Prologue

  Dong Li Mao looks exactly like his anti-Japanese hero, Major Ta Lao Ye. He is a handsome man with a broad forehead, square face, high nose bridge and thick lips. Not only did Grandma Ta say so, but the re-taken photo of Grandpa Ta wearing his major's uniform also clearly shows that he looks almost identical to Grandpa Ta, as if they were molded from the same template.

  Dong Li Mao often bragged to his classmates that his great-grandfather was an anti-Japanese hero, and he would vividly tell them stories about his great-grandfather's past that he had heard from his great-grandmother.

  For this, Dong Li Mao also became famous. In his first year of high school, he stood on the podium at a school-wide meeting and vividly told the story of his great-grandfather's heroic resistance against Japan to all teachers and students.

  His speech this time not only became famous throughout the school, but also won the favor of a beautiful school flower.

  The day the speech ended, after school in the afternoon, Dong Limao had just walked out of the classroom and saw the school flower Bai Ruxue standing at the corridor entrance with her hands behind her back, smiling at him. At that time, Dong Limao thought the school flower was smiling at the boy behind him, but when he turned his head, there were no boys behind him, only three girl classmates. As he approached Bai Ruxue, she took out a book "The Burma Expeditionary Force" from behind her back and handed it to Dong Limao, saying: "This is a new anti-Japanese book that has just been published. I think you can find your great-grandfather's brave footprints against the Japanese in this book."

  Dong Li Mao was overjoyed and trembling as he took the book from Bai Ru Xue, the school flower. Unintentionally, his fingers touched her slender and delicate white hand, and he felt like he had been electrocuted. A warm current surged through every cell in his body, and the thing in his pants seemed even more excited than him, suddenly standing up straight and making him feel embarrassed, so he quickly bent down to hide it.

  Bai Ru Xue saw him so excited, left a smile that Dong Li Mao would never forget in his life, and turned to run down the stairs.

  To pay respects to the Taiye who died in the Songshan Battle, on a drizzly and overcast day in August 2004, with misty rain floating in the sky, Dong Li Mao and his family of four came from Jinan, thousands of miles away, to the Songshan Battle Site in Ximeng Township, Longling County, Yunnan.

  Dong Li Mao got off the car, his eyes scanning around. The lush green pines after the rain were rustling in the mountain wind. Despite the sweltering weather, Dong Li Mao felt a chill from the bottom of his heart, and goosebumps broke out all over his skin. He rubbed his arms with both hands, furrowed his brow, and stared at a deep pit in front of him, where trees and shrubs grew thickly. Turning back to ask Tai Nai Nai, who was helped down from the car by her mother: "Tai Nai Nai, how did you know that Tai Ye Ye died in battle sixty years ago in this very pit?"

  Tai Nai Nai seemed to have not heard Dong Li Mao's words, but instead faced the large pit in front of her, two turbid tears slowly falling from her walnut-like face full of wrinkles, a hoarse cry escaping: "Jia Cheng Ge, it's already been sixty years..."

  Dong Li Mao's ears listened to the surrounding mountain wind blowing through the pine trees, feeling as if countless people were quietly closing in on him. The chilling killing intent suddenly enveloped his entire body, and he leaned closer to his father, who was busy taking incense, candles, and paper money from behind the car.

  "Dad, how did Grandma know this was where Grandpa died?"

  Her father, supporting her mother's elderly grandmother, glanced at her and lowered his voice, scolding his son: "It's all because you're not making progress, re-reading for two years, didn't get into college, and pushed the responsibility onto your anti-Japanese war hero great-grandfather..."

  "Hmph! Anti-Japanese hero! It's all because of Grandma Tao's nonsense, if it wasn't for her telling me when I was in junior high that Grandpa Tao was an outstanding anti-Japanese hero, and letting me indulge in the false glory of being a descendant of an anti-Japanese hero for so many years, I wouldn't be like this today..." Dong Limao curled his lips, but before he could finish speaking, his father thundered in a low voice:

  "Shut up!" The father pointed to the large pit and said, "Do you see this big explosion crater? This was blasted open by your great-grandfather sixty years ago with his own flesh and blood..."

  "Was it Grandpa Tai who used his own flesh and blood to blow it open? Haha... Dad, you're really too weird! How is this possible, haha..." Dong Li Mao didn't believe it at all.

  "What's 'wai wai'?" Father asked, blinking his eyes in confusion.

  "Oh, nonsense, it means making things up, being fanciful and absurd." Dong Limao's mouth curled into a sly smile.

  "Are you saying I'm making this up, that it's all nonsense? Let me tell you, kiddo, this is a fact with evidence, and it was your great-grandmother who said it herself." The father seemed somewhat indignant at his son's skepticism, and he said this in a slightly argumentative tone.

  "Grandma Tai didn't see it with her own eyes either, she just heard others talking nonsense." Dong Limao retorted to his father.

  "How did your great-grandmother get that photo of your great-grandfather?"

  "I heard it from Grandma Tao a long time ago, it was given to her by a female military doctor."

  "Do you know the name of that female military doctor?"

  "What's the name of the female military doctor? I've never heard Grandma mention it." Dong Li Mao suddenly became interested.

  "This female military doctor, named Dao Lanxiang, is a Dai ethnic minority girl. According to your great-grandmother, when Doctor Dao handed over the photo to her, she was filled with hot tears and trembling hands, saying 'This is the only relic left by Dong Lianzhang, he gave it to me before charging into the underground tunnel, wanting me... wanting me to pass it on to you...' According to your great-grandmother's account, Doctor Dao Lanxiang described in detail the heroic deeds of your great-grandfather. Originally, your great-grandfather didn't need to personally charge into the underground tunnel, but because the first explosion failed and the general attack had already begun, rows of soldiers were falling down under the dense firepower of the Japanese army on the mountain. Your great-grandfather led the entire company of brothers, just arriving at the entrance of the underground tunnel... Doctor Dao Lanxiang was a medical officer following the charging troops to temporarily treat wounded soldiers... When the scheduled explosion time had passed for half an hour and the dozens of tons of explosives in the tunnel hadn't exploded, your great-grandfather estimated that there must be a problem with the fuse, so he handed over the photo from his pocket to Doctor Dao Lanxiang, then charged alone into the tunnel. Ten or more minutes later, only a deafening roar was heard, as if the entire earth was shaking, and then a high mountain peak suddenly disappeared, and the Japanese fortifications on the mountain peak also disappeared... This is that big crater..." Father pointed again at the explosion crater, his voice choked with emotion.

  "Old Li..." Mother called out to Dong Li Mao and Father.

  "Ah..." His father responded with a single word, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

  "Hurry up and bring the incense over to light it, what's taking so long? Look at the weather, it'll be raining soon." Mother said, looking up at the dark clouds in the sky.

  Dong Li Mao was deeply attracted by his father's narrative, a surge of hot blood gushed up from his chest cavity, and the goosebumps all over his body had been driven away by the hot blood, he really didn't expect that Tai Ye would die like this. It turned out that Tai Nai Nai insisted on coming to this big explosion pit because the pit buried the remains of Tai Ye.

  "Hey kid, what are you still standing there for? Come and help out quickly!"

  His father's voice woke Dong Li Mao up from his dream. He responded and walked over to help his father carry incense, candles, paper money and other sacrificial items.

  While Father and Mother were busy lighting incense and burning paper money, Tai Nai Nai took out a red cloth package from her bosom, and with trembling hands, she unwrapped it layer by layer.

  Dong Li Mao knew clearly what was in Grandma Ta's red cloth package, this was the key to Grandma Ta being able to live until now.

  Grandma gently stroked the yellowed old photo wrapped in red cloth, muttering to herself: "Jiacheng brother, today I've brought Li Mao too, he looks just like you sixty years ago... From now on, your Dong family has an heir... You must bless him and let him top the imperial examination next year..."

  Dong Li Mao understood the meaning of Grandma Tai's words. Before the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Grandma Tai gave birth to a daughter for Grandpa Tai who had died in the war, and that was Dong Li Mao's grandma. Grandma Tai found a son-in-law for her daughter, and later his grandma gave birth to another only child, which was Dong Li Mao's mother. Unfortunately, both his grandparents died young, and it was Grandma Tai who raised his mother. Later, Grandma Tai also found a grandson-in-law for his mother, who is now his father, and that's how Dong Li Mao got his double surname.

  The name Dong Limao was given by Tai Laolao, with "Dong" being the same surname as Tai Laoye, "Li" being his father's surname, and "Mao" meaning flourishing. In the name Dong Limao, Tai Laolao entrusted her beautiful wish for the prosperity of the Dong family descendants.

  "Li Mao, come quickly, kneel down to your great-grandmother and kowtow three times, let your great-grandmother bless you from the underworld to become a top scholar next year." Great Grandma beckoned Li Mao to come over and kneel beside her.

  Before coming to Songshan, Dong Li Mao didn't want to read it again. But just now, after listening to his father's words, for some reason, the hot blood in his chest never dissipated. He thought that a man should not live a life of seclusion and cowardice, but rather die like Taigong Wang.

  He walked closer and knelt down beside Tai Nai Nai on the wet grass, his knees softening as if someone was pressing heavily on his shoulders, forcing him to kneel. He kowtowed three times in great piety, facing the big explosion pit according to Tai Nai Nai's words.

  Three kowtows finished, Dong Li Mao's eyes were wet, just as his mother was about to pull him up, a strange gust of wind suddenly blew on the stone where Taigong Wang's old photo was placed. Not only did it extinguish the candle flame and blow away the burnt paper money, but also rolled up the photo. The old photo seemed like a kite with a broken string, tumbling higher and higher.

  "Jia Cheng Ge..." Dong Li Mao heard Tai Nai Nai exclaiming and trembling as she stood up, stretching out her arms as if to grab the photo that was blown away by the wind.

  Father and mother quickly supported the old man on either side, Dong Limao said: "Great grandma, I'll go get the photos back!" After that, he jumped down into the big explosion pit, watching as the old photo was blown away by the wind and landed on a branch of an ancient pine tree at the bottom of the pit. Dong Limao stumbled and staggered down into the pit, with his father and mother's voices echoing behind him: "Limao... be careful..."

  As Dong Li Mao ventured deeper into the pit, the hot blood in his chest surged even more, and he couldn't care less about the scratches on his arms and legs from the thorny branches. At this moment, he was just like his great-grandfather who had bravely charged into the entrance of the pit without hesitation. For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of fearlessness, thinking that he was incredibly heroic.

  As he climbed up the tall pine tree, his hands and feet were as agile as a monkey's. He took a deep breath and got the photo, waving his arms like a victorious general, shouting to his parents and great-grandmother in the big ditch: "Great-Grandma! I got Great-Grandpa..." Before he could shout out "photo", the pine tree suddenly started swaying gently downwards, scaring Dong Limao into stopping his shouts, hastily putting the photo into his pants pocket, grabbing tightly onto the branches with both hands and pressing his body firmly against the trunk.

  The speed at which the cypress tree sank was getting faster and faster, until finally, it felt like Dong Li Mao was falling from the sky, his body and heart separated, his head buzzing, he could only close his eyes tightly, open his mouth wide and let out a loud "ah..." before losing consciousness. In the last moment before he lost all sense, the only thought in Dong Li Mao's mind was that he was going to die, but strangely, he wasn't afraid at all, instead, he felt an unprecedented sense of refreshment, as if he were wandering in a legendary paradise, his body didn't feel like it was sinking down, but rather flying up. However, this feeling was very short-lived, and soon everything disappeared from his mind.