In 1949, Yi Xiang, a Kuomintang officer, got 3 places to go to Baodao, but he wanted to take 4 people, his adjutant, his wife and two sons, and after thinking twice, he left his youngest son, who was only 1 year old, to his father in his hometown.
The adjutant had a fateful friendship with him on the battlefield and must be taken away. After his wife Chen Shuzhen knew Yi Xiang's decision, she was very sad, how could he be so ruthless when the child was so young, so she decided to stay and guard her two sons.
Due to the urgency of time, Yi Xiang sent his wife and children back to his hometown of Huangni Village in Hunan Province to live with his father and entrusted them to his 25-year-old orderly.
Who knows, his decision made him feel guilty for the rest of his life.
Looking at her husband's distant back, Chen Shuzhen hugged her two sons and cried all night. There are old people, there are young people, they are from beautiful families, they have never done farm work, how can a family live!
Although there are orderlies, he is a young man after all, and he may run away one day.
Chen Shuzhen was full of sadness, however, what she didn't expect was that she would be associated with this orderly for the rest of her life.
This orderly soldier, although he is silent, but he does all the rough work.
Chen Shuzhen was grateful, according to Yi Xiang, the orderly was called Tuo Changfa, born in a poor family in Pengshui, Sichuan, when he was 14 years old when he was mowing the grass, the Kuomintang caught a strong man, he was taken away in a daze and came to Yi Xiang's side.
Yi Xiang saw that he was loyal and honest, took good care of him, never beat and scolded him, they fought bravely on the battlefield together, fought against the Japanese invaders, and was a trustworthy person.
Chen Shuzhen's heart was steady, she was looking forward to her husband's news every night, but there was no news.
Because of the lonely men and widows, some people in the village gossip, and the house they live in is only 7 square meters, which is crowded.
Chen Shuzhen ran to see, it turned out to be a damp and dark dilapidated house, with no windows and no furniture.
Soon the son reached school age, but he didn't have a pair of shoes, and without saying a word, he took off his only pair of liberation shoes from his feet and modified them with straw rope for the child to wear.
He went barefoot in the field and quickly developed a thick cocoon, which later turned into a pair of cocoon shoes.
Chen Shuzhen saw it in her eyes and felt pain in her heart.
Later, after the land reform, Chen Shuzhen's mother and son were found to have bad composition, did not get the field, and encountered a three-year famine, Tuo Changfa finally found a bite to eat, but he took it to their mother and son and Yi Xiang's father, and he gnawed the bark and ate the grass roots.
In the special era, because of Yi Xiang's relationship, Tuo Changfa was also implicated and tortured.
Later, the fields were finally allocated, but there were no cattle to cultivate the land. Tuo Changfa worked for others outside, and he could borrow cattle for one day to help others work for three days.
In a blink of an eye, 30 years have passed, In 1979, Yi Xiang finally sent a letter, Chen Shuzhen cried as soon as she saw the content of the letter, it turned out that her husband felt hopeless to come back, and reorganized the family on the other side of the strait, but he was still obsessed with watching, and Tuo Changfa was stupid and guarded.
At this time, Yi Xiang's father has died of illness, his two sons have become married, Tuo Changfa could have walked away, but he can't rest assured that Chen Shuzhen, so many years, he has already regarded Yi Xiang's two sons as his own sons, and Yi Xiang's two sons have always called him "full" (local language, father's meaning).
In 1987, the veteran was finally able to return to his hometown, but Yi Xiang was unable to come back due to physical reasons, and died of illness on Treasure Island in 1988.
In 2009, Chen Shuzhen was critically ill, and before his death, she told her son: to take care of Uncle Tuo and provide for him to die. In his later years, Tuo Changfa made a lot of brooms, and he said that he was afraid that after his death, the chief's children would not have brooms.
In 2015, when volunteers came to Tuo Changfa and asked him what he wanted, the old man suddenly broke down and cried, saying, "I want to go home." ”
He has been away from his hometown for 24,000 days, and the mission is complete, and he can do what he wants.
From Hunan to his hometown, more than 600 kilometers of homecoming, but he has walked a long life, at this time his parents and two elder brothers are gone! I am reminded of the poem: "The young man who left home and the eldest returned!
A reporter once asked: "Why didn't you go with the company commander when he went to Taiwan?" What are you doing? ”
He said, "Oh, I protect my family." ”
Chen Shuzhen has guarded her husband for a lifetime, and Tuo Changfa has guarded her for a lifetime, and they have not lost any sense of proportion with each other!
On April 26, 2018, Yi Xiang's two sons in the mainland went to Baodao and recognized their father's children in Baodao.
Yes, the strait should not cut off the family ties between the two sides of the strait!