This year's winter in Tuocheng is different from previous years. It has not snowed for a long time.
Sandstorms should be more common in late autumn,
Surprisingly, at this time when the New Year is approaching, such a big event is coming!
This sandstorm was so violent that the windows of the Dou family's old man Li's cave house with five holes were covered with paper and were riddled with holes by the sandstorm.
In every kiln,
I have accumulated almost as much as Old Man Li. He vomited it out in the morning. The first mouthful of phlegm was as thick as
"Oh! Oh my God! It's almost Chinese New Year. I finally cleaned up the five-hole kiln, but now I'm getting licked by a gray dog."
Old man Li held the dry tobacco pole and said, "Mother Rongrong! Why does it take you longer to feed a chicken than to give birth to a baby?"
"Well, it's not harmful. You're just taking your time. Why don't you go clean up the house quickly?"
Old Man Li was very dissatisfied and scolded his mother-in-law, "Captain, please arrange for me to ride the donkey cart today.
I’m going to Zhimi County in the afternoon, and I don’t dare to delay picking up the educated youth who jumped in line.”
Mrs. Li's surname is Ji, and her given name is Zhuanzhuan.
Here,
The idea of favoring boys over girls is rather ahem.
If the first child is a daughter, her name will most likely be "Zhuan Zhuan", "Gai Gai", or "Tuo Zhuan" or something like that.
It means: change your luck, change your destiny.
The next pregnancy is to give birth to a son.
This is similar to how in some places, the first born daughter is named "Zhaodi"
Ji Zhuanzhuan is 36 years old this year. She is a very hard-working and very frugal farm woman.
At this time, she was busy collecting a few chickens that were frightened by the sandstorm last night and were flapping around.
Ji Zhuan turned around and said, "Dad, cars coming from the provincial capital are not allowed to back up in Suidan County? Don't worry, the educated youth who want to settle down will be too early to arrive."
Old Li's eyes widened, "Why are you so stubborn? The educated youth who come to jump in the queue are all educated people!
Let's not talk about embarrassing the production team leader. At least the house should be tidy.
Look at the inside of the kiln now, it’s all dusty, how can it accommodate people?”
Old Man Li's mother-in-law, Ji Zhuanzhuan, smiled and said, "I said Rongrong's father, why are you so impatient? It's exactly the same as the donkey you raised!
The educated youth will not be able to come if the sun does not set today.
It won't take much trouble to clean up a few kilns. Don't worry, I'm sure you won't lose anyone."
The direct bus from Xijing, the provincial capital, to Tuocheng runs every other day.
In order to save time, Luo Xuan and Zhang Xiaoli chose to take the long-distance bus from the provincial capital to Suidan County first.
Then from Suidan County, take the inter-county shuttle bus to the destination of this trip: Zhimi County.
~~~~~
Old man Li from the Shilipu production team in Zhimi County was urging his mother-in-law to clean up the cave dwelling quickly.
At this time, we were on a long-distance bus from the provincial capital Xijing to Suimi County.
Luo Xuan, Zhang Xiaoli and Peng Yong.
The three people were enduring the painful torture of the long journey.
This semi-new and old "Songling" brand bus was driving rickety on National Highway 318.
This long-distance bus is traveling very slowly.
Moreover, because there are many heavy-duty trucks hauling coal on the road, the traffic volume on this national highway is large and the road conditions are not particularly good.
Especially after passing Yanzhou, the bus was originally considered to be very slow.
It immediately turned into crawling like a cow in its nest.
"Well, in my imagination, Yanzhou should be a very beautiful place."
Peng Yong made no secret of his disappointment, "I didn't expect that even a gray, small market town-like place feels smaller than the size of our Rongwei County."
Luo Xuan comforted him, "The size of the city has nothing to do with us. Do you think you can go to the city often after joining the production team?
Just working every day makes you half tired! I ask you to go shopping, but I’m afraid you don’t have the heart."
Due to the long period of turbulence, Zhang Xiaoli also looked depressed at this time.
I can only lazily take a nap on Luo Xuan's shoulder.
"This classmate, what you said is wrong."
at this time,
There was a student-looking person wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket and a semi-old military coat.
Kneeling on his seat, he turned to criticize Peng Yong, "That is a holy place! You have to look at the inner spiritual power it contains, not just superficially look at its surface!"
The forty-nine cities are magnificent, the buildings and pavilions are splendid, and there are enough palaces in the palace, right?"
This guy speaks loudly and loudly.
The tone of his words was always full of awe-inspiring righteousness, "What kind of people live in those Jinyuan mansions?"
This guy told Peng Yong in a serious and thoughtful way, "This fellow student, you still think the problem is too superficial. You need to hurry up and understand more the essence contained in his works."
Peng Yong was surprised and asked, "Who are you?"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself to you. My name is Xu Daliang. I am an educated youth from Pengzhou County who went to Zhimi County to join the queue and settle down."
Xu Daliang pointed to the front of the bus,
A group of two men and two women introduced, "These are my classmates. There are five of us, all educated youth who went to the countryside in the beautiful and magnificent Saibei."
"This classmate, it seems to me that you are also an educated youth who wants to jump in line, right?"
Xu Daliang was very talkative, "And I saw you when I was buying tickets at Xijing Long-distance Bus Station.
I also heard a few words from you at that time."
Xu Daliang stretched out his hand, "We are all young intellectuals from the same province who came to join the queue. If there is a chance in the future, let's get together more often.
It would also be good to learn more from each other and discuss our experiences in studying the works."
Peng Yong shook hands with him absently, and by the way said that he, Luo Xuan, and Zhang Xiaoli were going to join the production team in Shilipu, Zhimi County.
"What a coincidence?"
Xu Daliang glanced at Zhang Xiaoli, and then exclaimed with exaggeration, "We are also going to the Guanzhuang production team in Zhimi County. The two production teams should be very close to each other, right?"
Peng Yong shook his head, "I'm not sure about this."
"Hey, this female classmate, do you know whether the Shilipu production team and the Guanzhuang production team are far apart?"
Xu Daliang turned to Zhang Xiaoli, "Are you feeling uncomfortable? If you get motion sickness, I still have a little orange peel there."
Luo Xuan said, "You don't have to ask her, she won't answer you."
"Why?"
Xu Daliang showed an innocent look on his face, "We are all fellow villagers when we are away from home. We should take care of each other and care about each other. Isn't this what we should do?"
Luo Xuan sighed, "Her mother said before she came out that people outside are very bad!
When you meet a stranger, never talk to him. Her mother also said that showing courtesy without reason is either adultery or theft."
Xu Daliang's face turned red and his lips pursed. After all, he borrowed the bus and suddenly braked.
I sat back down
Traffic jam!
There were two Jiefang trucks in front and they collided.
It seems that one of the two Jiefang vehicles belongs to the Yanzhou Coal Supply Station.
The other truck belongs to a coal supply station in another province across the Yellow River called Debao County.
Don't look at it, there is only a Yellow River across it.
Living on both sides of the Yellow River, the people of these two places are actually bitter enemies.
I don't know why.
Anyway, the two sides never see eye to eye.
When the truck here goes to that place, the driver has to be punished.
In the same way,
Even if the truck over there comes here, it will suffer a loss.
In short, a traffic accident occurred this time, and the drivers and escorts on both sides insisted that each other was responsible for the accident.
When they become more noisy,
Other drivers and escorts in their respective teams also got involved, and it was a disaster!
No one can move any further!
This is a major transportation artery.
After a slight delay, cars from behind started to come over one after another, making the entire national highway even more difficult to clear.
"Snowing"
Zhang Xiaoli woke up slowly, tilted her head and looked out the window, "I have never seen such heavy snow in my life!"
The sky was covered with clouds and the north wind was howling outside the car window.
Pieces of snowflakes rolled up and fell freely.
At the beginning, the snowflakes were mixed with yellow sand and soot, falling on the car window and slowly melting.
Countless yellow, black, and gray colors were splashed outside the glass.
A series of splash-ink landscape paintings with no rules were formed.
Things have changed.
With the biting cold wind, the roar became louder and louder, becoming more and more unscrupulous.
The temperature in the car began to slowly drop.
Just when the people in the car were about to dig out some thick clothes from the luggage rack and put on more clothes.
"Ah! What a beautiful snow!"
Xu Daliang suddenly opened the car window and leaned his upper body out of the window.
With his hands wide open, he exclaimed with great enthusiasm, "Magnificent! My Great Saibei! Beautiful! The Loess Plateau in my dreams!"
So beautiful, so magnificent!
The snow in the north of the Great Wall is so white; the wind outside the Great Wall is so heroic!!
Hahaha, we can only make this blizzard more violent!"
Xu Daliang became more and more passionate as he spoke, "Let this goose-feather heavy snow wash my soul.
Let this biting north wind portray my pride!"
"Young man, I'm afraid you are a fool."
Behind Xu Daliang.
An old man with a white sheep belly towel wrapped around his head and a sheepskin jacket.
He scolded Xu Daliang, who was expressing his emotions, "Everyone is so cold. What do you want to do by opening the window so wide?"
Xu Daliang was stunned,
He retreated from the window and was about to get angry.
But when he saw that the old man's face was crisscrossed with ridges and edges, like a knife or an axe.
Especially that old man,
He held up the dry tobacco pole and glared at Xu Dafeng, who looked unconvinced.
After spitting out two words, "How do you want to interpret it?"
Xu Daliang suddenly lost his temper.
I had no choice but to close the window in frustration, sit on a chair and sulk.
"Don't be angry. People like him from Shankara know how you feel."
Sitting next to Xu Daliang is the female classmate who came to jump in line with him.
This female classmate has big shoulders and a round waist.
His mustache is thicker than that of Xu Daliang, and he has a bit of a "Xiong Ying" attitude!
Hearing her gentle words of comfort, Xu Daliang felt very aggrieved, "Don't argue with him. What does he know about someone from Xiangba Tou?"
Because of this female classmate, she spoke in Bashu dialect.
therefore,
Sitting diagonally across from Xu Daliang and the others was the old Saibei man.
Didn't understand.
Otherwise,
According to Luo Xuan's estimation: there may be something good to watch next.
The folk customs in the north of Saibei are fierce and fierce.
They have been fighting with the barbarians outside the Great Wall for thousands of years. The land in this area was once occupied by the Xiongnu, Donghu, Tatar, and Jin people.
But they never gave in
Are you still afraid of a mere Xu Daliang?!
After waiting for a while, the snowflakes outside the bus became bigger and bigger.
From the previous fluttering, it has turned into a mess.
Due to the high temperature inside the car, the snowflakes that initially fell slowly accumulated on the roof of the car.
Then slowly melted
then,
The melted snow water is blown by the cold north wind, and strips of ice are rapidly forming at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Luo Xuan took out a brand new high imitation military coat from his box and put it on Zhang Xiaoli.
"You can put it on, I'm not cold."
Zhang Xiaoli smiled softly, "Women are naturally more resistant to freezing than men. Besides, you wear less clothes than me."
Luo Xuan smiled slightly, "You also know that I have practiced martial arts and am not very afraid of the cold. Moreover, I also carry a cotton coat in the box."
Peng Yong felt surprised, "My classmates in school, it would be nice if they even had a cotton coat. Why did you bring so many coats here?"
"Why? Of course it's to wear."
Luo Xuan chuckled and said, "When you arrive at the production team where we jump in and stay for two days, you will know why you brought so many thick clothes."
Bashu is located in the southwest, so it can't be said to be very cold.
Especially in the hinterland of Bashu, it is difficult to see snow in winter.
Especially heavy snow like this in Saibei is very rare.
Peng Yong and Zhang Xiaoli have never been to the north. They don't know how cold the winter in Saibei is.
That’s over 20 degrees below zero!
People in the carriage were rummaging through their clothes and coming out to add more clothes to themselves.
At this time, the driver got out of the car to check the road conditions ahead.
He ran back in a hurry and said, "The ball is in great shape. I'm betting on death from the front! I won't win if I leave."
The driver was rubbing his hands and feet next to the hood.
While shouting at the passengers in the carriage, "Let me tell you, there are at least dozens of cars blocked in front of us. Behind us, there may be hundreds of cars that are just messing around."
"Then what to do?"
The old man who scolded Xu Daliang asked, "It's more than 30 miles from this spot to Suimi County. How can you walk there without driving?"
Xu Daliang was afraid of this old man from Saibei.
The driver of the long-distance bus is not afraid of him!
I saw an impatient look on the driver's face.
He snapped back, "Well, you're such a stupid old man, you can't do any harm to me! You're driving a car, not a plane."
Uh, don’t want to leave? I won’t tell you anymore.”
The driver raised his voice as he spoke,
He shouted at the passengers in the car full of passengers, "Listen up, everyone, the ball has been blocked now. You have two choices, or you can continue to wait in this car."
Either you get off the car.
Zhan Zhanjie, go along this road and quickly find a guest house. Tomorrow, we will see how we can get to Suidan County."
The old man felt sorry for the fare.
So he yelled again, "What about the money for our tickets?"
The driver was furious, "I'm so embarrassed of you! Do you still want me to refund your ticket? You gray old man, don't you want to be the leader?"
Um, it's not like I won't take you to Suidan County. Isn't this just a fool's errand?
If you're not afraid of the cold, you can just stay in the car. If you're stuck in traffic for three days, you can stay there for three days, and I won't give you any extra fare, how about that?"
The old man chuckled, "Then I really won't leave. Staying in a guest house costs 80 cents a night."
"Let's go."
Luo Xuan looked at the dark sky that seemed to be pressing above his head.
He stretched out his hand to pull Zhang Xiaoli up and left, "The night here is very cold. If we stay in this car all night, we will definitely not be able to bear it."
After saying that,
Asking the driver to open the door, Luo Xuan and his party were immediately swept into the vast wind and snow.
"It's so cold! The wind blows on my face like a knife!"
As soon as I got off the bus,
Zhang Xiaoli immediately realized how harsh the wind in the north of the Great Wall was!
