Black tombstone

When I was in high school that year, I accidentally read an essay written by a high school student called "Black Tombstone". It was about the deeds of two martyrs in the Martyrs Cemetery in Dongshan, my county. During the Vietnam War in 1986, during Operation Blue Sword B of the Lanzhou Military Region, a soldier named Li Liangdong used his chest to withstand the explosive package pushed out by the enemy, and died together with the enemy. Also sacrificed was Lin Hongru, a soldier from our county. Li Liangdong was 22 years old that year and Lin Hongru was 23 years old. To this day, I have never forgotten this article I read, and I also remember these two heavy names.

I want to talk about 1986.

That year, I was 7 years old and just went to school in the first grade.

There are four teachers in the school, one of whom is named Li.

Teacher Li taught fifth grade Chinese, but she didn’t teach me yet.

One day, after class, the fifth grade students were whispering to each other, saying that Teacher Li cried during class, and that Teacher Li’s son died in a war.

Later on, Teacher Li became my class teacher from the second grade. I remember that his slaps were very thick, but he never hit us. When we were lying on the windowsill outside the classroom writing, he always slapped us. He sneaked up behind us, pointed at our backs with his thick fingers, and teased us. He made us glasses out of corn stalks. He likes to write calligraphy, he likes to read novels, and talk about history. I still clearly remember the part where he talked about the "Daze Township Uprising." One time I brought a novel from home, and he sat on campus and read it with gusto. When he read that someone was riding a horse, he deliberately learned to make the sound of horse hooves "ta da da da". We all thought the teacher was so funny. oh.

That year, when the elementary school was promoted to the junior high school, Teacher Li also went to the junior high school with me, and he did general logistics.

Once, he saw the blackboard newspaper I made on campus and praised my handwriting for great progress.

Several times, I went to his office and he told me a lot of things that I should study hard.

Later, when I went to high school, he was still in junior high school. I heard that after a few years, he got older and was transferred to elementary school.

Later, after graduating from college and working, several years passed. Once I went back to my hometown, I met him in a car, and left after a brief greeting.

I have always told myself that I want to see my first teacher, my favorite teacher in my life, when I go home. I have also mentioned it to my family many times, and my parents said you should go and see it. It seems that he is a good person and a good teacher!

One year I went back and the teacher passed away!

This year is already 2019. The whole country is in celebration. Various TV stations and online media are broadcasting our achievements and our past sufferings. This also reminds me of the distant past. I missed my mentor and thought of the tombstone on Dongshan Mountain, and I stayed awake all night!