Chapter 4 The Flag is Fluttering (Grade 6, Volume 1)

  "What others do, we basically can't control. But as for us, at least we can still control ourselves!" This was perhaps the warmest sentence Zhang Songling heard from Lao Gou's mouth today. It was also this sentence that supported him and made him feel that there was still a glimmer of light in front of him, so he wouldn't suffocate completely in the darkness. Although, his head had already been lifted with great difficulty.

  In the first seventeen years of his life, he was essentially a small tree living in a greenhouse. Although his family background was not wealthy or noble, it allowed him to read and study, and he had no worries about food and clothing. Under the meticulous care of his father and two older brothers, he had little contact with worldly matters, so his eyes were very pure. He only saw the beautiful side of the outside world, rarely seeing the ugliness and squalor of human society.

  When he came, his own country was already old and weak, but its muscles and bones were still strong; when he came, the people around him were poor, but they had not lost their simplicity and kindness; when he came, the officials of this country were a little greedy and unreasonable, but most of the time, they were working hard to revive this country; when he came, the military forces of this country were relatively weak, but they were unyielding and fearless, facing strong enemies with death-defying courage.

  He wasn't unfamiliar with the September 18th Incident and the Great Wall War. However, from newspapers and radio broadcasts, he only heard about the bright and brave side of the Chinese people. All failures were due to the disparity in weapons and enemy forces, every single person persisted until the last moment, before shedding tears and bidding farewell to the battlefield.

  He wasn't unaware of the great war in Zhongyuan, the struggle between factions. But in his naive mind, all that was just a small conflict between brothers in one big family. Maybe they would fight over inheritance, but it wouldn't take long for them to make up again. Especially when strong enemies came knocking on their door, the brothers would put aside all conflicts and work together to defend against the outsiders. Because only then could their home truly be theirs. If their home fell into enemy hands, they would all become laborers and slaves, and no one would get a share of their father's legacy!

  Song Zheyuan, Zhang Zizhong, Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang - to him they were all just masks in a Beijing opera, like Guan Yu, Yue Fei and Qin Qiong on stage. Each one was loyal, filial, chaste and righteous, each one had a heroic spirit. Occasionally when the performance wasn't going well and someone sang off-key, as soon as the audience reminded them, they would immediately remember their role and continue to sing according to the script, never ruining their own show.

  However, over the past two months, away from his family's protection, he found that the outside world was not as clean as he had hoped. He saw too much ugliness and filth. He heard too many conspiracies and scandals. He discovered that the 29th Army, which he had always admired, not only had heroes who fought bloody battles but also a large number of traitors and national thieves; he found that the kind-hearted people around him, when they became cunning and sinister, were not much different from the corrupt officials who bullied them; he found that the country was in its most dangerous moment, with various military factions still clearly divided, unable to forget their mutual contempt and infighting. He discovered that the central government did not treat the legitimate and illegitimate troops equally, no matter how hard they tried, even though this non-legitimate army had fought its way to the front lines of the war of resistance, directly facing the strongest enemy; he found that the military men he admired would rather hide in hospitals and endure the cold eyes of nurses than take up guns and go to the battlefield; he discovered...

  This world and the people in it, in just two short months, have become rich and full. And everywhere his gaze falls, there flows a color like ink. Fortunately, amidst this heavy blackness, there still struggle a few points of bright shadows, such as Tian Qingyu and Han Qiu embracing each other in front of the god of death, Zhou Jue opening her arms to block all the bullets, Peng Weiwei being timid and weak but not losing her kind and pure heart, and also... that old Wei Ding who is sleeping in his dream of being a great military strategist and never wants to wake up.

  These rays of light gathered together, like the sparks on a winter's night, warming his heart and blood. Let him stand upright in the darkness and heaviness, continuing to move forward with difficulty. "What others do, we can't control for the most part. But as for us, at least we can still take care of ourselves!" As long as he takes good care of himself, even if he can't break through the darkness, at least he won't add another layer of heaviness to it. Even if he can't reach clear skies, at least he won't pollute others' eyes again. Even if in the end he still has to fall, at least, at least while he's alive, he stands with the light. At least his shadow will give later generations more and more hope as they chase after the light.

  "We, the 26th Route Army, have always been known for our strict discipline. Even when our old commander was in trouble, he didn't forget to teach his brothers..." Officer Lao Gou continued to introduce the glorious history of the 26th Route Army on the way, but Zhang Songling had already stopped listening. He was completely immersed in his own world, summarizing the past while quietly growing and becoming stronger bit by bit.

  This change almost occurs in the growth process of every man, only some people happen early, some people happen late; some people are a little bit changed, just like the spring grass is first issued; some people are like Bodhi tree under sudden enlightenment, and suddenly change.

  As he walked to the front of the special agent camp, his shoulders were already straightened. The sentry at the gate saw Officer Gou and immediately saluted with his hand. Gou also put away the anger on his face, stopped in his tracks, and sincerely returned the salute to the sentry. Then, leading Zhang Songling, he walked into the camp with big strides.

  It was just the time for afternoon exercise, and there were almost no one in the camp. Only the soldiers on duty, under the leadership of low-ranking officers, held guns and patrolled back and forth between rows of temporary houses built with trees and hay. Officer Lao Gou walked while constantly saluting to the soldiers, occasionally stopping to chat with familiar people about training conditions and mastery of new weapons, being very diligent.

  After passing through about 14 or 15 rows of wooden houses, Zhang Songling finally saw several earth-shed houses that were independent of each other and set off against each other. Each house was surrounded by a low wall made of yellow earth, about half a meter high, which served only to divide the courtyard boundary. It could neither block people's footsteps nor their line of sight.

  In the middle slightly to the left, a small courtyard in front of him, Officer Lao Gou stopped his footsteps. He turned around and nodded at Zhang Songling, then pushed open the wooden gate with a flourish. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he shouted loudly, "Stones, Stones, are you there? Where have you gone to die again?"

  "Here, here!" The shout had just fallen when a lithe figure darted out of the dark room. About 1.7 meters tall, with bronze-colored skin. Holding a book in hand, he raised his face to reveal a bright red scar that slanted from his left eye across the bridge of his nose to the edge of his right earlobe.

  "Besides, sooner or later you'll become blind!" Officer Lao Gou cursed with hatred, then introduced him to Zhang Songling, "This is Shi Tou, also known as Shi Liang Cai, my squad leader. And this is Zhang, what's his name again..."

  He scratched his head, somewhat apologetically, towards Zhang Songling. The latter hastily introduced himself, "Zhang Songling, bow long Zhang, pine tree's song, age's ling! Met Stone Brother."

  "Right, Zhang Songling, I only listened to it once yesterday, so I didn't remember!" Officer Lao Gou patted his own occipital bone and continued, "I mentioned him to you this morning, he's the one Old Ji dug out from under the pile of stones yesterday afternoon. From now on, he'll be following me too. You tidy up the room and make some space for bedding for him. He's a genuine high school student, so in the future if you have any books you don't understand, you won't have to worry about not having anyone to ask!"

  "I've already taken care of it. As soon as you finished speaking with me this morning, I got to work on it!" Although Shi Tou's face looked fierce, he was a kind and considerate person. He smiled in response to his superior's words, then proactively extended his hand towards Zhang Songling, "Brother Zhang, welcome! I've already gone to the quartermaster's place and retrieved your luggage for you. Does it fit? If not, we'll hurry up and exchange it!"

  Zhang Songling quickly stretched out his two hands and shook them with Shi Tou's, then smiled and thanked him, "Thank you, Brother Shi Tou! Thank you!"

  "Come on in, come on in. Stone, first pour me a bowl of tea, damn it, Lao Ji's horse had diarrhea and I left it at the hospital. Walking back under the sun on this sweltering day is really hot!"

  "Ah!" Shi Tou'er raised an eyebrow, somewhat skeptical of his superior's words, but didn't press the issue. Smiling, he led Zhang Songling into the house, to a room with a stove in the center, where they sat down at an eight-immortals table. He carefully put away his book and poured each person a large cup from a teapot, "Jujube leaf tea, I dried it myself. Try some, Brother Zhang, I'm not bragging, it's really quite good!"

  "Alright, you uncouth bumpkin! Officer Lao Gou picked up the tea bowl and gulped it down. Then he grabbed the teapot and poured himself a full cup again. "The Zhang brothers' family runs a shop, what good tea leaves haven't they seen? This broken thing is only good for fooling officials like me!"

  "Haha, haha." Shi Tou smiled awkwardly and moved the teapot in front of him, his smile hinting at a bit of embarrassment. Zhang Songling saw this and immediately took a big gulp, then imitated Lao Gou's mannerisms, grabbing the teapot and refilling it for himself. "Really quenches my thirst! And it has the flavor of jujube flowers! Refreshing! Our family's small shop usually just sells some tea bricks and loose tea leaves, but they're not as good as this!"

  "Really!" Shi Tou's eyes immediately began to shine, twinkling like the stars in the night sky.