Xinjiang Li Juan essay: pink cart

Since we had the pink cart, we have never taken a minivan again when we go to the county seat. A minivan costs twenty dollars per person, and a pink cart costs ten dollars. A slightly larger luggage trolley will also be charged separately, and the big car will be installed casually. Most importantly, the departure of the big car was finally on time. Unlike small cars, people are full before they leave, and old delays.

The "Pink Car" is actually a half-used minibus. The driver is chubby and happy, and whenever he sees someone running toward the highway one foot deep and one foot shallow on the snow in the distance, he will happily step on the brakes: "Ha ha! Ten bucks is coming! ”

The children in the car neatly issued the command of "Woo -~~~" to restrain the horse.

The little place with me and sixty bucks squeezed between the engine and the front seat was already full. But when the car reached the village of Wenduhara, fifty dollars and two sheep were stuffed in. This time, I couldn't even pull out my arms, and people really wanted to ride on those two sheep... Fortunately, as soon as there were many people, the unheated carriages began to warm up. So a few men in the back row began to drink, happily touching glasses and singing. A fight began an hour later. The driver blasted them all down. That's a lot easier.

Although the villages in the Wuhe area are sparse, there are still many people who take a pink car to the county seat or the town of Chakurtü every day. Every morning the car departs before five o'clock, passing alone through one dark village after another, honking its horn and illuminating the window lights along the way. When the horn sounded in the upper village, the people of the village below were almost ready, standing thickly on the snow-covered road, their luggage piled on the snow at their feet.

Akhara is the village to the far west of the area, so the pink cart is always the first to pass by every day after getting on the road. I'm always the first to get in the car too. The carriage was empty and cold, and the breath was thick. The driver shouted hello to the roar of the engine: "How are you, girl?" Is your body good? While picking up a heavy sheepskin cane shoulder from the assistant's seat and throwing it at me, I hurriedly grabbed the cover on my knee.

The night is deep, the wind and snow are heavy, the Gobi Desert is vast, and there is not a single tree along the way. I don't know how the driver can identify the road, and will never drive the car from the snow covered road to the same snow covered foundation.

When the sky began to light up, the carriage was already full of people. But it was still so cold. After staying in the air at minus twenty or thirty degrees for a long time, I couldn't stand the cold. Suddenly I saw two chubby old men sitting face to face on the hood in front of the first row of seats and seats – it must have been warm there! Desperately, he squeezed over, shoved into the gap between the two of them, and sat on the duffel bag piled up at their feet. It's a lot more comfortable. However, it was soon discovered with embarrassment that the two of them turned out to be husband and wife...

Along the way, the two mouths have been holding each other's hands, but the two hands that are held together have no place to put them, they rest on my knees... My hand was nowhere to be put, just on the old man's leg. Later, the old man's other big hand took my hand and warmed it for me. Something was muttered in his mouth. So the old lady also rushed to warm my other hand. I retracted my hand several times along the way, but immediately grabbed it again. Somehow, my hands are always so cold...

More and more people in the car, people keep getting on and off the bus. But most of them hitchhike, walking from one village to another against the wind and snow, just happened to encounter a big pink car passing by, and they waved to stop it. In fact, even if you don't stop, the car will stop when it reaches the person, and the person sitting by the door will pull open the door and shout: "Do you want to take the car?" Hurry up! It's so cold..."

On Sunday, the bus was mostly attended by car, mostly Han children from a Han village downstream who returned to the county seat to attend classes (there are no Han schools in this area). One by one, carrying a school bag and waiting at the entrance of the village, after the car stopped, my father first squeezed into the car, broke through left and right, put away his luggage, and picked up a place where he could sit. Then turn around and shout, "Baby! Sit still! He yelled again, "Baby! With steamed buns? ”

Every time at this time, there will always be a disappointment for the driver. I thought it was twenty dollars this time...

The father settled the child, squeezed back to the door of the car, and shouted at the driver: "This is the money for the ticket of Li Wa Li, li Wa has given money!" Li Wa put on a hat, master don't forget! ”

"Okay."

"It's the last thing to wear a hat!"

"Got it."

"Master, Li Wa is wearing a hat, but she can remember it!"

"Got it, got it!"

Still not at ease, he turned back to the chaotic head in the carriage and yelled: "Baby, you jump up, let the master see your hat!" ”

At this time, everyone was busy getting on and off the bus, scrambling to pack their luggage, and the child tried to jump a few times, but he couldn't let us see his head.

"Okay, no need to jump..."

"Master, Li Wa is wearing a hat, li Wa car money to Li Li ..."

"I'm going to drive, so let me go down if I don't go!"

"Baby, tell you to show your hat to the master, why don't you listen?!"

Cars snaked from village to village, and there were people waiting at almost every intersection. Some are in a car, and some are in order to exhort: "Tomorrow the four teams of Habdurah are going to the county seat, don't forget to pull him when you pass by." His house was the second one on the east side of the river. ”

Or: "Give Pahan a message, and if you have the money, buy some celery." Also let him go home early. ”

Or: "My mother is sick, help buy some medicine in the county, right?" ”

Or a few letters to the driver to send away.

The carriage was crowded but orderly. The old people were arranged in the first few rows of seats, and the young people sat on the luggage pile in the aisle. One by one, the little children were all huddled on the hood, which was covered with thick felt blankets. Although children do not know each other, the older ones often have the obligation to take care of everyone. Even the older one was only six or seven years old. I saw him push the luggage behind a three-year-old child next to him hard along the way, so that the child could sit firmly. Whenever a child takes off his gloves and throws them away, he will go out of his way to pick them up and help him put them back on.

There was also a two-year-old child who had been sitting across from me, with a crimson face and big azure eyes, staring at me silently. After sitting for two or three hours in a row, he maintained the same posture, not moving, let alone crying.

I exclaimed, "Whose child?" ”

No one answered. There was a snoring sound in the carriage.

I asked the child again, "Who is Daddy?" ”

His blue eyes looked at me without blinking.

I wanted to touch his hand to cool or not, who knew that as soon as he reached out, he quickly spread his arms and leaned over to me, asking me to hold it. It's heart-wrenching... The child's body was small and soft, and as soon as he held it in his arms, his little head was crooked, and he fell asleep on the crook of my arm. Along the way, I didn't dare to move, for fear of disturbing the quiet and lonely dreams of the little man in my arms.

(Excerpt from The Corner of Altay)