Do you know how to survive in the desert?

Don't say that there are sandstorms in the desert, don't talk about the sun that makes people suffer from heat stroke after a few hours of exposure in the desert, and don't say that the endless sea of sand will always make people lose their way unconsciously. The reason why it is called the Jedi of Life here is because it is too dry, too dry, and too lacking in the water necessary for our lives. So the first thing you have to do before entering the desert is to prepare enough clear water, and if the conditions allow, it will be perfect to find a few more camels.

Known as the "Ship of the Desert", the wide paws of the animals allow them to ignore the soft sand, carry heavy supplies and goods for their owners, and most importantly, allow the camels to survive and even maintain the necessary physical strength despite losing 25 percent of their body water. You must know that a normal human being, after losing 5% of the water in the body, the mind will be confused, and in the case of losing 10% of the water, he will fall into a severe coma until death!

It is because of the important surname of camels that this small village and town on the northern side of the Taklamakan Desert, which can provide camel and guide services for passing merchants, has prospered unprecedentedly. Such small villages and towns do not have their own names, because it is relying on the service of merchants, and gradually has a cultural atmosphere and pattern belonging to merchants, so in the face of such small villages and towns, people like to call them "bazaar", if the word is translated into Chinese, it is the meaning of the market.

A meandering river that has not dried up for hundreds of years has made it an oasis, and a forest of poplars has sheltered the winds and sand that have ravaged the Taklamakan for thousands of years, providing the necessary space for human habitation.

On both sides of an earthen road that can accommodate two horse-drawn carriages, hundreds of Uyghur-style houses have been erected, each with its own courtyard. It was in these courtyards that a few camels stood more or less silently, all of them holding their proud heads high, slowly chewing the food in their mouths with a calm and calm attitude, and allowing the guests to point at them under the guidance of their masters. Only when some guests get too close to them, or even reach out to try to touch them, will they use their large, clear eyes to gently glance in front of them, and perhaps in the near future, they will also travel with strangers, and with a gentle attitude, tolerate the other party's rude attitude and manners.

In the gaps between the courtyards on both sides of the dirt road, there are some elderly Uyghur uncles wearing small round hats, who have set up watermelon stalls there. These indigenous people, who have spent their lives in this harsh environment, have skin that looks like air-dried orange peels, dry and wrinkled with the marks of time, but they can still smoke dry tobacco and laugh loudly. Some of the women who had just come back from milking, carrying small tin buckets in their hands, walked all the way, and the milk in the small tin bucket kept swaying with their footsteps, and made a rustling sound.

Such a remote but prosperous small town, known as the "Bazaar", welcomes passers-by with its unique simplicity and fire-like enthusiasm, providing them with the necessary survival materials for crossing the desert. And in the only inn in this small village and town, the roast whole sheep on the iron plate, the steamed bun made from barley noodles freshly baked, and the sour but full of charm mare's milk wine in the mouth, will make anyone who has just beaten a back and forth from the Jedi of life feel the comfort of entering heaven.

When they have eaten and drunk enough, cleaned their bodies properly with fresh water that is more valuable than gold in the desert, and with long-lost comfort and satisfaction, after entering their rooms, facing a woman who is still a little beautiful and has a scorching temperature like a desert, even if they are stingy men, they will definitely not mind that they are indulging and letting their money bags relax a little.

It was in an ordinary day, an ordinary season, that there were guests who silently walked into this small village and town.

Whenever a guest enters the village, the first thing they find is always Little Barang. Little Barang is an orphan who stands at the entrance of the village every day with a little donkey and sells yogurt to every passing merchant.

Now that the sun is about to set, but the sun is still so hot that people dare not force their eyes, little Balang must carefully squint his eyes, so that he can see a shadow walking on a faint flying sand towards the village and town in a blur, a golden, and a splendor. From the direction of Little Barang, this strange visitor seemed to have walked directly out of the sun, with a layer of golden light all over his body.

The guest had obviously gone through a long journey, and his whole body exuded an air of dust, and even the dog at his feet was covered with a heavy layer of yellow sand, and it was almost impossible to distinguish its original coat color.

Xiao Ba Lang did not reach out to stop this guest for the first time, according to his usual methods, when encountering such a single guest, especially Han people, he will definitely try his best to entangle, and even reach out to hug the other party's thigh. Han people generally don't have the same temper as Uyghurs, and the single travelers who come here will not offend them as locals in order to buy a cup of yogurt, so the end result is often that they take out one or a few coins from their pockets with a helpless expression, and buy a really bad yogurt from Xiao Balang's hand.

And those guys in the villages and towns who are usually idle and make a living by stealing can also judge whether the target has oil and water and whether it is worth their hands from the size of these guests' wallets.

However, this time, I don't know why, Xiao Balang just didn't dare to stop this stranger who was covered with a layer of wind and sand all over his body and had already shown a trace of fatigue!

He could only quietly look at the stranger, and with the dog beside him who had gone through a long journey that he didn't know, he walked silently into this small village and town with their unchanged steps, and directly found the only inn in the entire village and town.

The innkeeper watched as the stranger stuffed the large military backpack with dried meat and steamed buns, which, in his experience, were enough for a normal person for a month.

"Bring me another piece of salt."

Salt is a good thing in the desert, not only for it to spice and turn dry and hard dried meat and barley buns into delicious food, but also to simply disinfect wounds, to turn them into salt water, and to treat those who faint from dehydration. It can be said that salt is something that every brigade must purchase before entering the desert!

The boss asked, "You're going to the desert?" ”

"Hmm!"

"You're out of luck." The boss sighed softly, but there was a hint of an unconcealed smile in his eyes, "Just yesterday, one of the largest caravans just left me, you must know that if you want to conquer the desert, you will never be able to rely on the strength of one person." The best thing for a single traveler like you is to wait here, wait for the next caravan to come here, as long as you pay a certain amount of overhead or are willing to do some work in their caravan, you can follow the caravan and cross the desert together. ”

The subtext of the boss is of course easy to understand: "Until the second caravan arrives, you will have to stay with the only traveler in my village." ”

The stranger nodded noncommittally, and he placed an empty kettle and a leather water bladder on the counter, "Please help me fill them up." ”

The stranger put on the counter was a military kettle with half of the patent leather off, looking at the one hundred and ninety centimeters tall in front of him, looking like a tiger's waist, obviously tired enough, but standing there, still standing like a javelin stranger, the innkeeper guessed the identity of the other party, while filling the kettle and skin bag with water.

"Do you want to buy camels?"

The innkeeper opened a shop to entertain visitors from all over the world, and he could certainly tell from the stranger's demeanor that he would not wait for the second caravan to come to the village and town before entering the desert. Seizing every opportunity to make money is a must-have quality for every successful businessman. "If you really want to cross the desert alone, you have to have camels. You bring so much food, but you only have enough fresh water for five or six days at most, and in this case, you will not be able to get out of the Maklamakan Desert alive. ”

While persuading, the innkeeper stared at the stranger's face, looking at the face to guess the other person's mind, which is also the basic quality that a businessman must have. But the stranger in front of him, who looked to be in his early twenties, seemed to be born with a lack of facial nerves, and he had been stretched there, separated by the dust on his face, and even the shopkeeper, an old fox who had been in the rivers and lakes for decades, couldn't see what such a young man thought. He could only continue to say: "I can see that you are very strong, you have traveled a lot, traveled a lot, and carried a backpack weighing nearly 100 pounds, which is also very easy for you." But if you think that going into the desert, that backpack is still just as easy for you, you're wrong. As soon as you enter the desert, you will find that the sand under your feet is too soft, and you will have to exert several times more force than usual for every step you take. When you find out that it was a huge mistake to carry a heavy backpack and not go into the desert with a camel, you may no longer have the strength to walk back the way you came. ”

The shopkeeper was telling the truth, for over the years, he had seen more than once the kind of young man who was arrogant and thought he could conquer everything, who had gone into the desert alone or in twos and threes, without a camel, and never got out of it. Perhaps only when the strong wind swept over the sand, bringing out their white bones hidden under the sand, would their corpses once again bear witness to the other travelers, the title of "Cliff of Life" in the Taklamakan Desert.

"Thank you!"

In this young man, there is no arrogance and pride that is characteristic of those travelers who do not know whether they are alive or dead, but they have the same firmness. He reached out to catch the kettle and the water bladder handed by the shopkeeper, watched him put the water bladder and the water bottle in the place where it was least likely to cause abrasion from contact with his body, but could be grasped as soon as he reached out, and watched him leave the only inn in the whole village and town with his share of food for dinner. The shopkeeper stared at the young man's back and tried to say something more, but he didn't say anything in the end.

Every native, who lives on the edge of the desert, is a little older, and has seen wolves, can tell at a glance what kind of animal this young man's feet are that look tame, but have two "angry bones" protruding from his forehead!

At this time, the sun had disappeared below the horizon, and Xiao Balang, who had been guarding the entrance of the village, looked at the tin bucket that still held half a bucket of yogurt at his feet, and he couldn't help but sigh softly. Just as he was tying the bucket to the donkey's back with a rope, he saw the stranger with a dog again.

Seeing the stranger put his backpack on the ground, leaning against a poplar tree, and relaxing his body while sharing roast mutton and freshly baked and fluffy barley flour buns with the dog, Xiao Balang couldn't help but widen his eyes, "You're going to spend the night here?" ”

"Hmm!"

"Don't look at it here, it's very hot during the day, and at night even if you pee, it's frozen into ice!" Xiao Balang smelled the smell of roast mutton, he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, and said, "If you think it's too expensive to stay in a hotel, you can come to my house, and it only costs a dime a night." My house is very broken, but there is a hot kang and foot washing water, how can you sleep well! ”

"Thank you!"

The stranger apparently did not intend to accept Little Barang's invitation, and after putting the roast in his stomach in his hand, he closed his eyes. And when he closed his eyes, the dog, who was still fighting with a piece of barbecue just now, seemed to be on guard at the same time. It raised its head to look at little Barang with a wary look, and in its throat, a whimper full of warning sounded.

Just by looking at the majestic body of this vicious dog standing taller than an adult, full of explosive beauty, and at its teeth as sharp as two small scimitars, little Barang felt a chill all over his body. Little Barang was absolutely sure that if he didn't leave this stranger as quickly as possible, the vicious dog beside him, which had already shown a fierce light and two rows of white fangs, would definitely launch the most fierce attack on him.

"Good, good, good, you like to be frozen, you like to be patronized by the demonic scenery that blows from the Taklamakan Desert, that's your own business."

Little Barang threw up his hands, and with the speed of his life, he took his little donkey and the yogurt that only sold a fraction of it, and left the stranger and his dog, who was too fierce. While leading the donkey to spread his feet and flee, he whispered: "Hmph, what a good intention is not rewarded, Taklamakan is the devil's territory, and even Allah can't interfere at night!" At night, you, the Han Chinese, know how powerful the desert is! There's a kind of don't knock on my door at that time, and I'll take you two cents at that time! ”

The stranger did not hear little Barang's words, and seeing that his chest was rising and falling slightly, he actually fell asleep. If a doctor were to come and listen to his regular breathing at this time, his face would have changed dramatically, because this stranger had to breathe out the air in his lungs for five or six seconds before slowly re-inhaling the air into his lungs.

When the sun had sunk completely below the horizon and darkness had enveloped the land, the temperature in the air began to drop, but the stranger slept soundly and comfortably. In the darkness for a while, only his slight and rhythmic breath and breath were left, and the wolf beside him who was originally qualified to be the king of the wilderness, but because of the bond of affection, because of the warmth around him, and was willing to be trapped in his footsteps, the eyes that emitted a faint green light in the darkness!

It looked at Hui Zhou vigilantly, its ears raised high, and at the slightest movement, it would quietly stand up, and show its sharpest weapon in the direction of the movement. Because it knew that the person who was tired and wholeheartedly believed in it would never open his eyes, even if a bullet hit him, until it officially sounded the alarm.

The cold night breeze blew, leaning on a poplar tree, he fell into a deep sleep, he couldn't help but shrink his body slightly, and his steady and long breathing also became a little disordered. But soon a satisfied smile appeared on his face, for by this time his son had found half a tattered straw mat for him out of nowhere. And he carefully pressed his paws against the poplar tree, and grabbed the straw mat with his teeth, and lightly covered the man's body.

Two hours later, he woke up and looked at the half of the straw mat that covered him, and a faint smile appeared on the face of the young boy, who was probably only twenty years old. Still leaning against the poplar tree, he stretched out his hands and made a hugging motion. People who have not seen this scene can never imagine that a wolf with angry bones on his head and angry veins in his eyes would obediently lie into the arms of this young man, and then arch his head until he found the most comfortable and warm position in his arms.

It was during his stroke that the wolf soon fell asleep, and the man was tired, and it was just as tired as it was following him and going through the same journey. If humans could also understand the wolf's expression, they would be surprised to find that the wolf's face was full of happiness!

It is an ordinary and quiet small village that exists by providing camels and food for passing travelers, and there will be no war or much danger here, but this man and wolf are still quite guarded. They would change shifts every two hours, and it was in this mutual snuggling that they spent the long, icy cold night.

And the one who accompanied them through such a long night was little Balang. He really thought that the stranger would not be able to resist the cold of the desert and get up and look for a place to stay. At that hour, little Balang could jump out and use it to go up a little, but it was still much cheaper than the hotel, and invite this stingy guest to his own home.

Little Barang must admit that he was stunned. He watched this man and wolf snuggling up to each other in the cold night, he had been an orphan since he was a child, and Xiao Balang, who had an absolute sensitivity and desire for family affection, understood that they were relying on each other, and raised a flame from their hearts that they would never be afraid of any cold and loneliness again!

In the end, Xiao Balang's eyes were full of respect and envy when he looked at the man and the wolf.

Finally, little Barang, who could no longer resist the sleepiness, fell into a dizzy sleep. When he opened his eyes again, it was a hot, dry world outside.

"What about the man and his wolf, can't they be gone?"

Little Barang didn't know what time it was, he jumped up quickly, rubbed his eyes, and rushed out of his tattered home.

He was still at the entrance of the village, and his wolf, who was more faithful and warlike than a dog, stood at the entrance of the village. Hearing the sound of little Barang's hurried footsteps, he quickly turned his head, and almost at the same time, the wolf at his feet quickly adjusted his body, turned his gaze in the opposite direction, and formed a back-to-back posture with him.

Little Balang's eyes widened again, he stretched out his hand and pointed at the strange man, stumbling for a long time before he said, "You, you, you, you, you, you bought a camel?!" ”

Yes, behind him, there was a huge camel, but he didn't put that heavy backpack on the camel's body, and he didn't even collect more fresh water.

Of course, he couldn't put the backpack, which looked like it might weigh more than a hundred pounds, on this camel's body! At this time, little Balang was really angry and anxious, he waved his arms and shouted, "Are you crazy? If you don't understand, you can come to me, I can be your guide for free, and help you buy a young and strong camel, you look at this camel you bought yourself, you know, with it you can't walk through the Taklamakan that is crossed by the devil! ”

"I know!"

The stranger smiled at the child in front of him, who was so anxious that he jumped three feet high, he really smiled. Although he doesn't like to communicate too much with strangers, he can clearly feel that little Balang is really anxious about him and really thinks about him. He reached out and gently stroked the body of the camel behind him, and said softly, "I can feel that its life is coming to an end." ”

Little Barang was really dumbfounded, "Then you still buy it?" This camel was sold to the shopkeeper three days ago, and you must have been slaughtered for a lot of money if you bought it from the hands of that old black man, right? ”

"Yes, I was stabbed." He nodded in agreement, "I want to buy this camel for enough money to buy a young camel." ”

"And you still buy it?!"

"Why not?" He shrugged his shoulders lightly and smiled, "Since everyone says that you have to buy a camel to enter the desert, I'll buy one." ”

People can be stupid, but they must not be stupid, because such a mistake, in the Taklamakan Desert, means death! The black old man of the shopkeeper sells such a camel, which is so old that he can barely walk, to a customer who is about to enter the desert is tantamount to murder for money!

"Don't get me wrong!"

He seemed to be able to see through what little Barang was thinking, and he said indifferently: "Although the shopkeeper likes to make money and is a little slippery, he has warned me repeatedly before I buy this camel, but I insist on buying it." ”

Little Balang found that he couldn't understand this man, he really didn't understand! I believe that in this world, there are few people who can understand why this man who is about to enter the Taklamakan Desert would buy a man who is so old that he can no longer enter the desert, and he is about to be slaughtered and sent to the oven to become a delicious old camel on the table?!

Throwing a coin into little Barang's hand, he smiled and said, "Don't you still want to sell yogurt, I've got all the money in your bucket." ”

What he threw to little Barang was a silver dollar. When little Barang quickly brought the whole bucket of yogurt in front of him, he did not pick up the spoon to taste the taste of the yogurt, but poured the whole bucket of yogurt into a stone trough for feeding horses on the side of the road in front of little Barang. Looking at the whole bucket of white yogurt that he had brewed by himself, all of which were poured into the stone trough and still slightly glowing with milk, smelling the unique smell of yogurt in the air, Xiao Balang couldn't help but clench the silver round in his hand, and his breathing became rapid.

"When this little brother ran out, your nose twitched a few times, and even your eyes lit up, you should like the smell of his body and want to taste the taste of yogurt, right?"

He was talking to the camel next to him who was so old that he couldn't even walk, let alone help him cross the desert, he reached out and gently stroked the wrinkled body of the old camel, pointed to the milky yogurt that was full of troughs, and smiled: "Drink, this is what I invite you to drink." ”

The old camel's eyes, which had become cloudy and yellowish, suddenly lit up, and it snorted merrily, and began to drink freely from other masters for the rest of his life, and would not go crazy to let it taste a mouthful of yogurt. When it had drunk all the yogurt in the stone trough, and had stretched out its tongue to lick all the juice from it, the old camel lowered its head and rubbed its huge head affectionately on the face of its new owner.

"Thank you, thank you for giving me the opportunity to fulfill a wish of this new partner."

He stretched out his hand and patted little Barang's shoulder gently, and then carried the heavy backpack on his back, carrying the wolf that could depend on him for his life, more like a relative than his relatives, with a horse that was too old to carry any goods for him, let alone help him cross the Taklamakan Desert, but in a short period of time, he regarded him as his closest partner, and walked steadily towards the Taklamakan Desert in the north, which was more than 2,000 miles long and more than 800 miles wide.

In the Uyghur language, Taklamakan means "you can't get out if you go in", and some explorers from the West even call this place the "Sea of Death", wanting to cross such a large desert on foot, purely stealing the devil's wife, and trying to escape! But looking at the back of this man and the wolf and an old camel, little Balang firmly believed that this man could really defeat Taklamakan !

Little Balang suddenly remembered something, and he rushed to the outside of the village, and shouted loudly to the shadow of the stranger: "Be careful, in that desert there are not only devils, but also several groups of sand bandits who specialize in robbery, and they are devil's believers!" If you run into them, you don't care about the old camel, you can run as far as you can if you drop your backpack! ”

In the wind came the man's response: "I see, thank you!" ”

"I don't want you to thank me." Little Balang's face turned red, and he shouted with all his might, "I believe you will come back alive, and I believe you will be able to do it." If you make it through the desert alive and come back here, you must come to me! I'd like to hear your story of adventures in the desert, and it must sound better than the legends often told by the old people in the village! ”

"Good!" Although he couldn't see the man's expression from such a distance, he believed that the man must be smiling, "We have a deal!" ”

"My name is Barang," Barang Jr. craned his neck and shouted, "What's your name?" ”

"Thunder Quake!"

Little Barang silently memorized this simple but powerful name in his heart again and again, until he firmly engraved this name into the deepest part of his memory. He found that he liked this man named Lei Zhen, and there was an indescribable strange quality in this man, which made little Balang, who had been an orphan since he was a child, involuntarily like him and wanted to get close to him.

Although this man is stupid, he will use the money to buy a young and strong camel to buy an old camel that is too old to walk and will soon be slaughtered for meat.

When Lei Zhen took his new partner, standing on a hill with a drop of more than 140 meters from the surface, looking at the endless desert ahead, in the winding and lingering, writing all the desolation and despair, he stretched out his hand and patted the old camel gently, looking at its glowing eyes, feeling that in its aging body, it suddenly became a hot blood, Lei Zhen said softly: "I don't know how long you can go forward, but do your best, go hard, until you can no longer walk!" ”

The son, who was standing at Lei Zhen's feet, shook his tail slightly, it knew what Lei Zhen was talking about, and it also understood what Lei Zhen was thinking.

If there were no father like Lei Zhen, there would be no son like it!

(To be continued)