Chapter Six: The Midnight Song

Wanqing made the dream helmsman on the driving platform. However, he was carrying a garbage can and crawling on all fours to the driver's platform.

From eight o'clock to twelve o'clock in the evening was the class of the three pairs of Meng He, and his companion was Wan Qing.

Meng He came from the grassland, his face was red and fluttering, somewhat rough, and his cheekbones were high. His eyes were small, his voice was crisp and thick, and he had been a wrangler.

Wan Qing's yellow braid, which was more than a foot long, was gone, and was shaved off by the carpenter Zhang Zizhuang. That night, Zhang Zizhuang finished playing his cards. When passing by Wanqing's room, I saw Wanqing's braids bouncing with the rocking of the hull, like a squirrel jumping around at the head of the bed. He thought it was funny, and the palms of his hands began to tickle.

Such a big storm, the card table dispersed early, went back to sleep and could not sleep, he won the money, the interest is high. He went into Wanqing's room, and while he was unconscious, he picked up the scissors and cut off the handful of yellow hairs three times five times.

He hadn't learned to get a haircut, the braids had been cut off by Qi Gen, and the Celestial Cover had balded a large piece, like a scar left by a ghost's shaved head. He looked ugly and simply cut his bald head. Wan Qing's head shook violently when pushing the head, although it was bald, it was like half a watermelon peel that had been chewed by the teeth and missing teeth. He was so dizzy like a dead pig that he couldn't even take care of his life, where could he still take care of his hair? Can only be at the mercy and torture of Zhang Zizhuang.

The corridors in the wind and waves were empty, and all the lights on the ship were turned on in order to facilitate the arrival of the ship.

The ship shook, and so did the lights. The ship shook even more eerily in the lights.

Someone crawled in the corridor. He had a plastic bucket on his chest, his body was as thin as a telephone pole, and his mouth was spitting out. With each move, he pushed the plastic bucket forward with his knees, like a badly injured monkey, and climbed hard toward the stairs of the driver's platform.

Meng He caught up with Wanqing:

"You should go to the driver's platform and steer, we're in a class." Meng He said.

"It's my turn. Seasick, so dizzy, the head is about to explode. Wan Qing gasped and clamped his legs between the plastic buckets, his face as white as paper, his lips full of mucus. He touched his bald head and said, "What a job this is called, I didn't expect the ship to shake so badly." ”

"Your song 'My Heart Is Eternal' is so good, and the guitar is so good." When the voyage began, Meng He heard his singing.

"I love this song." He remembered the captain of the movie Titanic, and although the storm was fierce, it did not dispel his dream of captainship, he said with a heavy breath.

"Do you know why I love to hear this song?" The third pair asked him.

"The grasslands are a bit similar to the sea." Wan Qingha lowered his waist, he still wanted to throw up.

"It's a bit of a relationship, but it's not the main one."

"What's that?"

"My name is a Mongolian name. I am the first generation of sailors of our alliance, and my name, ah, means eternity in Mongolian. The third pair told him.

"Are you Mongol?" I thought your surname was Mengzi's Mengzi. I sang it that day in Chinese, and it was better to sing it in original English. When the day is good, I will teach you to sing this song in English. ”

"Great, your English is awesome, and we'll sing together when the time comes."

Someone was talking along, and the seasickness was alleviated a bit. The two men came to the front of the stairs of the helm, wanqing had to prop up the wall with two hands to go up the stairs, he leaned down, trying to climb up with the handle of the plastic bucket in his mouth. It is dangerous to climb the helm's staircase with a bucket like this:

"I'll get it." Three pairs of Meng He helped him hold the plastic bucket.

Wan Qing propped up the wall, bent her calves, and climbed up section by section. From time to time, he punched his fist in the head that was about to burst in pain. Meng He followed him, holding Wan Qing's ass on his knees to prevent him from rolling down the stairs.

They climbed onto the helm. The lights here are much dimmer than in the corridors. At night, the sea is pitch black, and in order to see the real thing, the lights and light signals of the driving platform are all shimmering.

In the dim light stood Captain Willow. His waist is straight, and his face is calm and firm. In the face of the furious sea, the eyes and corners of the mouth reveal an uncompromising stubbornness. A white captain's uniform, the upper body was not buttoned, the blue tie was loosely pulled to the chest, revealing the red chest, like drinking half a bottle of hot white wine. His body swayed with the jolt of the hull, and his chest rose and fell like waves. His face was black and purple, and even the tips of his eyebrows turned black and purple. Eyes lightning bright. Constantly changing signal lights and indicator lights crossed his body. He rolled up his gold-rimmed sleeves, revealing muscles on his arms that were rare at his age.

Meng He took over the shift in the chart room and the first mate. Wan Qing took the steering wheel he had dreamed of holding from Zhao Ming's hand, kicked the plastic bucket to his feet, arched his legs, and held it with his knees, afraid that the plastic bucket would fall or roll away.

Seasickness at sea, the crew is afraid of spitting out sticky material to stain the environment, when on duty with a plastic bucket, nausea is too much to hold back, spit into the bucket.

After the shift, the first officer Yi Daohan and Zhao Ming left the driving platform.

Wan Qing held the steering wheel. If you are on the wheel platform with the captain when the wind and waves are calm, how dashing and proud. But the ship shook so badly that it couldn't even take care of its life, how could it feel comfortable? He took the steering wheel and looked at the endless waves, his body swaying left and right, and he was even more dizzy. He squeezed his throat, lowered his head and spat several large mouthfuls into the plastic bucket.

Seasickness, the most dizzy are young people. Because of youth, the balance organ is sensitive. The more sensitive the balance organs, the more dizzy they become: nausea, vomiting, the explosion of the head and heart. If it is the elderly and children, the pain is much lighter when the boat is rocking.

Why is it shaking so this? He said to himself.

The steering platform is at the highest point of the boat and is where the most shaking on the boat is. He was young and delicate, and certainly fainted more than the others. Holding the steering wheel for a while, the chest cavity was as full as blowing enough air, and everything in the stomach was up to the throat eye. He pressed his rudder wheel against his stomach, trying not to let his internal organs churn. But the stomach is still like a wave overturning the river and the sea. He couldn't hold back, and squirted vomit, spraying the sticky material in his stomach onto the steering wheel.

He looked at Captain Willow sheepishly and took off his vest, trying to wipe away the dirt. As soon as both hands released the steering wheel, the steering wheel flew up:

"Don't run the rudder!" Captain Liu shouted, "At this time, the helmsmanship will be overturned." The captain took a step forward and grabbed the rapidly shaking steering wheel.

Wan Qing thought that the captain would reprimand him for vomiting, but the captain stabilized the steering wheel for him. Even with a frightened look, his face became even paler. He looked at the captain timidly, afraid of the rudder he had just run.

"It's okay, don't be afraid. In this case, everyone has to run the rudder several times. Captain Willow comforted him lovingly. The old captain's gray hair was blown by the sea breeze, and the gray hair and wrinkles in the corners of his eyes were full of love.

He was an old man sixty miles away, accustomed to walking on the sea, and felt much lighter than a young man. He looked at Wan Qing in pain and said to the third pair of Meng He:

"Three pairs, you take the steering wheel for him for a while, let him wash his face."

WanQing's face will be waxy white and yellow. He was short of breath, his hair was as wet as if it had been washed with water, and long mucus hung from the corners of his mouth and cheeks.

Meng He took the steering wheel, and the ship shook violently like an unconvincing horse.

Wan Qing still wanted to throw up and struggled to go to the bathroom.

"This wind has blown evil doors, and it is going to turn the Indian Ocean upside down." Captain Willow stood by the handrail of the watchtower and said to himself.

The furious waves rolled up and became dark.

On the side of the ship, a group of fierce sharks were overwhelmed by the extremely low air pressure, and jumped out of the open cauldron-like sea. They are like a herd of wolves that surround their flocks, ready to swallow every single one of them.

Swarms of sharks appear around the side of the ship, and the churning waters are even more eerie. Looking at this group of carnivorous sea jackals, Captain Willow shuddered.

The bow of the ship is like a bald steel drill, breaking the sea water that pounces on it.

Wanqing returned from the bathroom. He changed his shirt, unbuttoned, his chest was bony and his ribs bulged like washboard. The face and body are clean, but the face is still sallow. The fluorescence of the radar shone on his face, and he vomited blood red in his eyes, and the corners of his eyes seemed to be bleeding.

He took the steering wheel in Meng He's hand and continued to steer. He squatted on his legs, his chest still swollen, and his chest seemed to burst.

Another wave came, and Wan Qing and Meng He both spat out a few big mouthfuls.

Captain Willow smelled a smell of blood and turned on the flashlight to shine a plastic bucket, which contained a pool of blood at the mouth of the bowl.

I don't know if the blood in the bucket is Meng He's or Wanqing's. They were both in excruciating pain.

"To think of alleviating the suffering of these two young people. Otherwise, they would collapse on the wheelstand before the class could finish. Especially Wan Qing, this boy, the first time he got on the ship, his sailing dreams, don't let the storm blow up. Captain Willow looked at the blood in the bucket and thought bitterly.

He suddenly remembered that Meng He and Wan Qing both liked to sing. On the night when the sail began, Wanqing played the guitar and sang "My Heart Is Eternal", singing so devoted and beautiful, Meng He beat the beat on the driving platform, and hummed softly with Wanqing.

There was a midnight singing program at the driver's station, and the two young men sang songs, and the pain would be lessened.

In the dead of night, shouting at sea is a universal remedy for seafarers to drive away loneliness and pain. In the vast darkness of the night, if a ship passes by, you can hear the heart-rending song floating out of the ship's helm platform alone.

But singing on a night like this is more about emboldening yourself and distracting from the unbearable pain.

"Friends, listeners, it's night sailing time." Thinking of this, Captain Liu learned the tone of a radio broadcaster and quietly walked to them.

"What are you going to do?" Meng He and Wan Qing were full of doubts, not knowing what the old captain who was already more than sixty years old was going to do, the captain had always been majestic and elegant.

"Start a furious sea song program, roar up the song and feel that you two are seasick." Captain Willow said.

"You say let's sing?" They asked in surprise.

"Yes, let you roar." The captain replied seriously,

Perhaps singing has become the dna of these two young people, a good recipe for them to miss their hometown and relatives, vent their pain, and resist seasickness.

Despite their pain, when they heard that they were going to sing, they still came to the spirit.

"Thank you Captain." Although Wan Qing was dizzy and painful, he excitedly wanted to run over and hug this reasonable and loving old captain.

"No thanks. I love listening to your songs. The captain said.

"What do you sing?" Meng He asked the captain with the mucus at the corners of his mouth.

"Don't ask me. Just sing your favorite song. ”

"Then sing the song 'The Shepherd.'" Growing up on the prairie, I felt that sailors and shepherds, grasslands and the sea had something in common, so I loved to sing this song. Meng He said.

"I'll sing this song too. I love the prairie, vast and vast, like the sea, especially the herders on the prairie, like the captains of the sea. Wan Qing said.

As he spoke, Meng He sang:

"After a lifetime of grazing in the dark and getting up early,

Lost youth on horseback without knowing.

Let go of the flock, let go of the herd of horses,

Let go of the wind and sand, and let go of the storm.

My favorite drink is spirits,

My favorite song is the Mongolian long tune.

Just drink wine, just sing,

The trees can't be crushed, and the wind can't blow down. ”

After the third chorus finished the first paragraph, Wan Qing sang the second paragraph:

" All my life of grazing in the dark and getting up early,

The bumpy years on horseback tired and bent over.

Grazing yesterday, grazing tomorrow,

He has chased the clouds and has also been fascinated by flowers and plants.

Never toss around yesterday's fence,

Always looking for new pastures.

The great rivers cannot be stopped, nor can the deserts be stopped,

The sound of horses' hooves snapped the spring tide in the heart. ”

Dark night, tumbling waters. The thick and thick singing is mixed with the sky and the sea. The song drifted around. Furious Waves sound like a powerful brass band playing for them. Sanshuang and Wanqing felt much more relaxed.

……。 ”

The melody of the song was simple, and Captain Willow listened to it again, touching the stubble of his jaw and the gray hair on his head. It was as if he himself were the shepherd who had been searching for pastures on horseback for years.

The bow of the ship and the huge waves next to the boat are still overwhelming. There was a creaking sound in the large cabin. The sound grew more and more terrifying.

Hearing this voice, the singing of the three people suddenly stopped. A cloud appeared on the captain's forehead, and the wrinkles deepened.

These sounds approaching from all directions are terrible. The sound, like the shifting of cargo, is also like the cracking of the ribs and decks of the large cabin.

"Oh my God, please don't scrape, scrape again, and the ship will fall apart." Listening to this terrifying voice, the stubborn old captain suddenly pleaded with the sea.

It was time to call the heavens for help. Because the message conveyed by these two voices is very frightening, it is an extremely dangerous signal. Once the cargo in the cabin moves, the center of gravity of the hull is shifted. In this case, the center of gravity is shifted, and the hull is extremely easy to overturn. The broken steel plate will cause water to enter the ship's side.

Terrible sounds come from the foredeck, will the large cabin be okay? Captain Willow pressed his body against the armrest of the lookout window and searched from far to near with his telescope. Gradually swept to the third cabin, the big surge rolled on the hatch, although the hull shook very violently, but the sea water that rolled on the hatch did not fly to the deck with the tilt of the hatch.

Where does all this water go? He lowered his telescope to scan on the hatch. The hatch squirmed together, like jellyfish shaking flaky bodies. The sea water that poured into the hatch, as the hatch rose and fell, flowed into the large cabin along the gap.

The cabin was flooded.

As soon as these seas formed a free liquid level in the large cabin, the ship would instantly buckle in the windy Indian Ocean.

, how come I didn't find out about this situation before the trip? Danger loomed, the captain scolded rudely.

It turned out that when the ship held an oath ceremony, the canopy of the three cabins was used as a stage, the hatch cover was light and sound, the lower side was covered with red carpet, full of flowers, there was no way to check the hatch, this negligence led to the large cabin into the water!

Most of the capsizing of bulk carriers is caused by the formation of free liquid levels in the cargo hold. In windy areas such as the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, China's Bohai and South China Sea, and Japan's northwestern waters, bulk carriers often run aground or capsize due to the formation of free liquid in the tank. Therefore, the International Maritime Organization, the Baltic Shipping Association, and the Global Bulk Carrier Shipowners' Association have repeatedly reminded shipping companies and captains to be vigilant against dangerous free liquids.

The sea water gushing on the canopy is overwhelming, and once the free liquid level in the large cabin is formed, the Jinhai ship will overturn in the Indian Ocean under the lapping of the wind and waves.

This ship has only been out for a few days, and it has encountered such a fatal danger.

Captain Willow's face turned pale, and he grabbed the phone:

"Captain Sailor, hurry up to the wheel!"

In the blink of an eye, young Zou Rongxiang broke into the driving platform. Old sailor Lee Eun-hwa also ran in. The two of them were playing cards together just now:

"Captain, what's the matter?" Zou Rongxiang asked with a heavy breath.

Captain Liu's eyes widened, as if he knew that the captain of the sailor was Zou Rongxiang: "The hatch of the third cabin is leaking, and there is a danger of forming a free liquid level..." ”

The following words Captain Willow could not say. At this time, no matter who was allowed to go to the deck to fix the hatch, most of them could not come back alive, which was to let him go to death. He closed his eyes and remembered the scene of his old classmate Zou Zhiguo shaking a wheelchair on the dock to send off his son.

How the sailor grows up to be the son of an old classmate!

Zou Rongxiang knew what to do with him:

"Captain, don't say anything, I'll go!" It's my business. He picked up the lifebuoy, put it on his body, grabbed a safety rope, opened the door next to the helm station, and was about to rush down the deck.

Captain Willow blocked the side door of the helm's platform and stopped him. Suddenly hugging him tightly:

"Kids!" His voice trembled, his arms quivered, and he held him deadly.

"I'm going! My life is great, and I can't die. Li Enhua knew that the captain was reluctant to let Zou Rongxiang go and snatched the lifebuoy.

Li Enhua said that his life was great, which the old monk said when he showed him the picture. After he was demobilized from the army, his family heard that he was going to run a boat at sea, and they stopped him from going. It is said that the sea is the breeding ground of demons and ghosts, and even shrimp and crabs can become sperm, and going there is equivalent to entering the magic cave.

But Li Enhua was not afraid, he insisted on going to the sea. So the family led him to the temple to ask for a sign to worship the Buddha. The old monk in the temple said he was short of water. The old monk looked at his face and said that he was a golden life, which was hard and big. Gold and water are born together, and there will be a good future when you go to the sea. Li Enhua then got on the ship and became a seaman.

"Brother Li, your life is too big to go, you have old and young." I am alone, no one thinks about it, no one thinks about it when I die, and besides, this is my business, and I can't let you go. He grabbed the lifebuoy and put it back on himself.

Life and death, the child may not come back.

"I promised his father to protect him." Captain Willow pounded his head. He knew that Zou Rongxiang's life had two lives in a row: his brother with a tube and his father who had a cerebral thrombosis, and if he had three long and two short lives, there would be no hope of life in these two lives.

But it was exactly as he said: it was his duty.

Zou Rongxiang rushed out of the driver's platform.

"Put on a hard hat!" Captain Willow also rushed out of the side door of the helm's platform and put on his hard hat:

"Boy, you must come back, I'm in the driver's seat — wait — you ——!" Captain Liu yelled the word waiting for you very long and loudly, as if to hold him in the voice.

The young sailor long rushed towards the cargo deck.

In such a strong wind and wave, you must wear a safety rope, a life ring and a safety helmet to the deck. To walk through the waves on the deck, you must first tie your waist with a safety rope and tie the other end to the ground bell, so that you will not be swept into the sea by the sea that washes up on the deck. Once swept into the sea, there are safety ropes and lifebuoys, and the possibility of climbing onto the deck is minimal, because the swarms of sharks on both sides of the ship are waiting for him, and if he can escape from the shark's blood mouth, there is a glimmer of hope of climbing to the deck. Hard hats were worn to prevent the waves from knocking him unconscious, or the debris on deck and waves flying up to shatter and slick his head.

Zou Rongxiang's speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared on the deck of the cargo hold, like a fish in the water. Captain Liu, Meng He, Wan Qing and veteran sailor Li Enhua followed his figure. At first, you can see his shaking figure in the white waves on the deck. A big wave hit the deck, and then another wave rushed up the side of the ship. Big waves and waves collided beside him, and the soaring water curtain obscured everything in front of him, and he was submerged in the water curtain, without a trace.

"Captain Sailor!" Lee Eun Wah ran to the deck of the helm and shouted.

Captain Willow used his telescope to search on the right deck, on the left deck, and back to the helm with restlessness.

No matter where it was found, there was only the monstrous sea water and the flying fish that fell to their deaths on the deck, and there was no shadow of Zou Rongxiang. The churning sea waters are like pitch-black magma, gushing everywhere. The endless waves were like fierce artillery fire, bombarding the ship's side, deck, mast and ship railing.

Zou Rongxiang was drowned in the flood.

"Water - Hand - Long ——!" Looking at the deck of the white waves, Meng He and Li Enhua shouted, the sea breeze was fierce, and the cries were drowned in the wind.

Looking around, there was only the sound of water, the sound of the wind, the sound of the hull shaking, and there was no echo of Zou Rongxiang.

After the sailor went to the deck, he did not take the side door of the helm station with his hand, and the heavy wooden door slammed into the door frame like a terrible impact on the gate of hell.