By the afternoon, the team had cleared thirteen mines, all of which had been defused and laid out in a row on the ground.
Song Ran squatted nearby to take pictures. Seeing Li Zan placing the mines in two rows, he asked, "Is there any difference?"
"These six are trip hairs, and these seven are press hairs."
Song Ran held up the radio microphone and asked, "What is hair compression?"
"It explodes once you step on it."
"What about the ones in the movies?"
"Movie?" He turned to look at her.
"In the movies, they all step on something and then let go so it explodes."
"That's loose hair," Li Zan said. "It usually appears in movies. It's rarely used in real life. It explodes as soon as you step on it. There's no time for expressing emotions."
"Oh." She suddenly realized.
When I watched movies before, I always wondered why the mines had such a big bug, which always let the protagonist escape. It turned out to be the screenwriter's design.
At around 4 p.m., the detachment cleared a safe passage. The Dongguo soldiers accompanying the detachment marked the passage with a line and sent people to the village to inform the locals.
Everyone packed up their instruments and tools and went back.
After a whole day of field work, everyone was exhausted and kept on going in silence. The relaxed energy they had in the morning was gone, leaving only fatigue.
The sky was cloudless and as blue as the sea; the sun was still scorching, shining brightly on the mountains and fields.
Passing a hillside, the wheat fields all over the hill looked like a golden ocean. Song Ran saw an old man wearing a sweat towel and ethnic costume, hunched over, walking slowly on the ridge of the field with a sack on his back.
The old man was skinny, but the sack on his back was extremely strong, making him look like a fat man, bending his back.
Song Ran turned on the camera and lowered the lens, then spoke softly into the microphone: "I met a local old man on the road. He was carrying a large cloth bag. Maybe it was... food?"
After listening to this, Li Zan looked up and saw an old man in coarse clothes and cloth trousers walking among the wheat fields under the blue sky, like an oil painting.
He squinted his eyes to identify it and said, "It's food. When I came here this morning, he was harvesting wheat in the fields on the other side of the mountain."
Song Ran said: "It looks very heavy."
Li Zan suddenly asked: "Guess how many pounds it is?"
Song Ran couldn't guess: "I don't know. ... Can you tell?"
Li Zan took another look and thought: "About 80 kilograms."
Song Ran had no idea about weight. She smoothed her sweaty hair under the brim of her hat and asked, "How much is 80 kilograms?"
He looked her over from head to toe and said, "Almost as heavy as you."
“…” She whispered, “I’m not that light. Besides, I don’t think the bag is that heavy.”
Team leader Yang at the side interjected, "I think it's heavier than you, probably more than a hundred pounds."
It turned out that everyone had heard the conversation between the two. As soon as Captain Yang spoke, the soldiers started talking:
"How can it be so exaggerated? About fifty kilograms. Maybe there is cotton in it."
"Bullshit, where is the cotton here?"
"I think 60 to 70 kilograms is about right."
"Ninety kilograms, for sure."
After a lot of discussion, the topic suddenly changed.
"Can that old man carry 90 kilograms? I don't think you can even carry it."
"I can't carry 90 kilograms. Believe it or not, I can lift you up now."
Song Ran: “…”
When everyone was in a commotion, Li Zan said, "Why don't you go over and carry him on your back?"
Everyone exchanged glances, eager to try.
Team Yang: “I think it’s OK.”
Song Ran: “…”
Are these a group of elementary school students
Li Zan expressed his views to Ethan, a soldier from the East Kingdom who was traveling with him. Unexpectedly, Ethan also showed great interest in an unreliable way. He shouted loudly in the East Kingdom dialect towards the hillside, and the old man stopped.
A group of soldiers, all beaming with joy, jumped up the hillside, crossed the harvested wheat fields, stepped on the calf-high wheat stalks, and ran up the hill laughing and joking.
Song Ran was amazed and ran after them with his camera in hand.
The old man stood on the edge of the field, looking at a group of young soldiers rushing towards him, feeling a little panicked.
Ethan smiled and explained his purpose. Only then did the old man relax, put down the big sack on his back, panted, took off his headscarf and wiped the sweat off his face.
The sack was as tall as a child and the water in the well was as thick as a child.
Captain Yang tried to pick it up and then put it down: "Oh my god. It's really heavy. It must be over 90 kilograms."
Li Zan pulled the straps, put the bag on his back, weighed it, and said, "Almost."
Others tried to carry it as if they had seen something rare.
Li Zan said to Ethan, "Is the old man over 80?"
After asking, Ethan said, "Eighty-three."
Li Zan said: "The old man is in good health and can carry such heavy food."
Ethan answered directly: "Hey, all farmers are like this. Not to mention grandpa, even old women can carry hundreds of pounds. They have been doing hard labor all their lives, so they are used to it."
Li Zan looked at the old man's shrunken head, smiled faintly, and asked, "How many people are there in your family?"
The old man raised his dry and rough hands, gesticulating and muttering to himself.
Ethan translated: "Nine people. However, the eldest son's family fled to a neighboring country. The youngest son is a soldier. There is also an old woman, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren at home."
“Do you still farm normally?”
"I did. But because of the war, many crops were destroyed. We only harvested this little wheat from such a large field. I don't know what to do after we finish eating it."
Li Zan pursed his lips and said nothing. He stood there for a while, then noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw Song Ran filming. He was not used to showing his face, so he turned away a little unnaturally, took a step back, and was out of the shot.
Not far away, everyone was still happily carrying the bag of rice.
Li Zan stood aside, looking at his comrades, and couldn't help but smile.
Song Ran looked at his smiling profile, hesitating whether to take a picture. Just then he turned around and met her gaze.
The casual smile on his face had not yet faded, and he said, "I was wrong just now. That bag weighs more than 80 kilograms."
She nodded: "Yeah."
The old man was also very happy to learn that they were here to remove landmines. He trembled and took out a few crumpled cigarettes from his pocket and handed them to everyone attentively. The cigarettes must have been picked up on the battlefield, they were good stuff, and they must have been treasured for a long time.
Captain Yang immediately waved his hand and said no.
The old man didn't understand the language and his face was full of wrinkles from smiling, but he still kept handing me the cigarette.
Captain Yang said to Ethan, "Tell him we don't want it."
But Ethan said, "Take it. He will be happier if you take it."
Captain Yang then took one, and two or three other comrades also took one.
The last cigarette was handed to Li Zan, who smiled and said, "Thank you, I don't smoke."
Ethan explained it, and the old man then carefully put the last cigarette back into his pocket.
After everyone finished having fun, they said goodbye to the old man.
A group of young soldiers in camouflage uniforms ran into the golden fields and down the hillside like pouring beans.
Li Zan was the last one to walk. He patted the sack on the old man's back and secretly stuffed ten dollars into the sack. When he was about to jump off the wheat field, he realized that there was a little tail, Song Ran, following him.
Her expression was a little subtle, and the camera in her hand obviously recorded what had just happened.
Li Zan, who was caught in the act, felt a little uncomfortable and whispered, "You never turn off your camera."
Song Ran: “…”
Blame me.
He jumped into the wheat field, and his companions had already run to the path at the bottom of the hill. He chased them, ran a few steps, then stopped and walked.
Song Ran guessed that he might be waiting for her, so she quickened her pace to catch up with him.
At that time, the wind blew on the hillside. The clumps of harvested wheat stalks brushed past her feet, like little hands scratching her legs, which was a little painful and a little itchy.
On the way back to the city, everyone was tired and leaned on the awning to rest.
Li Zan also leaned against the tent and closed his eyes. His head occasionally swayed with the movement of the vehicle, and he looked like he was asleep.
Song Ran sat beside him, exhausted but unable to sleep. His mind replayed the scene like a slide show - blue sky, bright sun, he and she walked down the golden hillside at a parallel distance; no one spoke, just walked.
She has been sensitive since she was a child, and some trivial things can easily leave a mark on her heart. This is not a good thing.
Song Ran felt a little uncomfortable and frowned hard, suppressing the sadness and self-abandonment that arose in his heart.
She really wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible and run as far away as possible.
Half an hour later, we returned to the center of Garo City. A truck drove past on the cracked cement road. A group of dark-skinned children saw it and ran after the truck. Some of them reached out to ask for things. But everyone had nothing to bring, so they could only wave at them.
The children didn't mind and continued to run after the military vehicles, jumping, shouting and singing. They had too little entertainment, so they didn't disperse until they were almost at the gate of the garrison.
After getting off the car, Captain Yang called the soldiers to a place to line up. They stood straight in two rows.
"stand at attention!"
"At ease."
"Today's mission was accomplished very well, especially by Li Zan, Dong Wenbin, and Zhang Kai, who were bold, careful, and calm. At the same time, several other comrades, Jiang Lin and Wang Sicun, were negligent and missed some points, and I hope they will pay attention to them in future work. Remember, this is not a drill..."
The officers and soldiers had serious expressions on their faces, their faces red from the sun under their military caps.
"It's very hot today. Thank you for your hard work in holding on for a whole day under the scorching sun. Keep up the hard work. All right, stand at attention! - Disband!"
The soldiers dispersed on the spot, Song Ran turned off the camera and went to find Captain Yang. According to the TV station's request, she also needed to find a soldier for a separate interview.
Captain Yang took off his hat, wiped the sweat from his hair, and asked, "Do you want to be on camera alone?"
"right."
He looked back at the soldiers who had dispersed and walked away, narrowed his eyes, and shouted, "A-Zan!"
Li Zan turned around.
Captain Yang waved at him, then turned to Song Ran and said, "Pick someone who looks good."
“…” Song Ran didn’t say anything. He wanted to ask if he could change someone, but he kept his mouth shut.
Li Zan came over and asked, "Captain Yang?"
Team Yang pointed at Song Ran and said, "Cooperate with reporter Song to do a private interview."
"OK."
Captain Yang turned and took a step forward, then turned back and pointed: "Wash your face and hair, and change into clean clothes. Make yourself look nicer."
Li Zan: “…”
…
Song Ran set up the tripod camera and prepared the recorder and notebook, and sat on a chair to organize the materials.
After a while, someone knocked on the door.
Song Ran turned around and saw Li Zan coming in.
He had taken a shower, his hair was clean, his face was fresh, and he had changed into a new camouflage combat uniform.
"Officer Li," Song Ran stood up and pointed to the chair opposite the camera, saying, "Sit here."
Li Zan went over and sat down. Facing the dark camera in front of him, he felt a little unnatural and raised his hand to straighten the collar of his clothes.
Song Ran said, "It's okay. If you feel that something is not recorded well, you can re-record it or interrupt it. Don't be nervous."
Li Zan laughed and said, "I'm not nervous."
"Oh." Song Ran handed him the notebook and said, "This is the question I will ask you later. Please prepare first."
"Yeah." He took the notebook and looked at it carefully.
Maybe because he is tall, he looks quite thin. But he has a nice figure, and his shoulders hold up his camouflage uniform. He has long legs, and his trouser legs are casually tucked into his boots. He looks energetic even when he is sitting.
His hair is cut into a buzz cut, which makes him look energetic and manly, and he also looks very photogenic.
Song Ran didn't want to look any longer and lowered his head to take notes until he looked up.
She pursed her lips: "Are you ready?"
"Okay." He bent over and returned the notebook to her, then straightened up out of habit when he sat back down.
Song Ran turned on the instrument, and on the monitor, his expression was calm and steady.
The room was quiet. She sat down quietly beside him, handed the microphone to him with her left hand, and asked in a low voice: "What is your main responsibility in this operation?"
Li Zan lowered his voice and said, "Mine clearance, bomb disposal, explosion prevention."
Song Ran paused.
"What's wrong?" He thought something was wrong.
She explained: "You don't have to whisper like me. Just speak normally. I'm a reporter, a secondary character. You are the protagonist."
Li Zan was stunned. He lowered his head awkwardly, touched his nose and smiled. His face turned a little red.
He said, “I understand.”
"Then start over?"
"Okay." He nodded, glanced at the camera, and suddenly raised his hand, "Wait a moment."
"What's wrong?"
Li Chan pointed at the camera, then at her: "Should I look at it or at you?"
Song Ran was stunned for a moment and said, "All is fine."
He looked at the camera for half a second, then moved his gaze to her eyes and smiled, "Let me look at you."