Siheyuan starts to eat the old man

Chapter 398 Sacrifice
After this loud shouting, all the people who were preparing to cook by the fire immediately packed up the things they had just brought from the car, quickly packed all the food and ran towards the car like crazy.

Li Pingan's reaction was not slow. He grabbed She Qingliang who was still in a daze, picked up his briefcase full of information, stood up and quickly followed the driver's footsteps and ran towards the bus.

"Comrade Li, come and help me fix the shed."

When the three of them rushed to the truck, the driver was holding on to the rope holding the cargo. After seeing Li Pingan, he kept moving his hands and shouted loudly to Li Pingan to help.

He stuffed everything in his hands to the two weak technicians. Before he could say anything about blessings, Li Ping'an's long legs were already running quickly in the direction of the driver.

Reaching out to grab the fixed rope on the car, Li Ping'an and the driver used all their strength to pull and reinforce it. They endured the strong wind and the painful feeling of gravel blowing on their faces. They finally arrived in the sandstorm. When moving into a convoy, the entire vehicle cargo will be reinforced.

When he got back into the cab, Li Ping'an felt that his arms were no longer his, and the palms of his hands were red. Fortunately, there was no bleeding, otherwise he would not be able to do anything with his hands.

The two technicians who had been hiding in the car and did not get off the car, saw the two get on the car and then let go of their worries. She Qingliang handed over the briefcase that Li Pingan had just given to him: "Chief Li, this is It’s your briefcase”

Li Pingan, whose palms were still burning, did not pick it up directly. Instead, he asked She Qingliang to throw the briefcase into his lap. He endured the pain in his hand and opened the briefcase. After checking that there were no problems with the internal files, Li Pingan turned around and rushed. She Qingliang forced a smile: "Thank you, Mr. She."

She Qingliang waved his hand quickly, indicating that it was just a matter of passing by and he should not be thanked.

Ignoring the two shivering technicians behind him, Li Ping'an turned to look out the car window. At this time, the outside was already a world of yellow sand. The sky-blocking sandstorm shrouded the entire sky, and the visibility was less than one meter.

Listening to the violent wind outside and the sound of pebbles hitting the car body, he solemnly turned his head to look at the driver who was calmly drinking water: "Comrade, the storm outside is so strong, it won't bury our convoy, right?"

"It's hard to say, no one can say for sure about this kind of thing, but looking at the situation, based on past experience, although this sandstorm is big, there is a low chance of burying our convoy," the driver put down the kettle and said calmly. .

The driver had rich experience in the desert. Seeing the calm look of the driver, Li Ping'an felt confident and stopped thinking about these bad things.

"Let's take a rest in the car. This sandstorm is expected to blow for several hours. Try not to drink too much water until the sandstorm stops."

The driver placed the kettle in the storage box and leaned against the driver's seat, squinting his eyes and preparing to rest.

Li Ping'an felt completely relieved when he saw the driver being so calm. He happened to have not slept well last night, but he was fine now anyway, so he simply followed the driver's example and fell asleep against the seat.
It was the first time for the two technicians to experience such a huge sandstorm in the desert. Naturally, neither the driver was as calm as Li Ping'an, and they kept thinking wildly in their minds about whether they would die. How could they survive in the whirlpool of the sandstorm? I was able to think about sleeping, but I saw that the two people in front of me had closed their eyes. They couldn't say anything. They could only lean on the car door and observe the situation outside through the car glass.

The sandstorm lasted for a long time and gradually weakened until eight o'clock in the evening.

After seeing that the strong wind outside would not blow people away, the driver, who had already woken up, took out a scarf and wrapped his head tightly with only one eye exposed. He picked up a flashlight, opened the door and got out of the car to check the condition of the vehicle.

Li Pingan, who had slept all afternoon, had nothing to do in the car. After seeing the driver get out of the car, he shook off the sand on his body, took out a towel from his bag, covered his mouth and nose tightly, and opened the door. Got out of the cab.

As soon as Li Pingan's feet landed, a foot of sand entered. Through the light beam of the flashlight, Li Pingan could clearly see that the sand had submerged half of the tire. If the sandstorm continued to blow for another night, it is estimated that the sand could seal the car door. Block it.

After walking around the truck and checking the goods loaded on the truck and finding that there was no damage at all, Li Ping'an was in the mood to observe the surrounding situation.

At this time, the convoy camp was full of flashlight beams. Li Pingan walked along the convoy to see the damage of the convoy.

Most of the items transported by the convoy this time were heavy objects such as steel or building materials. The losses were not great. Except for a few vehicles that were blown away by sandstorms, there were no other losses.

Seeing a large number of people gathering in front of him, Li Ping'an quickly ran over to check the situation. When he got close to the crowd, he found that the driver of his car was also there, so Li Ping'an asked the driver about the situation: "Comrade driver, this is what happened ahead. What happened?"

"The jeep was overturned, and the driver of the jeep was also unlucky. He broke his neck when it overturned, and now he has no air." The driver smoked a cigarette and said slowly.

When he heard that someone was dead, Li Ping'an didn't care to continue chatting with the driver, and quickly pushed through the crowd and walked in.

When Li Ping'an came in, the jeep had been helped up. The driver's body was placed on the open space beside it. A piece of white cloth was found from somewhere to cover the driver's body.

The leader of the motorcade also heard the news and rushed over from behind. Seeing the situation in front of him, the leader sighed deeply and arranged for someone to come forward to sort out the body of the deceased driver.

Seeing the skilled movements of the staff handling the funeral, Li Pingan felt very uncomfortable and was not in the mood to stay here anymore. He pushed through the crowd and returned to the truck where he was.

"Chief Li, what happened outside? Why did I vaguely hear that someone had died?" When Fang Fanping saw Li Pingan coming back, he quickly stretched his head to the front row and asked Li Pingan what happened outside.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it and took a deep breath. Li Pingan briefly told the two of them what happened outside.

After hearing what happened, the carriage fell into silence, and only the sound of Li Ping'an smoking could be heard.

Due to the sacrifice of someone, the atmosphere in the convoy tonight was very depressing, and the entire camp was eerily silent. The drivers maintained their vehicles without saying a word, while Li Ping'an and the others silently set up tents and made fires to cook.

After dinner in the evening, Li Ping'an learned the name of the comrade who died from other people's mouths. It was called Liu Yong. It was a very common name. He was only 28 years old this year. He was a local and had his parents, wife and children waiting at home. She took him back, and before the convoy set off, his wife had just found out that she was pregnant.Before the convoy set off the next day, the leader of the convoy organized all members to hold a small memorial ceremony for Liu Yong, and then placed Liu Yong's body in an urgently made coffin and left it at the local area until the convoy left the destination. When returning, he took Liu Yong's body home.

There was great silence in the cab for the rest of the journey, and the driver, who had always been very talkative along the way, also fell silent this time.

After driving in silence for a while, She Qingliang, who was in the back seat, couldn't help but ask the driver: "Why should Comrade Liu Yong's body be left where it is before it can be brought back? In such a large convoy, with so many Comrade Liu Yong’s body shouldn’t be a difficult matter, right?”

The driver held the steering wheel and said without looking back: "That's a person, not the cargo this time."

Hearing what the driver said, She Qingliang fell silent and stopped talking.

Li Ping'an took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit one and stuffed it into the driver's mouth, and then lit it for himself: "Did the comrades who died on the road do this in the past?"

"Yes, this kind of thing happens often when driving in the desert. I have always done it this way over the years." The driver took a deep breath of cigarette, opened the window and flicked the cigarette ashes before continuing: "Actually, people like Liu Yong It’s pretty good. At least the bodies can be left and sent home. In the early years, the route was unfamiliar and many comrades died and couldn’t even find their bodies.”

Li Ping'an was not a comforting person. He opened his mouth to comfort the driver. After opening his mouth, he didn't know what to say. In the end, he could only say: "Thank you for your hard work."

The driver waved his hand and said firmly with a bright look in his eyes: "What does this mean? Everything we do is to make the country strong so that we will no longer be bullied by foreign devils in the future."

The rest of the trip went very smoothly, and no extreme natural disasters like sandstorms were encountered. The convoy continued driving along the saline-alkali road left by the previous troops. After two days of driving, Li Ping'an finally saw the elegant scenery of the Lop Nur area through the car window. Dan landform.

When the convoy stopped for a break at noon, Li Ping'an was just about to take out his camera and take two photos when the driver stopped him: "Comrade Chief Li, we have now entered the confidential area and cannot continue to take pictures. How beautiful is the scenery here?" Take a look and keep it in mind.”

"Okay, then I'll take a closer look, keep the topography in mind, and tell my wife about it when I get back." Hearing that they had entered a confidential area, Li Ping'an quickly put the camera back into his bag and said with a smile. .

Hearing Li Ping'an mention his wife, the driver asked curiously: "Comrade Li, you are so handsome, your wife should also be beautiful, right? What kind of job do you do?"

"My wife, she is a doctor. As for whether she is beautiful or not, well..." Li Ping'an touched his chin and pretended to think, and then continued after a while: "In my opinion, she is just average-looking. You are definitely not worthy of me."

The driver didn't believe what Li Ping'an said, and said with suspicion: "It's true, Chief Li, please don't lie to me."

Before Li Ping'an could say anything, She Qingliang, who was baking naan by the fire, rushed to say: "Of course I lied to you, Dr. Ding is very beautiful, and he is recognized by all the workers in our factory as the beauty of the factory."

"Let me just say, with your appearance, Comrade Chief Li, no matter what happens, you will never marry an ordinary-looking woman. Now your comrades in the factory will expose it."

"Well... I'm face-blind. I can't tell whether a woman is beautiful or not. In my eyes, she looks very ordinary."

As soon as Li Ping'an said these words, the three of them laughed.

After entering Lop Nur, the convoy drove much faster than in the desert. After continuing to drive for a day, the convoy arrived at its destination at noon the next day.

At this time, Lop Nur became a large construction site, and soldiers from many troops were busy on the construction site.After strict inspection by the security forces here, the convoy entered the camp.

After Li Pingan and others got off the bus, they followed the arrangement and came to a tent to settle down. Not long after, a middle-aged dark-faced man in military uniform walked in and said to Li Pingan: "Hello, comrade, I am the person in charge of materials here, my surname is Jiang, you can call me Director Jiang, you are the person in charge of this transportation team of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill in Sijiucheng, right?"

"Hello, comrade, I am the person in charge of the steel rolling mill, my name is Li Ping'an." Li Ping'an quickly stood up from his stool, not knowing for a moment whether he should salute or shake hands.

"Don't be nervous, I'm here to hand over to you. The material information of your factory this time should be with you, right?"

"Am I giving this information to you?" Li Ping'an said as he was about to take the information from his briefcase.

Director Jiang stretched out his hand to stop Li Pingan's movements: "Comrade Li, you don't need to give me this document yet. Come with me and go to our office to do the handover."

Instructing the two technicians who came over to wait here, Li Ping'an and Director Jiang came to the first office in the camp together.

In the office, after Li Pingan handed over all the documents in the briefcase to the other party, he waited at the door for a while. Director Jiang came out with a piece of paper and took Li Pingan to the vehicle where the materials of the steel rolling mill were located. One-to-one reception work.

After receiving all the supplies, Director Jiang gave Li Ping'an a receipt, and then asked the gun-wielding guards around him to take Li Ping'an back to the tent where he was.

Seeing soldiers with guns everywhere in the camp, Li Ping'an was secretly stunned. This was just an explosion range, but it was so tightly guarded. He couldn't imagine what kind of security the manufacturing base had reached.

"Comrade, during the next period of time, please stay in the tent as much as possible and do not wander around the camp at will. If necessary, you can find our staff to solve the problem." At the entrance of the tent, the guard leading Li Ping'an left such a message. After a word, he left here.

Returning to the tent, the tent was actually empty at the moment. The two technicians She Qingliang and Fang Fanping didn't know where they had gone. Li Ping'an quickly walked out of the tent and asked the soldiers at the door: "Comrade, may I ask, are the two technicians in this tent Where have you gone, comrade? Why aren't you in the tent?"

(End of this chapter)