Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 157 Desolate Road
Long Zongshu is simply an excellent guide.

He is usually silent, introverted and gloomy in class, but now he is guiding Ran Qing and Mo Li with clear thoughts and extreme care.

He also prepared many things that Ran Qing had not expected in advance and dragged a large bag over.

Because there were so many things to prepare, the three of them finally divided the work, divided it into three large bags, and rode their bikes out of Yuezhao before dawn.

Two motorcycles were driving on the road. After leaving Yuezhao City, the concrete road immediately turned into a bumpy dirt road.

Huaga is very far away from Yuezhao, more than 100 kilometers away, and the entire journey is through the steep and dangerous Wumeng Mountains, walking on the rugged loess roads in the countryside.

Ran Qing and his companions rode out of the city facing the rising sun and arrived at the Beipanjiang Gorge around noon.

Once here, the mountain road becomes even more dangerous.

The narrow road is only wide enough for one tractor to pass through. There are rugged stone cliffs on the right side of the road and a vertical cliff on the left side.

Looking down from a high vantage point, the winding mountains lie on their sides like giants in the deep valley, and at the bottom of the valley is a rushing river.

At this point, even the brave Mo Li subconsciously drove the motorcycle to the inside of the road and slowed down.

If you accidentally fall down, you might not even be able to find your entire body.

Two motorcycles were driving one after the other on the dirt road, and from time to time, villagers from nearby villages could be seen wearing colorful batik clothes.

This is already a settlement of ethnic minorities, and the dark-skinned villagers looked at the three young men on motorcycles with curiosity.

They walked down the steep and winding mountain road from the top of the mountain, passed through a village called Ertaipo, and arrived at a deep valley.

The air in the valley was hot, and moist vapor was rising in the air on both sides of the rushing river.

The villagers here do not grow corn that can be seen everywhere in Qiangke. Instead, the piled up land on both sides of the valley is planted with green Huangguoshu trees, orange trees, and sugarcane.

Long Zongshu parked the car by the Beipan River and began to search in the bag tied to the seat.

Ran Qing was a little curious: "Are we there yet?"

Long Zongshu shoveled out the military equipment and gave Ran Qing a long butcher knife and a can of chili powder.

"It's still two hours away, but after crossing the bridge ahead, it's the only way to Hongguo County."

"There are often highway robberies along this stretch of road. Although I shouldn't be that unlucky in the middle of the day, I still need to prepare my things first."

"If you see branches or rocks blocking the road later, don't hesitate, just rush over."

"If the roadblock is too high to rush over, we will turn around immediately."

Long Zongshu said, "I'll ride in front, and you guys follow behind me."

"My grandmother lives in the village above. I've been here many times and am familiar with the road conditions. I'll lead the way."

Long Zongshu said: "If you are stopped, just sprinkle the chili powder. We brought girls with us, so we can't talk to the robbers."

Long Zongshu looked serious.

If a beautiful girl like Mo Li ran into a group of robbers on the road in the wilderness, there was no guarantee that they would not have evil thoughts...

Soon, the three of them were on the road again.

This time, it was Long Zongshu who led the way. Mo Li slowed down the car and followed behind the tall and thin Long Zongshu.

In the midday sun, Long Zongshu, carrying a sharp military shovel and holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, looked a little nervous.

After crossing the bridge over the Beipan River, they faced a steep, almost straight mountain.

This tall and majestic mountain has a vertical height of probably thousands of meters, like a huge city wall stretching across the river.

The steep dirt road climbs from the left side of the foot of the mountain and continues to the right side of the mountain halfway up the mountain, where it turns and forms a sharp angle, then extends to the left peak of the mountain. Despite the huge height difference, this mountain road is very straight.

Ran Qing sat behind Mo Li, looking at the almost deserted mountain without any houses or buildings, and vaguely guessed why there were robbers blocking the road ahead.

This mountain is so desolate, with no villages ahead or behind. Long Zongshu said that from here, it's nearly an hour's journey of uninhabited wilderness.

This is an important highway leading to Hongguo, a major coal-mining county. There are many heavy ruts on the road, and occasionally you can see trucks loaded with coal passing by.

In this era of per capita poverty and material scarcity, truck drivers are definitely a wealthy group...

Ran Qing was a little nervous.

The Yin-walker's ability is not very good at dealing with living things.

The key is that some robbers will carry guns.

Even if it's just the cheapest shotgun...

Amidst worry and anxiety, they climbed up the straight mountain road to the top of this huge peak.

After crossing the peak, the road becomes much flatter.

Deep ruts appeared on the road from time to time, and from time to time you could see some scattered coal fragments falling in the middle of the dirt road.

Long Zongshu, who was riding in the front, kept looking around nervously.

But in the end, they drove safely into a town and returned to human society.

The journey was smooth and we didn't encounter any robbers.

Long Zongshu said thankfully: "Great, this way we can reach Tianmen Village before 2 pm."

Although they were extremely hungry, the three did not stay in the town.

The town was deserted on a non-market day, with almost all the doors along the road closed. Only one or two houses had glass cases set up in their cement courtyards, likely selling jelly.

"My cousin's house is just up ahead. Let's go there for dinner," Long Zongshu said. "We'll be there in an hour at most."

In the last hour of the journey, the terrain became much flatter.

It was not until they arrived near Long Zongshu's cousin's house that the mountain gradually became steep and dangerous.

Tianmen Village was not far from the main road. The three men drove their motorcycle off the road and parked it in the woods beside the road.

Then we got off the bus and walked, carrying our heavy bags, and walked for another half an hour on the mountain road before we arrived at the Tianmen Village that Long Zongshu mentioned.

This was clearly an ethnic minority village, with the villagers all wearing elaborate robes. At the entrance stood a large banyan tree, so large that it took more than a dozen people to hug it. Three people, sweating profusely from carrying their backpacks, stopped beneath the tree to catch their breath.

The afternoon sun was strong, and many villagers were sitting in the shade of the big banyan tree to cool off.

They looked at Ran Qing and the other two curiously, and several young men came over.

"I'm looking for my brother Long Zongyuan," Long Zongshu spoke first.

When the villagers heard the name of Long Zongshu's cousin, their attitudes suddenly became enthusiastic.

They hurried forward to help the three people take off their bags and offered to help them carry their things inside.

Long Zongshu quickly refused and said, "It's okay, it's okay. Just leave it here. We need to carry it out later."

The three people's bags were thrown directly under the big banyan tree. Several young and strong men led the way and took the three people into the village.

Soon they arrived at the door of Long Zongshu's cousin's house.

(End of this chapter)