Before Zabow arrived, his voice had already come: "Teacher, teacher!" When he saw me, he grabbed my hand and said, "I went down the mountain to look for you, and they said you were gone and would not come back." He picked up my bowl and smelled it, "Why don't you give the teacher some liquor?" I said the spring water was good, and the liquor would be for the evening. I explained to Zabow that I intended to stay at his house for two or three days, walk around the mountains and draw something.
Zabow took me to his house. He told me that he was married and had a daughter. In the bamboo building, I did not see his wife and children. I asked, "Where are they?"
"They went back to my mother's house."
"Too bad, I don't remember which girl your wife is." I took out a small plastic box and handed it to Zabow, telling him that it had lipstick inside and his wife would like it. I gave him another box of crayons for his kid to play with.
Zabow asked me if I had found a woman I liked. I replied, "Yes, it is Donna! Do you remember her? She went to Myanmar with her uncle Kerte. I was just about to ask you to find out more for me."
"Teacher, I already know who Donna is. My wife knows her and her mother. The three people have not returned, and there is no news."
Several young men gathered at Zabow's house with gourd liquor and dried meat in the evening. We ate and drank under the oil lamp, talked about hunting and women, and played some folk songs until midnight.
Zabow was fast asleep, snoring. I was lying on the floor and couldn't sleep for a long time. These familiar people and surroundings made me want to know where she was and whether she felt my love. I simply got up, took some gourd liquor, and came to the grain-threshing field by moonlight.
I looked around. Everything was the same. Except for the cricket's cry, it was so quiet that I could hear my heartbeat. I felt the singing and laughter by the bonfire, the dancing shadows, as if they had just dissipated. I found a haystack and sat down, just like Donna did with me back then. I was drinking alone, looking at the bright moon hanging on the treetops; I wanted to hear a folk song from Donna.
I went and stayed at the farm camp for two more days after going down the mountain because I had a lot of memories there. On the basketball court, I met the Commissioner's son, Xiao Hai, who was just retired from the army. He was in a wheelchair watching the kids play basketball. His legs were empty from the knees. He had long tousled hair and an unshaven beard, and I almost didn't recognize him.
I stepped forward to shake Xiao Hai's hand and asked him, "Have you participated in the counterattack war?"
"Yeah, I was not lucky. I lost my legs in the first fight," he replied calmly, then added, "It's nothing compared to the many sacrificed comrades."
I followed him to his house, where he lived with his mother. His mother no longer recognized me. Xiao Hai explained that she had suffered too many shocks in the past year and was in a trance.
I saw Xiao Hai's messy look and asked him, "I remember that you have haircut tools at home. Are they still there?"
"Yes, it's been a long time," Xiao Hai thought my asking was strange.
"If you don't mind, I'll give you a haircut!"
Xiao Hai found the hair clipper from the drawer. I dripped some vegetable oil, debugged it, and it was still working. I gave him an inch cut and shaved off his beard, and he looked a little more youthful. His mother made lunch and was waiting for us.
"Tell me about your battle," I begged Xiao Hai.
"We were deminers, and we had to clear a path before the grand attack. When the charge horn sounded, we were still tens of meters away. The squad soldiers threw away their tools, ran to the minefield one by one, and detonated the mines with their bodies. One down, one more went up. I was the last one…"
After listening to it, I sighed; if I was Xiao Hai, I might not have the same courage.
***
The summer vacation was almost over, and I was preparing to go back to school. My mother received a call from Yalan's mother, saying that the Bai family was going to settle in Hong Kong. They would come and see us before leaving. She specially told my mother not to let me go because Yalan would come with them.
This time, the family came in a Jeep, and the car drove directly into my yard. I poked my head out of the window and saw Yalan jumping out of the car first, wearing a blue terrazzo denim jacket and a pair of high-top military sneakers. She had short shoulder-length hair, her shirt was open, and her green T-shirt couldn't seal her proud chest. My left cheek twitched involuntarily, and I remembered the feeling of being slapped in the face. As she bent over to get her backpack in the car, my eyes stopped on her curvy hips. She turned her head, found me staring at her, and said slightly shy, "Come and help me?"
I came to the yard, greeted her parents, took the backpack from Yalan, looked her up and down, and asked her curiously, "Are you an active or retired soldier?"
"Take a guess!" She smiled mysteriously.
"You don't look like a soldier; you are too trendy. You don't look like a retired army girl, but more like a jungle trooper."
"Keep guessing, and I'll tell you later."
After lunch, I took Yalan to my study room and showed her my recent sketches. I introduced her one by one of my favorite works, admired her surprised expression, and listened to her compliments. However, I forgot to hide a few nude paintings underneath.
I quickly apologized to her, saying it was not intentional. She took my hand away, picked up a nude painting, and looked at it silently, expressionless. I was unable to guess what she thought of me as a person. Fortunately, Aunt Bai walked in and asked for any plan for Yalan and me in the afternoon. I said I wanted to hear Yalan's idea.