Chapter 6: Brothers of Life and Death

  After hearing Zhu Yongsheng's words, Dong Limao thought to himself: It seems that Tai Ye is a good person after all. To have someone follow him so devotedly, if he were still alive now, he would probably be an extraordinary figure. Unfortunately, he died too early and I didn't get a chance to bask in his glory.

  "Zhu Paichang, are you and your brothers all living in the hospital?" Dong Li Mao asked with concern.

  "After you were injured, the battalion commander said that the division let a few brothers who survived follow you to the rear hospital for a few days of rest. Hehe... The brothers all thought that wherever the company commander was, that was home for the ninth company's brothers, so... So at night they slept in the corridor outside your ward." Zhu Yongsheng scratched his head and chuckled.

  Dong Li Mao was even more moved, this is perhaps what people often call the bond of sworn brothers, only those who have experienced life and death hardships can understand. Although he himself had not fought side by side with them, Dong Li Mao deeply felt the kind of relationship between Tai Ye and his brothers. His eyes were moist as he told Zhu Yong Sheng: "Go gather all the remaining brothers, I have something to say to them."

  "Yes!" Zhu Yongsheng stood at attention, happily saluted, and turned around to run out of the basement.

  Looking at Zhu Yongsheng's back, Dong Li Mao muttered to himself: "Not for anything else, just for them, I must be a good great-grandfather." As if he had made up his mind, he said to the knife Lan Xiang beside him: "Knife guard, help me get up."

  Dolan Xiang helped Dong Li Mao up: "From now on, you can call me Lan Xiang, just like when you rushed into the house to save me and shouted that way, don't call me Knife Guard anymore."

  Dong Li Mao laughed and looked at Dao Lan Xiang's face full of dust: "Alright, Lan Xiang, let's go out."

  At this time, the air raid had ended, and the wounded and medical personnel in the basement began to walk towards the exit one after another.

  Under the guidance of Dao Lanxiang, Dong Li Mao walked among the crowd, he had completely transformed, becoming a true anti-Japanese warrior. He knew that in the future, he would take on the responsibility of being a company commander, no matter what challenges lay ahead in the next two years, he must lead his comrades to face them head-on, their lives and deaths would be closely tied to his own.

  The hospital had been reduced to ruins, the military tents set up in the courtyard had long since been burned down, smoke still lingered, and there were craters and mangled bodies everywhere. A pungent smell of blood and gunpowder wafted into Dong Limao's nostrils.

  "Damn Japanese devils! They won't even spare the hospital!" Dong Limao said gritting his teeth.

  Dolan Xiang silently wept, looking at the corpses all over the ground. She couldn't bear to look and buried her head in Dong Li Mao's embrace, using her kind tears to express her sorrow at this moment.

  Dong Li Mao hesitated, stretched out his hand, and wrapped it around Jian Lan Xiang's shoulder, holding her tightly. He spoke in a serious tone, as if making a promise to her: "I, Dong Li Mao... no, I, Dong Jia Cheng swear to heaven! I must make the little Japanese tremble with fear at the mention of my name!"

  The living, including the wounded, were quietly gathering up the corpses. A man in his forties wearing a white coat walked over to Dong Li Mao and Diao Lan Xiang: "Commander Dong, I've been looking all over for you. If something had happened to you, how would I have explained it to Commander Du? Fortunately, you're still alive." Then he said to Diao Lan Xiang: "Nurse Diao, the hospital can't accommodate him anymore. From now on, Commander Dong will recover at your home. You must take good care of him - he's a hero who killed devils!"

  "Don't worry, Dean, I'll take good care of Dong Lianchang." Kao Lanxiang wiped away her tears and replied.

  "Alright, I'm leaving Dong Lianzhang to you." The director nodded and patted Dong Li Mao on the back with his hand. As he turned around and walked away, he said: "Damn those Japanese devils! They have no humanity! Heaven will punish them!"

  "Is he the hospital director?" Dong Limao asked: "From his accent, is he a local?"

  "His name is Jin Man, he's the only doctor in our Rui Li who has studied abroad. The surgery was done by his own hands." Dao Lan Xiang replied.

  "Are you also studying medicine?" Dong Li Mao suddenly thought of the school flower Bai Ruxue, who was admitted to Medical University and would become a doctor after graduation.

  "I didn't study it before. Two years ago, I went to Director Jin's hospital as a nurse and learned some medical knowledge from him," Dao Lanxiang replied.

  "Is your house spacious?" Dong Li Mao added a sentence: "What I'm asking is whether it can accommodate a dozen or so people."

  Dolan Xiang seemed to understand Dong Li Mao's intention and nodded in response: "My family has several bamboo buildings, enough for the nine brothers of Lianlian to live."

  "We won't live off others for free."

  "My father is a patriot. After the army arrived, he voluntarily offered one of our bamboo houses as the troop's command center. He would be very happy to welcome you all to stay at my home."

  "Alright, I'll tell the brothers later. For now, I'll temporarily stay at your place while I recover." Dong Li Mao saw Zhu Yong Sheng and the other brothers walking towards them: "Lan Xiang, you go ahead and take care of things first."

  Dolan Xiang anxiously asked: "Does your wound still hurt?"

  Dong Li Mao patted his chest and smiled: "It's nothing, I just chatted with them."

  "Alright, I'll go help first. Later, I'll take you to my home," said Dāo Lánxiāng, turning back one step at a time as he left Dǒng Lǐmào.

  The scorching sun hung overhead, Zhu Yongsheng and the other ten people, although their faces and arms had varying degrees of injuries, still formed a line and marched in step to Dong Limao's side. Zhu Yongsheng shouted out orders: "Attention! At ease!" Then he saluted Dong Limao: "Reporting to Company Commander! The ninth company brothers have assembled, please give us instructions!"

  Dong Li was stunned, he had seen soldiers before, but they were all in movies and TV shows, occasionally on the streets, but he had never undergone military training. Suddenly, he had to face a soldier standing at attention and say a few words, which made him feel uneasy. He didn't know what to say, so he put his hands behind his back, like a military officer in a movie, and slowly walked along the row of eleven soldiers, starting from Zhu Yongsheng, inspecting them one by one.

  As he walked, he thought: What should I say? How would my grandfather say it if he were here? Words of encouragement wouldn't work, nor was this a battlefield, and empty words were useless. So what could he say that they would like to hear? Suddenly, he remembered a line from a movie or TV show he had seen somewhere:

  "Brothers, I am Dong Limao..." Dong Limao immediately corrected himself: "I am Dong Jiacheng. How have I treated you brothers normally?" After finishing speaking, he felt ridiculous. Firstly, he had only known them for less than a day, and secondly, the sentence sounded like something a bandit leader would say to his underlings.

  What he didn't expect was that almost everyone shouted in unison: "Company Commander is as close to us as a brother!"

  Dong Li Mao was taken aback, and he thought to himself: It seems that what I said is right. With renewed confidence, he continued to speak: "What I want to say to my brothers is that each of us on the road to our graves is not alone. Death is inevitable, but as long as we are alive, we must do something earth-shaking. Are you willing to follow me and avenge our fallen brother by killing those little devils?"

  "We agree!" The eleven people shouted in unison once again.

  Dong Li Mao nodded and said, "Very good!" He walked over to Hu San, who was the youngest and standing at the end of the line, stretched out his right hand and patted him on the head: "From now on, you are my orderly."

  Hu San's feet were together, his body straightened up, and he loudly replied: "Yes!"

  Dong Li Mao turned around and walked into the middle of the eleven people, scanning them one by one with his eyes, then said: "From today on, we brothers will share joys and sorrows, and our fate. During my convalescence before taking office in the special task force, we will live in Knife Guard's home."

  Zhang Dali grinned foolishly and said: "Great, this time there's something delicious to eat." This brought laughter from ten other people.

  (Favorites! Flowers! More exciting things are yet to come!)