Hitchhiking

A few months after going to the countryside back to Chengdu, back to the production team, the same classmates to find me a provincial transport company’s big truck. That day before dawn to the new South Gate agreed location, get on the car, set off. The car is a Jiefang, loaded with goods, plus the road conditions are not good, the car is going very slowly, slow on the slow well, can sit in the cab, spacious, open view, for me has been a great enjoyment.

Whenever the car stopped, it rushed up and down, to the master to play water and light cigarettes, wipe the windows, playing hands. The car is still going to the countryside that old road, long and confusing. As the roadside milestones continue to go away, the hometown is also getting farther and farther away, Qionglai, the famous mountain, Ya’an, Xingying, Hanyuan, asbestos, these unfamiliar and déjà vu place names reappear one by one.

The car finally entered the territory of Coronation County at dusk and stopped at a three-way intersection. The driver told me that he would stay here tonight at the driver’s station, saying that it was only a few miles away from Coronation County, so I should go there and find a place to stay for the night, and return here at 7 a.m. tomorrow to get on the bus and continue the journey. Oh my God! Not to mention the bumpy day, now already hungry, at this time the sky and gradually darkened, black light and mixed foot board to the county, take the wrong road how to do? What if I meet a bad guy? Want to ask the master to help, but he said the driver station rules are only to receive drivers, he can not go to accommodate. Think about it, not to mention the journey to trouble others, so they went alone on the road.

Along the road for a while the sky is completely dark, but from time to time there is still a little through the clouds of light moonlight sprinkled on the ground. There was no one on the road, and the Annin River was flowing on the left side of the road. In order to be brave, simply sing the “Volga boatman song” over and over again, uh hey yo ho, uh hey yo ho, the sense of pathos is born. But the slender man pulling the boat’s beat and my footsteps are always difficult to match, both sides are not good, and increasingly hungry, but also cold, simply do not sing, save some energy. When you think about it, there is actually not much need to be brave, even if you encounter criminals, it seems to have nothing to do with the robbery of sex and money.

I do not know how long to walk, finally from behind a bicycle, so ask the bicyclist to the county town is still a long way. The man was a worker at a hydroelectric power station and said it was not far, only a few miles away. I thought I was almost there, but it turned out that there were still a few miles, and I almost collapsed. Watching the man on the car ride away, an inexplicable fear came, in his figure is about to disappear in the night, in desperation I suddenly shouted: your things fall down. The man immediately turned around and rode back.

I was bold enough to say: “I really can’t walk, take your car, or I’ll take you”. The man was flabbergasted, and looked around, the road was empty. He hesitated for a few seconds: “Forget it, or I’ll give you a ride.” The words just fell, I have rolled over and sat on the coat rack. The car rattled on the road I do not know how long, finally turned a corner and stopped. “I’m right here,” the man said, pointing to a house on the side of the road. “You go down this road and the county seat is just ahead.”

Finally we arrived, cold and sleepy, but the first problem to solve is still hunger. Unexpectedly, the streets have long been closed, the small county back and forth a few trips, even a small open door to find a restaurant. The good news is that there is no way out, in front of the Xinhua bookstore at the crossroads actually saw an old woman selling fried melon seeds, hurriedly weighed half a pound of melon seeds, even shells with nuts to the mouth for a while, finally a sigh of relief.

I do not know what time it is, or first find a hotel to stay. I heard that some young people were frozen to death on the way back to their hometowns in Chengdu not long ago, and it was cold at night in Coronation, so what should we do tonight? So I went to knock on a full hotel, the man said, not good-naturedly, earlier to you said no bed, clanging the door closed.

I sat on my butt on the edge of the street and couldn’t get back to my senses, my mind was surprised to see the image of Mrs. Xiang Lin, the Lin family store miserable. Could it be that tonight to get out of here? No, absolutely not! In the darkness of the brain actually made some sense. Try again, it is not possible to go to the police station to find a shelter to sit for the night, where it will not be closed, right?

I had just been to the door of the inn is double, I got together in the doorway towards the look, the man on duty actually also made a pot of fire in the roast, and behind him there is a bed! There, knock on the door again. The man did not even bother to raise his head, muffled, said, I told you, not to get a bed. I lowered my voice and yelled in passable Mandarin: Open the door, open the door, we just arrived by car from Beijing. I saw the man get up and open the door from the doorway, and without waiting for his reaction, I rushed to the chair in front of the fire pit and sat down: “I’m not going anywhere, I’ll sit here all night today.”

Without waiting for him to say anything, I said in quick succession, “You should also go to rest, you go to sleep in your bed, I shall not disturb you, I will leave tomorrow morning.” After I said that, I straightened my legs and sank into the chair, closing my eyes comfortably. The man was flabbergasted for several seconds and finally asked, “Do you have any proof?” I dared to be slow, and instantly took out the certificate from my coat pocket and handed it over.

The man took a flashlight and led me around and around, finally ascending a steep wooden staircase. The top seemed to be a long corridor, and I could vaguely see that there were many people sleeping on the floor. Finally the man took me to a gap in the pile of people, “right here,” in the dim circle of the flashlight there was a bed of straw mat, on top of a pile of sort of bedding or something. This is already heaven, I fell back and fell asleep.

When I woke up, the sky had begun to dawn. The corridor was also much less crowded. When I turned over, I was surrounded by a loudly snoring old Yi ama. It took me a while to remember where I was and what time it was, but I suddenly remembered that I had to get on the bus at 7 o’clock, so I lost all sleep. Turning over and getting up from the “bed”, I realized that there was a large courtyard below, with several lean horses tethered, and that the “corridor” on the second floor where I slept last night was in fact a long “yawning” pile of miscellaneous items. “and open air is not much different.

To go to the driver’s station did not take the original road, but to take a shortcut to Tiankan. But when I arrived at 7:00 am, the car was nowhere to be found, and one of my handbags was still in the car! What should I do? The good thing is that after a good night’s sleep last night, the spirit has been much better, plus the sun is shining at the moment, the broad daylight is also much less last night that inexplicable worry and fear. There are several tables, chairs and benches opposite the driver’s station, and someone is selling thin rice steamed buns. After a big meal, self-confidence has increased a lot.

Now the question is how to get back to Shaba? Mixing footboards obviously not. Suddenly I heard someone shouting not far away: “Hurry up and get on the bus to Xichang!” It turned out to be a large truck with a tarp, the rear of the wooden fender is down, the back of the car across a thick rope, the car has been standing full of people. I saw a few people from the roadside toilet, straight to the car, they waved something in their hands to the car (probably a ticket it), then climbed into the car, the truck then went away.

When the dust cleared, I suddenly found a truck next to me, and the driver just opened the door and got in. The opportunity is not to be lost, I ran wildly, there are a few steps away when the car has started. A few people in the car saw the situation also reached out, finally in their help to climb into the car. Before you catch your breath, someone asked how come I didn’t see you in the car just now? I only said while gasping, I was in the car in front of me, just went to the toilet delayed a little, did not catch up. The people in the car even said it did not matter, anyway, are to Xichang’s car.

In the car, I remembered that the driver who took me said that he also brought something to a youth in the Pioneer Commune, and I know that student, his brother is my classmate! So I decided to get off at Lugu to try my luck, maybe my bag was lost there too.

The car did not stop in Lugu, and when I saw that I had one foot over the back rail, a kind person on the car said, “It’s still early, it’s still early from Xichang”. I jumped out of the car before the words fell, in the sky of yellow soil. Waving to my distant colleagues, I turned around and walked towards the pioneer commune.

As luck would have it, the handbag was right there with the youth.