It turns out that buses in towns and villages all over the country are all the same.
Fortunately, Chujiu and I arrived at the station relatively early and occupied two seats.
I thought the train would leave when it was full, but I didn't expect that people kept loading on the train. The roof of the train was stuffed with luggage and tied up with thick ropes.
It wasn't until the people in the car, who didn't even have a place to stand, began to make noises and complain that the driver started the car and started driving slowly.
The bus was bumpy all the way, and the men, women, and children on the bus chatted in dialect. Occasionally, when someone spoke in non-standard Mandarin, I could understand it.
"Oh, you are a stinky hooligan. You are sticking to my butt all the way, and you are holding a hard object against my ass. Are you a woman like no other in the family?"
"Are you talking about me? When you went out, you didn't look in the mirror. Did I act like a gangster to you? Don't insult the word gangster, okay? Gangsters have very high standards. The hard thing you are talking about is this gangster?"
The man put his hand in his pants pocket, fumbled for a long time, and took out a dry tobacco stick.
"Ha ha ha ha…"
The crowd burst into laughter. Someone spoke in non-standard Mandarin and said that this was nothing. He had heard that in some places, the bus was so crowded that even the big-bellied children were squeezed out.
Just as everyone was laughing, the bus driver yelled, and the crowd fell silent instantly.
"You guys are so noisy that it affects my driving. Who is responsible if something goes wrong? If you don't have any knowledge, don't talk nonsense. If you squeeze the children out, it will cause more people? Let me tell you, there were so many people in my car once.
There was a woman who got pregnant after getting off the bus."
The crowd was quiet for a moment, and suddenly they understood what the driver meant, and the atmosphere became high again.
"Driver, slow down, I'm motion sick. I'm going to vomit."
"Oh, why are you smoking in the car? The ashes are flying into my mouth."
"Did you eat something this morning? The fart made me dizzy."
Chujiu saw a smile on my face and asked me curiously, what is so funny?
I told Chujiu that this felt very friendly, just like the bus from my hometown to the town from the county seat.
After two hours, the sun had completely risen. When the bus passed a fork in the road, Chujiu shouted: "Stop, get off!"
There were really too many people on the bus. Some people got off and some got on the bus. There was no way to squeeze out the Chujiu travel bag.
He simply opened the car window on the ninth day of the lunar month, threw his travel bag out, jumped out of the car window, waved at me, and motioned for me to jump out of the window too.
I was a little embarrassed at first, so I still pushed my way into the crowd, trying to get out through the door. Finally, the driver became anxious and shouted at me to jump out of the window.
"Guo Guo, walk along this road for twenty miles, then go over two mountains, and you will reach our village."
Chujiu pointed to a dirt road in front of him. This road was not as spacious as the dirt road in Qinglong Mountain.
There are some traces of carriages running over the road, so it seems that the only way to go is by carriage.
Watching Chujiu jump into the dirt pit, I understood why Chujiu insisted on changing his sneakers back to his old rag shoes when he woke up in the morning.
After walking along the dirt road for an hour, there was a clanking sound behind me.
Looking back, I saw a man in a cotton-padded jacket driving a carriage from behind.
Chujiu smiled and put her travel bag on the ground, waiting for the carriage behind her.
"Do you know them?"
"do not know."
"If you don't know someone, why would they take you?"
There is no need for Chujiu to answer. The carriage parked in front of us is the best answer.
"When I go to the village, the most I can do is take you to Naha."
After the middle-aged man said something, he whipped the horse's buttocks with a whip, and the carriage jingled and continued driving.
Chujiu took out cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to the man, and told him that we were also going to Xiancun.
The man looked at Chujiu for a long time and said that he had never seen Chujiu in Xiancun. Chujiu replied that he had never seen Chujiu before and that he had to go up the mountain.
After the man heard the word "go up the mountain", his attitude towards Chujiu became even more friendly.
Later, I learned during the chat that people in the village who went up the mountain often brought some herbs to the villagers when they came down the mountain.
When we arrived at Xiacun, this village was smaller than Lijiacun, and we could count the number of houses at the foot of the mountain on two hands.
There was a towering mountain. Chujiu pointed at the mountain and said that they would be there just by climbing over it.
Standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up at the towering peaks, I finally understood what Chujiu said about what it feels like to go into the mountains for several hours.
"Chujiu, is there a toilet nearby? My stomach hurts again."
Looking at Chujiu's evil smile, I realized that I was asking unnecessary questions. I took out a magazine from my backpack and rushed into the woods nearby.
The road into the mountain is a rugged mountain road two feet wide. The difference from other places is that there is less vegetation on this looming road.
Suddenly, I thought of what Lu Xun said: "There is no road in the world, but when there are more people walking on it, it becomes a road."
This road seems to be less traveled than expected.
However, judging from the broken dead branches on the roadside, someone must have passed by before. I think it must be the nearby villagers who went up the mountain to collect firewood.
It felt like I had been walking for a long time, and my legs had no strength. When I turned around, I saw the village not far away.
Chujiu, who was carrying a travel bag weighing dozens of kilograms, stood beside me and laughed at me without losing his breath.
"Guo Guo, do you know what it means to run to death in Wangshan Mountain? Drink some water and rest. Once you reach the mountainside, it will be easier to walk on a flat road."
After resting for a while, I continued on my way. I didn’t even see the mountainside that Chujiu mentioned until the sun was directly above my head.
I just heard Chujiu say it countless times while walking, "We'll be on the mountainside soon."
It should be around two o'clock in the afternoon when we actually reach the mountainside.
I was walking quietly with my head down, and suddenly I heard a burst of joy coming from the ninth day of the lunar month.
When I looked up, Chujiu had already run to a girl standing on the roadside and was hugged tightly by the girl.
Chujiu is a little shorter than the girl, and the top of her head only reaches the tip of the girl's nose.
I guessed the girl's identity and walked in their direction.
The girl's clear and melodious voice spoke words that I couldn't understand. I vaguely heard words such as "Dad," "Liu," "Karma," and "Muliangwama."
After I approached the two of them, Chujiu held the girl's hand and introduced to me that this was one of the sisters in the village.
The girl was wearing a Miao dress full of flowers, with a cute baby-fat face, white and translucent skin, her hair tied randomly with a colorful cloth, and she was staring at me with her big eyes open.
"Hello, I am Liu's sister, and my name is Mi Li."
"I am Qin Feng, Chujiu's brother."
Just as I was curiously asking Chujiu why he had another name.
Chujiu told me that "Liu" means younger brother. There are only two sisters in the village who can speak Chinese, one is Mi Li and the other is Lanxi who cooks super delicious food.