When Cheng Zhong returned home, there was a steady and soothing snoring sound in every room, and the family was immersed in sweet dreams.

He gently woke up his mother, asked her to position the waist of the inside of his shirt, sewed a circle of pockets, and evenly packed the ten-dollar bill.

He quietly told his mother that he had something important to do, and that he would go out early in the morning, and asked her to wake him up at six o'clock in the morning.

After that, he quickly went to bed.

After getting up in the morning, Cheng Zhong tidied up his schoolbag.

He took out all his textbooks, put on a newly bought flashlight, installed a novel that he was reading - "Burning Gold and Steel", and wrapped a few pieces of white-flour buns in plastic paper and put them in his school bag.

"Huhu" ate the two hot poached eggs made by his mother, he picked up his schoolbag and ran to Ma Er's house.

In winter, the nights are long and the days are late, and the village is still dark at this time.

But there are always a few people who are particularly diligent and get up very early every day.

At this time, there are already people feeling the darkness, along the foot of the wall and the road, picking up the feces pulled by the animals during the day, and use it to make fires or accumulate fertilizer.

Occasionally, the sound of coughing echoed through the empty village.

Ma's second wife happened to pour a urinal outside the courtyard wall.

Cheng Zhong saw that she was disheveled, and it didn't look like she would go out immediately.

He turned away and ran towards the school.

I arrived at school in an hour, and arrived ten minutes earlier than usual.

He found the fourth-grade homeroom teacher and respectfully said that he had something at home and was going to go far away, so he asked the teacher for leave.

During this period, the school management was not strict, and the learning content was very simple.

A child with intelligence like Cheng Zhong doesn't go to school for a few days, and as long as he has textbooks, he is not afraid of falling behind in his homework.

Therefore, the head teacher asked Cheng Zhong to write a leave note, and he approved the leave.

Not far from the school is a T-junction where the road and the street meet.

Take the shuttle bus from Chengjiawan, and the T-junction is the only way to go.

Cheng Zhong thought about it, so he was here to "wait for the rabbit", waiting for those two people to appear.

The cotton clothes and pants are all made of new cotton, and there is no problem in keeping warm.

It's just that because he ran all the way, Cheng Zhong was sweating finely, and this time he stopped, and his body was a little cold.

He craned his neck, crouched under the corner of the post office to avoid the wind, and looked boredly at the deserted street.

The street runs east-west, from the T-junction here to the bus station at the other end, but the distance is only two or three hundred meters, and you can see the end at a glance.

Looking at the past one by one, the buildings on both sides are the post and telecommunications office, department store, supply and marketing cooperative, Xinhua bookstore, handicraft society, people's hotel, and bus station.

School-going children rushed through the streets.

The clerks of the store were pulling the chains and opening the door panels with the upper and lower locks.

Residents facing the street are sweeping away the snow in the courtyard and at the entrance.

The stoves sticking out of the wall were emitting green smoke, and there were asphalt-like e-liquid dripping down from the mouth of the furnace barrel.

On the wall facing the street, there are intermittent slogans painted in different periods:

"Criticizing forests and cutting holes and cutting grass must be eradicated", "We must never forget the class struggle", "Dazhai of agriculture", "Criticizing Deng for countering the right-leaning trend of overturning the case", "Good family planning", ......

These slogan words can make people go back to the past in an instant and recall the vigorous mass movements not long ago.

Seeing the store open not far away, Cheng Zhong ran over and bought a large imitation military warm hat and a large labor protection mask as quickly as possible.

Wrapped in full armor, only a pair of eyes were left exposed.

Now, no one can recognize his "true face of Lushan".

waited until about ten o'clock, under Cheng Zhong's left and right, a pair of men and women staggered past him, and the woman was Ma Er's wife.

They arrived at the bus station and bought a shuttle ticket to Lanzhou.

Cheng Zhong followed and also bought a shuttle ticket to Lanzhou.

At one o'clock at noon, I arrived at Lanzhou Railway Station.

They bought a train ticket to Xining, and Cheng Zhong followed suit.

Growing so big, Cheng Zhong has never been far away, nor has he ever taken a train.

Unexpectedly, the first time I took the train, it was thanks to Ma's second wife.

The train "clanged" and panted, like an old man in his last years, stop-and-go.

This is not bad, but it allows Cheng Zhong to see enough of the scenery along the way.

In the northwest in winter, there is actually no beautiful scenery, but in the eyes of Cheng Zhong, it is fresh everywhere.

"Withered vines and old trees, crows,

Ancient road west wind thin horse.

Sunset

The heartbroken man is at the end of the world. ”

Cheng Zhong came up with this ancient poem in his mind, and chanted softly, feeling that there were several similar artistic conceptions in this situation and scene......

It wasn't until midnight that the train arrived at Xining Railway Station.

They didn't leave the station, so they stayed in the waiting room for the night.

I didn't expect that there were a lot of people stranded at the station.

Not only were there no empty seats on the benches, but the floor was also crowded with people.

People were in tattered clothes, with large bags and small bags, dragging their children and daughters, bustling, and it was impossible to tell whether they were waiting for the train or not leaving after arriving at the station like them.

The train station is a no-cost hotel, and on such a cold winter night, the station police can't bear to chase them away.

There are many people who think the same way, and those who can find an open space on the floor are considered lucky.

Cheng Zhong was clever and soon occupied a vacant lot.

He used his schoolbag and big warm hat as pillows, and lay down on the cold floor with Zhou Zhou's people.

He stared at the ceiling with wide eyes, and at this moment, he had a deeper experience of the hardships of life.

For a while, Cheng Zhong seemed to be out of his body.

He fluttered into the air, looking down at the crowd of people in the waiting room, including his own half-sized body.

The night becomes transparent.

He saw that most of the people were skinny, full of vegetables, forced to make ends meet, forced to travel in the cold winter, and endure the pain of hunger and cold.

He can see everyone's delicate expressions, see everyone's unspeakable thoughts and fluctuating emotions, connect with everyone, share everyone's joys and sorrows, and even feel that these people and himself are an inseparable whole.

It seems like a short moment, and it seems like a long century has passed......

Cheng Zhong, who came to his senses, shuddered, and seemed to understand the meaning of the so-called "compassion" of Buddhism:

Those who are "compassionate" rejoice for the joy of all sentient beings and rejoice in the joy of sentient beings.

Those who are "sad" suffer for the suffering of sentient beings, and take the sorrow of sentient beings as compassion......

This kind of "distracted" situation will appear from time to time in Cheng Zhong, and he can't explain it at all as a young man.

After tracking all the way, now Cheng Zhong has actually made a preliminary judgment:

This pair of men and women should not pose any threat to the underground labyrinth of Ironwood Mountain and the entrance to the "Wolf Domain".

Because they simply don't have enough level and qualifications.

Just as it is impossible for a sparrow to pay attention to an eagle, it is impossible for a mouse to pay attention to a tiger and a leopard.

Along the way, the woman still looks a little stupid, like a soulless walking corpse, just following the man step by step.

The man was thinly dressed, his face was dark, his eyes were obscene, and a black scab occasionally appeared on his exposed wrist.

They are all people living at the bottom of this world, and all their thoughts are only about food and clothing, how can they have the heart to think about anything like the secret realm of the "wolf god"?

Along the way, the two of them never entered a restaurant, never ate a decent meal, and only occasionally gnawed on the black nest made of unclear noodles, barely satisfying their hunger.

They may talk about Ma Er's death and the fact that there is a wolf's den on the beach of the ancient temple of Tiemu Mountain.

As for the secret of the Xuelihong family, it is a "Arabian Night Pool" for them, a "miracle" that they cannot imagine and even more unattainable.

After some consideration, Cheng Zhong's worries were relieved.

The fear of lifting means that Cheng Zhong's mission has actually been completed, and he can buy a ticket to return by waiting until dawn.

On the cold floor, Cheng Zhong fell asleep, and this sleep was very sweet.

In the dream, it seems that someone is getting married, and Cheng Zhong is familiar with the bride and groom, but strangely, he can't see their faces clearly......

After dawn, Cheng Zhong got up and went to the ticket gate to line up.

As the long line approached the window, a trace of uneasiness rose in his heart, and it was clear that an irritable emotion controlled him, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Am I leaving like this?"

"Will something happen to Ma's second wife?"

"Is her cousin reliable?"

A series of questions popped up from Cheng Zhong's heart, like countless insects drilling around in his head, making his brain hurt.

That man doesn't look like a good person, that woman is from Chengjiawan, and she is still related to Cheng Zhong, although it was her own decision to go away, and she had nothing to do with Cheng Zhong, but did he really bear to ignore it?

"Since I'm here, I should go over and have a second look, and it's not too late to return when she's safe. He said in his heart, and he made a quick decision.

Cheng Zhong followed the two on the bus again.

The shuttle bus left Xining and headed northwest, gradually entering the grassland.

Cheng Zhong saw the vast prairie for the first time in his life, and he was filled with emotion.

"The sky is vast and the wilderness is vast,

The wind blows the grass and sees the cattle and sheep low. ”

Cheng Zhong remembered such verses and admired the ancients' accurate grasp of Chinese language vocabulary and expressive use.

Of course, the poem describes the scenery of the steppe in summer and autumn.

It is now winter, the grass has withered and yellowed, and I can't find the feeling of "wind blowing grass and seeing cattle and sheep".

The withered grassland was covered with a layer of snow, and there were many fewer cattle and sheep than expected, except for a few yaks with dusty tails, scattered in the field of vision.