allonlinenovel Chapter 1040 Placement
Chapter 1040 Placement
Then, Li Shouren and Widow Sun silently walked to the other side.
There lay the youngest girl, who ultimately couldn't survive yesterday's weakness and fright.
Her small, thin body was curled up like an abandoned kitten.
Li Shouren took off his thickest, and only relatively intact, tattered cotton-padded coat and wrapped it very gently around her cold, frail little body, as if afraid of waking her from her deep sleep.
Then, with his bare hands, he painstakingly dug a shallow pit in the cold, hard frozen ground, placed her inside, and gently covered her with soil.
The whole process was heartbreakingly depressing.
Three newly added small mounds of earth lay side by side on the cold ground, like countless nameless scars on this land.
Li Shouren straightened up, staring blankly at everything before him. The wound in his heart, torn open by Xiao Juan, seemed to have lost all sensation, leaving only a deathly coldness and numbness.
My tears have long since dried up; even sorrow has become a luxury.
Subsequently, urged impatiently by the military police, Li Shouren, along with Widow Sun and a dozen children, a group of elderly, weak, women and children who were walking unsteadily, left this ruin soaked with their blood, tears and despair.
His figure was forlorn and helpless, blending into the leaden gray background of Nanjing in winter.
They were taken to a relatively "intact" area in the south of the city, near the Zhonghua Gate.
The term "complete" is only relative to the vast ruins found elsewhere.
Most of the houses here are also dilapidated, with bullet holes and artillery fire marks on the walls, and many windows are blocked with broken wooden boards or straw mats.
But at least it still stands, with a roof to shelter it from the wind and four walls to keep out the cold.
The military police housed them in an old-style detached house.
The house had clearly been looted, with broken pottery jars, furniture wreckage, and dried bloodstains scattered in the courtyard.
What's most unsettling is that right next to the mansion, separated by just one wall, is the barracks of a Japanese military police detachment, with its glaring Japanese flag flying high!
The low walls are completely ineffective at blocking the view and sound.
From the courtyard, one could clearly hear the shouts of Japanese soldiers as they drilled, and the rhythmic, heavy thud of their boots on the hard ground.
Even just by looking up, you can see the sentry pacing back and forth on the watchtower not far away, his rifle with bayonet fixed. His cold gaze sweeps across the courtyard from time to time, like a knife scraping against everyone's skin.
After the "settlement" was completed, the sergeant walked up to Li Shouren, looked at him coldly, and said, "You, Li Shouren, and these people, will live here from now on."
He pointed to the dilapidated courtyard: "Your daily rations will be delivered on time. If you need anything, just report to the sentry at the gate. As long as it's reasonable, we'll provide it." His tone was flat and emotionless, yet it carried a commanding air, as if he were treating livestock.
What appears to be "protection" is in fact blatant surveillance and house arrest.
Li Shouren knew that from now on, every move they made, including eating, drinking, and relieving themselves, would be under the close surveillance of the armed military police next door.
They became like birds in a cage, turtles in a jar, their lives entirely in the hands of others.
After hearing these words, Li Shouren simply nodded silently, his face expressionless, as if he had only heard a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.
The immense grief of losing Xiaojuan seemed to have drained him of all joy and sorrow, leaving only a soulless, walking corpse. His eyes were terrifyingly empty, like two dry wells, bottomless and reflecting no light.
Then, he turned around, ignoring the military police, and began to tidy up the messy courtyard and rooms.
He carefully swept the broken rubble into a corner, used the broken planks he found to barely nail up the drafty windows, and tidied up a relatively clean place for Widow Sun and her children to take shelter.
His movements were mechanical and slow, yet exceptionally focused, as if he needed to pour all his energy into this endless labor in order to temporarily forget the excruciating pain.
. . . . . . . .
After that, Li Shouren seemed like a different person every day, walking briskly into the vast, endless ruins of Nanjing early in the morning.
His figure moved swiftly among the broken walls and ruins like a ghost.
His gaze became unusually sharp and persistent, like the most cunning hunting dog, carefully searching any corner where life might be hiding, whether there was a faint breathing sound under the collapsed beam.
Are there any subtle movements at the blocked air-raid shelter entrance?
Are there footprints near the abandoned well? He listened intently to every sound carried by the wind, not giving up on any glimmer of hope.
Whenever he found a surviving child, perhaps a toddler hiding under the stove, starving and on the verge of death.
Perhaps it was a boy huddled among a pile of corpses, covered in wounds, with a vacant look in his eyes.
Perhaps it was a little girl, lying beside her mother's already cold body, crying until her voice was hoarse.
No matter how bad the situation, no matter how dirty, thin, or injured the child was, Li Shouren would handle the child with utmost care, as if holding the most precious porcelain in the world, gently lifting the child up.
He would wrap the child in his worn-out cotton coat, trying to give him some warmth, and then, step by step, he would resolutely lead the child back to the small courtyard that was under close surveillance by the military police, but which was also the only place that could provide some shelter at the moment.
Back in the courtyard, Widow Sun would quietly take the child from her.
She used the food delivered by the military police and the herbs she had secretly picked to clean the wounds, feed the wounded girl rice gruel, and soothe her frightened heart.
She didn't say much, but she silently supported Li Shouren through her actions.
More and more children gradually appeared in the courtyard.
Cries, the occasional faint laughter of children receiving food, the simple chatter among the children... These faint sounds brought a sliver of life, however real, to the deathly silent and oppressive courtyard.
Li Shouren himself became almost a silent shadow.
He rarely spoke; he simply buried himself in his work.
Aside from going out to search for his child, he was busy in the yard repairing the leaky roof and walls, and taking care of the sick child.
He seemed to be trying to numb his broken heart and fill the huge, black hole-like emptiness and despair in his heart after losing Xiaojuan through this almost self-destructive, never-ending busyness.
Rescuing these children who have lost everything in the war has become the only reason for his survival and the only way for him to fight against this crazy and cruel world.
His obsession, profound and poignant, is like a wild grass stubbornly growing from the cracks in the rocks, spreading tenaciously on this scorched earth baptized by blood and fire. Though weak, it contains an indestructible vitality.
By protecting these children, he may also be protecting the last vestige of humanity and hope within himself.
Despite the darkness ahead, he continued to walk forward with faltering steps, carrying heavy shackles, toward an unknown tomorrow.