preface
True friendship does not require seeing each other all the time, as long as they remember each other, even if they are thousands of miles apart, they will still have the same friendship. There are two such people, one is the founding general Zhang Aiping, the other is the ordinary soldier Zhao Baoqun, they met in the hospital, Zhao Baoqun saved Zhang Aiping's life in a crisis moment, and later Zhang Aiping went through more than ten years in order to find him.
01
To say that General Zhang Aiping has a very elegant name, but in fact he is a stubborn person covered with thorns, and it is not easy to get close. Even in his old age, he was still an old man who refused to listen, and with a sore body, he always had to do something that young people had to do.
In 1972, 62-year-old Zhang Aiping accidentally broke a fracture, and the elderly's body was already fragile, and he was sent to the People's Liberation Army 301 Hospital overnight. At that time, the situation was unstable, and for safety, Zhang Aiping's name was hidden and pseudonymized as Zhang Xu. At that time, the hospital arranged a young guard to take care of General Zhang's body, and he was Zhao Baoqun.
In order to ensure the safety of General Zhang's identity, the hospital concealed all the identities of General Zhang from Zhao Baoqun, who knew nothing about it, but was reminded not to talk to patients about current affairs, patients could not contact strangers, and if family members came, they needed to record in advance. This move made Zhao Baoqun feel that the old man he was going to care for was not an ordinary person, but he was just holding a normal heart, just like his grandfather. When he saw General Zhang, he had only finished the operation, and the whole person was embarrassed and pale. But what surprised Zhao Baoqun was that the same operation, the others had already screamed in pain, but the old man gritted his teeth and refused to make any sound. This made Zhao Baoqun can't help but have a hint of admiration.
In the subsequent relationship, Zhao Baoqun rarely spoke at first, but silently did nursing work, washing and scrubbing, feeding and massage, careful and considerate, which made Zhang Aiping feel the warmth of relatives, and gradually began to talk to this young soldier, as two soldiers with the same identity, they have endless topics, the most commonly talked about those battles. In order to let Zhang Aiping recover as soon as possible, Zhao Baoqun also quietly went to buy eggplant himself, because the doctor said that it was good for the patient, because Zhang Aiping privately said that he wanted to eat watermelon, and Zhao Baoqun did not say that he bought it the next day. These gentle and kind actions deeply touched Zhang Aiping.
02
One night in July 1972, Zhao Baoqun was preparing to rest after changing shifts with other guards, when he suddenly heard a harsh and violent electric bell, and he, who had always been vigilant, immediately felt that something was wrong and quickly ran to Zhang Aiping's room. Only to see that the old man had already spit white foam, and the whole person was in deep danger. He hurriedly informed the doctors and nurses, who knew that the phone could not be called, as if it had disappeared, Zhao Baoqun ran to the nearest hospital to find a doctor when he broke, and at the same time as the doctor rescued, Zhao Baoqun hurriedly asked the soldiers on duty, but the other party did not know three questions, only to say that the patient drank Chinese medicine and began to vomit and diarrhea.
On the other side, after a night of rescue, the old man finally woke up after escaping from death. After this incident, Zhao Baoqun no longer dared to leave easily, even if it was a rest, it was only in this ward. But Zhao Baoqun couldn't figure out how a hospital in Nuoda University could have no staff when a patient was dying.
He found a good opportunity to go to the hospital that rescued Zhang Aiping at that time to ask the doctor, and actually learned a shocking message, which was actually buried in this usual Chinese medicine with a very dangerous poison. Zhao Baoqun was greatly shocked, but what he was even more angry about was that he had actually inflicted such a poisonous hand on an old man who was dying. Indignant, Zhao Baoqun immediately oversteped his authority to find the superior leader of the hospital, but the other party was full of no truth and fooled him. Zhao Baoqun felt disappointed, he must fight for Zhang Aiping to understand, can not be killed like this. Who knew that Zhang Aiping told him not to pay attention to these things, thinking that this was not the first time in his life that he had been framed. But this incident aroused the vigilance of Zhang Aiping's subordinates, who transferred General Zhang to other hospitals overnight.
03
In March 1973, Zhao Baoqun was told that because he had violated the work regulations because of the report of skipping the level, Zhao Baoqun was disqualified from being promoted and had to retire early. On the day he left the hospital, he realized that the old man he was caring for turned out to be a general with outstanding achievements, but at this time, the two could not see each other, and Zhao Baoqun could only reluctantly leave the military camp.
Because he only had a burst of strength, he worked as a brick mover in the countryside, trying to earn money to support his family. He usually also worried about General Zhang and wanted to know whether his body had recovered, but because of the information blockage, he only happened to hear the good news that General Zhang was the minister of national defense for a long time, and Zhao Baoqun was very excited after knowing it. He did not mention to anyone else that he had saved this powerful old man, and that a man felt joy.
What he didn't know was that Zhang Aiping was also very worried about this little soldier who had saved his life, and later when he called the person who arranged the guards to look for Zhao Baoqun, he learned that the person had been arranged to retire early. Zhang Aiping, who had experienced ups and downs, immediately realized that Zhao Baoqun was implicated by himself, so he decided to find this life-saving benefactor to see if there was anything that could compensate him.
In an era when transportation and communications were very backward, it was pointless to find a needle in a haystack to find someone who did not know any information. Zhang Aiping remembered that Zhao Baoqun seemed to be a person from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he entrusted his old comrade-in-arms with the opportunity to treat his illness in Nanjing, and then went to the local radio reporter and asked them to publish the revelation of the search on television and newspapers, so that the people of the whole country knew that General Zhang was looking for a veteran soldier.
In 1986, everyone finally found Zhao Baoqun in a remote village, but due to busy business, Zhang Aiping could not come to meet Zhao Baoqun, General Zhang and his wife sent Zhao Baoqun a 100 yuan condolence money and a letter of thanks, Zhao Baoqun turned around and donated the money to the local primary school, General Zhang knew about it and was very appreciative and pleased.
Later, Zhao Baoqun's wife was hospitalized, Zhang Aiping and his wife knew and asked someone to send four hundred yuan, and said that they would send 50 yuan to Zhao Baoqun every month to subsidize the family, Zhao Baoqun was very touched by General Zhang's care, but he wrote to General Zhang that he could earn money to support the family, and finally he also donated the money to a nursing home that needed more warmth, and told others that this was donated by General Zhang.
On November 13, 1987, Zhang Aiping invited Zhao Baoqun to Beijing to meet, and the two were separated for fifteen years before they met again.
epilogue
For Zhao Baoqun, as a warrior, he fulfilled the responsibilities he should have assumed at that time. For General Zhang Aiping, he firmly remembered that the grace of dripping water should be repaid by the spring. Their virtues of kindness, integrity, and gratitude will always be examples to be passed down from generation to generation in our generations.