Source: People's Liberation Army Daily, China Military Trumpet
Author: Liang Qiudong
One
Previously, only 15 military wives had landed on Zhongjian Island. She is the 16th - Nong Jianmei, a Zhuang girl from Guangxi.
Nong Jianmei is shy and introverted, and is the new wife of Sergeant Mai Jian. And Mai Jian has been stationed silently on this remote island for 8 years. In the past 8 years, the longing for his family and hometown has been his medicine against loneliness. A year ago, Mai Jian and Nong Jianmei fell in love, and the two got married two months ago, and Mai Jian's loneliness has since had a shoulder to share with him.
One fine day, I walked into Nong Jianmei and Mai Jian's room. Several huge boxes are very conspicuous, and the room facilities are simple, but the relationship between the two newlyweds makes the whole room have a happy and warm atmosphere.
I asked Nong Jianmei: "You are so thin, how did you bring these big boxes?" "I dragged them onto the boat one by one, and asked others to help me on the way, and then carried them one by one." She smiled in a calm tone.
Nong Jianmei's eyes flashed as she answered, full of joy to be reunited with her husband. In my curious eyes, Nong Jianmei opened 3 large boxes, and the first one was full of snail noodles. She told me that her husband and comrades-in-arms were very fond of eating snail noodles, so she made the most of the space in the box. The second box was still stuffed to the brim, full of rice dumplings and bacon made at home. I was both surprised and touched by the contents of the third box, which contained a wedding dress that her mother and grandmother had embroidered for her. The fine stitches and exquisite patterns made me feel the deep blessings and expectations of her family.
Nong Jianmei's hometown is in Xilin County, Baise, Guangxi, and I am a fellow countryman, and her hometown voice evokes my hometown and makes us feel closer.
When she was in love, Nong Jianmei only knew that Mai Jian was a soldier in Hainan, and she naively fantasized about the coconut grove and sea breeze in Sanya. It wasn't until they registered their marriage that Nong Jianmei knew the exact location of Mai Jian's unit.
In this way, with a beautiful fantasy of the sea, Nong Jianmei set off with 3 large boxes. She took a day's bus from her hometown to Baise, and then took a five-hour bus ride from Baise to Nanning, and from Nanning to Sanya. After 4 days of waiting in Sanya, I finally boarded the ship bound for Zhongjian Island.
As Nong Jianmei set foot on Zhongjian Island, she realized that the hardships and remoteness of Zhongjian Island were completely beyond her imagination.
Two
In Xisha, the warriors of the island have a common phrase "waiting for traffic". People are waiting for planes, high-speed trains, and buses, but in the Paracel Islands, the transportation people are waiting for is boats. There are warships, speedboats, kayaks, assault boats, and fishing boats that shuttle between the islands. The soldiers were most familiar with the Lao Chen and Lao Deng fishing boats, which were responsible for transporting supplies to the small islands, sending and receiving couriers, and sending people on business trips to and from the islands. These boats are the means of transportation for officers and men to "hitchhike".
Transportation can only be waited. Every officer and soldier who goes to the island will be anxious to find out when there will be a means of transportation to take him back to his "home" -- those small islands scattered in the depths of the sea have become the homes that the officers and men have built and guarded with their own hands. With transportation, they may not be able to reach their own island, and most of the officers and men of the island often have to move from one island to another, and from another island to a more distant island. When it comes to typhoons or cold spells, the wait time is often longer......
God favors lovers, and Nong Jianmei only waited a few days to get on the boat to Zhongjian Island.
Some people joke that in Xisha there used to be rats who jumped into the sea because they couldn't stand seasickness. The sea in April was quite calm, but for Nong Jianmei, who was taking a boat for the first time, the not fierce wind and waves were enough to make her dizzy. A few hours later, Nong Jianmei, who could no longer distinguish between the sea and the sky, finally saw a white sand beach in the distance. The people on the boat told her that it was Zhongjian Island.
Zhongjian Island is a small island, and only a small part of the water is exposed when the tide rises, and after the tide recedes, patches of white coral sand remain. In 1975, the first batch of officers and men of the South China Sea Fleet to defend the island came here with a tent and began long-term construction and afforestation. Since then, troops have been stationed here. The island is surrounded by coral reefs of varying depths, and large ships cannot dock at all, so they can only stop a few nautical miles away and use assault boats to transport people and supplies to the island. I remember the first time I landed on Zhongjian Island, the wind and waves were very strong, looking at the black pressure and rolling sea, I trembled and climbed along the rope ladder of the big ship to the assault boat. The cabin was half filled with water, and I soaked in it with my box. The assault boat rode the wind and waves towards Zhongjian Island, and my clothes and hair were all wet. At that time, I finally understood the saying that "without the courage of three heroes, take a break from Zhongjian White Beach".
When the boat docked, Nong Jianmei saw her husband and his comrades on the shore waving to her.
The arrival of military wives on the island is an important matter for the officers and men of the island. The instructor led the officers and soldiers of the whole island to the pier to greet them, and the soldiers were overjoyed and carefully prepared a welcoming ceremony for Nong Jianmei. When a soldier put a wreath of flowers woven by everyone on her head, Nong Jianmei burst into tears.
On the vast white sand beach of Zhongjian Island, there was once no grass, but now it is full of verdant. It has become a habit for generations of officers and men guarding the island to carry a bag of soil every time they come back from vacation. In this land, which was carried entirely on backpacks, officers and soldiers planted vegetables, flowers and coconut trees. The seedlings planted survived with great difficulty, and they will face another test when the typhoon comes. One year, a typhoon destroyed a large area of coconut groves newly planted by officers and soldiers, and in the end, only eight trees survived, each of which was extremely precious. After the coconuts were ripe, the soldiers were reluctant to eat them, and all of them stayed to entertain the military wives who came from afar. After Nong Jianmei arrived on the island, the battalion left the only small suite on the island for her to live in, and the soldiers also picked up the sunflowers on the island to decorate her room.
All this made Nong Jianmei deeply feel the enthusiasm of the soldiers and the cordial care of the leaders, and deeply felt the importance and glory of her husband's work.
Three
For more than half of the year, the high temperature on Zhongjian Island is unbearable, and officers and men train and patrol in such a scorching hot environment. Coming here, Nong Jianmei better understood the hardships of her husband and comrades-in-arms, the arduous task of defense, and more reverence for the soldiers. And Mai Jian did not delay his work because of the arrival of his wife. He is still training and on duty on time.
The days in Zhongjian Island were the most special experience in Nong Jianmei's life. Every day, she listened to the wake-up, drill, and lights-out calls of the barracks with the soldiers, sang high-spirited military songs together, and felt the rhythm of this beautiful sea together......
During her time on Zhongjian Island, Nong Jianmei gradually developed a home-like attachment to the island, and developed a family-like affection for the soldiers guarding the island. She likes to go to the pier at dusk to watch the sunset hand in hand with Mai Jian, she likes to listen to the loud singing of the soldiers guarding the island every day, and she likes to watch the seabirds soaring in the sky...... Every day, she sends the most beautiful blessings in her heart to this sea guarded by her husband and comrades.
When I left the island, Nongjian Meilai Wharf saw me off. Looking at her face that changed from fair to dark, I remembered a poem written for Xisha Jun's sister-in-law: "Qing serves the country with my body, and I promise Qing with my body." ”
(Produced by the People's Liberation Army Daily, China Military Horn)