Chapter 40: Sunshine

  Body - Three

  I dragged my exhausted body, carrying "Rosbinda", stumbling along the quiet New Delhi street at midnight. To avoid being caught by the enemy, I tried to drill into the dark alleys and hutongs as much as possible. Without the "AK" on me, I couldn't contact headquarters for assistance from colleagues.

  The wound is getting more and more painful, and it's still bleeding nonstop. The blood mixed with Rosspinda's blood slowly dripped onto the ground, merging into the dark soil. As I walked, a still-lit sign at the end of the alley caught my attention.

  "Chen Yi's Chinese Medicine Clinic". "This must be a clinic opened by a Chinese person named Chen Yi." I thought for a moment, decided to knock on the door, hoping that Chen Yi would take pity on me as a fellow Chinese and provide treatment. I quickened my pace and walked to the entrance of the clinic, then gently knocked on the door.

  "Who's there?" A hoarse voice came from inside the house. He was speaking in English, so I couldn't determine if he was Chinese or not for a moment. "Hello, is this Dr. Chen? I've been injured and would like to get bandaged here." I replied fluently in Mandarin Chinese. "Mm, okay, wait a minute." He switched to Mandarin after hearing my response.

  "Sure enough, it's a Chinese person!" This made me involuntarily happy, as if I had seen a guiding light in the darkness.

  The gate opened, and a nearly seventy-year-old old man appeared in front of me. "Ah, who are you?" The old man asked in horror when he saw me covered in blood, and prepared to close the gate again. I quickly blocked the gate that was about to close, and explained: "Sorry, uncle, please don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person, I'm a People's Liberation Army soldier, I was injured while on a mission, please save me!"

  "What's behind your back?" The old man was still terrified. I put the hand that had been exposed outside into my bag and said calmly, "This is my comrade, his name is Rosbin Da, he was blown up by a grenade thrown by cult armed personnel." The old man thought for a moment, finally let go of the door handle, and whispered to me, "Young man, come in!" "Thank you... thank you!" I thanked him repeatedly and stepped into the clinic. The old man looked around cautiously, then quickly locked the clinic's big door. The old man led me into the treatment room. "You said you were a Liberation Army soldier, how did you end up in New Delhi?"

  "This is a long story, and it's also related to secrets, so please forgive me, I can't answer your question." I said. The old man said: "It doesn't matter, if you don't want to say it, then don't say it, I believe you are a good person, come, let me take a look at your wound." "Uh-huh!" I responded with a sound, and then sat down gently on the wooden chair.

  "Endure the pain a bit!" The old man said, using medical scissors to carefully cut open my shirt, then slowly wiping the wound with alcohol cotton balls and peeling off the stuck clothes from above. "Your shoulder was pierced through, but you're lucky, it didn't hurt any bones. I think after treating it, it'll be fine in about ten days or half a month." "Uncle, thank you!" I said gratefully. The old man smiled kindly and said: "No need to be so polite, we're all Chinese, aren't we?"

  After the wound was disinfected, the old man applied some "medicine" to it and carefully bandaged it with gauze. He also gave me an injection of antibiotics. The old man asked: "Where is your hometown?" "Hebei, what about you?" I replied and then asked him back.

  The old man said: "My hometown is in Shandong, you see, we are still neighbors! How many years have you been a soldier?" I smiled and said: "Almost eight years!" The old man said: "Oh, that's an old soldier. For the next few days, just stay here to recover from your injuries, don't go anywhere else!" "No!" I hastily declined: "No, uncle, it's still not troubling you, this injury is nothing for me, I will think of a way to contact my comrades, they will help me."

  The old man thought for a moment and said, "Alright then, where are you going? I'll drive you there." "Where to go?" I realized that I really didn't have anywhere to go, but I knew I couldn't stay here. I said, "No need, Uncle, I'll just rest for a bit and walk myself." The old man said, "Okay then, are you hungry? I'll get something to eat ready for you." Afraid of troubling the old man further, I quickly said, "Thank you, Uncle, I'm not hungry, don't bother. I should be going now." The old man said, "You're a good kid, alright. Since you insist on leaving, I won't keep you here. But it's better to let your comrade rest in peace, carrying him around like that isn't a good idea!" I looked at "Rosenberg" and immediately felt an overwhelming surge of sadness. "No, I have to take him home!"

  The old man said, "It's not wrong to send him home, but carrying a bloody corpse on the street isn't going to work out. Listen to me, let's just bury him! Clean up the bloodstains on your body, change into some clean clothes, and then think about what to do next." "Mm... okay..." I slowly stood up, looking at "Rosbinda" with mixed emotions. "Uncle, can you prepare a bucket of gasoline for me?" The old man looked at me and said, "Alright, wait a minute." The old man walked out of the treatment room.

  After I finished washing and changing my clothes, the old man had already brought a small plastic bucket of gasoline and was sitting on a wooden chair waiting for me. Seeing that I was ready, the old man handed me the gasoline along with a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. "Use these to send off your comrades in place of incense, you are all good kids!" The old man said this with a choked voice.

  "Ah!" I took the gasoline, lighter and cigarettes, then bowed deeply to the old man. "Wishing you good health, may all good people live in peace! I'm leaving..." After finishing speaking, I wrapped up "Rosbinda" with a clean cloth and crawled back into the endless night.

  Walking along the alley all the way to its end. Back on the wide road, looking towards its end, is the bustling city accompanied by the last faint lights before dawn's darkest hour. There are few vehicles, and the late-sleeping New Delhi people should be sleeping soundly now. "Roshbinda, where do you say we go now?" I smiled wryly, walking towards the increasingly dark depths.

  The manhole cover on the side of the road was inexplicably ajar, as if driven by some unknown impulse... perhaps it was an inner desire to escape something, and I somehow found myself opening the cover and climbing down the ladder.

  Originally, the sewer could be so spacious, I walked and walked... walked and walked... without knowing how long I had been walking. Finally, I stopped. I put "Rospinda" on the damp ground. "Rospinda! My good brother, wishing you a safe journey!" I poured gasoline over the clothes package that had already been soaked in blood, then lit it up...

  The flames suddenly flared up, and the smell of burnt fibers and skin began to diffuse in the air. I lit a cigarette, took two puffs, and then placed it in front of the burning fire; afterwards, I lit another one and started smoking myself. "Rosspinda, this was given to you and me by an old man with the surname Chen, he's also Chinese like me, he said we're both good kids. Haha...I think I'm not a good kid, because I was born a bit stubborn and unruly; but you're different, you're a good kid, you're honest, kind, and friendly to others! Rosspinda...Rosspinda..."

  "Why are you all so selfish, why did you leave me alone to face this cruel world? Why is it always me who sends you off, but never gets a chance for you to send me off? Rosalinda..." I couldn't say anymore, my heart hurts so much! Tears choked my throat, making it dry, itchy, sore and painful.

  I don't know how long it took... I slowly got up, wiped away my tears, and looked at the "fire heap" that was about to burn out. I poured all the remaining gasoline from the bucket onto it. Whoosh... The flames roared again. At attention! Standing in military posture, I paid my most standard and sacred respects to my departed comrades! After a long time... The fire finally went out. I tore off a piece of cloth from my undershirt, wrapped it gently around my hand, then carefully gathered up the charred bones, and crushed them into pieces with my fists.

  I slowly gathered the ashes into a cloth bag made from a shirt sleeve, looked up at the sunlight shining through the gap in the well cover... I knew that a new day had begun.

  "Rosspinda, comrades, the battle is about to begin again, let's go..."