In late July, Cao Jiarui (left) and her mother Wu Jia, with the advice of their grandfather Wu Yongqiang, came to the Kangxiwa Martyrs Cemetery again. Provided by the author
On that day, the afterglow of the sunset was particularly gorgeous. Wu Jia, who has retired, is providing psychological counseling to comrades-in-arms in Karakoram through video link.
More than 60 years ago, Wu Jia's father, Wu Yongqiang, came to Ali, Tibet, to become a highland cavalryman. Under his influence, Wu Jia joined the army 30 years ago and came to the northwestern border of the motherland. Last year, Wu Jia's daughter Cao Jiarui graduated from the Military Academy and resolutely wrote down an application to go to the border.
The fate of three generations of the family is closely linked to Karakorum.
One
Wushan, Gansu, Wu Yongqiang's hometown. The Wei River flows gently through this small northwestern city. After Wu Yongqiang retired, he lived here for more than 40 years.
After dinner, Wu Yongqiang sometimes looks through past photos. Every time he thinks back to those years with gun smoke, he is still excited.
Early that morning, Wu Yongqiang's company was ordered to launch an attack on a certain height. As the commander of the main attack platoon, he led the soldiers to arrive at the point in advance. A flat open field ahead is a minefield laid by the enemy.
"Boom!" A demining soldier rolled deep into the minefield, leaving a passage nearly 1.6 meters wide for his comrades behind him in a burst of smoke.
Wu Yongqiang was extremely sad and ordered to charge. Accompanied by shouts of killing, the soldiers launched an attack on the enemy position. Enemy fire came like a tidal wave. In the meantime, a shell landed on Wu Yongqiang's right front side. He suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed in a pool of blood.
When Wu Yongqiang woke up, he was already lying in a hospital bed. During this battle, he was seriously injured in both hands and legs. After more than a dozen surgeries, he was transferred to the then 13th Hospital of the Xinjiang Military Region for rehabilitation.
During the days of rehabilitation, Wu Yongqiang always gritted his teeth and persevered, stubbornly fighting against the pain. His perseverance also touched the heart of nurse Guan Fenglan. In 1975, the two married in the presence of their comrades-in-arms.
After the rehabilitation and physiotherapy period, Wu Yongqiang declined the preferential treatment of the army and returned to his hometown: "I can't cause trouble to the country, my comrades-in-arms have died in the border defense, I am already very happy to be alive, people must know enough." ”
Two
Later, the birth of three daughters added a lot of happiness to Wu Yongqiang's life.
"Every night, when the three sisters finished our homework, my father would sharpen our pencils for us. If we didn't do our homework seriously, he would hit us with a pencil. Wu Jia recalled. The father in her eyes maintained a strong character at all times.
After a meal, Wu Yongqiang walked to the sofa on crutches, and when he sat back, he did not grasp the distance between him and the sofa, and accidentally sat on the ground.
Wu Jia stepped forward and prepared to help, but Wu Yongqiang said, "I can do it myself." That night, he put his cane against the wall, fell over and over again, and got up again and again. Finally, he stood up on one leg with a prosthesis, took a step back, and sat down on the couch. After completing these actions, his forehead was already covered with beads of sweat. That night, Wu Yongqiang's strong figure was deeply rooted in Wu Jia's heart.
"Wu Jia's Jia, two 'soils' symbolize the continuous plateau, and the single one on the left means that the border guards stand on the plateau and defend the motherland." After Wu Jia joined the army, Wu Yongqiang told her the origin of her name. This seemingly simple name entrusts Wu Yongqiang's expectations for Wu Jia.
After graduating from Wu Jia Military Academy, he came to the internal medicine department of a division hospital of the Xinjiang Military Region and engaged in electrocardiogram color ultrasound. Later, she heard that some soldiers needed psychological counseling, so she began to study psychology on her own. To this end, she traveled to the large and small bookstores in her station, bought reference books, and began to immerse herself in learning related professional knowledge. She also has the phone numbers of many psychologists in her phone book, and she asks them whenever she has time. Later, after the first mental health center in the division was completed and put into use, Wu Jia took the initiative to ask Ying to take charge of the work of the center.
Three
That year, Wu Jia married Cao Yujun, a company commander in the same unit. A year later, their eldest daughter, Cao Jiarui, was born.
Wu Jia and Cao Yujun are usually very busy at work. One winter day, Cao Jiarui came home from school and found that she did not have the key, so she went to Wu Jia's hospital to find her. On the way, because the snow was too thick, she slipped under her feet and fell heavily to the ground.
Later, fortunately, a passing fighter found her and took her to the hospital. That day, as soon as she entered the duty room, Cao Jiarui threw herself into Wu Jia's arms and cried. Wu Jia saw it in his eyes and hurt in his heart.
The loud military songs in the compound and the sonorous slogans of the soldiers are good memories of Cao Jiarui's childhood. But the promises her parents promised her again and again, and it seems that they rarely come true.
From then on, Cao Jiarui secretly decided that she would never become a soldier in the future.
In 2015, Wu Jia's unit went to the plateau for training according to the plan. At this time, Cao Jiarui is about to rise to third. Faced with such a situation, Wu Jia was a little hesitant.
"You are a party member and a soldier, and if you do not give up your family to prepare for the country, you are sorry for the military uniform on your body." On the other end of the phone, his father Wu Yongqiang said excitedly. In the end, Wu Jia chose to follow the troops to the plateau.
"Dear daughter, I hope you can understand your mother's choice..." That day, seeing the letter left by Wu Jia on the coffee table, a wave of loss welled up in Cao Jiarui's heart. At the marching ceremony, she gambled that she did not send her mother who was about to go to the plateau.
Three months later, Cao Jiarui saw Wu Jia on TV.
In the program, the blue sky and high mountains surround the solemn Kangsiwa Martyrs Cemetery. Wu Jia affectionately read Wu Yongqiang's letter to his fallen comrades-in-arms. Only then did Cao Jiarui know about the combat deeds of her grandfather Wu Yongqiang. After the news was over, she pressed the replay button and watched it again.
After thinking for a long time, Cao Jiarui had a new goal in her heart - to become a soldier like her mother and grandfather.
In the days that followed, whenever she had time, Cao Jiarui would call Wu Jia and listen to her tell stories about the plateau. Gradually, she understood more about the meaning of dedication and the glory of soldiers.
Cao Yujun knows that his wife Wu Jia is most relieved of her daughter's studies. From the time Wu Jia went to the plateau, the first thing he did when he came home every day was to help his daughter with her homework. In order to let Wu Jia work at ease, he would edit his daughter's study situation into text messages and send them to her every day.
With the support of her family, Wu Jia threw herself into her work, running non-stop between various points to bring professional medical services and warm psychological counseling to the officers and soldiers of the plateau.
Four
After graduating from high school, Cao Jiarui was successfully admitted to the military school. Before the start of school, Wu Yongqiang told her: "Under your feet is the front line of the garrison, and behind you are the lights of thousands of homes." Cao Jiarui wrote this sentence down and sandwiched it in the student card, always reminding herself "why I became a soldier."
"Dear party organization, I solemnly apply to volunteer to go to the most remote and difficult places, take over the baton in my mother's hands, and make meritorious contributions in the border defense of the motherland." On the eve of graduation from the military academy, Cao Jiarui took the initiative to submit an application to the party branch of the cadet team.
Soon after, Cao Jiarui came to Xinjiang as she wished. Last year, after learning the news that the unit would send cadres to work on the plateau, Cao Jiarui did not hesitate at all and became the first female cadre in the battalion to submit an application to the organization.
"Mom, I'm going to the plateau, and I can't accompany you on vacation this year."
"It's a good thing, it's okay!" On the other end of the phone, Wu Jia was proud of her daughter.
When Cao Jiarui first went to the plateau, because the point was too remote and there was no signal on her mobile phone, the mother and daughter could only communicate by letter. Once, Wu Jia received a very weighty "letter", which was a stone from Karakoram, and Cao Jiarui wrote in red paint what Wu Yongqiang had said to her: "Under your feet is the front line of the garrison, and behind you are the lights of ten thousand homes." Looking at this "stone letter", Wu Jia's eyes reddened. The daughter who once cried in her arms is now a strong border guard.
Five
In September last year, the Kangsiwa Martyrs Cemetery was solemn. Wu Jia came here again with a video of his father.
Stopping in front of the tombstone, Wu Jia turned on the video to play his father's deep remembrance of his comrades-in-arms.
Then, Wu Jia set off from Consiwa and set off for the training site to continue her patrol.
On the patrol road, vehicles travel between the various hills. Melted snow water flows down from high places, passes through sand and gravel of different sizes, and accumulates in a low-lying area. The wheels crush the mountains reflected in the water, and are soon corrugated and stitched together.
Climb and march towards the training ground deep in the mountains. The sudden high reversal made Wu Jia's every step slow and heavy. But her father's voice seemed to be heard in her ears, urging her to move forward and forward.
During group counseling, the innocent smiles of the soldiers always moved Wu Jia: "When communicating with them, I can see the unique light in each of their eyes. "Another time, a soldier suddenly fell into a plateau coma, and Wu Jia accompanied the military doctor to take him to the medical center. On the way, the comatose warrior lost control of his emotions and was restless. In order to prevent secondary injuries caused by vehicle bumps, Wu Jia hugged him tightly. Arriving at the medical point, the soldier woke up, hugged Wu Jia and cried bitterly: "Thank you Mother Wu!" ”
At that moment, Wu Jia recalled her former medical career, and many soldiers affectionately called her "Sister Wu". With the passage of time, her title has changed, but her original intention of serving officers and soldiers has never changed.
The sky is vast, and the galaxy is boundless. A few months later, Wu Jia ended his thirty-year military career and officially retired. The night before descending the mountain, Wu Jia sat on the snow, trying to carve every scene in Karakoram into her heart. The snow-capped mountains, dotted with starlight, and the cold mountain breeze also became gentle at this moment. The snow fell on her shoulders, and Wu Jia felt as if she was gradually merging with the snowy mountains. She couldn't help but think that maybe there would be few opportunities to go to Karakoram again.
In September this year, Wu Jia received an invitation from the program team of the ideological interpretation media film "Chasing the Light", asking her to participate in the filming as a representative of the border guards in the new era. After getting the news, Wu Jia immediately told his father, and Wu Yongqiang was equally excited.
"Dear comrades-in-arms, are you all right... My daughter and granddaughter have carried on your legacy and joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Before Wu Jia left, Wu Yongqiang picked up a pen with his disabled arm and wrote this letter to his deceased comrades-in-arms.
That day, stroking the warm letter in his pocket, Wu Jia stood on Karakoram again. This time, she also has her daughter Cao Jiarui by her side. Cao Jiarui's originally white face had more traces of plateau baptism, and her eyes flashed with a different brilliance.
The Kangsiwa Martyrs Cemetery, where the souls of the martyrs are rested, is solemn and solemn. Wu Jia took out his father's letter and read it with tears in his eyes. Bouquets of yellow and white chrysanthemums lie quietly in front of the martyrs' tombs. Cao Jiarui carefully wiped each tombstone with a handkerchief...
Author: Tao Jiale Zeng Qingyu
Source: Jiefangjun Bao