Reflection In The Luminous River

The first reflection in the luminous river was a naive girl tangled with strings. The second were those miserable memories, and the last one was a woman with ambition. As the night breeze swept the reflections away with small waves, the fatigue and stress inside me also disappeared, fully preparing me to become a mighty soldier of the army. The passion towards enlisting flared up as bright as the reflection of the moon― showing that I was ready to go forward. At that moment, I felt that even a peasant girl could be whatever she wanted to be.

I stood up and hastily searched for the base because no one could know if there was a Japanese sniper waiting for a target. I heard that the army base was located near this river, the Yangtze river, thus I kept searching for it. I found a valley, but couldn’t see the inside. The luster of the river overshadowed the inside, thus not a single ray of light penetrated the darkness. I realized the base was in the valley because the darkness would protect them from the Japanese air raids. I trudged several steps along the stream, and barely made out the entrance. Yes, this was the end of the journey. I decided to enter the base as the sun rose.

Slogans echoed throughout the entire base. There were also numerous shelters, which made finding the officer’s feel like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, I found it faster than I expected. An imposing woman came up to me, whom I just knew as the officer of the army.

She didn’t look like what I’d imagined a leader of the heroic Red Army would look like. She was extremely tall but looked normal. I couldn’t focus on her physical appearance because the thousands of dazzling badges on her chest caught my eyes. They were overwhelming, making me realize why the soldiers had often told me about her during the Long March. The intimidating atmosphere that she generated was the reason why the soldiers had to obey her every