At the beginning of the twentieth century, I planned to go to Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, deep in the Qilian Mountains in Gansu Province, to buy a batch of wild Chinese medicine called Heichaihu.
A friend introduced me to a local man named Liu Jinshan, who said that he had opened a coal mine before and was quite reliable.
After changing to a few long and short buses, I arrived at a small village surrounded by mountains in the depths of the mountains, called Three Bends.
In the narrow ravine, with dozens of dilapidated small courtyards scattered along the mountain, Liu Jinshan is a large household, occupying a large open space at the head of the village, four or five brick and tile houses, and a rusty Type 75 tractor parked in front of the door.
It was past eleven o'clock in the afternoon, and he was still sleeping with his head covered. His daughter-in-law, a handsome and handsome mountain daughter-in-law with a low brow, called him a few times, and he was dizzy and lifted the quilt and sat up. Only to see that he was born: yellow face and thin muscles, two cheeks without flesh, brush eyebrows, eagle hook nose. Slender eyes with irony and thorns, not angry and threatening; long body, wide-shouldered bee waist, lean and strong.
I handed over a cigarette and explained my intentions. He nodded, grabbed the half bottle of wine on the table and gulped down a few sips, handed it to me, and I symbolically took a sip and put the four bottles of wine and two cigarettes brought to him on the kang.
He glanced at it, smiled, and instructed his daughter-in-law to take out the cured meat from the jar and prepare lunch.
The ravines in autumn, though sunny, were a little chilly. After eating, Liu Jinshan put a sheepskin jacket on his body, kicked a bottle of wine, drove me down the mountain road with his broken tractor, and stopped in a parking lot on the side of National Highway 312 two hours later. He yelled at his boss and took me on the national highway and told me to take a car from Wuwei to Carbon Mountain ridge and go to the town to find a young man named Barhead, who could stay and buy medicinal herbs.
While waiting for the bus, he still drank alcohol non-stop, as if drinking cold water. Half an hour later, a dilapidated camel bell sedan staggered over and stopped, packed with poorly dressed mountain people.
Liu Jinshan got into the car with a stride, squeezed through the cracks until the last row, pulled up the two young men in the seats, and beckoned me to sit down. I felt embarrassed, stood still on the railing, he shook his head at me mockingly, did not insist, reclined and lay down, closed his eyes, and looked at himself as if he were not asleep.
The ticket seller was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, who looked very neat and simple, and a pair of large black eyes flashed on the face of the red apple. I opened my purse and drew a brand new hundred-dollar bill from it to buy two tickets, and she glanced at the thick few banknotes in my bag, and quietly said to me in a low voice:
"Big brother, are you from out of town?" There are thieves in the car, you be careful! ”
I looked around at the simple faces of the old and young in the carriage who had been blown black and red by the mountain wind, and smiled:
"Thanks, it's all right."
She glared at me and pushed me to the conductor's seat next to the driver and straddled the hood herself.
"The people in the mountains are really simple and kind." I looked out the window at the pine-lined peaks and slowly retreated, thinking with emotion.
When I was about to reach carbon mountain town, I saw a police car parked on the side of the road in the distance. The black fat man driving the car turned back to the girl and said:
"Ga Hong, hide the money and check the car!"
The girl stood up in a panic, took out a large handful of bills of varying denominations from the bag straddled her chest, and rolled them into a bundle with her hands.
"Quick, big brother, you help me hold it first." The traffic police can't find cash from me, so they can't fine money. ”
I thought it was a little ridiculous, but before I could react, she pulled open my purse in my arms and tucked it in.
"Do you have any money?" I hurriedly asked.
"There are a number. Big brother, rest assured, I will not blackmail you! Please do me a favor, I see you as a good person. ”
"This..." I wanted to say again, the car stopped, and she hurried down with the fat driver.
I stood up in a panic and saw through the window that the two of them were talking fiercely to the traffic police. Looking back at Liu Jinshan again, the aisle was crowded with people, blocking him tightly.
After a while, the fat driver and the girl returned to the car, and the car continued to drive forward.
"It's all right." The girl smiled sweetly at me.
"That's the money for you." I hurried to pull the chain buckle of the leather bag.
"No hurry, big brother!" The girl held my hand, "I'm going to the station soon, the car stops and you count me again, I can't give me all your money in a hurry, how embarrassed." ”
She covered her mouth and smiled, but I felt uneasy.
Carbon Ridge is small, there seems to be no regular station, and the car stops in a dilapidated clearing in the town.
"The car arrived at the station and everyone got off!" The girl shouted.
There was a rush in the carriage, and after a few minutes the people were gone, and then I saw Liu Jinshan, who was reclining on the last seat with his upper body and his lower body sitting on the floor, snoring like thunder.
"Who are these people?" I secretly complained about my friends.
"All right, big brother, give me back my money." The girl smiled at Mimi and said.
As soon as I heard this, I hurriedly pulled open my purse and took out the money rolled into a bundle and handed it to her.
She counted carefully, looked at me and smiled, "Big brother, you have taken less, and you are still short of more than ten thousand yuan." ”
"What?!" As soon as I heard it, I was anxious, and my qi and blood rushed straight to the door of my head, and I poured out all the money in my purse and placed it on the hood: "Oh ~ you see, this is my twenty thousand yuan, one hundred yuan one step, fifty yuan two steps, just bought a ticket to take away one hundred yuan, and nineteen thousand nine hundred yuan." Right? ”
"Cut!" The girl suddenly changed her face and sneered, "This big brother, I see that you are also wearing a human-like dog-like look, why is this virtuous!" These two bundles of fifty yuan were obviously handed over to you just now, so how did they become yours? This is my grandfather and grandmother with my relatives today, and I have managed to collect ten thousand yuan for my mother to see a doctor. ”
After saying that, he actually cried bitterly.
"You—" I was speechless.
"All right, brother!" The fat driver stood behind me at some point, he patted me on the shoulder and said pityingly, "You see how miserable the little girl is crying!" How can you, a big boss, do such a thing? Give it back to someone! As he spoke, he shoved the two-step fifty-dollar bill into the girl's hand.
"Put it down for Lao Tzu!" Suddenly, a loud roar exploded from the back of the carriage.
I looked back in shock, only to see Liu Jinshan walking shakily with half a bottle of wine, and there was a surprise.
He held out a hand carrying a wine bottle, and poked his finger in the fat man's face: "Know me Liu Jinshan, don't you?" Bubble boy! ”
The fat man's face immediately turned green, and he smiled strongly: "Oh, isn't this Boss Liu!" Now that you're mixed up like this, do you still have to worry about it? Gee. ”
"You TM fart less put! This is my friend. Liu Jinshan drank aggressively, while snatching the two pieces of money from the girl's hand and putting them into my leather bag, and before he could finish, he also took out the roll of money in the leather bag on her chest and stuffed it in.
"This is mine..." The girl was really crying this time.
"Snap~" Liu Jinshan slapped her face with his backhand: "Stinky bitch! What's yours? I obviously saw it coming out of my friend's bag! scram! ”
"Come on people! Liu Lao'er snatched the money! The fat man shouted desperately.
Soon, four or five black teenagers rushed up from the car door with cigarettes.
Liu Jinshan took a step back, pulled out a gun from his coat, and pointed at the teenagers: "You bubble boys, come, give Lao Tzu a move to try!" ”
The teenagers were stunned and lowered their heads.
"Get out of the way for Lao Tzu!" Liu Jinshan took advantage of the situation and took me to the car calmly.
In the evening, Liu Jinshan and I sat on the hot kang of the bartou family and drank, and from their intermittent chat, we learned that Liu Jinshan used to be the big boss of the coal mine, and there were several suites in the provincial city of Lanzhou and Huazang Temple, but only later the coal mine had an accident and lost all the family property.
"Thirty or so coffins were laid out on the mine, and even though I Liu Jinshan was wearing a ma dai filial piety, I was sorry for the dead brothers!" I just beg for food, and I can't owe my dead brothers a penny for their lives..." He said to me vaguely, tears streaming down his face.
The night in the mountain village is quiet, and the howl of wolves seems to be heard in the distance.
I tossed and turned, thinking about this man named Liu Jinshan: Is he a good man? But the wicked people of the world are afraid of him; is he the wicked? But he was so righteous and sloppy. He may only be a cruel person after all.