Early in the morning, Lao Lin carried two pieces of pork and asked Brother Yu and me to follow him to the mine.
On the way he said: "Later, don't talk about looking for someone, just say you want to work in the cavalry team to make money, because at least half of the people in the cavalry team are gangsters, do you understand what I mean?"
I said I knew.
What he meant by "black household" was that he had committed crimes before, perhaps murder, fraud, rape, etc., and was still wanted by the society.
At that time, "missing people" were very common in the Luanchuan mines, and being missing basically meant a narrow escape from death.
Now that I understand the stakes, I am more careful now.
This is someone else's territory. Finding Wang Yuanjie to avenge Mr. Li is important, but his own life is more important.
After walking around the mountain until after 9 o'clock, I saw a row of prefabricated houses with more than a dozen horses tied around them, and several people were brushing the horses' hair with brushes.
"Lao Jin! Haha! I'm brushing horses!" Lao Lin greeted loudly.
"Who do I think you are? It's Lao Lin. I haven't seen you for half a year. Where did you get rich?"
"Hey, no matter how much money you make, your life will soon become unbearable."
"How are your feet? Are you still limping?"
"Who are these two people?"
Lao Lin immediately handed over the two pieces of pork and said with a smile: "These two are brothers I knew before. They have committed some minor crimes recently and can't survive outside. So I thought of asking you, my old friend, to help me and give him two pieces of pork." A bite to eat.”
"Oh? That's right, but our cavalry team is not short of people anymore," the middle-aged man looked at me and asked, "What have you committed? I think you are very thin. You are not a murderer, right?"
I quickly said: "No, brother, I just fought with people and broke their heads."
"Good guy, this guy is so strong!" The middle-aged man patted Brother Yu's shoulder vigorously, pinched Brother Yu's chest, and said with a smile: "Old Lin, this guy can do it! Look at him, he's covered in The big piece of lumpy meat must have some brute strength."
He looked at me again and said, "If I don't accept you, you can't do it. Your arms and legs are like a monkey. I will accept this big guy."
My face changed slightly.
Damn it, you called me a monkey? You dog basket, please be careful.
Lao Lin was suddenly confused: "Hey, Lao Jin, look, help me, let these two people join the cavalry. It's just a matter of your words. I'll get you two good cigarettes in two days, okay?"
Brother Yu was taken in. To me, after listening to Lao Lin’s words, this man didn’t say yes or no. Instead, he pointed to a big iron bucket a few meters away and said, “Try it. Go and get the iron bucket.” Get me on horseback."
You should have seen the big iron barrels he mentioned. They are the big barrels used to hold gasoline. They are empty.
It is used to be tied to both sides of the horse's back to hold various ores.
I thought to myself, you are so fucking underestimating people, aren’t they just an empty bucket?
I walked over with a cold face, grabbed it with both hands, and lifted it up!
It was lifted, but it was very difficult to lift it higher than the horse's back.
I swayed and raised it halfway, my face turned red from suppressing it.
The man laughed loudly at this, and several other men also laughed loudly.
"Boy! I told you you can't do it! You're still not convinced!"
"How about it! You can't move it! How can you join our cavalry team if you can't move it? So, you should just go back to where you came from."
"etc!"
Brother Yu frowned and said, "If you want to accept me, you must have him. We are brothers."
"Besides, it's just a broken bucket like you...?"
Brother Yu came over with a cold face. He grabbed a big iron bucket in one hand and lifted it up at the same time! Almost shoulder level!
Then, Brother Yu bang! He directly knocked the two big iron barrels in his hands together!
The huge impact force caused the iron bucket to flatten instantly!
As soon as Brother Yu let go, the bucket fell to the ground with a bang.
The whole process looked very easy, as if there was no exertion at all. The group of people were dumbfounded. One person who was eating couldn't close his mouth.
"good!"
"sharp!"
The middle-aged man said loudly: "Then I will accept you two brothers."
"Our salary here is a basic salary of 40 yuan a day, and a commission of 20 yuan for each extra trip. As long as you work hard with me! It will be more than 3,000 yuan a month! No problem at all!"
I am smiling on the outside, but in my heart you are criticizing me. Just now you looked down on me, why are you so proud of me for only 3,000 yuan?
I didn't even look at him when he fell on the road. I just stole a small tomb and you did it for several years!
After hearing this, Lao Lin breathed a sigh of relief, came over and whispered to me: "You two, my mission will be completed once you enter the cavalry. You must abide by what I said last night. After all, safety is the most important thing for us when we go out. I'm leaving?"
"Okay, brother, please slow down. In the next day or two, if someone comes to us through you, you have to show them the way."
"You said this, I know."
Looking at the back of Lao Lin walking down the mountain, I frowned and thought to myself that I had underestimated the difficulty of finding someone in the mine before.
There is more than one cavalry team on this mountain, Lao Lin said, there are at least 30 cavalry teams!
But this was the only one he could speak to.
For example, the Xiaolongkou Gold Mine Horse Team, the Tantou Molybdenum Mine Horse Team, and the Xiege Crystal Mine Horse Team in Baitu Town all have shotguns and earthen grenades. These horse teams are in competition with each other, because they may haul aluminum ore one day and another tomorrow. Iron ore.
The horse team I joined is called "Luanchuan Jinzi Horse Team". There are eleven people and a dozen horses. The captain is the middle-aged man just now, named Jin Erping, nicknamed Lao Jin.
Our job was to deliver manganese ore. Lao Jin asked Brother Yu and I to write a "safety agreement" each. I forgot what the content was, but we were asked to write a paragraph and press our fingerprints.
The general meaning is that if we die in an accident, the cavalry team will not lose money, and it has nothing to do with the cavalry team.
I remember when I was reading the agreement, a man in his 50s smiled and said to me: "Brother, our safety agreement is signed once a year. I had a hard time signing it last year, and I don't know what happened. , my writing is getting smaller and smaller, I can’t control it at all.”
At first I thought he was talking nonsense, but it became clear later.
The reason why he writes smaller and smaller on the paper is a symptom of occupational manganese poisoning, which is medically called "hypergraphia". In the early years of development, he just can't remember things, which is similar to Alzheimer's disease. There is no way to treat it. .
I asked him indirectly, "Brother, you have been on the mountain for a long time. I want to ask you something. I used to have a buddy named Wang Yuanjie. I heard that he was also in a horse team on this mountain. Do you recognize him?"
"Wang Yuanjie?"
"I don't know. There are a total of 33 horse teams here on the mountain. Some are large and some are small. There are hundreds of people. How can I possibly know them all?"
"but...."
"You're new here today. You've caught up. You can rest if you don't work in the afternoon. We have activities in the evening."
"Oh? What activity?"
He chuckled, showing his big yellow teeth and said, "It only happens once a month. You'll know when the time comes."
After lying in the prefabricated room all afternoon, at night, the men in the cavalry team were all shouting excitedly.
At about 9 o'clock, eight women and one man came to the prefabricated house.
Brother Yu asked me in a low voice what was this for? what activity?
I wondered: "Brother Yu, why haven't you seen it yet?"
"It's probably a gala party."
