"How did you do it, Emina, Uncle Issam and Song Xiaoshuang went out shopping?"

On the second floor of a two-story brick and concrete compound house, in a room with an Arabian tapestry near the window, the curtains half blocked the afternoon sunlight and the light was not dazzling, Isabel, dressed in the uniform of the off-white field expedition, quickly closed the door, pulled down the veil that covered her face from her head and threw it on the wooden table, revealing her black hair bun, and her yellow-brown eyes behind the glasses frame stared at Amina, who was also dressed for a notebook next to the table, and said French with a little anxious roar on her face.

Seeing Isabel's annoyed expression as a friend and team leader, Emina, who did not cover her face with a scarf to reveal the face of a black-haired Arab girl, faced Isabel's inquiry, her black eyes blinked, and her expression was a little embarrassed and said in French: "Isabel, we said that there is a good division of labor, Wu Dai will deal with the broken off-road vehicle and find the repair shop master to replace the parts, you are responsible for letting the injured team members be safely admitted to the hospital, and I will stay in our city base camp to write a field investigation report and submit it to the office, The uninjured members of the expedition went out shopping and relaxed, and the Berber guide, Yankee Gordon and his girlfriend Daisy followed, how do I know where they went, and they should be back before dark! ”

Isabel walked to the window and lifted the curtains, and was greeted by a cluster of low-rise houses in gray and yellow in the distance, most of which were mud-walled houses made of sand and brick and concrete structures no taller than two floors, and the streets were dotted with oasis plants, few tall buildings, and at the end of the view was the rolling yellow sand and desert roads, which were filled with sand and dust after driving, which was the typical layout of a city in the desert.

After retracting her gaze, Isabel saw that in the earthen wall compound, her colleague Udai, who had a proper Arab girl appearance with a veil on the back of her head, was wearing a new set of beige color expedition uniforms (in order not to cause unnecessary trouble, the bloodstained uniforms of the expedition team members and the gray and white robes of the guides were changed, and they were poured with gasoline in the desert and burned), standing next to the off-road vehicle with a completely disabled engine, next to two other off-road vehicles, the body of which was riddled with bullets, From time to time, Udai whispered in Arabic to remind several mechanics that the car must be repaired carefully, and a large van painted with the logo of a vehicle repair shop leaning against the wall, the open rear door wide open.

"Udai is supervising those car mechanics in the yard to replace engine parts and repair those bullet holes in the car, our funds are not sufficient, you know Emina, if you don't look at it, the old virgin director in the office will find us trouble, are you sure Uncle Issam and Song Xiaoshuang went out together?"

Isabel didn't look back and spoke in French in a gentle tone, knowing that Emina was listening.

"That weird guy from China, Song Xiaoshuang, I watched him go out with Uncle Issam in front of the window, he doesn't speak any foreign languages, but you can also see that he is very interested in Uncle Issame's temper, he has some divine chatter and knows some witchcraft or something, can repel desert robbers, the two of them are the last to go out after Gordon and Daisy go out, why don't you go down and ask Wudai?"

Emina is not the leader of the expedition team, and there is not much pressure in Isabel's position, hearing that Isabel, who is of mixed French and Arab nomadic descent, is a little worried about the guide Uncle Issam and Song Xiaoshuang, Emina shrugged her shoulders slightly and spoke Arabic disapprovingly.

In Emina's opinion, Uncle Issam and Song Xiaoshuang are both strong men, where will something happen in the city, Isabel is a little too worried?

Hearing what Emina said, the irritability in Isabel's heart faded slightly, and she secretly thought that Uncle Issam would not go out without his mobile phone, and he turned around and opened the door and walked out without bringing the scarf on the table.

Soon after Isabel left, the satellite phone on the table prompted that there was an incoming call, Amina picked up the satellite phone and walked to the window, opened the curtains and watched Isabel just walk out of the compound, Emina put the phone to her ear and listened for a short time, and said in French in a respectful tone: "Yes!" Director, the task of the special expedition team of ancient religion and witchcraft culture must continue to be completed, and we will go to the desert plateau as soon as the additional manpower arrives, I will tell Isabel"

When Isabel went out to look for Song Xiaoshuang and Uncle Issam, she was wearing a gray and white robe with sandals on her feet, squinting and blinking with a somewhat rich expression Song Xiaoshuang, who was looking at Song Xiaoshuang with a little rich expression in Northwest Africa, and Uncle Issam, who always covered his face with a scarf and a gray robe, was walking on the bustling street.

Along the way, it is very different from Song Xiaoshuang's imagination, Mauritanian folk customs can be said to be in the area where European and Arab cultures meet, although it is an Arab country, but there are many people of mixed race, Europeans, Arabs, and African natives with white teeth, women wearing colorful gauze skirts and robes, and various good-looking bracelets on their wrists with different skin tones, many of them do not cover their faces with scarves, and they enter and exit the streets and alleys of the market leisurely, and many of them are very generous and easy-going. When foreign tourists come from afar, they rarely refuse to take pictures.

Song Xiaoshuang was very careful at this time, and noticed that his face was not exposed to other people's shots, today's society is a society of information explosion, and the speed of information transmission is really fast, Song Xiaoshuang has not forgotten that he is thousands of miles away, not only his relatives and friends, but also many enemies who want to put him to death, his ability is not as good as before, it is difficult to recover to his peak state in the short term, if someone knows that he is in the desert of West Africa, the problem will be big!

The reason why Song Xiaoshuang and Uncle Issam slipped out of the two-story building where the investigation team was stationed at the latest was that the two of them took a hot bath in the big bathroom and changed into clean robes.

After several days of walking through the dry desert, drinking water is rationed, and where does the water come from to bathe? It is the body mixed with the smell of sweat and blood that makes Song Xiaoshuang feel too unhappy, Song Xiaoshuang wants to go out to find a Chinese restaurant to treat himself, he believes that there will be Chinese restaurants in such a large city, even if this is the Sahara Desert in West Africa, where there are Chinese, there will be Chinese restaurants, which is a strange phenomenon in the eyes of foreigners.

Although Uncle Issam does not speak Chinese, Song Xiaoshuang does not speak Arabic, but both of them are experienced old fritters, but they are very concerned about good food, when going out, Song Xiaoshuang broke the branch of a shrub in the yard, made two short wooden sticks in his hand and gestured a few times to indicate that he wanted to go out to eat Chinese food, Uncle Issam understood in seconds, he had also eaten Chinese food before, patted Song Xiaoshuang's shoulder, his eyes signaled that this is very good Uncle pay, the two quickly took advantage of Wu Dai busy to greet the repair shop worker master, A smoke ran out of the inspection team station.

But there are really not many Chinese here, there are even fewer authentic Chinese restaurants, many of them are strange restaurants opened by foreigners under the banner of Chinese food, Song Xiaoshuang of course will not go in to let his stomach be abused, walked for almost an hour, only then found a shop style and faintly transmitted dishes The aroma is full of Chinese restaurants, the decoration of the store is much worse than those Chinese restaurants that seem to be magnificent, that is, the brick-concrete structure of the bungalow, Song Xiaoshuang walked in, who knows that it looks a little eye-catching, The young Arab lady waitress wearing a cheongsam, a Japanese sentence came to her head, and bowed down to welcome, Song Xiaoshuang felt really bad in her heart, how did she enter Little Japan's store with a slight frown? My feelings are rarely wrong, what is going on with this?

Seeing Uncle Issam, who covered his face with a scarf and only showed a pair of black eyes, was already sitting at a square table by the window under the guidance of the waitress's professional smile, Song Xiaoshuang couldn't help but sigh secretly, walked over a few steps and sat on a solid wood chair, noticed that in addition to the Arabic text he didn't know, there was also a Chinese introduction but no Japanese on the menu, Song Xiaoshuang's eyes became relaxed, did not look at the recipe, looked at the waiter next to him and said in Chinese as gently as possible: "On the authentic Chinese stir-fry, It is best to use Hunan cuisine and Sichuan cuisine, with enough oil and ingredients, just pick up the best ones, and estimate the amount of two people! Let's have a few bottles of non-freezing beer, even if you don't have sparkling wine! ”

"Ah, the Chinese? I'm sorry, I'm really sorry just now, well, please wait"

The Arab waitress in a cheongsam unexpectedly ran into a "pure" Chinese, and felt that this Chinese man with squinting eyes estimated that he had a certain study of eating, spoke Chinese with a strange tone quickly, turned around and said two words of Arabic to another waiter, and then walked quickly into the back hall.

Uncle Issam stared at the backs of the two waiters who left, Song Xiaoshuang shook his head slightly, knowing that the uncle was staring at the waiter's buttocks and examining it with an "appreciative" eye, although there were still tight trousers in their cheongsam, after a few days of contact, the uncle was a little neurotic and obscene Song Xiaoshuang already understood.

A waiter just walked to the table with a few bottles of beer, the uncle's mobile phone call reminder ring, I saw the uncle quickly touch out an old Lokia mobile phone, after connecting it, a woman's voice came out, she said that the speed of proper Chinese is very fast, Uncle Issam showed a strange smile in his eyes, and handed the mobile phone that can be used to smash walnuts to Song Xiaoshuang. Song Xiaoshuang whispered and motioned to the waiter to put the beer on the table, and saw the smart waiter gently put down the beer and corkscrew and turned to leave, Song Xiaoshuang said to the mobile phone in a gentle tone: "Isabel, my uncle and I are in a Chinese restaurant, you haven't eaten, let's wait for you." ”

"Song Xiaoshuang, you foodie! How many Ouguiya do you have? Uncle doesn't have much money left, his money has been taken back to the tribe, waiting for me, where is it! ”

Isabel heard Song Xiaoshuang's disapproving voice on the phone, and the fierce temper of the female man suddenly broke out, and at the end of the sentence, her tone was softened, asking Song Xiaoshuang to tell her where the two were located, Uncle Issam's Ouguia (Mauritanian currency) may not be enough to pay for the meal, and she still has to finish it.

Song Xiaoshuang's eyes and Uncle Issam glanced at each other, both of them shook their heads at the same time with some tacit understanding, Song Xiaoshuang's expression became cold, and he continued in a calm tone: "Isn't there a big boss like you, I can consider accompanying you to the desert platform again when you come to pay for the meal."

"Well, I heard you right, right? Why don't you go back to your home country and go to the embassy? ”

Isabel said in a surprised tone, she didn't expect Song Xiaoshuang to bring her an exciting good news at this time.

Song Xiaoshuang continued to chat with Isabel for a few words, telling her where she and her uncle were in the city and the name of the restaurant, being able to lead the leader of a field scientific expedition team, giving simple directional coordinates to find the specific location, it was easy for Isabel, and her mobile phone was not her uncle's walnut smashing machine

When two plates of stir-fried vegetables were placed on the table, after a brake sounded at the door, Isabel's figure rushed into the Chinese restaurant like a whirlwind, and saw Song Xiaoshuang and Uncle Issam sitting at the table next to the window waiting, Isabel stood at the table and quickly picked up a bottle of beer, biting the cap with her teeth, her eyes were slightly red after pouring a few sips of wine, staring at Song Xiaoshuang carefully, one hand grabbed the black hair on the top of her head and shook her head and then nodded again, and then paused before she said boldly in Chinese: "You were hired by me, I will apply for special funds from the office, and the salary is the same as that of my uncle! ”

Song Xiaoshuang said with a somewhat joking expression: "So, I'm a UNESCO employee, at the level of a temporary worker?" ”

Hearing Song Xiaoshuang's self-deprecating words, a pair of yellow-brown eyes behind Isabel's glasses frame flashed with inexplicable brilliance, pulled over a chair and sat down, and said quickly: "When I returned to China, I consigned a self-produced oak barrel cellar red wine to you, which is the really top one, never sold, much better than what is contained in a flat kettle, what do you think?" ”

I'm rubbing, this French girl is out of the way, and sure enough, she is a top smart person, knowing that I am exploring the secret of the strange red wine in her flat kettle, it seems that the task of the bodyguard is not simple!

Song Xiaoshuang secretly slandered himself, knowing that Isabel was still waiting for his answer, his expression changed to a cold and solemn expression: "Your red wine will be worth a ticket, deal!" ”