Literary Master 1983

Chapter 77 Cat Ear Cave (I)

The next day, everyone gathered at the headquarters and was transported to the front line by several jeeps. There, there was the 7th Company that was going to participate in the battle this time, and was also the target of their consolation performance.

Feng Gong, Zhu Shimao and others guessed correctly that good food, good drinks and good performances were provided to encourage people to fight bravely. The soldiers they had visited probably didn't know how many they would lose in a month.

A few men, except Yu Qie and Gu Yue, gathered in the same jeep to chat, and took a short break on the way, and everyone went down to relieve themselves. Along with the many condolence personnel, there were also non-combat personnel such as health workers and female nurses who went up the mountain.

Although it is stipulated that men and women have different directions for urinating, for example, men go to the left side and women go to the right side.

But when the convoy was on the right side of the mountain, the women were too close to the convoy, and when the convoy was on the left side of the mountain, there was often a wide area on the right side, which made it difficult for the women to relieve themselves. They had to find a place with denser trees and relieve themselves together.

The jeep was traveling along the path between the river valleys. On both sides were dense jungles and hills of varying heights. Further away were Laoshan and its ridgeline, which stretched all the way to Vietnam on the opposite side, dividing the area into two sides.

Li Shuangjiang didn't sleep all night, but he was still full of energy. He took out the newspaper and showed everyone the headline on the second page of this issue:
"The people of all ethnic groups in the border areas strongly demand that the border guards severely punish the Vietnamese invaders and protect the safety of the motherland's territory and the lives and property of the people in the border areas!"

He said: "This is basically 'Don't say I didn't warn you'. We must fight, and we must fight hard!"

Feng Gong expressed his concern: "How many people will die! If we fight now, won't we fight from the bottom up? Until we climb over the entire mountain? This is not easy in the military."

Zhu Shimao immediately shook his head: "Hey! We can't stop fighting? Every inch of land is worth an inch of gold. If we can't take this place back, we won't be able to sleep or eat well..." Zhu Shimao snatched the newspaper from Li Shuangjiang's hand and pointed at the small words on it: "Its shells hit our school, preventing students from attending classes. They hit our rubber fields, preventing our farmers from harvesting. They forced the Chinese people to leave where we live - so we can't give in at all!"

Yes, anyone who comes to the valley in front of Laoshan will feel worried, but anyone who knows what has happened to the soldiers and civilians on the border will turn to support the war.

There was also a young instructor driving their jeep. He couldn't help but say, "Laoshan is too important. Neither we nor the Vietnamese can tolerate this place being occupied and used as a frontline position for combat. Everyone can see that this place is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is a natural defensive fortress and offensive position!"

The jeep team kept bumping and circling in the river valley, heading towards Laoshan around the mountain range. The instructor pointed to the slopes of different sizes and depths covered by leaves and grass and said, "Can you see what that is?"

"What is that?" Zhu Shimao asked.

“That’s the entrance to the cat’s ear cave.”

"What is a cat ear hole?"

"Laoshan is a typical subtropical karst landform with many naturally formed caves in the mountains. Because the cave entrances look like cat ears, we call these caves 'cat ear caves'. The people who live in them, whether they are our people or the Vietnamese, are called 'cat ear cave people'."

Zhu Shimao was surprised and said, "Can people live here? My eyesight is not very good - but looking from such a distance, I can only see a small opening. The opening is about to collapse at any time, and the cave is shallow. How can people live here?"

"Why can't we live there?" the instructor said, "Cat ear caves are everywhere on the front and rear positions. Many Vietnamese and our people live here. But those who live in cat ear caves are the most miserable..."

Although Feng Gong is thin, he is over 1.8 meters tall. He said, "If I continue to live in a place like this, I don't know how much suffering I will have to endure! If I were a tall person like Yu Qie, it would be even more unbearable. Soldiers can't all be short, there must be a tall one, what should I do?"

The instructor smiled and said, "What can we do? After squeezing in, we squat or sit. The big ones are several square meters, and the small ones are about one square meter. Although the cat ear caves are hard, they are excellent shelters. Our front line with Vietnam's position is only a few hundred meters away. Everyone lives in the caves!"

Li Shuangjiang said: "I want to report to the commander of the army that even if they don't fight in a cat-ear cave for a year, they should be rewarded with first-class merit!"

Everyone became excited and said that they would go back and report the soldiers' situation as much as possible so that everyone could pay attention to it.

But the instructor said: "No, no, living in the cat-ear cave is not the most difficult thing. The most difficult thing is receiving the farewell letter. We have an old soldier named Xu who took the initiative to join the death squad. He braved the artillery fire and bullets and defended the position for days and nights. He was never afraid and never retreated. After he was carried down, the troops awarded him a letter of consolation from the 'steel'! He just waved his hand and said, I am defending my country!"

Feng Gong said excitedly: "Such a legendary soldier, is he still on the front line? I also want to meet him. I will adapt his deeds into a quick-paced story and show it to the audience. Crosstalk is not just about talking, learning, amusing and singing, there are other things..."

The instructor said, "I don't know this person either, but I heard from others that he was carried down and received a letter from his fiancée and mother-in-law while he was receiving treatment in the rear. The letter said they didn't want to get married because he was working so hard and was in great danger. There was no fixed date for his return, so they wanted to give up their marriage..."

"It was as if someone had shot a bullet at his heart! He suddenly didn't know what he was protecting. He hadn't shed tears for days and nights, but he burst into tears that moment..."

Feng Gong was furious: "What kind of relationship is this? The person is still alive, not dead or disabled, he just fought bravely. Why should you break up with him? A woman like this, a woman like this..." Feng Gong became more and more angry as he spoke, and he even started coughing. He was so angry that he had a physiological reaction of wanting to vomit!
Everyone was frightened and came together to comfort him. "Lao Feng, Lao Feng..."

The instructor said, "Don't be angry. We are used to it. So we are very grateful to Yu Qie. He wrote words that we will never forget. We were together. Before this, almost no one had written them, but he did."

"We are together, yes, no matter what, with our comrades, with our compatriots who support us, we are together..."

——"Yes, comrades, we are together... This is a handwritten letter sent from a military wife in the capital. Her husband lost his eyes and some limbs. The military wife traveled thousands of miles to the border and saw the lover she had been thinking about day and night. She cried and said-"

In another car, as soon as Yu Qie finished his aside, Gong Xue immediately responded, "We are together! My dear husband, how could I leave you? As long as you still say you are alive, you are my hero!"

Gong Xue said emotionally: "I don't want anything else, as long as you are by my side! We must be fine, we must be together!"

Yu Qie and Gong Xue were reading aloud the letter sent by a military wife.

Also in the car were Yu Shuqing and Gu Yue, a young soldier who was driving.

Gu Yue didn't get enough rest last night, and squinted her eyes in exhaustion. Yu Shuqing stared at them with wide eyes, cheering them on from time to time.

Yu Qie imitated the injured soldier and said, "I don't believe it. They all said that you won't be with me anymore because I'm disabled..." Gong Xue interrupted him immediately, "No! I will love you forever..." Then she looked outside the jeep, as if there were groups of soldiers from the Seventh Company standing or sitting outside listening. Gong Xue's eyes were red. "I wrote this letter to tell you and people like you not to lose heart, not to be afraid... The people will not forget you, and I will not forget you!"

Yu Qie immediately said, "Comrade Gong Xue, you changed the words. That's not what the military wife said in the letter - there's no last sentence. It's too harsh."

Gong Xue said: "Actors can change their lines temporarily according to the reactions on the scene. I was willing to say this sentence at that moment!"

"Then I think, if you must add something, it's not this sentence, but something else?"

Gong Xue seemed to have a big problem with Yu Qie, "Yu Qie, what do you want to add? I'm an actor, I think a military wife would think so!"

Yu Qie said: "I don't believe that when she saw her husband, she still had the people in her heart. This is simply inhumane. She only had her husband in her heart! Her words would only be very straightforward."

Gong Xue was stunned, then said, "What do you want to add? We are reciting for other soldiers to hear, and we have to record it for the show - it has to be straightforward, but also consider other people's feelings."

Yu Qie: "Why don't you just say, 'You must have suffered a lot. I've missed you every day these days. Now that you're home, home is where you and I are'..."

Gong Xue was unwilling: "This is too long and not poetic enough."

"Ah!" Yu Shuqing curled her lips: "Sister Xue, you are so picky. I also think Yu Qi is right. A woman would not think about those things. You turned this into a performance, but this letter is at least true..."

Gong Xue was still unwilling: "You don't know my difficulties... This letter is for the soldiers to hear. His wife loves him but not others. The more others hear it, the more uncomfortable they will feel. So I have to tell them that the people of the country will not forget them! And..."

"Among thousands of lights, someone will leave a light for you." Yu Qi suddenly said this.

“No matter where you are, there are people waiting.”

Everyone in the jeep fell silent, unable to speak a word. Gong Xue and Yu Shuqing stared blankly at Yu Qie.

The breeze blew gently in the valley of Laoshan River. Some low forests were flattened by the war, but looking out the car window, the green mountains were like dark blue, the green fields were like jade, and the white mountain springs were running happily. In the mountains, the endless sea of ​​bamboos came into view. They were completely different from the timeless and elegant bamboo forests in the south of the Yangtze River. They were tall and strong, reaching straight into the sky, and the green leaves were broad and hard, more like heroic steel warriors.

This quiet and solemn place can be transformed into a battlefield at any time.

Gu Yue also opened his eyes and was somewhat surprised by what Yu Qi said. He had some special thoughts about this sentence.

Gu Yue's parents were both early members of the underground party. When he was 6 years old, his parents died one after another, so Gu Yue became an orphan and grew up in an orphanage. After becoming famous, he drank and had fun, ate without working, and had hangovers during the day. Everyone was anxious about Gu Yue's physical condition, but he didn't care.

Only when he played the role of a great man did he suddenly feel a sense of peace. Only through this identity was he recognized. The audience gave him, the orphan, "a light".

So he could understand what Yu Qie said, what was the "light" left for him.

The young soldier who was driving for them stopped the car with a pursed mouth and said in a trembling voice: "Excuse me, I want to smoke a cigarette." He was also moved.

What does it mean “someone will leave a light on for you”?

The image of this lamp is rich enough. Only those who care about you will leave the lamp on for you. This lamp represents not only a home, but also a reliable psychological support.

After a few minutes, Yu Qie saw that no one answered him, so he asked again, "What do you think of this? I think it's good..."

He explained to himself, "People are members of society. As long as this sentence is said, everyone will feel relieved. The people who leave the light on for him can be his comrades, his girlfriend, or his parents... This sentence turns the empty general term "people of the whole country" into a specific person in the listener's mind, and combines his beautiful memories. I think it is more appropriate... and..."

"Let's use this sentence!" Gong Xue didn't wait for him to finish, and suddenly agreed. She repeated this sentence several times and looked at Yu Qie with a complicated look. "Yu Qie, you are right."

This Yu Qie is really good at writing this kind of words, which makes people afraid of him.

The young soldier finished smoking and asked everyone to get back on the bus. Yu Qie and Gong Xue rehearsed again. They had basically memorized the letter from the military wife. Yu Shuqing said: "Teacher Yu not only added a beautiful sentence, but he also recited it beautifully. He can join a cultural troupe..."

This was originally a joke, but Gong Xue was stimulated and a little anxious. She wanted to use all her skills to read the letter from the military wife with emotion. On one hand, she said, "I have been a literary soldier for many years, and these soldiers are my comrades and brothers." On the other hand, she said, "We can appropriately interpret some scenes, so that we can better express emotions. Yu Qie wrote good words, and I also have my strengths as an actor."

"Yu Qie, you look at me and I look at you. Our eyes need to meet..."

Yu Qi was a little annoyed by what he was doing because Gong Xue was too stubborn.

I heard that when she was acting in "Under the Bridge", she was dissatisfied with the role because the female character was an unmarried pregnant seamstress. The director personally came to persuade her for a long time before convincing her.

It can be seen that this kind of person is very opinionated and does not like to be outdone by others.

But no matter what, at 2pm, the convoy finally arrived at the frontline of Laoshan. With a long honking of car horns and a whistle, everyone rushed out. The soldiers were so excited that they burst into tears, as if they had seen their relatives.

You are here! You have finally come among us!

(End of this chapter)