W-2538# Original creator: Yang Qinghua Railway Soldier Comrades Network 2024-08-01
On the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the afterglow of the setting sun has just passed, and a round of clear light is thrown into the river city, and Hankou enters the steaming mode, and the temperature seems to have dropped a little due to the cooling moonlight. From this, I thought that my heart was calm and naturally cool, lying on the bed, accompanied by a pu fan, and trying to fall asleep......
On March 11 last year, on a warm spring day, Xiang Derong's comrades-in-arms convened eight comrades-in-arms in Wuhan to gather about the editing of the "Character Style Volume" of the Railway Soldiers' Comrades-in-Arms Network. In particular, I haven't seen Chen Guoqiang's comrade-in-arms for 30 years, and he said that he almost forgot what I looked like. Seeing that he was full of energy, it was not at all like what he had heard about having cancer, although it was inconvenient to ask more, but he was secretly happy for him.
Guoqiang and I used to work in the personnel department of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the desk was next to the desk, we were both young at that time, I was in charge of deployment, and he was in charge of salary. What makes people feel incredible and unimaginable is that we have been together day and night for more than ten years, and we have never talked about the past experience of being both railway soldiers and fellow practitioners of the Xiangyu Railway.
In 1968, Guoqiang enlisted in the 17th Company of the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Railway Corps from Wuchang Guohu Middle School, and successively participated in the construction of the Xiangyu Railway in Vietnam to resist the United States and the Xiangyu Railway, successively serving as a statistician, squad leader, and deputy platoon leader, and was discharged from the army in 1973 and assigned to work at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
I remember that in the mid-80s of the 20 th century, the school carried out the rectification of the work style of the organs, went to various departments, departments, and factories to listen to personal opinions, and then issued circulars. There is a special column in the circular, the content of which is: Several young cadres of the Personnel Department were fine when they first came to the office, but after a short time, they became very large, especially Yang Qinghua and other comrades...... When he saw this line of writing, he was instantly blinded, and he felt frightened, like a boulder pressing on his heart, unable to say a word.
Two days later, Guoqiang said to me: Qinghua, I have asked the investigation team to find out, and this article is just an opinion made by one person. You have always been kind to people and things, where can you get a shelf? The ancients said: "Adversity should always be accepted, and movement is often unintentional." Although we are in adversity, we must not forget that we should face it calmly, stop moving, and not forget to go with the flow. Hearing his philosophical enlightenment, I feel that he is a person with fine needles and dense threads, analyzing the details and whipping into the inside, and I only feel warm and down-to-earth in my heart. He interprets the connotation of friendship with true feelings, full of big brother demeanor, which is unforgettable.
In those years, no matter how the social situation changed, the school lived the life of the party organization every Friday at half past seven o'clock in the evening. In this way, on a summer Friday, after work, the two of us would meet to ride our bikes and swim in the school's natural pool at East Lake. Once the two of us chased me, when I was swimming happily, I suddenly heard the sound of help, the country is strong and the water is good, I haven't reacted, he followed the sound and swam away, diving to hold up a female college student, the girl choked on the water due to leg cramps, and almost sank to the bottom of the lake.
Afterwards, the reporter of the journal interviewed the person concerned, and she said: her legs cramped, her body began to writhe helplessly, her hands waved blindly in the water, and her heart was full of despair and fear, as if she was being swallowed up by endless darkness little by little. Just as I was about to lose consciousness, a strong hand grabbed me and pulled me back from the brink of death.
When the reporter asked about Guoqiang, he smiled indifferently. I remember my mother said that although people have only one heart, they have two hearts, so when doing things, we should not only think for ourselves, but also think for others.
The reporter heard the novelty, became interested, and wanted to dig further, so that Guoqiang could talk in detail about what he thought at the time and what he did. "It's a trivial matter, there is no need, it's really valuable, why sell it cheaply?" This is full of witty dialogue, and the most interesting thing is his wit and leisure, a few words, after he cleaned up, he felt extraordinary.
Again, the leaders of the Ministry of Education came to the school for investigation due to cadre problems, and several of us worked overtime until late at night, and I suddenly had a stomach ache, one after another, and then sweating profusely, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. Guoqiang immediately carried me on his back and rushed to the school hospital, where he was found to have acute gastroenteritis. After finishing the hanging bottle in the hospital, it was the middle of the night, my home was far away in Hankou, and the bus had already closed its shift. He helped me to his house to rest and scrubbed me until I snored.
At the beginning of 2021, with the help of Shi Xiteng's comrades-in-arms in the Cultural and Creative Center, I added WeChat to Guoqiang, and so far, we have lost contact for nearly 30 years.
As people get older, they will miss the old feelings more and more. At this time, he often confided in me his story of letting go of the Han River and making fun in the midst of suffering. At that time, Ziyang County, Shaanxi Province on the Xiangyu Line, was one of the two counties in Shaanxi that did not have a road, and a large amount of timber used to build the railway could only be discharged and transported into the construction site by waterway. The streams in southern Shaanxi are vertical and horizontal, and where the streams enter the river and the two rivers meet, there must be a place where the water is turbulent. The water is pulled by ropes, and the water is pulled by a rod, and the methods of avoiding stranding, overturning, colliding and breaking are gradually summed up, especially how to safely cross the rapid bay and dangerous shoals, which have withstood one pass, one hurdle after another, and tested again and again.
People are old, and they always want to rediscover the old dreams of their youth. At this time, he often told me stories about his night visits to the mountain people, begging for food and drink. At that time, on a raft, I only ate one meal a day, and I was starving. For the sake of the body and bones of his comrades-in-arms, he, the deputy platoon commander, crossed the mountains and mountains in the middle of the night, walked more than ten miles, and finally saw a little light, like seeing a savior, stepped forward to knock on the door of the mountain people's house, so as to talk about it, begging for food for the comrades-in-arms, and doubling the payment of food stamps and money, and the mountain people were also moved.
At this moment, he said that time was the most tiring, exhausting, unforgettable, and memorable day of his life.
"The old man is invisible, and the Han River flows eastward." He said: Recently, I have always thought about the comrades-in-arms who sacrificed their lives in the Han River, they are like the water of the Han River, and my grief and longing are endless.
Professor Shi Xiteng told me that he had been inviting Guoqiang to go all the way to the old land in southern Shaanxi. Guoqiang said that his ninety-year-old mother is still alive, and he wants to take care of her, and he will talk about it when he has the opportunity in the future! Unexpectedly, soon after his mother left, he ......
Guoqiang went to a distant place, and the haggard figure was still in front of him. Woohoo, drinking tears does not understand sorrow, and the sacrificial text is empty and affectionate! Here, the sluice water of longing is as mighty as a flowing wave, reluctant to give up day and night.
In the dream, I was awakened by my own shouts calling for Guoqiang, turned over and sat up, but saw that the room was full of cold moonlight. Outside the window, a touch of silver glow quietly and gently caressed the osmanthus tree, turning into a deep nostalgia for the comrades-in-arms of the country......
2024.1. First draft
2024.7.21 Revised to Hankou
(Editor: Caiyun Chasing the Moon)