In May 1973, Feng Junke, an engineer of the People's Liberation Army, met an old lady in the Wumeng Mountains, whose house lived deep in the reeds, and there was a big tree full of golden loquat hanging in front of the door.
Feng Junke
The first time they met, the old lady hospitably invited Feng Junke to eat loquat, and after repeated excuses, Feng Junke tasted one embarrassedly.
Seeing that the old lady's home was dilapidated and her clothes were all torn, Feng Junke wanted to buy some back to the team for his comrades.
But the old lady said: "People in the mountains don't talk about buying, if you want to eat, you can go up the tree and pick it, and you don't need money." At her insistence, she only took a dime.
After chatting for a while, the old lady walked up to Feng Junke, gently stroked his military uniform, and choked up:
"Young man, you, like my husband, are soldiers. When I was young, I was very fond of soldiers, and my husband was a company commander in the team of Sun Liren's division commander......"
In the later chat, Feng Junke also learned that this loquat tree was the watchman of the old lady's life, and his tears gradually blurred his eyes.
Encounter in the mountains
In the seventies and eighties of the last century, as an important part of the third-line construction, the Wumeng Mountains became an important garrison area of the People's Liberation Army.
And Feng Junke, as a member of the PLA engineering corps, came to the Wumeng Mountains.
Here, they undertook heavy tasks in defense construction, participated in the construction of infrastructure such as transportation, communications, water and electricity, as well as the layout and construction of military-industrial complexes.
He is also involved in agricultural production, water conservancy construction, road construction, etc.
At the same time, they have also carried out extensive military-civilian joint construction activities with the local government and the people, deepened the friendship between the military and the people, and promoted the harmony and stability of the local society.
May 1973, in the hinterland of the Umeng Mountains. Early one Sunday morning, Feng Junke had a rare day off.
He walked out of the barracks gate and followed a little-traveled trail towards the back of the mountain.
As an engineer of the People's Liberation Army, he is accompanied by mountains and rocks on weekdays, but at this moment he is eager to find a rare tranquility in the depths of this mountain wilderness.
The sun had not yet appeared, and the weeds crept humbly on the side of the road, occasionally looking into the middle of the road, as if they were curious about the whereabouts of this uninvited guest.
Feng Junke walked slowly, but his heart was filled with deep emotions for this land, and every step showed his awe for nature and his yearning for a peaceful life.
Turning a mountain, I don't know how long I walked, suddenly opened up in front of me, a half-human high reed swinging into view, on the side of the reed, several families scattered in the middle, cooking smoke rises, the breath of life comes to the face.
The most striking thing is that a tall tree is full of yellow fruits, which are shining with golden light under the reflection of the rising morning glow, like a medal of victory, reflecting Feng Junke's perseverance and expectation for the peace of his family and country.
When Feng Junke first came to this place, his eyes were full of novelty, and for a moment he couldn't make out what the trees and fruits hanging from the branches in front of him were.
He cautiously walked along the path only a foot wide, weaving among the reeds, and was about to look up to take in the glittering golden fruit of the trees, when he suddenly heard a low and powerful question, "What are you doing?" The sound startled him.
When I looked closely, there sat an old lady in her sixties on the stone slab under the tree, holding a wooden stick in her hand, her face furrowed and horizontal, and her dark complexion made it difficult to tell whether she was angry or laughing.
"If you don't do anything, just walk around." Feng Junke, as an engineer of the People's Liberation Army, is accustomed to working with hard rocks and cold machinery, but now he responds in a soft tone.
"Do you eat loquats?" The old lady asked suddenly.
"This is called loquat?" Feng Junke pointed to the fruit on the tree, his eyes flashing with curiosity. The old lady nodded slightly.
He tried to taste one, sweet and sour, sweet and sour, and the unique taste instantly conquered his taste buds.
So, he proposed to buy some and take them back to share with his comrades, but he didn't expect the old lady to say amiably: "People in the mountains don't like this, if you want to eat it, you can go up the tree to pick it, don't need money." ”
Feng Junke wanted to excuse himself, but found that the old lady's house was shabby and her clothes were ragged, so he decided to go up the tree and pick a little more to buy it.
He quickly climbed up the tall loquat tree, gently shaking a branch full of fruit, and the loquat fell one after another.
The old lady squatted patiently on the ground, picking up the fruits from the grass one by one and carefully putting them together.
Seeing this, Feng Junke hurriedly took off his military hat and filled it with a hat of loquats.
Feng Junke took out a few yuan of banknotes from his pocket, and he didn't count them, so he stuffed them into the old lady's hand.
The old lady repeatedly said that she didn't need money, and she couldn't eat it alone anyway, and if it was ripe, it would fall to the ground and spoil.
Feng Junke insisted on giving, saying that as a soldier, he must abide by the "three disciplines and eight points of attention", and he will be punished if he does not collect money.
In the end, the old lady received only a dime symbolically.
Back at the barracks, the comrades-in-arms tasted the loquat that Feng Junke brought back, and they were full of praise and asked him where he got it.
Tragic life
Feng Junke smiled and sold a pass, not telling them where these delicious loquat came from, but silently grateful to the simple and kind old lady in his heart, and this Wumeng Mountain that gave him an unexpected surprise.
Since then, every time Feng Junke goes to the old lady to buy loquats, he enjoys the treatment of tasting and picking them freely, regardless of the quantity, and only pays a dime.
During his frequent visits, he gradually learned about the old lady's living alone, with no children, no daughters, and no wife to accompany her.
This understanding inspired Feng Junke's inner sense of responsibility, and he decided to help this lonely old man living under a loquat tree.
When he went again, he not only bought loquats, but also took the initiative to help the old lady with housework, and sometimes saved towels and soap from his limited supplies to give to her.
The old lady would hold the soap to her face every time, sniffing deeply at the familiar and warm fragrance, and her eyes flashed with nostalgia for the past years.
Although Feng Junke did not know why, he could feel the kindness and kindness of the old lady, as well as her deep love for future generations.
The old lady slowly walked towards Feng Junke, she stretched out her old hands, stroked Feng Junke's military uniform and cockade, and said in a choked voice:
"Young man, you, like my husband, are soldiers. When I was young, I was very fond of soldiers, and my husband served as a company commander in the team of Sun Liren. ”
"Sun Liren? Which division was the commander? Feng Junke was puzzled, and he didn't know who Sun Liren was at that time. But he was even more surprised that the old lady turned out to be a military family, which may be the reason why she was so enthusiastic about soldiers.
He thought to himself that he should tell the squad leader about this situation, so that the comrades-in-arms in the squad could often come to help her, which was not only a support for the government, but also a care for the families of soldiers.
The old lady seemed to see Feng Junke's thoughts, and she said, "Wait, I'll show you the photo." ”
With that, she led Feng Junke into the gray and simple house. The house is surrounded by wooden walls, and the roof is paved with stone slabs, and when you look up from the house, you can see the light through the cracks in the stone slabs.
A blackened pot hung from the central firepit, and the tables, chairs, benches, and other items in the room were black and swarthy, giving off a characteristic musty smell.
The old lady took out a photo from a dilapidated wooden box and handed it to Feng Junke.
It was an old, yellowed family photo. In the photo, a young woman is dressed in a cheongsam, with black hair like a waterfall, a beautiful face, holding a one-year-old child in her arms, and a happy smile on her face.
Behind her stood a Kuomintang officer, with a pistol at his waist, with a heroic posture and a majestic face.
Looking at this photo, Feng Junke couldn't help but be a little surprised, it turned out that the old lady's husband was actually a Kuomintang officer.
The old lady told Feng Junke that her ancestral home was Yuncheng, Shanxi, her surname was Xue, and her husband was a company commander in the team that year.
In the 31st year of the Republic of China, she followed Sun Liren's division to fight against Japan in Burma, but on the way to Yunnan, some wounded soldiers and their families were dismissed, and she took her one-year-old son and husband to separate, and since then she has lived in seclusion in this remote place.
There are more than 20 families in the entire village, most of which are wounded soldiers and their families who were dismissed that year.
They have been isolated from the world for a long time, farming and feeding themselves, and living in harmony. They had no idea what had become of the world beyond the mountains.
Even the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and the soldiers of the National Army, he couldn't tell the difference.
"Where's your son?" Feng Junke couldn't help but ask.
"When he was 20 years old, he slipped and fell to his death while going up the mountain to collect medicine." The old lady's voice was full of sadness.
After learning about the old lady's life experience, Feng Junke's mood became extremely complicated. He was dull for a long time, and he no longer had the courage to set foot in that village, let alone tell his comrades where those delicious loquat came from.
In November 1975, on the eve of the army's redeployment, Feng Junke secretly went to visit the old lady once.
Tears of parting
Hearing that he was leaving, the old lady's eyes moistened. She held Feng Junke's hand tightly, choked up and said:
"Young man, a soldier is meant to go all over the world, my husband used to say that to me. Before our family separated, he helped me build the house and plant this loquat tree. For decades, the loquat bore fruit, but he never came back, and I don't know where he went. ”
Feng Junke couldn't bear to continue the topic, he left the old lady 10 yuan, an old military uniform, a few towels and a few bars of soap, and then left the dilapidated house with a heavy heart.
He couldn't imagine how such a lonely old lady could survive these decades.
Later, Feng Junke learned that Sun Liren graduated from Tsinghua University in 1923, resolutely abandoned his pen and joined Rong, and later served as the commander of the new 38th Division of the Kuomintang Expeditionary Force.
In 1942, he led an expedition to Burma to fight against the Japanese invaders, and was later promoted to commander of the New 1st Army. He is a famous anti-Japanese general.
Feng Junke often had a lot of thoughts, imagining that the kind old lady might not know that Sun Liren had gone to Taiwan later.
She also doesn't know whether her husband died in Myanmar or went to Taiwan with Sun Liren.
Feng Junke also didn't know if the old lady still used to sit under the loquat tree, looking forward to the return of her husband, who was the company commander in Sun Liren's team.
Will you still think of him, a PLA engineer in military uniform like her husband, when he will be able to taste her golden loquat again?
In that mountain, the unforgettable loquat tree became Feng Junke's eternal memory.
Whenever he recalled that time, his heart was filled with deep concern for the old lady and infinite emotion for that special experience.
And this experience has also become a precious memory in his life, forever engraved in his heart.
epilogue
This story is not only a warm encounter, but also an ode to the soldiers who fought for the country and sacrificed their small family for everyone.
Feng Junke's chance encounter with the old lady shows his deep compassion and sense of responsibility.
The old lady's life experience is even more emotional, her persistence and expectation are deep thoughts about her husband and a desire for national peace.
The big tree full of golden loquat has become an eternal testimony to the selfless dedication of the soldiers and the sacrifice of their families for the country.
Let us pay our highest respect and deep remembrance to those soldiers who fought for our country, and their spirit will always inspire us to move forward and work hard for the prosperity and strength of the motherland.
Resources:
An Unforgettable Loquat Tree Beijing Observation 2018 Issue 9 Author: Feng Junke