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

As soon as Yang Dalin got home, he saw Aunt Qi and took out the whistle with Yan Jie and Xiao Ning engraved on it, as well as the photo of the stone with the inscription.

He told her about how he had gone out and found Uncle Chu's remains.

This shows that Uncle Chu was a martyr, not a deserter or a prisoner.

The relevant certificates will be sent over by a designated department later.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Qi, Sister Yan, and Xiao Ning burst into tears.

Aunt Qi has suffered a lot of injustice over the years.

Xiaoning was still young then, while Yan was older and knew more.

I heard Qi Jia crying her heart out.

Yi Zhonghai and many neighbors came over.

Yi Zhonghai knocked on the door.

After opening the door, Yang Dalin looked at Yi Zhonghai and a large group of neighbors with red eyes.

Yi Zhonghai asked on behalf of everyone, "What's wrong, Dalinzi? What happened at home? Tell us what's wrong, and we'll all try to figure something out. Don't keep it to yourself."

Yang Dalin then told them about the discovery of Chu Shu's remains, which had been found on the peninsula by the state.

He also mentioned that the relevant departments would be reburying him in the martyrs' cemetery the day after tomorrow.

After hearing this, several people exclaimed, "I knew Old Chu wasn't that kind of person! He's a good man!"

He was a martyr, not a deserter.

Yang Dalin didn't want to pay attention to these people who were just being nosy; they had talked about Uncle Chu behind his back quite a bit back then.

After listening, Yi Zhonghai also said, "Good, it's good that you found it."

Liqiang is great, he didn't embarrass our courtyard.

We should learn from him.

This is a good thing; you should also try to persuade your aunt.

Don't be too sad.

The day after tomorrow, right? I'll take the day off and go with you guys.

It also represents the neighbors in bidding farewell to the martyrs.

Everyone who has time that day should go. Comrade Liqiang is a hero of our institute, and it's only right that we see him off.

After hearing this, Liu Haizhong, Sha Zhu, Xu Damao, and the others all said, "Okay, we'll all go."

Zhang Meiyun, Wen Xiumei, Wang Yuhuan, and others went into the house and persuaded Aunt Qi for a while.

When Aunt Qi wasn't so sad anymore.

Then everyone said their goodbyes and left.

Before we knew it, it was the morning of the day after tomorrow, and almost everyone in the courtyard had arrived.

Even the deaf old lady was taken to the martyrs' cemetery by Sha Zhu in Yang Dalin's car.

It seemed that only a few women who had to take care of very young children were absent from the courtyard; even the Jia family and Yan Bugui's family had come.

People are criticizing them because they didn't come.

Even if they come, Yang Dalin won't drive them away.

The memorial was not only for Uncle Chu, but also for three other martyrs.

Representatives from the civil affairs department, leaders of Chu Shu's former unit, relatives of the other three martyrs, all his comrades-in-arms in Beijing, and the neighborhood committee all came.

A grand ceremony was held.

In the afternoon, people from the street office and the military region came to the Qi family's house and put a sign that read "Home of Martyrs" on the door frame.

With this sign, Yang Dalin believed that even if the wind picked up and he wasn't home, few people would dare to cause trouble.

In the afternoon, Aunt Qi changed Yan Jie and Xiao Ning's surnames back.

Previously, they were worried that if Uncle Chu were really captured, people would criticize Chu Yanhua and Chu Xiaoning.

I had no choice but to change my surname, and at this point, some people's spittle can really drown me.

Yang Dalin knew that some of the soldiers who were captured and brought back to China lived very poor lives after returning home.

It's like a top university student in Beijing who joined the army and went to the battlefield. After being knocked unconscious by a shell and captured, he returned to China.

He was never assigned a job in his entire life, and he never married or had children.

Even his relatives had to stay away from him and dared not get close to him.

This was a rare college student in the 1950s!

Life was incredibly miserable.

So sometimes it's really hard to predict a person's fate.

So Yang Dalin thought he would give Director Hou a suggestion later.

These people can be re-screened, and if that doesn't work, let them go and cultivate the land or do some desertification control and afforestation.

Don't let them live in their hometown anymore.

Otherwise, these people's lives would be truly ruined.

Even if a college student isn't good at anything else, it's better to have him teach a child to read, or send him to the frontier to farm or to fight desertification and plant trees than to have him idle.

What a waste!

Even if some of them actually surrendered voluntarily, they can still be put to good use.

It's not good to let him stay in his hometown and eat for free.

Even waste has its value.

Otherwise, these people will be even more unlucky if the wind picks up.

It doesn't necessarily have to be tortured to death a certain number of people.

Yang Dalin spent another day at home with his aunt.

The next morning, Yang Dalin found Director Hou and told him his thoughts. Director Hou said he would tell the relevant departments. Then Gao Xiaohu took him to the military airport and he hitched a ride to Guangxi Province.

After traveling for more than a day, Yang Dalin finally arrived at a military camp on the border.

Among them were the three hundred officers and soldiers who were among the first to support the Communist Party of India.

The youngest was also a deputy class monitor.

Many people also understand Hakka and Indonesian.

The leader was a deputy regimental commander surnamed Mo.

He's from Guangxi province.

Most of these officers and soldiers were from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan provinces.

Both can adapt to hot and humid climates.

Otherwise, if we send some soldiers from the north, many of them might fall ill before they even leave North Vietnam.

The hot and humid climate there is something many northerners might not be able to stand.

Yang Dalin met up with them, and the next morning, they secretly entered North Vietnam.

There are guides from North Vietnam here, and you can also take a car or train.

Therefore, the journey in North Vietnam was relatively easy.

After two days and two nights of marching.

Then we reached the border between North and South Vietnam.

Once you get here, the guides in North Vietnam stop taking care of you.

An overseas Chinese guide, arranged by Director Hou, came from South Vietnam.

Under the cover of night, Yang Dalin led him into the southern part of Vietnam.

Once inside Nanyue, one could no longer openly walk on the main road.

You can only travel through deserted mountainous areas or along narrow paths.

They entered a mountain with dense forests.

Yang Dalin suggested that everyone rest first, while he went ahead to scout the way.

The South Vietnamese guide that Director Hou arranged also wanted to say that he was familiar with the road ahead and that he would be the one to go on the reconnaissance.

Yang Dalin patted him on the shoulder: "It's not that we don't trust you, Comrade Bale, it's just that we need to get some weapons and local clothing."

As you can see, we only carry a few pistols with us. That won't do; we won't be able to fight back if we encounter danger on the road.

Therefore, weapons such as rifles, machine guns, and grenades are necessary.

I've already obtained these through other channels.

You and everyone else can just stay here, rest, and wait.

"Just lead the way, don't ask any other questions."

Deputy Commander Mo had been instructed beforehand to simply follow Yang Dalin's arrangements along the way.

How they fight in Java is their business; logistics and marching are under Yang Dalin's command.

When they first met, Yang Dalin and Deputy Regiment Commander Mo each gave themselves a code name.

Yang Dalin's code name was Scorpion, while Deputy Regiment Commander Mo gave himself the code name Banana.

The South Vietnamese guide's code name was Guava. Under him, there were several battalion and company commanders whose code names included Durian, Mangosteen, Rambutan, and Jackfruit. Goodness, they were all a bunch of tropical fruits.

Yang Dalin's code name is an animal, a scorpion.

Their operation was even nicknamed "Operation Scorpion" by Director Hou.