War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 2020 Crying at Seven Passes

Inside the dilapidated temple, beams pulled from the ruins were chopped up and ignited with dry grass, eventually forming a stable bonfire that scorched the mixture of water and rice in the lunchbox.

Around the campfire, Chun Nian, along with four children—three boys and one girl—looked longingly at the lunchboxes, smelling the steam rising from them.

"I was in such a hurry earlier that I didn't even ask what your names were," Chun Nian, her eyes red and swollen, started a conversation.

My name is He Mancang.

A young man said, "When I was born, it was a time of scarcity, and my family was starving, so we were given this name."

"My surname is Pan, and my nickname is Mai Miao'er," said the girl who looked the youngest.

My name is Li Denian.

The slightly chubby boy, his eyes never leaving the rice porridge container, said.

My name is Wang Cheng.

The limping young man also began to introduce himself, "I'm also a refugee. I was rescued by Fourth Master a month ago."

"What happened to your foot?" Mai Miao'er asked first.

"How come you're so accurate with that gun?" He Mancang pressed on.

"The Japanese stabbed me in the leg, and it's not fully healed yet."

As Wang Cheng spoke, he pulled up his trouser leg to show the scabbed-over penetrating wound on his calf. He was truly lucky to have survived.

"This gun... I learned it from my dad."

Wang Cheng continued to explain, "My dad was a hunter who guarded the grain and hunted wild boars for the landlord. I've been helping my dad carry guns since I was little."

"Hunters, don't they have to eat meat all the time?" He Mancang said, swallowing hard.

"Eat meat? We can't even get pig hair to eat."

Li Denian snorted, "My father was also a hunter. He and his father hunted for a landlord. They also had to help the landlord herd cattle and horses and guard the house. Even so, they rarely saw any meat all year round."

"This disaster has resulted in a complete crop failure, and even the wild boars are gone."

Wang Cheng said, "My dad and his dad discussed it and decided to go fight the Japanese devils and traitors. They were both fighting beasts, so there wasn't much difference."

"And then?" Mai Miao'er pressed.

"Our two families only have two guns in total."

Li Denian said, "After killing a few traitors and two Japanese soldiers, we managed to steal some things, but we were still found."

"They're all dead."

Wang Cheng wiped his eyes. "Besides the two of us hiding in the haystack, both families are dead."

“My parents died too,” He Mancang said. “They starved to death.”

“My parents sold me to another family and exchanged me for their daughter.”

Crouching by the campfire, Mai Miao hugged her legs, rested her chin on her knees, stared blankly at the flames, and said, "They say if you feed them in turns, they'll all survive."

I have no idea they were planning to take turns eating us.

I have two younger brothers. The younger one is almost starving to death, and the older one has a huge belly. They're both so hungry they look like ghosts.

"How did you survive...?"

"I ran away while they were gathering firewood."

Mai Miao hugged herself tightly. "I didn't dare to go back to find my parents, so I just ran around aimlessly. Later, when I was almost starving to death, I met Fourth Master."

"My sister was also taken by my parents..."

My surname is Wu.

Before the pale-faced Li Denian could finish speaking, Chun Nian hurriedly changed the subject, "The Wu in martial arts, my name is Wu Chun Nian. I was a coachman hired by Fourth Master before, and we are from the same clan."

"What does Fourth Master do?"

Wang Cheng seemed to realize something and quickly continued the topic—even though he knew the answer to the question clearly.

"He used to be a traveling merchant selling salt, cloth, and medicinal herbs."

Wu Chunian explained, "This time we brought over a thousand catties of millet for disaster relief. When we passed through Tongguan, we had a full 25 strong laborers, 22 wheelbarrows, and two animal carts. But now... sigh!"

For a moment, the four children around the campfire fell silent, their innocent faces filled with guilt, as if it were all their fault.

"I'll go check what else is in the car."

Wu Chunian seemed to realize that he shouldn't have said these things at this time, and quickly got up and walked towards the cart not far away.

But soon, he rushed back anxiously, shouting, "Quick! Run! The Japanese are catching up again!"

Upon hearing this, the four children by the campfire panicked, and Li Denian and Wang Cheng instinctively grabbed the guns at hand.

"Uncle Chunian, take them on horseback and ride!" Wang Cheng shouted. "Can you ride a horse?"

"meeting!"

Chun Nian subconsciously replied, "But you two."

"We can do it too!"

As Chun Nian and Li Denian were talking, they each pulled out a knife and cut the ropes that harnessed the cart.

"Hurry! Get on the horse!"

Wang Cheng urged anxiously, "You guys run ahead! We'll keep up!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Chunian immediately grabbed one child in each arm and ran to one of the horses, lifting the two incredibly thin children onto it.

At the same time, Wang Cheng had already set up a captured Type 38 rifle, aimed at the approaching Japanese cavalry, and pulled the trigger!

"boom!"

Amidst the crisp sound of gunfire, the Japanese soldier at the front fell straight off his horse, and the Japanese soldiers behind him immediately reined in their horses and also tumbled down.

In just a short while, Wu Chunian had already mounted his horse.

"Run! Run!"

As Li Denian spoke, he handed Wu Chunian a horse saddlebag filled with a lot of spoils.

"You two"

"Run!"

Li De slapped the horse's rump hard, and the horse instinctively started running.

"boom!"

Wang Cheng fired his second shot at this moment.

"Stop fighting, get on your horses!" Li Denian urged. "Hurry up!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Cheng immediately limped over and, with Li Denian's help, climbed onto the horse's back.

"Give me the gun! Get up here now!"

Wang Cheng urged anxiously, but he couldn't hear Wei Ran shouting for them to mount their horses on the other side of the broken Taoist temple.

"Bang!" Just then, the Japanese counterattack began.

With the sound of the gunshot, a cloud of blood mist burst from Li Denian's side.

"It needs to be ground!"

Wang Cheng's face showed panic, and he subconsciously reached out his hand to the other person.

"Go!" Li Denian nudged the horse's ribs with the muzzle of his gun, then fell to the ground, struggling to bring the rifle in front of him, aiming at the Japanese soldiers in the distance and pulling the trigger.

"boom!"

Amidst the monotonous yet lonely cries of resistance, Wei Ran gave up all his efforts and silently took out his camera, pressing the shutter button again and again—this was the only thing he could do.

Finally, more and more bullets rained down on Li Denian, on the cart, and eventually struck him all over his body again and again.

Finally, he turned back with difficulty to look in the direction where Wang Cheng had disappeared, then lay down on the spot, but couldn't bear to close his eyes.

Suddenly, everything around her transformed back into Clara's farm, but this time, a cart appeared beside the coffee table.

"Not a loss"

Li Denian gave Wei Ran a bright smile. In his hand, he held a steaming lunchbox filled with white rice porridge.

"Wang Cheng survived, and they survived too, so it's not a loss."

As Li Denian spoke, he brought the boxed lunch to his mouth and slurped up a mouthful of piping hot rice porridge. "I have a big belly disease, and I'm definitely not going to make it."

After saying that, he took another gulp of rice porridge, then gagged, and said in a tearful voice, "I...I've eaten meat, human flesh, it was what my father traded for..."

It's not your fault.

Wei Ran also sat on the cart, holding the boy, who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, in his arms, gently patting his back. He vomited out the rice porridge, but couldn't vomit out the meat he wanted to vomit.

In the end, all he could do was repeat in vain, "It's not your fault, it's not your fault."

"Were the Japanese finally driven away?" Li Denian asked. "Are we still going hungry?"

"They've driven them away," Wei Ran said, gently patting the other person's shoulder. "You'll never have to go hungry again."

"Ugh"

Li Denian sighed enviously, "Those must have been such wonderful days."

"yes."

Wei Ran sighed inwardly. He could describe to Fourth Master and the others everything after the war ended, but he simply couldn't bear to tell Li Denian these things.

All those things he was destined to never have were far too cruel for this child, whose face was full of envy and longing.

"What...what is your wish?" Wei Ran finally asked.

"desire?"

"Yes, a wish is something you want to do," Wei Ran explained proactively, as if afraid the other person wouldn't understand.

I miss school.

Li Denian said, "As long as I can learn to write my own name, I'll be fine."

"that's it?"

"Um"

Li Denian nodded. "The young master of the landlord Zhang family knows a lot of characters. I begged him to teach me, but he refused, saying that it's useless for us peasants to know how to read. But I just want to learn."

"Anything else?" Wei Ran asked after a moment of silence.

Upon hearing this, Li Denian shook his head.

"Let me teach you."

"Can you teach me?"

"Yes, definitely."

Wei Ran nodded. "Tell me, how did you get your name?"

“The year I was born, my father carved a millstone.” Li Denian scratched his head. “Later, it was snatched away by Zhang Laocai’s brother-in-law.”

"I'll teach you," Wei Ran said, a fountain pen already appearing in his hand.

"This pen is really beautiful!" Li Denian exclaimed.

"Once you've learned it, I'll give it to you."

"Really?" Li Denian's eyes lit up.

"really"

Wei Ran nodded and wrote the other person's name, "Li Denian," on his palm. Then he taught the other person how to hold the pen and finally wrote his own name on his own palm, stroke by stroke, over and over again.

Until his palms and arms were covered with writing.

"Once you've mastered it, this pen is yours."

Before Wei Ran could finish speaking, he was once again blinded by a white light that appeared and disappeared at lightning speed, and then everything around him changed again.

This time, he found himself riding on the back of a biting black horse.

Beside him, Wang Cheng rode alone on horseback, his eyes red and swollen as he hurried on his way.

But looking around, there was no road, no one starving to death, and even the sky was unusually dark.

He got lost.
Wei Ran made a judgment almost instantly, and then summoned a feather-shaped timeline to try to turn back time.

As he hurriedly retreated, he clearly saw that Wang Cheng was not going in the same direction as Wu Chunian and the other two, but instead was leading the Japanese soldiers behind him off the road.

During the chase, he successfully shook off his pursuers thanks to his agility and speed, but he also lost his way due to panic.

Returning to the spot where he had just appeared, Wang Cheng rode his horse over a loess slope and unexpectedly discovered a series of cave dwellings ahead.

After a moment's reaction, Wang Cheng quickly urged his horse to gallop over.

But as they got closer, both he and Wei Ran could smell the strong stench of corpses.

Finally, the two of them, each riding their own horses, arrived at the entrance of the row of cave dwellings simultaneously from two different dimensions of time and space that could not overlap.

These cave dwellings showed obvious signs of burning, and in one of them, several charred corpses were piled up.

In those famine-stricken times when human life was cheap, even a teenager like Wang Cheng was already used to seeing corpses.

No, perhaps it should be called numbness.

After some searching, he walked to the cave dwelling furthest from the corpse, led the crucial horse inside, and then closed the door.

After some searching, Wang Cheng found a Japanese box flashlight in his saddlebag, opened it, and placed it on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). Then, he hugged his gun and huddled in the corner of the wall beside the kang, sobbing helplessly.

But soon, Wang Cheng wiped his face haphazardly with his dirty sleeve, then stood up, supporting himself on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and took all the things off the horse and placed them on the kang.

In the rush of their escape, the horse carried very little: two water bottles used as anchors, a Japanese backpack, a flashlight, and the suona horn that had originally been clipped to Fourth Master's waist.

It was only at this moment that Wei Ran had the mind to examine the suona closely. He then discovered that a round piece of leather, about the size of a thick mineral water bottle cap, was tied to the mouthpiece of the suona with a rope.

On this small piece of leather, the character "武" (wu, meaning martial arts) is stamped on one side, while the character "肆" (si, meaning unruly) is stamped on the other side.

Wang Cheng also noticed the piece of leather. He even untied the leather's binding rope and pulled out a small round piece from inside.

This small round piece features a map of China and the words "Sacrifice to Save the Nation".

After glancing at it, Wang Cheng stuffed the small piece of iron back in and then reattached it to the suona.

He then walked to the entrance of the cave dwelling, sat on the stone steps, picked up the suona, puffed out his cheeks, and played a loud tune.

To be fair, Wang Cheng's playing of this suona piece wasn't very good.

But Wei Ran, who also grew up in the north, recognized it instantly: it was the "Seven Cries" that was often heard at funerals in northern villages.

It should be a lament for the seven passes.
Wei Ran sighed. At this moment, this sorrowful land of China deserves such a melody.
Amidst the hoarse, intermittent melody, Wang Cheng finally stopped and hugged the suona he had only been learning for less than a month, as if embracing the only sliver of support he had.

(End of this chapter)