But we didn't feel sad for a while, so we went down to help Master Zhou.

In addition to his usual patrols, he also had to lay pegboards at several prominent entrances near the reserve when the sun was about to set, so as to prevent the tomb robbers from breaking in at night. In fact, there are many such things hidden in the shadows in the reserve, especially near the tombs of nobles. He said that he had really tossed several waves of tomb robbers with this thing.

In such places, camels are punctured in the legs, and they either fight to get out on foot, or they are basically caught. Most of the time, tomb robbers are honestly waiting for the officials to arrest them, and although they may be sentenced to head off if they are caught, if someone operates, they may be able to save their lives, and if they run, they will take their lives nine times out of ten.

When everything was done, it was already dark, Master Zhou made a folding table for us and put it in the open space, and found three small stools that were a little broken, let us sit and wait for a while, and he went to get us two dishes.

Team Chen found a bundle of rice wine from the storeroom, and I sat at the table, looking at the stars boredly. There are already a lot of stars in summer, and the surrounding area is bleak, and the altitude of Province X is higher than that in the east, so I was fascinated by the brilliance of the galaxy, and I have never seen such a beautiful scenery in my life.

When I was a child, I used to hear my mother tell me stories about the stars, but I forgot about them. In the books I read before, there were also books about astrology, but the content was too difficult to understand, and the theory was quite complicated, so I didn't have much of an impression.

Chef Zhou is obviously also an old cook, after all, a person who lives here all the year round, and the skills of those who don't know how to cook must have been trained. He made us a couple of dishes, and they smelled very good.

So the three of us drank and talked under the starlight.

Master Zhou is also a very talkative person, perhaps because no one has spoken for too long, and after two sips of wine, he gushed endlessly.

Master Zhou asked us, "How long have you been running here?" ”

Team Chen said: "For several days, we didn't come straight and went to the center of the LBP lake. ”

Master Zhou smiled and said, "Haha, it must be Xiao Zhou's going to go, right?" I know young people love to go there for adventures! ”

I'll smile and give you a nod.

He took a sip of his wine and continued: "I've been here for a long time, and it seems to you that LBP and LL, it's all mysterious, it's dangerous, it's the wind and sand for me, it's the dirt, it's all these dead woods, and I look at them every day. ”

Team Chen told me: "Originally, there was no road to enter the LL site, but later a new road was built for the protection of cultural relics, and it took more than ten days to supply camels to enter from the beginning, and now we can come in, and it will only take a few days at the earliest." ”

Master Zhou followed his words and said: "Yes, that's right, I've been here for a long time, don't talk about transportation back then, drinking water was a fucking big problem." In the first few years, the water was so tight that I couldn't take a bath, cough, not to mention bathing, my face was basically not washed, and I brought a bag of clothes that I wore on my face, and when I came out to rest in a few months, the whole person was already stinky.

Fortunately, our yamen helped the workstation build two underground water cellars, and the problem of water use was basically solved. The living conditions are getting better and better, think about the fact that before the station was built, I could only rely on a big tent here, and the vegetables brought in were radishes and potatoes, and I had to wear a mask when I stayed in the tent, and sometimes I survived by eating naan and drinking water for three days in a row. Alas, think about it back then. ”

Master Zhou blew a jar of rice wine, and then said: "But the natural conditions here are still too bad, and the salary is still small, I don't know who will take over after us."

"How much do you pay a month?" I asked him.

Master Zhou said a number.

My heart moved, this is on our side, and it is just the salary of the most ordinary security guard.

I asked him, "What do you usually do?"

He said, "Patrolling, walking, camel patrolling."

I then asked, "Is there really a grave robber in a place like this?"

He smiled bitterly and said, "No, and tomb robbery can be said to be very rampant, Team Chen knows, even the XH cemetery, which has been excavated, there are still many dogs staring at it."

Team Chen nodded: "You may not know this, the tomb robbers we caught before confessed, on the black market, the price of cultural relics in Province X has been soaring, the paintings of domestic first-class painters are priced by square feet, and the ancient woolen fabrics unearthed in Province X can be priced by square centimeters, think about what the concept is."

And the people in this neighborhood must have been spread by cultural relics dealers, and there are rumors that someone got rich overnight because of tomb robbery. Some said that someone dug up a painted coffin board in LL and was taken away by the cultural relics dealer at a price of several hundred taels; Others said that the dried corpses that someone dug up from LL were taken away on the spot by cultural relics dealers for thousands of taels. This also encouraged the idea of local people who did not understand the law to come and fight for cultural relics.

So if we don't protect LL, LL's tomb will soon be stolen. However, the preservation of the LL site is a major project, and more than eighty percent of the ancient tombs here have not yet been excavated, and even the exact number of ancient tombs is unknown. The comprehensive excavation and protection of the LL site may require the participation of cultural relics and scientific research workers in all provinces of X. Maybe it's not enough. ”

Master Zhou said: "That's true, but it's too unrealistic. To be honest, I think the most nonsense is that they still refuse to give us even the right to enforce the law, nor do they give us weapons, that is to say, they can only persuade and educate. When we encounter tomb robbers, we can only report to the county government, but you also know how far away it is from here to the county, and when the people from the yamen arrive, the tomb robbers who can run on camels are long gone. Moreover, once we encounter tomb robbers head-on, we are all facing the danger of our lives, tomb robber gangs are basically outlaws, it is not uncommon to have weapons and even firearms, we have at most a kitchen knife, you say this is not angry, how can we convince education? ”

Team Chen said: "Alas, yes, don't talk about you, even our Jinshi Institute has no power, and many things need help from others or give the green light." You must tell the other brothers at the protection station that safety comes first, and the protection of cultural relics is important, but you must not fight with them with your life. ”

Master Zhou nodded, and took a few sips of wine in a row, and I could see that the expression on his face was quite complicated.

Listening to the conversation between the two people, I couldn't help but feel a little helpless and sour.

Master Zhou continued: "This kind of place is only for middle-aged people like us, and young people will not come, they all go out to work." The older old man is okay to see the gate, and it is estimated that he will not see the Bodhisattva in a few days after living here. ”

I asked him, "How long have you not been back?"

He calculated: "It's almost a month." The work is arranged like this, and I can't help it. The family is counting on me to be busy, and now that my daughter is on summer vacation, I haven't been able to go back to play with her, you say that my father is the one, hehe. ”

Speaking of his family, this big man actually had tears in his eyes, but he drank desperately and suppressed his psychological emotions.

After a little cold, Team Chen pointed to a cart leaning against the wall of the workstation and asked him, "Why did you still get such a thing, what's the use?" It's useless here. "Didn't he say I really didn't pay attention, thinking that pushing a cart in this kind of place is exercise?

Master Zhou suddenly came to his senses, with a serious face, and said to us in a mysterious tone: "I don't say it, you two will never think of it." In May, there was an old man, looking at his sixties and seventies, who came here with a cart! ”

I was dazed, it was too unbelievable: "Coming here?"

Master Zhou said, "That's right, there is water and dry food on the cart, and there is not even a tent, so he came over with the cart."

I was really shocked, there are still such people in the world? I then asked, "So what is he doing here?"

"Cough, you don't believe it, he said that after his wife died, he was really bored living alone in his hometown, and his children were not at home, so he wanted to go out for a walk and see the scenery of other places. But he can't ride a horse or a camel, so he can only push the cart around, he said that before coming here, he has been to the southwest plateau, to the northern prairie, he said that the LL in X province is his last stop, and he didn't want to get out alive, just to see what the LL is like to be satisfied. No, I took him around the room later, and the old guy agreed to ride my camel back to LBP Town. He said that he wouldn't come out when he went home this time, God didn't let him die outside, he honestly returned to his roots, so he simply left this cart with me, and said to leave me a souvenir, who do you say I should talk to? ”

I couldn't help but marvel in my heart, such an old man is so tenacious, let alone the elderly, it is almost impossible for a young man like me to push a cart here, and he has the heart of seeing death as home, and he also wants to take a look at the scenery here, he is really an old hero chasing dreams.

Master Zhou talked to us about a lot of other things, and it wasn't until we had drunk all twelve cans of rice wine that we planned to go back to rest. The sleeping conditions here are also very simple, the shelf bed is about the same width as the dormitory of our school, and he helped us clean up briefly, so that we can spend the night here. To tell the truth, lying down, people are panicking.

After settling us down, Master Zhou told us to rest first, and he said that at night we should climb up to the watchtower more than ten meters high behind us to observe and see if there were any suspicious signs, which was the last thing we had to do every day.

I said, "You don't have to go today, it's not safe to climb up and down after drinking so much." ”

Master Zhou smiled and said, "It's okay, I'm used to it, I can go up with my eyes closed, and I'll come back when I see it, it won't be long." So saying, he took the oil lamp and went out.

I really hope that these people who stick to the front line, are not afraid of hardships, are willing to be lonely, give up their small families to take care of everyone, and engrave the responsibility of protecting the country's cultural heritage in their hearts, interpreting loyalty and responsibility, can get a reward proportional to their efforts.