Chapter Fifteen: Enduring Humiliation and Carrying Heavy Burdens

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  The sugarcane fields around the POW camp are vast, and now is the time for sugarcane harvesting. There's a lot of work to be done every day - fertilizing, weeding, spraying pesticides, watering... it's endless. Every morning, several Vietnamese guards would lead a team out, returning to the camp for lunch if they're nearby. If they're far away, someone needs to be sent back to bring food to the fields. Normally, Bao Yulin would be accompanied by another POW and escorted by a Vietnamese guard to return to the camp. This arrangement was made by Wu Hongying. She had clearly told Bao Yulin that if he tried to escape, the camp would announce that it was because of his anti-war declaration being recognized by higher-ups, and he would be taken to Hanoi for special treatment. Then, she would execute several other POWs who were connected to Bao Yulin.

  This method of collective guarantee was also thought up by Wu Hongying. According to her method, every ten prisoners in the POW camp formed a unit of collective guarantee. If someone escaped from this unit, the other nine would have to take collective responsibility. In other words, these nine people would be shot!

  Since Wu Honglian arrived at the prisoner-of-war camp, Ruan Yuanjia began to show great enthusiasm. Even the management of the prisoner-of-war camp was basically decided by Wu Honglian's words.

  It's not surprising, first of all, Wu Honglian was specially transferred to the prisoner-of-war camp through the above relationship, it is known that people who have such a relationship are not ordinary people, and being able to get along with such people will be very beneficial for their future. Another point is that the prisoner-of-war camp is located in a remote area (mainly from a security perspective), there are no signs of human habitation nearby. Vietnam's traffic conditions are extremely backward, and the entire prisoner-of-war camp has only one motorcycle. To get to the nearest town, you have to drive for at least two hours. Wu Honglian's arrival brought a touch of femininity to the prisoner-of-war camp. As the main officer of the prisoner-of-war camp, and still unmarried (after all, after decades of war, military personnel marrying late is normal), Nguyen Ngoc Nha naturally regarded Wu Honglian as his pursuit target.

  It must be said that Wu Honglian's safety measures were very thorough, and after implementing the joint guarantee, even Zhang Xihang felt it was a problem. It is estimated that everyone had thoughts of escaping from the prisoner-of-war camp, but this way, even if you escaped yourself, it wouldn't be a good thing, because you would have become an indirect murderer of your comrades. The years of education were very successful, and Chinese prisoners of war all had a strong sense of consideration for others. Wu Honglian's policy completely tied the hands and feet of the prisoners of war.

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  Bao Yulin was clear why Wu Hongying arranged for two people to bring him back to fetch food every time. In fact, there were only a few dozen Chinese prisoners of war, and even if Vietnamese guards were added, it would not be difficult for one person to easily take the meal away. Wu Hongying's arrangement was to tie Bao Yulin and other prisoners together. If he were alone, after running away, Wu Hongying could only announce that Bao Yulin had been called back by Hanoi, she had no reason to shoot others. But with another person added, it would be different! If Bao Yulin wanted to run, he would definitely have to take someone else with him! Even if the other person escaped alone, the other prisoners would be shot due to Wu Hongying's rules. Thus, mutual restraint was formed between them. At least, Bao Yulin did not dare to think of escaping.

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  Since the last time Bao Yulian was beaten, Wu Hongying has become interested in playing tricks on the people around Bao Yulian. She understands that only when she is not understood by her comrades, and cannot express her grievances, even being beaten by the person she wants to protect because of wanting to protect her comrades, will Bao Yulian truly feel heartbroken. This kind of pain in the heart is far more effective than locking him up for a few days or depriving him of meals for a few days.

  Then, in just two days, everyone discovered that if they were grouped with Bao Yulin to work together, it would be difficult to have a good day. Because Wu Hongyuan was very good at dialectically analyzing problems. The same thing, at different times, could have different results. Nobody knew what to do, but they also all knew what to do. The solution to the problem was simple: since they couldn't get rid of Bao Yulin, they would just ask Wu Hongyuan after inquiring about it first.

  Things were simple. The day before, Bao Yulin was assigned to work in the sugarcane field with everyone else, and he naturally followed along. However, after working for a while, Wu Hongyuan came to inspect the fields. Bao Yulin really didn't want to see Wu Hongyuan, but at this time, it was impossible to avoid her, so he could only lower his head and pretend not to have seen her.

  Wu Hongyan went to the ground for inspection, originally thinking about whether there was a way to deal with Bao Yulin again. At this moment, Bao Yulin actually looked like an ostrich, not even daring to look at her. This almost made Wu Hongyan laugh. Suddenly, Wu Hongyan felt very accomplished. When Bao Yulin was on trial in the river, he went several days without eating or drinking, and even when he fainted, he refused to speak according to requirements. Wu Hongyan had already seen the relevant materials. But such a tough person is now under her control, actually being dealt with so obediently. This can't help but make Wu Hongyan feel accomplished.

  Standing on the edge of the land, Wu Hongying thought of a trick. Under the pretext that the prisoners of war in the same group as Bao Yulin didn't know how to take care of their leader (Bao Yulin was the administrator of Chinese prisoners of war), he actually made him do the same labor, and used the excuse that it couldn't reflect the authority of the leadership, so he punished everyone in the group by not giving them lunch.

  At this point, all the prisoners of war felt that Wu Hongyuan was making a fuss over nothing and wanted to give special treatment to Bao Yulin. Although they were unhappy about it, there was nothing they could do. The only one who understood was Bao Yulin, he knew that Wu Hongyuan was doing this on purpose, what treatment of himself, it was clear that he wanted to take the opportunity to deal with him. However, Bao Yulin did not speak up, because he knew that Wu Hongyuan might have other tricks waiting for him, and now if they made a fuss, it would likely affect all the prisoners of war. So Bao Yulin did not say anything, and simply divided the labor range originally assigned to himself, then called Wang Xiaodong together to go back to the prisoner-of-war camp to get food.

  After Wang Xiaodong was locked up for a few days, he recovered quickly due to his young age. Everyone took good care of him, so the task of going back to the prisoner-of-war camp with Bao Yulian to fetch lunch every day fell on his shoulders. Although Wang Xiaodong hated Bao Yulian from the bottom of his heart, he also understood that being able to go back to the prisoner-of-war camp to fetch lunch was a sign of everyone's care for him, so he didn't say anything.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, at noon that day, the people who were originally in a group with Bao Yulin had nothing to eat.

  Everyone thought that was it, the work in the sugarcane field, one more person wouldn't make a difference, one less person wouldn't make a difference either. Since Wu Hongying wanted to take care of Bao Yulin, at most everyone would do his share of work later. So, when they went back to work in the sugarcane field, Zhang Xihang didn't assign any tasks to Bao Yulin, just letting him be in charge of helping everyone deliver meals and water and whatnot.

  No one could have imagined that it would be like this. When Wu Hongxian came to inspect the sugarcane field again, she saw Bao Yulin squatting on the ground, watching everyone work, and suddenly became angry. She gathered all the prisoners of war and lectured them, saying that as a leader, Bao should set an example, connect with the masses, and share the joys and hardships together. However, when Zhang Xihang assigned tasks, he deliberately didn't assign any to Bao Yulin, clearly trying to isolate the leader. Zhang Xihang had ulterior motives and deserved punishment, so his lunch was also taken away.

  Everyone is angry but dare not speak out, recently everyone has seen that even Ruan Yuanjia also thinks Wu Hongyuan's orders are from above, if Wu Hongyuan is unhappy, it will be to everyone's disadvantage.

  However, this matter cannot be handled by Wu Hongyan in this way. Bao Yulin was forced to have no choice, he knew that at this time, if he publicly confronted Wu Hongyan, it would be very unwise. She can have many ways to punish the prisoners of war. If her punishment is aimed at herself, it's okay, but she's not, she just wants to punish other prisoners of war through Bao Yulin, making everyone hate themselves and achieve her goal of venting anger. This time, Bao Yulin could no longer bear it, after Wu Hongyan announced that everyone would continue working, Bao Yulin proposed to report his thoughts to Wu Hongyan.

  For Bao Yulin's statement, Wu Hongying couldn't refuse. Reforming the ideology of prisoners of war was a regulation in the prisoner-of-war camp, and if there were any problems, they could be reported to the management side. Wu Hongying knew what Bao Yulin wanted to say, and she had been waiting for this opportunity. So, Wu Hongying deliberately took Bao Yulin's request and led him aside.

  Bao Yulin has had enough, he hopes to provoke Wu Hongyuan into angering her so much that she would lock herself up, this way it would also avoid implicating his comrades. So, after pulling Wu Hongyuan aside, Bao Yulin furiously asked her what she wanted, did she want him to publicly fight with her and force her to shoot herself? Bao Yulin didn't know how else to minimize the harm to his comrades, this was the most effective method he could think of.

  Wu Honglian listened to Bao Yulin's words and smiled with great relish.

  "Bao Yulin, don't think your method is effective. I've thought of all these things you're thinking of. To make you suffer more, I don't mind being demoted. Let me tell you clearly: if you do this, I won't hesitate to shoot you dead on the spot. But at the same time, I'll also shoot several POWs who try to escape or riot and grab guns. You can respond now. If everyone sees that when you fight with me, you get shot by me, and your accomplices are also shot, then even if this goes to an international court in the future, I won't be afraid! So just do your job honestly!"

  Wu Honglian's words indeed left Bao Yulian speechless. Think about it, if it were really like that, no one would be able to clearly describe the situation at the time. It seems this woman has made up her mind to frame herself to death.

  Seeing Bao Yulin's defeated look, Wu Hongying was very pleased. She didn't let Bao Yulin go back to work, but instead arranged for him and Wang Xiaodong to go back and get lunch.

  That noon, not only Zhang Xihang, but also several other prisoners of war who had some prestige among the prisoners did not eat. Bao Yulin didn't know how Wu Hongying issued the order, and the other prisoners wouldn't tell him either. But Bao Yulin knew without thinking that Wu Hongying must have taken advantage of the situation to make his fellow soldiers misunderstand him as a snitch. This was Wu Hongying's way of giving Bao Yulin a warning, telling him to behave himself.

  。。。。。。

  That night, Bao Yulian was beaten again with a blindfold, but this time they didn't hit his face, only pummeled his body mercilessly. Bao Yulian still curled up and silently endured it.

  When the sky brightened, Bao Yulin felt like he had fallen apart, his whole body aching. It wasn't until he went to the toilet to urinate that he discovered his urine was red. Bao Yulin realized he must have been injured this time. Thinking about having to go work in the sugarcane field today, Bao Yulin knew that in his current state, it would be best to minimize activity. Not to mention how strenuous the work in the sugarcane field was, just walking such a long distance might be more than he could handle.

  How can I avoid going out? Reporting that I'm injured is definitely not an option, Wu Hongyuan will punish all the prisoners of war. Saying that I'm sick isn't suitable either, Wu Hongyuan will definitely think that I've been beaten again and will take the opportunity to inspect me, and in the end, everyone will still be punished. Bao Yulin thought to himself, standing in the toilet for a longer period of time than he had intended. A maggot slowly crawled onto his foot which was wearing sandals, by the time Bao Yulin reacted, he felt extremely disgusted.

  However, this worm actually made him think of a way to not go to the sugarcane field. Moreover, he could also take care of his comrades who didn't have lunch yesterday because of him. Originally, they only had two meals a day, skipping one meal, and with such intense labor, no one's body could withstand it.

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  That morning, after Wu Hongying arranged for the prisoners of war to go to the sugarcane field to weed, Bao Yulin asked to speak.

  Watching Bao Yulin walk unnaturally, Wu Hongyan secretly smiled to herself. She was clear about what was going on with Bao Yulin. She wanted to see just how long Bao Yulin could endure.

  When they heard Bao Yulin shouting "Report" in the ranks, several people's hearts skipped a beat. Everyone knew what had happened to Bao Yulin last night, and at this moment, they hated him even more.

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