Speaking of the west, in many people's concepts, it may be either the land of Bashu, or the ancient tea horse road with deep ravines, or the snow-capped mountains, or the endless Gobi Desert.

However, it is not these places that Ren Zhe is in now.

His intention was to go to a far western, remote and mysterious, the abode of the gods of the mythology of an ancient civilization that lasted for 5,000 years.

Just like an elephant will set foot on a resting place when he is dying, Ren Zhe also wants to choose such a place for himself.

Death and life are equally holy, since you can't choose life, then choose the death you yearn for the most.

However, the appearance of Lü Zhong disrupted his plans, and when he went along the Silk Road to explore his burial place, he was stranded on the way because of this strange man.

The place he is in now is peculiar. This is a small area of the Hexi Corridor, which is located on a plateau, but is bordered by mountains to the south, the Gobi Desert to the west, grasslands to the north, and deserts to the east. Further on, there is a Danxia landform like red oil paint. This is a microcosm and collection of China's topography.

Once upon a time, he came here with high spirits and dust, imparting knowledge to children in the plateau and mountainous areas and talking about the outside world.

Then, too, he was taught in shock.

Maybe it's because people are poor and short-sighted, or maybe it's ignorance, but how to put it, poor places are spiritually rich.

The barren soil nourishes small desires, like a wild plant called Axono, in the desert to the east.

Just give me some rain and dew, and I will repay you with green trees and flowers.

Lingshi Village is more than 70 kilometers away from the county seat, in the Yanzhi Mountains. Starting from the county seat, it takes more than two hours to drive, cross a section of national highway, go to the Yinma River and then drive through a rugged mountain road, and then get off the car and walk for about half an hour to reach this small mountain village of about 30 families.

When Ren Zhe first came to Lingshi Village, it was a hot summer.

When he dragged Zhou Dawei's lazy body to the dilapidated elementary school in the village, Niu Wenxue, the son of Niu Genbao, the principal of the school and the only teacher, just slapped a large watermelon with thick red skin in half.

Looking at the two people with dry mouths, Niu Genbao inserted a pair of chopsticks in each of the two halves of the watermelon and pushed it in front of them.

Zhou Dawei was so sunburned that his throat was smoking, and he ate half of the watermelon unceremoniously.

Ren Zhe kept a heartfelt eye, looked at Niu Genbao's half-sized boy staring at the watermelon and swallowed saliva, and pushed the other half in front of Niu Wenxue.

Niu Wenxue looked at his father, didn't answer, didn't speak, Niu Genbao helped his pair of glasses with black tape wrapped around his legs, and pushed the watermelon to Ren Zhe, pursed his lips and said, "He doesn't eat it, if he wants to eat it, there are still miles." ”

Ren Zhe was also thirsty, so he ate the other half of the watermelon without thinking too much.

Niu Wenwen didn't say a word from beginning to end.

After resting for a while, Niu Genbao happily led them to meet the dolls, and when he came back, he saw Niu Wenxue pouting his ass and gnawing melon skin in the wall.

Seeing Ren Zhe and Zhou Dawei looking at him without saying a word, the teenage boy was a little embarrassed, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and said with a smirk: "The melon skin is so delicious." ”

Later, they learned that watermelons were not grown in the mountains, and only vendors drove three-wheeled tractors from house to house. Because the local watermelon has not yet reached the market season, and it is in the mountains, the price of watermelon is still a little high. Niu Genbao also made an exception to exchange food for his son to try, but was unexpectedly eaten by Ren Zhe and Zhou Dawei.

Ren Zhe and Zhou Dawei felt guilty about this incident, and Zhou Dawei secretly went to the city to buy a big bag of fruit for this reason. originally wanted to compensate Niu Wenxue, but Niu Genbao gave it to the doll in the village. Niu Wenwen only got a banana, but he held it and ate it for an afternoon......

Shanliwa is honest, you ask them, "What are you herding sheep for?" ”

They would really say, "Earn money." ”

"What are you doing with your money?"

"Marry a daughter-in-law."

"Why do you marry a daughter-in-law?"

"Have a baby."

"Why did you give birth to a baby?"

"Sheep grazing."

…………

It's an old meme, but it's real.

They also know that on the other side of the mountain there are people, the sea, poetry and distance.

But they still have a homeland complex that runs deep in their bones.

At the beginning, Ren Zhe felt that this kind of thing was backward, ignorant, and self-degenerating, but as he grew older and his circumstances changed, he felt that his previous understanding was still a little superficial.

In fact, behind the mountain people who can't get out of the mountains, in addition to the duty of following the old ways, there is also the nostalgia that cannot be dissolved and the responsibility of protecting the land.

In recent years, many people who have gone out to work have begun to return to their hometowns to start businesses, is it because the resource endowment has improved, or the location advantage has been brought into play?

Not really.

It is people's consciousness that has awakened.

The son is not ugly, and the dog is not poor.

Home is the country, and the country is the home.

Many wanderers work hard in an unfamiliar environment, whether rich or poor, in the end, they will always think of returning to their roots.

In the face of poverty, what we should do is change, not flee.

The autumn of the homeland is the day in your dreams.

After sorting out his thoughts, Ren Zhe found that the car had already been on the highway.

At this point the sky began to get gloomy.

June ......

After walking along the highway for half an hour, a police car with flashing lights suddenly appeared in the reverse lane in front of me, and the taxi slowed down and drove slowly.

Ren Zhe looked out through the car window.

A brand-new Cayenne in the opposite lane crashed into the fence at an unknown speed, and the heavily deformed front of the car spun around and rushed to the road, leaving the two front doors wide open.

There was a young woman hanging softly on the protective fence not far behind the car, the woman was facing up on her back and her waist was propped up on the protective railing, and her five bodies were hanging upside down in a sacrificial posture, which had a mysterious sense of ritual; Long yellow hair covers the face, and the appearance is not visible; The blue and white striped Qi P one-piece skirt and black stockings make this plump body reveal a hint of weird temptation.

Yes, weird temptation.

Not a single drop of blood was visible at the scene, but only one leg remained in the body, and the other leg was cut off along with the stockings and landed in the opposite lane not far away.

It was a round and strong thigh, like the stump of a dummy in a clothing store but it was even sexier, but at this time, it was avoidable, the taxi carefully made a corner, driving past the broken leg, Ren Zhe clearly saw that one end of the leg was still covered with a red high heel, and the other end - seemed to be peeled off the ass with great force, with a complete joint of white flowers.

The taxi driver also looked at it twice, turned his head and swallowed his spit and scolded: "It's unlucky." After speaking, he seemed to remember something, stretched out a hand and slapped it twice on the console, and the golden golden ** in the center of the console babbled again, and the taxi driver sighed with relief.

Ren Zhe looked at the car again, it had a local license plate, it was still a bomb number, and it looked like the owner should be a rich man.

When I turned around, I saw Lu Zhong also staring out the window. His brows were furrowed, and his face was serious, thoughtful. I don't see a little drunk, and it's not as obscene as before.

"This place is called Hongguozijing", the driver said unintentionally, "It has not been peaceful in the past few years." Strange to say, one or two people are killed here every year, and I heard that either the officials or the rich are killed. It seems that the immortals here also hate officials and the rich. ”

"Hmph, that's not necessarily." , Lu Zhong sneered, "The immortals are not angry youths, and they don't talk and do things without brains." ”

"It's useless for you to fight with me, that's the way it is", the driver looked disdainful, "I don't know about this just now, but several car accidents last year and the year before were all around here." The year before last, I killed a car of officials, and last year I killed a road builder and a whole family of mining workers. ”

Lu Zhong stopped talking, and was replaced by a more dignified silence.

Ren Zhe sat in the back seat and was also worried.

A car accident is actually a man-made accident, and sometimes just because of a small negligence, a fresh life withers in an instant, what a heavy price is this? So even if it is a person like Ren Zhe who is entangled in life and death, it is inevitable that he will be a little congested when he meets him.

After walking for more than an hour, the car drove to the Yinma River and stopped.

The driver turned off the engine and got out of the car, ran to the riverbank to watch, waved his hand to the two people in the car, and motioned for Ren Zhe and Lu Zhong to get out of the car.

Lu Zhong got out of the car, and Ren Zhe limped behind him to the river.

"I'm sorry for the two of you, the water level in the river is too high, and the car will drown in the river. I've got to send you here. ”

Ren Zhe looked at the river, and the rushing water in the Yinma River divided the already porous flooded road in two, and the two ends were separated by more than ten meters. The local financial resources are limited, not to mention the construction of a bridge for a village of more than 30 households, it is not easy to build such a road through the village, so in the rainy season, the villagers of Lingtai Village will walk a few hundred meters downstream of the river when crossing the river, where the water flow is relatively gentle, there is a steel cable across both sides of the river, and you can reach the other side of the river by touching the steel cable and walking down the river, which is the only way to enter and exit.

The time was already more than four o'clock in the afternoon, Ren Zhe was a little anxious, the car could not pass means that the mountain road in front of him more than ten kilometers also has to walk, with his current body, I don't know when to go.

Lu Zhong was not in a hurry, he took out a bag of peanuts and chewed a handful in his mouth, and handed it to the taxi driver, who seemed to be quite familiar with each other. A hint of conspiracy climbed into the back of Ren Zhe's head again. When things go wrong, there must be demons, Lu Zhong came with him all the way, as if he had eaten him, and now he seems to be so ambiguous with the taxi driver, what does he want to do to himself?

"I'm going to cross the river." , Ren Zhe said to Lu Zhong that he was actually testing Lu Zhong, if Lu Zhong still insisted on crossing the river with him, then he would no longer go forward, just wait for others to come.

Unexpectedly, Lu Zhong didn't react much to his words, and even spread out one palm and made a gesture of "listen to it".

Ren Zhe secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but he couldn't help but make trouble.

He is now struggling to walk, and if he wants to cross the river by touching the steel cable, he will become a mud bodhisattva in the temple.

But now that the words have come out, there are still two people behind him who are watching with four eyes, and they have to pretend to be stubborn.

Ren Zhe staggered downstream, but Lu Zhong really didn't follow. After walking for a long time, Ren Zhe finally saw the steel cable, one end of which was fixed to a large stone on the bank of the river, and the other end was hidden in the reeds on the opposite bank.

Ren Zhe first leaned his body on the steel cable and pressed it to make sure that it was okay, then raised his two arms, clamped the steel cable in his armpits, let the whole person hang on the steel cable, and then slowly walked down the river along the steel cable.

The Yuma River is a typical seasonal river, and the water in the river is the freshly melted snow on the Cold Dragon Ridge behind it, which is cold and biting. As soon as he went down the river, Ren Zhe was so excited by the river that his whole body trembled, he gritted his teeth and slowly moved forward, the river did not pass the surface of his feet, and slowly moved up. At first, the power of the water was like a gentle hand, but the further you went to the center of the river, the greater the impact of the water, and by the time the river reached the waist, the person could no longer stand steadily. The deepest part of the river was probably not chest-high, and at this time Ren Zhe had already floated up like a piece of clothing hanging in the wind, but fortunately, he was holding the steel cable and could barely move forward.

After a little half an hour in the water, he finally got wet and came ashore, the temperature of the air was much higher than that of the river, so he didn't feel cold, he just felt tired. It was as if all the strength of the whole body was drained by the cold river water at the moment of landing.

As soon as Ren Zhe came ashore, he fell to the open ground by the reeds, panting for breath on his back facing the sky. It was getting darker again, and he looked at his watch, which was nearly six o'clock.

Now for him, it is really not in the village and not in the store, Ren Zhe regrets a little, he is not familiar with this mountain, if he walks, according to his body, it should be the second half of the night, but if he doesn't go, he can only spend the night by this river, and he can't climb back along the steel cable.

When Ren Zhe was still hesitating, a human head suddenly squeezed into the sky in front of him, which startled Ren Zhe. When I look closely, it's still the familiar nose and the familiar smell.

Lu Zhong squinted his eyes and wanted to say something, but before he could speak, there was a wine burp, which made Ren Zhe just want to faint on the spot.

"Why are you here? I got drunk. Lu Zhong smiled shamelessly.

Ren Zhe turned his head, only to see that there was not much left of a bottle of liquor in his hand, and his clothes were still clean and there was no moisture.

"How do you ......", this is Ren Zhe's main concern, he said as he looked for the taxi driver.

"Don't look at it, the driver will go back early, no one will want to accompany you except me."

"How did you get here?" , Ren Zhe finished his sentence at this time.

"I'm coming, biu~!" , Lu Zhong said and stretched out his hand and drew a parabola in the void. ”

Ren Zhe stopped talking, and gave him a blank look to express his contempt, and Lu Zhong didn't care about it in his eyes, and he didn't know where to find a bag of instant noodles and threw it to Ren Zhe.

"Eat quickly, you have to hurry when you're done." Lu Zhong stopped laughing, leaned on a stone and looked at the mountain, and took a big sip of wine.

"Are you sure you're in the same place as me?" , Ren Zhe couldn't say so many words at one time, he only recited it silently in his heart, and he was now even more sure that Lu Zhong could read his mind.

Sure enough, after finishing the silent recitation, Lu Zhong glanced at him with a strange expression, and he looked like he wanted to speak and stopped.

After eating instant noodles, Ren Zhe sat up from the ground and stuffed the plastic bag and material bag into his pocket, not littering is a good habit he has developed for many years.

"Let's go." , Lu Zhong patted his ass and looked at Ren Zhe, then looked up at the sky, and complained: "I hope it will arrive tomorrow when the sun rises." ”

Two people walked on the mountain road, one left and one right.

Approaching the summer solstice, it was very late in the dark, although it was cloudy, but the stop-and-go until more than nine o'clock in the evening, the sky was really dark, at this time the road had not yet reached a third, but it had entered the mountain, and the road began to become rugged.

Along the way, Ren Zhe always kept a certain distance from Lu Zhong, because he had no bottom in his heart.

When it was completely dark, it was pitch black. The mountain road was so quiet that you could hear the sound of the stream on the side of the road, the footsteps of two people, and the sound of uneven breathing.

Ren Zhe didn't dare to move forward rashly, the mountain road was built around the mountains, and there were cliffs on one side of many bends, and he would fall down if he was not careful. He stopped and hesitated. Lu Zhong, who was walking in front of him in the dark, sighed, and as if he had been prepared, he felt a small wolf-eyed flashlight from his body to light up the road ahead.

"Sure enough, I was prepared, and I even brought everything with me." , Ren Zhe thought to himself.

In the dark, Lu Zhong snorted angrily again, and directly threw the flashlight into Ren Zhe's hand.

"The dog bites Lu Dongbin, and I can't see it." After Lu Zhong finished speaking, he walked forward alone like a negative anger, took a few steps and laughed as if he had thought of some yin and yang weirdness, and after laughing, he slowed down and waited for Ren Zhe to step forward before walking side by side again.

This person is always weird, like harmless but too mysterious, and Ren Zhe can't understand him more and more.

After walking for more than ten minutes, I turned a corner and made a horn mouth, and there was a large valley in front of me, but the grass was deep and dense, and the shadows of those tall rocks and tall trees in the darkness made this valley seem a little strange.

As soon as he entered the valley flat, there was a demonic wind, which blew Ren Zhe's clothes that had not yet dried and were extremely uncomfortable against his body. He suddenly felt a little cold, just this he was still wearing a sweater, he wanted to see Lu Zhong who was walking on the side and was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

As soon as his eyes touched, he saw Lu Zhong rushing towards him.

I couldn't hold it anymore, and I finally had to act.

was shocked that Ren Zhe was clever, but he was at a loss for a moment and stood in place.

Lu Zhong rushed to Ren Zhe's side, snatched the wolf-eye flashlight in his hand with one hand and turned it off directly, and covered his mouth tightly with the other hand.

"Hehe, the original form is revealed." , Lu Zhong was surprisingly strong, although Ren Zhe couldn't resist, he couldn't help but want to laugh, and he didn't know why he suddenly wanted to laugh at this time. Maybe the guess in my heart has come true.

But then, he heard a voice in his head, Lu Zhong's voice.

He said in his head, "Laugh and don't make a sound." ”

There was a stalemate for a few seconds, and he didn't wait for Lu Zhong's next move, but waited for a ray of light.

Ren Zhe had mixed feelings in his heart.

In this barren mountain and wilderness, when Lu Zhong made his move, there was a glimmer of light, did God also think that his life should not be extinguished? Ren Zhe felt Lu Zhong sneer again. Then a car slowly drove through the horn. Lu Zhong pulled Ren Zhe back a few steps until he reached the foot of the mountain.

The car walked slowly, and it seemed to be a good car, and it could walk steadily in the bumpy and uneven rocks. The front lights are soft, the faint green light is not dazzling at all, the overhead lights in the cab are on, and you can see that the driver is a woman, dyed with blonde hair, wearing blue and white striped short sleeves......