The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Fortunately, Yang Dalin wasn't here; otherwise, he would have been terrified.

Fortunately, the military investigation, which lasted only half a day, did not uncover anything else about him.

They didn't investigate things like his use of space to manipulate fish.

But that's normal; who would have thought he had a spatial ability?

There were also some conflicts between him and the people in the courtyard, but they didn't mention them.

They probably didn't think it was a big deal, otherwise the report would have taken a long time.

After the officer finished reading, the leader clapped his hands and said in a thick Hunan accent, "Good, good, this Yang Dalin is a young hero, a good kid."

Everyone saw the leader clapping, and everyone else clapped along.

One of Zhao's father asked, "Where is Qi Yulan's husband?"

Why do both children have the surname Qi?

The officer stood at attention and said, "Sir, Qi Yulan's husband, Chu Liqiang, was first conscripted into Er Tuzi's army, and later joined our army."

Because of his bravery in battle and numerous merits, he later became the deputy battalion commander of a battalion in a regiment of a certain division of a certain army.

She participated in the founding war, but later went missing during a night march while carrying out an important mission. Comrade Qi Yulan, worried about her two children's upbringing, changed their surnames.

Upon hearing the word "missing person," what did Zhao's father think?

That's hard to say. For example, they might get separated from the group during a night march, fall off a cliff, be buried in a landslide, encounter wild animals, be captured by the enemy, or be blown up by artillery and their remains are never found. All of these are possible.

After all, the Bald Eagle's artillery was incredibly powerful back then.

There are also aerial bombs; if one falls in, there's likely to be no remains.

In this situation, with neither the person alive nor the body found, it's difficult to be recognized as a martyr. Therefore, it's normal for Qi Yulan to change her child's surname out of concern for the impact on the child.

At this time, many people died, some alive and some dead, none of them even showing up.

Those who are alive have no choice but to make this choice in order to survive.

In those days, if someone said that someone in a family had been taken prisoner, they could be bombarded with spittle and gossip.

It's not like later generations, where people can understand more.

The point now is that we should rather die than be taken prisoner.

Even if many people were stunned by the shells and captured, they would still suffer a lot after returning.

Zhao's father knew of a college student who signed up to join the army, but he was knocked unconscious by a shell and captured.

After returning, I couldn't even get a job.

This shows the current environment.

You have to understand how much of a shortage of college graduates there is right now, yet this person's future is ruined.

Old Zhao then asked, "Did you look for them after the war?"

The officer replied, "We went to look for them after the war, several times, because they encountered several skirmishes on their night march."

Therefore, the body was never found, and the final determination was that the person was missing, not killed.

In fact, according to the agreement after the war, the U.S. military returned the remains of more than 10,000 of our martyrs.

Who knows if Chu Liqiang was among these remains, but soon these remains were buried in North Korea.

We originally wanted to search for more of the martyrs' remains, but the situation deteriorated and the 38th parallel was established, making it inconvenient for us to go there.

The situation is manageable north of the 38th parallel, but the real concern is those who died south of it, which is now part of South Korea. We haven't established diplomatic relations with South Korea yet, so it's really difficult to go there to retrieve their remains and belongings.

Since DNA technology is not yet available, identification of martyrs often relies on their belongings.

If their clothes were burned and their belongings were gone, then frankly, many martyrs were buried without even a name.

They are the nameless martyrs.

Although there is a tomb, unfortunately there is no way to prove their identities, so the tombstone has no name, only the nine red characters "Tomb of Chinese People's Volunteer Army Martyrs".

In the cemetery where Mao Zedong is buried, there are three tombstones for unknown martyrs. They have no names or dates of life on them, only those nine large characters.

This topic can't be discussed any further, and Old Zhao can't ask any more questions.

After the meeting, the bigwig arranged for Zhao's father and Liu's father to meet with Yang Dalin at home tomorrow to express their gratitude in a private capacity.

The next day, Monday, Yang Dalin had just finished his exam in the morning. Today he was going to take his driver's license test, and thankfully it went very smoothly.

I should be able to get my driver's license next week.

As soon as he returned to the station, Brother Tian told him to go to Qi Desheng's office.

Upon knocking, Yang Dalin entered Qi Desheng's office and saw a young active-duty soldier.

Yang Dalin nodded to him and then asked, "Deputy Station Chief Qi, you wanted to see me?"

When there are outsiders present, you should definitely use their titles or positions.

If you still foolishly call him Brother Sheng, wouldn't that be disrespecting Qi Desheng?

Yang Dalin could guess that this active-duty soldier was probably related to what they had talked about yesterday.

Qi Desheng patted him on the shoulder and said, "Good lad, this Comrade Hu from the People's Liberation Army wants to see you. He said he'd like you to visit the leader's home."

"Consider this afternoon your day off; go visit some people."

Qi Desheng then said to the active-duty soldier, "Comrade Hu, this is Yang Dalin."

When Yang Dalin saw a second lieutenant salute him, he quickly tried to return the salute, but since he wasn't a soldier, he could only bow.

(This military uniform now includes rank insignia.)

Lieutenant Hu put his hand down and said, "Comrade Yang Dalin, I was sent by the commander to invite you. You know his son, Zhao Yumin. The commander sent me to pick you up and take you to his home as a guest."

Alright, it's Zhao Yumin's father. They've already arranged for someone to pick him up, and the eldest brother, Qi Desheng, has also been given leave. Of course, he has to go.

So Yang Dalin said directly, "Okay, Comrade Hu, let's go now."

After saying goodbye to Qi Desheng, the two of them went directly to a jeep downstairs.

On the way, Yang Dalin asked Comrade Hu to stop for a moment, went into a supply and marketing cooperative, bought two bottles of wine, and then put two catties of pig's head meat in his satchel.

When visiting someone's home, you can't go empty-handed.

If it's your first time going, just bring a few things.

Pig's head meat is considered a delicacy these days.

Comrade Hu obviously knew he wanted to buy something, so he didn't stop him.

After all, the invitation was made under the guise of inviting him to visit, so it's normal for him to bring a gift.

Before I came, the leader told me that this Yang Dalin was his son's good friend, so I should treat him like a junior.

If someone wants to bring something, it's not really appropriate to stop them.

Once in the car, they soon set off again. Yang Dalin sat in the passenger seat, looking at the old-fashioned Jeep, where there was a lot of draft around the door seams.

I'm really not that interested.

It's not as comfortable as driving your own truck.

Fortunately, we arrived at the entrance of the Air Force compound very quickly.

Yang Dalin first registered, then his belongings were inspected, and then a phone call was made to Zhao Yumin's house to confirm that he had been invited. After the inspection was completed without any problems, he was finally allowed to enter.

This was the first time Yang Dalin had visited this place in both his previous and current lives.

I looked at it curiously.

Putting everything else aside, the place is really big.

There are many trees, and the buildings are neat and orderly.

In short, it's very proper.

The car soon arrived at the entrance of a two-story building.

There are several such small buildings standing alone in this row.

Yang Dalin had just gotten out of the car with his things when Zhao Yumin and Liu Haiyang ran out of the courtyard of the small building: "Boss, you're here."

Yang Dalin asked the two of them curiously, "Why didn't you go to school today?"