On the national highway from Yunnan City to City S, a man in his fifties, covered in dirt and exhausted, was struggling to move his heavy legs.
Autumn is a season of harvest, but it is also a season that can easily make people sad. The autumn sun is like a dying beast making its last crazy struggle, making people feel suffocated.
The man was very tired. He wanted to stop and rest. He had run for countless kilometers. His legs were as heavy as lead. The expensive leather shoes on his feet were seriously damaged. The soles and uppers were already damaged.
Cracks, as the man steps forward, cracks appear, revealing the man's blistered feet.
There are many vehicles driving back and forth on the national highway. Due to the high temperature in recent days, the vehicle body is covered with a thick layer of dust. The color of the vehicle body can no longer be seen clearly. Only the windshield is still clear. As the engine rotates
Roaring, tires rolling rapidly, the car quickly passed by the man like a gust of wind.
The car drove quickly, bringing with it a cool autumn breeze. However, this comfortable feeling was covered by the thick dust brought up by the car within a few seconds.
There are all kinds of people driving, both men and women. When they pass by a man, most of them don't look sideways and pretend they haven't seen him. Only after the car has gone further away will they take a look in the rearview mirror and look back.
When men are walking hard, and some people are men, they will subconsciously slow down the speed of the car. Looking at the man walking forward, they are very curious as to why the man in front of them becomes like this. However, no one takes the initiative to follow the man.
Say hello, and have no intention of inviting him into the car. For most people, the man is just a stranger they met on the long journey, and there is no need to deliberately stop for him.
The road stretches as far as the eye can see and seems to have no end, but the man lowers his head and moves forward, seemingly not caring about the end.
On the road, in addition to men, there will occasionally be some nearby residents walking on the edge of the road carrying packs on their shoulders. Of course, there are also some tourists carrying large and small bags on their backs and holding cameras in their hands.
Stop and go, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, not paying attention to the passage of time. Only the man keeps walking at a fixed pace.
The hot temperature, dry air, and dust blowing in the face make every step of the man look so difficult. The disheveled hair, dirty clothes, chapped lips, and cloudy eyes make him look like a homeless man.
A wanderer returning home is like an ascetic.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the man finally couldn't walk anymore. He stood up slowly, straightened his body as if it was bent by a heavy load, and raised his head. He first used the awning with his hands to take a look at the scorching sun directly above his head.
, the sun was still so fierce and dazzling, a drop of sweat seeped out from the man's forehead and slowly slid down the man's weathered cheeks.
Dust covered the man's cheeks. Apart from his cloudy eyes and his chapped and white lips, he could no longer see anything else. Big beads of sweat slowly slid down, leaving an abnormal line on the man's face.
There are clear traces, and the sweat has stopped moving and disappeared without a trace before it even dripped down to the chin.
The man lowered his head slightly, put down the palm on his forehead, and looked into the distance. In front of him, there was a dusty blue sign, which was a simple rest stop.
It is said to be a rest stop, but it is actually just a house made of red bricks. At the door of the rest stop, there are several cars parked. The logo of the car can no longer be seen, and the license plate is also covered with thick dust.
They looked very embarrassed, and in the rest stop, there were several people dressed in either beautiful or plain clothes, holding various drinks and snacks in their hands, and smoking cigarettes in their mouths.
Seeing the mineral water in those people's hands, the man's Adam's apple rolled rapidly, and he subconsciously stretched out his tongue to lick his chapped lips. The dust and sand that originally covered the man's lips instantly entered his mouth, making the already very bitter mouth
It's getting more and more bitter.
He hadn't eaten or drank water for a long time. Although the simple backpack he carried contained a large bottle of water, the bottle was already empty.
The man hesitated for a moment and looked around among the people at the rest stop, but did not find that familiar figure. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and decided to go to the rest stop to take a rest, eat something, and fill up his empty water bottle.
The rest stop looked very close to the man. When the man actually approached the rest stop, he found that this stretch of road, which was only a few hundred meters away, was so far away that it felt like he was on the other side of the ocean.
By the time the man arrived at the rest stop, the people he had seen had already driven away. In addition to a few tire marks, there were only cigarette butts on the ground.
The owner of the rest stop is a woman in her forties. Perhaps because of the high posters and strong ultraviolet rays here, the woman looks older than her actual age. On her face that is no longer round, there are two eye-catching plateaus.
red.
The proprietress who was cleaning up the garbage left by the few people just now, when she saw someone coming, she subconsciously turned her head and looked at the man. The slightly artificial smile that had just appeared suddenly froze on her face, obviously being deliberately
The trimmed eyebrows subconsciously raised and wrinkled.
Originally, the landlady thought that the person who came was a passer-by who came to her place to take a rest and have something to eat. However, when she saw the man's embarrassed look, she felt very strange, and even more confused.
The man in front of me looks like
He must be at least fifty or sixty years old. Judging from his clothes, he should not be a nearby resident. How could he be like this? Could it be that he got lost?
The landlady was thinking this in her heart, but the smile on her face bloomed again. She stood up, deliberately stretched out her stubby fingers to pluck the black hair on her temples, and then twisted her waist that could no longer be seen and walked towards the man.
Go, and after arriving in front of the man, he asked in a cooing voice: "Are you eating or shopping?"
When the proprietress said this, she also winked at the man charmingly, which looked very funny and disgusting.
The man didn't speak, his eyes just glanced over the woman's face. Then, he looked at a simple sink behind the woman, where there were several embroidered faucets, and his Adam's apple began to squirm again.
The landlady has lived here for a long time, and she sees many people every day. Naturally, she doesn't take it to heart that the man ignores her. She slowly turns her head following the man's gaze and sees the faucet. She smiles and turns her head.
He looked at the man and said, "Go wash your face."
The man was not polite to the landlady, and walked straight towards the sink. The landlady turned slightly sideways, looked at the man's side face, and narrowed her eyes slightly.
If it were an ordinary customer, she would not be in a good mood to talk nonsense with him. However, this man was different because his clothes were very unusual. He looked like a rich man, even though his clothes were dirty.
It was a mess, and the leather shoes were all peeled off. However, the landlady could still identify the prices of these clothes. After all, she had once traveled a lot, so she was no stranger to these things.
The lady boss didn't pay attention to the man's silence. She had been running this rest stop here for many years. She still knew her own conditions very well. If she were ten years younger, she would definitely behave even better than before.
..'Passionate', unfortunately, she is old now. Although she is only in her forties, she looks like a woman in her fifties. It is normal for the man who sees her not to be interested in her.
The man quickly walked to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and a stream of warm water flowed out. The man didn't care about anything else, just like a man who has been walking in an uninhabited desert for a long time and sees the water.
He quickly stretched out his hands to catch the water and splashed it on his cheeks.
After the white water splashed on the man's face, it turned into turbid black water as it flowed down.
The man quickly washed his face a few times with water, then bent down, turned his mouth to the faucet, and began to drink water in large gulps. The man's Adam's apple moved rapidly.
Seeing the man's funny look, the lady boss couldn't help but smile, shook her head, and continued to clear the table.
When the landlady came back from cleaning up, the man had turned off the faucet and was putting a plastic bottle filled with water into his backpack. The landlady didn't stop him, she just looked at the man with interest.
The gaze of the landlady quickly caught the man's attention. The movements in his hands paused slightly, and then returned to normal. He continued to put the bottle into his backpack, zipped it up, then turned his head, looked at the landlady, and said softly
Said: "Thank you."
"hehe....."
The landlady smiled and shook her head. It seemed that her guess was right. This man was indeed a city man and quite polite.
"Is there anything to eat?"
Seeing that the landlady just smiled and said nothing, the man took the initiative to walk towards the landlady, stopped about one meter away from the landlady, and asked.
After washing away the dust, the man's hair was wet, and there were still water droplets on his face that had not been wiped clean, revealing his original face. The landlady narrowed her watery eyes and nodded with a smile.
"What to eat?"
"What do you have?"
"Fried rice, fried noodles, stir-fried vegetables, and of course, instant noodles, whatever you need."
"Is there a menu?" The man didn't decide immediately, but asked.
The landlady smiled again and nodded, but her eyes looked at the man's hand in his pocket. Obviously, there was money there, but it might not be much.
The landlady turned and walked toward the house, and the man followed her.
After entering the room, the man sat near the door, took the greasy menu from the landlady's hand and looked at it.
The dishes on the menu were indeed not expensive, but considering the location of the rest stop, they were still a bit too expensive. After some hesitation, the man finally ordered a side dish.
When the landlady took the menu again and asked the man if he wanted to drink, the man shook his head, and the landlady didn't force him and turned around and went to the kitchen.
There was plain water on the table, and the man poured a glass of it. Different from the embarrassing situation just now, this time, the man slowly poured a glass of water and drank in small sips, but his eyes were looking out the door, frowning, as if he was worried about something.
.
There were two people at the rest stop, one was the proprietress who had gone to the kitchen, and the other was a girl sitting at the bar playing on the computer. The girl looked very young, probably in her early twenties. The girl was very beautiful. Although she lowered her head,
From the profile of her face, it can still be seen that this girl is a very beautiful girl. However, like the boss lady, the girl also has two plateau reds on her face.
The man's appearance did not attract the girl's attention. She just glanced casually when the man entered the door.
After taking one look, he lowered his head again. There was no enthusiasm of the landlady, nor common contempt, only indifference, the indifference towards strangers.
The kitchen was at the end. At this time, there was the sound of shovels hitting pots, and the aroma of food wafted out, but it did not attract the man's attention. His eyes were always looking at the road outside the door, without focus.
Seems a little confused.
Not long after, a plate of vegetables was cooked. The lady boss came over with the vegetables in one hand and a bowl of rice in the other. After putting the dishes down, the lady boss walked aside and sat down, watching the news.
Watching the TV, I glanced at the man from the corner of my eye from time to time.
Maybe he was starving, but after the food was brought to the table, the man started to gobble it up, which made the landlady frown for a while, but after seeing the man's embarrassment, she was relieved.
The man quickly emptied the bowl of rice. When the man hesitated to ask for a bowl, the landlady said in advance: "The rice is in the rice cooker in the kitchen. You can serve it yourself."
"Thanks."
After the man said thank you, he got up and went to the kitchen.
After a while, the man came out with a full bowl of rice and sat down again.
"Crunch..."
Just as the man was eating his second bowl of rice, a black car drove in outside the rest stop. The landlady immediately stood up and walked out the door.
The car door opened, and a very young man got out of the car. He had fair skin and a childish face. He looked to be less than twenty years old.
After the young man got out of the car, he greeted the proprietress and walked into the store. The first thing he saw was the man. The man also saw the young man. Their eyes met and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
The man held chopsticks in one hand and a bowl in the other. His mouth was bulging, holding a big mouthful of food. He raised his head and looked at the young man blankly.
The two people knew each other, this was the boss's first reaction.
The man looked at the young man, as if he wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth, and in the end, he said nothing. He quickly lowered his head and ate his meal with big mouthfuls.
When the young man saw the man, the corners of his mouth slightly raised into a sneer, which contained a strong sense of sarcasm.
"Lady boss, bring me some of your best dishes, and bring me a bottle of wine by the way." After the man lowered his head, the young man no longer looked at the man, but walked to another table farther away from the man.
He sat down at the table and said to the proprietress standing beside him.
"Okay, please wait a moment."
After saying this, the landlady turned and went to the kitchen. When passing the bar, she said to the girl who was still playing on the computer: "Go to that bottle of wine."
The girl raised her head, glanced at the landlady, then turned her head and glanced at the young man. She stood up reluctantly and took a bottle of white wine from the wine cabinet behind her. Then, she came to the young man and put the bottle in front of the young man.
Putting it on the table, she then turned around and returned to the bar. However, when she sat down, she couldn't help but look at the young man.
The young man is very young. He looks younger than the girl. He must be underage. How can he drink at such a young age?
However, the girl just thought about it. After sitting down, she continued to pick up the mouse and started playing on the computer.
The man who was relaxed just now suddenly became nervous after the young man came in. He lowered his head and ate with big mouthfuls. He looked like the reincarnation of a starving ghost. After the young man sat down, he took some food.
He took out his phone and started fiddling with it, occasionally raising his head and looking at the man with his back turned.
————
When the landlady cooked the food and came out with the fragrant food, she found that the man sitting at the door had disappeared. The plates and bowls on the table were all clean. This made the landlady a little confused and frowned subconsciously.
head.
After the proprietress brought the food to the young man and put it down, she turned her head and looked at the girl who was still playing on the computer behind the bar. She couldn't help but want to curse, but when she thought that the young man behind her might know the man just now, she
He closed his mouth, walked to the table with an ugly face and started to clear away.
The man actually ran away while she was busy. Although the dish was not worth much, she felt very unhappy when she thought of someone eating for nothing.
However, when the landlady walked to the table and started to clear away, she found a stacked and wrinkled hundred-dollar bill under the plate. The unhappiness in the landlady's heart immediately disappeared. She put the money away and turned her head.
I glanced at the young man who was eating his food leisurely, and secretly felt a little lucky. Fortunately, I didn't say anything, otherwise, I would have been embarrassed.
The young man was very busy eating and seemed not in a hurry at all. The lady boss tried to talk to him several times, but she was ignored by the young man. The lady boss stopped looking for trouble and sat down quietly to watch TV.
After dropping a hundred dollars, the man left the rest stop as if running away and started walking along the road, looking back as he walked.
When he saw that the car was still parked at the rest stop, he breathed a sigh of relief, but instead of stopping, he quickened his pace.
If Xu Lang were here at this moment, he would definitely recognize who the man is at a glance. He is Qin Youqi.