Friday, August 11, 2023.

At Hangzhou Airport, a group of more than 30 people were meeting up for the flight, led by a 93-year-old elderly man, who was none other than Qu Guangqiang.

Qu Guangqiang never dreamed that he would be able to see his elder brother again in his lifetime.

At that time, my eldest brother Qu Guanghua joined the army with a friend from the same village. At that time, the country was in crisis and it was the period of nationwide united resistance against Japan. Needless to say, how dangerous it was to join the army, and his parents naturally disagreed.

But the eldest brother finally persuaded his parents to let him join the army. However, he never came back and did not write a single letter to his family for three years. The letters he sent from home also fell into the sea.

Moreover, the family of the little friend who joined the army with the eldest brother has received the news of his sacrifice.

At that time, everyone in the family understood that the eldest brother had most likely died.

Thinking of the scene back then, Qu Guangqiang sighed and said to his great-nephew and great-grandson, "Chunming, we all thought your great-grandfather had died. During that time, your great-grandfather and great-grandmother sighed all day long and regretted agreeing to let your great-grandfather join the army.

Now that I think about it, it’s a good thing they agreed, otherwise if your great-grandfather had been left in his hometown, he would most likely have been killed by those damned bandits.”

Qu Chunming couldn't help but ask, "Great uncle, how did you escape the massacre of the village by the bandits?"

Speaking of this, Qu Guangqiang said sadly: "It was not my destiny. At that time, I followed an old hunter from the village into the mountains to hunt. We stayed there for one night. When we came out of the mountains, we found that the whole village had been slaughtered. I still can't forget that scene."

Qu Chunming could not help but curse: "Damn those bandits! If it weren't for their brutal massacre, our two families could have been reunited more than thirty years ago."

Qu Shiqing continued, "Those bandits didn't have a good ending either. I heard they were wiped out not long after."

Qu Guangqiang shook his head and said, "It's my fault, actually. At that time, I thought my eldest brother had died a long time ago, and the bandits massacred my parents, my second brother and my third sister. I thought I was the only one left alive in the family, so I went out to make a living without any worries, and finally settled down in Hengyang County, missing the chance to recognize my eldest brother.

If it weren't for Master Jiang's help this time, I would never know until I died that my elder brother didn't sacrifice himself. I can still meet my brothers at this age. I really have no regrets in my death."

Jiang Feng smiled and said, "This is because you two brothers have not yet reached the end of our relationship, Mr. Qu. I just helped a little."

They are really not happy with their son's current girlfriend. If their son really marries her, their old age will be worrying!

At this moment, a large group of passengers walked out of the airport. Qu Guangqiang and others immediately stopped talking, looked at the crowd intently, and began to search for the target.

After most of the other passengers had gotten out, hundreds of people gathered together and walked out in a mighty procession, led by an old man with white beard and beard.

When he saw the old man, Qu Guangqiang's eyes suddenly lit up and he looked at him straight.

The white-haired old man who was helped out saw the old man waiting at the exit at the first time. His expression instantly became excited and he walked faster involuntarily.

When the white-haired old man approached, Qu Guangqiang shouted excitedly, "Brother!"

The white-haired old man was none other than Qu Guanghua. Upon hearing Qu Guangqiang's shout, he grabbed the younger brother's hand and shouted excitedly, "A Qiang."

Qu Guangqiang's eyes were filled with tears, and his voice was a little choked up as he said, "It's been eighty-one years, a full eighty-one years. I never dreamed that I would be able to see you again in this lifetime. Although your appearance is no longer the same as I remember, I still remember the mole at the corner of your eye."

Qu Guanghua also had tears in his eyes. He felt the same way about seeing his relatives again after 81 years. He probably couldn't find a third person in the world who could share the same feeling with him except the two brothers.

"Ah Qiang, when I joined the army, you were still a young boy. Now that we meet again, you have a head full of white hair. It's a pity that Ah Wu and Ah Mei were unlucky and couldn't live to see this day."

Hearing his eldest brother mention his second brother and third sister, Qu Guangqiang's mind flashed with their tragic scenes, and he couldn't help but change the subject: "Brother, let me introduce you to this, this is Master Jiang. It is all thanks to Master Jiang that we brothers can meet again in this life. We must thank Master Jiang very much."

Qu Guanghua put his younger brother's hand in his, held Jiang Feng's hand and said, "Master Jiang, I am grateful for your kindness. If there is anything that my Qu family can help with in the future, please just ask. We, the entire Qu family, will definitely do our best to help."

Jiang Feng smiled and said, "Mr. Qu, you are a hero of the War of Resistance. As a junior, I am honored to be able to help you in finding your relatives. Please don't mention the words of thanks."

Hearing this, Qu Guanghua felt excited again. He joined the army with great enthusiasm, wanting to fight in the battlefield and serve the motherland. Now that he could receive affirmation from future generations, he felt that the efforts of their generation had meaning.

Qu Guanghua didn't say anything more, but just shook Jiang Feng's hand vigorously.

Next, the two brothers began to introduce their children to each other. As for the grandchildren, they had to stand aside for the time being. After all, there were more than a hundred people from the two families together, which was really too many.

After both parties greeted each other one by one, Qu Chunming suggested: "Grandpa, great uncle, this is not the place to talk. I have already booked a restaurant in advance. Why don't we go to the restaurant now and then have a chat while eating?"

Qu Guanghua nodded and said, "Okay, this is really not the place to talk, let's go to the restaurant and talk."

Qu Guangqiang also nodded and agreed.

The two old men nodded, and naturally the others had no objection, so they got in the car and headed for the restaurant that Qu Chunming had booked.

Among them, Qu Shiqing personally served as the driver for the two old men and Jiang Feng. Others with higher seniority also got in the car, while those with lower seniority could only take the bus.

After all, there were more than a hundred people. Except for Qu Shiqing, the son who was more promising, the other children and grandchildren of Qu Guangqiang were from well-off families. Naturally, they did not have so many cars to welcome the relatives from Taiwan Province.

Of course, it is not impossible to borrow a car if you really need one, and renting a car is not difficult either, but there is no need for that. It would be much easier to just charter a few buses.

…

On the way from the airport to the hotel, the two brothers Qu Guanghua and Qu Guangqiang talked about the past.

Qu Guangqiang said, "When you left, there was no news at all. You never wrote a letter home, and the letters we sent out fell into the sea. In addition, the news that Brother Xizi, who joined the army with you, died came back, and then my parents judged that you were in great danger."

Qu Guanghua sighed: "The situation was too severe back then. My unit moved around a lot and I had no chance to write home. It was not until four years later that I found an opportunity and sent several letters home, but unfortunately I never received a reply.

Later, I received an order from my superiors to go to Taiwan Province. Who would have thought that I would never be able to come back after I left? It was not until the late 1980s that I found another opportunity to return to the mainland to look for my relatives.

I returned to my hometown with great excitement, but the news I got chilled my heart. Our village was massacred by bandits three years after I joined the army, and all the villagers were killed.

At that moment, I felt really desperate.

However, I still did not give up and kept looking for news about you. Over the past thirty years, I have traveled back and forth between the two places many times and visited countless places, but unfortunately, I still could not find any news about you. "

Qu Guangqiang wiped the tears from his eyes and told the story of how he escaped that year, then he said with emotion: "It's really fate, because of my parents' judgment at the time, and because there was no news from you, big brother, I thought you had died on the battlefield a long time ago.

At that time, the old hunter and I were the only ones left in the village. After burying my parents and my second brother and third sister, we left the village in a hurry without even having time to bury the bodies of the villagers because we were afraid that the bandits would return.

It was more than ten years since they left. Due to inconvenient transportation in that era and the fact that they were extremely poor, they never had the opportunity to return to their hometown to pay homage to their parents.

It was not until the early 1960s that I found an opportunity to return to my hometown. Then more than 30 years later, I found an opportunity to return to my hometown to pay homage to my parents and siblings.

It was not until the beginning of the new century that I started going back to pay respects to my parents and siblings more often. In recent years, as I have grown older, my children do not want me to travel long distances, so they go to pay respects to them instead.”

Qu Guanghua understood what he said. It was fate that played tricks on them. The two brothers should have had the chance to meet a long time ago, but unfortunately they missed each other. "Rest here today. Take me back to my hometown to worship my parents tomorrow."

Qu Guangqiang nodded and said, "Well, I haven't been back for four or five years."

…

An hour later.

In the banquet hall of a certain hotel, more than 130 people from the Qu family sat at 14 tables, with the two families sitting interspersed to ensure that there were people from both families at each table.

In addition to the old men of the two families, there were also Master Jiang Feng and the younger Qu Chunming, a great contributor to the Qu family, at the first table. The rest were the second generation of the two families.

Of course, there were more than ten second generations from the two families together, and this table definitely couldn't accommodate them all. So only a few second generations with relatively high status sat there, such as Qu Shiqing, the county leader, and Qu Guanghua's sons who were in charge of the family business.

At this time, everyone was eating and drinking and chatting, and gradually they became clear about the situations of the two families.

This meal took more than three hours to finish.

When the party was about to end, Jiang Feng smiled and said goodbye: "Everyone, I lived up to your expectations and finally helped you find your long-lost relatives. Tomorrow you can go back to your hometown to worship your parents. I will not interfere. We will meet again if we are destined."

Qu Guanghua reached out and held Jiang Feng's hand, and said with gratitude: "Master Jiang, my greatest wish in this life is to see my relatives again. Now you have helped me fulfill my wish for many years. I won't say much about gratitude. After I pay homage to my parents, I will definitely come to thank you."

Jiang Feng declined again and again, "Mr. Qu, I've said before that you are a hero of the War of Resistance. Without your generation's sacrifices without fear of life and death, there would be no generation like us today. It is my honor to be able to do something insignificant for you. Please don't mention the word reward anymore."

Qu Guanghua was so moved that he could not speak as he held Jiang Feng's hand. After a while, he said, "Okay, I will listen to Master Jiang and not mention the word reward. I will come to visit you after I pay my respects to my parents. I wonder if you will welcome me, Master Jiang?"

Jiang Feng then smiled and said, "Of course you are welcome."

Next, other members of the Qu family also expressed their gratitude.

Especially Qu Chunming, he has become a meritorious contributor to the Qu family and is grateful to Master Jiang from the bottom of his heart.

After saying hello, Qu Shiqing found the right opportunity to speak: "Master Jiang, where are you going now? I'll take you there."

Jiang Feng waved his hand and said, "No need to trouble the leader. I'm going to fly back to Guangxi Province overnight. I can just take a taxi."

Qu Shiqing volunteered, "No trouble. I can't drive after drinking, but my wife can drive. I can chat with you, Master Jiang, on the way."

While speaking, Qu Shiqing gave his wife Wu Ping a look.

Wu Ping immediately understood what he meant and said, "Yes, Master Jiang, let me drive you to the airport!"

Jiang Feng's ability to read people's expressions was not to be underestimated. He immediately realized that the couple must have something to say to him, so he went with the flow and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you two."

“No trouble!”

The other juniors originally wanted to ask them to send it off, but they had no chance to get a say as it had already been decided. The juniors also had insight and did not volunteer.

So, Jiang Feng said hello one last time and walked to the parking lot downstairs with Qu Shiqing and Wu Ping.

…

After the car left the hotel, Jiang Feng took the initiative to ask: "Leader, do you have something to say to me?"

"Nothing can be hidden from your eyes, Master Jiang."

At this point, Qu Shiqing sighed and said: "It is a misfortune for my family. My son is 29 years old this year. He had a girlfriend two years ago, but this girlfriend is not good enough in terms of her own conditions or family conditions.

Originally, he married a wife for himself, not for his parents, and we as parents have no right to interfere with his freedom of marriage, but his girlfriend is really too ignorant. My wife and I have been very anxious in the past two years. We really don’t want her to become our daughter-in-law. ”