Chapter 140: Landmine Village

  Balihe Village is a border village in Yunnan, and it was the main battlefield of the 1978 Sino-Vietnamese War. At that time, the Chinese side buried over 10 million landmines near the front line to block the Vietnamese army's attack, but only half of them have been cleared so far. The expiration date of plastic landmines is 120 years, which means that although the story of the landmine village has been told many times, it has just begun. Ordinary farmers became victims, and among the more than 200 villagers in Balihe Village, over 100 people were injured by landmines, 11 were killed, and 10 are still living with prosthetic limbs. The domestically-made plastic prosthetics look glaring on the human body!

  When Guo Xiaoyu really arrived at the village of Balihe, he saw minefields everywhere and saw one by one disabled elderly people in the village. Only then did Guo Xiaoyu realize why this place was called "Landmine Village". Before he came here, he had tried his best to imagine it, but it was still far from what he actually saw. To put it bluntly, around this village, wherever you haven't stepped on, there might be landmines! It's that terrifying!

  "Xiao Yu..." Deng Zi Qi tightly hugged Guo Xiao Yu's arm, her face full of fear. Before coming here, Zuo Cha had already introduced them to Deng Zi Qi, but now that they were here, Deng Zi Qi still felt afraid!

  "It's okay! Just follow Brother Changshun and we'll be fine." Guo Xiaoyu patted her hand, pointing to the man leading the way, saying: "Brother Changshun has already cleared over 3,000 landmines, if we follow him, there won't be any problems."

  "Mm." Deng Ziqi nodded, but her hand still refused to let go.

  Wei Changshun, a native of Balihe Village, is a peasant who has lived here for generations. He is now the village's voluntary deminer, and with his sickle and pliers, he has removed over 3,000 landmines. Thanks to his and his brother Wei Changxiao's efforts, they have reclaimed over 300 acres of wasteland for farming.

  At this time, Wei Changshun heard what Guo Xiaoyu and the others said, turned his head around, and said: "You can rest assured! There won't be any landmines on this road, all the landmines are on the mountain." Although Wei Changshun said so, but Guo Xiaoyu couldn't relax at all, in this place except for the houses of Balihu Village, there was only this road left, other places were all big mountains, in other words, other places were all minefields!

  Actually, Guo Xiaoyu was also very afraid, but in order to make Deng Ziqi feel at ease, he smiled and said: "Changshun brother, don't worry, we'll be fine following you." Indeed, seeing Guo Xiaoyu's calm demeanor, Deng Ziqi looked much better.

  At this time, following their left tea, Guo Xiaoyu said: "Xiaoyu, thank you and your girlfriend for participating in our publicity."

  "It's okay." Guo Xiaoyu hadn't spoken yet, when Deng Ziqi asked ahead of time: "Xiao Cha, after our promotional video is broadcast this time, will it be helpful to them?"

  "Will do! Definitely will!" Zuo Cha clenched his fist firmly and said, "We must draw social attention to this, so that more people can know about them and help them."

  "Uh-huh." Deng Ziqi also nodded and said: "We must help them."

  Seeing the two girls full of confidence, Guo Xiaoyu really didn't want to interrupt them. Is this promotional video useful? Of course it is, but it can only attract more people to know about it, but this thing is not like someone getting sick, when someone gets sick, social people can be encouraged to donate money, while landmines are something that only the country can solve. But why did the country clear half of them and leave the other half? There must be a huge cost involved, the country is no longer willing to pay for it, and to say something unpleasant, aren't these landmines left here also a kind of deterrent force?

  Guo Xiaoyu shook her head, clearing her mind of distractions, and asked Zuo Cha: "So what's your plan?"

  "Ah." Zuo Cha was taken aback and said: "Our funds are limited, so we will finish recording all the content today and rush back tonight."

  "Really?" Guo Xiaoyu thought for a moment, then said to Deng Ziqi: "Then after we finish recording the show, let's play in Yunnan for a few days. Anyway, I still have three days of vacation left."

  "Great!" As soon as she mentioned that she could be with Guo Xiaoyu, Deng Ziqi excitedly said: "I want to go to Erhai Scenic Area, Dali Three Pagodas, Butterfly Spring..." Deng Ziqi was excitedly counting where she wanted to go here, and her mood naturally became less tense than before. Seeing this, Guo Xiaoyu also smiled happily.

  Guo Xiaoyu and the others are now on a mountain road, although several people are chatting and laughing along the way, the situation is actually very dangerous. This road is only about two or three feet wide, with weeds all around, and who knows if there might be landmines hidden among them? So it's absolutely forbidden to step on them! This was also why Deng Ziqi was so scared at first - this is truly dancing on the tip of a knife!

  Thinking of this, Guo Xiaoyu couldn't help but admire the Wei Changshun brothers. Not only did they have to walk this road every day, but also more dangerously, they had to venture into the minefield to clear mines every day.

  After walking for a while, Wei Changshun suddenly pointed to a barren piece of land and said: "This land was reclaimed by my brother and me in two months. Now there are no more landmines inside."

  Guo Xiaoyu took a look and found that the land was about 5 or 6 mu in size, and couldn't help but ask: "Then how many mines did you lay out here?"

  "Eighty-seven of them, and there was also a shell from the Type 92 howitzer. We almost got hit by a sickle, if we really got hit, I wouldn't be able to see you all now."

  Wei Changshun's words were casual, but they made Guo Xiaoyu take a cold breath. He asked again: "Has Brother Changshun ever had any problems with his thunderbolt after all these years?"

  "Really." Wei Changshun smiled and said, "That was last year. I dismantled a shell, and suddenly the flint ignited, and the landmine started smoking. Fortunately, the landmine had gotten damp and couldn't explode, or else..." Wei Changshun didn't continue, but everyone knew what would have happened next. This could be said to be a trip to the gates of hell!

  At this time, Wei Changshun squatted down and fished out a landmine from the grass beside him. He brought it in front of Guo Xiaoyu and said: "Look at this, it's a 58-style landmine. It can be said that it is the simplest to disassemble. Just use scissors or any sharp object to loosen the screws underneath, then remove its bottom cover, and take out ** just fine." As Wei Changshun spoke, he started to move his hands, his movements extremely familiar, but Guo Xiaoyu's heart was racing with fear, this little carelessness could make it fall to the ground, and then explode!

  A grenade was disarmed in a few seconds in Wei Changshun's hands, and when he handed the disassembled ** to Guo Xiaoyu, Guo Xiaoyu let out a heavy sigh, these few seconds made him feel like he had been through several centuries!

  P.S: I felt very uncomfortable when writing this chapter! Who should be blamed for it? After some thought, all I can say is: "Damn the war!"