Scarlet Romance

Chapter 27 Epilogue
one of the emails from west
Xiao Gao:

I am in Altay, Xinjiang, and the journey is relatively smooth. I have had 3 tire blowouts, but I repaired them all.I drove westward along National Highway 216 from Karamay. I ran for several hours along the way, and the desolate Gobi desert made me feel that I was going to a place that I could never reach.When the car arrived at Chakutu, we saw a small oasis. The most beautiful section of the Ulungu River meanders through it. The riverside is overgrown with shrubs and the twilight is everywhere. Only then can you feel a little bit of Altay.

About 216 kilometers north of Chakutu Town on National Highway 100, I turned right at the fork there and entered Qinghe territory.The Sandaohaizi there is full of styles. The quiet forests and pastures are mottled and shimmering in the magnificent sunset. On the green alpine pastures, there are groups of cattle, sheep and horses, which makes people feel that the ancient nomadic life has continued until now. .In the depths of the silent mountains, the deserted and abandoned Genghis Khan Avenue is still majestic, and it seems that it is still extending in history, and the history that is close by can only be seen from a distance, and cannot be approached.

I left Qinghe, drove westward into Fuyun, and entered Hualin Park in Keketuohai, from where the famous Irtysh River started, with a blue and moving color, and flowed north through Altay without looking back.The valleys on both banks are quiet and dark, with luxuriant forests and bright wild flowers, creating a European scenery. In autumn, the forests are even more colorful and colorful.After leaving Fuyun County, heading west, you enter Fuhai territory. The beautiful Ulungu Lake leans over and lies quietly on the Altay grassland.The lake surface of Ulungu Lake is open, and various water birds such as swans, cranes, wild ducks, and seagulls fly in groups over the islands in the center of the lake.In the evening, the surrounding scenery is picturesque, and the exotic style is even more charming.I soaked in the hot springs in Alxa for two hours, and fell asleep, almost choked to death by the water.

Kanas is an unpolluted natural primitive ecological land, a verdant and rich plant kingdom, and an animal paradise where all things thrive.Kanas Lake is clear and blue, and it is a spiritual body of water.On the south bank of Kanas, Mongolian Tuva people live together in Tuva Village. It is said that they are the direct descendants of Genghis Khan and have lived in Kanas for hundreds of years.

I stayed in the Altay region for 5 days, traveled all over the White Lake, Qianhu, Mingsha Mountain, and also visited the colorful river bank of Aktubek, Kuxugen Rock Painting, Mirror Spring, Red Birch Forest, Qidharen Microlithic Site , Dogarte Rock Paintings, Ulast River Valley... In the distant Altay, the beautiful scenery is always page after page, and it is a hasty and hasty travel.No matter how sloppy the people who come here are, how quickly they walk this road, there will always be something in their hearts that will make you recall some scattered pictures on the way in your infinite reverie.Altay is far away, not only geographically, but also in time and space. It retains ancient information and refuses to be disturbed by the hustle and bustle of the world. I don’t know how many years this tranquility and simplicity can last. Because I have met many tourists on the road, and I also met two poachers with shotguns in the birch forest in Keketuohai. What made me angry was that these two bastards looked like rats, But the shotgun in his hand was a Remington, which was a damn good gun.It seems that if things go on like this for a few years, this last piece of pure land will be destroyed in the hands of these bastards.

My laptop is running out of battery, I have to find a place to charge it, so I will stop writing here, please save these words on a floppy disk, I will continue to write, and I will be able to make up this collection of essays in the future Why do some people's prose collections sell so expensively in Luoyang and make a lot of money?The real master of prose has not yet emerged.

Email from the West II

Xiao Gao:

I rested in Kuitun City for two days, and then drove to the northwest at a speed of 110 kilometers per hour.Those black Gobi, brown-yellow mountain folds, white snow-capped mountains, green forests, and turbulent rivers pass by the car window, just like an illusory dream, when an undercurrent of life creeps quietly Come to my heart—this is the Ili River Valley in central Asia, which is famous for its vastness and richness. Its sloping grasslands and hardy firs tell us that this is an unusual place on the dry continent.

The beautiful Gongnais River is the cradle of the most famous grassland in the Yili River Valley - the Gongnais Prairie. This river feeds the vast grassland in a unique way.Everything in it, water and shore, fog and waves, seems to be born for the grassland. It not only stretches out to every piece of green sea with soft and stretched limbs, but also caresses every tree in the depths of the grassland with palm-like river branches. Small grass, that small tidal lake also formed a natural reservoir, dyeing the grass green...

Guozigou, which is famous for its wild apples, is the first channel from the Junggar Basin to cross the Tianshan Mountains and enter the Ili River Valley. The total length is 70 kilometers, with gorgeous summer flowers and dangerous mountain roads. .Every year in late summer and early autumn, you can see different scenery throughout the year here.

The never-fading topic in all the texts about Yili is the beautiful Nalati.There is the ancient Tianshan tunnel, and there are thousands of Sai people's tombs along the way, implying how lonely and frequent the ancient grassland people used to travel to and from this famous passage.The Dubu grassland has a clear and wide view due to the large-scale slope of the terrain.When you overlook the interlaced rivers and continuous forests from a high place, you will think that if it does not contain the deepest and sad soul, this grassland will never have such a rich and charming color.The wooden houses, yurts, thatched sheds, and sheep pens here... seem to be deliberately lowering their breath, waiting for the ups and downs of the grassland, panting lightly, and all the human-made traces faded unconsciously after painting the grassland , follow the melody of Nalati and enter the eternal harmony.

This is the elegance and romance of the West.

Email from the west ter

Xiao Gao:

The driving trip in the western Tianshan Mountains is very pleasant. I have crossed the southern Tianshan Mountains and entered the Tarim Basin. I stayed in Korla City for one night and arrived at Luntai at noon the next day.The first time I knew about the ancient city of Luntai was through memorizing Tang poems in my youth. There is a line in "Bai Xue Song Sending Judge Wu Back to Beijing" written by the frontier poet Cen Shen: "The east gate of Luntai sent you there, and the Tianshan Road was covered with snow when I went there. "The Luntai mentioned in the poem is here, but the ancient city of Luntai has been buried in the Taklamakan Desert, and the history of the current Luntai City is not long. Obviously, this is not the Luntai City I am looking for.

Thankfully, I found on a tourist map that the Guluntai city ruins are only less than 30 kilometers away from the desert road in a straight line. This surprised me and decided to take a look.I asked around in the city, wanting to spend money to hire a guide, but the result is that there are quite a few people who want to make money, but no one knows the way, and most of them have never even heard of the ancient Luntai city in the desert. .

I couldn't find a guide, so I had to go on the road alone.I bought two boxes of mineral water and two barrels of spare gasoline, and drove the Cherokee into the desert without hesitation.I thought there were only bare sand dunes in the desert, but it was not, and the terrain here was much more complicated than I thought.

I headed southwest along an unknown old river channel, observing the direction with a compass from time to time. The speed of the car was only 20 kilometers per hour. Here, deserts and deserts intersect. Carefully bypass the sparse red willow sandbags and dead Populus euphratica forests on the valley platform.What is worth mentioning is the dead Populus euphratica forest in the desert. The dead Populus euphratica trees swayed here and there, and their branches stretched out their teeth and claws to stab the sky. I felt a strong breath of death, and the tragic effect was shocking for a long time.

I don’t know whether it’s because the map is inaccurate or because the terrain is too complicated. The straight line on the map is less than 30 kilometers away. I drove for more than 6 hours. The odometer shows that I have driven 150 kilometers, but I haven’t found it yet. Traces of the ancient city of Luntai.By the way, I have gained experience driving in the desert, originally I thought that all dunes are soft, and the desert travelers in the common movies are trudging, and every foot is deep in the quicksand.In fact, I found that there are two types of sand dunes. Except for the soft ones, most of the sand dunes are relatively hard, but there is about 1 cm thick floating sand on the surface, and it is not difficult to walk on them.I heard from a geologist in the Tarim Oilfield that many of the topographic maps of the desert they used were drawn in the 20s. For decades, most of the sand dunes have maintained their original appearance.

When I almost gave up on this operation, the ruins of Guluntai City appeared. Its appearance was similar to what I had imagined. In the bloody setting sun, the ruins of the ancient city were half hidden in front of me.The site is a square city, covering an area of ​​more than 10 square meters. The east and west walls are vaguely discernible, the streets in the city are well-defined, the boundaries of government offices and private houses are clear, and a river passes through the city.Looking up at the old city, the walls are broken and crumbling.There are still a few well-preserved houses in the city, but without the roof, there are still tall doors, pillars, and vermilion lacquered beams, showing the luxury of the year.There is also a courtyard where the pillars of the house are twisted and slanted, and the poplar wood gate is still half-closed and half-opened, as if the owner has just left the house and will come back in a while, which makes people feel horrified.The ruins of Guluntai City are not as famous as the ancient cities of Loulan, Jiaohe, and Niya. Because they are closer to the edge of the desert, they are not like Loulan and other ancient cities in the hinterland of the desert. It is unknown, and it is said that its archaeological value is not too great.

I sat silently for two hours on an earthen platform overlooking the ancient city. At this time, the sunset was brilliant and the whole ancient city was bathed in blood. Surrounded by death-like silence, in this eternal silence, I seem to have some kind of insight...

Gao Yue was very angry with Zhong Yuemin's behavior. This guy has been away for more than two months. At the beginning, he called back a few times and sent a few emails, claiming that he would publish a collection of essays when he came back. From this emerges a prose master.In his last phone call, he said that he was about to enter Qinghai from Xinjiang and go to the Kunlun Mountains. He expected that his mobile phone would lose its function in the Gobi desert area. He asked Gao Yue not to worry, and he would call at an appropriate time to inform him of his situation. whereabouts.After the call was made, the guy disappeared and seemed to have turned into a wisp of water vapor, evaporating in the Gobi Desert in the west.Originally, Gao Yue had a natural attitude towards this kind of inhuman behavior. She knew what Zhong Yuemin was from the day she met Zhong Yuemin, and she was able to get together with him. She already had enough of his behavior. Mentally prepared, as long as nothing happens to this guy, just let him go.But Zhong Yuemin did a little too much this time. He has not moved for more than a month.
Zhong Yuemin finally called back, his voice in the microphone was very low, as if it came from a very distant space: "Gao Yue, I'm Zhong Yuemin."

"You still remember me? Thank God, you finally remembered to call back. Zhong Yuemin, you really moved me. Where are you now?" Gao Yue asked holding back his breath.

"Hey, fuck, it's hard to say. I met a group of Hoh Xil anti-poaching team members in Qinghai. They just had a shootout with poachers. One team member was seriously injured. I chatted with them all night, and I think these guys are pretty good. It’s easy. I have been dealing with poachers in the wilderness for many years. The funds are insufficient, the salary is extremely low, and my life is always in danger. It is said that there are many sharpshooters among the poachers, some of whom were demobilized from the army, and started a gun battle Come on, the anti-poaching team often suffers. I couldn’t sit still when I heard it. Hoh Xil is so lively. Why did it sound like a story in a western movie? So I decided to join the anti-poaching team as a volunteer. I also demonstrated my marksmanship to them, and the captain showed great enthusiasm at that time and approved me to join the anti-poaching team. This way of life is very suitable for me. In a vast wasteland, I and a bunch of rough The man carried an automatic rifle, drove around in a jeep, and had a shootout with poachers from time to time. It was such an exciting day..."

Gao Yue said in a crying voice: "Yuemin, you only care about having fun, what should I do? I don't want to hinder your lifestyle, but I am a woman, and I miss you, what should I do?"

"I haven't finished yet, can you listen first? As soon as I joined the patrol, I found a group of poachers. These bastards did too much. Four people killed more than 4 Tibetan antelopes. They put The skin of the Tibetan antelope was peeled off, and the corpses were thrown in the wilderness. The corpses were strewn all over the field. It was a horrible sight. For a little money, it hurts the world like this. It's really fucking... well, let's not talk, let me tell you something serious , I'm out of money, can you send me some money? We're on a tight budget here, and I'm a guy with a Cherokee, it's the best car we have here, but the Cherokee isn't what it looks like now Yes, I was lying down yesterday, and we have no money to repair it. Brothers usually live a very hard life. The little money I brought was used to buy food. Now I only have 600 cents in my pocket. I am on the edge of Hoh Xil. I called you from a small town, look..."

Gao Yue's tears finally flowed down: "You tramp, let me tell you what's good about you? Listening to your words is weak, are you already starving? Yuemin, hold on, I'm going to fly tomorrow Go to Xining, I will rush to you as quickly as possible, you wait for me..."

The first draft was completed on August 2002, 8

(End of this chapter)