Chapter 63: Reunion with Orchid Fragrance

  As soon as it was dawn, Dong Li Mao and others took a truck from the front command post back to the Dong Gua barracks.

  Hero returns, shocking the entire military camp. Almost everyone knows that Dong Li Mao led ten special troops to blow up the Japanese army's train station warehouse, but few people know that he destroyed the Japanese bacteria weapons used to deal with the expeditionary army.

  The head of the guard, Kong Xiangfei, representing the military commander and division commander, held a celebration banquet for Dong Limao and others. At the banquet, Dong Limao rarely spoke, with his head down, drinking continuously until he was dizzy and fell on the table, unable to move again.

  Dong Li Mao was dazed and heard Bai Ru Xue talking to him, singing a song, asking him why he still hadn't woken up, and even heard sobbing sounds. Dong Li Mao wanted to open his eyes and tell Bai Ru Xue that he had become Grandfather Taizi Dong Jia Cheng, who was fighting against the Japanese devils, and that she didn't need to worry about him, he would wake up when he got the old photo of Grandfather Taizi... Even in his heart, Dong Li Mao said: Ru Xue, I love you, no matter what I did after becoming Grandfather Taizi, it wasn't me who did those things, it was all Grandfather Taizi's past experiences that had nothing to do with me. I don't love Li Yuan Yuan at all, I only love you, Ru Xue, I really truly love you... But he couldn't say anything, his inner anxiety was overwhelming.

  "Brother Dong... Brother Dong... wake up... hurry and wake up..."

  Dong Li Mao heard a woman's voice calling out to him, thinking it was Bai Ru Xue. He suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed the small hand that was gently patting his arm: "Ru Xue, I miss you so much..."

  "Dong Gege, I'm Lan Xiang, did you just have a nightmare?"

  Dong Li Mao blinked, and only then did he clearly see that the person sitting on the edge of the bed, whose hands his own were grasping, was Knife Lan Xiang's. He felt a little disappointed, but also very surprised, and asked: "Lan Xiang, how did you end up here? Hmm...you're wearing military uniform too..." Dong Li Mao sat up straight, grasped Knife Lan Xiang's shoulders with both hands, and carefully examined her in her military attire.

  "Brother Dong, I've officially joined the Anti-Japanese Expeditionary Force. It was my own request to come to the front lines. Last night, I arrived at Dongguacheng and immediately came to find you at the Special Operations Brigade headquarters, but you were drunk and didn't even recognize me..." Knife Lanxiang's shoulders were grabbed by Dong Limao's hands, causing her pain, and she struggled free after a couple of attempts.

  "What time is it now?" Dong Li Mao saw that outside the house was still pitch black.

  "In the evening, you've been sleeping for a whole day and night, just like last time when you were injured and fainted, and kept shouting 'Ru Shuang'...". Dāo Lán Xiāng lowered her head, seemingly in a bad mood.

  "So you've been guarding me for a whole day and night?" Dong Li Mao was somewhat parched, saw the teapot on the bedside table, picked it up and gulped down several big mouthfuls of water.

  "It was Big Brother Zhu who asked me to stay with you, saying that you were too tired from completing your task." Dao Lanxiang took the tea cup that Dong Limao had finished drinking from and put it back on the table, asking: "Big Brother Dong, are you hungry?"

  "Not hungry." Dong Li Mao replied, getting out of bed and putting on his shoes, feeling refreshed, twisting his arms a few times, the joints crackling loudly. He seemed to have suddenly thought of something, looking at Knife Lan Xiang asking: "Lan Xiang, why didn't she come with you? Where is she?"

  Dolan Xiang suddenly blinked a few times and asked in confusion: "Brother Dong, who are you talking about? Is it that woman named Ruxue?"

  "Not." Dong Li Mao waved his hand and said: "It's a Burmese girl. I told her to go find you in Ruili."

  "Did you tell her to come find me?" Dao Lanxiang looked bewildered and shook her head saying: "No one has ever looked for me."

  "Didn't she go look for you?" Dong Li Mao shook his head: "No way, I clearly told her your address and had her find you at the Ruili Oak Temple, how could she not have gone?"

  "Dong Gege, I didn't go to the Oak Temple Hospital. The day after you left, that...that dwarf pumpkin Kong Tuanzhang came to my house and proposed to my dad to marry me as his concubine. My dad was afraid of not agreeing with him, fearing it would bring disaster, so he agreed with the dwarf pumpkin, saying they would come to our house to welcome me after the Water Splashing Festival...I didn't want to, so I joined the frontline anti-Japanese medical rescue team and secretly ran away..." Knife Lanxiang roughly told her story of what had happened over the past few days.

  "Damn that short, stumpy Kong! Just you wait and see how I'll deal with him!" Dong Limao's anger flared up upon hearing Dao Lanxiang's account. If Kong Xiangfei were present at that moment, Dong Limao might have really punched his oily belly into submission.

  "Never mind, Brother Dong. The higher the official, the more ruthless they are. It's not worth arguing with such a scoundrel." Dao Lanxiang saw Dong Limao's anger and didn't want him to offend his superior because of her: "Oh, right. Early this morning, Hu San brought over a letter and asked me to give it to you after you woke up." Dao Lanxiang said, taking out a letter from her pocket.

  "Letter? My letter?" Dong Li Mao didn't believe he would have any letter, until he saw Diao Lan Xiang take out a letter from her pocket with four corners already worn and almost open. He then really believed he had a letter. Taking it over, he looked at it and saw that it was addressed to: Commander of the 9th Company, 1st Battalion, New 3rd Regiment, 200th Division, 5th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, Dong Jia Cheng.

  Dong Li Mao recognized this as Tai Nai Nai's handwriting, written in traditional characters with a brush pen. The address on the envelope was: Department of Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University.

  "Dong Gege, whose letter is this?" Dao Lanxiang asked in a low voice, sneaking a glance at Dong Limao.

  "It was my great-grandmother who wrote it for my great-grandfather... and gave it to me." Dong Li Mao said with a glance at Diao Lan Xiang.

  "Your great aunt? Should be 70 or 80 years old, right? Can still write such beautiful calligraphy!" Dao Lanxiang took Dong Limao's words to heart.

  Dong Li Mao opened the envelope and pulled out three sheets of letter paper from inside, which were filled with dense and intricate brush script:

  Jia Cheng Ge:

  A letter is as good as a meeting.

  It has been ten months and three days since we last parted at home. Today is the full moon day of our daughter Xiūjuān (author's note: Xiūjuān is Dong Li Mao's grandmother). I couldn't give birth to a son for the Dong family, and I feel deeply guilty about it. Please forgive me, Brother Jiacheng.

  I received a letter from Brother Jiacheng, coincidentally on the day I gave birth to Xiūjuān. So I didn't have time to reply to Brother Jiacheng until today. I finally mustered up the courage in the middle of the night to tell Brother Jiacheng that my child is a girl, and her name is Dōng Xiūjuān, which I chose myself. I hope Brother Jiacheng won't blame me for taking matters into my own hands.

  The child is lovely, with a nose, eyes and mouth that all resemble Jia Cheng. Looking at her always makes me think of Jia Cheng.

  ……

  After reading the letter, Dong Li Mao finally knew that it was written on December 8th, 1941. He still clearly remembered that his grandmother's birthday was November 8th, which meant that this letter was written by Great Grandma to Great Grandpa on the night of Grandma's full moon day. Now it was April 8th, 1942, and the letter had taken four months to reach Great Grandpa's hands.

  In the past, Dong Li Mao had also heard Great Grandma mention Great Grandpa, who was a traditional Chinese man with strong patriarchal values. He had always said in front of Great Grandma that he wanted to have a son, and on the night before leaving Chengdu, he told Great Grandma in bed that if she became pregnant, they would name the child Dong Li Mao, combining their two surnames, Li and Dong, to symbolize the flourishing of both families.

  This name was later used for his great-grandson because his father, who had married into the family, also had the surname Li, and his mother had the surname Dong. Great Grandma thus fulfilled Great Grandpa's wish by giving their grandson the name he had once chosen for a son, ensuring that the Dong family would have an heir.

  These things, Dong Li Mao had roughly heard from Tai Nai Nai, but the feelings between Tai Nai Nai and Tai Nai Ye were still unknown to him. He didn't dare ask Tai Nai Nai about it either. Judging from this letter that Tai Nai Nai wrote to Tai Nai Ye, it seemed like Tai Nai Nai was quite afraid of Tai Nai Ye.

  Dong Li Mao finished reading the letter and heard a voice outside the door: "Report!"