Chapter 26 third quarter

The uncle took it and continued to feed the camel: "You are not much better." The moonlight shone on the rugged Gobi. He fed the sick old camel more water, patted it on the back, and let it go.It is said that old camels, like horses, can also know the way. "Come on," he said, "go home." The old camel seemed to understand, and stood up staggeringly. When Qian Dabeard saw it, he took the rein and sent it off. Then the expedition team set out to move forward, and with the sound of camel bells, they crossed one sand dune after another.During this time, Xia Mingruo kept yelling that his butt hurts and his legs hurt, saying that he wanted to cry when he saw the camel saddle, and finally invented a horizontal lying posture. It is said that this posture is more elegant. In the past, people killed wolves, wild dogs, and wild boars. , are hanging like this.

But two or three hours later, the camel team stopped. Because the moon is down, and there is a large Yardang landform ahead, it is easy to get lost when passing in the dark, maybe you will circle around in this maze of mounds caused by strong winds and currents until dawn. So they set up the tent again to rest, packed up and paused, Xia Mingruo hugged Lao Huang and got into the sleeping bag. The uncle smacked his lips enviously: "Hold the cat, it's so warm, my toes are almost freezing off, why don't I have a cat to sleep with me?" The leopard immediately offered courtesy and said, "Master, I will sleep with you."

The uncle said: "Go away." "..." (Yuwen Leopard facing the wall) Chu Haiyang laughed and shouted, "Old Huang." Lao Huang raised his head from Xia Mingruo's sleeping bag, and in the darkness, he saw two eyes, one yellow and one green, like small light bulbs. Xia Mingruo said: "Old Huang, go and sleep with uncle, uncle is cold." Lao Huang hesitated, and the uncle stood up and sat up: "What are you waiting for? Come on!" Old Huang meowed into his sleeping bag. The leopard finally collapsed, and he rushed to the uncle and asked, "Master, which one do you choose, me or the cat?"

His master said, "Cat." "Which one do you choose, me or the camel?" "camel." "Aww! What about me and cantaloupe?" "Of course it's cantaloupe," his master yelled, "quickly put me to sleep! If you keep talking, I'll chop you up!" The leopard cried and said, "Woooo... I might as well die." After a while, he didn't give up and asked, "Then what about me and Shazao?" He continued to babble and pester, and the others plugged their ears and tried to fall asleep. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow...

After passing this Yadan group, Loulan is not far away. When I woke up in the morning, the temperature was minus 14 degrees Celsius. All the team members shivered and shivered. Only Qian, with a beard, was honest and shouted cold.His thumb was damaged by frost in the early years, and he couldn't bend it when the temperature was low. Cold to cold, Qian Dahan didn't care at all, he sang lively and lively from the moment he opened his eyes, saying that he fell in love with a girl who was as beautiful as the moon in the sky, and to marry her he brought fifty sheep, and ended up marrying the girl's mother …After singing the song of the day, he announced the discipline: Today, you are still not allowed to wash your face, shave your beard, brush your teeth, and the cook is not allowed to wash your hands outside of cooking.

So everyone envied Lao Huang: cats don't need water to wash their face. After tidying up, eat breakfast, mutton bibimbap that has not changed for decades. The weather was cold, and a layer of white sheep fat quickly condensed on the rice as soon as it came out of the pan. Xia Mingruo struggled for a long time every time he swallowed. The bearded man encouraged him: "Be strong, think of the revolutionary martyrs..." Xia Mingruo got into his big tent and chewed dumbly, thinking about the Red Army on the Songpan Prairie. After a while, the uncle opened the curtain and brought a copper basin with unburned charcoal: "The leftovers from cooking, let it come to your place to use the residual heat."

The bearded man was very happy: "Great, I just thought about how this broken finger will draw a route today!" The uncle asked, "When shall we leave?" Huzi stretched his fingers and warmed it by the brazier: "Wait for the temperature to rise a few more degrees... I mean, Xia Mingruo, you've had breakfast for forty-five minutes." Xia Mingruo curled up in the corner of the tent, turned around at this moment, his mouth was bulging, with an expression that he could spit out immediately. Huzi looked at it for a moment: "Yo, you go ahead, I won't talk to you anymore."

The uncle laughed unceremoniously, Xia Mingruo continued to chew with annoyed expression. The uncle praised: "What a good boy..." Xia Mingruo swallowed the mutton rice and said coldly, "I'll kill you." The uncle is now dressed in the same way as a guide in the Western Regions: wrapped in a fur coat, wearing a fur hat, and wearing long boots.He stroked his characteristic mustache, croaked with his neck up, but Xia Mingruo ignored him again. Qian Huzi moved his fingers and felt that it was almost done, so he began to pack his things.Putting it away, he took out a roll of paper, frowned for a while, then suddenly remembered, and hurriedly handed it to Xia Mingruo: "I almost forgot, don't lose it."

Xia Mingruo took it over: "What?" "The comrades of the Dunhuang Research Institute found something in the secret cave of Yulin Grottoes. It may be something from the Northern Dynasty. The news has not been announced yet," said Qian Huzi. "The original is a scroll, which is being repaired. This is their copy. We After reading it, I thought it was a sheet music, so take it home and show it to your dad." "Okay." Xia Mingruo took it over. "Show it to your dad?" the uncle asked with his hands on his hips, "Your dad makes music?" "No," Xia Mingruo said, "My dad repairs radios."

The uncle pointed at Xia Mingruo, then turned to Huzi: "Huh?" Huzi smiled and said, "My friend, the truth lies with the people. Do you know the bell of the Warring States Period?" The uncle asked: "The one in Hubei? What is it called Zeng... the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng?" "That's right," Hu Zi said, "Actually, one was dug up ten years ago, and it was older than the one in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. Of course, the scale was small, the damage was heavy, the parts were completely scattered, and there was a mistake in the midway transportation. Four of the bells were stolen, and by the time they were found they had been shipped to Outer Mongolia."

At that time, the "Cultural Revolution" was going on, and the matter was so disgraceful that the people in power wanted to hide it, so this national treasure was hidden in the warehouse of the history department of a certain university. In 1969, all the teachers in the history department were basically knocked down.Qian Huzi loves to fight because of his fierceness, and no one can do anything to him, so he was blessed by misfortune and honorably set foot on the post of cleaning toilets and cesspools. One day after the criticism meeting was over, the two young revolutionaries chatted and said that they slipped up, and Qian Dabeard rushed into the history department at night with a hatchet in his pocket.It turned out that the old man Li Changsheng happened to be watching the gate. The master and apprentice hit it off, working hand in hand, doing their own things during the day, and secretly repairing cultural relics at night. But the chime bell is a musical instrument after all. It is easy to repair, but it is difficult to restore the original arrangement of the bronze bell. Moreover, this ancient musical instrument is special. According to the different striking parts, a bell can produce two tones.But these two people don't listen to the music, maybe they don't even know the numbered musical notation. When they were worried, they met Xia Xiubai, who was called Xia Dongbiao at the time. In the middle of the night, they closed the doors and windows of the warehouse tightly. Xia Dongbiao covered the bronze bells under the quilt, tapped them hundreds of times one by one with a small hammer against their ears, and Gong Shangjiao Zhengyu finally decided the order. Got four. "Your father is not simple." Qian Dazi said. Xia Mingruo said: "That's it, that's it, and I've extorted a lot of money from you, right?" Qian Huzi slapped his thigh: "If you don't tell me, I'll forget it! Not only did you cheat us of 30 catties of food stamps, but you also tried to trick my girl into becoming your daughter-in-law! Let me tell you, Xia Mingruo," Huzi was filled with righteous indignation, "My girl can't give it to you!" !" Xia Mingruo cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Master, your girl is exactly like Li Kui, she is capable of carrying a tripod, she is known as Princess Daizhan. Xia Mingruo has been weak and sick since she was a child, so I am afraid she is no match for her. My father overestimated his abilities and overtook her." The bearded man nodded: "It's good to know." He said: "I went to Beijing to study in 1955. The teacher cared about minority students and took us to the theater. The first time I saw your father, he was only fourteen or fifteen years old, right? What is your old man doing on stage... " "Lu Su." Xia Mingruo said. "Yes, Lu Su," Qian Dahuzi said, "your father just stood behind the side curtain with his hands behind his back and watched. How can I understand Kunqu Opera and Beijing Opera, so I patronized him and thought, oh, this Why do people look so spirited...Is it because they fell down later?" Xia Mingruo said: "It's not just down and out, I almost wiped my neck. Fortunately, a daughter of the working class showed up. The older people in our yard said that it was a fool who saved a beautiful woman." Xia Xiubai never mentioned these things to anyone. In Xia Mingruo's memory, his father cried once. It was in the summer of 1965 when he learned that Mingruo's grandfather was gone.In fact, the old man went there not long after he entered the cowshed, but the instigator actually kept it from his family for seven years. After the ashes were found, Xia Xiubai cried a lot. After crying, he searched for wine all over the world, knocked on the bowl with chopsticks and sang "Tears on the Autumn River", until he choked up and couldn't speak.Xia Mingruo said with emotion: "Fortunately, my mother is here. I love my mother, and my mother holds up the sky." Chu Haiyang just got paid, and said with a smile: "That's a good point, your mother is not allowed to hide at my house when she gets angry, and your father is not allowed to come either." Xia Mingruo said: "Pfft! If you dare to bully my father, be careful of my mother cutting you." Big bearded Qian asked: "Hang Hai, are you all ready?" Chu Haiyang nodded, then shook his head again: "The condition of the camel is not very good, teacher, please come and have a look." Everyone followed him out, and felt that the animals were very abnormal and restless before they got close to the camel caravan.Chu Haiyang walked towards a camel carrying ice. Its iron paw fell off yesterday, and the soles of its feet were cut bloody by hard and sharp salt-alkali blocks. It was very pitiful. "It's a crime." The bearded man felt distressed. Chu Haiyang said: "Today is the thirteenth day from Yumen Pass. The camels haven't had any water yet, and they couldn't find fodder along the way. They only fed a small amount of bean cakes..." Huzi buried his head and did not speak. The uncle coughed hard and patted the camel: "Listen to me, unload half of the luggage on this one and share it with the other ones. There is no time to delay, pack up and leave as soon as possible." Beard sighed bitterly. The uncle said: "Don't dawdle with me! There is a beacon tower to the east of the ancient city of Loulan. Sixty steps east of the beacon tower, there are water veins. If there are water veins, there will be grass. Do you understand?" Xia Mingruo asked: "How do you know?" The uncle squinted his eyes: "Hmph!" Xia Mingruo snapped his fingers: "You must be right, teacher, let's go." At this time, he heard a few scientific expedition members shouting and drinking in the distance, Huzi was upset, kicked the sand violently, turned around and cursed: "What's wrong?!" Over there shouted: "Teacher Qian, look at the sky!!" Hu Zi looked up: "Oh! Why is the sun..." ...red and mushy. Like a huge red balloon, hanging high above the head. Everyone was dumbfounded. No one spoke for a long time. During the ten minutes of silence, the red light surged, and the desert was reflected like an endless sea of ​​blood. Xia Mingruo teased the uncle, but the uncle shook his head: "I don't know either..." Beard retreated again and again: "It's not right, it's not right..." "It's not right," Chu Haiyang showed him the thermometer, "It's almost summer." And the cattle started to get really manic, and no one could hold the bridle.They kicked and twirled restlessly, and finally formed a circle in a tacit understanding, crawling, whining, and never wanting to get up again. Xia Mingruo threw off the veil and gave his own chest a couple of heavy blows. Seeing others looking at him, he explained: "I can't breathe." Chu Haiyang also unbuttoned his neckline, frowned and said, "It's strange, it's like a stone is pressing on my chest." Xia Mingruo took off the military coat by the way: "What's wrong?" The uncle looked around in a daze, and suddenly saw the two guides who had gone out to find the way early in the morning, tumbling over the sand dunes, scrambling and running towards the camp.He froze, turned around and grabbed Xia Mingruo's wrist. Xia Mingruo widened his eyes and found that his head was covered with cold sweat. "Put it back on! Can't take it off!" the uncle growled. Xia Mingruo said, "Huh?" The uncle let go of his voice and shouted: "Brothers! The black storm—! The black storm is coming—!" Everyone's face changed. Immediately someone shouted: "Impossible! This is winter! The wind season is in April and May!"