Tropical Highway

After stopping at Nagqu Station, there was only the last distance left to Lhasa, and the rainbow at dawn had become a thing of the past. You Zhen got out of the car with a yawn, smoked a cigarette to refresh himself, and then bought something to eat.

Holding two bowls of yogurt and getting back into the car, it was bustling, and You Zhen approached with doubts, without saying a word first.

There are a total of six bunks on both sides of the cubicle, except for Zhai Lan's upper bunk, which was always empty. The three people next door have been mingling since Lanzhou, chatting, playing poker, sharing snacks, and establishing a revolutionary friendship on the way.But seeing that his poker addiction had been aroused, and last night, the man with glasses got off the car in Golmud one step ahead.

The young students and the uncle didn't see You Zhen, and saw that Zhai Lan's face had softened after a night's rest, so they hurriedly encouraged him to join the game and continue the great cause of fighting the landlord.

"It's very simple!" The young man persuaded him with all his strength, "Let's teach you a few rounds first, we'll do it!"

The uncle also chimed in: "That's right, those who don't spend money just want to have fun, pass the time!"

"Oh my brother, please help me, if it's really impossible, I'll help you look at the cards and you make up the number..."

"Young man, you have to have dinner when you arrive in Lhasa. You have a few hours left, isn't it boring? Let's play and chat, hey, help each other when you go out—"

Zhai Lan looked introverted, whether it's true that no one is allowed in, she couldn't help the two of them bombarding her one after another, so she had to go back to the lower bunk from the window, and picked up the poker.

The uncle commanded: "You sit at the end of that handsome guy's bed, hey, it's okay!"

You Zhen walked over at this time.

Eye contact, Zhai Lan quickly stood up, You Zhen signaled that it's okay: "Sit down, what are you doing? Playing cards?"

"I won't fight."

Zhai Lan's tone was quite normal, falling into You Zhen's ears, somehow there was a bit of grievance and helplessness.He let Zhai Lan go inside, slept for one night, sat on the quilt, and then sat on the outside by himself.

The uncle has already started to shuffle the cards, and the young man is eager to try: "It's okay, just learn if you don't know it, it's really easy!"

"I'll help you watch." You Zhen also said.

Zhai Lan's eyes lit up, as if she suddenly found a sense of security: "Oh, that's fine."

The uncle should be an experienced poker player. When shuffling the cards, he briefly introduced to Zhai Lan the rules of their game of Fighting the Landlord.You Zhen paid attention to Zhai Lan's expression, frowning slightly, as if he was doing a problem so seriously, and he was still chanting words like he was endorsing a book, he couldn't help laughing, opened a box of yak yogurt and started to eat on his own.

"...This is considered a victory, do you understand?" After finishing speaking, the uncle looked at Zhai Lan eagerly.

The boy was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Understood."

"Young man is a quick learner," the uncle felt relieved, "Come on, let's play two rounds first, you try the water."

In the first round, Zhai Lan quickly lost everything, and the young people in his team beat their chests and stomped their feet, their faces were ugly, and it took the boss's strength to resist not attacking on the spot.

But the expression of the culprit was indifferent, from the tense back to the slight chest, the sitting posture began to relax.

In the second round, Zhai Lan still took the farmer card, but the speed of playing cards slowed down significantly.You Zhen ate half of the yogurt, and felt that the situation was different from what he had expected. Zhai Lan focused his eyes and pursed his lips. It wasn't a nervous micro-expression but closer to his subconscious movements when he was concentrating.

You Zhen probed his head, glanced at the cards in Zhai Lan's hand, and couldn't help raising his eyebrows: "Yo."

Hearing the sound, the boy turned to him, the corners of his eyes drooped calmly, as if he was laughing, then turned his head and touched another card.

He really doesn't know how to play, and even the movement of catching poker is too clumsy, holding it with two hands, there are more cards than the two people in front of him can see.After confirming the new suit, Zhai Lan let go of her lips that had been pursed all along, but her brows furrowed even deeper.

In stark contrast to his calmness was the young college student, dancing and almost predicting the victory in advance: "Hey, with this set, I'm sure I'll win!"

Throwing a single straight, 8 to K, he felt overjoyed with the last two cards in his hand.

"Hey! I'm sorry!" The uncle frowned.

Zhai Lan: "9, 10, J, Q, K, A."

Young man: "Huh?"

Zhai Lan: "Three belts and one."

young people:"……"

Zhai Lan: "3, 4, 5, 6, 7."

Young: "Hey, brother—"

Zhai Lan is still playing cards.

Four in a row, three cards of the same number, and now he still has the last card in his hand.

Zhai Lan: "Single 7, I won."

The young man looked at Zhai Lan's pile of cards on the table in disbelief, then looked at the two pairs of fives left in his hand, opened his mouth, and couldn't say anything except "Damn it".

The uncle was also dumbfounded: "I'll go, young man, you are waiting for him here..."

"Awesome." You Zhen said with emotion, "Shall I come to play too?"

Without losing the opportunity to push the remaining box of yogurt, You Zhen tore open the package smoothly, and stuffed the spoon and wet tissue to Zhai Lan.With the gesture of quieting the flags and drums, Zhai Lan simply hung up the exemption card for the time being, and gave up the seat to You Zhen, and sat aside obediently biting a spoon to taste the yogurt.

Yak is a specialty, but the taste is not acceptable to everyone.Zhai Lan took a gulp, his facial features wrinkled into a ball, his appearance was even worse than when he was playing cards just now, and it took him a while to recover.

After the milky smell, the sweetness occupied the root of the tongue, Zhai Lan slowly came back to the taste, a little sweet.

On the other side, the uncle cheerfully began to shuffle the cards for the second time, and asked the young man, "Xiao Lan is going to rest, are you still here?"

"Come on!" After the young man collapsed, he rolled up his sleeves, "If I can't beat my brother, I can't beat my brother, Brother Youzhen, I couldn't catch you yesterday, today I have to try your depth."

"Okay." You Zhen smiled meaningfully.

The young man drew his cards, and didn't let Zhai Lan who was eating yogurt next to him ask, "Brother, what did you do just now... all of a sudden, all of a sudden, you know how to count cards?"

"Uh, maybe?" Zhai Lan's mouth was a little milky, and his words were sticky, "Xiao Wang, you have been out before, and the king was with me before, so he blew it up and didn't keep it. In the end, I guess your biggest card is either an ace or an ace." K, a single straight is out. I'm sure you don't have a card bigger than the diamond K. It is possible that the two cards you have left are pure numbers and should be smaller than 7. Otherwise, they will definitely be taken out together when you get a straight. "

Young man: "...Ah."

"If your card is a pair, the uncle has a pair of aces left in his hand; but if you don't get a pair, it will be difficult." Zhai Lan finally said, "Fortunately, I have a 7 left."

"It's not a matter of luck!" The young man fell back exaggeratedly, "No, you must be a top student!"

"No……"

"I don't believe it! What's your math score in the college entrance examination?"

Zhai Lan stirred the yogurt and said embarrassingly, "...140."

young people:"……"

Zhai Lan: "I'm from the Department of Mathematics."

The young man made a gesture of "surrender" from a distance, and then dismissed Zhai Lan from the game without hesitation.

Originally, Zhai Lan was not interested in fighting the landlord, but now he was so happy that he refused to fight with him, and simply sat by the side as a spectator.The new You Zhen can't be called a gambler, but he can also be regarded as a non-chief. The first hand full of cards was randomly drawn, and he didn't play a few cards until the finale.

Maybe the sequelae of Zhai Lan's playing just now are still there, the young man frowned suspiciously: "Brother You Zhen, you are also... playing hard to get, right? You two, are you kidding me?"

"No." You Zhen said frankly, "My card skills stink."

When Zhai Lan heard this sentence, she almost choked on the yogurt from laughing.

Watching them play two games of poker, You Zhen's poker skills are better than none as he said, coupled with bad luck, he lost almost every time, and one of them went straight to the spring.

Even so, he didn't have any emotions, and next time he would still calmly hold the card and say "I'm sorry".

Zhai Lan couldn't bear to look directly at the end, so she hid to the side to read a book.Professional books were stuffed into the bag casually, and the train environment was not suitable for reading, so Zhai Lan casually flipped through two pages and enjoyed the scenery outside the window again.

Zhai Lan has not been on a green leather train for many years, and Zhai Lan is most satisfied with the spacious windows.

On a sunny day, the sun shines in without any scruples, and the majestic snow peaks of Nyainqentanglha Mountain gradually drift away.Occasionally passing by a saltwater lake, the name is unheard of, but the blue is as blue as washing. If the clouds are not gathered and pressed down heavily, the water and the sky will become one piece, becoming a refreshing beauty among brown and yellow.

After crossing Hoh Xil to the south, the permafrost is getting less and less, and the snow in the wilderness melts and spreads in a meandering way.

The strong wind blew away the fog, and the flowing clouds disappeared.Passing another pure and clear plateau lake with white water, Zhai Lan saw a few Tibetan wild donkeys appearing on the horizon, and curiously raised his ears towards the train.

The rocky beach has turned into a continuous meadow, and the railway bridge, signal tower, and windmill for power generation all indicate that they are closer to the settlement.

Zhai Lan sat still, raising his phone to take pictures from time to time.In fact, he had no idea who he could send it to, but these scenery that he might not necessarily see several times in his life, if he missed it, it seemed that memorization alone was not enough.

Memory is sometimes the most ruthless. It cannot be formulated, cannot be calculated by numbers, and there is no room for regret for temporary storage in the recycle bin.From a certain day onwards, if it is gone, it will be gone, and I can’t even know which second the memory disappears from, and I can’t get it back from then on, unless a similar scene occurs again.

But the ambiguity of "deja vu" will never be as shocking as the first sight.

Zhai Lan is afraid of forgetting, but he can't resist. Since his father left, he has developed the habit of recording.He was paranoid, thinking that one day he might age prematurely, and then forget everything.

At that time, I can look through the photo album and re-acquaint myself with every footprint I passed by.

A little dazed, he didn't notice someone approaching suddenly, when his shoulder was tapped lightly, Zhai Lan suddenly showed his paw like a frightened cat: "Ah!"

"Xueba, what are you thinking?" You Zhen pushed back the hand he had raised in reflex.

"Just thinking about it." Zhai Lan rubbed her wrists, "Don't call me a bully."

"In my eyes, a score of 140 in mathematics in the college entrance examination is definitely considered a top student. You can't force other people to change the standard." You Zhen spoke plausibly, but he was still standing, blocking the way in the middle of the corridor.

But no one passed by, Zhai Lan had to raise his head when talking to him: "Have you finished playing cards?"

You Zhen said "hmm": "Fortunately, I didn't make any money, my head went numb after losing."

"You are really unlucky." Zhai Lan said, carefully choosing words to avoid embarrassment.

You Zhen didn't care: "Yeah, you found out too. I'm the kind of person who misses the ring. The lottery is always a big hit. Supermarket scratch games have nothing but 'thank you for your patronage'. Even the guarantee will be crooked when you play games... Super African."

His tone was so funny that Zhai Lan turned his face to the side and suppressed a smile.

"Okay, just laugh when you have to, I don't care." You Zhen sighed helplessly, "I've been here for more than 20 years, aren't I still living well? And——"

"Ok?"

"I'm used to being unlucky, so I just want to find some luck in life and do it for self-consolation."

Di Lan's expression was dazed, thoughtful.

The little squib and the little hedgehog at the beginning seem to have finally put away their edges and corners. He sat on the stool with his back to the day, and smiled unconsciously after a long while, his eyelashes covered.

"I suddenly figured it out." Zhai Lan said suddenly.

"what?"

"Every good day comes and goes, so make it a gift."

At dusk, when the magnificent sunset glow occupied the entire sky, the Z-shaped train they took passed through a tunnel, and the river was rushing outside the window, wrapped in residual snow and broken ice, and the silvery white water waves were dyed transparent purple.

City silhouettes appear on the horizon.

Lhasa has arrived.

The author says:

lzl doesn't know how to fight landlords, so I asked for help from outside the venue when I wrote this paragraph... It's fine if there are no obvious bugs, don't go into the details, thank you

There will be more tomorrow (reach out for starfish (so sorry)