my summer

The person next door to my house is an old man named Chen who has retired for many years and has been living alone in this tube building.

I heard from my father that Grandpa Chen was a soldier when he was young, fought in wars, and later came to work in a cement factory. He has never been married and has no children.No wonder I never saw anyone other than Tongzilou residents in his house.

As for why Grandpa Chen is not married, no one knows.Everyone said that Grandpa Chen was a bit weird.

It is said that when Grandpa Chen first arrived at the cement factory, he was a tall and handsome young man, with a righteous personality and a melancholy temperament, so he was favored by the young female workers in the factory.There are many people who ask matchmakers to come to say goodbye.However, whether it was the female workers in the factory or the young women in other units, they were all rejected by Grandpa Chen.As time went by, no one would kiss again.

Everyone stays away from Grandpa Chen on purpose, except the dad who lives next door.Dad told me that Grandpa Chen is a widowed and lonely old man, so pitiful, you should spend more time with him and talk to him when you have time.I nodded happily.

Sometimes when my dad cooks big dishes like braised pork or beer duck, he will make a special bowl and order me to send it to Grandpa Chen.As a gift in return, Grandpa Chen would usually give me a few biscuits or a few free-range eggs.

Grandpa Chen is very amiable and always smiles. Every time he smiles, the wrinkles on his face will become deeper, like a dry Selaginella.

He often told me about his experience as a soldier when he was young.When recalling those glorious days, the Selaginella on Grandpa Chen's face seemed to be reborn, showing new vitality.

Of course, he also has a serious expression, I have met several times.

Every time I saw him pick up an old yellowed photo, look at it intently, after looking at it for a while, gently wipe it repeatedly with a small white handkerchief, and then blow it a few times until it is sure that there is no stain left on the photo. As soon as a speck of dust was removed (of course this is just an exaggeration, how could it be wiped completely free of dust), he then gently put the photo back under the glass top of the desk.

The table is covered with a very thick glass countertop, and the photos are pressed one by one under the glass for display, which was a very popular operation in the past.That old photo wasn't mixed in with the pile of photos, but fixed in the bottom right corner.

Once, out of curiosity, I quietly walked over to look at the photo.I thought I would see a handsome girl whom Grandpa Chen admired when he was young, but unexpectedly it was a group photo of a pair of young soldiers wearing military caps and military uniforms.

Through the shape of my face and facial features, I can vaguely tell that the little soldier on the left is Grandpa Chen, while the one on the right is a completely unfamiliar face.Both of them are heroic and radiant, but the rough shooting techniques and unclear imaging effects have not affected the unique temperament emanating from them in the slightest.

"Grandpa Chen, who is the person in this photo?" I couldn't hold back and asked him, "The one on the left is you, I can tell, what about the one on the right?"

Grandpa Chen came over and stared at the photo for a while, then sighed softly, and said, "It's my comrade in arms."

"Oh," I said, "where is he now? Why didn't he come to see you?"

Grandpa Chen's expression darkened, his eyes trembled slightly, and after a while, he slowly said: "My comrade-in-arms has died on the battlefield, and he will never come back."

"I'm sorry," I apologized for my recklessness, "your comrade is such a hero."

"Yeah..." Grandpa Chen raised his head and looked out the window, and I followed along, everything under the sun was bright.

"He is my hero." Grandpa Chen said calmly.

He is my big hero.

Grandpa Chen's words are a bit beyond my understanding.It sounds like nothing, a very common compliment, but when I think about it carefully, I feel something different, but I can't say what it means.I am puzzled by this.

So I took Xia Zhi to see the photo, and then relayed Grandpa Chen's words to him, hoping that he could taste something.

Xia Zhi chewed on this sentence repeatedly, and then fell into deep thought.

"Oh, what are you thinking?" I asked eagerly.

He looked at me for a while, smiled slightly, and said calmly: "Then what else is there, the relationship between Grandpa Chen and this comrade-in-arms must be very strong, and he is extremely proud of this comrade-in-arms."

"That's it?" I was a little disappointed, "I know this too."

He shrugged, as if to himself, "Well, that's it, it must be."

A few years later, when I was in college during a certain summer vacation, I went back to live with my dad again, but I never saw Grandpa Chen again.

Dad said that Grandpa Chen passed away very peacefully.

Grandpa Chen's distant relatives came to transport his body back to his hometown for burial, and at the same time emptied all valuable and possibly valuable items from his house.When I left, I didn't even lock the door, I pushed it lightly and it opened.So I sneaked in while no one was looking.

The house was in a mess, except for some broken furniture and old clothes.I slowly wandered around in every corner of the room, Grandpa Chen's kind smile seemed to appear in front of my eyes, and Grandpa Chen's hearty laughter seemed to echo in my ears.

I finally went to the desk and looked down.The photos under the glass table are still intact, staying in the original place, except for the position in the lower right corner which is vacant.

The photo of Grandpa Chen and his comrades in arms disappeared.

Where did this photo go?I stared at the small vacancy, thought and thought, thought and thought, and for some reason, the words of Grandpa Chen popped up in my mind.

He is my big hero.

Oh, I suddenly realized that this photo must have gone where it should go.Accompanied by these short seven characters, they were deeply buried in the soil until eternity.

My eye sockets gradually became moist.

As I grow older, I am no longer a crybaby, but what I see, think, and feel in front of me makes me have to go back.

This time, I am willing to be a crybaby.

The author has something to say: See you the night after tomorrow~