Chapter 39: A Thousand Miles Return Home

  The next morning, Lu Xuehua bid farewell to the commanding officer of the headquarters and set off.

  After several months of daily interactions, especially the hardships shared on the long retreat route, the headquarters staff developed a deep affection for this diligent student translator and found it hard to part with him. The superior repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay, but Lu Xuehua had made up his mind to leave. Since he was only a volunteer and not an official government administrative personnel, the headquarters did not have much authority over him. On the eve of boarding the ship, the headquarters issued him a travel permit and identity certificate, gave him some travel expenses, and agreed to let him return home.

  At this time, the Battle of Wuhan had ended. Although China lost major cities such as Yichang, Jiujiang, Nanchang and Wuhan, as well as large tracts of land in the middle and lower Yangtze River valley, the Japanese army also suffered heavy casualties in this battle, becoming exhausted, unable to launch a large-scale offensive again, and the entire front line stabilized. The Anti-Japanese War entered its most arduous stalemate phase.

  After several battles, the Japanese army truly felt that occupying a vast and populous country like China was not an easy task. The Japanese army's long battle lines, insufficient troops, and lack of resources became more and more prominent. Except for the central cities and transportation hubs where the Japanese army had strong garrisons, the vast rural areas were basically in a state of vacuum, and the Japanese army was powerless to control them. This created an objective condition for Lu Xuehua to sneak back to Leijiang through the occupied area.

  Lu Xuehua worked at the "Ma Dang Chen Jiang" command center on a completely voluntary basis, with only 10 yuan in monthly allowance and very low wages. Adding a little travel expenses, there was not much money left. Lu Xuehua was also traveling alone for the first time, and along the way, due to the paralysis of all levels of the National Government, social order was extremely chaotic, with various forms of deception, theft, and social ugliness fully exposed.

  Lu Xuehua still had the air of a young master and didn't know how to calculate his expenses. Seeing refugees fleeing in distress, selling their children, he felt a pang of sympathy and soon spent all his money, 5 cents here, 1 dollar there, and was left with nothing before even reaching Xiangyang, reduced to wandering and sleeping under the eaves of villages. He also tried to humble himself by begging, but he had that young master demeanor in his bones, so no one believed he was a beggar, and naturally no one gave him food. At his most pitiful, Lu Xuehua even stooped to rummaging for food in pigsties on farms.

  Other beggars would loudly plead for alms, but Lu Xuehua could only silently write "land deeds". Finally, his beautiful handwriting caught someone's attention. In a small town street, someone asked him to write a letter home and promised to give him four steamed buns. Lu Xuehua naturally agreed, and when the four steamed buns were wolfed down, his eyes, which had been dull due to hunger, finally shone with light. He suddenly discovered that he had found a way to make a living!

  Then, in the sunset alleys of Jingchu, a young man with a sign that read "Substitute writing for peace and family letters" appeared in the fields. He was Lu Xuehua.

  All the way, he relied on writing letters for people who were displaced by the war to make a living. With his thoughts and longing for his parents and wife, it took him more than a year to basically cross the entire Hubei Province from west to east, step by step from Yichang in western Hubei to Huangmei in eastern Hubei, approaching the Leijiang Gate.

  This year, Lu Xuehua has gone through all kinds of hardships and difficulties. It's hard to describe in just a few words. Her experiences could be written into another book - "Lu Xuehua's Fierce Fire Return Hometown Adventure".

  The closer to Lei Jiang, the more complicated the enemy situation is. Although Wuhan and Nanchang have fallen, there are still many Chinese troops and anti-Japanese guerrillas active near Lei Jiang, with both sides interlocking like dog teeth, and many checkpoints along the way. Lu Xuehua has heard and seen that young men like him without a "good citizen certificate" are easily killed by the Japanese army as Chinese military scouts, or recruited into various "national salvation armies". He can only be careful not to walk in populated areas, relying on the direction of sunrise and sunset to sneak through the sparse mountain roads. As a result, his livelihood skill of "writing letters for others" is completely lost, and he falls into a desperate survival situation again, relying only on picking wild vegetables and drinking spring water to fill his hunger.

  But Lu Xuehua had no experience in picking wild vegetables, and she just picked some tender flowers, leaves, or unripe fruits along the mountain path to fill her hunger. Some were slightly sweet, while others were bitter and hard to swallow, but for survival, Lu Xuehua forced herself to swallow them. The most dangerous thing was that she might accidentally eat some poisonous plants.

  This day, Lu Xuehua walked and walked, only to feel his whole body weak, his legs soft, and his vision blurry. He had a dull pain in his abdomen and was extremely thirsty. He saw a clear spring by the mountain and immediately ran over to drink from it, but after drinking the water, he suddenly felt severe abdominal cramps. He vomited violently, and in his daze, he seemed to see someone approaching him.

  When he was fully awake, he found himself lying on a wooden bed, his lower abdomen still hurting vaguely. A little monk was pouring something into his mouth. Seeing that he woke up, the little monk seemed very happy, put down the bowl and ran out.

  Just then, an old monk with a kind face and eyes walked in with the little novice. Lu Xuehua hurriedly struggled to get up, but the old monk quickly held her down: "Little donor, lie back down, your body has not yet recovered, you need to rest well!"

  Despite being battered and bruised, Lu Xuehua still retained her bookish demeanor: "Thank you, Master, for saving my life! What happened to me in the end!"

  The old monk smiled slightly: "You are food poisoned, plus the continuous running and fatigue of the past few days, lack of nutrition, so you fainted. Fortunately, several masters went up the mountain to cut firewood and saw you fainting by the spring, so they carried you back to the temple. Little donor, what was the last thing you ate?"

  Lu Xuehua recalled: "I was thirsty in the morning, I thought there were some plants by the road that looked like honeysuckle, so I picked and ate a bit. It tasted very bitter, after eating a bit I vomited."

  The old monk nodded: "Indeed! The young donor didn't eat golden osmanthus, but the poisonous 'duan chang cao', also known as 'da cha yao'! Fortunately, the young donor ate a small amount, otherwise, even I would be powerless to save him!" He turned around and said to the little monk behind him: "Go get some more mung bean soup!"

  The old monk continued: "To resolve the poison of the broken intestine grass, the best is fresh sheep's blood, and secondly is mung beans. As monks cannot take life, they can only use mung beans to detoxify for the young donor."

  Lu Xuehua drank a full bowl of mung bean soup brought by Xiao Sanyi, and suddenly felt that the pain in her abdomen had reduced a lot, and her spirit also lifted a bit. "May I ask, Master, where is this place? How should I address you?"

  The old monk smiled and said: "This is the Temple of the Fifth Ancestor, and I am Monk Miao Lian!"

  Lu Xuehua was so startled that she hastily jumped down from the bed.

  The East Mountain Temple was once the Buddhist Zen Master Hongren's preaching site, and also the place where the Sixth Patriarch Huineng received his robe. According to legend, Hongren selected his successor in a unique way, requiring his disciples to each write a poem to distinguish their level of enlightenment. The senior monk Shenxiu wrote a poem saying: "The body is the Bodhi tree, the mind is like a bright mirror stand. Always diligently wipe it clean, don't let dust accumulate." However, the rough and simple monk Huineng heard this and also wrote a poem saying: "Bodhi originally has no tree, the bright mirror is not a stand, originally there is nothing, where can dust accumulate?" Hongren believed that Huineng's poem could see his true nature, so he decided to make Huineng his successor. As the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng founded the Southern School of Chan Buddhism. The East Mountain Temple, as the place where Huineng received his robe and bowl, occupies an extremely important position in Chinese Buddhist history. Master Mianlian was a famous enlightened master who was the abbot of the East Mountain Temple, known for his noble character and profound knowledge of Buddhism, which made him revered by people everywhere. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, almost everyone knew and admired him.

  Lu Xuehua "thud" knelt down in front of the old monk: "Disciple Lu Xuehua thanks the abbot for saving his life!"

  Miao Lian Dashi helped Ru Xuehua up with both hands: "Young master, no need to be polite. I see that you are dignified and elegant in appearance, refined and courteous in speech, a knowledgeable and reasonable person, how did you end up alone in this chaotic situation, coming to the ancient temple deep in the mountains?"

  Lu Xuehua then told Master Miao Lian about her experiences of enthusiastically participating in the Battle of Ma'anshan, following the troops to retreat to Yichang, and traveling thousands of miles back home due to homesickness.

  Master Miao Lian listened quietly to Lu Xuehua's story, then nodded with a smile, her hands clasped together: "Amitabha! I never expected that I and the young donor would be destined to meet. In my years of cultivation at Panshan Sanzu Temple, I was supported by the Lu family of Leijiang and the Mei family, and I have always been grateful but unable to repay them. Today, the Buddha has sent the young donor before me, wanting me to fulfill this wish. Young donor, you can rest assured and stay for now; when the time is right and the situation is calm, I will send someone to escort you back home!"

  Lu Xuehua was overjoyed.