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

On his way to meet Uncle Chu's comrades, Yang Dalin learned from Gao Xiaohu about Uncle Chu's former battalion, which had a full strength of over 400 men. After the final, brutal battle following Uncle Chu's disappearance, only a little over 100 men remained, all wounded.

Yang Dalin met fewer than ten of Uncle Chu's former comrades-in-arms in Beijing.

Because many of them are from other parts of the country.

To be precise, there were eight and a half: one veteran only had one leg left, and another veteran was missing an arm.

Even if someone is missing an ear or a finger, they are still considered a complete person.

Director Hou instructed Gao Xiaohu to gather all these people together.

Yang Dalin met these people in a small conference room.

Yang Dalin first solemnly saluted them.

After these comrades returned, they also wanted to help their aunt's family.

As a result, every time they appeared, it reminded Auntie of Uncle Chu, and Uncle Chu's fate was still pending.

Later, my aunt stopped them from going.

After they left, many people would quietly gossip about Uncle Chu.

Many people say that Uncle Chu may have been captured and will not be able to come back.

That's why Aunt Qi made Sister Yan and Xiao Ning change their surnames and told them not to visit them anymore. She had a job and a salary, and she could raise the children well.

These surviving comrades do indeed need help with more comrades. At Aunt Qi's strong request, these people have not appeared in front of Aunt Qi for the past few years.

However, they continued to pay attention to Aunt Qi's family.

They knew of Yang Dalin's existence and that he was a capable man.

Their family was doing quite well, so they never showed up again.

I heard that Yang Dalin is going to North Korea in person to find the remains of Deputy Battalion Commander Chu Liqiang.

They were all very excited.

They all insisted on going too.

Yang Dalin looked at these comrades-in-arms of Uncle Chu, who had not forgotten their camaraderie even though they were disabled, and naturally did not agree.

Yang Dalin had to persuade them at length before they gave up their idea of ​​going together.

One of the officials, now a regimental commander, said, "We support Comrade Yang's willingness to go. We hope you can find Old Chu's remains. If you do, let us know. It would be best if you could bring them back to China. We old folks can visit his grave and talk to him when we're free."

If it's convenient, I hope you can find the other missing people as well.

Thank you.

After they finished speaking, they saluted Yang Dalin together.

The old soldier who was missing a hand used his left hand.

Yang Dalin returned the greeting solemnly.

"Okay, Comrade Commander, I promise you, I will bring back everything I can find."

Bring them all back so you can all go have a drink and chat with them together.

Gao Xiaohu took out a map of the area and asked the team leader to explain the final route they would take in detail.

Yang Dalin marked it on the map.

They also told Uncle Chu about any belongings he might have had with him before his death. After all, Uncle Chu was already a deputy battalion commander before his death, and he had notebooks, pens, and a captured watch on him.

Most importantly, Uncle Chu had a bullet casing whistle with words on it hanging around his neck.

The words "Hua" and "Ning" are engraved on it; they are the names of Yan Hua and Xiao Ning's two daughters.

With this clue, Yang Dalin's search will be easier.

After another day of preparation, on the third day, Yang Dalin boarded the train to Linji in Northeast China.

Gao Xiaohu did not accompany them this time, and Yang Dalin did not want to bring him along either.

It's inconvenient to have him with me.

Yang Dalin was also thinking of taking the opportunity to cause some trouble in South Korea.

However, Gao Xiaohu took care of all the procedures and documents for him.

We sent him to our representative office in North Korea to find a staff officer named Shi Jianjun.

He will arrange everything, and will also organize several guides and a team of our security guards to accompany Yang Dalin.

At this point, we no longer had any main forces in North Korea.

The last batch of main forces also withdrew in 58, leaving only a few hundred people who were Chinese representatives of the Armistice Commission, as well as diplomatic, logistical and security personnel.

Yang Dalin took a train for two days and two nights before arriving at the border town.

There is a direct train here, but Yang Dalin disliked the attitude of the person checking his documents before entering their country.

When we supported you in the war, we treated the rabbit like our own father and brother. Now that we have the Russians, who are pretending to be elephants with green onions stuck in their noses, as our stepfathers, you're getting a little arrogant, aren't you?

Alright, Yang Dalin is prepared to teach them a lesson later.

After entering their country, I discovered that with the generous assistance of their stepfather, the people there were living quite well.

Yang Dalin discovered that the conditions in some of their rural areas were even better than those in China at the same time.

No wonder the person who checked my ID earlier acted superior.

Pshaw, just you wait, you'll regret this someday, you won't believe me, will you?

In the new century, many of your trucks don't even have enough petroleum to run on and need to burn firewood to move.

You're still so smug, just wait until your stepfather goes bankrupt, then you'll be in for a world of hurt.

Back then, you were the only fat person in the whole country; everyone else was starving.

Yang Dalin then took a train for several more hours before arriving at their temporary capital, Rangpyong.

That's right, their constitution stipulates that Hancheng (they are not allowed to use Chinese characters) is their capital.

Unfortunately, it has never been retrieved.

It was only later that it was stipulated that Ryangpyeong was their capital.

They're still dreaming of taking back Hancheng.

Yang Dalin can now speak and write Korean fluently.

After getting off the bus, thankfully, there were no mandatory official tour guides anymore. He asked around, found a secluded spot, released a bicycle, and rode off to find the location of our country's Armistice Committee.

It's not that they don't want to let cars out, it's just that there aren't many cars on the streets of their capital anyway.

Upon arriving at their destination, they found Staff Officer Shi Jianjun again.

Staff Officer Shi was very happy to see Yang Dalin.

We should treat him to a warm welcome.

However, Yang Dalin didn't think much of the food here.

I don't want to waste any more time.

He said directly, "Officer Shi, I'm in a hurry. I have an urgent mission to complete when I return to China."

"Could you lend me your car? I can go there myself."

Staff Officer Shi did not know Yang Dalin's true identity, only assuming that he was from Director Hou's department, and that Yang Dalin had used an alias to obtain the identification.

"This, this is impossible."

It's impossible for you to act alone.

Moreover, the mountain you went to was steep and difficult to traverse.

There are many ferocious wild animals in the mountains; you definitely can't manage alone.

Besides, without a guide or the proper credentials, how would you communicate with military checkpoints and civilians on the road?

Yang Dalin said, "I can speak the local dialect, so communication won't be a problem."

Staff Officer Shi said with difficulty, "Well, it's not just about this."

That area is near the 38th parallel and has a large military presence. Without our soldiers and their military direction guides, it would be very difficult for you to get things done there.

And recently they've been a bit wary of our people.

You should know why, right?