The Most Thrilling Tomb Tour: Tomb Raider

Chapter 13 Solar Eclipse on Agate Beach (1)
Lao Zhongtou sent us to Professor Wu, and saw that they were ready to go, and urged us to get in the car when they saw us coming.Old Zhongtou reluctantly bid farewell to us. Although he had only known each other for two days, I felt that although he was a man of profiteering, he was extremely kind-hearted. My eyes were moist and I looked back. Looking at Fatty and Xiang Ru, they are similar to me.

After getting in the car, Professor Wu introduced several of his students to us one by one.A girl with quiet cut hair and glasses is called Song Bijun, and the gentle butcher who also wears glasses is called Hao Weiguo, whose name was changed during the Cultural Revolution. The boy's name is Zhou Dawei, and Song Bijun and the others jokingly called him "Mustache", but it reminded me of Shi Qian in "Water Margin".

I took a look at Professor Wu's equipment. Although there were not many of them, we were surprised that they were complete.Luoyang shovel, probe, German hand shovel, Soviet compass, everything from big to small, most of them are imported products. I thought that the "headband" headlights that the fat man and I bought newly would be enough to support our heads. Much better than the bulky miner's hat last time, but their headlights are smaller and more delicate than ours. The real thing is better than the real thing, so I have to throw it away. The fat man and I stuck out our tongues at each other.

We first took a car to Beijing, and then took a train from Beijing to Urumqi for four days and three nights. On the way, the boy named Hao Weiguo kept talking to Xiang Ru, but Xiang Ru seemed a little indifferent.

Zhou Dawei, nicknamed "Flea", with his eyes rolling around, has been sitting beside Professor Wu, flattering non-stop, and talking about the old man's joy.

Song Bijun didn't talk much, he had been reading some books on archaeology, saying that he was preparing to write a doctoral dissertation defense, and from time to time looked through the train window to see the majestic scenery of the Western Regions outside.

When the train passed Jiayuguan, we were all attracted by the last pass of the Great Wall. Almost all the people on the train crowded around the windows and watched.

In the boundless Gobi, the vast yellow sand, a majestic pass built under the order of Zhu Yuanzhang stands on the Hexi Corridor in the setting sun.This majestic pass has been guarded here for more than 400 years. No one can tell how many vicissitudes and drastic changes it has experienced.I can't help but think of the ancient country of Loulan, which has been glorious for more than 800 years in the eternal Taklamakan Desert. What kind of scene should it be like now?

Professor Wu was looking out the window thoughtfully. I didn't want to disturb him, so I asked Fatty to smoke a cigarette between the two carriages.

As soon as the fat man and I stood still, a bearded man who came next to us smiled and handed over two cigarettes, and said, "Are you here to travel in Xinjiang?"

"Hehe, yes!" I didn't want others to know the purpose of our trip, I took the cigarette and said with a smile.

"I don't think so!" The man smiled strangely, staring at us with two eyes under thick eyebrows.

"Where did you see that?" Fatty and I were a little alert.

"Look at you guys, big bags and small bags, who travels with so many things, and it's not moving, haha!" The man pouted towards our luggage in the carriage and smiled.

good eyesight!I cried out in my heart, and then asked: "What's the matter with you?" Seeing the fat man glaring at him, I quickly put the fat man behind me, lest he mess up his plan.

"Actually, I don't mean any harm. If you are an expedition team, I can help you." The man also noticed the fat man's expression, and said with a smile.

"Oh? What can you do for us?"

"It's not me. I have a job and I'm engaged in oil exploration. My nephew can help you. In the past two years, just after the reform and opening up, large and small expedition teams and archaeological teams have all gone to the Xinjiang desert. Not far from the desert, everyone in the village has started a second job as a tour guide to earn extra money. My nephew is proficient in both Uyghur and Chinese languages, and can speak English. He has received many foreign guests. If you go there to explore, Just look for him at the address I wrote, and say that I recommend you to go, and he will definitely give you a discount!" After finishing speaking, he wrote a note and handed it to me, and I looked at the address above, and it was indeed very close to Lop Nur , put it in the pocket.

But when I heard him say that batch after batch of scientific expedition teams had come, my heart suddenly became cold.So many people have gone, what the hell are we going to do? !The fat man and I looked at each other, the fat man shrugged at me, and we went back to the sleeper car together.

I told Professor Wu what the man said. He thought about it and felt that it was necessary to hire a guide, so he agreed, but the condition of the agreement was to deduct the guide fee from our remuneration.This old guy said that he would give us 5000 yuan each when he came back after the good things were done. Now he has started to be stingy, which really annoys the fat man and me, but think about how much money he can have as an old man who is knowledgeable and not a big boss. ?Besides, the guide fee is probably not much money, and with Xiangru at the side comforting us, Fatty and I agreed as soon as our hearts softened, but secretly scolded the old guy for being stingy.

When we got off the train in Urumqi, the man bid farewell to us on the platform, took two steps and shouted at us: "Don't forget! My name is Huo Yaohan, and my nephew's name is Huo Xiaoning. Just go and look for him!" Seeing us smiling and nodding, we left with confidence.

Since there was no direct train from Urumqi there at that time, we chartered a minibus from Urumqi. After more than a day of bumpy rides, we finally arrived at "Kaldayi" in Ruoqiang County in the evening of the next day. Little place that couldn't find the name.

According to the driver, this place is very close to Loulan, and if you go further there, you will find the hinterland of Lop Nur. The business travelers who passed by used to detour to it, and they don’t even want to hear the name "Lop Nur", let alone go in and have a look. .

We got out of the car exhausted and settled down in a local village.

Most of the houses here are repaired and built with ancient techniques. After mixing plant ash with some loess and pouring some water, the low yellow-gray houses in front of us are built.

From Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions until now, this ancient country on the Silk Road has been a place where Uighurs, Hans, and some other ethnic minorities lived together.

This is still the case now, the Uyghur and Han businessmen in twos and threes on the street are still doing the last business before sunset, those who sell big sandy watermelon, those who sell Turpan grapes, those who sell delicious kebabs are still struggling yelling.I was attracted by the Yingjisha knife on an old Uighur stall, so I stepped forward to pick one.

It is said that this knife is extremely sharp, and it can cut iron like mud. Seeing that I was skeptical, the old man picked up a section of pig iron that had already been cut and was full of gaps. There was a deep hole in the pig iron, and I paid the money with satisfaction, and put the knife with a thin and long blade, the handle inlaid with various artificial gemstones, into the leather case, and pinned it to my waist.

I don't even need to go to the fat man, I just know that he is gobbling up at the barbecue stand next to him. I sat down with Xiangru and ate some. It tasted really spicy. I asked Professor Wu and the others to come over and eat some together, only to find that they had already returned to the hotel in.Considering that I will go deep into Lop Nur tomorrow, I don’t know when I will be able to return after this trip, so I hurriedly bought some local Uyghur “nang”, which is something like scones. The "nang" unearthed more than 2000 years ago is still intact.

The fat man ordered a few more bottles of Kazakh spirits, and he was going to have a drink with me. I remembered that I was going to the hinterland of Lop Nur tomorrow. How can I get there after drinking so much?So he hurriedly stopped the fat man and ordered him twenty more skewers of barbecue, which was how he stopped his mouth.

Early the next morning, we went to the village ahead to find his nephew Huo Xiaoning at the address given by the man.

The little boy was only fourteen or fifteen years old, but he talked like he had drunk sesame oil, flattering his beard and coaxing everyone to burst into laughter. It was obvious that Mr. Wu also liked him very much.

Professor Wu felt that there were too many things, so he asked Huo Xiaoning if he could rent some cheaper camels?Huo Xiaoning said that he didn't have a camel, but he could find an old partner with him, and the price could be explained to us, so we agreed and waited for him at the same place.

At the entrance of the village, we looked at the desolate desert in the distance and couldn't stop admiring. Suddenly, I felt someone slapped hard on the back, and a hoarse and trembling voice said: "I can't go, I can't go!"

Everyone and I were taken aback. Looking back, we saw a thin old lady standing there tremblingly with her back bent and a cane made of Populus euphratica, looking at us with a smile that was not a smile.Her shriveled face, wrinkled lips, long silver hair, and sharp bloodshot eyes make us feel very strange.

"What did you just say?" Professor Wu asked first.

"I can't go!"

"Do you know where we are going? Just say we can't go?" Hao Weiguo asked.

"Hey! Hey! I know, you are going to die!" The old man suddenly laughed strangely. This not only made us baffled, but also suspected that she was a lunatic.

"Keep your mouth clean!" Hao Weiguo was usually well-mannered and his hair was combed brightly, but now he probably wanted to show his masculinity in front of the two girls, so he suddenly stepped forward and shouted at the old lady.

I felt something was wrong, so I hurriedly stopped him with Professor Wu, and asked the old lady, "Can you explain it more clearly?"

"Hey! They have been hungry for a long time! They are biting the sun and waiting for you! You must have a full meal tonight! Hey..." The old man's incoherent words made us feel confused. We stood there looking at each other, but he greeted Trembling in the hot desert wind, he walked towards the village.

After a while, Huo Xiaoning led a bearded Uighur uncle and four tall camels behind him.He introduced to us that this uncle is called Maimaiti. He once led two archaeological teams to go deep into Lop Nur and saw them doing archaeological work there. However, this uncle does not speak Chinese very well, so he always works with Huo Xiaoning as a partner.

Maimaiti said to us: "Follow me, I will go wherever I say, otherwise I won't do it."

We thought to ourselves that we are not familiar with this place, so if we don’t follow you, who will we go with?So there was no objection.

Everyone asked them about the situation there. When I asked who the weird old man at the entrance of the village was, Huo Xiaoning frowned, spoke a few words to Maimaiti in Uighur, and then told us : "The old lady lived in the village. A few years ago, her son led a Japanese scientific expedition team, a total of more than a dozen people, to the depths of Lop Nur to search for the ancient country of Loulan, but never came back. Since then, she It became crazy."

(End of this chapter)