Chapter 213: He Guan Enlists
No. 26 Rue Vallon.
This was the place He Guan rented.
Cheng Qianfan did not find He Guan.
Instead, he ran into Deputy Chief Inspector Jin Kemu and Mrs. He, who had come here in a panic looking for He Guan.
“Chief Jin!”
Cheng Qianfan saluted Jin Kemu.
“What’s happened?”
“Qianfan, have you seen Aguan?” Mrs. He asked anxiously.
“Auntie, I came here looking for Aguan too,” Cheng Qianfan said. “Did something happen?”
“Aguan left a letter saying he’s going to enlist.”
Mrs. He spoke through tears.
“What?”
Cheng Qianfan was astonished.
He Guan was going to enlist?
The boy had never mentioned such a thing.
“Where’s the letter? May I have a look?”
Jin Kemu took the letter from his pocket and handed it to Cheng Qianfan.
“Qianfan, you’re quick-witted. Analyze it for us. Where do you think this stubborn mule might have gone?” Jin Kemu slapped his forehead angrily. “My mind is a mess right now.”
Cheng Qianfan illuminated the letter with a flashlight.
The handwriting was ugly.
No mistake, it was He Guan’s handwriting.
Sure enough, just as Mrs. He had said, He Guan stated in the letter that he intended to enlist.
“The Japanese never cease their desire to destroy China. The disparity in national strength between our two countries is enormous. If we are to preserve our ancestral temples and protect the inheritance of Chinese civilization, only a fight to the death remains.”
Cheng Qianfan frowned slightly.
That did not sound like something He Guan would say.
He did not have that level of eloquence.
It sounded much more like Fang Muheng.
“Your son is unfilial. Mother, please take care of your health. Loyalty and filial piety cannot both be fulfilled. Mother, please do not blame me.”
That sounded much more like He Guan.
Cheng Qianfan carefully folded the letter.
“When did Aguan disappear? Did Chief Jin notify the brothers to help search for him?”
“A lot of people are already helping search.”
Jin Kemu’s brows remained tightly furrowed.
“After dinner, the boy said he was going back to his room to rest. Later, his mother discovered he was gone, leaving behind only this letter.”
“Qianfan, you’re Aguan’s good friend. Help us, help me bring him back.”
Mrs. He sobbed.
“If anything happens to him, Auntie truly won’t be able to go on living.”
As she spoke, Mrs. He broke into loud wails, saying she had failed her husband.
Her eldest son was gone, and now she had failed to look after her younger son as well.
“I know where Aguan is.”
After thinking for a moment, Cheng Qianfan spoke slowly.
French Public Park.
The night was deep.
The plane trees lining both sides of the road stood silently.
Occasionally a breeze would pass through, causing their branches and leaves to rustle softly.
Beneath a French plane tree tied with a red ribbon stood He Guan, carrying a travel pack on his back.
“Aguan.”
The moment Mrs. He spotted her son from afar, she started toward him.
Her younger brother, Jin Kemu, immediately held her back.
“Don’t disturb him.”
Jin Kemu sighed.
The three quietly lightened their footsteps and slowly approached.
Lost in his emotions, He Guan did not notice them.
“Brother, I’m leaving.”
He Guan touched the red ribbon tied around the tree.
After his brother died for the nation, their mother had tied it there with her own hands.
His hand rubbed hard against the carved marks on the plane tree.
It was too dark to see clearly.
He looked with his heart instead.
His brother, He Luan, had been six years older than him.
The two brothers had always been close.
He still remembered his brother bringing him beneath this tree for the first time and using a stone to mark their heights on its trunk.
After that, sometimes every year, sometimes every two years, the lines carved into the tree became the growth rings of the two brothers’ lives.
Everything came to an abrupt end in the twenty-first year of the Republic.
The January 28 Incident.
His brother’s unit, the 88th Division of the Fifth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, had been ordered to hold Miaohang.
While Shanghai newspapers were enthusiastically celebrating and reporting the Great Victory at Miaohang, the He family received a bloodstained final letter delivered by a soldier.
“Brother, you told me to take good care of Mother, but I’ve done a terrible job. I always make her angry.”
“You know my temper. Every time I tell myself I’ll change.”
He Guan scratched his head.
“But I never manage to.”
“When your final letter arrived at home, our world collapsed. Mother held me and cried.”
“I told Mother that one day I would enlist too and avenge you.”
“Mother beat me severely.”
“I was afraid of making Mother angry, so I never mentioned it again.”
“But the thought remained in my heart all this time.”
“A friend once said something to me. He said that this era has given our generation a responsibility. The nation is in danger, the people are in danger, and victory requires blood and sacrifice to nourish it...”
“Don’t laugh at me. It took me a lot of effort just to memorize that sentence completely. I could never say something like that myself, but I think it’s a wonderful thing to say.”
“Brother, I’ve fallen in love with a girl.”
A smile appeared on He Guan’s face.
“I told her that if I come back alive, I’ll marry her.”
“Brother, I secretly left a letter for Mother, telling her I was going to enlist. She must be heartbroken right now. Will you blame me?”
He Guan sniffled.
“Mother must be cursing me right now.”
He raised an arm and wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.
“I thought I was pretty tough, but I haven’t even left yet. Thinking that I might never see Mother again, I suddenly miss her.”
“Aguan!”
Mrs. He could no longer control herself.
Wailing loudly, she rushed forward and threw herself at her son.
He Guan raised his head.
His eyes were red.
He stared at them in complete shock.
“Mother, Uncle, Qianfan, how did you...”
Before he could finish speaking, his mother grabbed him and slapped him across the face.
Caught completely off guard, He Guan did not dodge.
Another slap followed.
“I’m going to beat you to death! Beat you to death! Beat this stubborn mule to death!”
Mrs. He cried as she struck him.
“If I beat you to death now, at least you won’t live long enough to anger me to death.”
“Mother, I’m not wrong! I’m going to enlist! I’m going to avenge my brother and defend our home and country!”
He Guan shouted while trying to dodge.
“Defend our home and country! There are so many people, so many people. Why, why must everything fall upon the He family?”
Mrs. He wailed loudly.
“Your brother is gone. Half of Mother’s heart was carved away. If anything happens to you, how am I supposed to keep living?”
Watching He Guan being beaten and scolded by his mother, Cheng Qianfan turned his head away and sniffed quietly.
He envied He Guan.
In the end, He Guan, who had left a letter behind and attempted to run away to enlist, was dragged back home.
The He household descended into complete chaos.
He Guan had completely made up his mind to enlist.
He openly declared that they might have dragged him back today, but he would run away again in the future.
Mrs. He was so angry she nearly fainted.
“Aguan, are you trying to anger your mother to death?”
Mrs. He cried.
Cheng Qianfan quietly left.
He did not know how he should persuade them.
Should he persuade Mrs. He to allow He Guan to enlist?
He Guan was the sole remaining heir of the He family.
He was Aunt He’s entire reason for living.
If anything happened to He Guan, would Aunt He even survive the blow?
Should he persuade He Guan not to enlist and instead remain the pampered young master of the police station?
He could not bring himself to say that either.
Furthermore, He Guan’s previous association with Fang Muheng and Liu Bo had frightened Cheng Qianfan badly.
He Guan was impulsive by nature and easily deceived.
If he remained at the police station, sooner or later he would cause a major disaster.
Seen from that perspective, perhaps enlisting was not such a bad choice after all.
But he could not say that aloud.
He could not bear to see the grief on Mrs. He’s face.
The next day, Cheng Qianfan encountered a worried-looking Jin Kemu at the police station.
“Chief Jin, how is Aguan?” Cheng Qianfan asked.