Chapter 364: Have a Good Journey
When we arrived at Grandpa Dong's house, the aunt who worked as Grandpa Dong's nanny was busy in the restaurant.
When He Shu saw that the food was ready, he said to her, "Aunt, stop working. Grandpa Dong will come to my grandfather's house for dinner tonight."
The aunt responded, "Okay, the old man hasn't had a good appetite these past two days. It will be more lively over there, so he can eat more."
The smile on He Shu's face faded a little: "Grandpa, are you feeling unwell?"
"Yes." The nanny looked worried. "He just said he was tired and went into the house to rest. He also said he didn't want to eat dinner. I was worried about what to make for him."
"I'll go and take a look."
He Shu turned around and went upstairs. He walked to the door of the old man's room, knocked, and the door opened slightly.
"grandfather?"
There was no light in the room, and He Shu called out but received no response.
He pushed the door open and reached out to the wall to feel for the switch.
After the lights came on , He Shu saw the old man lying on the bed, so he walked in.
"Grandpa, are you asleep?"
When he got closer, He Shu saw Grandpa Dong lying flat on his back, holding a small photo frame in his arms, his eyes closed, and a very calm expression on his face.
"Grandpa?" He Shu walked quickly towards him, but the old man still didn't respond.
He Shu's heart skipped a beat and he reached out his hand and slowly touched Grandpa Dong's carotid artery.
The old man's heartbeat had stopped. He Shu couldn't believe it. He hurriedly lay down on Grandpa Dong's chest to listen.
But all he could hear was the "thump, thump, thump" sound of his heart beating loudly in his chest.
"Grandpa Dong, wake up..." He Shu's voice changed in panic, and he hurriedly unbuttoned Grandpa Dong's clothes on his chest.
He placed his hands on Grandpa Dong's chest, pressed down on it, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Help, help!"
The nanny heard the noise and ran upstairs. Before she even stepped foot into the door, she heard He Shu shouting, "Call the doctor quickly, quickly!"
…
The compound has a special emergency doctor. The nanny called him and he arrived with emergency equipment in a few minutes.
During this period, He Shu tried his best to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the old man using the first aid knowledge he learned in school.
But no matter how he pressed or gave him artificial respiration, Mr. Dong still had no breath and no response.
It was not until the sweaty He Shu was pulled away by the doctors and guards who arrived that he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
He Shu stared at the doctors and other people surrounding the bed without blinking, and suddenly saw that the photo frame that was on Grandpa Dong’s chest had fallen to the ground at some point.
He crawled over and picked it up from under the men's feet, turned over the front, and found that the frame had been broken into pieces, revealing an old black-and-white photo inside.
In the photo, a man and a woman, both wearing military caps and uniforms, stand side by side.
They had reserved yet joyful smiles on their faces. The young and handsome man had a vague resemblance to Grandpa Dong. This woman should be the grandmother that He Shu had never seen.
He Shu stared at the old photo in a daze, and the noisy sounds in his ears seemed to disappear.
He looked up and saw someone shaking his head. Then Grandpa Dong's guard, with tears in his eyes, temporarily covered the old man's face with a quilt beside him.
"What? Continue the rescue? Go to the hospital?"
He Shu got up from the ground, sweating profusely. He pulled a doctor in a white coat and asked anxiously.
"The old man no longer had any vital signs. He passed away peacefully."
In fact, the old man had already left before He Shu came over.
The nanny was so scared that she collapsed on the ground, covering her face and crying: "He just said he wanted to sleep, so I went to cook. If I had known..."
He Shu wanted to tell him not to give up so quickly. When he was performing CPR on Grandpa Dong just now, he felt that his body was still warm.
He wanted these people to send Grandpa Dong to the hospital for another round of rescue, but his uncle came at some point and dragged He Shu out of the house.
He Shu still held the old photo of Grandpa and Grandma Dong in his hand, watching more and more people coming in from outside.
There were also many soldiers serving in the hospital who brought some things to help with the funeral arrangements.
My grandfather also came, as well as some other grandfathers and grandmothers who lived in the compound.
They were all waiting in the living room. No one was crying loudly, but everyone's face was full of sorrow.
Grandpa Dong had no relatives or descendants. After his death, his body was quickly sent to the funeral home, where he was dressed in order.
After a farewell ceremony tomorrow, he will be cremated and buried in the Revolutionary Cemetery.
He Shu was taken home by his uncle and grandfather. When he got home, he found that the photo was still in his hand.
After this happened, Zhao Qishui knew that no one could take care of them now, but it was already very late, so he decided to go back with Xiao Dong at dawn tomorrow.
But he was a little worried about He Shu. He heard that he had given first aid to the deceased old man for a long time and stayed alone with him for several minutes. He was worried that he would be scared.
So after a tasteless dinner, Zhao Qishui came to He Shu's room.
"Godfather?"
"Tomorrow, your brother Xiao Dong and I will go back to Danhe first."
He Shu opened his mouth, finally nodded, and then forced a smile: "Then if there is a chance in the future, you can bring Xiao Dong brother over, and I will lead you to play."
"Okay, there will be opportunities anytime in the future."
Zhao Qishui touched He Shu's head and said, "Are you not scared?"
He Shu shook his head : "I'm not afraid, Grandpa Dong is very kind. I just feel that I just recognized him as my grandfather and haven't respected him well yet. It's too sudden..."
"I understand. Don't be sad. It is a blessing to die peacefully without suffering."
"Um…"
After a brief chat, Zhao Qishui returned to the guest room. He and Xiao Dong would stay there tonight.
He Shu couldn't sleep either, so he walked out of the room and came to the door of his grandfather's bedroom. Seeing that the door was not closed, he walked in.
"Grandpa."
"Hmm? Xiaoshu, can't you sleep?" Grandpa was wearing reading glasses and flipping through a photo album.
He Shu walked over and found that the album was full of old black-and-white photos similar to the one of Grandpa Dong.
"Grandpa, I brought this photo back by accident."
Grandpa took it and looked at it for a while: "Now that you have it back, keep it as a souvenir."
As he spoke, grandpa inserted this old photo into the album.
Then he asked He Shu to sit next to him, turned to the first page again, and introduced the people in the photos to He Shu.
"This is your Grandpa Cui. Your Grandpa Dong and I used to be his followers. He is a very remarkable man. He hid in a snow cave for seven days..."
"And this grandma is even more powerful than men in battle... huh? You don't believe it?"
"Look... this is also your Grandpa Dong. Haha, can't you tell? At that time, he slept in the cowshed for half a year... Well, he was very stubborn when he was young."
Following his grandfather's story, He Shu seemed to have personally experienced that pure yet complex era.
Each of these vibrant lives, which were once young, blossomed at different ages and left behind many stories.
Turning to the last page, grandpa touched the group photo he had just put in and muttered to himself.
"There are fewer and fewer old comrades, but those who can live to our age have suffered a lot in the past and have enjoyed a lot now, so no matter when we leave, there will be no regrets."
"Old Dong, have a safe journey."
