Half of the people present were antique dealers. The blood agate described by Aza was so magical that it aroused everyone's curiosity.
The guide Lao Zhang checked the injury of Dou Sprout. Fortunately, it was probably just a skin injury. The sand was soft and the camel cushioned him, so Bean Sprouts escaped.
I asked Aza what his plans were. Could he just hide in this mine in the wilderness? Even if I can no longer stay in Yinchuan, I can definitely go to other cities to make a living.
"I hurt you just now, brother," he apologized to me first. I waved my hand and said it was okay.
He added: "There is a misunderstanding about this matter. I dare not go back because the news was spread incorrectly. The Jin brothers now think that the blood agate is in my hands, so they are clinging to me. Their network of relationships is complicated. , there are ears and eyes everywhere in the town, in the city’s vegetable markets, game arcades, and nightclubs. As long as I dare to walk arrogantly on the street, I will definitely be caught.”
"So that's it...then you really don't have the blood agate?" I asked doubtfully.
"Look, what's the point of lying to you?" He gritted his teeth and said, "Everyone on the road knows that two idiots saw the picture of blood agate and offered a sky-high price of 4.8 million on the spot. If I had that thing in my hand, I would I sold it long ago, and now that I have 4.8 million, how dare the Jin brothers deal with me?"
"I can't hold on anymore," he said, wiping the dust off his face: "I only dare to go back to the city once a month, and late at night. In order not to attract attention, I only dare to buy a small amount of bottled water and cans at a time. You guys Aren't you going to find some tribe deep in the desert? Take me with you, I believe I can help."
"This...I can't make the decision on this," I looked at the leader, wanting to hear his opinion.
After thinking about it for two minutes, he said: "I can take you with me, but when we find the Hute tribe, it's time to part ways. We have other things to deal with at that time."
"No problem, have I introduced you? Just call me Aza," he looked a little excited when the boss said we could take him in temporarily.
After getting to know each other and introducing each other, Aza told us to wait for him for half an hour. He still had some belongings and wanted to go back to get some things.
The camel was so big and heavy that we couldn't pull it up, so we had no choice but to take Dou Sprouts' things and abandon the camel. Lao Zhang said that the camel was dead and we would definitely have to compensate Boss Shang some money after we returned.
After waiting for more than twenty minutes, Aza picked up his things. In fact, he didn't have much, he just carried a backpack.
We hung Dou Sprout's equipment on the spare camel, and Lao Zhang squatted down and grabbed a handful of sand to feel the wind direction.
"It's northwest wind. It should be safe today. Let's keep walking. If nothing happens at our speed, we can reach the leeward slope in about two hours."
He nodded his head and said, "Let's go then. Brother Zhang is experienced. We will listen to your arrangements. Xiaoxuan, be gentle. You are responsible for taking care of Yazai on the way. Keep an eye on him and don't let him fall off the camel."
Zhao Xuanxuan nodded and said yes.
Aza and I were next to each other after we started walking, and he kept trying to get something out of me. I didn't leak anything, and I insisted that we were from the Institute of Geography, and I didn't say anything else.
As the saying goes, you know a person's face but not his heart, and you must be on guard against others. The reason why Baotou agreed to take him on the journey was simply because he didn't want to see him die of thirst and starvation. Even the guide didn't know the real purpose of our trip, let alone Said him.
Seeing that I was a little perfunctory, Aza ran to Miss Zhao again. I gave Zhao Xuanxuan a wink and signaled her not to talk much. But the fact was that Zhao Xuanxuan was busy taking care of the bean sprouts on the hunchback and didn't pay much attention to him.
The yellow sand got thicker as we walked further in, and the northwest wind blew much stronger than before. We wrapped our heads in gauze and continued to walk on the sand while leading the camels.
Lao Zhang estimated that it would take us two hours to walk to the next stop, but in fact we walked for more than an hour.
"We're here, look, that's the leeward slope." Lao Zhang stopped and pointed to a large slope ahead, "It's getting late, we're going to camp on the leeward slope."
The leeward slope is actually a large sand wall with an angle of 60 degrees. No wonder it is called the leeward slope. We camped behind it and it completely blocked the northwest wind.
Everyone hurriedly and slowly set up camp before dark. There were not many things that could be burned in the desert. Lao Zhang relied on his rich experience to find a lot of tumbleweeds and dried cacti. After lighting a bonfire at night, everyone They gathered in a circle and looked at the iron pot on the fire.
The iron pot was brought by Lao Zhang, and the water used to cook the broth was bottled water. After two or three days of walking, this was the first hot meal.
The air-dried beef cooked in the soup is a big bowl per person. The roasted naan is too dry to bite, but it is just right when soaked in the hot broth, which is convenient and delicious.
I was eating my meal while blowing the hot air, and suddenly I heard: "Water...water."
"Ya Zai!" I quickly picked up a bottle of water and ran over.
"How are you, Yazai?" I opened the water and handed it to his mouth.
Dou Sprout drank more than half of the bottle, raised his eyebrows and said, "It hurts me to death. That hit me badly."
"Haha, it seems you know everything, then it should be fine," then Zhao Xuanxuan came over with a bowl of broth.
"Drink some hot soup, Yazai. I'll make half a toasted naan for you."
"Thank you, Miss Zhao," Dou Sprout took it with a smile.
After eating and drinking, it was customary to leave two or three people to watch the night. Before anyone could say anything, Aza took the lead and said: "Everyone, thank you very much for taking me in. Leave the night watch to me. I used to sleep during the day. "Yes," he pointed at his eyes and joked: "My eyes are so bright at night that I can even see a mouse running past."
"You don't have to watch the whole night alone," Qin Xingping said: "We will change shifts. I will do the first half of the night, you the second half of the night, and everyone else will have a rest."
No one said anything this time. After stepping in the sand for a day, sleepiness set in and everyone got back into their tents to sleep early.
I slept until after one o'clock in the evening, and I got up to take a nap. When I came out, I saw Aza with his back to me, tinkering with his backpack.
"What are you doing, Aza?" I walked over and said.
He was startled by me, quickly pulled up his backpack and turned around and said, "I just changed shifts with Brother Qin. It's okay. I'm thirsty. I remember I still have half a bottle of water in my bag."
"Are you sleepy? If you are sleepy, you go and rest, I will take your place." I said a polite word.
"No," he waved his hand and said, "I've slept enough during the day and can't sleep at night. You should go back and rest as soon as possible. We have to travel tomorrow."
"Okay, I'm going to sleep then," I said casually after peeing and went back to sleep.
A night of silence.
At dawn the next day, I was woken up by the guide Lao Zhang yelling something loudly outside.
Pocketing my pants, I rubbed my eyes and got out and asked, "What's wrong, Uncle Zhang? Why are you making such a fuss so early in the morning?"
After I finished speaking, I noticed that not only Lao Zhang, but also Lao Qin and his head were livid and looked very ugly.
I turned around and looked around and noticed something was wrong.
"Where's the camel?"
"Why are we missing two camels!"
