Chapter 17: The Hero's Love

  After confirming that Dong Li Mao's chest injury was not serious, Knife Lan Xiang spoke up: "Dong big brother, I want to go with you guys."

  "No way!" Dong Li Mao's mouth refused, but his heart was comfortable, as if he had heard Bai Ruxue promising to be with him and willing to follow him to death.

  Dalanxiang was rejected, pouting with a small mouth, eyes brimming with tears, and asked: "Why not? I'm also considered a soldier now. Fighting wars will inevitably lead to injuries. You need me by your side..."

  "Absolutely not!" Dong Li Mao emphasized, with an unyielding tone, and then seemed to feel that he was too severe, so he advised Dao Lan Xiang: "Lan Xiang, your work is in the rear, there are many wounded soldiers who need you to take care of them. Besides, this expedition will soon end in failure, and the army will retreat in no time..."

  Before Dong Li Mao finished speaking, Diao Lan Xiang interrupted: "Since Brother Dong knows the troops will withdraw, why do you still want to go?"

  This question really made Dong Li Mao speechless. He glanced at Li Yuanyuan and the other brothers, thinking: "Will they die in Myanmar?" He knew he wouldn't die; if he were to die, it would be two years later, at least within these two years, he was safe.

  Dong Li Mao grasped Lan Xiang's hand and walked to the side, whispering: "Lan Xiang, trust me, I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere, just wait for me in Ruili."

  "Really? Brother Dong, you'll really come back for me?" Dao Lanxiang asked excitedly, almost loudly.

  "I promise you, I will definitely come back to find you." Dong Li Mao really wanted to say: "I can't live without you!"

  Fate has tied him and this Dai girl closely together, Dong Limao is clear that Dao Lanxiang is the most critical person for him to return to real life. Before he gets his hands on that photo, neither of them can leave each other. What will happen afterwards, Dong Limao doesn't know either, but one thing he's sure of is that Dao Lanxiang won't die, otherwise, Tai Ye would have no one to hand the photo over to Tai Nainai.

  So Dong Li Mao was not worried that Dao Lan Xiang would have any accidents.

  "I'll listen to Brother Dong and won't go anywhere else. I'll just wait for you here." Dao Lanxiang said with tears in her eyes, looking at Dong Limao.

  “Lan Xiang……” Dong Li Mao really wanted to pull her into his arms, but he suppressed this impulse. Now that he had become Tai Ye Ye, and Tai Ye Ye was already married with a wife, Tai Nai Nai, before joining the Burmese expeditionary force, how could he still develop feelings for another woman? This was unthinkable. From Dong Li Mao's own perspective, he also didn't want Tai Ye Ye to have feelings for a woman who looked exactly like Bai Ru Shuang.

  What will happen between Tai Gong and Dao Lanxiang in the next two years?

  If nothing had happened between the two, why would Doolanxiang find Taiji after the war?

  Is it just for that photo? Or is there really something else?

  "Dong Lianchang, it's time to set off!" Li Yuanyuan seemed to intentionally want to interrupt the two's farewell, loudly shouting at him.

  "Lan Xiang, you must wait for me to come back!" Dong Li Mao held up Knife Lan Xiang's small hand with both hands, feeling her hand was cool.

  "En, we'll wait for Brother Dong's return." Dao Lanxiang said with deep feeling, gazing at Dong Limao and nodding.

  Dong Li Mao drove the car, with Li Yuanyuan sitting in the front passenger seat beside him. After they left Guanzhai, he could still see Qie Lanxiang following their car from the rearview mirror.

  "Lan Xiang likes you!" Li Yuanyuan also saw it and said with a slight pout.

  Dong Li Mao gritted his teeth and stepped on the gas, the truck roaring as it sped down the dirt road, his eyes wet with tears.

  "Are you crying?" Li Yuanyuan turned sideways, facing the right half of Dong Limao's body, and saw tears on his profile: "I didn't expect the anti-Japanese hero of the Fifth Army, who has killed countless enemies, to be a sentimental person after all. It really proves that old saying, 'A hero's spirit is short when it comes to romance', hehe..."

  "Officer..." Dong Li Mao no longer called her sister, but instead called Li Yuanyuan "officer".

  "Just call me sister," Li Yuanyuan interrupted Dong Limao's words.

  Dong Li Mao turned his head and glanced at Li Yuanyuan beside him, smiling: "Then I'll call you sister from now on."

  "Go on, what's up? I'm listening, sister." Li Yuanyuan also smiled.

  "Hehe... Sister can also laugh?" Dong Li Mao saw her smile for the first time, and it was a very charming smile. He had never seen any woman smile so beautifully before. It was a smile with a hint of seduction, a temptation that no man could resist. They say "one smile can conquer the city", and this must be what they mean by Li Yuanyuan's smile.

  "Nonsense! Everyone will laugh at you!" Li Yuanyuan said with a frown.

  Dong Li Mao didn't see her expression, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, but he asked: "Have you intercepted any intelligence about the Japanese army gathering troops towards Xuzhou?"

  "Are you gathering troops towards Laoshen?" Li Yuanyuan was somewhat surprised, then replied: "This is impossible, absolutely impossible! Do you know that the British army is garrisoned on the side of Laoshen? The Japanese army can't break through in the direction of Laoshen no matter how arrogant they are!"

  "It's not a breakthrough, it's an ambush! The Japanese army will launch a surprise attack from the direction of Laiwu, cutting off the expeditionary force's retreat route!" Dong Limao argued loudly.

  "Is that just your own imagination? I just heard from those brothers of yours, saying that after you woke up, you couldn't even remember each of their names. No wonder you were shaking with fear when you saw the dead body on the bamboo building. It turns out that after being seriously injured and unconscious for five days, you lost your memory. I thought you were a coward, but from your later performance, it seems I underestimated this hero. At the time, when you said your name was Dong Limao, I even thought you were an impersonator of the Ninth Company Commander..."

  "This isn't my wild imagination, it's written in the book..."

  "What's written on the book? Which book?" Li Yuanyuan asked curiously.

  "The Burmese Expeditionary Force." Dong Li Mao replied offhandly.

  "Haha...... You're really good at joking, the expedition has just begun, how can someone write a book about it? It seems that during those five days you were unconscious, your brain got rusty." Li Yuanyuan would never believe Dong Limao's words.

  Dong Li Mao glanced sideways at Li Yuanyuan, knowing that no matter what he said, she wouldn't believe him and would only think he was crazy. So he stopped talking about the sneak attack on Jia Ren and instead asked: "If I were really an imposter, would you kill me with your own hands, sister?"

  Li Yuyuan was taken aback, then burst out laughing: "I said you're a funny guy, like a woman, what's wrong with you? Still holding a grudge?"

  "At that time, my sister was pointing a gun at my head, do you know what I was thinking then?"

  "Do you think I would really shoot and kill you? Haha......" Li Yuanyuan laughed even more recklessly.

  "Didn't you think so, sister? But I felt like you really wanted to pull the trigger at that time."

  "If I really shot you dead, your comrades would probably tear me to pieces. Besides, how could I shoot an anti-Japanese hero?"

  "It turns out that sister was just scaring me, haha... To be honest, I really thought I would die at your gunpoint."

  "This younger brother of yours is getting more and more interesting, not at all as dull as others said."

  "Oh, someone said I'm rigid?"

  "Yes, I've heard people mention you before. They say you're a strict and serious company commander who doesn't joke around. And wasn't there also an article about you in the newspaper?"

  "Wait, you said you saw a report about me in the newspaper, which one?"

  "War correspondent's battlefield newspaper! Now, I'm afraid the major newspapers in Chongqing have also published your heroic deeds against Japan."

  (Favorites! Flowers! are the greatest rewards for me!)