At the foot of R'Chai mountain

Illustration: Phan Nhan

My colleagues and I were standing and chatting in the hallway of the Lam Dong Veterans Association's meeting room. A light pat on the back, I turned around - in front of me was a middle-aged man, dark skin, a bony face, high cheekbones. But his eyes were still bright and lively. A moment of surprise. I shouted happily:

- Are you Mr. Nam Sinh?

- Who else?

- Oh my gosh! It's been so long since I've seen you. How have you been? You look sick and old.

- Except on windy and rainy days, the wound is a bit painful. Usually the doctor says no so I save money on medicine. I read the newspaper, saw your name, half believed, half doubted. Today I saw you here two years ago, it's clear.

He squeezed my hand tightly, and we hugged each other warmly. I turned to my colleagues and introduced:

- This is Mr. Nam Sinh.

A true country bumpkin, he came to Lam Dong in 1964, fought there and considered it his second home. This man is simple, brave, quiet but fights with the “ze” cry (cicadas). He has been to the infirmary x1 (code name of the infirmary of Tuyen Duc province) a few times, eating corn and sweet potatoes with fellow wounded soldiers. As soon as I said this, my journalist friends were confused and didn’t understand what I was talking about! Friend Le Trung (reporter) immediately asked:

- What do you mean? We were talking about fighting, but suddenly we switched to eating sweet potatoes and cassava.

- Oh! That's simple, this guy Nam is very tough in fighting, he has been wounded many times in life and death situations. Once he was so badly wounded that his teammates had to carry him to the infirmary.

Answer me with the simple, honest words of a Southern farmer:

- Don't listen to this journalist, I just got a few scratches. In my hometown, people used to joke "a rich man cutting his hand is like a beggar spilling his guts..." That's it, it's a trivial matter, it's old news, don't bother talking about it, if people hear it, they might think I'm boasting about my contributions to the revolution.

The bell rang, Mr. Nam shook hands with everyone, put his arm around me and walked towards the meeting room, saying as he walked:

- When you have free time, invite the journalists here to come down and chat over a few drinks.

I sat in the meeting room, pondering over what Mr. Nam Sinh said, “cut your hand… spill your guts”. The words sounded simple but they were so profound. Wounded with your guts exposed, AR.15 shot crippled your leg and you said it was a scratch. Was he being modest, or was it just lip service? Not to me, those brave people dared to speak, dared to act, they had gone through fierce battles, sometimes it seemed like they were lying dead on the battlefield, as long as they lived, they would continue to fight, his words were true to the heroic nature of the liberation soldier.

***

Four motorbikes took our group of journalists towards Pongour waterfall, in the distance two bare mountains appeared standing alone in the middle of a green plain. The local people called this mountain R'Chai, meaning breast milk. In fact, it resembled a woman's breasts, I secretly admired the way the ethnic people named the two mountains, very romantic and full of images. On the top of the mountain is a funnel shape, this is a long-extinct volcano, lava erupted so the soil here is very good for growing vegetables and flowers. During the war against the US, R'Chai mountain was a key point, blocking the way for the army to approach the people in Tung Nghia town, Phu Hoi commune, Phu An village. They were discovered a few times firing 60mm mortars along the forest, causing casualties to our army.

***

The smooth concrete DT 724 road connects National Highway 20 through the commune center. Passing the Tan Hoi commune headquarters, we followed the branch road towards R'Chai mountain. Now, along these roads, solid houses have sprung up side by side, the roads are paved with cement concrete with capital from the State and partly contributed by the people. On both sides of the road, people grow flowers and ornamental plants, making them clean and beautiful. The road is spacious, convenient for traveling and transporting agricultural products and materials for planting.

The loud exhaust sound of four motorbikes echoed at the foot of the mountain, startling the pack of dogs and barking loudly. From afar, we saw Mr. Nam and his wife coming out to the alley to welcome us with joy and happiness, bright smiles clearly visible on their faces. Mr. and Mrs. Nam Sinh's house was airy and spacious, next to a coffee mill, roasting and grinding farm. In front of the house was a large drying yard, further away was a greenhouse for growing dancing orchids, not far away was a greenhouse for growing raspberries. Around the garden were rows of fruit trees such as jackfruit, mango, avocado and further away were rows of ornamental areca trees, creating a poetic space of a countryside on the green plateau.

- Hello (words from the press).

- Hello everyone (sister Nam's voice), please come in and wash your faces to wake up, have some water, then we will go visit the garden. Brother Nam said to me.

- Do you remember this lady? She's my wife!

- Is that right (I replied). Yesterday I remembered a girl with short hair, why is this girl so different today?

- You're bullshit! Joking like this will kill me. If she gets mad, I won't have a bowl to eat rice.

Both the host and the guest laughed loudly. I went to put my arm around Ms. Nam No's shoulder, an intimate gesture between former liberation army soldiers that surprised the journalists. Ms. Nam's hair was now streaked with gray, but her charming beauty was still evident on her face. I joked:

- Many guys used to court this person but it was very difficult.

- I thought you forgot me!

- How could I forget, sister? Especially in this land, every time we went to transport goods here, the enemy discovered us and fired mortars to block the front and rear, making the whole group run away until they reached the bank of Da Don river to regain their composure.

- It's been more than 50 years but you have a good memory.

- I still remember very clearly the story of you two loving each other on this river.

The whole group asked me to tell the old story. Reporter Hue immediately asked a burning question:

- Is there anything fishy about this? Report it now so we have some information.

I slowly took a sip of green tea and slowly told the story. That day, a May afternoon, our inter-agency group went to transport food and provisions to feed the wounded. Among them was Ms. Nam No. The group arrived at Ong Quyen river wharf (where the economic cadres gathered supplies). The group prepared to cross the river, the security team crossed the river first to scout, followed by the women and then us young people. When Mr. Nam Sinh (a very good swimmer) took Ms. No to the middle of the river, he jokingly said, "Do you love me?". Ms. No did not answer. On the third try, Mr. Nam tried to let go and let her drift with the current. Ms. Nam panicked and shouted. Yes! Yes! Yes! ... Mr. Nam immediately grabbed the plastic bag and brought her to shore.

The story of soldiers expressing their love for each other at that time seemed like a joke. After the liberation day, they got married at Phu Hoi convalescent camp. At this point, the whole group applauded, Ms. Nam No covered her face in embarrassment, tears welling up in her eyes:

- This devil, why does he have such a good memory?

***

Mr. Nam took us to visit the garden, introduced the orchid garden, and the raspberry house (also known as raspberry). Mr. Nam's garden is not very large, less than 1 hectare in area, but thanks to the application of science and technology in planting, it has high productivity and brings in a lot of profit. Before our eyes is a thatched house, covered with earthen walls. A radio reporter asked:

- What house is this? Why is it covered up?

- This is a vermicompost house, the vermicompost is fed with cow dung but must be in the shade, the purpose is to create humidity for the vermicompost to reproduce. This is a very convenient closed-loop process. Vermicompost eats cow dung to produce products to fertilize elephant grass which is food for cows, coffee and flowers in the garden, the by-products of vermicompost are used to feed chickens and fish.

We returned to the coffee roasting factory, where Ms. Nam and her workers were selecting coffee beans. Mr. Bo, a reporter from the resident agency, asked Ms. Nam:

- Hi! Can you tell me the secret to roasting and grinding high quality coffee?

- Actually there is no new secret, the first thing is to select coffee beans from the root, which means red ripe beans, no green beans (also known as green coffee). Of course, when purchasing, the price is higher than regular coffee. The family's roasting and grinding production process is the same as any other production facility, through each processing, we gain experience in adding and reducing additives. Therefore, when the product leaves the factory, it must meet 3 criteria: unique, top, and achieved. Unique is what few people process like us, dominating the market and holding a monopoly. Peak is high quality coffee, absolute prestige. Achieved is the effectiveness of high profits in wholesale transactions, saving costs in production.

From the yard, Mr. Nam stepped in and said loudly:

- The battleground is ready, come and invite you guys to "fight". It's noon, stay hungry.

The whole group went down to the kitchen, the aroma of wild boar (farmed) stir-fried with lemongrass and chili was fragrant. On the table were various raw vegetables, coriander… in the middle was a large plate of chicken steamed with lemongrass and thinly sliced lemon leaves. There were also a few glasses of rice wine and a few cases of beer.

- There are not many people, why do you have to prepare such a lavish meal?

- You will know later. - Mr. Nam replied calmly.

At the same time, a group of male and female workers and some neighbors came in together, the atmosphere in the dining room was noisy and bustling. A worker quickly said:

Hello journalists.

- How do you know we are journalists?

- This morning, Uncle Nam told me to catch chickens, butcher them, and today I have to entertain guests who have journalists from the province coming to visit.
Mr. Nam clapped his hands and asked to say a few words:

- Let me introduce to everyone, today there is my younger brother who used to fight with us in this land, now he is a journalist. Joining him are our newspaper brothers in our province. Please invite everyone to the table and raise your glasses, "cheers", do you hear?

The atmosphere in the dining room became cheerful and lively, with the sound of clinking glasses and wishes for good health and prosperity. Sister Nam did not drink, but sat and served everyone pieces of chicken.

- You guys eat, these are home-made dishes, don't be a guest.

When the party was almost over, the alcohol seeped into our skin, everyone sat talking about business. Ms. Nam No sat closer to me, whispering:

- After the wedding at Phu Hoi nursing home, the couple asked for permission to live separately. Apart from their salary and war invalids allowance, they had no other income, and the family was in dire need of everything. Mr. Nam discussed with his wife about finding land in R'Chai mountain for production. He entered the Tan Hoi new economic zone, and luckily, he met Mr. Nui, who was his comrade in arms in the past. At that time, Mr. Nui was the head of the Tan Hoi new economic zone construction committee. Mr. Nam explained his family's situation and the hardships and struggles with the war invalids' salary. Hearing that, Mr. Nui said: - Why didn't you tell me sooner? Now the land is flat and good. I have given it all to people who go to the new economic zones from Da Lat, Tung Nghia, Phu Hoi, Phu An. There is only land at the foot of R'Chai mountain. This land is not very good, there are many rocks and remaining shrapnel. If you want it, I will give it to you.

From that day on, the couple started to reclaim land, grow short crops to make food. Then they rented land to grow sugar cane, pressed sugar, grew peanuts to press oil... You know your brother Nam's personality, he was not satisfied with a small job so he wanted to do big business. But, God did not love him, one day while he was pressing sugar cane to make sugar, a tornado blew off the roof of the sugar cane press, the fire broke out and burned the farm, spreading to the unharvested sugar cane. So all their assets were lost in the river, in the sea. Many nights she could not sleep, she sat and cried. When he saw his wife in that situation, he could only advise her: "Wherever you fall, you must know how to stand up from the rubble, you must start over. In war, you cannot fail, why do you give up now?" After that day, he left, she thought he left to distract herself and forget the recent accident. Unexpectedly, he found his old comrades, who now work in the farm economy, one of them works for an import-export company in a suburban district of Ho Chi Minh City. They listened to Mr. Nam explain his dire situation, so they helped him by lending capital, instructing him on planting and fertilizing techniques, and sometimes they even sent cadres here to monitor whether the family's business was effective. Thanks to that, the products they made were sold not only domestically but also exported abroad. From there, they had money to raise their children and buy more production equipment.

Each ray of sunlight penetrated through the rows of areca trees, the afternoon sky was shading. We journalists asked permission to leave and did not forget to thank the family for welcoming us so warmly. At the end of the alley, Ms. Nam gave each person a gift called “homegrown”. This was a specialty of the couple’s garden, hoping the children would take it home and enjoy it with their families.

Source: http://baolamdong.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202407/duoi-chan-nui-rchai-1db2d60/