Chapter 24 Comfort Women (Part 2)

  Back in the city, the sky was still gloomy, and the air in the afternoon was filled with a strong smell of burning wood that couldn't be dissipated. What should have been the lively smell of cooking oil and food was instead replaced by the dry, barren smell of firewood and coal smoke wafting everywhere at mealtimes.

  Where to find Huai Jin? Dong Zhiyu was thinking all the way. In the past two times, Huai Jin sent her back and mentioned that she lived in the Central Hotel, Donghai Road area, seemingly on a small slope, it was a single-family house. Dong Zhiyu rode in that direction, passing through Xin Street Mouth, around a small alley on one side of Donghai Road, there was a wonton shop by the road, and a fragrance wafted over, only then realizing her stomach was hungry, after all, she hadn't eaten anything for half a day.

  A short and low car horn sounded from behind, Dong Zhiyu subconsciously leaned towards the side of the road, suddenly turned his head back, and saw a military green 82-style military vehicle slowing down, in the driver's seat was the woman he had been searching for everywhere.

  Hua Jin rolled down the car window, a pair of eyes that seemed calm yet seemed to contain infinite light. At this moment, he looked at Dong Zhiyu, seeing her push her bicycle and turn around to walk towards him, with half of her face already frozen red from the cold.

  "Come on, advisor! I'm looking for you!" Dong Zhiyu's tone was filled with suppressed excitement.

  Huai Jin looked at her for a moment, "Come up."

  He parked the bicycle by the side of the road next to a Tang Bao shop, Dong Zhiyu jumped onto the car, Huai Jin shook the window and parked it by the side of the road. Dong Zhiyu felt that this car was like March in Yangchun, warm and cozy.

  "What's wrong?" Huai Jin stopped the car and asked, turning his head.

  Dong Zhiyu slid her hands out of the thick woolen gloves, and her white fingertips, like jade scallions, were still frozen bright red, looking like naturally formed beautiful jade. As she rubbed her fingers and applied them to her face, she asked straightforwardly: "Do you know about the comfort station on the side of Xiaguan Coal Port?"

  "... Heard of it, how?" This question was far beyond Huaichen's expectation.

  This reaction made Dong Zhiyu feel a little disappointed in her heart, and from the tone of voice, it seemed that some things were none of his business.

  "Yesterday when I went to the train station to pick someone up, I saw Japanese people capturing a group of Chinese women and taking them away. It was pitiful, and according to the driver, they were all taken in to be bullied by Japanese soldiers."

  Hua Jin's eyes flashed with a hint of light, but she didn't respond, waiting for her to continue speaking.

  "We must rescue them! This morning I went over again and there were only three Japanese soldiers guarding the front and back."

  He had been quietly listening to her, looking at the street and pedestrians in front of him. He turned his face now, still speaking in a low gentle voice, "Do you think we, you and I, should rescue them?"

  "Yes!" Dong Zhiyu felt that her attitude was somewhat disdainful, even sarcastic. In the past, she could be sarcastic about herself, but this time, for the sake of so many suffering female compatriots, how could she be so indifferent?

  Huai Jin's gaze met her pair of bright, shining eyes, inside which were filled with determination.

  "There are nearly forty comfort stations in Nanjing now. If not, we would all quit our jobs and tasks, change our names and identities, isn't there an 'Anti-Japanese Prostitution Team'? We can also form a 'Comfort Women Rescue Team' to rescue them specifically, how about that?" Huaijin said calmly.

  Dong Zhiyu's face, which had just warmed up and regained its usual pale complexion, was once again flushed with a layer of redness. This time, however, it was for a different reason. She couldn't understand how Hua Jin could be so cold and indifferent, not even willing to show a thread of sympathy.

  "If you had seen it with your own eyes, you wouldn't be so indifferent!" Dong Zhiyu said sullenly. "This afternoon, they dragged a truckload of Japanese soldiers in and lined them up to go into that house." Her face grew even redder with shame and anger, and finally she added, "I thought we were all women and could show some sympathy for each other."

  Huai Jin turned her head back, leaning against the back of the car seat. Was it really empathy? What a huge irony! She closed her eyes, who else was more qualified to talk about empathy than her?

  Open your eyes, and it seems like there is a layer of frost in your pupils. "Dong Zhiyu, don't even think about it, I won't go with you, nor will I allow you to go."

  "Why?"

  "Why?" Huai Jin turned her head to look into her eyes, "In the chessboard layout, each piece has its unique mission. The 'guard' is a 'guard', it cannot move out of the nine-square grid, nor can it jump out to attack the enemy. However, once the enemy's pieces approach, the two 'guards' can change formation, defend the general, and even counterattack in a small range. If the 'guard' does not follow the rules and does not defend the formation, when the enemy arrives, the general will easily fall into the opponent's hands."

  Dong Zhiyu habitually furrowed his brow.

  "You and I," Huai Jin continued, "in this war situation, have a specific identity called 'spy'. Our job is to use our surface identity to lurk down, which is the nine-square grid that we cannot leave. We provide intelligence for our generals and do things for them. In the war, everyone has different identities. At the forefront, there are those who hold guns and fight, punish evil and eliminate traitors. But we have to hide in the rear, relying on our brains to fight. Rescuing those women is not your or my job. On the contrary, it violates the taboos of the battle formation."

  "Not bad, our mission doesn't require us to rush to the front line, but now, can we put aside military uniforms, put aside tasks, and put aside espionage? We have weapons, we have cars, thinking of these suffering Chinese women, the more days we drag on, the more humiliation and torture they will suffer. Germans and Americans can give up their identities as missionaries and teachers to protect our women, why today, you and I, two Chinese people, both women, cannot put aside these things and go rescue them?"

  "We have a more important mission to complete in this war!" Huai Jin's voice was still low, but with a hint of anger. "The military has its own discipline, it's not up to you to do whatever you want based on your own values! If we expose ourselves or lose our lives because of this, it would be a huge loss for the party and the country!"

  Military control! Party state! Dong Zhiyu didn't want to deal with them, she was never a military or party person. She even thought that she had misjudged Huaijin, after all, he didn't have the awareness of Yan'an.

  "All lives are equal! Are your life and mine worth more than the dozens of lives in that house?" Dong Zhiyu grabbed his gloves, "Tomorrow at 2 pm, Xiaogang Road, whether you go or not, I will go to rescue them!" He then opened the car door.

  Huai Jin grasped her arm with one hand, "I'm telling you again, I order you not to go!"

  Dong Zhiyu turned back and met her gaze, a cold glint in his eyes like frost. He broke free from Huai Jin's grasp, opened the door and left...