Obligations of the elderly

For a small town covered by snow and ice for a third of the year, there is no better means of transportation than a sled.

Although he didn't come to the Palace of Winter Volcanic City very often, he still knew where to look for things. Looking at Marlon Amin and Nilu who were shivering from the cold, he took them into the city to buy some clothes and hot drinks. .

Everyone watched that Gong Si didn't buy those famous big-brand cold-proof clothes, but bought a brand of clothes that they had never heard of.

"The advertisements of those brands are more powerful, and the advertisements are full of hype, but we can't stand it here, and our local brands are better." Gong Si introduced: "The style is a bit simple, but this is called classic. Right?"

"Let's buy these first, we can buy cheaper and warmer ones in our town." Gong Si said.

Taking the clothes tremblingly, Malone and the others quickly put on the clothes, not to mention, don't look at the poor style of these clothes, they really keep warm!At least it was much warmer than their own clothes!

After getting dressed, Malone picked up the hot drink on the table and was about to drink it when he suddenly smelled the smell of alcohol: "Wait--this drink can't be a bar? We're not full, so we can't drink..."

"Is it okay?" Gong Si took a sip by himself and said, "This is our local drink, which is sold in every store, and some people even make it themselves, using local leaves. I drink it since I was a child, drink it for headaches, drink it for toothache, and drink it when it’s cold, it’s quite effective.”

With that said, he took another sip.

Seeing him like this, Malone and the others also started to drink.

After swallowing a big mouthful, Malone's eyes lit up: "It's delicious!"

After speaking, he drank the hot drink in the cup in one gulp.

After drinking it, it was really warmer.

Throwing the beverage bottle into the trash can in the store, Gong Si signaled to his friends to follow quickly, and they were going to rent a sled quickly.

***

There is a street where the whole street is full of sled shops!

Even though it was only early in the morning, the street was already quite lively. The clerks were still sweeping the snow, but when they saw customers coming, they immediately came over with a catalog to welcome them.

"Look at our family's sleds. Our sledges are all handmade! They are still traditional sledges!"

"The design of our home is very good! It refers to the most popular sled styles in major ski resorts—"

"Our family's sled is equipped with the most advanced power unit and runs fast!"

……

……

……

"Wow! I like that flamboyant pink! Shall we rent that sled? We are definitely the most flirtatious in the snow!" Malone took a look at a pink sled machine.

"The color is not important, no, it's also important. You can't use a light-colored sled in the snow. It's better to use an eye-catching color. Although the pink is eye-catching..." Lin Ye flipped through a catalog and frowned. , He let out a breath of white air: "I still prefer to install advanced power plants."

Raising his eyebrows, Gong Si said to them: "I have a recommended shop."

Then, he said to the shop assistants next to him, "Sorry, let's go to Rhubarb's shop first."

Strange to say, as soon as Gong Si mentioned the name of the store, all the clerks stopped selling around them, and smiled at them friendlyly, and the clerks continued to sweep the snow.

Could it be the shop tyrants on this street—they looked at each other, and everyone had the same meaning in their eyes.

After walking forward for about tens of meters, at the end of the street, they finally saw the small shop called "Rhubarb's Shop".

It is really a small shop, at least the signboard is the smallest and the most broken.If they hadn't been paying attention to the signs all the way, it might be a small shop that couldn't be discovered at all. There was no clerk standing at the door, and there were no display sleds hanging in the window.

In short, it doesn't look like a store, it's more like a random small abandoned house on the side of the road, not even a warehouse...

Malone and the others were stunned, but Gong Si whistled forward, and then shouted:

"Rhubarb, come out and show us your guys."

Then they heard a sudden jingling sound from the shop that they thought was empty, accompanied by various barking sounds, and then the door of the shop was knocked open, yes, it was knocked open, The dilapidated door seemed to be even worse after such a bump, but obviously the people inside didn't care.

Well, what rushed out of it was not a person at all, but a group of...

"Dog?!" Malone opened his mouth wide.

They were quickly surrounded by a group of furry dogs, of all colors and sizes. The common thing is that they are all furry, and they are very enthusiastic, flicking their tails. Marlon was tickled by them, and finally couldn't help laughing.

"What's going on?" He smiled and asked the palace beside him.

"This is rhubarb, and it's also the owner of the shop." Gong Si said, pointing to a big dog standing next to him that didn't come over. It was a pale yellow dog, and it seemed particularly stable. It didn’t join in the licking by the guests, it just squatted next to it. Once some dogs wanted to jump up and pounce on them, it would growl, and then the dog would just squat obediently, only daring to wag its tail, not daring to touch it. I dare not lick people even if I pounce.

Hearing Gong Si introduce it, it barked.

"Huh?!" Everyone was stunned.

"Rhubarb and the others are stray dogs in the vicinity. It's too cold here. People in the city are afraid that they will freeze to death, so they vacate this unused house for them. From time to time, someone comes to give them some food. Later, I don’t know who taught them, but I got them a pair of sleds, and they later lived by pulling sleds.”

As Gong Si said, he signaled the others to look behind Rhubarb, there was indeed a pair of sledges there!

The fabled... dog sledding?

This time, not only Malone, but even Lin, who has always been calm and self-possessed, had sparkling eyes.

"It's them! Shall we use their sled?" Pointing at the dogs, Nilu shouted to the palace.

Gong Si nodded, took a ball from the side and gave it a sniff, Da Huang barked twice, Gong Si took out two big bills and gave it to him, Da Huang barked again, and the other dogs immediately stopped making noise. Running near the sled, each dog bit a rope and put it in the hands of Malone and the others.

"This is for us to help tie the rope to them." Gong Si said to Ma Long and the others, smiling: "Boss Rhubarb has accepted our order."

Tie all the ropes to the dogs, and Gong Si sat down on the sled with his friends and their luggage. With the long bark of the leading rhubarb, the sled took off!

It really can only be described as a speed of take-off!The bottom of the sled rubbed against the snow, and the dogs dragged them to run fast!

"Ooooh!" Malone yelled happily from the sleigh.He barks at the dogs, and the sound of people barking in the snow is extremely lively.Malone also pretended to pull the rope on the driver's seat ← Although the dogs obviously ignored him, Malone was still very happy, and ordered Amin to take pictures of him, and vigorously encouraged Nilu to take pictures too, of course The photographer was Emin.

The people in front were bustling, and Lin sat in the last row with Gongsi Xiliu. It was his first time riding a dog sled, and he was also very novel, but he suppressed this novelty carefully.

"By the way, Gong Si, I see that you smelled a round ball to Rhubarb at first, what was that?" Still curious after all, he couldn't help asking Gong Si.

"It's a ball that represents my hometown Lengshui Town. It has the smell of Lengshui Town inside. I don't know the details, but aren't there several balls over there? Each ball has a different name. The name of the town, whichever you smell to Rhubarb means which destination you are going to, and it will give you a price, usually it means a few banknotes." Gong Si said.

"Can they still understand banknotes?" The slender eyes widened slightly.

"I don't understand." Gong Si smiled: "We usually give them 200 dong by default, which is about the same price as renting a sled from other sled shops. Someone once gave them two 10 dong bills, but Rhubarb didn't recognize it. I took the man to the destination, and finally the people in the city found out, followed the clues to find the man, and everyone led someone to beat him up."

After imagining that scene, Lin shivered: "It's very tough, but it deserves a beating."

Then they laughed together.

***

On the way, the dogs rested for a while under the arrangement of Rhubarb.

Qi Qi found a place to pee, and ate some dog food ← Malone realized that they actually knew to bring their own dog food when they went out!Just put it in a big bag at the very back of the sled!

"They will use their own money to go to the pet store to buy dog ​​food. Every dog ​​has a different taste. Rhubarb will buy different types of food every time, trying to meet everyone's needs." Gongsi and the others also stopped to eat ordered something.

After urinating and eating, the dogs were still playing in the snow for a while, but just at this moment, they discovered something strange again:

A group of dogs have all gone to play, and the steady and steady rhubarb has joined the play team. In this case, the motionless hair ball in the middle is particularly eye-catching.

It was Maron who discovered it. He was finally curious. Seeing the hairball nestling on the ground, he thought that the other party was uncomfortable, but he pushed the other party away and saw the other party opened his eyes. Maron was startled!

"This, this is not a dog! It's a cat! Why is there a cat in the dog sled team?!"

Pointy ears, round face, long tail, what is this cat? !

Although the other party is furry and looks about the size of a puppy, if you look closely, the other party is still tied with a sled rope!Who tied it just now, why didn't you see that there was a cat here? !

The palace is still very calm: "It's not surprising, Rhubarb not only takes in stray dogs, but occasionally also takes in stray cats, but no matter whether it's a dog or a cat, people who don't work can't eat, and they all have to pull sleds."

Rummaging in the backpack at the back of the sled, Gong Si found out a small bag of cat food, opened the cat food and put it in front of the cat, the cat quickly stretched itself to eat the food.

"Look, Rhubarb knows how to buy cat food for it, it seems that this cat also pulls sleds." Gong Si said to everyone.

Crowd: ...

The world is so big, full of wonders, cats that can pull sleds...they finally saw it too.

The dogs have had enough rest, the cat has also taken a nap, the rhubarb barks, and the sled "takes off" again in an instant!

They were now on a vast snow field.

The surrounding area was flat and white, the trees on the side of the road were also covered with snow, and the air was cold. The teenagers watched the scenery along the way change constantly, and finally turned into a white snow scene with little ups and downs.

It started snowing again.

Malone took a snowflake with his palm, compared it carefully and said to Gong Si: "You are lying, although the snowflake here is big, how can it be as big as a palm, or even bigger than a palm?"

"You wait!" Gong Si raised her chin at him, but did not continue to speak.

After a while, the wind picked up.

The temperature is also colder.

The dogs were still moving fast, but Malone couldn't bark anymore, and he stopped posing in the front row. He huddled on the sled, wishing he could knead himself, make it smaller, and stuff it under the sled. good.

It is not unusual to see the same snow scene for a long time. Malone is a little tired, because of the cold, he is still a little sleepy, squeezed between Amin and Nilu, he just started to doze off, and suddenly——

His head was hit lightly by something!

Despite his thick hat, Malone was taken aback.

"Something fell? It hit me on the head."

Just as he was asking, Lin suddenly picked up something behind him, his slender eyes widened to the maximum, and Lin said with a look of surprise: "A snowflake bigger than, bigger than a slap?!"

It was this thing that hit Maron just now, but the snowflake that hit Maron shattered the moment it hit him, and he received the snowflake in his hand later.

Everyone looked at the thing on the scale's palm——

A snow-white piece, like the shape of a human slap, is a full circle larger than a hand wearing a thick glove. This...is it really a snowflake that is bigger than a slap? !

Malone's mouth opened into an "o" again.

Taking the snowflake from Lin's hand, he put it in his hand and compared it: "It's as big as my hand!"

Just as he was talking, another huge snowflake fell from the top of his head, and he caught it quickly with sharp eyes: ho!Another huge snowflake, bigger than the one in his hand!It's as big as Emin's slap!

Although large, these snowflakes are very thin. If you look carefully, there are veins like veins on one side of the leaves.

At this time, Gong Si spoke again: "It's the snow that fell on the leaves of the slap tree, and when the wind blows it down, it becomes a palm-sized snowflake, still in the shape of a slap."

Gong Si said while pointing his fingers upwards at the same time, and then everyone noticed the trees by the roadside.

There was actually this kind of tree along the way. It was very tall and covered with snow and turned into a snow-white tree. They hadn't looked carefully before, but now they saw that the crown of this tree was very large, and if they saw it right , They still have leaves now? !

Nodding, Gong Si continued: "This is a unique tree species here. Even in such a cold weather, it will not lose its leaves. Their canopy is very large and lush. In addition, the leaves are very large. You can Catch the falling snow, if there is a row of these trees, the snow will be much less on that part of the road."

"Of course it's not because the snow is smaller, but because the snow is caught by the leaves, it looks smaller, and it hinders people's vision less."

Gong Si said, pointing to the rhubarb and the others who were pulling the sled ahead: "The rhubarb and the others have been walking under this kind of tree along the way, in order to be afraid of sudden snowfall. With this kind of tree, it is much safer to walk in snowy weather. For people, and for animals."

"The drink we just drank was made from the branches of the slap tree. They have a low ignition point and are easy to catch fire. The sap has high sugar content and can satisfy hunger. It is a very good tree."

"However, the disadvantage is that when there is a strong wind, the snow on the leaves will be blown off, and the palm-sized snowflakes hitting people is a bit scary, but fortunately, it won't hurt too much." After finishing speaking, Gong Si took out a cloth bag and opened it. Cloth bag, he scattered the contents along the way.

Others have seen this cloth bag before, and even had it. It was placed on the side of the platform when they left the platform. There was no written description. When they saw Gongsi took one, they each took one. Now Just remembered to ask what this is.

Nilu unwrapped his small cloth bag, revealing the melon seeds inside, like melon seeds, but much bigger and harder than melon seeds.

"This is the species of the slap tree. We collect some at various stations every year. When we locals see it, we will take a bag and sow some seeds when we are on the road. Maybe there will be surviving seeds that will grow into new slap trees next year. "Gong Si said as he scattered the seeds in his pocket.

Hearing this, other people also opened their pockets one after another, and instead of spreading together, they sprinkled one by one for a while until all the tree seeds were sprinkled.

"I don't know if we will plant any new saplings in the coming year?" Looking at the place where they sprinkled the seeds behind the sled, Xingyun spoke.

"There will always be one or two trees we planted." Gong Si firmly said.

Everyone laughed together again.

Amidst the sound of wind, snow, occasional dog barking mixed with a cat meowing, and the voices of friends asking questions to the palace, the sky began to get dark, but fortunately, rhubarb and the others were strong, and when night fell, they finally arrived at Lengshui Town, running all the way along the familiar path, Gong Si returned to his familiar home again.

Hang out with new friends.

Opening the gate, he lit up the lights in front of his house again, and then inside the house. Seeing his lights becoming a member of the "lighthouse" in the town again, Gong Si's eyes were a little moist.

However, he blinked quickly to get rid of the wetness.

Turning his head, he hit the stream head-on.

While the others were still looking at Gongsi's house, Xiliu had already come in to help.

Looking at the palace with smiling eyes, Xiliu said softly: "We're going home. Although it's not time for retirement, it's not bad to come back during the holidays."

Looking at him quietly, Gong Si grinned.

"Hmm." He responded softly.