Finally, after the winter vacation, I made a trip home. The farm was no longer the military establishment as in the past, my family had moved out of the mountains, and my mother and sister didn't know much about the Tenth Battalion. I told my parents that I wanted to visit my students in the mountains, and they helped me find a ride.
The old camp had changed beyond recognition, and I didn't recognize most people anymore. Jialin Chen, Siyan, and Dagui had all returned to their cities. The veterans and their families were still there, a few Zhiqing who married local people were still there, and the rest were newcomers from other cities. Life was still going on, but the wake-up call in the morning and the lights-out call in the evening were no longer heard, there was no collective dining hall, and no one remembered the Song of Nanjing Educated Youth that was still circulating yesterday. Those hilarious stories of joys and sorrows were not far away, but now it seemed like they never happened.
Zhongwei Gao, the hero, was expelled from the party and sent back to his hometown in Shandong. The Commissioner committed suicide. He hung himself on a tree in the mountain forest. When he was found, his eyeballs had been taken away by birds. No one suspected that he had killed himself.
People were talking to me about Donna. Not long after I left, Zhongwei's wife came to the farm with their two children. She had discovered that her husband was close to Dr. Fang and found that he was hiding condoms. She used needles to poke holes in the condoms, waiting for Doctor Fang's joke. As a result, Zhongwei got a young Zhiqing pregnant, and he was dismissed as the company commander. To avoid her husband's punishment, his wife misled him into thinking it resulted from Doctor Fang's instigation. One day, he snuck into Donna's dormitory and tried to rape her. Donna slashed his stomach with a rubber taping knife when she resisted before managing to escape him.
The Commissioner secretly arrested Zhongwei and Donna and locked them in the confinement room to block the news. My father had been transferred to the regiment at that time so that no one could stop the Commissioner. Because of the Commissioner's involvement with the Gang of Four's political views, he was under the regiment's investigation for fear that his superiors would discover this accident and that would be the last blow to ruin his future.
Siyan found where Donna was confined. Donna's uncle Kerte and the villagers sneaked into the camp headquarters at night, rescued Donna by force, and brought her back to the mountain. The Commissioner took the militia to the village and confronted the villagers for a day until he confirmed that Donna and her uncle had escaped.
Dr. Fang was very disappointed and sad. Later, she left the farm with the children and returned to the tribe village.
I eagerly came to Kerte's village, holding on to a glimmer of hope that I could see Donna again. There was nearly no change here compared with the bottom of the mountain: the blue water and green mountains, the roosters, and the barking dogs. The girls were playing in the clear spring in front of the village, and the house of Kerte was still intact, and the front and back of the house were full of plants - banana, papaya, and grapefruit trees.
I went up to the bamboo building and knocked on the door. Donna's second sister opened it. She was dressed in native dress and looked like Donna when I saw her in this house two years ago. I met Dr. Fang inside, and she made me tea.
I asked her eagerly, "What about the others?"
"Children are playing in the water outside."
"Is Donna there too?"
"No, I haven't heard from her and her uncle."
"Where did they go?"
"Uncle took Donna and Ploy to Myanmar and planned for a short stay. It's been half a year, and there is no news. I don't know what happened." Dr. Fang said with a worried voice.
"Have you asked someone to look for them?" I asked.
"No, there has been a war on the other side of the border, and the borders are strictly controlled and dangerous. It is not possible to move around."
Donna was like a kite with a broken string, gone without a trace. I could see that her mother missed her as much as I did. Fortunately, Donna's sisters were living happily here. Dr. Fang set up a school for the village, teaching classes and offering medical services to nearby people.
I had also been to the small waterfall where Donna and I used to meet, sitting on a rock beside the water for a long time. The picturesque scenery was still the same. The warm sun shone on the clear water, and the breeze gently caressed the clumps of flowers, passing water plants and bushes; it merged with the cascading waterfalls and tall bamboo forests, and endlessly sang the unforgettable song of nature.
I went back to school with a lot of sadness and couldn't forget what happened to Donna. The cold winter seemed particularly long. The homework was heavy, and there was not much time left for me to be in a daze. I often envied my classmate Wenbin Guo. Under the nose of the class political counselor, he dragged the female monitor into the water and became her lover. Although he couldn't hold hands in the open places, they would pass notes to each other from time to time. Seeing that as a bystander, my heart was pumping, thinking that the girl I loved was lost in the remote rainforest; I wondered if there was still a way to meet her.
Until summer, I told myself to cheer up – I thought Donna would want me to be a sunny young man. I ran, played football, swam, and painted outdoors in my spare time.
Following a random encounter, a girl hurried into my eyes.
On a sultry morning, I ran around the campus at about five o'clock and saw my roommate Xiao Hu doing something by the swimming pool. I saw that he was holding a girl's swimsuit and clothes and was negotiating with a girl in the pool. The girl was alone in the water with only her head exposed. She was swimming naked in violation of the prohibition.
Xiao Hu kept saying to the girl, "Kiss me, and I'll give back your clothes."
The girl begged him, "Return my clothes first, and I will kiss you."
I told Xiao Hu, "Stop the prank, give back her clothes and let's go. It's almost dawn, and she could get in trouble."
Xiao Hu ignored me and pretended to leave with her clothes. The girl was so anxious that she wanted to cry. Although Xiao Hu was half a head taller than me, and I might suffer from a conflict with him, I didn't think much about it and wanted to intervene. I reached out to grab the clothes and accidentally pushed him into the water. He couldn't swim, so I jumped into the water to get him out. While the little jackal was running away, he told me he wouldn't forget what happened today and seek payback.
I was soaked all over, so I gave up running and walked toward the school building. The girl caught up with me from behind, thanked me for helping her out, and told me her name was Tianxue. Before I was prepared, she kissed me on the face and ran towards the front.