Chapter 30 30. October, Crane's Death

The National Day holiday is here, and more and more yaks have come to the huts for "holidays", leading their families in a mighty way. These yaks don't know each other, and they are aggressive when they come.Yifeng and I analyzed that the grassland on the other side of the mountain was probably run over by tourists' cars, and the cattle had no grass to eat, so they ran to the depths of the grassland.The cowherds are all focused on soliciting customers to ride horses to take pictures, and they don’t care about the cattle, so they let the cattle run wild. Anyway, the cattle of each family have their own marks, and they will circle them back later.

Thousands of yaks gather at Langdu Beach and Langshan Mountain, and they are densely packed, turning Langdu Beach into Niudu Beach. Yifeng and I complained constantly, the nomadic camp on Wolf Mountain had just moved out for less than a month, and the grass had just sprouted some buds and was trampled out.There are only a few grass sprouts in the yard of our hut in the whole Thumb Mountain. The greedy eyes of a herd of cows surrounding the yard and staring at the handful of grass sprouts remind me of hungry people. Can't let the herd flood in!The newly built hut is not considered strong, especially the doors and windows cannot withstand the scratching of the yaks.We have been a little bit psychologically shadowed since witnessing the collapse of the hut in the heavy rain.Yifeng tried his best to fasten the pitiful steel wire fence in the small courtyard, but for the cows, these steel wires were too childish, and they only needed to jump over and overturned, and the iron stakes that fixed the fence could be overwhelmed by the cows.

During the day, I stood guard around the hut with a big stick, while Jomo drove the cattle yelling.At night, yaks are used to resting near human settlements for safety, so they all spent the night around the hut. When I went out at night, I scanned with a flashlight, and the densely packed eyes of the yaks formed a Milky Way.Looking at the lively scene, let alone the wolves we want to wait for will not come, even mice can hardly squeeze in from the cow formation. In the middle of the night, I was sleeping soundly when I heard Jomo barking again. I opened my eyes and saw that the moonlight was shining on the mountain-like back of the "Bull Demon King" outside the window. The horns of the cows creaked against the thin glass, and seven or eight yaks jumped into the yard again.It's freezing cold, I didn't intend to take care of the cattle, but suddenly I heard "plop" and "click"!It was like the sound of a knocked-down solar panel being trampled by a cow's hoof. I yelled "Oops", turned over, didn't bother to put on my coat, grabbed a flashlight and a big stick, and rushed out the door.

Sure enough, a huge male yak was using the solar panels as a stage, and was showing its muscles to a cow on a slide. My solar panels, our only source of electricity! Getting up angry after being woken up for no reason is no less than emboldened after drinking.Even if it is a cow, I am not afraid!Annoyed, I rushed forward and threw my club so hard that it hit the bull between the eyes and the nose.The bull "mooed" and turned his head.I don't know if it was because the stick was so hard, or because my bright red thermal underwear stimulated the bull, but the bull ignored the scary routine and rushed towards me with its horns raised.

I let out a "huh", and the strong flashlight shot at the bull's eye, and the person subconsciously flashed to the right and fell to the ground.I felt a shock in my left shoulder, the bull's horn brushed against his neck, and plunged into the dry cow dung pile behind him with a muffled sound. The dung pile the size of a truck was almost knocked down, and the bull's horn was entangled in the hemp rope surrounding the dung pile for a while. Can't break free.During those two long seconds, the world was surprisingly quiet, half of my body was unconscious, until the dry dung hit my back like a falling stone, my heart beat twice and started to re-pace, and the severe pain in my shoulder hit me Come on, I just realized it - the bull is showing off!

The mooing of the cows became a sound. "Help!" I held my left arm and rushed towards the hut. Yifeng just pushed open the door and asked, "What's going on?" I stepped into the house and quickly closed the door. "Pfft!" A bull's horn pierced through the door, no need to explain. Yifeng moved the box close to the door of the house, and the bull's horns were being pulled out. Seeing that the bull was about to break through the door again, I screamed "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The herd of cattle outside the house suddenly fell silent...does it work?Keep on howling!

"Aw--" The sound of the calf's hooves kicking wildly, followed by the roar of the big ox's hooves, shaking the ground and shaking the house!Ashes and bird droppings fell from the beams. Wolf howls are indeed the most penetrating in the dark.I didn't even know when the sound of the cow's hooves disappeared, until Yifeng stretched out his big hand to cover it: "Okay, stop howling, they all ran away." I moaned hoarsely: "Water..." I smirked a few times with a mournful face, hugged my injured shoulder and couldn't speak anymore. Yifeng turned on the light and poured water, both of them were ashamed.

Two wolf howls came faintly from behind the wolf mountain, but when we both pricked up our ears to listen again, it disappeared again. Chirp!Chirp!A few sparrows stood by the window to watch the excitement. "Shoulder dislocated, bear with it!" Fortunately, Zeren helped me. He went to several villages to help me find a miracle doctor.Now he is standing by the side, watching the village Dieda sage doctor Ga help me put my left shoulder back, and chattering to distract me: "It's a pity that you shot the bull's eye with a strong flashlight last night, and it didn't hit it right. If you pick it up to the neck, you will die. The herdsmen dare not mess with a bull in heat, why would you recruit him in the middle of the night?"

"I'll admit it, I'll call him a cow!" I gritted my teeth and relaxed my left shoulder. "Then how do you know howling a wolf can return a cow?" "When I lived in your Yuanmu, the herdsman next door said that when I growled, the cows would jump through hoops..." There was a soft click, and the arm was brought back, Miracle Doctor Ga was taken aback: "Aren't you in pain?" "It hurts." "Why don't you cry out in pain?" "Forgot." I stretched my arms, and I was very active! The miracle doctor Ga really lived up to his reputation. It is said that the legs of the cattle and sheep in the village were wrongly ringed, and it was he who put them on.

"You go to the city to buy some traumatic medicine, rub it yourself and the swelling will go away." "Sure, we'll go there in a while. We haven't eaten meat for two months. Let's buy a roast chicken." Yifeng shrugged at me exaggeratedly, "Here are the chicken wings, diet therapy." Zeren picked up the bird's nest that fell last night and put it back on the beam, and slapped the crumbling door twice: "The laminated door is not strong, go to the city and ask, change it to a metal door." Yifeng was reluctant to part with the door that still had Green's scratch marks on it, and said, "No need, I can repair it and it will still work."

I understood Yifeng's meaning, and said with a smile: "There is no need to mend that horn hole, it just serves as a cat's eye." "The two of you live alone, and there is no neighbor to take care of you. Next month, I will let my brother-in-law Tenzin come over to herd the herds, so I can keep you company." I said "Oh" and didn't take it to heart.A few yaks are not a threat, the worst is not to mess with them. When we drove over the mountain ridge in the core area and could see the tourist attractions in the distance, Yifeng squinted: "Train?!" "It's not a train." I put down my binoculars, I didn't want to take a second look at this disturbing traffic jam.They are all private cars that come to travel, and they form a long queue on the highway, extending all the way to the other side of the mountain. National Day Golden Week, this is just the beginning.If it wasn't for buying medicine to recover as soon as possible, I really don't want to travel this river of cars. I managed to squeeze into the city and got the roast chicken. I jumped into the car and was about to escape the crowds when I suddenly saw a new advertisement posted on the door of a leather goods store, which read "Selling Spike Teeth". have a look! This is a small shop of more than 20 square meters. There are all kinds of tourist souvenirs on the shelves. The walls are covered with leather goods. There is a glass counter in the middle of the shop. A glass bottle, a whole bottle of wolf teeth, soaked in cold water.The boss poured the wolf teeth into the water ladle, making a small pile of more than sixty pieces, large and small.Where are there so many wolves? The white hat patted his chest to the onlookers: "I pulled these out of the wolf's mouth myself. Even laymen can tell that they are authentic wolf teeth. The small one is 600, the big one is 800, choose slowly. " I distinguish one by one, all are Tibetan dog teeth.Without saying a word, I got out from the crowd of tourists choosing Spike, and looked up at the other products in the store.It is true that there are many fox furs hanging on the roof beams at the entrance. It is estimated that they were collected from poachers during the foot-and-mouth disease period.Thinking of what happened to the fox family we have been observing, I feel sore in my heart, wondering if there are any of them. A small animal skin hanging with the fox skin caught my attention. The color of withered grass seems to be wolf skin. Could it be that another litter of wolf cubs has been taken away?I haven't seen a wolf in Wolf Mountain for more than a month. Could it be that something happened to the remaining two little wolves, Scud or the little one? I was nervous for a while: "Boss, take off that little wolf skin and show it to me." The white hat beamed and said, "The buyer is discerning! This is a real wolf's fur that is a few months old. It is light and soft, and it is very good for a collar or a hat." As soon as the boss took off the little wolf's skin with a fork, I saw that it was a dog's skin. It had no wolf's mane, and strangely, there was no scalp either. what animal).Although I also hate killing dogs and skinning them, but fortunately he is not a wolf, so I am a little relieved. I don’t know which dog has suffered again. I stroked the fur and was about to put it down. Suddenly, something seemed to be awakened by this familiar touch in the depths of my memory. Hastily peeling the fur off its left shoulder revealed an old scald scar—this was the hide of my puppy, Luwang. My throat seemed to have been severely slashed, and I swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva in pain, before I finally let out a hoarse voice: "Did you kill him?" "No, we get the skins from the hunters. Do you want it?" The white hat was busy with business. "Which hunter?" The white hat got impatient: "There are a lot of hunters on the grassland. Why do you ask so many? The pup fur is rare and rare. It's just this one. If you want it, you don't want it, and you don't have to worry about selling it on National Day... ..." Unexpectedly, it took Lu Wang a tragic death for so long to find his fur here.Looking at the pile of dog teeth, no wonder even Qiao Mo didn't dare to wander anymore. I hardened my heart and walked out of the leather goods shop. Behind me, the white hat hung Luwang's leather back on the beam. "Which fur shop is it? I'll go to them to settle the score and get the dog skin back!" Tashi was indignant. "Forget it, we're all dead, so don't make any further incidents. Before we get out of the grassland, the lower the profile, the better." I looked at the crowds of tourists outside the car window, and the grassland in their eyes was different from the grassland we saw.If we can't get out of this place because we are not calm for a while, everything we left behind will be in vain. "The hotels in the county town and the homes of the Tibetans are all full of tourists, and they are rushing to grab rooms. The people who come later have no place to stay. It's too hot these days." Tashi met us outside the county town, and we car back to his ranch. The off-road vehicle finally got out of the traffic queue and drove onto the pasture road leading to the core area. Tashi lowered the car window and shouted: "Hey! Why are you driving like this! You ruined the pasture!" Zhaxi yelled at the crowd on the left side of the pastoral road. More than a dozen racing cars were practicing on the vast and flat grass field, and the smog was rampaging.turn!flick!drift!The tires rubbed against the ground screaming, the dust was flying, the turf was splashing, and the half-green grass was already smoked by the overlapping ruts. The racing drivers who were full of fun were shocked by Tashi's roar for a while, and several people waved to us: "Okay, I understand, we won't drive, we promise not to drive!" The drivers stopped the car as expected. Tashi raised the car window: "Let's go." In the alpine region, the growth of plants is very fragile, and they cannot withstand tossing. The wheels go back and forth twice, and the grass with weak growth may be crushed to death, and the roots will slowly wither. Large areas of dead meadow may not be able to recover for several years. come over. "Prairie people don't even want to walk on the grassland, let alone this." I sighed, "If Papa Nanka is still here, seeing this scene must be heartbreaking." Tashi didn't answer.The tradition of Tibetans is different from that of Han people. They believe that the soul of a dead person has returned to heaven. His stories, his ideas, and everything in his life will die together with his body. There are no graves and sacrifices. I will never think about it again, the deceased has already entered the next reincarnation, so there is no need to mention the past life. We just turned around a col, and on the other side of the mountain, the whistling sound of racing cars continued to sound. Seeing us go far, they continued to play. I heard Tashi's rough sigh and asked him, "Do you want to go back and talk about it?" "They won't listen." Tashi raised his head and pointed at the wetland in front of the car, "What's the matter with that car?" In the twilight, an off-road vehicle was stuck in the mud, and the rear window of the vehicle had a striking fluorescent sticker of "wolves roam the world, off-road people".A few men and women were shivering and sitting by the car, smoking and eating snacks.It's strange how they can walk into such a deep core area.It looks like a flat river here, but in fact it is full of soft mud, swamps and frost heaving mounds. It is a joke to play with life if you run around in the wetland without thinking. "Donkey friends" are often unaware of the dangers of donkey travel. In this place where there is no village and no shop behind, a lone car is stuck in a mud pit. Even with air conditioning, it can't last a night. Once the sun sets, it will be more than ten degrees below zero at night in autumn. The low temperature can freeze a person alive. Although we are very disgusted with them wandering into the pasture, if we don't help them, they must be stuck here. Without further ado, Yifeng found our tow rope, and Tashi went to tie the rope to their car. The other party stopped Tashi nervously: "What do you want to do?" "Help you tow the car." "Do you want money? How much? Make it clear first!" "You don't need money, just go out, don't drive around where there are no roads." The two men looked at us "living Lei Feng" suspiciously, and the woman turned her back to cover our sight, and quietly hid her bag under the car seat. The car was pulled out.Those people happily got into the car, locked the door, and closed the window. Tashi knocked on the car window: "Hey, pick up your rubbish, these rubbish can't be thrown on the grass." The other party said: "It doesn't matter, it will be gone as soon as the wind blows." "No, you must pick it up!" The woman popped out two ten-yuan bills from the car window: "Here you are, you go and pick them up." The off-road vehicle drove away, and a sentence floated from a distance: "If you have money, you don't earn it, and Tibetans don't have a brain." Tashi looked at the headlights going away and wondered, "What do you mean by not being enlightened?" "Don't pay attention to him!" I didn't know how to answer Tashi, and the anger burst out from between my teeth, "Tashi, if they fall into the pit again, will you save them?" Tashi didn't even think about it: "Save them, if you don't pull them out, they will freeze to death at night." My tangled resentment was softened by Tashi's unhesitating kindness.Yes, human life is important, but the grassland is also the life of grassland people.People are doing it, the sky is watching, and the banknotes are floating in the mud, without any attractive feeling.Is it really a panacea?They come from my world, and when they throw money to try to solve everything, do they also throw something hard to get back? In the early morning, milky mist flows on the quiet Langdu Beach. I was awakened by Qiao Mo's cry, I opened the window, and listened to the wind. The northeast wind was blowing slowly from the other side of the mountain, and the wind was mixed with the sound of people and cars.The marmots jumped back into their holes one after another, the rabbits flew into the mountain, and the fox didn't bother to catch the rabbits anymore, so they ran away with the rabbits.The black-necked crane stretched its neck anxiously, protecting the younger one and hastily avoiding it. Their family was black and white, and there was nowhere to hide. I hurriedly dug Yifeng out of the bed: "I heard someone coming! There's still a car!" "Impossible," Yifeng listened while putting on his coat, "The grassland is so deep, full of water bubbles and swamps, and there are so many fences separating it, it is impossible for outsiders to find their way." I went outside to watch.Two figures appeared on the ridge, looking towards the hut. Qiao Mo took out his housekeeping skills and charged at the stranger: "Wow woof! woof woof!" "Jomo! Coward!" I hurried up the hill to pull Jomo back.The two female tourists hugged each other in fright. Fortunately, they didn't run away, otherwise I couldn't stop the prairie dogs from chasing after them. "Excuse me," the middle-aged female tourist asked me, "Is that house over there a toilet?" I followed the direction of her finger and glanced at our humble hut: "Sister, except for that house, other places are toilets." The young female tourist clutched her belly in embarrassment: "No, people can't get out without toilets, so many people behind..." so many people?I looked over the mountain with an ominous premonition—a huge convoy of nearly a hundred vehicles and motorcycles was heading towards Wolf Mountain.The tourists marched while taking pictures, and they had to pass the hut when they crossed the mountain!No! I hurried forward to stop the convoy, and was about to ask who brought them here, when I glanced and saw the herdsman Ajia happily stuffing handfuls of money into his pocket—no need to ask. I stopped Ajia: "Let these tourists stop here, the scenery here is also very good for taking pictures, don't go any further." Ajia took out two banknotes and sweetened me: "Sister, let me tell you, I'll give you two hundred yuan, don't tell Zeren that it's okay, it's all for the National Day to earn money." I didn't give way. "Then two hundred and five?" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I'll give you one thousand, just use this fence as a boundary, please don't take them there anymore." Ajia gladly accepted the money, and turned around to greet the tourists: "This is the best scenery here, and those who want to take pictures on horseback come to my place to pay." "Ajia is very capable. He has been enlightened by a smart man for bringing so many tourists." Yifeng also came over the mountain and stood by the fence with me, looking at the glamorous tourists and smilingly said, "Look at them, they are as excited as we were back then, and their hearts are yearning for freedom." Hearing the long-lost pure Chinese, I felt a bit of intimacy: "Let them experience it, the grassland is a beautiful place. Hehe, let's also gain some popularity." We all come from the city. I remember that when I first arrived in the grassland, I released the long-suppressed passion in the smoggy city like them, wearing a white gauze skirt and leading the little wolf full of romance.Now, I'm wrapped in plain Tibetan clothes, unkempt, living in isolation, doing things that other busy people wouldn't do.We are mountain people, those fashionable clothes seem to be out of tune with us, maybe everything has been turned upside down in my heart, as if this side is the real world, while the other side is just a dream.It's hard to believe it's only been three years, the old life seems to have disappeared, I've forgotten who I am.I like the way I am now, the hut is full, the heart is full, and every minute of walking on the grassland is more precious than any luxury I have ever owned. The good times don't last long. Some tourists discovered a family of black-necked cranes hidden in the water bubble.Photography enthusiasts kept clicking their cameras, sometimes yelling twice, trying to capture some black-necked cranes flying in shock.Some impatient tourists simply rode motorcycles and drove off-road vehicles to chase after scaring birds.We both quickly stopped. The black-necked cranes here were originally not very afraid of people, but they had never seen such a formation before.Although the young cranes are growing in wings, they can't fly high yet. The female cranes protect the young cranes to avoid them, while the male cranes scream and run, trying to attract tourists away, but where can they attract many tourists? Can't control shaking and panting, a family of cranes can't get together if you call me. Someone shouted again: "It's just a crane flying, it won't work, it will be wonderful if they fly together." The off-road vehicle can't drive to Shui Pao Zi, someone came up with a bad idea - set off firecrackers! As soon as the cannon rang, the black-necked crane panicked and ran towards the fence with the protection of the younger one. For the first time, the younger crane flapped its wings and jumped over the fence with its parents.Unfortunately, his flying skills are very unskilled, his long legs were not retracted in time, hooked on the wire mesh of the fence, folded forward due to inertia, and wailed.The black-necked crane parents were in a hurry and flew up and down the fence to save their children. Some tourists praised: "These photos are so wonderful, go back and send them on WeChat!" The little crane broke free from the fence and tried to fly low to escape. Some tourists grabbed the fence and wanted to turn over to shoot birds at close range. Yifeng and I couldn't stop the crowd, we were on fire, and we blocked the fence and yelled: "Don't chase! Qiao Mo, boom (chasing)!" We never issued this order to chase Qiao Mo, and Qiao Mo was stunned , and then rushed to the edge of the fence, the person who overturned the fence screamed and bared his teeth, eager to jump.The contradiction suddenly heated up!Ajia took out a dog stick to hit Jomo. Of course, Jomo knew this weapon. His tail was instinctively clamped, his hind legs trembled, but he still yelled at Aga and never retreated. I opened my arms to protect Qiao Mo: "Aga, beating a dog is equivalent to beating its owner. If you dare to do evil today and let these people come to chase birds, we will fight you immediately. Tashi knows that we will never forgive you!" Yifeng calls Tashi. Some tourists also dissuaded them one after another: "Don't chase the cranes, it's poor. Travel in a civilized way!" "Everyone came out to have fun, not to cause trouble, forget it. Calm down." There were also tourists who stopped Ajia and the people chasing the crane, so Ajia went down the steps. Tourists ride horses and race cars.We kept reminding tourists that dry grass is flammable and that they should not throw cigarette butts around.The noisy tourists didn't leave until evening, and the garbage was thrown all over the mountain. We didn't finish picking it up until it was dark. When the wind blew, all kinds of packaging bags were scattered all over the pasture. In the early morning of the next day, we saw through the binoculars a little black-necked crane with ragged feathers, crawling on the edge of the water bubble, with one wing leaning on the ground, unable to stand up, and his leg was broken.The crane parents have been guarding the little crane, bringing small fish and loach in their mouths, and feeding the little crane in turn. They were terrified when they heard human voices, and they were even afraid of us approaching.We were busy dissuading tourists, and we couldn't spare ourselves to treat Xiaohe. Seven days have passed... the joyful crowd receded, and the grassland returned to silence. On the morning of the end of the long vacation, we heard black-necked cranes whining, and there was a white shadow by the water, and there was no more movement. "This little crane only lived for more than three months. We watched him grow up, and then watched him die young." Yifeng and I sadly watched the black-necked crane couple mourn their child on the hillside.From spring to autumn, they endured hunger and cold to hatch eggs in the snow, they swallowed wind and rain to protect the last child, they fought against dogs, wolves and yaks, they walked beside the feeding mother Dorji, they took their little ones Cranes are looking for food in the swamp. This precious little crane is the last hope of the black-necked crane couple in the rainstorm. The photo became a portrait.I knew the pair of cranes were leaving, flying south alone.I wonder if I will return to this sad place next year? The sound of the cranes chirping, the long song should be crying, and the black-necked cranes danced the last dance in the wind for the dead child... There is nothing more they can do for the child. Yifeng said: "Let's see if we can wade through the swamp this afternoon and bury him." I broke down in tears: "Xiaohe has never flown in his life, let him be buried in the sky."