Chapter 6 Chapter Six

Wen Pu lay on the balcony, watching the sky darken little by little.At this time, the lights in Beijing are lit up here and there, and the sequins and bright blocks are constantly colliding, splicing, and merging to form larger sequins and bright blocks. Floating out of bright colors. When he realized that his legs were starting to go numb, Wen Pu went back to the house.Zhu Taotao went to Miyun for a meeting, so she won't be coming back tonight.This is an ordinary night, but this ordinary night is heavy and sour for Wen Pu's life and memory.Because on this night, he wanted to light a stick of incense to pay homage to a person who had gone far away, a person he called a master at that time.

After graduating from Wen Pu University, although he stepped into the office building in one step, the roots did not take root. Only the personnel relationship remained in the office building, and he was arranged to go to the Northeast Administration Bureau. After reporting, he went to a project. The company's field construction team exercises. Wen Pu lit the incense that had been prepared.In fact, at this night, Wen Pu would rather be in a quiet place outdoors, order some yellow knife paper, silently watch them burn to ashes, and then fly away like black butterflies, but the air pollution in Beijing is already quite bad. Citizens are still allowed to burn paper to the dead under the Nine Springs outdoors, and if the paper is burned, Beijing will no longer be able to live.

Looking at the rising cigarettes, Wen Pu's memories and feelings gradually moved out of Beijing and drifted to a wasteland that was once related to his life and death... The visibility outside the tent is getting worse and worse. If there is a wolf standing on the snow more than a dozen paces away, Lao He, who has poor eyesight, might say to Wen Pu, boy, did you see it, sheep! The snow that fell was so thick that no one could see the waist, covering the frozen wilderness tightly, that is to say, the two people in the tent were trapped by the sudden heavy snowfall last night. The campsite was evacuated at noon yesterday. According to the plan, it was to be evacuated all at once. Unexpectedly, there were fewer trucks and some equipment could not be taken away. The captain was so angry that he turned against the team leader. He also made the face of the team leader anxious.The current shortage of cars, God came out to smooth things over, and there was no curse, the captain with a hanging face had to admit his bad luck, and decided to keep someone to guard the things that could not be removed overnight.

They all wanted to leave early, and no one was willing to stay and look at the stall. Lao He saw that he was considered a master among these people, and it would be inappropriate not to stand up, so he stood up and tried to ask his apprentice Wen Pu if he would like to Willing to stay with him.Wen Pu is also very eager to leave here, but if the master doesn't leave, he can only stay with the master. The night outside the tent had already merged into the white snow, while the inside of the tent was as dark as an underground cave.Lao He and Wen Pu were squeezed together on the same bed, their legs were covered with quilts, and two old sheepskin jackets were draped over the quilts.During this day, the two of them were in a very bad mood. They just met eyes a few times, and then they quarreled.And when they weren't arguing, the two of them were grimly discussing immediate survival issues.This is a wasteland, and there are no people within a hundred miles around. From here, go west for more than 20 kilometers, and you will arrive at Qinggang Mountain. The winding road with nine bends and eighteen bends is the only way for Lao He and the others to enter and exit. Now it is snowing heavily. , the mountain will be closed, and if the car wants to come in again, it will have to wait until the next spring.

When the group left yesterday, the cook left half a pot of beef stew with potatoes left over from lunch, a few pieces of fat cakes and two bottles of pure sorghum wine for the two of them for dinner.When having dinner at that time, Wen Pu threw the leftover goulash and empty wine bottles outside the tent. When it was dawn, they woke up. Although they woke up from the cold, at least it showed that their biological clocks were not out of order.At this time, the temperature in the tent, not to mention the fact that dripping water turns into ice, is not much worse.Old He muttered, did it snow again at night?It was true that there had been two stubbles of snow, but it was not a happy one, it just covered the first snow.The door was pushed halfway open, and the two people in the tent suddenly saw the boundless snowy field, which was dazzlingly bright, and Lao He shook his body and sneezed a series of times.

In the afternoon, Wen Pu suddenly said that I remembered, there is something to eat, there is something to eat!In Lao He's dark and hopeless eyes, there was a strange light immediately, and he stared at Wen Pu firmly.Wen Pu said, beef stew with potatoes!The light in Lao He's eyes became stronger, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and the Adam's apple on his neck looked more conspicuous than a few days ago, like a moldy walnut just picked out from the wetland. They didn't have any belongings in their hands, and their hands were the tools they used to find goulash.In such a helpless environment, a fragile life always devotes all its life energy to a glimmer of life.As Wen Pu's body sank into the snow, Lao He's body disappeared in the blink of an eye, and two ever-expanding snow pits appeared on the snow.Both Lao He and Wen Pu became snowmen, but they didn't gain anything. This was a fatal blow to them who urgently needed a bite of food to sustain their lives.They looked at each other, said nothing, and buried themselves in the snow again looking for goulash.Once, Wen Pu got angry at Lao He's ass facing his face, and shouted, get away from me!Lao He didn't pretend to be a bear this time, he grabbed a handful of snow and threw it on Wen Pu.Wen Pu rushed forward and threw Lao He down. The two rolled on the snow, each riding over the other. As for who gets the advantage and who suffers, it's hard to say.

Back in the tent, Lao He asked Wen Pu how many pieces of beef he ate?Wen Pu glanced at him vigilantly, and said that it was not a few yuan, how about you, you ate a lot of yuan, right?Lao He wiped his mouth still stained with snow foam and said, my hands are smelly, and the pieces I touched were all potatoes.I don't know how many pieces of potatoes and beef they ate, but they had some food in their stomachs, so their faces became more energetic.But not long after that, their brains, which had just begun to wake up, were filled with fear again, making them realize that the original spiritual disaster was worse than physical hunger, and fear was closer to death than hunger.

At night on this day, although their belief in survival has been blurred for several times, they finally supported their respective bodies.In order to prevent their bodies from turning into zombies overnight, they decided to remove a bed board to keep warm.The two of them worked in the dark, and quickly disassembled a bed board into a pile of wooden boards. Flames suddenly burst out of the cold hearth, and the shadow of the fire was printed on the top of the tent.Old He moved to the side of the stove, fiddling with his hands by the light of the fire.When Lao He was removing the bed board just now, he had a wooden thorn in his hand, which may have been pierced quite deep, otherwise Lao He would not grin his teeth.Wen Pu came to sit next to Lao He and knelt down, grabbed the left hand that Lao He was fiddling with and said, even with your bad eyes, you can't pick out gold bars.Old He was stubborn, withdrew his hand and turned his back.

Now the two of them have struggled until noon on the fourth day, but one of them can't remember what day it is, sometimes it says five days, and sometimes it says seven days or eight days.Wen Pu said that you are confused, this is the fourth day.Wen Pu didn't know that Lao He had a fever right now, and his body was shivering under the quilt and fur jacket.However, Lao He felt that his forehead and body were not hot yet, and it seemed that he was running a low-grade fever. Wen Pu glanced at Lao He, walked out of the tent, awkwardly put his right hand into the pocket of his leather jacket, took out a hard object and stuffed it into his mouth.Now his body is no longer squeamish, and with a little supplement of food, there will be a positive reaction, and the gurgling sound in his stomach can be heard far away.He ate two pieces in all, one seemed to be beef and the other potato.When he was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he couldn't help frowning his thick brows, as if something was entangled in his heart.He exhaled cautiously, and then inhaled the breath cautiously again into his nostrils. Feeling that the circulating airflow tasted good and his teeth were crispy, he couldn't help being alert.Back at the tent door, Wen Pu became timid, and cast a guilty glance into the tent, and saw that Lao He was still lying down as before.He breathed a sigh of relief, and his hanging heart fell.But he didn't enter the tent, but leaned against the door frame, as if waiting to bask in the sun.He listened carefully, but there was no movement in the tent. He wondered if Lao He had fallen asleep?He went into the tent.master?Master...Wen Pu called twice, but Lao He didn't respond.he died?As soon as he thought about it, Wen Pu shook his head, because he felt Lao He's weak breathing, and he thought that Lao He still had breath.

Wen Pu heard the sound of his teeth grinding, and also saw his two hands forming a pincer shape, leaning towards Lao He's thin neck.In fact, Lao He didn't fall asleep. Lao He first silently relied on his survival instinct to feel some kind of danger coming.Sure enough, through the linear eye slits, Lao He saw the fatal danger he felt, so close that it was suffocating, and Lao He's heart was constricted, almost losing its elasticity.Lao He wanted his frightened body to yell a few times, but the little effort in his heart couldn't reach his throat.Old He Xin said, admit it, and don't bother with young people. If I can keep his life with my old body, I will give it to him. The life of a young man is better than that of an old man. Bones are worth money.Wen Pu's two hands got stuck in place.At this time, the hands are full of human desire for success, but also contain beastly predatory energy.However, just when the hands were about to exert force, the owner of the hands suddenly saw muddy tears rolling out of Lao He's sunken eye sockets.

Old He's tears interfered with Wen Pu's hunting action. He was stunned, his heart trembled, the energy in his hands was not enough to complete the mission.Wen Pu became dazed, pulled back his hands that were no longer pincer-shaped, and panted intermittently, his face turned pale with fright from what he had just done, his lips trembled as if he was holding a piece of ice that would never dissolve piece.After waiting for a while, seeing that Lao He still hadn't opened his eyelids, Wen Pu stabilized his jumping heart.Wen Pu subconsciously glanced towards the door, bit his lips, frowned, took out a black object from his pocket, and stuffed it into Lao He's open mouth.The taste that diffused from the lips immediately stimulated Lao He's flattened stomach to make a wonderful sound, and Lao He's stiff lips also became stretchable at this time.The thing that rubbed his lips and entered his mouth was indeed a good thing. This thing had not been treated by Lao He's teeth, and went directly over his tongue and into his stomach. Two words popped out from the tip of Lao He's tongue - beef!Although this sound was weak, it was very emotional and longing, which made Lao He's already withered body inexplicably gain a kind of strength to cheer up. He sat up and made the bed board babble.And the tears silted in Wen Pu's eyes burst out like an explosion at this moment, Wen Pu choked up and said, Master... I'm not human, I'm a bastard, I'm a beast, I'm sorry for you, Master——After saying that, he threw himself In Lao He's arms, it seemed that he had found his long-lost father. In the later years, whenever Wen Pu's memory touches this scene of confession, it feels like a steel needle is stuck in his heart. He can't connect the current fate with the life and death issues at that time. The cruelty in the world is far more real than the cowardice of people! Old He's face was also covered with tears. Because of the warmth brought by a piece of beef in his life, he took this cold tent as a place for an unexpected encounter with another life. The young man is a ferocious beast, and now there is no hatred, no resentment, no sense of hunger or fear in his life, but he has a wonderful feeling of returning to this world!Old He hugged Wen Pu's head tightly. When it was dark, hunger and fear regained control of their nerves, and what was worse was that Lao He had already burned up, and he did not open his eyes, speak, or drink snow water. You take me, that... Lao He gestured to wipe his neck and said, do me a favor and give you a way to survive.Otherwise, there is no hope for either of us...Wen Pu shook his head and said, no, master, if you want to live, you can live together, if you want to die, you can die together.Lao He said you were young, and you just left like that, I feel bad.Wen Pu said, no, master, just die, I am not afraid of anything now.Old He stopped talking, but the tears were still streaming down his face.Wen Pu said, master, would you like some water?When Lao He opened his mouth, Wen Pu suddenly raised his head, his eyes touched the tent roof with the swaying shadow of flames, and he held his breath.He thought it was not a hallucination, he really heard a sound, this sound was vibrating and rotating, it was falling from a high place, this sound used to be in his childhood... an airplane!Lao He yelled before Wen Pu, and stood up half his body on the bed. Come to save us, we are saved—Wen Pu rushed out of the tent recklessly, waved his arms staggeringly, and screamed desperately toward a flashing red dot in the night sky—ah—ah—red It was a little farther away, and the voices from the sky gradually disappeared. Wen Pu sat down on the snow, grabbed two handfuls of snow, and slapped them hard on the forehead. Yelling in vain, can't hear, they can't hear.Thinking about it, Lao He moved to the side of the bed.Old He thought again, if the voice was brightened, the voice would come straight down.Old He gritted his teeth and rolled off the bed.Lao He thought of a way to bring the plane down, that is, pour the little gasoline in the oil drum on his fur jacket, then carry it outside the tent and light it up, so as to give the plane an eye-catching rescue target.Lao He took out the lighter from the pocket of the leather jacket, held it tightly in his right hand, and grabbed the leather jacket with his left hand, locating by feeling, and crawled towards the place where the gasoline barrel was placed... The flames on the snow were not bundles of fire, but a raging flame, which burned the pitch-black snow field red.According to the pilot afterwards, when viewed from the night sky, the raging flame looked like a blooming chrysanthemum. Wen Pu turned around suddenly, stared at the tent engulfed by the fire, and shouted miserably, Master—— Regarding this dead friendship with Xue Ye, a reporter from the "Energy Worker" newspaper was moved. He interviewed Wen Pu several times, and Wen Pu shed tears several times. Died to save him.The reporter finally wrote a long-form newsletter "Life and Death in a Desperate Situation" and published it in the "Energy Worker" newspaper. Most of a stick of incense has been burned, the room is filled with green smoke, and Wen Pu's face is full of tears!