Dawn
On October 1, 1949, countless Chinese people flocked to Tiananmen Square to witness the once-in-a-lifetime grand founding ceremony.
Ji Yuxing, Zou Yechun, Huo Shangzhi, and others, as pioneers in Party building, stood on the Tiananmen Rostrum with the President and Premier to watch the military parade.
Numerous foreign allies sent congratulatory gifts, setting aside all the distractions, and upon receiving the gifts, they would smile and say "Congratulations" with a solemn expression.
At around 3 p.m., the Chairman solemnly proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China from the Tiananmen Rostrum. As the national anthem played, the five-star red flag was officially raised in Tiananmen Square.
Following the military parade, the President officially signed presidential decrees approving the renaming of Beiping to Beijing and the renaming of the East China Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall to the National Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall, and announced these decrees to the public nationwide.
*
Meanwhile, in Handan, Hebei Province.
In late summer and early autumn, it always gets dark later; it doesn't get quite dark until 7:30 pm.
Under the cover of night, someone led a group of people carrying shovels and hoes into the former headquarters of the Anti-Japanese War in western Handan.
The slightly overweight man, dressed in a hand-sewn suit made of high-quality fabric, measured the area step by step along the gate, finally stopping at a spot on the north side of the courtyard. He whispered, "This is it. Dig as hard as you can!"
The people following behind him found their positions without hesitation and began to take action, but some people still glanced at the person out of the corner of their eyes with a puzzled look.
Is this person sure they're not here to steal? Why are they acting so suspiciously?
"You scoundrel Xue! You actually dared to steal from my Heroes' Camp on the very day the nation was founded!"
More than half an hour later, two of the boxes buried underground were dug out, and the gate to the courtyard was suddenly pushed open from the outside. The person who came in had a very fierce expression on his face.
The group of people digging in the yard stopped what they were doing, gripping their shovels tightly and trembling.
They were terrified of being shot dead by the newcomer.
"What are you saying? I was just taking my things, how can that be called stealing?"
The person who had been speaking very quietly when entering the courtyard suddenly became assertive and forceful upon seeing the official from Hebei.
This left those who were doing the work completely bewildered.
“Move them,” Zhong Shuhuai said, glancing at the two boxes that had already been dug out. “But since they’ve been stored here for so long, I should leave five thousand taels of silver as interest for my military service.”
Xue Yutao gritted his teeth: "You're even more of a swindler than I am!"
Zhong Shuhuai smiled gently at this moment: "You flatter me."
He didn't leave after that; he just stood next to Xue Yutao and watched the men he brought dig for silver.
"Isn't today the founding ceremony?" Xue Yutao suddenly remembered something and looked at him sideways. "As a founding hero, why didn't you go to Beijing?"
Zhong Shuhuai, on the contrary, was in the mood to joke with him: "I expected that some petty thieves would come to steal my silver dollars, so I specially stayed here to guard them."
Xue Yutao: "..."
After a moment of silence, Zhong Shuhuai suddenly spoke again: "Thank you."
Xue Yutao paused, turned to look at him, his eyes filled with confusion.
“At that time, Hebei, Shandong, and Shanghai were all in turmoil. If it weren’t for your 100,000 taels of silver, the later battles would probably not have been so easy to fight,” Zhong Shuhuai explained calmly.
"Hey! Let's not talk about this. With national affairs at stake, even though I can't be on the front lines like you, I can't be a coward either." Xue Yutao grinned. "Besides, this 100,000 silver dollars wasn't earned by me."
As Xue Yutao spoke, he suddenly asked him, "How is that officer who suggested exchanging silver notes with me doing now? He was such a thoughtful person; he must have made great achievements in the later war, right? He looked like a hero destined for greatness."
"How about it? Aren't you doing better than me now?" Xue Yutao, who had worked in banking for many years and prided himself on his keen eye for people, said to himself with a proud expression, "At today's founding ceremony, he should be standing next to the Chairman, right?"
Zhong Shuhuai watched him speak with great enthusiasm until he finished, then gently spoke: "He sacrificed himself."
All the praise that Xue Yutao was about to utter stopped abruptly after hearing the name Zhong Shuhuai, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Zhong Shuhuai sighed calmly and said, "After leaving Hebei, he went to Shandong to provide support, and then went to Beijing. In October of 1937, he was captured by the Japanese in Beijing and then sacrificed his life."
Neither of them spoke again after that. Xue Yutao's brows and eyes showed regret for the hero, and his eyes were slightly red.
A moment later, one of his men spoke to Zhong Shuhuai, who then left with the words, "Keep digging here, I'll have someone take you back later."
Xue Yutao looked back at Zhong Shuhuai's back and thought to himself that this kid really understood him. He knew that Zhong was afraid of being robbed of his money on the road, so he specially arranged for someone to take him away.
He arrived stealthily, not daring to speak loudly, because he was afraid that outsiders would find out he was digging for silver dollars and ambush him on the road to rob him.
In the eyes of someone like him, the ocean is more important than life itself.
So when Zhong Shuhuai came, he became bolder. It was because of Zhong Shuhuai's presence that even the most daring petty thieves outside dared not act recklessly in front of him.
Zhong Shuhuai returned at dawn. When he arrived, Xue Yutao had already left, and the soil that had been dug out of the yard had been filled back in, showing no signs of change.
Five large boxes were piled up under the covered walkway outside the main hall on the north side of the courtyard. Just as Zhong Shuhuai was about to ask a question, someone behind him handed him a letter and said, "Mr. Zhong, this is what Boss Xue left for you."
Zhong Shuhuai unfolded the paper, on which a few lines of writing were scribbled. If he and Xue Yutao hadn't known each other since childhood and were close friends, he probably wouldn't have been able to recognize the illegible handwriting.
-
Huaijin, seeing this letter is like seeing you in person... Never mind, let's not talk about seeing you in person, this lousy handwriting doesn't do justice to my handsome appearance.
I've finished digging the ocean, and I've left you the promised interest. It's under the covered walkway; remember to check it when you come back.
I took 50,000 yuan, which was public funds transferred from the bank back then, and I have to return it.
The rest is yours to use as military personnel, for national development, or to comfort heroes—it's all up to you.
You who shed blood and fought your lives in the midst of war deserve to be engraved on monuments and remembered forever.
I mean, all the heroes like you and Mr. Zhang in these chaotic times.
-
Zhong Shuhuai held the corner of the paper, standing still. After putting the paper away, he stared at the boxes of silver dollars for a long time.
*
Around 10 a.m., a sun shower occurred in Zaozhuang. The sun hung high outside the window, and the raindrops pounded on the window like hammers, disturbing someone's sleep.
The rain showers always come without warning. In just three to five minutes, before anyone can even react, the rain has stopped, and the sun is still shining, as if the rain was just an illusion.
"He was captured by the Japanese army at the end of September 1937 and executed by firing squad at around 2 p.m. on October 1."
“My brother and the others searched for a long time but couldn’t find his body.”
"His background and his choices destined him to never be able to join the Party in his lifetime."
"The dawn he didn't see, only you can see it for him..."
Feng Yue suddenly opened her eyes in bed, staring blankly at the sunlight streaming into the room through the hospital window.
For the past four years, she has been frequently awakened by these recurring dreams. Those unforgettable events and people have become the only nightmare in her life ever since.
Fengyue forced herself out of bed, leaned against the wall, and walked step by step to the window. She glanced out and saw the joy of celebrating the grand event in Beijing yesterday still lingering outside. The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly on the earth.
She lowered her eyes and thought for a moment. Today is October 2, 1949.
It was the second day after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
It was the light he had longed to see all his life but had never witnessed.
In early October in Zaozhuang, the sun was still scorching hot. Fengyue, however, felt a chill all over her body, just like... the end of midsummer that year.
The heavy rain had been falling for several days, blurring the sky with a dense curtain of rain, obscuring any color or dirt.
Like a huge, watery curtain, it blocks all encounters in this world.
The moment Fengyue saw Zhang Chenglin's name on the list of heroes published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, she wondered if she had trusted the world too much. She didn't believe in these things and almost frantically wanted to find someone who knew about this to ask for clarification.
She thought she would be greeted by Ji Yuxing, who was closest to Zhang Chenglin, or by Xin Jie, who had always been by his side. But to her surprise, she was greeted by Ji Ruqiong first.
"He was captured by the Japanese army at the end of September 1937 and executed by firing squad at around 2 p.m. on October 1."
“My brother and the others searched for a long time but couldn’t find his body.”
"His background and his choices destined him to never be able to join the Party in his lifetime."
"The dawn he didn't see, only you can see it for him..."
Every word Ji Ruqiong said felt like a dull thud to her heart, causing her unbearable pain. Yet, in front of Ji Ruqiong, she maintained the composure she had kept for over twenty years, silently enduring everything that was beyond her capacity to bear.
Four more years passed quickly. The chaotic China had finally settled down, and Zhang Qizhong was now twelve years old. Everything seemed to be getting better.
But that person and those events are still as clear as if they happened yesterday.
That piece of paper, worn and rubbed for over a decade until the words were barely legible, was still placed in the most conspicuous spot.
It's a real shame he didn't know any of this.
Just like yesterday's sun, yesterday's Tiananmen Square, yesterday's jubilant young people... just like her, they were once his greatest hope.
The darkness before dawn is always incredibly long, and countless people are trapped in this darkness and cannot get out.
They desperately emitted a faint light, illuminating later generations of Chinese youth and later China itself.
But they did not see them; those who were waiting for them never saw them emerge from the darkness.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
