see anything.

Instead of working and fishing as in the past, they returned to the boat trembling slightly, holding the ashes of their eldest son Wu Baili in their arms and silently praying for blessings.

Xu Qing hid behind the curtain.

Although the voice was low, he could hear it clearly.

They pray that the second son, Qianli, can fight smoothly and survive the war, and hope that the third son, Wanli... will be free from illness and disaster, and stay away from the war.

Xu Qing sighed silently.

He knew that he might disappoint the second elder...

He opened the system panel, looked at the tasks that had not changed, and heard the kind and simple wishes of the two old people, he couldn't bear it.

Why do this?

The resolution he just made last night seemed to be a little heavier, he gritted his teeth, went back to the cabin and packed some soft clothes and food on his back from memory.

He took a deep breath and stepped out of the boat——

"thump!"

Xu Qing knelt down on the bow of the boat.

Hey, hey, hey.

Hard contact, three head slams.

The prayers in the boat stopped suddenly.

"I……"

Xu Qing's mouth twitched several times, but the words came to his mouth but he couldn't say anything, his throat seemed to be swallowed with iron, and it was inexplicably dry.

He paused for a few seconds, became cruel, closed his eyes and shouted loudly:

"Father, mother, it's me... Wanli!"

There was silence in the air, so Xu Qing had no choice but to continue talking.

"Wu Wanli is not filial... I have been living for more than ten years, and I have been muddling around, not knowing what is righteous, I don't know what is right and wrong, I only know how to smash, rob and mess around here..."

"Wu Wanli also hates himself. Liu Jianzi is right. Wu Wanli is just a small beheader. When he grows up, he is also a tyrant in the water that everyone hates. He lives like a human every day..."

"In the past, when the eldest brother and the second brother went to serve in the army, Wan Li didn't agree with it. He felt that they were going to die. Now that the elder brother is really dead--I understand that they are not sending him to death, but that someone in this country must bleed and die..."

"My son is unfilial and has lived for more than ten years in vain. The old Wu Wanli is dead, but the new Wu Wanli is alive today!"

"I want to join the army. I know you don't want to, but if I don't go this time, I'm afraid my second brother won't come back. I'm actually quite afraid of death, but I'm even more afraid of regretting it!"

"I want to go to war with the second brother, I want to avenge the elder brother, I want to kill the enemy, I want to live well, I hope you two elders can agree, agree to join the army..."

"I'm afraid Wanli won't be able to be filial by your side in the future, you have to take care of your health, forgive me, forgive Wanli, the unfilial children and grandchildren will kowtow to you here!!!"

Bang, bang, bang!
Xu Qing kowtowed again, and the muffled sound resounded on the awning boat.

Some of the words were spoken out of his heart, some were the unwilling memories of 'Wu Wanli', and some...was the vent of his wasted and incompetent modern soul.

But the boat was silent, and there was no sound.

I can't tell what it is, like stunned, like panic, the air is filled with unspeakable sadness.

Only the motionless figure of the boy kneeling on the boat, and the long and long chants of paddling and fishing on the lake in the distance...

I don't know how long I knelt down.

inside the cabin,
Finally, a voice came: "...I want to come back alive."

Xu Qing heard that it was Wu Shili.

It's just that the voice seems to have lost all energy at once.

Xu Qing's throat was a little choked, a little ashamed, and a little dazed.

He carried the cloth package on his back, hurriedly picked up a small broken boat parked by the lake, jumped on it, and looked back to see that the awning boat was still motionless.

Xu Qing knew that this was too cruel to the two old people.

Since then, the three sons have set foot on the battlefield full of gunfire. Whether they are alive or dead is unknown, they have been raised and raised all their lives, and in the end they may... only receive a jar of dead ashes.

But he had no choice.

It's not just about tasks.

When war comes, there are certain things that must be done.

He took a deep breath, slowly swung the oar in his hand, and walked along the five thousand miles away, with a determination that he had never had before.

The water moved backwards, and the boat went farther and farther.

a moment,
He suddenly felt something.

look back...

I saw a black-covered boat on the river beach in the distance, and the old man Wu Shili was standing upright on the bow of the boat at some point, and beside him was an old mother who was clutching her chest and crying like beads.Even if it's just a short stay in this world, spending only a day and a night with them, at this moment, Xu Qing's eyes filled with tears and he choked up, unable to explain why...

"Father, mother, don't worry, I will definitely bring my second brother back alive——"

The shouts from the distant mountains startled many birds in the maple leaf forest along the coast.

And in the sky, the morning glow and colorful clouds stretched for thousands of miles, like clanking hunting flags, and like waves of angry waves. Xu Qing stood on tiptoe and waved goodbye vigorously. At this moment, he felt as if he was the one in the waves. One flower, I don't know where it will go.

(End of this chapter)