Act 1 Chapter 31

  I stopped in my tracks and turned around, only to see that it was a girl named Xiaohua. She had called out to stop me from moving forward, but when I turned back to look at her with questioning eyes, she involuntarily took a step back. Seeing this, I couldn't help but shake my head in wry amusement. "Afraid of me? Why then did you curiously call out to me?" I thought to myself, before turning around and preparing to leave.

  "Sorry" came from behind her apologetic voice, a murmured sound came from behind me, shaking my head and resignedly turning my body around again.

  "There's nothing to owe each other, just say what needs to be said." Turning back, I saw that she didn't dare to utter another word, and the people around her were also silent, just quietly looking at me. Finally, I couldn't help but ask this question.

  After a long time, she slowly opened her eyes, and her classmate pulled her hand, walking slowly to the front of Ouyang's tombstone. She took a bunch of fresh flowers from her classmate's hand earlier, bent down slowly and placed them in front of Ouyang's tombstone. Then, she walked to my side, slightly raised her head, and looked into my eyes. 'How? Trying to get on my good side?' I asked myself this question when I saw her actions.

  "My sister, and Ouyang Shuang are colleagues, also very good friends. If you see my sister, I think you will recognize her." Her voice is now low and suppressed, as if she is holding back her emotions, yet it seems like she is telling me something. However, her eyes are clear and transparent, like a beautiful crystal that has not been tainted by anything.

  "What? Tell me what this means?" Hearing her words, he began to wonder about himself and slowly asked her the question.

  "It doesn't matter, the story of you and Sister Ouyang, my sister has told me before. Every time I hear her tell me about your things, I will be heartbroken and cry. Every time, in the deep night, when I think of your story, I will also feel sad. I have told your story to my classmates, and they will also shed tears when they hear it."

  "Little girl, I'm not interested in hearing your thoughts here. Ouyang and I are not a story for you to be moved by, nor do we care how long you'll cry about it. Get to the point!!!"

  I cut her off, impatient with myself, and spoke out my thoughts.

  "Ouyang, do you want this? Do you want us to become a fairy tale on their lips, a topic of conversation after dinner?"

  As I spoke, I saw the classmates behind her, regardless of gender, even including that female teacher, all had expectant and curious expressions. I couldn't help but ask Ouyang this question.

  "I hate it, hate being someone else's topic, hate being an object of people's curiosity."

  After asking Ouyang the question, I once again answered it in my heart.

  "Shun, this is your codename, I know that's what your friends and brothers call you. I don't know if I have the right to call you Shun?" 'Is this a big deal?' He added a question mark in his mind after hearing her words.

  "Suit yourself, if you only want to know that much, my question has already been answered for you, I'm leaving, just stay here and lament slowly. However, I think you should know, even if I leave, my words still take effect: Whoever blasphemes against Ouyang will die!!" With my patience gradually wearing off, I dropped this sentence and was about to leave, without caring about their disappointed eyes or her wronged expression.

  "Wait a minute, Captain Wang. Are you interested in knowing why we came here?" This time, it was the teacher who couldn't help but speak up and stop me from leaving. "How come these people always talk in such a roundabout way?"

  "Shut up!!" One word, directly telling her to shut up immediately.

  "I'm here for our coming-of-age ceremony today, and the teacher brought us here to hold it." The girl named Xiaohua took over from the female teacher who was choked up and couldn't speak, answering the question. "No wonder, now is not Qingming Festival, but you're still here sweeping graves, turns out it's a coming-of-age ceremony."

  "Is there anything else? Just say it once and for all, don't beat around the bush." She answered my question, and again found that we had nothing to talk about. The two of us fell silent again, seeing myself in this situation, I knew that if I turned around and left, I would still be called back, so it's better to let them say what they want to say once and for all.

  "I want them to know that even if the war ends one day, even if they are now far away from the war. But don't forget, it's the blood and lives of the front-line soldiers that have given us a moment of comfort! So I want to bring them here, to see the soldiers who sacrificed for us, to let our sleeping soldiers see that the country and people they defended with their lives have not forgotten them, to let them see the people building China's future!!"

  The female teacher, who had recovered, loudly expressed her thoughts to me. She was very excited, and after finishing speaking, she still hadn't caught her breath back. The people listening to her were filled with pride, expectation, and respect on their faces. Even that guy I scared earlier showed a look of shame on his face.

  "What? Are you here for patriotic education?"

  "What does this have to do with me?" I asked calmly, still speaking in a detached tone.

  "What does it have to do with you? You're also fighting on the front lines! You've also been injured defending our motherland, how can you say it has nothing to do with you?" A student who couldn't hold back spoke out loudly and questioned me.

  "Everyone has a reason to fight, mine is something I don't want to tell you, can I?" Hearing his words, I still replied to his question with a cold and indifferent tone.

  "Didn't you want to say something to them?" The female teacher gave her impulsive student a warning glance, and then proceeded to advise me to give them a lesson.

  "What can I say? As a soldier, a soldier who threatens little kids with guns! What can I say?" The sarcastic words came out of my mouth, but to them, it sounded like I was questioning them, because their faces all showed signs of shame.

  "I apologize for my student's rash behavior and his unbridled words to you, I'm sorry. Please accept my sincere apology, I'm sorry!" The female teacher's words made me feel ashamed, after all, the incident was caused by me.

  "Your apology, I can't accept. The reason for the matter is me, so you don't need to apologize." Her faint words directly kicked her apology back.

  "But I hit you, and I apologize for my impulsiveness." The words that refused to forgive still lingered, leaving me with a dizzy and powerless feeling. 'Why is this woman so troublesome?'

  "Right, sorry. I apologize for offending Elder Sister Ouyang's grave earlier." This time, the guardian messenger also came out to apologize, it seems he has recovered.

  "Whatever, I'm not interested in playing apology games with you guys either. Say, what do you want to know?" The powerless self that was messed up by them could only weakly utter compromising words, but it's not like everything they wanted to know, I would answer.

  "I, we want to know, you and Ouyang sister's matter." This is Xiao Hua's question. Hearing her question, I finally knew that the play was coming, she had been stopping me from leaving just to make me speak out what happened between me and Ouyang.

  I slowly walked up to her, lowered my head, and stared tightly into her eyes, saying word by word from my mouth, "The time I spent with Ouyang was the happiest time of my life. Little girl, I don't know what you want to know, nor do I know how many versions of rumors you've heard from others. I just want to let you know that my relationship with Ouyang is not a tool for me to gain sympathy and tears. She will always exist in the most sacred place in my heart, and I won't allow anyone to touch her. Do you understand what I'm saying?" I knew my tone was not kind at all, and seeing her frightened expression told me that I had scared her.

  "But, but is it that we don't even have the right to know? Don't you want us to know what really happened?" She was either being evasive or indulging her curiosity, which was destroying my rationality.

  "Little girl, I'm telling you, I don't care what others say, but if you want to hear it from me, dream on, don't force me to hit a woman." Lowering my head until my nose almost touches hers, softly whispering the words I wanted to say, cold and icy.

  "Ahh!!!" The guy who was startled by his own gaze and words took a big step back, but accidentally tripped over something and sat down on the ground. He looked up at me with fearful and resentful eyes, silently accusing me.

  I was about to turn around and leave, but accidentally saw the photo embedded on Ouyang's tombstone. The her in the photo was still smiling, but there was a strange accusatory tone in her eyes, even her smile had turned into a cold sneer. I walked directly to the front of Ouyang's tombstone, "Ouyang, are you blaming me? Are you blaming me for scaring the kids? Sorry, but you should know my temper, let me talk to them, so you won't get angry with me again." I whispered an apology and inquiry to Ouyang, I don't know why Ouyang had such a smile, but I knew it was probably because of my attitude towards them, forget it, just listen to Ouyang this once.

  "Little girl, want to hear me say, can, give me a reason." The current weather is gradually turning cloudy, I don't know why, my mood also becomes calm, there is no emotional tone in the words, which makes her feel afraid, afraid that I will pull out the gun again.

  Without looking at their shocked eyes again, he slowly drew out the pistol from behind his back, removed the magazine, and pulled out the bullets from the wall, until he had emptied all the bullets from both guns. Only then did he lift his head to look at the person in front of him. "Now that the threat is gone, can you safely tell me your reason?"

  "I, I, I'm curious, not just curious!! It's that I want to know, and my classmates also want to know, what really happened between you and Ouyang sister, not rumors or hearsay from others, but for you to tell us yourself." Just as she said the two words "curious", she noticed my expression wasn't good, so she immediately changed her tone. After hearing her change of tone, I shook my head and smiled softly.

  "You can come up with so many reasons in an instant, you should be a lecturer." The self who had already made up his mind in his heart slowly walked to the side of Ouyang's tombstone, sat down, and gently leaned against her tombstone, as if leaning against her side. Then, he spoke out the above words in the warmest tone.

  "Can you tell us?" Her eyes, wide with curiosity, seemed to disbelieve my answer. When she saw me nod slightly, a delighted smile spread across her face. Even her teacher looked relieved, not to mention the looks on her classmates' faces.

  "Let's find a place to sit down, I may have a lot to say. However, don't sit on someone else's tombstone, and if you sit on the ground, remember to put something underneath you, be careful not to catch a chill." After softly speaking these considerate words, he began to slowly recount the story of what happened between me and Ouyang.

  "I still remember, Ouyang used to love watching the sunset." I said after a long time, because at this moment, the sun was about to set, and they were also leaving.

  Gently standing up, she cast a glance at Ouyang's tombstone with a gaze full of tender love. "Wife, I'm leaving. I've told them about our situation as you wished. If I really can't come back, remember to pick me up." Then, in her heart, she said one last thing to Ouyang.

  "Captain Wang, are you leaving?" This time it was the female teacher who asked, because that girl called Xiaohua had already cried to the point of being unable to speak.

  "Uh, I only have a 3-day break and I specifically came back to see Ouyang. Now that I've seen him, it's time for me to leave." Without turning my head, I softly spoke out my answer, which also served as a farewell.

  "Are you going to the front line then?" was still a question asked by one person.

  "Yes."

  "Can we take a group photo with them before we leave?" This was probably the female teacher's request.

  Having heard her words, I slowly turned around and looked at the future pillars of our motherland in front of me. Slowly, I spoke out my last words: "Remember this: those who offend China, kill our compatriots, and humiliate our loved ones... KILL!!! KILL!!! KILL!!!!" After finishing speaking, I saw a determined emotion in their eyes, as I had wished. I turned around and left without saying another word, ignoring the voices behind me, and quickly departed, "If there's a chance, we'll meet on the battlefield."