The car didn't stop until it reached a place called Yantan. After getting off the car, there was a large vegetable field. It was already noon, and the farmers in the vegetable fields were busy wearing straw hats under the scorching sun. Yang Liufang walked forward and asked for directions. He wanted to continue to the mountainous countryside. The local farmers spoke Xizhou dialect, and Yang Liufang did not listen at all. He didn't understand, and the farmers under the scorching sun lost their patience and stopped paying attention to him.
Yang Liufang looked at the vegetables and fruits on the ground and quickly came up with an idea. He took out 1 cent and pointed at the tomatoes. The farmer took them and picked more than ten and prepared to hand them to Liu Fang. Then he saw that Liu Fang had no place to put them. , took out a washed plastic lining of fertilizer and put it in, and picked another melon and gave it to him. In the unfamiliar vegetable field on the outskirts of Xizhou, Yang Liufang received the highest courtesy from a strange farmer who didn't speak the same language. Nowadays, when you go to remote pastoral areas such as Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Xinjiang, the locals treat strangers as guests. They let you eat and drink first, and then ask you where you are going and what you are doing. They are all the most simple people.
Yang Liufang picked up a tomato and ate it in big gulps. The juice left on his arms and corners of his mouth. The farmer was very happy to see it. There is nothing more proud than receiving praise from others for your work. After Yang Liufang finished eating one, the farmer took him to the sink to wash his hands, and then shouted "Gawa, Gawa..." to the adobe house where he was tending vegetables.
Not long after, a child with slightly tanned skin walked out of it. The farmer chattered the local dialect to the child. The child named Gawa turned to Liu Fang and said:
"My eldest (da, Xizhou dialect: dad) asked me to ask you what happened to you Ni (ni, Xizhou dialect modal particle)?" The child's words had a strong northwest accent, but Liu Fang could always understand him.
"Brother, I want to sell things in the mountains to the west. I got lost here and want to ask for directions." Yang Liufang patiently communicated with the child in Mandarin, and then the child relayed it to the adult in his hometown dialect.
"Is there a name for the place you went to?" the child turned around and asked.
"No, it's in the mountainous countryside." The child relayed again. The adult was silent for a while and then murmured again.
"I urge you to go to the oil field. The oil field is over the mountainous area."
The farmer put down his work and led Liu Fang to the side of the road, waving to stop the truck. Since there was a constant flow of oil trucks and military vehicles going from the oil field to the city, and there were locals stopping the truck, they quickly stopped him. When the next military vehicle came, Liu Fang thanked him and got on it.
The driver had been trained in the melting pot of the army, and his Mandarin was much better. As soon as the car started on the dusty road, he asked, "Brother, what are you doing in the oil field?"
"Brother, I'm going to do some business. I heard that there is a demand for these needles and threads in local mountain villages. I'll try my luck."
"Oh, oil field workers all live together in the community. There are all shopping malls and supermarkets there." Yang Liufang felt cold. It turned out that the western mountainous area was not what he imagined.
"Hey, brother, put me there and I'll ask you when I get there." Yang Liufang had no choice but to go to the oil field first with the mentality of "take it as it comes".
The car bumped along the hilly terrain until we arrived at the oil field at four or five o'clock in the afternoon. When Yang Liufang got out of the car, he took out a tomato, wiped it with his vest, and handed it to the kind brother Bing. The two of them pushed and pushed for a long time before Brother Bing took it. Liu Fang walked toward the mountains in the mining area carrying two plastic bags.
After walking for about a mile or two, a tractor pulling coal came from behind. The road between hills was bumpy and bumpy, and the vehicle was moving slowly. Liu Fang followed closely behind and took two steps, raised his hand to grab the rear edge of the car, and then stepped on the lower beam with one foot. Relying on the inertia, the other foot also stepped on it. The car was covered with canvas. It's just that the coal was soaked in water and seeped down through the cracks in the car's hull, making Liu Fang's legs and feet black. But he didn't dare to continue climbing up. Even so, he was already very satisfied. It was countless times better than walking forward on his own two feet.
Liu Fang thought to himself that he would just lie down wherever the car drove. It was okay at first, but he became very tired as time went on, especially when it was bumpy. In addition to his fingers, his wrists also hurt. It was already dark at this time. Since there were no street lights, the surrounding visibility was extremely low. The darkness was so scary that Liu Fang could only force himself to lie down on it. As time passed by, the coolness began to come in waves, especially the wind brought by the traffic, which made the water-stained feet and calves feel cold and even slightly painful. By accident, Liu Fang's bag with tomatoes slipped down because there was no place to carry it. Liu Fang could only quickly land on one foot, then let go, staggering to the ground, and his buttocks were sore. .
I endured the pain and tried to stand up, but my legs were already numb. After struggling for a while, I still couldn't get up. I could only bend down and rub it with my hands. After a long time, I stood up and went back to look for the fallen bag. Fortunately, the plastic bag was white, and I could vaguely see it. I picked it up fumblingly, and walked to the roadside. I was hungry at this time, so I took out a tomato and started eating it. Suddenly, I felt that there was no smell like the morning. There was a bit of a fishy smell, and Liu Fang suddenly remembered that his hands were covered with soot at the moment. Thinking that these were the only tomatoes he had, he was reluctant to throw them away, and ate the rest while suppressing his nausea.
He had experience when he ate one. He used the corner of a plastic bag to cushion it, and the smell of coal was blocked. After eating three tomatoes in a row, Liu Fang let out a burp that smelled of tomatoes. Then he stood up with satisfaction, threw the plastic bag over his shoulder, and strode forward with a handbag containing needles and thread in his other hand. go.
Liu Fang started to sweat after walking for a while. Although it was a mountainous area, it was summer after all. Even though there were only five or six tomatoes and one melon left in the bag on his shoulder, it slowly became heavier. Liu Fang threaded the long part of the plastic bag through the handle of the handbag filled with sewing thread, thus forming a simple draped bag, which was much easier. At this time, Liu Fang also understood why when he read Lu Yao's novel, it was described that people going to the commune to go to the market would hang up daggers. Indeed, for mountain people with limited transportation, this is the most comfortable and best way to carry things.
Liu Fang walked forward sullenly. In this dark night, there was no concept of time and distance. When he was tired, he would sit on the roadside to rest. When he was hungry and thirsty, he would eat tomatoes. When there was only one tomato left, the morning star shone brightly. Appearing in the East, Liu Fang's legs were numb and he was too tired to walk. He leaned against a wall-like thing on the roadside, holding his sewing kit in his arms and covering his body with a plastic bag to prevent mosquito bites. I fell asleep very quickly.
