Chapter 117 Grief
Winter evenings come early. After watching the monkey show, which had a touch of rustic charm, Nan Zhiyi and Zhou Anping followed the crowd out of the park.
The chill returned, and Zhou Anping wrapped his scarf tighter: "Let's go, Zhiyi, let's hurry home, it's freezing."
The two hurried back to the compound, and it was already dark by then.
Nan Zhiyi waved goodbye to Zhou Anping at the gate of the courtyard. As soon as she entered, she was greeted by warmth and the aroma of food.
Aunt Wu immediately came forward, took the thick cotton-padded coat and overcoat that she had taken off, and carefully hung them up.
"You're back just in time. I just put the soup on the table. It's chicken soup that I made especially for you. I skimmed off the oil. Drink some more to warm yourself up."
"Thank you, Aunt Wu." Nan Zhiyi sat down on the sofa. "Dad isn't back yet?"
Aunt Wu glanced at the wall clock; the hour hand pointed to 6:30. "Yes, usually by this time, I should have been home long ago."
After waiting for about half an hour, the food had lost its heat.
Wu Ma said to Nan Zhiyi, "Zhiyi, why don't you eat first? The commander must have been held up by something important. Don't let you and the child go hungry."
Nan Zhiyi looked at the bowl and chopsticks specially left for Commander Gu on the table and shook her head: "Let's wait a little longer, Dad might be back soon."
I waited until almost eight o'clock...
"Zhiyi, listen to Aunt Wu, you eat first." Aunt Wu insisted, "Your health is important. When the commander comes back, I'll heat it up for him."
Looking at Aunt Wu's concerned eyes, Nan Zhiyi touched her lower abdomen and said, "Alright. Aunt Wu, sit down and eat with us."
"good."
Aunt Wu reheated the food and served Nan Zhiyi a bowl of hot soup.
After the two finished their meal, Wu Ma quickly cleared away the dishes and carefully kept Commander Gu's food warm in the pot on the stove, then covered it with the lid.
"Aunt Wu, please go home as soon as you're done. It's too late and the roads are slippery," Nan Zhiyi instructed. "When Dad comes back, there's a guard there, so I can heat up his food for him."
"Okay. I'll go now. You should get some rest and don't worry too much."
Aunt Wu took off her apron, wrapped herself in a thick cotton-padded coat, and left.
Nan Zhiyi returned to her room, turned on the desk lamp, and her afternoon's outing became the inspiration flowing through her writing.
She spread out her manuscript paper and continued writing the story about "spring".
Time slipped away quietly amidst the scratching of the pen, and before I knew it, it was already past eleven o'clock at night.
Nan Zhiyi rubbed her sore eyes, put down her pen, and felt a little uneasy.
She walked to the window and looked at the dark and silent courtyard gate.
Before long, two headlights pierced the darkness, and the familiar military jeep finally drove back.
Nan Zhiyi put on her coat and went downstairs.
Just as they entered the living room, the door opened, and the bodyguard, Xiao Li, helped Commander Gu through the door.
The sight of Commander Gu made Nan Zhiyi's heart tighten.
He looked ten years older in just a few hours.
His usually crisp military uniform was a little loose, the top button undone, revealing a wrinkled shirt underneath.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes were vacant, as if all his energy had been drained away, and even his steps were unsteady and unsteady, relying entirely on Xiao Li's strength to support him.
"Dad!" Nan Zhiyi's heart tightened, and she quickly stepped forward. "You're back..."
Commander Gu raised his eyelids and glanced at her, his lips moving slightly: "...Hmm."
He broke free from Xiao Li's support and walked step by step toward the study, his back view desolate and lonely.
Nan Zhiyi had never seen Commander Gu so distraught.
"Comrade Li..." she turned to the guard, "What... happened?"
Xiao Li looked pale, and his eyes were red.
He saluted Nan Zhiyi, then turned and strode quickly to the small room on the first floor, closing the door behind him.
Nan Zhiyi silently returned to her room upstairs, lay on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep.
The wind howled outside the window...
She lay there with her eyes open, listening to her own frantic heartbeat in the darkness, until she finally drifted off to sleep in the middle of the night.
After an unknown amount of time, a sharp, static-filled whirring sound from the loudspeakers in the military compound shattered the silence.
Nan Zhiyi was startled awake. She turned on the light and checked her watch; it was only five in the morning.
Immediately afterwards, a deep, solemn male voice, tinged with sorrow, read out the obituary over the loudspeaker: "Comrade China... passed away due to illness... at 9:57 AM on January 8, 1976... at the age of seventy-eight..."
The broadcast continued, reciting his life story and contributions...
But Nan Zhiyi couldn't hear a single word that followed; the whole world went silent in an instant.
January 8th, 9:57 AM...
I see!
Commander Gu's broken spine, his dejected and defeated state, his immense grief... all found their answers at this moment.
So it was for that person...
Nan Zhiyi seemed to hear a strange noise coming from downstairs.
She quickly went downstairs to Commander Gu's study, where the door was ajar.
Only one desk lamp was on in the study, casting a halo of light over Commander Gu behind the desk.
He was dressed in casual clothes, his shoulders were hunched and his back was sunken, and his face was streaked with tears.
He didn't make a sound, he just sat there, staring at the photo in his hand, motionless, for the entire night.
Nan Zhiyi stood outside the door, her eyes stinging and burning.
She didn't go in immediately, but stood quietly, tears silently streaming down her cheeks.
As the broadcast gradually subsided and the glow of dawn shone through the window, the grief in the study, along with the passing of night, settled into a deep sorrow.
Nan Zhiyi took a deep breath, wiped away the tears on her face, went to the kitchen to make Commander Gu a cup of hot tea, and then gently knocked on the study door.
She placed the teacup in front of Commander Gu.
"Dad, please don't be too sad. Take good care of yourself. I think... that leader wouldn't want to see you like this either."
Commander Gu's voice sounded like it had been sanded: "Yes... Before he left, he even wrote down some words, saying not to be too sad, that everyone has to die eventually, and that his life was worthwhile."
His gaze remained fixed on the photograph, his fingers trembling as he traced its edges. "He also instructed... not to hold a memorial service..."
The two people in the photo are a young, handsome man full of vigor and high spirits; the other is the person whose obituary was just announced on the radio, with deep eyes and a gentle smile.
"Time flies... In the blink of an eye... so many years have passed... The days when we ate cornbread together in the trenches and discussed how to ensure that the people on this land were well-fed and clothed seem like just yesterday... In the blink of an eye, an era has passed."
Nan Zhiyi picked up the blanket draped over the back of the chair and gently draped it over Commander Gu's shoulders.
She gazed at the photo. "Dad, over the years... under the leadership of our leaders, the country has gradually improved, and life... has become more and more hopeful. All of this is the achievement paved with blood, sweat, and a lifetime by predecessors like him and you. He... is watching."
Commander Gu closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again. The grief surging in his eyes subsided, and he straightened his slightly hunched back.
"You're right. Don't worry, my old bones won't break down. The Gu family... still needs me."
His gaze drifted out the window, where the rising sun was visible on the horizon.
"I... still have to hold up the sky for the Gu family and for you younger generations."
The sky gradually brightened.
Dawn will eventually pierce the darkness, even if it brings heavy sorrow.
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