Chapter 1261 The Boiling of that Stagnant Water

This military salute from the frail old man made the eyes of these soldiers who had been separated from him for half a century immediately wet.

Chen Chengwu straightened his body almost subconsciously, and said loudly with the most standard military posture and military salute, and in the hoarse voice: "Senior, Chen Chengwu of the Yun Province Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, salute you!"

Under Chen Chengwu's roar, other soldiers put down their equipment and supplies one after another, stood at attention with red eyes, saluted, and saluted the old man loudly.

This battle moved Li Mu, Liu Xinxin and others who were accompanying them to tears instantly, and two lines of hot tears welled up in the old man's wrinkled eye sockets.

At this moment, the old man abandoned the local dialect he had spoken for decades, and said in standard Mandarin, "National Revolutionary Army, Air Force, Sixth Brigade, Major Pilot, Sun Xiaozhong, thank you... thank you... "

For the old man, due to many special historical reasons, the identity of a soldier has been buried in his heart for more than half a century. He hopes that one day the society will remember his identity as a soldier and recognize the contributions he has made. It's not that he shouted alone, but after so many years, he has become more and more aware that this wish is actually a luxury. After half a century of ups and downs, this country has undergone countless changes, and his own deeds have become more and more serious. The less likely it is to be remembered by others, I am afraid that my identity can only be brought into the soil by myself.

It wasn't until a few days ago that a few young people who claimed to be volunteers found themselves in the mountains and asked for their names in the village. Only then did he know that his deeds had not been completely forgotten by the society, and there were very, very few small A group of people found their name by looking up the information of the Flying Tigers and the local government records of various places, and found Baofu Village step by step.

Volunteers brought him some cakes and gifts, and also gave him 2,000 yuan. The old man had never touched a hundred-yuan bill a few times in his life, and his hands trembled when he saw so much money. The thickest coffin made by hand only sold for 1,000 yuan.

But the old man didn't ask for the money, because he had already obtained greater wealth than this money, because there were still people who remembered him, and people who knew who he was and what he had done.

People in Baofu Village have been with the old man for decades, and they don’t know what the old man does. They just call him Old Suntou, because his name, Sun Xiaozhong, sounds too bookish, and the mountain people can’t understand it or get used to it. The titles between them are mostly "surname" + "A" + elder brother, sister-in-law, uncle, and uncle, such as Zhang elder brother and Chen elder sister-in-law. Compared with the old man's name with a strong Republican flavor, the villagers' names are more down-to-earth. many.

In the eyes of the villagers in Baofu Village, the old man is an old bachelor. Since the day he entered the mountain, he has been a bachelor. In the words of the elders in the village, the old man was like a rooster who was defeated in a fight and a dog who lost his family when he came to the mountain. He came to Baofu Village in ragged clothes and begged the villagers to give him a place to stay. Although the land in Baofu Village is worthless, outsiders are generally not welcome to enter closed villages, not to mention that the old man's local language at that time was not so standard. , but for some reason, the old village head at that time agreed to his request and told him that the small dirt slope at the east end of the village was uninhabited, and if he wanted to settle down, he should go there and build a thatched hut by himself.

So, the old man built a thatched hut by himself in silence, and found a mountain field far away from the mountain that no one wanted to cultivate. Let's settle down, this stay will last for thirty years.

For thirty years, the old man has been the most pitiful old grandson in the village in the eyes of the villagers. People always use him to educate their children: if you are not obedient, the old grandson will catch you and eat you; If you can't get a wife like Sun Tou, if you can't get a wife, you will be like Old Sun Tou with no one to take care of you, and you will not even have a coffin bearer when you die...

When these rumors gradually became popular, the old man was almost demonized in the eyes of the children in the village. Many children screamed and left in horror when they saw him.

A few brave children would pick up lumps of soil and throw them at the elderly nervously and vigorously, and then turn their heads and run away screaming regardless of whether they hit it or not. Their parents rarely care about it, because they feel that these years Letting the old man stay in the village is already the endless favor of the village to him, this little thing is far from enough for him to repay the kindness of the villagers and him.

The old man never cared about this, nor was he angry. Whether it was the children's panic and teasing, or the villagers' ridicule and sympathy, he was neither angry nor sad. He always held his proud head in his heart, even if his body was bent Same, decades, not even a drop of tears flowed.

He always comforted himself in this way. When he flew the plane to fight the Japanese, he had the determination and courage to die every time he took off. An iron tree that will never wither and never fall. This iron tree has stood for decades, has withstood the attacks of Japanese fighter planes, and has withstood the baptism of historical catastrophe. Today's things are not even eaten by ants.

It is such a strong old man, and now when facing these PLA soldiers, he couldn't stop crying like rain in an instant.

Unlike the recognition given to him by the volunteers a few days ago, these people wearing military uniforms are all active soldiers. Their recognition made the old man most gratified and moved.

For many years, the national army pilot named Sun Xiaozhong, the pilot who used to guard the southwest with the American Flying Tigers, has never felt the excitement and excitement. After his wife and children disappeared, his life was like a pool of stagnant water, without the slightest The waves were terribly silent, but at this moment, the water completely boiled.

The picture of more than a dozen active soldiers and the elderly saluting each other was still for a few minutes. Fortunately, there were two cameras that had not stopped shooting from the moment they entered the mountain. The photographer hoped to capture the hardships of the mountain along the way. I was lucky to capture such an image without any deliberation at all, and everything came from the heart.

At this time, the old man took the lead to break this stagnant scene, and said with annoyed expression: "I should invite you to sit in the house, but the house is too small and dilapidated, there is no place to set your feet..."

Chen Chengwu wiped away tears and said, "Old man, we won't go in, but they..."

As Chen Chengwu said, he turned around, pointed at the two videographers carrying cameras, as well as Li Mu and Liu Xinxin, and said to the old man: "They are from Yanjing, and they want to do an interview for you and report your affairs. Let more people know the story of you and other war veterans."

The old man nodded slightly and said, "The young people who came here before have told me how to interview you. I will cooperate, but..."

Speaking of this, the old man struggled for a moment, and begged: "Just can you record a video for me to broadcast, I want to find my wife and children, if they are still alive, maybe there is a chance to see it."

Liu Xinxin hurriedly went to the previous one and said to the old man: "Old man, if you have anything to say, you can say it to the camera. We promise to spread the video to the people of the whole country, not only to see it, but also to let them know What a tremendous contribution you and other veterans have made to this nation."

The old man quickly waved his hands: "Don't dare to be ashamed, not to mention contribution, it's all our duty, everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, it's not credit, it's an obligation!"

The village chief was stunned and didn't speak for a while, but suddenly he said something with a shocked expression.

The old man coughed twice with a smile, and replied a few words in a dialect that everyone could not understand.

The guide told everyone that what the old village chief said was that he was surprised that Senior Sun could speak official Chinese.

Mandarin is the local people's name for Mandarin. Many people can understand it but can't speak it. There are also many elderly people who can't understand it. Almost no one in the local villagers who is as old as Senior Sun can speak it. Putonghua, so when he started to speak Mandarin, the village chief felt as if a villager in his own village suddenly became fluent in a foreign language.

The old man’s answer was: “In fact, I am not from the province. I have been speaking the official language since I was young. After 37 years in Yunnan province, I only learned the local dialect a little bit.”

The village chief was beyond shock, as if his entire life and outlook had been turned upside down.

Not having the energy to take care of the dazed and surprised old village head, Li Mu, Liu Xinxing and the cameraman followed the old man into his thatched hut.

After entering, everyone really realized what hardship is. The impact of reality is countless times more real than the pictures sent back by the volunteers before. When you look down, you can see the muddy land, and when you look up, you can see the white sky. The province is located on a plateau, and the clouds look like It is much closer than the plains, and the scenery was originally beautiful, but seeing the white clouds from the roof makes people feel sad as well as sad.

The old man did not have any decent clothes, only a Chinese tunic suit that he had worn for many years and had been patched countless times. The bed on the brick, took a small iron box from the head of the bed, took out a medal in the shape of eagle wings, and hung it carefully on his chest, looking down at the medal, the old man sighed and said: "It's been decades, no I wore it again, fearing that it would be taken away when I was criticized, I hid it in the swallow’s nest and took it up the mountain again, this is the first time I’ve worn it in so many years.”

An accompanying female reporter hurriedly squatted in front of him and asked, "Senior, can you tell me about the origin of this medal?"

The two photographers also knelt on one knee and took pictures of the old man and the medal. Li Mu was too busy pulling Liu Xinxin to sit cross-legged on the ground. In this dilapidated thatched house, the old man should be the tallest one.

The corners of the old man's mouth were full of saliva, and his lips moved for a long time before he said: "This is the Star Order Medal. After the start of the Anti-Japanese War, the national government set up the medal specially for the national air force pilots. There are ten levels from 1 to 10 stars on it. According to the rules of the Nationalist Government at that time, only the pilots who had shot down enemy planes were eligible to be awarded honors. For shooting down one enemy plane, they were awarded a one-star order medal, and for shooting down two enemy planes, they were awarded two star order medals..."

Li Mu carefully looked at the medal on the old man's chest. In the center of a pair of golden eagle wings, there is a star in the middle of the circle on a white background, and above it, on the lower left, and on the lower right, there are also stars each in the layout of a trident. four.

The old man caressed his medal and said with emotion softly: "Actually, I only shot down three Japanese planes, and the fourth one was shot down by one of my wingman pilots at that time. He died in that air battle, and the commander gave him a posthumous award." I received a Boding Medal, and then credited the downed fighter plane to me, as well as the other wingman pilot, I changed from three stars to four stars, and the other wingman pilot changed from one star to two stars."

The young female reporter said ashamedly: "I'm sorry old man, I don't quite understand what you mean by wingman, can you explain it to us?"

The old man let out a long breath, recovered from the heavy thoughts just now, and said: "At that time, the planes used formation tactics. They were divided into the leader plane and the wingman. The leader plane was the commander of the formation. Carry out all the orders of the lead plane unconditionally. At that time, the tactic adopted by the national government was a formation of three planes, I was the lead plane, and there were two other wingmen."

Speaking of this, the old man sighed and said: "Since the death of my wingman pilot, the number of National Air Force planes is insufficient, so we have changed to one long and one wingman, three planes have become two planes..."