Song Yin in the last days

Fengxia Ridge sounds beautiful, but it was only when I stood on the ridge that I realized that the west side of Fengxia Ridge is an endless desert, and the east of Lingxia Ridge is a bit better than the desert. It is a rolling desert area with some low bushes. It grows sparsely in severely desertified mountainous areas.

"In the past, there were maple trees all over the mountains on both sides of the mountains. It was very beautiful in autumn. I remember that there were several villages on the mountain, and every household opened farmhouses. In summer, many people came up to escape the heat. In autumn, the roads were full of cars. They all went up the mountain to see the red leaves. ..." Zhou Nan's eyes were a little moist.

Song Yin nodded. He had been to this place before: "From here to the west, through the maple forest, there is a prairie..." The end of the prairie is the desert.

Now the maple forests and grasslands are gone.

Li Xia felt very strange: "Even if it doesn't rain and kills all the maple trees, where are those trees? Why can't I see any of them?"

"Burn." It was Zhu Xiao who answered, feeling that he didn't understand clearly, so he added a few words, "Eight years ago."

Everyone was silent—the weather was too hot and dry, and the ground was full of dead trees. A little spark could start a wildfire.

A moment later, a martial artist behind Song Yin said weakly, "What should we do now?"

Although they didn't explain it before, the group of more than a dozen monks came to Fengxia Ridge through a thousand miles of no-man's land, certainly not to see the desert... right?

It was Zhou Nan who answered him.

Zhou Nan pointed to the desert in Lingdong: "There are still people living in it, we must find a way to sneak in."

-

Gu Yu moved the plastic jug away from the well. He had already filled two jugs of water, and this week's supply was used up, and he would have to spend money to buy any more, but the family had no money, not a single penny.

Put the water tank on both ends of the pole, carry the water to the front of the thatched shed at the intersection, and hand over two "water tickets" to the middle-aged woman in the shed. The woman sat still and looked at the dead fish. Not even bothering to speak, just waved his hands, Gu Yu put the water ticket into the plastic bucket next to him without making a sound, and then set out on the road with the water in his hand.

There are dozens of people queuing on the side of the road, all wrapped in black robes, only showing a pair of cloudy and numb eyes, every few minutes the whole line moves forward, no one speaks or even hears What breathing sound, everyone was silent, like a group of black-robed zombies under the scorching sun.

Gu Yu felt that she was also a zombie. The temperature was close to fifty degrees, but her body wrapped in a black robe didn't sweat much. The weather was too hot and dry, and the sweat evaporated before it broke out.But he was extremely tired. He got up at 06:30 a.m. for the two jars of water, and the well didn’t open until 04:30. But when he arrived at [-]:[-], there were dozens of people in line, and it was almost [-] o’clock when it was his turn to fetch water. It's o'clock.

But it's okay, I can rush home at noon, avoid the hottest time in the afternoon, and I don't need to fetch water for the next week.It’s already the end of September, and it’s going to snow in a month. It’s fine if it snows, and I don’t have to go out to fetch water for half a year...

Gu Yu kept comforting himself along the way. He was only 15 years old, and he was not considered strong. To walk home under the scorching sun with a 120-jin load for an hour and a half was a double test of his body and will.And this kind of test has to go through once a week, sometimes he is so tired, thirsty and tired, he wants to just hold the water bottle and drink enough and then die on the side of the road...

But no, not even death. If he died, what would mother do?What about Little Bell?

Little Bell is a sand beast, and all the families in this desert make a living by raising sand beasts.Every October, everyone will take the sand beasts to Mingcheng. One is to breed the mother beasts, so that there will be cubs in the next spring; Two hundred to three hundred big money, one big money buys a catty of miscellaneous grains, and most families will raise two to three heads, plus the prickly pears they grow at home, which can barely fill the stomach of the whole family.

In October last year, my father had an accident in Mingcheng and never came back. The female beast was brought back with the help of a kind neighbor.This year's family was unlucky. The mother beast only gave birth to a cub, which was Little Bell. Gu Yu took care of her for three months like a baby, and she developed a relationship with her. She really didn't want to send it away... But, the family There is no money, no big money or small money. Now my mother is worried every day. There is only one sand beast. Even if I can get [-] big money, but [-] catties of miscellaneous grains will take a year. Will it survive next year?

Thinking of the little bell, Gu Yu felt sore in his heart, don't think he didn't know, he had overheard his parents' speech, and knew that the sand beasts were sent there to feed those divine beasts, so smart and cute little bell, how did they get it? go hand in hand?If it wasn't for her mother, Gu Yu would have wanted to run away with Little Bell...

Maybe Master Shenshi fell in love with the little bell when he saw it, and he will treat it well? !

After all, he was still young, Gu Yu quickly became optimistic, shook his already groggy head, put down the water pot and sat down in the shadow of a cactus by the roadside, he had already walked two-thirds of the distance, and there was still half an hour to go. When he got home, he was going to rest for a few minutes to replenish some water, and then he took the water home in one go.

Just then, he heard a low voice behind him.

Where Gu Yu is sitting now, there is a field of cactus behind him, the tall ones are over three meters high, and the short ones are seventy or eighty centimeters. A large area is intertwined and intertwined. From his position, you can see everything except the deep and shallow yellow-green. No, it's too easy to hide someone.

Gu Yu suddenly became nervous.

The desert is not safe. There are sand wolves, sand snakes, and all kinds of strange and terrible insects. I heard that God sent adults to bless their poles and water pots, so they can live in the desert. walk.But the blessings of God’s Envoy do not include humans. Humans are sometimes more terrifying than sand snakes and sand wolves. It is not uncommon to kill people for two cans of water in the desert, especially in the early years. Fortunately, the murderer was quickly caught. , the nearby area was settled down.

Gu Yu quietly took off the hanging sleeve of the water tank, and stood up holding the pole tightly.There was another sound coming from behind the cactus, it was very light and fragile, but it couldn't match Gu Yu's ears. These ears stayed with him in the desert for eight years, and they could distinguish the sound of wind from the sound of sand snakes gliding or sand. The sound of insects crawling, not to mention that there is no wind at all.

Gu Yu regretted it very much at the moment, he has never been strong, if someone really came to grab water, he would definitely not be able to beat him, he should have come here with Brother Daming and the others the day before yesterday, and shouldn't have dragged on until now just to save water tickets.But then he became optimistic again. Everyone knew that the angels knew everything, and if they did something bad, they would definitely be punished by the gods. Who would have the courage to do so? ...

It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay!

No matter how much he cheered himself up, Gu Yu walked around the cactus step by step in fear, trying not to make any noise, and then he met a pair of eyes that were more frightened than himself.

The owner of the eyes is a child, who looks to be in his early teens, wrapped in a black shirt of an adult, very dirty, the clothes are dirty, the face is dirty, the hands are also dirty, from head to toe there seems to be nowhere to be found clean place.The child sprawled on the ground, trying to hide himself in the shadow of the cactus, looking at him now in terror as if he were an ogre.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Gu Yu looked at the child, not as scared as before, but still vigilant.

The child looked at him and the shoulder pole in his hand, without saying a word, just staring wide-eyed.

Gu Yu was still thinking that the kid might be dumb, but suddenly she yelled, turned around and immediately ran back: His water!

Going around the cactus, Gu Yu only saw the backs of two people, one tall and the other short, running away with a water tank in their arms. Before he had time to think about it, Gu Yu immediately chased after them—that was him, his mother, and Little Bell for a week. The living water in the house, the water stored in the house will be used up tonight, without these two tanks of water, they will not survive for three days!

Gu Yu exerted the greatest strength in his life, and soon there were stars in his eyes, feeling that his entire lung was about to be torn apart, but the figure in front of him was getting farther and farther away, and his mind was dizzy. Thumping, the whole person fell on the sand... After a while, Gu Yu grabbed a handful of sand and cried silently.

The sun is getting stronger and stronger, the ground is getting hotter and hotter, and the black robe on Gu Yu's body seems to be on fire, but Gu Yu doesn't care anymore, for a moment, he thinks it's good to just die like this, so he doesn't have to suffer from hunger , no need to collect every drop of rainwater, no need to go out to move ice in winter, no need to worry about little bell losing his temper if he has no water to drink...

Thinking of the little bell, and then thinking of his mother, Gu Yu seemed to have used up the last bit of strength in his body to get up from the hot mud and sand, picked up the pole beside him, stood up straight, and then, he saw the child again ——The child stood in the shadow of a cactus not far away, looking at him stupidly.

With a sound of "snap", the string called "reason" in Gu Yu's brain was broken. He couldn't think about anything, he couldn't think about anything. Crying, shouting: "Why? Why did you kill me?...Why? What kind of enmity do I have with you...You give me back my water. Give me back my water!"

The boy squatted on the ground with his head in his arms, and let him beat and scold him without saying a word.

After beating for a while, Gu Yu's mind was in chaos and he felt powerless, so he finally stopped, hugging his head and squatting on the ground, crying loudly.

The boy didn't let go of his hand covering his head until then, and looked at Gu Yu in a daze, and after a while, he whispered, "Brother, I'm sorry."