Don't Be Afraid, Big Brother! A Four-Year-Old Cutie Calls in to Fight the Japanese

Four-year-old Su Nianwei finds a rusted badge in her grandmother’s old keepsake box.

Curious, she touches it, and suddenly hears the roar of artillery and the panicked breathing of a young boy.

It is the smoke-filled battlefield behind enemy lines in the 1940s. Fourteen-year-old courier Lin Beichen has just escaped an encirclement, a bullet wound in his leg and a vital message clutched in his hand.

The little girl becomes his only tender refuge in a world torn by war.

When he is tired, he can talk to her. When he is afraid, he can listen to her childish words of comfort.

In moments of despair, he thinks of the little girl in a faraway time, waiting for him to come back and tell her stories.

Su Nianwei listens as he tells her about crossing mountains to deliver messages, nights spent eating tree bark to stave off hunger, and the moment a comrade fell beside him.

She doesn’t understand war, but she understands his fear and his courage.

"Don’t be scared, big brother. Nianwei is here with you."

"Big brother, you have to live. Promise me you’ll stay alive."

From spring to winter, she stays by his side through the darkest years, while he teaches her about duty, sacrifice, and love of country.

Years later, standing before the Martyrs’ Cemetery, Su Nianwei finally finds his name: Lin Beichen, revolutionary martyr.

The badge grows warm again, and his final words reach her ears:

"Nianwei, don’t cry. Look, we won."