It is said that Zheng Zhendong took the thermos bottle and returned home after leaving Wang's house.
At this time, Zheng's mother had packed her things and was about to go to the hospital. Zheng Zhendong stopped her quickly and expressed her concern to Aunt Wang.
Zheng's mother was very emotional after hearing this and couldn't help but say.
"Third brother, I was very touched after hearing this. Ever since our family came to this courtyard, I feel that we have always seemed out of place.
There seems to be a kind of estrangement between you and everyone. I wonder if you feel this way?
However, it seems to be different recently, and I can't figure out why. Oh, forget it, I don't have time to pay attention to it now!
I just want to take good care of my eldest brother, and we’ll talk about the rest later!”
Zheng Zhendong said in his heart, you don't know what's going on, but I understand what's going on in this courtyard, but I don't have time to think about it now, so he said.
"Mom, please drink some water first, and then tell me what happened just now!"
Zheng's mother was indeed a little thirsty, so she picked up the cup, blew on it, and then drank slowly. After moistening her throat, she began to recall.
"I still remember that it was a day in the early summer of the 18th year of the Republic of China. The weather was sunny, cloudless, and the south wind was blowing slowly.
After breakfast in the morning, your grandma asked me to go to the river to wash clothes, so I used a wooden basin to put the dirty clothes at home and went to the river!
When we got to the river, all the eldest and youngest daughters-in-law nearby came here to wash their clothes!
Several acquaintances and I were chatting and washing clothes.
I didn’t know at the time who said something that made everyone laugh, and I laughed too.
As a result, I accidentally dropped the clothes in my hand into the river. I quickly followed the river water to chase the washed away clothes!
When we reached the bend of the river, in the reed marsh, a man walked out and helped me catch my clothes. This man is your father. This is the first time we have met!
At that time, your father was wearing a blue-gray military uniform, an eight-pointed five-star military cap on his head, an armed belt around his waist, and a rifle underneath.
The whole person stood there with dignity, holding clothes in his hands and asking me with a smile on his face.
This fellow, here are your clothes. Here, don’t lose them next time, or you won’t be able to catch up!
To be honest, I'm not afraid of your jokes. At that time, when I saw your father's smile, I was a little confused!
I stupidly took the clothes your father handed over and looked at him dreamingly. At that time, I felt that my heart was about to jump out, and I was stunned there.
Your father said a few words to me at that time, but I just nodded mechanically and had no idea what he meant.
After a while, your father turned around and walked away, watching him walk down the river.
I stood by the river, watching his retreating figure dreamingly, until I couldn't see him anymore, then I went back to wash clothes.
Ever since I met your father, all I can think of is his smiling face, and I just want to see him again.
It wasn’t until more than ten days later that the Agricultural Cooperative Association arranged for me to take care of the wounded, and I met your father again!
But when I saw your dad this time, he did lose his energy from last time.
I saw him with a bandage on his head and his right arm hanging around his neck. He looked so lonely!
Because we had met before and because I was the one taking care of your father, we quickly became familiar with each other.
After getting familiar with it, I asked him how he was injured.
Your father explained that their pistol team was attacked by Bai Gouzi, and he was injured as a result.
As for the reason for the lonely expression, your father's team was killed and injured many teammates. He was sad about this and missed his dead comrades, so that's why he was like this!
While I was taking care of your father, our feelings also developed, and slowly, we began to have each other in our hearts.
Just after your father recovered from his injury, I planned to ask your father to come to my house to propose marriage, but what a coincidence!
Just as the team was about to move, your father had no choice but to grab the things in a hurry and go to your grandma's house to propose marriage.
At that time, your grandpa passed away many years ago, and your grandma had the final say in the family. Your grandma, after asking my opinion, agreed to the marriage!
I also heard that the team was going to be transferred, and your grandma only asked me and your father to give her a few heads, and she was considered married!
Your father then took me with him and moved with the team from western Henan to Xiangjiang River, and later we became your eldest brother!"
Speaking of this, Mother Zheng paused for a moment, picked up the cup and took a sip of water before continuing.
"You also know that in those years, our party and army, although there were several uprisings, the team has developed and established many bases!
But there were all kinds of comrades who participated in the revolution, and our party was not clean in those years, fighting for power and gain in various ways.
Although under the leadership of Chairman Li, several encirclement and suppression campaigns by Chiang Kai-shek were defeated, and a government was established in Ruijin.
However, the three-man group headed by Wang Ming was blindly confident and excluded Chairman Li from the decision-making team. They also wanted to have a decisive battle with Chiang Kai-shek, resulting in the failure of the fifth counter-encirclement and suppression campaign!
In order to get rid of the enemy's encirclement and interception, our party and army were forced to implement strategic shifts, abandon the newly established political power, and begin the Long March.
Our party and our army moved to the Guizhou area and held a meeting in Zunyi, Guizhou, establishing Chairman Li's leadership position.
At that time, I was pregnant and went to Daliang Mountain with your father, Commander Liu Mingzhao and then Political Commissar Nie.
Commander Liu made friends with the Yi people, and we also took a break there and gave birth to your second brother.
The situation was urgent and the team was about to move again. I didn’t bother to confine myself and followed the team in and set off.
Under the command of Commander Liu, our army crossed the river at Anshun Field, opening the way for our army to move north.
Your grandparents, your eldest brother, and the follow-up troops also started the long march.
However, at that time, our army was extremely short of supplies, especially food, ammunition, medicine and other supplies.
As the leader of the group, your grandfather led their group and escorted a batch of important supplies at the rear of the group.
When crossing the grassland, I encountered an enemy pursuing me in order to protect the supplies.
Your grandfather immediately decided that two companies would stay to stop the enemy, and one company would continue to escort the supplies forward.
In order to escort the company to march smoothly, your grandfather personally led the remaining troops and fought to the death with the enemy.
Although the scale of the battle was not very large, our army fought extremely fiercely in this battle.
Although they are pursuing local troops, the enemy army has a full regiment. They are not a small group like the one led by your grandfather. This regiment has a thousand and eight people.
The commander of the enemy army saw that your grandfather and his team were few in number, and that they were more eager to make meritorious deeds than was the common style of the enemy army at that time, so he did not take your grandfather's team seriously at first."
When Mother Zheng said this, a painful expression appeared on her face.
When Zheng Zhendong saw Zheng's mother like this, he thought that his grandfather Zheng Baoyu had died during the Long March across the grassland!
I can't help but lament that my family has sacrificed a lot for the establishment of the new country. My grandfather and father died one after another, and my eldest brother was also seriously injured. My second brother is still on the peninsula battlefield, fighting the Ugly Japanese, and I don't know what happened to him.
Thinking of these, Zheng Zhendong, as a person who traveled through time in later generations, couldn't help but stand in awe.
I secretly decided in my heart that I would treat the people at home well in the future, not just play games, but integrate into them completely.
Ever since I came to this world, my behavior and habits have carried the style of later generations, which is very bad, especially when the Jia family found trouble several times, and I handled it very poorly.
Maybe it was in later generations that he was timid and afraid of causing trouble. After all, he grew up in an orphanage.
Without parents or relatives, I grew up alone, and developed the mentality of not offending others, no matter how I behave or do things.
When I first traveled through time, I didn’t have a deep memory of the original owner, so I just acted according to my nature.
As a result, the neighbors in the courtyard, especially the Jia family, felt that the Zheng family were outsiders and weak and could be bullied, so they started to find trouble again and again.
Zheng Zhendong felt that it was time for him to change, especially for the Jia family. Next time he dared to blow up his hair, he would be beaten to death with a stick to avoid annoying people.
It's like a toad lying on the feet. Although it doesn't bite, it is very annoying.
Just when Zheng Zhendong was thinking wildly, Zheng's mother also thought about it. After all, it happened many years ago, so she continued.
"These white dogs will only regret it when they get into trouble with your grandfather and the others. Our soldiers are all veterans who have been fighting for many years and have tough ideas!
After three rounds of volleys, in order to save bullets, our soldiers, led by your grandfather, launched a charge against Bai Gouzi with broadswords in hand.
The Baigouzi are just a group of local security groups, adapted from second-rate troops. They have never seen the momentum of our army. Although there are many people, they have never fought a war!
As soon as they were charged by our troops, they turned around and tried to run away. However, the supervising team behind them killed several of the leaders who were running away, and then they managed to stabilize the situation.
But the soldiers had no fighting spirit, so they barely fought with our army for a few times, and soon collapsed. Finally, the enemy commander hurriedly asked the mortar platoon to fire in the direction of your grandfather's lead.
He didn't even care about his own people. Your grandfather was hit by a cannonball, one of his legs was broken, and he passed out on the spot.
When our army defeated Bai Gouzi, your grandfather lost too much blood, coupled with the lack of medical treatment at the time, your grandfather did not receive proper treatment and soon died on the way to transfer.
Later, after we joined forces with your grandma in northern Shaanxi, we learned about this situation.
When I met your grandma, second uncle and your eldest brother, they were all extremely hungry and it took them several years to get better.
Later, when the Japanese invaded, our army accepted Chiang Kai-shek's adaptation and organized two armies, one was the Eighth Route Army and the other was the New Fourth Army in Jiangnan.
We followed the old leader and reorganized it into the 129th Division Independent Detachment. Your father was the commander of the third battalion of the detachment at the time. Later, it merged with the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade and the division's independent regiment to form the new 385th Brigade.
In August of the 27th year of the Republic of China, your father followed Political Commissar Xie from the Taihang Mountains to the vicinity of the Ping-Han Railway. At the end of the year, he participated in the Battle of Handan.
Because of his bravery and vigor during the battle, the commander launched many charges against the little Japanese.
Your father's momentum is indeed strong when fighting. Every time he charges, he is like a tiger descending from the mountain.
He was nicknamed "Tiger Zheng" by his comrades for this reason.
When you were just born, your father gave you the name "Zhendong", which meant suppressing Japanese little devils.
Your eldest brother is called Zhenguo, which means suppressing the Kuomintang, and your second brother is called Zhenchuan, which means suppressing the white dogs in Sichuan. These are your father's wishes."
At this point, Zheng's mother couldn't hold back any longer. She sat on a chair and cried loudly, crying and talking at the same time.
"Brother Chengji, you said you left early and left me a few children!
The eldest son was injured this time. You don’t know how scared I am. I’m afraid that the children will sacrifice themselves just like you and your father-in-law!
Fortunately, the boss Zhenguo was only injured. Even if he is really disabled, I will accept it as long as he comes back alive!
There is also the second brother Zhenchuan. Since he went to the Peninsula battlefield, I have only received one letter. I don’t know how he is doing recently.
Don’t you know that I, the mother-in-law, am worried about him? I won’t send more letters!”
Seeing Zheng's mother crying, Zheng Zhendong didn't know what to do for a while, so he had to persuade her.
"Mom, please stop crying. My dad has been sacrificed for so many years. Please be more cheerful!
Xinyi and I are still at home, and besides, the eldest brother is back now, and the second brother is sure that Jiren has his own destiny, and will be safe and sound, maybe he will be back in a few days!"
After listening to Zheng Zhendong's words, Zheng's mother's crying gradually became quieter. After a while, her eyes turned red and she asked.
"Third brother, how many days will it take for your second brother to come back?"
Zheng Zhendong thought to himself, how could I know this? But seeing Zheng's mother looking at him with hope, she had no choice but to say.
"Perhaps you haven't seen how many troops are leaving the peninsula now. Aren't the troops that were the first to enter the DPRK come back one after another? My second brother is probably coming soon too!"
Don't look at Zheng Zhendong's wild guesses. After hearing this, Zheng's mother felt that it made sense, so she said with a smile.
"Hey, it would be great for our family if your second brother could come back!
When the time comes, your eldest brother will marry Huairu, your second brother will find a wife, and after you graduate, you will also get married!
If there are several more children at home, what day will it be? Oh! It’s so beautiful just thinking about it!”
Zheng Zhendong couldn't help but said as he saw Zheng's mother showing excitement.
"Mom, you are thinking too long-term. It's a bit too early to think about this now!
You'd better tell me, the Armed Forces and the streets, why don't you go visit my elder brother?"
Zheng's mother was a little unhappy at first when her fantasy was interrupted by Zheng Zhendong, but after hearing her third child ask this question, she still explained.
"Your eldest brother became a soldier in 1948, and your second brother also joined the army on our way to the capital.
Their household registrations are not in our street at all, how could they come to see him!
We were in the Taihang Mountains at the time, and we moved to several places later, so it’s understandable that I didn’t go see your brother about this!"
When Zheng Zhendong heard what Zheng's mother said, he suddenly realized. He thought to himself, how could he forget about his household registration? He didn't even know that his elder brother and second brother were not here.
Zheng Zhendong understood the reason and saw that it was getting late, so he said to Zheng's mother.
"Mom, I finally figured it out. If you didn't tell me, I really didn't know!
Okay, I understand now, I think it’s getting late, you should go back to the hospital quickly!”
Zheng's mother nodded knowingly and said as she stood up and put on her clothes.
"Okay, third child, I'll go back to the hospital right now. I won't be at home these days. You take good care of your sister. I won't say much else!"
Mother Zheng put on her clothes, carried her packed things, pushed her bicycle out of the door, and then walked out of the gate of the compound before riding towards the hospital.