May 1986.

When Sun Qijun walked into the hotel with his wife Mei Fang, it was already nightfall. The temperature dropped suddenly, from a high temperature of 32°C at noon, to about 13°C now.

Sun Qijun originally wanted to take his wife around, but as soon as he entered the hotel, he dispelled this idea, turned out all the materials in his schoolbag, sat down at the table and began to write his unfinished paper again.

His wife Mei Fang's face turned blue from the cold, but her excitement was undiminished, and when she saw the lights outside the window, there was a novel scene everywhere, so she put on Sun Qijun's coat and went out of the room alone.

Before leaving, he left a sentence: I will go out to sell some supper to comfort your old man.

Sun Qijun was concentrating on writing, and he didn't raise his head to deal with it, but he didn't expect this to be the last meeting with his wife.

The first time I came to Ruoqiang County was 6 years ago. It was the autumn of 1980, five months after Pengamu's tragic disappearance in Lop Nur. In November, the state sent a team of 69 people to Lop Nur again to search for the missing Comrade Pengamu. In the rescue team composed of 69 people, there are 14 scientific and technological personnel, 15 PLA soldiers, 7 communication and telecommunications personnel, 20 drivers, 4 surveyors, and 9 logistics liaison personnel.

Sun Qijun, a 27-year-old young driver, was also included in the team. He was young and vigorous at that time, and he stepped into this endless desert with full of enthusiasm, and he vowed to rescue Comrade Pengamu, the pillar of the country, because from the time he set out, a faint voice told him in the depths of his mind that Pengamu was not dead, and he was trapped in an oasis in the desert waiting for the rescue of the country.

However, as soon as he stepped into Lop Nur, he knew how naïve his ideas were, and his unfounded confidence was uprooted when he saw this desert, and there was no soil to take root again. He realized that there was no longer anyone alive in this desert of death, and that they had come to look for the bones of Comrade Pengamu, and it was more difficult for the 69 of them to find this bone than it was to climb to the sky, and besides, he was just a small driver.

However, it was during this 31-day search that Sun Qijun saw the rarest scenery of his life in this desert, and he spent three days of fairy-like happiness after dying. Even though he killed someone while fleeing the sand sea and became a felony pursued by the state, no one in the world knew that he had lived with blood on his hands for 6 years except himself.

In just 6 years, his dissertation research has won many awards, like a superstar, and became famous overnight, of course, there is a lot of credit for his wife, but who would have thought that a driver would have such an achievement.

When you think about it, 6 years is like a dream, and since Lop Nur at that time, his dream has squeezed into this world, so much so that he now misses the great desert, the place where his life began.

He had now brought his wife with him, and had set foot in the land once more, but he had long since lost the courage to go deeper.

The knock on the door disrupted Sun Qijun's thoughts, he stopped writing, rubbed his eyes, and shouted: Who?

The voice outside the door looked vicissitudes and hoarse: "Mr. Sun, haven't slept yet?" ”

Sun Qijun walked to the door, opened the door a small crack, and saw a fat man with a red face and a beard standing outside the door, looking at him with a smile.

Sun Qijun frowned, and snorted, "Are you?" ”

"Ah, I am the owner of this small inn, my name is Li Gen, I am from the Han nationality, and I am very fortunate to meet you again, Mr. Sun Qijun." Li Gen said and respectfully stretched out his palm towards Sun Qijun, his palm stretched out.

Sun Qijun was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized his rudeness, lying in the crack of the door to peep at people, a little sneaky. He hurriedly opened the door wide, stretched out his hand to the other party, shook it again and again, and smiled awkwardly and said, "Hello." ”

"Hehe, I'm sorry to disturb Mr. rashly. Mr. Sun is more glorious and stronger than when he saw him before. Li Gen said with a smile.

"Before?" Sun Qijun looked at Li Gen inexplicably, and saw that this person looked unfamiliar, and he didn't have the slightest impression.

"Look, Mr. is really a noble person, you forgot that 6 years ago you got lost in Ruoqiang County, and came to my store in an embarrassed state, I gave you something to eat and provided you with a place to live! Later, I learned that you were a searcher for the national team, a pillar of the country, and now I regret that I didn't treat you well! There was a hint of sarcasm in Lee's tone.

When Sun Qijun heard this, he suddenly realized, he patted his head in embarrassment, and said with a smile: "Oh, it's a benefactor!" Look at my memory, even the benefactor you have forgotten."

"What benefactor is not benefactor, this is all a gesture, besides, we are fellow villagers, both from Shandong, and it is also appropriate to help each other in a different place. Well, I'm here today to hand you something," Li said, pulling out a brown paper envelope from his pocket.

Sun Qijun was still smirking vigorously, and when he saw Li Gen take out the envelope, he couldn't help but have questions on his face.

"For me? What is it? He took the envelope and saw that it was clearly written on it, received by Mr. Sun Qijun, and the mailing address was Lop Nur. Look at the time again It turned out to be December 19, 1980, 6 years ago!

Sun Qijun banged in his head, and immediately froze in place, someone sent him a letter from Lop Nur six years ago, who could it be? !

"Lao Li, when was this letter delivered to your store? Am I gone on December 19th? What does the person who sent the letter look like? Postman? Male or female? Do you recognize it? Sun Qijun was so anxious that he was sweating profusely for a while.

Li Gen was stunned by his question, he asked Sun Qijun to calm down first, and then he brushed it again, and then said: "I remember that December 19 of that year was the second day you were sent to Qinghai University Hospital, I was not in the store in the morning, and the guy who watched the store said that a woman in black came to the store and put this letter on the counter, so that we can hand it over to you." The guy said you're gone, but the woman shook her head as if she didn't understand, and finally shoved the letter to the shopkeeper and ran away. ”

"What does that woman look like?" Sun Qijun was stunned.

"The store was deserted that day, and the woman's appearance was seen by the guy. I asked the guy, and he said that he was beautiful, as beautiful as a fairy, and he had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life, but he just couldn't speak, as if he was mute. Hey, this guy in my store usually doesn't speak reliably, and we didn't take it seriously when he said it! ”

"And where's this guy now? I want to talk to him," Sun Qijun said hurriedly.

"Hey, don't mention it, this guy died 6 years ago, just in time for the Spring Festival to go home, the car he was sitting in had a car accident on the road, a car of 12 people, one dead and nine injured, this little guy had a bad life, when he stuck his head out of the window, his head was cut off by the window, and he flew more than 20 meters away"

Seeing that Sun Qijun's face was bloodless, Li Gen patted him on the shoulder and continued: "Fortunately, I didn't lose this letter, I didn't expect to see you again." In fact, when I opened the letter and read it, it was full of symbols I didn't recognize, and I didn't know if it was a foreign language. Thinking that it may also be a state secret, it will be left for you. ”

Sun Qijun nodded and said, "Thank you." ”

"I saw that your wife went out just now, it's okay so late, the security in Xinjiang is not good." Li Gen said and glanced at the table by the window, and when he saw a pile of copywriting on it, he smiled and said, "You still work so hard when you come out to travel, beware of hurting your body, Mr. Sun." ”

Sun Qijun stuffed a hundred yuan into Li Gen's hand, and expressed his gratitude before sending the person away. When I closed the door, I couldn't help but feel a little worried when I saw that half an hour had passed, and it was ten o'clock, and my wife had not returned.

I just wanted to put on my clothes and go out to look for it, but I couldn't help but glance at the envelope on the table again, and I thought that something should happen to my wife, so I sat back at the table and opened the envelope.

As soon as he opened the envelope, his heart chuckled, and there were only three lines on the letter, crooked, like a group of tadpoles wandering on the paper. These three lines were both strange and familiar, and he could say with certainty that no one but him would understand them now, because it was a long-dead script, Lu Wen.

Seeing this, Sun Qijun was already panicked in his heart, and a bad premonition immediately came to his heart, he hurriedly took out a small green book from his schoolbag, and began to compare the contents of the translation letter.

Ten minutes later, when the translation was over, looking at the short three lines of words on the letterhead, Sun Qijun was sweating profusely and his face was pale.

He crumpled the letter and threw it in the trash.

"Fuck! Net! He scolded indignantly, but his heart was beating uneasily, and he grabbed the pen with all his might, and wanted to continue his thesis, but his mind was completely confused, and he couldn't think of the idea, and he looked up at the brightly lit street outside the window, and began to worry about his wife again.

Does it take so long to buy a late-night snack? Sun Qijun muttered in his heart, he hurriedly got up and took out a cotton coat from his travel bag and put it on his body, just opened the door, and bumped into Li Gen hurried over, as soon as he saw Sun Qijun, he took a big breath, and his face was pale.

"Lao Li? What's wrong with you? What's the hurry?! Sun Qijun closed the door and looked at him curiously, with a bitter smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Mr. Sun!" Li Gen grabbed Sun Qijun's shoulder all of a sudden, and the corners of his mouth twitched, "What color clothes did your wife wear when she went out at night?" ”

"She went out in my clothes, light brown, what's wrong?" Sun Qijun became inexplicably nervous.

"Oh, your wife seems to have had an accident, just now someone found a woman lying on the ground at the street corner in front, stabbed in the abdomen several times, covered in blood, and robbed of all the money on her body. I heard that the woman was wearing a light brown men's coat, so I was worried and came to ask you, but it didn't come to pass."

The bad news from Li Gen's mouth made Sun Qijun feel five thunderbolts, and he violently pushed Li Gen away and rushed out of the hotel.