In a wood, a soldier was walking with a submachine gun. When he came to a stream, he met another soldier with a rifle, and the two began to talk.
The two men talked for a while, and it was getting dark. The soldier who had walked out of the woods earlier went back empty-handed. That was Li Fushun, and the one who was on guard with a rifle was Shang Zhen.
Hu Biao and the rest of the people were not able to catch up with the two companies immediately, and they didn't know where the two companies had run to.
As it was getting dark, they had been marching all day and could only rest in a forest.
Not only did Shang Zhen have no right to participate in the conversations between Hu Biao and those veterans, but even the veterans who did not have the qualifications to participate were tactful enough not to get close.
Li Fushun came here to deliver flowers to Shang Zhen.
Because Hu Biao decided to let Shang Zhen be on duty tonight, Hu Biao specifically told Li Fushun, "Don't take his place tonight!"
Li Fushun understood Hu Biao's intention.
Since Shang Zhen has chosen to join the army, he will sooner or later have to experience everything that these veterans have experienced, and standing guard is one of them.
So when Shang Zhen heard his third brother Li Yongshun ask him if he was afraid of being on duty, Shang Zhen looked at the submachine gun that Li Fushun handed to him, shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid."
Li Fushun did not mention Lu Dajiao's death today, nor did he talk about the battles in the past few days.
However, he took the trouble to tell Shang Zhen some things to pay attention to when on duty.
For example, a sentry cannot sleep while on duty at night, but he cannot be too nervous and become paranoid.
For example, you can set up some small mechanisms in front of your sentry post to prevent enemies from approaching at night.
For example, when using a submachine gun, you must not pull the trigger all the way down at once and you must not use up all the bullets in the drum magazine instantly.
In what Li Fushun said, there was not a single word asking Shang Zhen to be careful, but between the lines it was revealed that he, as a brother, was worried.
Finally, Shang Zhen said, "Third brother, go back. I'm not a child anymore. I've killed several Japanese! Oh, by the way, give me your water bottle. I'll give it to you tomorrow morning."
Li Fushun thought Shang Zhen was thirsty, so he handed him his military water bottle and then walked back.
Shang Zhen saw Li Fushun's back disappear into the woods. When he silently glanced at the last trace of red on the western hillside, he jumped up from where he was sitting on a rock.
He walked to the edge of the woods, not forgetting to put on the machine gun and pick up the kettle.
However, Shang Zhen did not walk out of the woods. He drew out the bayonet hanging on his waist and started chopping at the dead branches on the tree.
This forest is a poplar forest. I don’t know how old these poplar trees are, but many of them have died. Even the crowns of the old trees are still green, but there are also a lot of dead branches on them.
Shang Zhen used his bayonet to chop and smash things and soon got a large pile of dead branches.
He took off his leggings and tied the two leggings together with a noose, then tied the dead branches together with a rope and carried them into the woods, where he soon disappeared.
This situation is like he is about to light a fire and cook.
But after a while, Shang Zhen came back again, and he got another big bunch of branches and tied them with leggings and carried them back on his back.
Shang Zhen carried branches back and forth three times in total. Just based on the number of branches, he could roast a suckling pig!
It was getting dark at this time, and the sound of water gurgling could be heard from the stream in the woods.
Then a hazy figure stood up. It was still Shang Zhen, and his night duty began.
Shang Zhen has been running for a whole day.
The encounter with the Japanese army, the death of Lu Dajiao, the excitement, shock and sadness are all in the past, and all that is left for him now is fatigue.
By this time, he no longer had the energy to practice aiming his rifle. Moreover, it was pitch black everywhere. How could he aim at the stars with his rifle?
After all, human power has its limits. I don't know when I will be able to master the skill of shooting an arrow through a target from a hundred paces away, run as fast as the wind, or make decisions as quickly as the company commander Hu Biao.
Before it got dark, he and Li Fushun said something similar.
Li Fushun said that it was very good that you were able to stick with the team until now and run dozens of miles a day. You are better than when I first joined the army.
That’s it, I added to him, believe in fate, as long as you don’t die, you can become the strongest!
Shang Zhen thought at that time that he didn’t know whether his third brother was comforting him or criticizing him.
Now Shang Zhen was thinking, "I'm so tired!" But he knew he was a sentry, so he couldn't sleep, so he just had to grit his teeth and persevere!
Only when one is alone and quiet can one realize how confused his thoughts are.
Shang Zhen thought about a lot of things.
He remembered how naughty he was as a child, and how he was unwilling to learn the carpentry craft from his father. Since he was the eldest in the family, his parents always spoiled him, so that now he was eighteen years old and had accomplished nothing.
He recalled the girl from the neighboring village he met when he was fifteen or sixteen. She was so attractive to him that she kept him awake all night.
He also recalled how he suddenly became timid for some reason last year, and the pain he felt in his heart when he saw someone close to him die.
There are too many things in life that cannot be explained.
Even a scholar who has read thousands of books may not understand the true meaning of life, let alone Shang Zhen who can only read and write.
When he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. At this time, fatigue came over him and Shang Zhen felt sleepy.
I can’t sleep! Shang Zhen reminded himself. He stood up silently in the darkness and looked at the stars in the sky.
There are not many stars in the sky today, and there are foggy clouds.
Even without scientific knowledge, Shang Zhen knew that the wind was blowing and the clouds were torn apart by the wind.
Sure enough, a light breeze began to blow between heaven and earth.
Although the wind was not strong, since their company's camp was in the woods, the wind could be heard rustling leaves and occasionally breaking dead branches.
Shang Zhen couldn't help but think of Li Fushun's instructions to him: he couldn't fall asleep, but he couldn't be too nervous either.
He listened carefully to the sounds in the woods at night. It was actually a bit scary to be alone in such a dark night.
But Shang Zhen thought again, the forest in the dark night was no different from the forest in the daytime. It was just that he couldn't see it. So, what was there to be afraid of?
He comforted himself in this way, and gradually he was no longer afraid.
However, psychological fatigue can be adjusted, but physical fatigue cannot be adjusted.
Gradually, Shang Zhen felt sleepy again.
For a new recruit, especially Shang Zhen, who was not very strong to begin with, this kind of physical difficulty was irresistible.
Finally, he leaned against the big tree and his head drooped down.
But he woke up after a while.
Shang Zhen couldn't help but let out a long sigh because he felt the urge to urinate.
Shang Zhen did not walk around in the woods. He just stood beside a tree and poured his liquid, which was still boy's urine, on the tree trunk.
Shang Zhen is cautious by nature. Since he was assigned to be a sentry, he must do his job conscientiously.
He refused to walk in the woods to relieve his sleepiness because he was afraid that any movement would make noise. What if an enemy came?
The reason why he urinated close to the tree roots was that he was afraid that the sound of his peeing would be heard by someone in the dark.
This is a cautious character. Perhaps he will not be like this when he becomes a veteran.
After Shang Zhen finished relieving himself, he still felt sleepy.
Shang Zhen felt that he still couldn't overcome the sleepiness, but since he didn't plan to sleep, he had his own way of dealing with it.
In the darkness, he felt for the water bottle slung across his body.
The kettle was exactly what Li Wushun left for him before he left.
Shang Zhen opened the lid of the kettle and poured the water in it into his mouth.
He was such a good drinker that after a while, he had finished the whole pot of water.
But it wasn't over yet. Shang Zhen carefully walked forward with the military canteen in his hand. After only a few steps, he squatted down and placed the canteen in the stream.
Yes, the sentry post chosen by Shang Zhen was right next to the stream.
If a battle breaks out, will the stream be of any use to him in defense? Of course not. Shang Zhen only wants to drink water for his convenience.
Why does he want to drink water?
That's because if you drink too much water, you will have to urinate.
When people urinate while they are asleep, it is called bed-wetting or kang-wetting.
Generally speaking, adults do not urinate while they are asleep. They will be woken up by the urge to urinate, which is called getting up at night.
And Shang Zhen used this method to keep himself from falling asleep!
He held on to his inner belief and refused to fall asleep, but his physical state made him sleepy again.
But he drank so much water and there was nothing wrong with his kidneys, so as soon as he lowered his head, he felt the urge to urinate.
He was not a child, so he could only use his urine to irrigate the tree next to the mountain.
After "irrigating" the tree, he forced himself to go to the stream to fill his water bottle.
On this windy and starless night in the mountains, Shang Zhen, who was on duty for the first time, went through the same routine over and over again until the eastern sky began to brighten slightly.
This is the darkness before dawn, when the sky is darkest.
But at this moment, Shang Zhen heard a strange noise in the woods ahead.