Chapter 13: Please Bring Him Back (Part 2)

  "I'm giving you a gift, I made it myself," Xiao Yang said.

  As Xiao Yang walked, he took out a necklace from his bag and said that the strap of the necklace was made of unknown leather material, black in color, very solid. The pendant was a miniature version of a dagger, except this small dagger had three ridges.

  "This is called a triangular bayonet. When it pierces the body, blood will flow out along these three grooves all at once, and the wound is very difficult to suture. It's one of the characteristics of a soldier."

  Xiao Lie put the necklace in his hand and felt that it was heavy, but he didn't know what kind of metal material it was made of.

  "Come on, I'll help you put it on."

  Now Xiao Lie looked at his mother on the bed, he took out the necklace and stroked the small three-edged military badge with his hand, thinking of a thousand things. The doctor had come home earlier, examined her and said that she was suffering from heart problems due to excessive grief, and would be fine after resting. He prescribed some medicine, hung an IV drip and left. Xiao Lanfang often received infusions, so Xiao Lie knew how to adjust the needle too.

  "Lie er, I miss your brother." Xiang Lanfang's first words after waking up were: "I think your brother must still be alive, because I didn't see him."

  Xiao Lie didn't say a word, he also didn't know what to say. Emotionally, he didn't want to believe He Shaojun's words, but the reality was that as a Liberation Army lieutenant colonel, there was no reason for him to joke about such things, so it must be true.

  "Don't you believe me?" Xiao Lanfang asked.

  Xiao Lie still didn't speak.

  "I know you don't believe what I'm saying, but a mother's heart is connected to her child. If your brother had really left us, I would have felt it. Although reality tells me to accept this as fact, my heart tells me that your brother didn't die, he just went far away. If he were truly gone, he would come back to me."

  Xiao Lanfang fell asleep again after finishing speaking.

  His mother's words shocked Xiao Yang. Yes, if Xiao Yang had sacrificed himself, why couldn't they see his body or ashes? Why could a two-year-old soldier suddenly deposit 100,000 yuan into his own card? Now that he thought about it, Xiao Yang's expression when leaving home seemed like a final farewell, and he talked a lot, almost becoming a nagging wife. Isn't there a Chinese saying: the living should be seen by people, and the dead should have their bodies seen.

  Even if some people know what kind of result it is, but before it really happens, who knows what the final result will be?

  He began to have some doubts about that so-called fact, at least he wanted to know how he was sacrificed and where his body was.

  "Lie er, Mom has a wish. It's for you two brothers to be together and get along well, don't separate, don't quarrel. No matter how far away you are from me, remember to come back and see me. Because you both are my heart's flesh, I don't want to lose either of you two brothers." Xiao Lanfang's voice was a little choked up.

  "Mom, I promise you. I promise you." Xiao Lie said, holding his mother's thin and weak hands.

  The woman who was just over forty had already turned white-haired and hoary, as if the fire of life had left her.

  "Lie'er, promise me, find your brother, you must find him, bring him back, bring him back to my side, bring him home. Where there are loved ones is where the home is, don't let him be alone outside. Otherwise, I'll worry about him."

  "Okay, mom, I promise you."

  Xiao Lie suddenly felt that his mother was acting strangely today, a feeling of unease rose up in his heart. He saw tears flowing in her eyes, she turned her head, trying hard not to make a sound.

  "You must find your brother, bring him back, bring him home, don't let him be alone outside." Xiao Lanfang murmured to herself, then her eyes slowly closed again, and a faint sound came from her nose.

  Looking at his mother on the bed, he suddenly felt a pang of sadness, a faint melancholy surged up in his heart. He didn't know if Xu Jiadai knew about this news yet, but seeing his mother like this made him feel extremely distressed.

  When he saw that the medicine was almost finished, Xiao Lie pulled out the needle and then helped his mother press the needle hole.

  That night, Xiao Lanfang passed away. When Xiao Lie woke up from his bed, he found that his mother's hand was already cold and there was no breath in her nose.

  "Mom!"

  "Mom!"

  Xiao Lie suddenly burst into tears.

  When handling Xiao Lanfang's aftermath, Xu Jiadai returned from Chengdu. During those few days, Uncle Xu and Auntie Xu also helped out, busy with preparations. When Xiao Lie saw his mother's coffin being placed in the pit, and the people around him started filling it with soil bit by bit, he suddenly realized that when he wanted to cry, he had no more tears left. He remembered his mother's last words: "You must find your brother, bring him back home, don't let him be alone outside."

  When a gust of wind blew through the tomb, in that wind, Xiao Lie seemed to see his mother smiling at him, and the sound of the wind was like reminding him of his mother's last wish.

  "Your mom is right, I also don't believe he just left like that, because I haven't married him yet."

  After hearing Xiao Lie's words, Xu Jia Dai said lightly, but her face was not relaxed: "He will definitely come back." Xu Jia Dai said: "If he doesn't come back for a day, I'll wait for him for a day. If he doesn't come back for a year, I'll wait for him to come back. If he never comes back in his lifetime, I'll wait for him for a lifetime. I don't believe he would just abandon me like that."

  "Sister, I will find him and bring him back," Xiao Lie said firmly.

  Perhaps in everyone's heart, Xiao Lie and Xu Jia Dai firmly believe that Xiao Yang is still in this world, he just happens to be a little far away from them, but he must still be alive. Although there is no evidence, they have a common belief: Xiao Yang is still alive, he will definitely come back.

  Xiao Lie entered school when the initial military training had already been missed, and the military training was about to enter its final stage.

  Xiao Lie put on a camouflage uniform, the kind that was about to be eliminated from the troops. Xiao Lie's height of 1.76 meters was neither tall nor short, and he hadn't undergone any training, and the recent exhaustion and heartbreak made him look even thinner. The clothes hung on his body like they were hanging on a hanger. Because he had been beaten by Xiao Yang with military equipment before, he didn't stand out as unsuitable in the team, but when resting, he was unwilling to talk to others, with a melancholy expression.

  The instructor was a second lieutenant, probably because he had been fond of shouting orders for a long time. He was the first person to find that Xiao Lie was not quite right. That noon, the instructor asked everyone to stand at attention, and by 11 o'clock, the sun was already very poisonous, some female classmates had fallen to the ground, but only Xiao Lie stood there as if nothing had happened, with sweat dripping down his back.

  But the instructor noticed something was off at a glance, he was distracted, and not just a little, surprisingly, he didn't feel very hot, if it wasn't for his thin build, the instructor would have thought he had practiced before, but under those melancholic eyes seemed to hide endless sorrow, he didn't know what had happened to this big boy, those eyes seemed to have experienced all the hardships of the world.

  "Someone in your family used to be a soldier." The instructor walked up to Xiao Lie during rest time.

  Xiao Lie didn't say anything and just nodded his head.

  "Your brother?"

  Xiao Lie nodded slightly.

  "Did he sacrifice himself?"

  When he heard the word "sacrifice", Xiao Lie's face turned cold, and then he said word by word: "He didn't sacrifice himself, he will definitely come back."

  After hearing Xiao Lie's words, the instructor basically knew something.

  Afternoon dismissal, the instructor found Xiao Lie who was washing clothes in the dormitory.

  "Can we talk?"

  Xiao Lie looked at the instructor and nodded.

  Two people sat down on a green belt at the edge of the playground.

  "I'm not curious, I'm a soldier. All soldiers in China are the same, we're all one family. I don't know what happened to you, I can only imagine some things on my own. Is it very gossipy?" The instructor said.

  Xiao Lie didn't say anything, he just smiled slightly, but that smile seemed like crying.

  "Maybe it'll be easier if we talk about it, or maybe we can find something out."

  After hearing the instructor's words, Xiao Lie hesitated for a moment before starting to speak. It was the first time he had talked about his family affairs in front of outsiders. He thought back to the life of three people together, remembered the first popsicle and ice cream that Xiaoyang had bought for him, mentioned Xiaoyang taking him to the county town to study, and mentioned his mother's hard work every day for him.

  "Although our home didn't have anything valuable or was very simple, but our home is the cleanest and most tidy in the village." As he said this, Xiao Lie's face filled with pride, his words carrying a thick Sichuan accent.

  Xiao Lie spoke of all they had been through, everything he cherished. When it came to the time he received news of Xiao Yang's death and his mother's last entrustment, he could no longer hold back. A surge of pent-up pain flooded his mind, his eyes grew hot, but tears refused to fall. He lowered his head, not letting anyone see his expression.

  "I don't know, what should I do?"

  After a long time, when Xiao Lie felt that he had calmed down a bit, he said that after venting his inner pain, he found himself feeling a little better.

  "I don't know what advice I can give you. Because the military is full of national secrets, as an active-duty soldier, I'm also a comrade-in-arms with your brother. If I'm not mistaken, since they didn't tell you the reason, judging from your brother's behavior after returning home, he was an outstanding soldier."

  "Nowadays, bayonets are not emphasized much except for reconnaissance units. The triangular bayonet is an improvement of our army based on the historical shortcomings of dagger-type bayonets being prone to breakage, bending and self-inflicted injuries. Our army previously emphasized three major skills for individual soldiers: shooting, stabbing and grenade throwing, so we equipped them with triangular bayonets. Triangular bayonets are extremely cruel, having functions that dagger bayonets do not possess, such as crushing bones and creating large wounds that are difficult to heal, but at the same time lacking the cutting function of daggers, requiring individual soldiers to be equipped with separate daggers. From the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, it can be seen that the function of bayonets has been largely lost, so they were removed and replaced with multi-functional dagger-type bayonets." The instructor said, looking at the triangular military bayonet pendant in Xiao Lie's hand.

  "He once said that although the triangular bayonet has a single function, if it is improved, it can also be a good weapon. The three-sided blood groove of the triangular bayonet allows air to enter when stabbed into the body, and there is no resistance when pulled out. In winter battles, soldiers wear thick cotton coats, and the bayonet cannot penetrate, but the triangular bayonet does not have this problem, and the speed of bleeding is faster." Xiao Lie said.

  "Haha, he's right, he's absolutely right. Xiao Lie, there are many things we're not clear about, and we don't know what the future will be like either. But life is just a few decades long, it passes by in an instant, just like when I was a soldier and still cried all the time, but now six years have passed in the blink of an eye. If I were to leave the army now, it would be no different from being beaten to death. For me, the meaning of life is not to regret, to do what you want to do, to do what you should do."