In the Taihang Mountains, there is a kind of flower. No! It's better to say it's a flower than to say it's grass, because the locals call it Maran. Whenever spring comes, its delicate waist sticks out from the side of the road, by the side of the path, in front of the house, behind the house, and even in the crevices of the bare bluestone slab. Before and after the Qingming Dynasty, it bloomed a small light blue flower, and people who were not attentive could not even see it. Indeed, it is too unremarkable.
When I participated in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the Taihang Mountains, I saw this flower, and at the same time, I also saw an ordinary woman who had the same image as this flower that is always worth remembering.
It was the autumn of 1937, and the 771st Regiment I belonged to encountered the Japanese army in order to complete the task of covering the transfer of Liu Bocheng and other leading comrades. It was a fierce battle. During this battle, I was seriously wounded and passed out.
I don't know how long later, I woke up, used all my strength, pushed the ghost corpse that was pressing on me away, and sat up.
There was silence all around, and there was no sound. Suddenly, on the opposite hillside not far from me, the devil's "grunting" speech came over.
I immediately realized that I had to get out of here right away. I touched around, touched a three-eight-big cover butt that had been smashed into two pieces, and wanted to stand up with the butt of the gun, but I didn't wait for me to stand, and there was a pain in my thigh, and I fell to the ground again. I had to tear a piece of cloth from my clothes, wrap the bloodied wound on my thigh tightly, and start crawling hard.
When I crossed the corpses and climbed to a large mound not far away, my body was already soaked with sweat, and I leaned on the mound in exhaustion and closed my eyes.
"Company commander! The sound seemed to come from underground. I was startled and rushed down the dirt to the ground.
"Company commander, it's me!" A long row of girth heads appeared beside me as if they had come out of the ground.
I pounced on me in surprise and delight: "Big head! ......”
"How? Company commander you hang up the lottery! ”
"Well, hit in the leg... What about the comrades in the company? I asked eagerly.
"I don't know. I was pushed down the ravine by the devil, fell blind, and waited until I woke up to climb up. I nodded.
"So what do we do now?" The big head looked at the devil on the opposite hill and said to me.
"Anyway, let's get out of here first, and the farther away we are, the better!"
As soon as I finished speaking, the big head reached over and pulled me onto his back and walked down the steep hill to the ravine.
After dawn, the two of us found a sheep herder's hole in the ravine to hide from the rain.
After hiding for a day, after dark, Zhou Datou picked me up and climbed up the opposite mountain beam. Zhou Datou, who had not eaten anything during the day, gradually could not support it, and as soon as he went up the hill, he collapsed on the ground.
When I was thrown to the ground, my head seemed to explode, and a wave of nausea flooded my throat, and I swallowed spit down vigorously, and my throat was dry and numb.
"Company commander, this can't go on," the big head raised his head, "there is no water, no food, you still have a color on your legs, today has passed, what will you do tomorrow?" And the day after tomorrow, the troops don't know where they have moved..."
Suddenly, he stopped talking, pondered for a moment and said to me, "Yes! Company commander, our troops were originally stationed in this area, and I know the daughter-in-law of a landlord's family in a nearby village. ”
I stared at him dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer him. After a while, I thought about it again and asked cautiously, "Big Head, are you sure?" ...... What kind of person she really is, at least you can guarantee that she will not betray us to the Japanese! ”
The big head said: "We have lived in her house, don't look at her as the daughter-in-law of the landlord's family, but also a poor person, I guess there is no problem." ”
"Well, there you go! However, be careful not to alarm the people in her family, it is really not possible, we must come back immediately, we will think of other ways! ”
Zhou Datou stood up, took off the gray cloth shirt on his body and threw it at me, turned and left.
I lay on my back on the grave on the hillside, looking at the stars in the sky, estimating what might happen to the big head. I don't know how long it took, but I suddenly had a feeling of uneasiness.
I regret that I shouldn't have let the big head take this risk alone... Are there any Japanese stationed in yamashita villages? Is the woman in the landlord's house reliable? Are the people in the landlord's house reliable? Thinking of this, I couldn't lie down anymore, struggled to stand up, and looked down the hill.
I was watching when I overheard soft footsteps not far away, and I quickly pulled the grenade out of my waist: "Who?" Hold it! ”
"Me! It's the big head, the company commander! It was the voice of Zhou Datou, and I put the grenade back into my waist.
"Company commander, she's here too!" The big head came up and supported me. Only then did I realize that not far from me stood a young woman.
Under the stars, she was like many northern women I had ever seen, with a towel of small blue flowers wrapped around her head. Timidly, she walked over, knelt down on one leg in front of me, and opened the small white cloth bag in her hand, and inside were a few noodle cakes that smelled of green onions.
She didn't look at me and lowered her eyes: "Big brother, eat something." ”
"While it's hot, eat something." The big head also urged me. At this time, she looked up at the big head and said softly, "You can eat something too!" ”
When we finished eating the bread, the big head said to me: "Company commander, I am afraid that the troops have moved to the rear of the enemy, and you are very badly wounded in the leg, I am afraid that you will not be able to go for a while." Just now I heard her say that there is a very hidden hole not far from here, can we go to that cave for a while, you recuperate, and then we will go to the troops. ”
I looked at the big head, didn't speak, and thought.
Probably she also saw that I was hesitating, so she raised her head to persuade me. Her voice is very soft and thin, coupled with the thick local tone of the Taihang Mountains, which makes people feel gentle and kind.
"Big brother, you can rest assured!" It was a secluded place, and no one knew. I will send you a meal once a day, and try my best not to let you be wronged. Now there are Japanese people everywhere outside the village, and you can't leave, so you should stay first. Big brother, if you are there, you are there. At this point, she was a little excited.
I was touched by her sincere words, but I didn't know what to call her, but just nodded at her and agreed.
That night, Zhou Datou and I led her to the cave she said. The place was indeed as she had said, very hidden, the cave was in a ravine that people did not often come to, and there was a large dense grove of trees near the mouth of the cave. Outside the forest is a path covered in weeds. People who pass by the path cannot see the entrance to the cave at all, and even those who enter the forest do not necessarily notice that there is a cave entrance that is tightly covered by grass and trees.
The next night, she got some grain to spread in the hole and blocked the opening with sorghum stalks. This hole was sorted out by her, and a small oil lamp was lit, which was really good.
As the days went on, I slowly learned something about her: this woman was originally from a poor family, because the family owed some grain to the landlord and could not repay it, so she had to sell herself to one of the landlord's paralyzed sons as a daughter-in-law. But it also happened that I had just settled on the kiss, and before I crossed the door, the paralyzed man died! When the old landlord saw that she was skillful, he justifiably married her into the family and asked her to serve the family.
The days passed so fast, and in the blink of an eye, late autumn arrived. Thanks to the big head and the woman's care, the wound on my leg gradually healed.
I discussed with Zhou Datou to find the troops before winter came, otherwise we would be in a more difficult situation. But I didn't expect that just as we were about to leave, an unexpected thing happened.
I remember it was late afternoon, and the woman still brought us food as usual. As we were getting ready to eat, suddenly there was a sharp barking of dogs outside the cave.
The three of us hurried to the entrance of the cave and looked out the path outside the forest, only to see six or seven Japanese soldiers walking along the path in our direction, led by an Oriental dog with a blood-red tongue in his hand.
The dog kept barking at our hidden forest, and as it approached the forest, it barked even harder. The situation caught the attention of several Japanese soldiers, who were looking into the woods while discussing something with each other.
I withdrew my hand and pulled the grenade out of my waist. The big head, gasping for breath next to me, pulled out the grenade just like me. Suddenly, the Japanese soldier with the wolfhound let go of the belt in his hand, and the wolfhound rushed toward us.
Just then, I just felt like I was being pushed hard, and by the time I could react to what was going on, the woman had rushed from behind us to the outside of the cave. She ran out of the cave, hesitated slightly, turned and ran in the other direction of the hillside, and the wolfhound, which had been running straight for the mouth of the cave, turned its head and chased in the direction she was running.
The Japanese soldiers who had been standing on the path outside the forest saw a woman and immediately followed the wolfhound towards her. I got up and was about to climb outside, but I was held by the big head.
"What's the use of you going out... Can you save her? His voice trembled a little.
The cries of wolfhounds mingled with the loud screams of women, like sharp claws grasping at my heart.
At this time, Zhou Datou also grasped my hand tightly, more and more hard, and kept holding my bones and hurting.
The sounds faded away, and everything returned to calm. The big head then let go of my hand, stood up, and went back to the hole.
I could tell that he was very uncomfortable at this time and hadn't spoken a word to me for half a day. It took me a while to open the black crock jar that the woman had sent me, and I found that inside was a cooked chicken, and immediately my tears couldn't stop flowing.
It was still yesterday, when she came to deliver food, the big head said to her, "Do you have any chickens in your house?" The company commander shed a lot of blood, and her body was too weak..." She said with great embarrassment: "Yes, there is, but I... I really didn't dare to use the knife. ”
In order to prevent the enemy from searching, Zhou Datou and I decided to leave the cave where we had been hiding for more than forty days.
After my repeated persuasion, Zhou Datou finally agreed to go to the village with me to inquire about the whereabouts of the woman. We walked down a frost-covered path into the village. Then the big boss led me into an alley, and when we reached a tall archway, we stood.
The big head pointed to the archway and whispered to me, "This is it!" After saying that, he led me along the wall to a small door in the back. The big head gently pushed with his hand, the door opened, and we walked into the courtyard.
This is a four-story compound, high-rise deep house. The black hole in the surrounding rooms is only a small room next to the west wing that is still lit. The big head and I went to the window of the hut and looked in through the window flowers cut with a pair of birds, and she was alone on the kang.
I listened to it, but without any movement, I pulled my big head into the hut. In the dim light, her face was as white as a piece of paper, without a trace of blood. The eyes under the thin eyebrows closed serenely, and a few crystalline teardrops flashed on the long eyelashes. She lay motionless, lying there calmly like a stone statue carved by craftsmen. I walked slowly over.
She moved her lower lip gently and slowly opened her eyes. When she saw us, she wanted to sit up, but couldn't get up, and said in a trembling voice, "You... Here you go! Here we go! I'm so happy, I thought I wouldn't see you in this life! As long as you can survive to fight the devils..." Hearing this, I felt a sour feeling in my nose and hurriedly turned and walked out of the hut.
Soon we said goodbye to the kind woman and left the village. After some twists and turns, we finally found the troops in Shilidian in Liaoxian County, Shanxi.
The following spring, I marched with my troops through the village again. As soon as I entered the village, I asked someone about her whereabouts, but I never expected that this woman had left us forever!
I also heard people say that before she died, she asked that she be buried on the pine slope of the back ditch, next to the cave where we were hiding.
While the troops were resting, I made a quick run to the ravine where we had spent more than forty days and nights.
Not far from the entrance of the cave, I found Zhou Datou standing in front of a small grave. I walked slowly to Zhou Datou's side, took off my military hat, lowered my head, and stood side by side with him.
It took me a long time before I raised my head, and suddenly I found a timid maran flower blooming on the grave head, swaying with the wind in the bright sun, looking extremely beautiful.
Comrade Li Bingjia's profile: The Fourth Front of the Red Army, the company commander of the 771st Regiment of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, fought in the Taihang Mountains in the autumn of 1937.
![The seven "sworn enemies" of Ma Lantou, the two cannot be eaten together, and the taboo of eating Ma Lantou should be kept in mind![fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)