Kony's home is not in the city of Altai, but in a nearby county. It takes at least two hours to drive from there. Kony called a friend to pick him up.
In fact, Chen Xing could find a car to go there by himself, but he couldn't resist Kony's enthusiasm. After calculating the time, Chen Xing went downstairs and waited by the roadside.
This city is not much different from the mainland, except that the various stalls on the road have some Uighur characteristics, and the sky is very beautiful, and it is not the same as that in Tibet.
Compared with the sky in Qinghai-Tibet, the sky here is more prosperous and open. The sky in Tibet is like countless large cotton sheets arranged by God to block the sun. It is shocking enough, but not detailed enough.
The clouds here are not as big as in Tibet, but they are delicate enough. You might not be able to see it clearly during the day, but Chen Xing took a good look at it last night. The night sky here was like velvet sprinkled with diamonds, and every star was shining its light on the local people without reservation.
If you want to take pictures of the stars, this may be a better choice than Tibet. Chen Xing's time management is still very good. After only waiting for a few minutes, a car stopped in front of Chen Xing.
The driver's window opened, and a handsome Uighur young man asked Chen Xing, "Hello, is your name Chen Xing?"
"It's me, hello, hello." Chen Xing greeted warmly. Chen Xing still felt a little embarrassed that this man drove for two hours just to pick him up.
He looked at Chen Xing several times and said very convinced: "No wonder Kony said that I will know who you are when I get to the location. Come on, good brother, get in the car quickly." He spoke with the same confidence as Kony. Ripe style.
Chen Xing put his things away, got in the car and asked, "What do you mean, what did that guy from Kony say about me?" The young man started the car and said, "He asked me to come to the Flower God Hotel. He said that he was the most handsome guy around after I got downstairs. It must be you. If you don’t meet such a person, let me call you.”
"..." Chen Xing was unable to refute. Is this a compliment to yourself? But if I say it, wouldn’t it make me look too narcissistic?
"How old are you?" he asked again.
"20"
"Very good, very young. I'm 26 and haven't gotten around yet. Kony said you've been admitted to a school abroad. Are you considered an international student?"
"kindness."
"That's great. Are you in love?"
"not yet."
"Then you must have come here at the right time. All of our Uyghur girls are beautiful, and they all dance the folk dances, which are beautiful." Chen Xing agreed with a hum.
In terms of his aesthetics, the Uighurs have really grown up in his heart, otherwise he would not have been so obsessed with Kony's sister.
In fact, after so long, Chen Xing has never gotten a photo or video of Kony's sister. He has long forgotten what she looks like. In the past, he only saw her secretly when Kony was chatting with his family. Just a few glances.
I just remember her being beautiful.
"That's right, I have a sister..." Chen Xing suddenly looked up at him! No way?
"Why are you so surprised? Let me introduce you to my sister. She is 19 years old and also likes to take pictures. She heard that her brother Kony knew a professional photographer who could win awards abroad, so she asked me to do it. I’ll treat you well so that you can teach her two more tricks when the time comes.”
"Ah..." Chen Xing suddenly realized something awkward. So this is ah. I'm overthinking it.
"That's no problem, no problem, but my photography isn't very good either. As long as your sister isn't afraid that I'll teach her a bad lesson, that'll be fine."
"Hahaha, bad teaching? She can't be bad, she is just like that." It was obvious that he was his brother. The vehicle was speeding along. If the navigation system was turned on now, the navigation system would have reported speeding more than ten or twenty times.
Driving so fast would scare many people. But in fact, Chen Xing didn't feel that this ride was dangerous. First of all, the road was very well built. It looked like a provincial highway, but the road was wide and straight. Apart from some dust, there were no other obstacles on the road. things.
And after leaving the city, there are fewer vehicles. So even if it is driven to more than 100 yards, it will not make any sense to the people in the car.
During this time, Chen Xing also became more familiar with the person who came to pick him up. His name is Awuli, and he is Kony's younger brother.
He speaks average Mandarin, and like most people in Xijiang, he has a Mandarin that tastes like mutton skewers.
If he hears someone with this accent on the streets of his hometown, Chen Xing will immediately wonder if there is a new mutton kebab restaurant somewhere?
But in fact, many people selling mutton skewers are from the mainland, and they just learn the pronunciation of people from Western Xinjiang.
Two hours flew by. The car drove into a small city. But again, all the facilities are in very good condition, the roads are wide, the exterior walls of the buildings are all pink, and all the surrounding houses look like they were built by an engineering team.
There are also many shops on the street, along with street trees and trash cans. There are even garbage sorting bins.
Isn’t Altai the farthest place in Western Xinjiang? How could it be so well cultivated? This was completely inconsistent with Chen Xing's imagination of this place.
He had always thought that this place was like the one in the movies, with poor living conditions, people grazing for a living, and raising many cattle and sheep.
That’s why so many people go out to sell mutton skewers. And isn’t this the Western Region? It was mentioned in the text I learned before... Far above the Yellow River among the white clouds, is there an isolated city called Wanren Mountain?
The last sentence is: Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass. Good guy, it’s not much different from mainland cities now.
Better than Tibet. So much better. Chen Xing's impression of many places in Tibet is that it is relatively backward, especially for some Tibetan compatriots who are far away from public travel routes. They still retain their simplicity when facing outsiders.
This place is really... I don’t know if you don’t come here, but you will be shocked when you come here. Thinking about it carefully, it seems that I have rarely heard of anything going on here before, and the media doesn't have much desire to report on this place.
The car stopped at the entrance of a community. As soon as Chen Xing got out of the car, he saw Kony walking towards him with a smile on his face, holding a bag of what seemed to be food in his hand.
He came over and hugged Chen Xing, and said, "I'm so happy that you can come. Many students in our group don't have time, and only two or three are willing to come."
"It's normal. There are not many people like me who run around all day long without any serious business and still like to join in the fun."
"It's not like you have no business. I've seen videos of you winning awards abroad in the group. You look so handsome in a suit accepting the award." Chen Xing said with a smile, "Are you fascinated by your sister? ?”
"Why are you still thinking about me? How long has it been since I told you that my sister doesn't like men like you? She can't even take a few sips of wine."
"Ah this..."
"What is this?" Kony pulled Chen Xing and said,
"Let's go, I've prepared a lot of things, but I'm a little pressed for time and haven't prepared enough. I hope you won't be offended." Kony has been in the mainland for a long time, and many of his habits are more like those of mainlanders.
But he also has Uighur heritage. When friends come from afar, there must be a rich celebration. Awuli parked the car and saw that Kony was about to pull Chen Xing away. He quickly ran over and said, "Me, me, me, don't forget me. I helped you pick up Chen Xing." Kony said : "Do you want me to invite you over when you come to my house? If you are asking for help, you should come by yourself." Awuli raised his head and laughed twice, and said: "I won't go today. From now on, when you are free, you can Bring Chen Xing to our house to play." He was just joking. He knew that Chen Xing was the guest in their house today.
The two met often and separated easily without saying much. But I did add a friend with Chen Xing.
This was agreed upon in the car before, but because Awuli had to drive, they waited until they got off the car before leaving each other's contact information.
Kony took Chen Xing upstairs. Don't ask what kind of building it is, this area is full of pink residential buildings, the kind with six or seven floors.
These buildings are what the buildings in ordinary small counties look like. Their home was on the third floor. Chen Xing was shocked as soon as he entered the house.
An aunt held a golden basin and greeted Chen Xing with a smile on her face.
"Hello, welcome to our home, wash your hands first." The steam coming out of the water can be seen to be hot water, and there is a towel next to it.
What does it mean? Washing hands in a golden basin? There is no information on the Internet that Uyghurs have this custom. Before visiting other people's homes, he would search for some etiquette for being guests, but there was very little useful information. He just said not to bring pork when visiting a religious home... By the way, who would bring pork when visiting someone's home these days?
There are also some other taboos, which are of no use. As long as you know the etiquette, you will not do it. It has nothing to do with a separate region.
Kony said to Chen Xing: "Wash your hands. This is our custom when facing distinguished guests." Chen Xing thought to himself that I am not a distinguished guest, and then he finished washing his hands with a little embarrassment and wiped them with the towel placed next to the basin. Rub.
Kony and Chen Xing said: "That was my mother just now. He and my father both live in the countryside. They will not come up until I get married this time, but my father will not come until two days later. Sit down, don't stand." Chen Xing sat on the sofa and looked around the room.
This seems to be a new house, the walls are white, the rooms are tidy, and even the chandeliers on the ceiling are spotless.
Chen Xing's house would not be so clean even during the Chinese New Year. It should be specially prepared by Kony for the wedding.
In fact, he felt a little uneasy. The better Kony's family treats him, the more uneasy Chen Xing will feel, because he didn't bring any gifts this time.
How could he know that he would come here directly? The car is parked downstairs in the community, and there are no shops around.
Kony put the bag he had been carrying not far away, like a table where they were eating, and said, "Have you had breakfast?"
"I ate it, I definitely ate it."
"That means I didn't have lunch, haha. Knowing that it's your first time to come to our Xijiang, I made you some of our local specialties." The aunt walked out of the kitchen with a plate in one hand and said, "I got this from home. What I brought is all grown by myself. I’ll see if the guest likes it. I’ll go back to the room to watch TV while you guys chat slowly.” Kony also took out the plate and smiled when he heard this and said, “Mom, I I told you not to be so polite."
"I don't understand what you young people are saying, I'd better go watch TV." Kony also put the things he was holding on the coffee table and said, "You eat first, there are still some things, I'll get them. "
"Enough!! Enough!"
"It's all done in the kitchen." Just by walking back and forth a few more times, the originally empty coffee table was filled with all kinds of food in an instant.
There are the naan that is very common here, and what Kony brought back just now, and there is a fruit plate with a lot of fresh fruits, as well as large thin-skinned walnuts, jujubes, dried apricots, dark plums, sun-dried black raisins, and toffee. ,jam.
Kony pointed to the thing he had been carrying just now and said: "This is called baked buns here. The dough is a very thin naan wrapper, and the inside is mutton. It's delicious. Here is the naan. We cut it. It's especially delicious when dipped in grape sauce." When Chen Xing heard other things, he listened very carefully and was a little eager to try them. But when he heard Kony's introduction to the baked buns, Chen Xing suddenly gained an appetite.
He still likes to eat salty food. If the naan must be dipped in some sweet jam, then Chen Xing might as well eat the naan directly.
The baked buns look a bit like very small egg-filled pancakes. They are only one-third the size of a mobile phone and are bulging. It is obvious that something is baked inside.
And they all say that the buns are baked, and they are baked. The toasted buns have more brown color than the egg-filled pancakes.
Kony just bought this. Now I can't say it's hot when I hold it in my hand, but it's still warm. Kony also took a piece and said to Chen Xing: "You can't eat this directly with your hands. It has a lot of gravy inside. You have to bite it from the top and then eat it slowly. Can you try one?"
"OKok, don't worry, I'm good at eating juicy things like this." Where did he come from?
Xi'an. Isn’t Roujiamo meant to be eaten slowly from the top down? However, no matter how you eat the roujiamo, the meat juice will flow out, so you must have something to put it in.
If you hold it empty-handed, your whole hand will be full of the smell of meat buns in less than two minutes. The baked buns are hard in the hand.
If you tap it lightly with your fingers, it will make a sound like a hollow wall. When you bite into it, it feels completely crispy, just like eating potato chips or biscuits. The thin dough is crunchy when you bite it, and it also has a meaty flavor.
A mouth was opened, and the meat inside was exposed. It smells like simple mutton, pepper and salt, with no extra seasonings, so the mutton has a bit of a mutton smell.
But Chen Xing is no longer a newcomer to Sichuan Province. He has experienced mutton soaked buns, roujiamo and other mutton-flavored mutton in Xi'an. The mutton in this kind of grilled buns is simply child's play.
It's fragrant and crispy, and the lamb is still very big, which is definitely good news for meat eaters. Chen Xing ate several in a row.
Then he looked at the other fruits and snacks on the table... His satisfied stomach made two sounds of his own in this situation.
I love Xijiang. Yes, it was his stomach that was saying it. He probably wanted to eat authentic chicken.
