Chapter 413: History Cannot Be Forgotten

Chapter 413: Chapter 413: History Cannot Be Forgotten

The carriage door opened, and the receiving party immediately walked up to the entrance.

Luo Yuqing was the first to step off the train. As she reached the door, the middle-aged man at the head of the group immediately greeted her.

"Miss Luo, hello! It’s been a while. Welcome to Jinling!"

"Mr. Li, hello!" Luo Yuqing, beaming, shook his hand. "You’re too kind to welcome us personally, Mr. Li!"

This middle-aged man was Li Dongjun, the person in charge of administrative affairs for Jiangdong.

Neither Wang Chenning nor Luo Yuqing had expected Li Dongjun to come greet them in person.

He had also brought a group of subordinates and members of the media.

This reception was even better than the one in Qiantang.

It seemed Li Dongjun wanted to compete with Wang Jiangxing when it came to hospitality.

"It’s my duty, my duty!" After shaking Luo Yuqing’s hand, Li Dongjun immediately turned to greet Zhao Xiao’an, Yang Xiaofei, Li Fuzhen, and Li Yanxian, who were behind her. A smile never left his face as he shook their hands and welcomed them.

Wang Chenning was the last to get off. As he did, he stepped aside slightly to let the other accompanying staff members pass first.

"Teacher Wang, hello!" Upon seeing Wang Chenning, the middle-aged man surnamed Li broke into an even brighter smile. "I’ve long heard of your great name, Teacher Wang. It’s a true pleasure to finally meet you today!"

"You’re too kind, Mr. Li, to come to the station and welcome me personally!" Wang Chenning said with a slightly embarrassed look. "I’m truly overwhelmed by the honor!"

"Miss Zhao, Miss Luo, the two Misses Li, and Teacher Wang are all our honored guests. When honored guests arrive, it is only right for me, the host, to come and welcome you!"

After some pleasantries, Li Dongjun introduced the people who had come with him to Wang Chenning’s group.

The people accompanying Li Dongjun were also impressive; they were all people who got things done.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Wang Chenning explained their itinerary for the day to Li Dongjun.

Li Dongjun didn’t seem surprised to hear it.

"As the local host, I should have accompanied you to the memorial, but I have an important meeting at 10:30 that I must attend." Li Dongjun pointed to a deputy beside him. "I’ll have Comrade Yang Xiaokang accompany you instead!"

From Li Dongjun’s recent introductions, Wang Chenning knew that Yang Xiaokang was the person from Jinling in charge of cultural and tourism affairs. He didn’t refuse the offer, thanking him and accepting.

The Jinling side had arranged for cars, so Wang Chenning and Luo Yuqing didn’t stand on ceremony, ushering the others into the vehicles waiting on the platform.

Li Fuzhen and Li Yanxian didn’t try to upstage the hosts. After some simple pleasantries, they stood there with a reserved expression.

However, they still used Mandarin when greeting everyone and didn’t call for a translator as one might in some diplomatic situations.

As they interacted more, Li Fuzhen’s Mandarin became more and more fluent, enough to handle most situations.

After agreeing to have dinner with Li Dongjun that evening, Wang Chenning’s group left the station by car, heading for the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

Before disembarking from the train, they had already changed into appropriate attire for the visit: dark clothes and white shirts for everyone.

The cars arrived at the Jinling Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre at exactly ten o’clock.

Coincidentally, the once bright and sunny sky had just turned overcast as they arrived at the memorial.

The gloom that followed the clear sky felt particularly oppressive.

On the way there, Yang Xiaokang and two other staff members had already briefed Wang Chenning’s group on the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

In truth, he didn’t need to explain much. Aside from the two foreigners, Li Fuzhen and Li Yanxian, everyone else was very familiar with that period of history.

In the car on the way, and after getting out, the group walked toward the memorial’s entrance with solemn expressions.

At the entrance, the five-starred red flag fluttering in the wind and the profoundly heavy memorial statues stirred an indescribable sense of tragic heroism in their hearts.

The numerals 1937.12.13 and 300,000 made their hearts and steps feel even heavier.

Wang Chenning, who possessed the memories of two people, had an even more profound feeling about that humiliating period of history.

’A debt of blood must be paid in blood, but it’s a shame they still haven’t paid it!’ an uncontrollable voice surfaced from the depths of his heart. ’Kid, you have to teach South Korea and the Japs a lesson in this lifetime. If you don’t, you don’t get to die!’

’I will,’ Wang Chenning silently promised in his heart.

After entering the memorial hall, the atmosphere became even more oppressive and heavy. The group walked forward in silence, without exchanging words or looking around.

The photos drifting across the ceiling inside the memorial hall represented the disappearance of one vibrant life after another.

More than three hundred thousand civilians and soldiers who had already surrendered were brutally killed inside and outside the city of Jinling during that winter over seventy years ago.

At that moment, and at this very moment, heaven and earth mourned together.

The group moved forward silently with the flow of visitors. While touring, Wang Chenning also took a few representative photos.

As the tour was nearing its end, he posted on Weibo: "An inch of land for an inch of blood. A salute to all the heroes who fought for our country, and a moment of silence for the compatriots who died in the war to defend it!" The accompanying pictures were the ones he had just taken during the tour.

After posting, he pinned one of his own replies: "Right now, I am in tears. Tell me, how should a debt of blood be repaid?"

After posting on Weibo, he paid no mind to whatever controversies it might cause and continued with the tour.

A little over an hour later, the tour was over.

As the tour concluded, several of the memorial hall’s directors came over to greet them and invited Wang Chenning and Luo Yuqing’s group to leave a message for the memorial.

Luo Yuqing was the first to pick up the pen. Facing the onlookers and camera lenses, she thought for a moment before writing: "Learn from the past to guide the future. The weak get bullied, so we must become a rich country with a strong military. Only then will no one dare to bully us!"

Luo Yuqing’s handwriting was quite good; she clearly had some training.

Next, Zhao Xiao’an also wrote a message: "An inch of land for an inch of blood. A salute to all the heroes who fought for our country, and a moment of silence for the innocent compatriots who died!"

Zhao Xiao’an hadn’t seen Wang Chenning’s Weibo post, but the words she thought of were strikingly similar to what he had posted.

Wang Chenning was very surprised when he saw it.

After that, Yang Xiaofei also left a message.

"Every person of Huaxia must remember this humiliating history and cherish the hard-won peace we have now! A salute to the martyrs, a salute to the heroes of the war of national defense!"

Yang Xiaofei’s handwriting was also very good, even better than Luo Yuqing’s and Zhao Xiao’an’s.

After Yang Xiaofei put down her pen, Wang Chenning picked up a calligraphy brush they hadn’t used. Under everyone’s gaze, he wrote in large, powerful characters: "History cannot be forgotten. The humiliation of the past must be seared into our hearts. We will never forgive anyone who denies this history or glorifies the Japanese invasion!"

Then, with a grave expression, Wang Chenning asked the people around him, "I want to write the words ’Blood for blood.’ May I?"