He is a hundred years old, a veteran of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.
That winter, five men parachuted into Northeast China from the Soviet Union. The snow came up past their knees. Their mission was to scout, make contact, and get back alive. Five went out. One came back.
He lives out his days at his grandson’s house, sitting silently every day beneath the crabapple tree in the yard. When his great-grandson asks him about the war, he only says, “The year I left, this tree had just borne fruit.”
He tells stories about Old Zhou, Little Shandong, and Old Xu. But he never says one man’s name. He only calls him “that comrade.”
Back then, the unit’s accounts came up short by one sum, and Old Zhao was branded a traitor and imprisoned for years. Old Man Yu went to visit him. “Old Yu, did you tell them?” he asked. Old Man Yu said he had. “Did they believe you?” Old Man Yu said they didn’t. “Well, then they don’t believe you,” he said. Three years after Old Zhao died, the truth finally came out. He wasn’t the traitor. That comrade was.
This book is about a survivor sitting beneath a tree, remembering the faces of people from long ago. He can’t remember all their names. He only remembers that it was snowing that day, and the snow came up past their knees. He remembers someone saying, “Good snow. It’ll cover our tracks.” He remembers the man smiling as he said it.
Snow can cover footprints. It cannot cover people.
Chapter 5 The author has something to say
This chapter about searching for a person made me feel heartbroken.
Old Yutou searched for the person he had never found all his life, and his great-grandson found him in two days. This is not because the great-grandson is smarter than the old man, but because times have changed. In Lao Yutou's time, there were no telephones, no Internet, and no train tickets. He had only two legs and walked in the dense forest of Daxinganling. It snowed heavily in winter and the roads were slippery, so he asked from village to village alone. He has been asking for decades. He has grown old and can no longer walk, but he still hasn't asked. He wrote the address on a piece of paper and passed the piece of paper around. Passed to great-grandson.
The great-grandson went to Jiagadaqi. Met Zhou Guifen. Zhou Guifen is Zhou Xiaomei. She is Lao Zhou's daughter. Her father left when she was three years old, and she doesn't remember anything. I just remember her father pricking her with his beard, she cried, and he laughed. She remembered this scene for the rest of her life. Her mother-in-law, Wang Xiulan, had been waiting all her life. She couldn't wait any longer and remarried. After remarrying, she gave birth to a son and started a new life. But she always remembered Lao Zhou in her heart. Before he died, he muttered that he didn't know where Lao Zhou died and no one would collect his body.
Lao Yutou collected it. He buried Lao Zhou and covered it with snow. Later, he looked for Wang Xiulan and Zhou Xiaomei, but couldn't find them. He has been looking for it all his life. He said he had accomplished nothing in his life, but he had not forgotten it.
When Zhou Guifen pulled out the section on her mother's good citizen certificate, I felt very uncomfortable writing it. The piece of paper had broken corners and blurred writing. It was the piece of paper that Wang Xiulan hid in the middle of her torn cotton-padded jacket when she was fleeing famine. She took this piece of paper and Zhou Xiaomei with her and ran from Daxinganling to Jiagedaqi. She picked potatoes, peeled tree bark, and endured all hardships to keep her children alive. She lived to be eighty-seven and was still chanting Lao Zhou's name before she died.
This is how people in that era survived. They are not heroes, they are ordinary people. Ordinary people carry the suffering of ordinary people for a lifetime.
Zhou Guifen did not accept the pocket watch. She asked her great-grandson to take it back and put it in front of Lao Yutou. She said, your grandfather has guarded it all his life, this thing should belong to him. She also said that she had never complained about Lao Yutou. Her mother never complained to anyone. It's not easy to survive in this world.
When Lao Yutou finally heard the news, he was speechless. He lay on the bed and looked at his great-grandson steadily. The great-grandson said he found it. There were traces of water sliding down the corners of Lao Yutou's eyes. He didn't raise his hand to wipe it. He just lay down. After a while, he said one word: OK.
I have been waiting for this good word for five chapters. He could finally close his eyes. Lao Zhou's entrustment to him was not in vain, and he did not live in vain for a hundred years.
Next volume, it's time to send him back. Go to Daxinganling and look for the birch forest. Bury him under the birch tree with Lao Zhao, Lao Zhou, Xiao Shandong, and Da Lao Li. Five people go out and one comes back. That one has to go back in the end.
The forest had been waiting for him.
Chapter 4 The author has something to say
After writing this chapter, I felt very stressed.
In the first few chapters, people have been dying in the snowfield, Lao Zhao died, Lao Zhou died, Da Lao Li died, and Xiao Shandong died. In this chapter, Old Yutou is finally leaving. He didn't die in the snowfield, but he was no different from dying in the snowfield. He lived a lifetime, but in fact from the day he crossed the river to hand over the gun, his soul was lost in that birch forest.
I wrote the section where Old Yu Tou and his great-grandson explained their funeral affairs very slowly. He did not say any great truths, nor did he explain any revolutionary legacy. He was thinking about the sand fruit tree, Zhao Guangcai, and Lao Zhou's wives and daughters. These are all trivial things, but in his heart, these small things are bigger than the sky. He never got anything done for them in his life, but he remembered it until his death.
Old Yutou said that he had lived a useless life. He didn't clear up the grievances of Lao Zhao, he didn't help Lao Zhou find his wife and daughter, and he didn't let little Shandong see the fruiting tree with his own eyes. When I wrote this sentence, I felt very sad. It stands to reason that since he is a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War and a survivor, he should be a hero. But he doesn't feel like a hero, he just feels like he's in debt. He has carried a lifetime of debt and cannot repay it.
Later, he said that he did not want to be buried in the east end of the village. He wanted to go back to Daxinganling and the birch forest. This sentence was the first ending I decided upon when I was conceiving Chapter 4. When he was alive, he planted a sand fruit tree, which was his thoughts in this world. But when he dies, he has to go back to where those five people started. Five people go out and one comes back. The person who comes back must go back eventually. This is not pessimism, this is perfection.
While writing this chapter, I have been thinking about what a person lives for. Old Yutou lived for such a long time without any children or any property. The only thing he left behind was the sand fruit tree and the iron box. There is a photo of Xiao Liu in the iron box, a pocket watch, and a piece of paper with writing on it. These were contracts between him and those who died. He kept the contract for his whole life.
The paragraph that my great-grandson took a pen to record was actually what I wanted to say. The great-grandson said that one day he would make the return journey for Lao Yutou to Daxingan Mountains to find the birch forest. This sentence is not sensational, it is true. As long as a person lives, he must do something for those who can no longer speak. Old Yutou searched for him all his life but could not find it, but his great-grandson was young and he had plenty of time.
In the next volume, Old Yutou is still alive, but he is waiting. Waiting for that spring, waiting for that tree to sprout, waiting for the great-grandson to finish writing those words. And the great-grandson is about to start looking for that path. He is going to Daxinganling to find the birch tree. What he was looking for was not just a tree, but the soul of Old Yu Tou.
At this point in writing this book, no one is talking about the Anti-League. This is one generation listening to another generation and then speaking to the next generation.
Chapter 3 The author has something to say
This chapter was very frustrating to write about handing over guns.
The first two chapters are about snowfields. Although people died, they were on the battlefield. Knife against knife and gun against gun, if you die, you die. This chapter is different. This chapter is about what happened after surviving. People come back alive, but some things are worse than death.
Old Yutou crossed the river alone. I wrote that he squatted down in the middle of the river, put his ear to the ice, and listened to the sound of running water below. I went over that detail in my head many times. A person has not eaten or drank for two days and two nights. Walking on the white river, the soles of his feet may crack at any time. There was nothing left in his heart, it was empty. At this time, he heard the sound of water under the ice. It was dull, like someone talking far away. He squatted there and listened for a long time. That was the only sound of living things he heard in two days. He couldn't bear to move away.
I didn't write about him crying, only that he buried his face in the snow. Tears were frozen on my face, hard. He didn't say anything, but half of the energy in his heart was lost in that big cry. He had to survive, not for himself, but to take the words of the four people back.
But what if I take it back?
The story about Lao Zhao is the most uncomfortable paragraph in the whole book so far. Before he died, he asked Lao Yutou to take the lead, but Lao Zhao did not rebel. Old Yutou brought it word for word. They asked who could testify. Old Yutou said, It's just me. It says, you are the only one to bear witness. You break out together, everyone sacrifices, and you are the only one who survives. Your words are worthless.
I wrote these few sentences very quickly. Because these sentences are true logic and cruel truth. The living person testifies for the dead, which is inherently innumerable. The longer you live, the less clear you can be. Lao Zhao was later imprisoned for three years, and he could no longer survive when he was released. Old Yutou went to see him, and Old Zhao asked if they believed it. Old Yutou said he didn't believe it. Lao Zhao said, if you don't believe it, just don't believe it.
If you don't believe it, don't believe it. These five words carry more weight than any cry. Lao Zhao wanted to be innocent all his life, but the thing about innocence was the hardest thing to explain.
There are also Lao Zhou's wife and daughter. Wang Xiulan, Zhou Xiaomei. Old Yutou has been looking for these two names all his life. He has been to Daxinganling several times, in winter, when the snow is so heavy that the footprints can be covered, and no one follows him. He carved his name on his tongue, but he couldn't find anyone.
Zhao Guang just came to deliver the frozen pears, so I wrote very slowly. That scene was too quiet. Two old men, one went to the grave for his uncle and the other sat for his comrade. Zhao Guangcai said, you are old, don't run away every year. Old Yutou said, that is different. You are visiting the grave for your uncle, and I am visiting my comrade-in-arms. This doesn't make much sense, but the unspoken heaviness between the two old men is all contained in this cigarette and a bag of frozen pears.
Old Yutou finally said, remember a sentence for me. Lao Zhao has not rebelled. Xiao Liu absconded. I have been searching all my life for Lao Zhou's wife and daughter, but I have not been able to find them. He had been holding back this sentence his whole life. He wrote it down for fear of forgetting, but when it was written on paper, the things in his heart were not light at all.
This chapter is about how the survivors carry the instructions of the dead and live out the rest of their lives. He lived for a hundred years, and the fruit tree bore fruit every year. But there are some people and some things that he has never been able to explain in his life.
It's time to return to reality in the next chapter. Old Yutou is leaving, but the Shaguo tree is still there. But there are some words that his great-grandson must remember for him.
Chapter 2 The author has something to say
This chapter describes the deaths of Lao Zhao and Lao Zhou, which made me feel very upset.
When Xiao Shandong died in the previous chapter, Lao Zhou was still with him. Lao Zhou closed Xiao Shandong's mouth and said, Xiao Shandong, please call me daddy. By this chapter, Lao Zhou himself was gone. The man who was little Shandong's father finally leaned on Yu Deshui's shoulder and told him the names of his wife and daughter. He tilted his head and disappeared.
When I was writing about the scene where Lao Zhao crossed the river, the sound of the ice cracking filled my mind. Lao Zhao was not beaten to death, nor was he killed by an explosion. The ice broke when he was crossing the river and he fell into the icy water, freezing to death. When he was pulled up, his clothes were frozen into ice shells, his face turned purple, and his eyes rolled up. This scene is so real that I can't bear to write about it.
But what hurt me the most was what happened afterwards.
Old Zhao was lying on the kang, soaking his feet in warm water. The blackened flesh and skin peeled off layer by layer, exposing his bones. He couldn't bear the pain, so Yu Deshui asked him to bite his arm. He doesn't bite. He said, don't shout to attract enemies. Until his death, he was afraid of exposing his target and compromising his comrades. The last thing he asked before he died was whether the sand fruit tree in the yard of Yu Deshui's hometown was still there. He asked him to go back and take a look for himself.
In Lao Zhao's life, there is no one in his family, his wife is dead, and his child is dead. He just wanted to see a living tree. He wanted to know if the tree was still bearing fruit this year.
The same goes for Lao Zhou. Lao Zhou is the toughest among the five. He is familiar with mountains and forests, can read snow, and can read footprints. He has a map sewn into the lining of his cotton-padded jacket. He led everyone along, paving a path. But in the end, he couldn't hold it any longer. He leaned on Yu Deshui's shoulder and said that he had a wife and a daughter at home. The child was three years old when he left, and is now a teenager. He asked Yu Deshui to help him find them. Wang Xiulan, Zhou Xiaomei. He was afraid that Yu Deshui wouldn't remember it, so he asked him to repeat it.
Yu Deshui remembered it. Remembered for a lifetime.
After writing this chapter, only one of the five people was left, Yu Deshui. He walked north alone, crossed the river alone, and went back to hand over the gun alone. When he walked in the snow, he left footprints under his feet, and the new snow covered them in an instant. Snow can cover the footprints, but it cannot cover the people in his heart.
When writing this chapter, I kept thinking about how people in that era managed to survive. They saw off their comrades one after another, buried them in the frozen soil with their own hands, then turned around and continued walking. It's not that they are not afraid, it's that they don't even have time to be afraid. If the wind and snow don't stop, we have to keep walking.
I wrote these things about Lao Yutou, not to say how miserable he was. What I want to say is that he was able to live to be a hundred years old, not because he was lucky, but because he carried the deaths of those people, the entrustments of those people, and the names of those people on his back. He lived alone and became a team.
The next chapter is about him handing over the gun. Write about him returning to the camp, facing scrutiny and questioning. No one believed Lao Zhao's innocence, and Lao Zhou's wife and daughter could not be found. Write about how a person spends his whole life burdened with the debts of four people.
Chapter 1 The author has something to say
While writing this chapter, I kept thinking about a question. What happened to those who survived the snowfield?
They returned to the village, divided the land, married wives, had children, fed horses, drove carts, and planted crops in the production team. They eat, work, and sleep like everyone else. They laugh when they should laugh and talk when they should talk. No one knows whether they will dream at night, whether they will still have a vast white snow field in their dreams. No one knows whether they will suddenly stop and think of something someone said while walking in the snow.
Lao Yutou later lived to be a hundred years old. He sat under the shaguo tree and basked in the sun. If anyone spoke to him, he would answer twice. If no one spoke to him, he would just sit there. He looks like an ordinary old rural man, with deaf ears, dazzled eyes, and neither a good nor a bad temper. But in his heart there is a snowfield, five people, and those who will always stay in winter. He survived, but not the snowfield.
When I wrote about the death of Xiao Shandong, I used the gesture of Old Yutou. He closed Little Shandong's mouth, but it couldn't be closed after closing it twice. He covered Little Shandong's mouth with his hand, covered it for a while and slowly released it, and Little Shandong's mouth was closed. I have thought about this action for a long time. When a person dies, his body slowly hardens, and finally he can't even close his mouth. What the living people can do is to cover it with their hands for a while, borrow a little of the body's body temperature to make the body softer, and then let go. This is a stupid way, but it is also the only thing that can be done.
I wrote the section where Big Lao Li left cover very quickly. Because when Lao Yutou recalled it later, he only remembered the sound of gunshots. First there was the machine gun fire, then it stopped, then there were a few more rifle shots, and then there was no sound. He didn't see the last appearance of Big Old Li. He only remembered Big Lao Li squatting behind the machine gun, facing the window, saying, Lao Yu, let's go. Then there was nothing.
That's what war is like. When many people die, those around them hear only the sound. When the gunfire stopped, the people disappeared.
The next chapter is about Lao Zhou. The one who said, "The snow is so good that it can cover the footprints." He comes out of this chapter alive, but he won't come out of the snowfield alive.
(End of chapter)
Chapter 5 The author has something to say This chapter about searching for a person made me feel heartbroken. Old Yutou searched for the person he had never found all his life, and his great-grandson found him in two days. This is not because the great-grandson is smarter than the old man, but because times have changed. In Lao Yutou's time, there were no telephones, no Internet, and no train tickets. He had only two legs and walked in the dense forest of Daxinganling. It snowed heavily in winter and the roads were slippery, so he asked from village to village alone. He has been asking for decades. He has grown old and can no longer walk, but he still hasn't asked. He wrote the address on a piece of paper and passed the piece of paper around. Passed to great-grandson. The great-grandson went to Jiagadaqi. Met Zhou Guifen. Zhou Guifen is Zhou Xiaomei. She is Lao Zhou's daughter. Her father left when she was three years old, and she doesn't remember anything. I just remember her father pricking her with his beard, she cried, and he laughed. She remembered this scene for the rest of her life. Her mother-in-law, Wang Xiulan, had been waiting all her life. She couldn't wait any longer and remarried. After remarrying, she gave birth to a son and started a new life. But she always remembered Lao Zhou in her heart. Before he died, he muttered that he didn't know where Lao Zhou died and no one would collect his body. Lao Yutou collected it. He buried Lao Zhou and covered it with snow. Later, he looked for Wang Xiulan and Zhou Xiaomei, but couldn't find them. He has been looking for it all his life. He said he had accomplished nothing in his life, but he had not forgotten it. When Zhou Guifen pulled out the section on her mother's good citizen certificate, I felt very uncomfortable writing it. The piece of paper had broken corners and blurred writing. It was the piece of paper that Wang Xiulan hid in the middle of her torn cotton-padded jacket when she was fleeing famine. She took this piece of paper and Zhou Xiaomei with her and ran from Daxinganling to Jiagedaqi. She picked potatoes, peeled tree bark, and endured all hardships to keep her children alive. She lived to be eighty-seven and was still chanting Lao Zhou's name before she died. This is how people in that era survived. They are not heroes, they are ordinary people. Ordinary people carry the suffering of ordinary people for a lifetime. Zhou Guifen did not accept the pocket watch. She asked her great-grandson to take it back and put it in front of Lao Yutou. She said, your grandfather has guarded it all his life, this thing should belong to him. She also said that she had never complained about Lao Yutou. Her mother never complained to anyone. It's not easy to survive in this world. When Lao Yutou finally heard the news, he was speechless. He lay on the bed and looked at his great-grandson steadily. The great-grandson said he found it. There were traces of water sliding down the corners of Lao Yutou's eyes. He didn't raise his hand to wipe it. He just lay down. After a while, he said one word: OK. I have been waiting for this good word for five chapters. He could finally close his eyes. Lao Zhou's entrustment to him was not in vain, and he did not live in vain for a hundred years. Next volume, it's time to send him back. Go to Daxinganling and look for the birch forest. Bury him under the birch tree with Lao Zhao, Lao Zhou, Xiao Shandong, and Da Lao Li. Five people go out and one comes back. That one has to go back in the end. The forest had been waiting for him.
Chapter 4 The author has something to say After writing this chapter, I felt very stressed. In the first few chapters, people have been dying in the snowfield, Lao Zhao died, Lao Zhou died, Da Lao Li died, and Xiao Shandong died. In this chapter, Old Yutou is finally leaving. He didn't die in the snowfield, but he was no different from dying in the snowfield. He lived a lifetime, but in fact from the day he crossed the river to hand over the gun, his soul was lost in that birch forest. I wrote the section where Old Yu Tou and his great-grandson explained their funeral affairs very slowly. He did not say any great truths, nor did he explain any revolutionary legacy. He was thinking about the sand fruit tree, Zhao Guangcai, and Lao Zhou's wives and daughters. These are all trivial things, but in his heart, these small things are bigger than the sky. He never got anything done for them in his life, but he remembered it until his death. Old Yutou said that he had lived a useless life. He didn't clear up the grievances of Lao Zhao, he didn't help Lao Zhou find his wife and daughter, and he didn't let little Shandong see the fruiting tree with his own eyes. When I wrote this sentence, I felt very sad. It stands to reason that since he is a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War and a survivor, he should be a hero. But he doesn't feel like a hero, he just feels like he's in debt. He has carried a lifetime of debt and cannot repay it. Later, he said that he did not want to be buried in the east end of the village. He wanted to go back to Daxinganling and the birch forest. This sentence was the first ending I decided upon when I was conceiving Chapter 4. When he was alive, he planted a sand fruit tree, which was his thoughts in this world. But when he dies, he has to go back to where those five people started. Five people go out and one comes back. The person who comes back must go back eventually. This is not pessimism, this is perfection. While writing this chapter, I have been thinking about what a person lives for. Old Yutou lived for such a long time without any children or any property. The only thing he left behind was the sand fruit tree and the iron box. There is a photo of Xiao Liu in the iron box, a pocket watch, and a piece of paper with writing on it. These were contracts between him and those who died. He kept the contract for his whole life. The paragraph that my great-grandson took a pen to record was actually what I wanted to say. The great-grandson said that one day he would make the return journey for Lao Yutou to Daxingan Mountains to find the birch forest. This sentence is not sensational, it is true. As long as a person lives, he must do something for those who can no longer speak. Old Yutou searched for him all his life but could not find it, but his great-grandson was young and he had plenty of time. In the next volume, Old Yutou is still alive, but he is waiting. Waiting for that spring, waiting for that tree to sprout, waiting for the great-grandson to finish writing those words. And the great-grandson is about to start looking for that path. He is going to Daxinganling to find the birch tree. What he was looking for was not just a tree, but the soul of Old Yu Tou. At this point in writing this book, no one is talking about the Anti-League. This is one generation listening to another generation and then speaking to the next generation.
Chapter 3 The author has something to say This chapter was very frustrating to write about handing over guns. The first two chapters are about snowfields. Although people died, they were on the battlefield. Knife against knife and gun against gun, if you die, you die. This chapter is different. This chapter is about what happened after surviving. People come back alive, but some things are worse than death. Old Yutou crossed the river alone. I wrote that he squatted down in the middle of the river, put his ear to the ice, and listened to the sound of running water below. I went over that detail in my head many times. A person has not eaten or drank for two days and two nights. Walking on the white river, the soles of his feet may crack at any time. There was nothing left in his heart, it was empty. At this time, he heard the sound of water under the ice. It was dull, like someone talking far away. He squatted there and listened for a long time. That was the only sound of living things he heard in two days. He couldn't bear to move away. I didn't write about him crying, only that he buried his face in the snow. Tears were frozen on my face, hard. He didn't say anything, but half of the energy in his heart was lost in that big cry. He had to survive, not for himself, but to take the words of the four people back. But what if I take it back? The story about Lao Zhao is the most uncomfortable paragraph in the whole book so far. Before he died, he asked Lao Yutou to take the lead, but Lao Zhao did not rebel. Old Yutou brought it word for word. They asked who could testify. Old Yutou said, It's just me. It says, you are the only one to bear witness. You break out together, everyone sacrifices, and you are the only one who survives. Your words are worthless. I wrote these few sentences very quickly. Because these sentences are true logic and cruel truth. The living person testifies for the dead, which is inherently innumerable. The longer you live, the less clear you can be. Lao Zhao was later imprisoned for three years, and he could no longer survive when he was released. Old Yutou went to see him, and Old Zhao asked if they believed it. Old Yutou said he didn't believe it. Lao Zhao said, if you don't believe it, just don't believe it. If you don't believe it, don't believe it. These five words carry more weight than any cry. Lao Zhao wanted to be innocent all his life, but the thing about innocence was the hardest thing to explain. There are also Lao Zhou's wife and daughter. Wang Xiulan, Zhou Xiaomei. Old Yutou has been looking for these two names all his life. He has been to Daxinganling several times, in winter, when the snow is so heavy that the footprints can be covered, and no one follows him. He carved his name on his tongue, but he couldn't find anyone. Zhao Guang just came to deliver the frozen pears, so I wrote very slowly. That scene was too quiet. Two old men, one went to the grave for his uncle and the other sat for his comrade. Zhao Guangcai said, you are old, don't run away every year. Old Yutou said, that is different. You are visiting the grave for your uncle, and I am visiting my comrade-in-arms. This doesn't make much sense, but the unspoken heaviness between the two old men is all contained in this cigarette and a bag of frozen pears. Old Yutou finally said, remember a sentence for me. Lao Zhao has not rebelled. Xiao Liu absconded. I have been searching all my life for Lao Zhou's wife and daughter, but I have not been able to find them. He had been holding back this sentence his whole life. He wrote it down for fear of forgetting, but when it was written on paper, the things in his heart were not light at all. This chapter is about how the survivors carry the instructions of the dead and live out the rest of their lives. He lived for a hundred years, and the fruit tree bore fruit every year. But there are some people and some things that he has never been able to explain in his life. It's time to return to reality in the next chapter. Old Yutou is leaving, but the Shaguo tree is still there. But there are some words that his great-grandson must remember for him.
Chapter 2 The author has something to say This chapter describes the deaths of Lao Zhao and Lao Zhou, which made me feel very upset. When Xiao Shandong died in the previous chapter, Lao Zhou was still with him. Lao Zhou closed Xiao Shandong's mouth and said, Xiao Shandong, please call me daddy. By this chapter, Lao Zhou himself was gone. The man who was little Shandong's father finally leaned on Yu Deshui's shoulder and told him the names of his wife and daughter. He tilted his head and disappeared. When I was writing about the scene where Lao Zhao crossed the river, the sound of the ice cracking filled my mind. Lao Zhao was not beaten to death, nor was he killed by an explosion. The ice broke when he was crossing the river and he fell into the icy water, freezing to death. When he was pulled up, his clothes were frozen into ice shells, his face turned purple, and his eyes rolled up. This scene is so real that I can't bear to write about it. But what hurt me the most was what happened afterwards. Old Zhao was lying on the kang, soaking his feet in warm water. The blackened flesh and skin peeled off layer by layer, exposing his bones. He couldn't bear the pain, so Yu Deshui asked him to bite his arm. He doesn't bite. He said, don't shout to attract enemies. Until his death, he was afraid of exposing his target and compromising his comrades. The last thing he asked before he died was whether the sand fruit tree in the yard of Yu Deshui's hometown was still there. He asked him to go back and take a look for himself. In Lao Zhao's life, there is no one in his family, his wife is dead, and his child is dead. He just wanted to see a living tree. He wanted to know if the tree was still bearing fruit this year. The same goes for Lao Zhou. Lao Zhou is the toughest among the five. He is familiar with mountains and forests, can read snow, and can read footprints. He has a map sewn into the lining of his cotton-padded jacket. He led everyone along, paving a path. But in the end, he couldn't hold it any longer. He leaned on Yu Deshui's shoulder and said that he had a wife and a daughter at home. The child was three years old when he left, and is now a teenager. He asked Yu Deshui to help him find them. Wang Xiulan, Zhou Xiaomei. He was afraid that Yu Deshui wouldn't remember it, so he asked him to repeat it. Yu Deshui remembered it. Remembered for a lifetime. After writing this chapter, only one of the five people was left, Yu Deshui. He walked north alone, crossed the river alone, and went back to hand over the gun alone. When he walked in the snow, he left footprints under his feet, and the new snow covered them in an instant. Snow can cover the footprints, but it cannot cover the people in his heart. When writing this chapter, I kept thinking about how people in that era managed to survive. They saw off their comrades one after another, buried them in the frozen soil with their own hands, then turned around and continued walking. It's not that they are not afraid, it's that they don't even have time to be afraid. If the wind and snow don't stop, we have to keep walking. I wrote these things about Lao Yutou, not to say how miserable he was. What I want to say is that he was able to live to be a hundred years old, not because he was lucky, but because he carried the deaths of those people, the entrustments of those people, and the names of those people on his back. He lived alone and became a team. The next chapter is about him handing over the gun. Write about him returning to the camp, facing scrutiny and questioning. No one believed Lao Zhao's innocence, and Lao Zhou's wife and daughter could not be found. Write about how a person spends his whole life burdened with the debts of four people.
Chapter 1 The author has something to say While writing this chapter, I kept thinking about a question. What happened to those who survived the snowfield? They returned to the village, divided the land, married wives, had children, fed horses, drove carts, and planted crops in the production team. They eat, work, and sleep like everyone else. They laugh when they should laugh and talk when they should talk. No one knows whether they will dream at night, whether they will still have a vast white snow field in their dreams. No one knows whether they will suddenly stop and think of something someone said while walking in the snow. Lao Yutou later lived to be a hundred years old. He sat under the shaguo tree and basked in the sun. If anyone spoke to him, he would answer twice. If no one spoke to him, he would just sit there. He looks like an ordinary old rural man, with deaf ears, dazzled eyes, and neither a good nor a bad temper. But in his heart there is a snowfield, five people, and those who will always stay in winter. He survived, but not the snowfield. When I wrote about the death of Xiao Shandong, I used the gesture of Old Yutou. He closed Little Shandong's mouth, but it couldn't be closed after closing it twice. He covered Little Shandong's mouth with his hand, covered it for a while and slowly released it, and Little Shandong's mouth was closed. I have thought about this action for a long time. When a person dies, his body slowly hardens, and finally he can't even close his mouth. What the living people can do is to cover it with their hands for a while, borrow a little of the body's body temperature to make the body softer, and then let go. This is a stupid way, but it is also the only thing that can be done. I wrote the section where Big Lao Li left cover very quickly. Because when Lao Yutou recalled it later, he only remembered the sound of gunshots. First there was the machine gun fire, then it stopped, then there were a few more rifle shots, and then there was no sound. He didn't see the last appearance of Big Old Li. He only remembered Big Lao Li squatting behind the machine gun, facing the window, saying, Lao Yu, let's go. Then there was nothing. That's what war is like. When many people die, those around them hear only the sound. When the gunfire stopped, the people disappeared. The next chapter is about Lao Zhou. The one who said, "The snow is so good that it can cover the footprints." He comes out of this chapter alive, but he won't come out of the snowfield alive. (End of chapter)