!”

In the farmyard shrouded in the scorching summer heat, an old but in-tune voice, and a young but seriously out-of-tune voice sang the song that had already completed the battle mission over and over with great momentum.

At the entrance of the small courtyard, the owner of the canteen, Chen Qi's son, and daughter-in-law looked at each other with blank faces. For a moment, they didn't know whether to send the prepared meals in.

"Can Uncle Chen still sing?" the canteen owner asked in disbelief.

"Our father's singing is pretty good, not off-key at all." Chen Qi's daughter-in-law said in admiration, "How many years have I been married? But I have never heard this old man sing."

"Where did that young man come from?" Chen Qi's son, Chen Kaixuan, said doubtfully, "I thought he would be beaten to death by my father with a cane."

"Don't worry about where he comes from."

The canteen owner said nonchalantly, "This is the first time in my life that I heard my uncle sing."

Chen Qi's daughter-in-law shook her head in confusion, "Don't talk about singing. When Kaixuan and I got married, I never saw this old man smiling so happily."

"Don't talk about my dad yet."

Chen Qi's son couldn't help but grin, "What kind of nonsense did that kid sing? He didn't even adjust the punctuation."

"What do you care about what he sings?" Chen Qi's daughter-in-law rolled her eyes, "Let's go back first! Let's wait until the two of them have finished singing!"

"Kaixuan, I think you need to buy my uncle a karaoke set."

The owner of the canteen came up with a bad idea, "I guess the kind used by those old ladies doing square dancing would be suitable. This old man likes to sing..."

"If you want to buy something, you can buy it."

Chen Qi's son walked back with the food in hand, "I'm afraid he'll beat me with a cane. How many times have you come up with bad ideas and not let me get beaten? It doesn't matter whether you remember to eat or not. I still don't want to buy a cane."

Spend money."

"Let's go quickly. If you're too late, the cane will fly over your head."

Chen Qi's daughter-in-law urged, not bothering to take care of the two old brothers who were sleeping like dragons and phoenixes, and went back to their own yard.

Just like in the tunnel shrouded by US artillery more than half a century ago, Wei Ran, who was still young, and Chen Qi, who was no longer young, sang a song back and forth countless times until Wei Ran

His voice became hoarse, and it wasn't until Chen Qi's voice became hoarse that the two of them stopped one after another, then looked at each other, and both of them burst into hearty laughter.

"Young man, what's your last name?" Chen Qi asked with a smile on his face.

"Wei, the one who protects the home and the country."

"Your surname is Wei?"

Chen Qi thought about it for a while, and finally shook his head helplessly, "I thought your surname was Zhao and that you were the descendant of that boy Zhao Shengli. Your broken voice is exactly the same as his."

Wei Ran grinned, thinking that the other party was praising him. He picked up a watermelon and took a bite. While chewing, he asked vaguely, "Old man, how long has it been since you and Zhao Shengli saw each other?"

Chen Qi shook his head, "I haven't seen him since we came back from the war."

"I'm going to find him. Do you need me to bring him anything?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"You...just ask him, do you still need me to find you a wife?" After Chen Qi finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay! I'll definitely bring you the exact words!" Wei Ran promised, patting his chest.

"If you can find him..."

Chen Qi fell silent mid-sentence, stood up slowly, took out a plastic notebook from the cabinet, took out a Parker pen that looked very old, and wrote a series of phone numbers on it,

Then he tore it off and handed it to Wei Ran.

"Young man, if you can find him, call my son Kaixuan and tell him the address of Shengli and ask him to tell me."

After Chen Qi waited for Wei Ran to take the piece of paper with his mobile phone number written on it, he couldn't help but sigh. "My son Kaixuan was born in 1960. His name was given by Shengli in 1952.

, he said that I will definitely have a son, and if I have a son, it must be called Kaixuan. Suddenly, now this is the only name I have left."

"Old man, just wait for my call!"

Wei Ran glanced at the three people walking towards him with food in their hands outside the window, and said slightly faster, "I will definitely find Zhao Shengli for you!"

"OK!"

Chen Qi nodded noncommittally, "Let's go and eat. There isn't much good stuff in our rural areas. You are a kid who has come to the city at the first sight, so don't dislike it."

"Don't blame me for eating too much." Wei Ran picked up another watermelon as he spoke, and then followed Chen Qi out of the room.

Accompanied by Chen Qi, his son and daughter-in-law, and the owner of the canteen, everyone had a lively meal around a low table under the leafy persimmon tree.

At the dinner table, no matter how the three middle-aged men asked, neither Wei Ran nor Chen Qi mentioned anything related to that war.

After eating three large bowls of chewy braised noodles and drinking a large bottle of Coke as a substitute for alcohol, Wei Ran insisted on taking out the good cigarettes, wine and tea that Chen Guangling had bought in advance from the car and stuffed them in.

In the arms of Chen Qi's son.

After bidding farewell to the family, Wei Ran started the borrowed car, stepped on the accelerator and drove in the direction he came from.

In the wide rearview mirror, the old man standing on the roadside dropped the crutch in his hand, straightened his back that had been bent by years, and raised his right hand tremblingly to the height of his eyebrows.

After honking the horn gently, Wei Ran slowly stepped on the accelerator, trying to avoid the military salute that he was not qualified to bear.

Gradually, the old man who had been waiting for his comrades to return disappeared in the rearview mirror. Gradually, the ordinary small village also disappeared in the rearview mirror.

In the end, there was only a flat, straight country road with street trees growing on both sides.

"Next stop, it's time to go see Zhao Shengli."

Wei Ran murmured to himself, secretly guessing what kind of life the other party was leading. Was he just like the depressed Chen Qi, sitting at the entrance of the alley all day long, silently waiting for those things that would never come back to him?

Comrades who are not coming.

"He won't still say that my consciousness is low, right?"

Wei Ran couldn't help but laugh, and became more and more eager to ask Zhao Shengli in person for Chen Qi if he wanted to find a wife for him.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Chapter completed!