Siheyuan starts to eat the old man

Sandstorm is coming

Li Ping'an was exhausted from being on the train for the past three days and now just wanted to lie down on the bed and have a good sleep. How could he have the thought to drink heavily with him? He refused Jiang Enmin's invitation to the reception banquet because he couldn't let go of the information in his hand.

This is a good reason. If the documents in his hand are lost or leaked due to drinking, even Jiang Enmin will inevitably be punished. Even if Jiang Enmin's alcohol addiction has increased, he will have to regretfully let Li Ping'an go back to rest.

When he came to the single room arranged by the staff here, Li Pingan casually looked at the layout of the room. After finding nothing dirty on the bed, Li Pingan nodded with satisfaction.

After a simple wash, the tired Li Ping'an put the document bag in his hand into the warehouse, then lay on the bed happily and prepared to sleep.

Not long after my body lay flat, I felt a sense of dizziness in my mind, and it felt like the bed was shaking like a train.Li Ping'an, who is experienced, knows that this is when the body adapts to the rhythm on the train, and it takes a day or two to adapt to recovery after getting off the train.

The experienced Li Ping'an didn't care about the dizziness in his head. He smelled the quilt full of sunshine, and soon his tired body fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the sun shone on Li Pingan's face through the window of the guest house. Under the stimulation of the sun, Li Pingan slowly opened his eyes and got up from the bed, stretched his body a few times, put on brand new clothes, and carried The briefcase opened the door and walked out.

"Good morning, why did Director Jiang get up so early?"

When Li Ping'an took his lunch box to the restaurant of the guest house to eat, he saw Jiang Enmin who was already sitting at the dining table and eating, and quickly stepped forward to say hello.

"Comrade Pingan, you just got off the train yesterday, why didn't you rest in your room more?" Jiang Enmin was very surprised to see Li Pingan appearing in the restaurant so early, and couldn't help but ask.

"Hey, I'm really tired from being on the train for the past three days. Yesterday I fell asleep as soon as I got back to the room. I just couldn't sleep after I woke up, so I just came to eat. What about you? Why did you get up like this? morning?"

"I still have work to do. The car is on its way now. After breakfast, I will start going deep into the desert."

"Then you have really worked hard. You must have been here for a few days, right? Not to mention, the food in Eastern Xinjiang is really different from that in the mainland."

It is not convenient to talk about this kind of top-secret work. Jiang Enmin's words actually have the meaning of leaking secrets. If the conversation continues and someone overhears, it will be troublesome. The clever Li Ping'an quickly changes the topic and makes the topic blunt. I am addicted to eating locally.

Jiang Enmin is also a veteran. As soon as he said what he just said, Jiang Enmin knew that he had said the wrong thing. Now that Li Ping'an was helping him out, Jiang Enmin naturally followed the words that Li Ping'an provoked and continued.

The two didn't chat for long before Jiang Enmin's men walked in quickly from outside: "Jiang Chu, the motorcade is already waiting below."

Jiang Enmin nodded to his secretary and said goodbye to Li Ping'an.

Not long after Jiang Enmin left, people came in one after another in the restaurant, including many fellow villagers who had met at Sijiucheng Station.

They nodded to each other as greetings. After breakfast, Li Ping'an wandered around the door of the guest house for a while. When the time was almost up, he came to the meeting place mentioned last night to wait for the next work arrangements.

"Comrade, are all your people here?"

Within the agreed time, the staff arrived at the gathering place on time and asked Li Ping'an whether everyone was present.

Li Ping'an solemnly said to the staff: "Comrade, 5 people should be present at the Hongxing Steel Rolling Plant in Sijiucheng, but 5 people are actually present. All personnel have arrived."

The staff nodded and took out the photos one by one to verify with everyone at the scene. After verification, they gave each person an access certificate with everyone's photo printed on it, and then led everyone to the door of the guest house. I got on the jeep that I had been waiting for for a long time.

After receiving the pass from the staff and knowing the destination of this mission, everyone realized how extraordinary this mission was, and their faces were all red with excitement.

That is to say, there were still staff on the jeep, so everyone suppressed their excitement and did not scream on the spot.

The jeep was very quiet while it was driving. Everyone was giggling at the pass in vain. The jeep quickly arrived at its destination, in front of a large motorcade.

After parking, the five people from the steel rolling mill divided into two teams. Li Pingan and two technicians sat in the truck of the team, and the remaining two people followed the staff to unknown places.

Regarding this situation, Li Ping'an, as the team leader, didn't say much. When he arrived at someone else's territory, he didn't say anything and just obeyed.

The convoy was ready, and under the leadership of the lead car, one car after another slowly headed towards the depths of the desert.

The city is six or seven hundred kilometers away from the destination. It is very difficult for the convoy to travel all the way. There are not even decent roads in this place, let alone highways. The convoy is full of potholes and salt pits left by the predecessors. The alkaline road is difficult to travel.

The convoy is driving in the endless desert, with flying sand everywhere. If you open the glass of the truck slightly, a large amount of yellow sand will enter the car along the gap.

Looking at everything around him with curiosity, Li Pingan asked the driver that he could take pictures now, and happily took out his camera and took a few pictures of the scene outside through the car window.

The convoy has a relatively large load, and the entire convoy moves very slowly, and from time to time there will be an accident that causes the entire convoy to stop and rest. After the convoy stopped, Li Ping'an frowned and looked at the construction team in front of them who were repairing the road section, and couldn't help but He asked the driver who was lying on the ground: "Comrade driver, there are stops and starts along the way. It will take our convoy how many days to reach the destination."

"It's hard to say. The load of our convoy is too heavy. If we are lucky, it will take four days. If we are unlucky and encounter a sandstorm or something, it will take a week." The driver seemed to have traveled this distance for a long time, lying on the ground. Said lazily.

"How do the sandstorms here compare with those in the interior?"

Sandstorms are not a rare thing these days. During the two years that Li Ping'an lived in Sijiu City, sandstorms have been encountered several times a year. At their worst, the sky was filled with orange, and people wrapped up tightly when going out. Whenever you open your mouth, you will eat a mouthful of sand.Hearing Li Pingan's inquiry, the driver suddenly sat up from the ground, took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, with a look of reminiscence on his face: "Those are two different things. I remember the biggest time I encountered Sandstorm, it was really flying sand and rocks. The thick sand blocked the sky and made people unable to open their eyes. There was yellow sand everywhere and you couldn't see anything even a few meters away. I remember clearly. When a worker got out of the car to rescue supplies, he was blown far away by the wind. That guy was very lucky. After the sandstorm ended, we found him from the sand a few hundred meters away and dug him out."

"It's indeed a long life. He was rescued in such a dangerous situation." After listening to the driver's story, Li Ping'an nodded in agreement with emotion.

She Qingliang, a technician from the steel rolling mill who had been listening to the two chatting, heard that the sandstorm here was so terrible. He couldn't help asking the driver worriedly: "Comrade driver, since the sandstorm is so terrible, then the probability of our convoy encountering it is very low." big?"

"Big, very big. Don't even look at this place. There are no trees or water around. There are deserts and Gobi deserts everywhere. There is not even a shelter. If the wind is strong enough, a sandstorm can form."

Hearing that sandstorms were frequently occurring, She Qingliang, a weak intellectual, was frightened and hurriedly asked: "Comrade driver, what should we do if we encounter a sandstorm so as not to be blown away by the wind?"

"Why is it not easy for Mr. She to avoid the sandstorm? Our vehicles have such a heavy load. When encountering a sandstorm, we get into the car, stick our whole body tightly to the car, and hold the body of the car with both hands. Let alone the sandstorm, even if it is Even a tornado can't blow you away." Li Ping'an helped the driver explain to She Qingliang.

The driver gave Li Ping'an a thumbs up and nodded in agreement: "Yes, just do it like this. No wind can blow you away. Sandstorms are not that scary. As long as you are not alone in an open space, then it will be fine." Nothing will happen”

"Since this is the case, I know for sure. If we really encounter a sandstorm, I also have a way to save my life." She Qingliang felt relieved when he saw that the driver agreed with Li Ping'an's plan. He no longer had such a big fear of the sandstorm. .

While everyone was talking and laughing, the team building the road in front also completed their work. The leading car blew its whistle, and everyone who had rested got up and walked towards their vehicles.

There were no dangers during today's journey. There was only constant road construction and two small sandstorms. However, it had no impact. The visibility was within the normal range. The convoy did not stop to avoid the sand and dust and continued to move forward.

In the evening, before it got completely dark, the convoy arrived at the camping site. It was a relic of an ancient city in the Western Regions. There were broken earthen walls everywhere. Taking advantage of the afterglow of the setting sun, you could still see them from a distance. Li Ping'an took advantage of this opportunity to take out his camera and snap a few photos of the small ancient city ruins.

"Comrade Ping An, please stop taking pictures of these broken walls. It's better to put up our tent quickly. If our tent hasn't been put up until it gets completely dark, we'll be in trouble." After the driver parked the car, Seeing Li Ping'an taking pictures with a camera, he couldn't help but urge him.

"Okay, okay, I'll go and set up the tent now."

Being urged, Li Ping'an reluctantly put away his camera and followed the driver to set up a tent for sleeping tonight against the earth wall.

Li Ping'an had experience setting up tents in the wild several times. With the cooperation of the driver, the visitor quickly set up a tent that could accommodate four or five people.

After finishing working on the tent, She Qingliang and Fang Fanping, who were arranged by the driver to collect firewood nearby, the two technicians from the steel rolling mill also came back with a lot of firewood.

Seeing the two people holding the wood that had obvious signs of manual polishing, Li Ping'an was stunned for a moment, and asked the two people about the source of the wood in confusion: "Where did you get this wood?"

Fang Fanping pointed to the ruins behind him, smiled and said to Li Ping'an: "The beams were removed from the house where the ruins have not been buried by the sand."

Looking speechlessly at the three people who were happily lighting the fire and preparing to heat the dry food, Li Pingan asked tentatively: "You were not seen when you went to remove the beams, right?"

"Someone must have seen it. The two of us just saw a lot of them going to pick up the beams of the roof, so we went to pick up the beams together. How could no one see it?" Fang Fanping stopped lighting the fire in his hand, no. He looked at Li Pingan with understanding.

Okay, there is really nothing to say now. The convoy took the lead in destroying this thing. Li Ping'an still managed a hammer and picked up the naan in his backpack, preparing to bake it after lighting a fire.

After eating and drinking enough, I lay in the tent at night. I could hear the snoring of the driver in my ears, and smelled the smell of feet that permeated the entire tent. Li Pingan and the two technicians from the steel rolling mill looked at each other and gave a wry smile. Finally, they all covered their heads with quilts, trying to resist the invasion of foot odor.

The smell in the tent at night made Li Ping'an feel dizzy, and it was not until late at night that he fell asleep in a daze.

The next morning, as it was getting dark, Li Pingan was woken up by the noisy noise outside the tent. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, put on his clothes and walked out of the tent.

Not long after breakfast, the convoy started its journey again. Throughout the morning, the convoy drove very smoothly and did not even stop once.

When we stopped to have lunch, Fang Fanping took the baked naan and said happily while eating: "The morning's trip was really smooth. I hope our trip in the next few days will be as smooth as the morning." "

"Yes, it feels so good to go all the way without stopping. By the way, comrade driver, have you ever reached your destination without stopping?" She Qingliang asked while baking naan.

She Qingliang, who was baking naan, didn't hear the driver's answer, so he turned to look in the driver's direction and wanted to ask again.

Just as he was about to continue speaking, he saw the driver suddenly stood up and looked into the distance with a solemn expression.

The driver's actions aroused Li Ping'an's curiosity. The driver could show this expression, indicating that something bad was likely to happen.

Li Pingan also stood up from the ground and followed the driver's gaze to the distant horizon. However, the sun was a bit bright and Li Pingan couldn't see very clearly when he squinted.

Just when I was about to turn around and ask the driver what he saw, I saw faint yellow sand coming towards me from the horizon, covering the sky and blocking out the sun.

"The sandstorm is coming"

The driver's shout rang in Li Pingan's ears. Before Li Pingan could react, the driver had already picked up the baggage on the ground and ran towards the truck.

(End of this chapter)