Courtyard Houses: Starting with Li Yunlong's Comrades-in-Arms

In June 1949, the weather in Jinan got hot early; by just over nine o'clock in the morning, the sun was already blazing overhead.

An American Jeep, kicking up a trail of yellow dust, pulled up in front of the Quancheng Field Hospital. The door opened, and a guard in his early twenties jumped out of the passenger seat and deftly opened the back door.

Liu Yuheng climbed out of the car, wearing a grass-green military uniform with two buttons undone and a belt around his waist. At twenty-five years old, he had a angular face with a sharp look in his eyes, honed by the battlefield, and a touch of youthful arrogance.

"Little Sun, which courtyard is he in?" Liu Yuheng patted the dust off his clothes.

The bodyguard, Xiao Sun, had already scouted the place. He pointed and said, "Commander Liu, go to the courtyard on the east side. Division Commander Li Yunlong lives in the innermost room."

Liu Yuheng strode towards the east courtyard, with Xiao Sun following closely behind. The courtyard was small, with single-story houses made of blue bricks and gray tiles surrounding a small patio. Several stone tables and benches were placed in the middle, and a clump of bamboo was planted in the corner, making it look quiet.

This place was a field hospital specifically for wounded soldiers of regimental rank and above to recuperate. The conditions were much better than ordinary wards, but they were still very basic; it was just a separate courtyard.

Before even entering the courtyard, Liu Yuheng started yelling at the top of his lungs, his voice loud enough to be heard throughout the entire yard: "Li Yunlong! Li Yunlong! Which nurse are you flirting with this time, you bastard?"

Before the words were even finished, a loud, furious curse rang out from inside the room: "Who the hell spread rumors about me! They're asking for trouble, aren't they?"

Amidst the cursing, the door creaked open, and a middle-aged man leaning on a cane, supported by a young nurse, limped out.

The young nurse beside him looked to be in her early twenties, wearing a white nurse's uniform. She was pretty with delicate features and a look of helplessness and acceptance on her face, clearly having heard plenty of Commander Li's unrestrained and vulgar remarks.

Seeing Li Yunlong's demeanor, Liu Yuheng grinned and teased him relentlessly: "You old rascal, you're having a good time in the hospital! Nurses are helping you, and you're being waited on hand and foot. You've gained quite a bit of weight!"

Upon seeing the man, Li Yunlong paused for a moment, then his face broke into a wide smile, though he cursed under his breath, "So it's you, kid! Damn it, don't talk nonsense! I'm a wounded soldier, don't you understand?"

As he spoke, he gestured with his chin towards the stone bench beside him, "Sit down, sit down quickly!"

Liu Yuheng didn't stand on ceremony, plopping down on the stone bench and casually taking off his military cap and placing it on the stone table. His bodyguard, Xiao Sun, stood ramrod straight behind him, eyes downcast.

Li Yunlong sat down on the stone bench opposite him, leaning his cane against the side. He then introduced the nurse next to him to Liu Yuheng, his tone becoming more serious: "This is my nurse, Xiao Tian, ​​Tian Yu. Don't listen to this bastard's nonsense. Comrade Xiao Tian is conscientious and responsible, a good comrade."

Li Yunlong then pointed at Liu Yuheng and said to Tian Yu, "Liu Yuheng, my old comrade-in-arms, deputy commander of the 10th Column."

The young nurse, Tian Yu, nodded slightly and said, "Hello, Commander Liu."

Before Liu Yuheng could speak, his bodyguard, Xiao Sun, spoke first, his tone filled with the pride unique to young people: "Reporting to Division Commander Li, our commander was just promoted to commander of the 10th Column last month."

Li Yunlong was taken aback, his gaze falling on Liu Yuheng as he looked him up and down.

"Damn it!" Li Yunlong slammed his hand on the stone table, then laughed and cursed, "You got promoted to commander last month?"

"You, Liu Yuheng, back when I was the commander of the New First Regiment, you were just a company-level staff officer next to the brigade commander. When I was the commander of the Independent Regiment, you were just a deputy battalion commander. Later, by the end of the War of Resistance, you were my equal. Then we were promoted to division commanders together. Now look what's happened, you're a corps commander and I'm still a division commander! Who can I complain to about this?"

Li Yunlong got more and more excited as he spoke, his face turning bright red.

Liu Yuheng laughed twice, pointed at Li Yunlong, and said bluntly, "You old bastard, you've made plenty of mistakes, big and small. You think you're something special just because you're a division commander? Look at your legs! Didn't I tell you back then that you were a commander, not a damn platoon leader? Making you a division commander was already a lenient move by the organization. You think you can be a column commander?"

"When you, Commander Li, were the regimental commander who received the most punishments, and when you were a division commander, you were the division commander who received the most punishments. If you were to become a column commander, wouldn't you lead the entire column astray?"

Li Yunlong pursed his lips, wanting to refute, but found there was really nothing to refute. He had indeed made his share of mistakes, disobeying orders and acting without authorization; any one of these would be enough to get him into serious trouble. If it weren't for his excellent fighting and the merits he had earned, he wouldn't even be able to hold onto his position as a regimental commander, let alone a division commander.

"Alright, alright, you're right, kid." Li Yunlong waved his hand and admitted it.

Seeing that he remained silent, Liu Yuheng continued, "Old Kong and Old Ding have both been promoted to deputy commanders of the column, and Old Zhao is now the political commissar of the column."

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong waved his hand dismissively, his face contorted with rage: "Alright, alright, stop talking! I thought you came to see me, but it turns out you just came to annoy me, didn't you? There's a commander here, a deputy commander there, and a political commissar next, and I'm the only one stuck in the same place? Go back and tell them that once my leg heals and I'm back on the battlefield, I'll win a great victory and show them that I, Old Li, am not someone to be trifled with!"

Liu Yuheng smiled, his teasing expression fading somewhat, and said, "I don't have time to deliberately annoy you. I'm on my way to the capital on a mission, passing through Jinan, and just stopped by to see you, this old wounded soldier."

"Going to the capital to receive orders?" Li Yunlong frowned, moved his cane closer to him, and his expression became serious. "What's going on? Weren't you doing well on the front lines? Why do you suddenly want to go to the capital?"

Liu Yuheng leaned back on the stone bench, looked up at the old locust tree, and the smile on his face slowly faded, replaced by an indescribable sense of melancholy.

He was silent for a few seconds before speaking: "I don't know what happened either. I was doing well on the front lines, the troops had advanced to the border of Guangdong and Guangxi, and we were about to break in, when suddenly I received orders to return to Beijing and hand over command of the troops to my deputy. What kind of situation is this?"

As he finished speaking, Liu Yuheng's voice carried a hint of resentment. He was only twenty-five years old, the age when he most wanted to make a name for himself on the battlefield.

"What a pity about my nearly 40,000-strong column! It was well-equipped with American weapons, and I even had two howitzer regiments. Damn it, I left them all to someone else!"

Upon hearing about the equipment, Li Yunlong's eyes lit up. He exclaimed, "Damn it, you've been accumulating a fortune! Forty thousand men, all equipped with American weapons, and two howitzer regiments? My division only has so many men, and our equipment is mostly Japanese stuff. You've got two howitzer regiments in just one column? You're rolling in money! Did someone find out you were over-exploiting us?"

Liu Yuheng waved his hand, his tone resolute: "It's the old brigade commander's job to deal with those who take more than their share. A single telegram would be enough to give me a thorough dressing down. There's no need to transfer me all the way back. Besides, all my assets are legitimately obtained and received, clean and honest. I'm not afraid of anyone investigating."

"Why is that?" Li Yunlong couldn't understand.

"I don't know." Liu Yuheng spread his hands, showing a certain nonchalance. "Whatever, I'll accept my fate. Whatever the organization tells me to do, I'll do; if they tell me to go back to Beijing, I'll go back. It's good that I can go back to Beijing and see my family. More than ten years have passed since I last went back to Beijing. I don't even know if they're still there. These past years, I've been fighting all over the country, and I haven't sent many letters home. I wonder if they still remember their son."

Li Yunlong remained silent for a moment, his playful and angry expressions vanishing, replaced by a rare seriousness.

He nodded and said, "We'll have to search carefully. After the war is over, I'll go back to the Dabie Mountains and see who's still alive. When I left the Dabie Mountains, only my mother was left at home. I don't know what happened to her."

Both men were silent for a while. They both came from poor backgrounds and had been fighting since they were teenagers, risking their lives for more than a decade. They had long forgotten about family and relatives. Now that the war was almost over, these things that had been suppressed in their hearts for more than a decade were slowly surfacing, leaving them with indescribable feelings.

Liu Yuheng was the first to break the silence, asking Li Yunlong, "How's your leg injury healing? When can you return to the unit?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong immediately perked up, thumping his chest loudly, and said casually, "I'm almost fully recovered! I can eat and sleep well!"

He patted his injured leg and hissed, clearly having touched a sore spot. "It's this leg; I still can't walk very well. That stubborn old man, the hospital director, insists I need another three months of rest. I told him I could be back on the battlefield in a month, but he said no, and told me to stay in bed. Can't you believe it?"

Liu Yuheng laughed upon hearing this and said, "Alright, then you can continue to take care of yourself, old man. Three months it is. You can use this opportunity to do some 'personal business' and try to find yourself a wife. Look at you, you're almost forty and still a bachelor, it's outrageous."

Upon hearing this, Tian Yu, who was standing next to him, blushed slightly, but quickly regained her composure, looked away, and pretended not to have heard anything.

Li Yunlong, however, remained completely unfazed, his skin as thick as a city wall. Instead, he grinned and said, "You're twenty-four, still single? Want me to introduce you to someone? There are plenty of nice girls at Xiao Tian's hospital, way more opportunities than you'd have on the battlefield. Want me to put in a good word for you?"

Liu Yuheng waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Alright, alright, when did you, Master Li, switch careers and become a matchmaker? Let me tell you, I don't have time for that. Finding a wife can wait until the revolution succeeds."

"When will we go?" Li Yunlong persisted. "By the time the revolution succeeds, all the good girls will have been taken, leaving only the ugly ones."

Liu Yuheng was too lazy to argue with him about this topic, so he turned around and waved to the guard, Xiao Sun: "Xiao Sun, bring the things here."

Xiao Sun responded and placed the bag he was carrying on the stone table, revealing its contents: a dozen cans of beef, more than twenty cans of luncheon meat, two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes, and four bottles of Fenjiu liquor. The dirt on the bottles hadn't been wiped off, indicating that they had been acquired not long ago.

Li Yunlong's eyes widened instantly, as if he'd seen his own mother. He ran his rough fingers over the items, clicking his tongue in amazement: "Wow! Fenjiu! This is good stuff! Where did you get this, kid?"

Liu Yuheng smiled and said, "I smuggled it from a Kuomintang general's warehouse. That guy ran fast; he didn't even have time to take anything. I got a good deal. You should drink sparingly; it'll be enough for you until you're discharged from the hospital."

Li Yunlong nodded repeatedly, his smile resembling that of a weasel that had stolen a chicken.

Seeing Li Yunlong's greedy look, Liu Yuheng smiled and shook his head. Then he patted the dirt off his clothes, stood up from the stone bench, put his military cap on his head, and said, "Alright, I should go too. I still have to travel. I need to get to the train station before dark."

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong panicked, grabbed his crutch and stood up, the crutch clattering on the ground a few times: "No, no, no! Finish your meal before you leave! Have a couple of drinks with me! Look at the Fenjiu you brought, won't you drink a cup yourself? What kind of etiquette is it to give someone wine and not drink it yourself?"

Liu Yuheng had already started walking out, waving his hand without turning back: "Goodbye! You, Commander Li, can drink slowly by yourself. I still have to travel soon. It's not safe on the road now. If I mess things up while drinking, you'll have to go to the capital to face my fate in my place!"

Li Yunlong wanted to persuade her to stay, so he took two steps forward with his crutch, but Tian Yu gently supported his arm.

"I'm leaving!" Liu Yuheng's voice echoed in the courtyard, crisp and decisive.

"Be careful on the road! Write me a letter when you get to the capital!" Li Yunlong shouted.

"Okay! See you again!"

Liu Yuheng strode out of the courtyard, with Xiao Sun jogging to keep up. The jeep engine soon roared up, its rumble particularly loud in the quiet field hospital.

Li Yunlong stood at the courtyard gate, leaning on his cane, watching the jeep kick up a cloud of dust and gradually disappear at the end of the road. Tian Yu stood beside him and said softly, "Old Li, let's go inside, the sun is too strong."

Li Yunlong didn't move, his eyes still fixed on the direction the jeep had disappeared in, muttering to himself, "That kid, he became a corps commander at the age of twenty-five, much more impressive than I was back then."

A gust of wind blew by, rustling the bamboo grove in the yard. Li Yunlong stood there for a while, then finally turned around and slowly walked back, leaning on his cane.