time stop

Here are the strongest drinks and the craziest people.

Zhuang Xiaohe is only 14 years old this year, but he has already gone out to do business with his father and brother.The three dealers and several other companies formed a large caravan. The purpose this time was to buy silk and tea to foreigners.In March, they set off from Jiangnan and headed north all the way. Now they have reached Jinsha Pass and are about to pass through the entire desert.

There was a piece of yellow sand everywhere, and if it wasn't for the dead Populus euphratica that appeared from time to time, Zhuang Xiaohe would have thought that the group of them had lost their way.But it didn't help, he hadn't seen anyone else for a long time, and he felt like walking in a ghost town.

When he saw this place for the first time, he remembered that when he passed by the private school, the master inside shook his head and said, "The desert is solitary, the smoke is straight, and the long river is setting in the sun."Different from Jiangnan's tenderness, the boldness here deeply shocked Zhuang Xiaohe's little head. He still didn't quite understand what the master said, but somewhere in the dark, he felt an indescribable touch. On the verge of feeling, he thought that his master had spent his whole life teaching in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. Although he had read a lot of books and was respected by the whole village, he must not have traveled as many places as he did.

Yes, in the 14 years before Zhuang Xiaohe, the world he thought was just his own town, maybe with the addition of the town where the aunt next door kept showing off when he came.But this journey opened a teenager's eyes quickly. He realized the vastness of the world and was proud of having traveled so many roads.

But on the third day Zhuang Xiaohe stayed in this desert, he was no longer surprised by this desert. The hot wind blowing on his face did not bring him a moment of coolness, but made him more stuffy.Zhuang Xiaohe wiped the sweat from his forehead, raised his head and squinted his eyes to look at the sun, and licked his dry lips again.

Zhuang Xiaohe began to miss the lingering Jiangnan water town. He couldn't help but think of the well in his yard. In summer, cold water can always be drawn from it. It relieves heat.He also thought of the river next to the village. It is said that several people drowned in it. His mother always told him not to go down the river, but he still liked to go swimming with Brother Huzi and the others. Chasing him all over the yard with a feather duster is better than dying in this crappy place.

When he left home, he had vowed to his mother and sister that he would earn money and go back. Now he was a little embarrassed, thinking that if he didn’t come to this ghost place, he would find a job in the town. Can make money; on the other hand, the stubbornness of the young man gave him the idea that he could not flinch.

Zhuang Xiaohe lowered his head and walked forward with the large army. His water bag was empty. Despite the reminder from his father and brother, he still drank the water irresistibly. Water is very important in the desert, and it is not a last resort. At that time, they would not distribute their water sources to useless young people, even if they were their own fathers and brothers, they could not give water to him. This was a rule, and it was also to teach Zhuang Xiaohe a lesson.

Suddenly, everyone quickened their pace and ran forward excitedly.

Zhuang Xiaohe raised his head and found an inn in front of him with the wine flag of "Golden Sands Inn".

Uncle Mo, the leader of the team, yelled skillfully at the door of the inn: "The waiter!"

A waiter in some dirty clothes ran out and skillfully helped them pull the rope, tied up the camels, and put a handful of hay for the camels.

Before them, there was a horse and a camel hitched to the shed.

Zhuang Xiaohe quietly followed the big team to the inn. They sat at two tables in total.

Xiao Er came over with a towel, wiped off a thick layer of loess on the table, and greeted courteously: "Is it better to stay in the hotel as a guest officer?"

Uncle Mo said skillfully: "Stay in the hotel, and then serve some wine and food."

The shop waiter left immediately.

Zhuang Xiaohe looked curiously at the inn in the desert, wandered around curiously, and accidentally met the eyes of the leader, Uncle Mo.

Zhuang Xiaohe has always been afraid of this leader, he looks too fierce, and there is an old scar on his face that snakes from the corner of his eye to his bushy beard. The older boys were also in awe of him.

Uncle Mo glanced at Zhuang Xiaohe, the sternness on his face was undisguised, Zhuang Xiaohe froze in fear.

A kind Uncle Zhao who was walking with them smiled and said to Zhuang Xiaohe: "The road ahead will be more difficult than this, and the inn will no longer be visible. Take a good rest and take a bath now."

Zhuang Xiaohe nodded towards Uncle Zhao, indicating that he understood.

Then he looked around and found two people sitting in the store, it seemed that they were the owners of the two animals in the shed.

A younger and older man, about 25 years old, dressed in the Central Plains, with a sword on the table, wearing a bamboo hat, his face could not be seen clearly, was drinking.The boy who looked younger, probably not yet 20 years old, looked a little older than Zhuang Xiaohe, dressed in local clothes, wearing wolf fur clothes, very good-looking, and was stretching out his chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat.Seeing Zhuang Xiaohe looking at him, the greedy young man was not angry, and smiled at him, but Zhuang Xiaohe felt a little embarrassed.

After a while, the waiter brought the cut meat to the table, followed by the proprietress holding the wine jar.

The proprietress looks pretty old, but she still looks pretty.Zhuang Xiaohe couldn't tell how beautiful it was, because his brain, which hadn't read a few books, didn't know what "amorous feelings" was!

The proprietress poured everyone a bowl of wine, even Zhuang Xiaohe had it, and he took a sip cautiously along with the others, his facial features wrinkled from the heat.

Everyone in the store laughed, except for the man with the sword, even Uncle Mo, who had always been cold-faced, grinned.

The beautiful proprietress laughed tremblingly, and said to Zhuang Xiaohe: "It's okay for a man not to know how to drink."

Speaking of which, the proprietress also poured a bowl of wine for herself. After toasting everyone, she raised her neck and drank until the bottom of the bowl was clean. She turned the bowl down to signal that she had finished drinking.

"Good! Good!" The applause broke out.

Everyone also drank up the wine in front of them, Zhuang Xiaohe hesitated looking at everyone present.

The proprietress looked at Zhuang Xiaohe with a pair of beautiful eyes and a smile.

Zhuang Xiaohe shook his heart, picked up the wine bowl in front of him, drank it clean, put the bowl away, looked at everyone in front of him with drunken eyes, then slammed his head on the table, and fell asleep up.

Zhuang Xiaohe's drunken naivety made everyone burst into laughter again, and Yu Sheng in the corner also picked up the meat while laughing so that his chopsticks shook, and if he didn't pay attention, the meat fell back into the plate.

It was already the second day when Zhuang Xiaohe woke up, and everyone in the caravan was ready to set off.So Zhuang Xiaohe just missed the only chance to take a bath in the desert. He got up a little annoyed, cleaned himself up, at least filled his water bag, otherwise he might really die of thirst in the desert.

The helpless Zhuang Xiaohe was once again forced to embark on a journey to the desert, and he also found that the boy who smiled at him in the store yesterday had disappeared, and the hero with the sword had also disappeared.

It was another day of arduous trekking. For a relatively comfortable inn, such conditions were even more unacceptable to everyone. They kept thinking of the Jinsha Inn with wine, meat, hot bath water, and a beautiful proprietress.

At night, they found a flat sandy place with a leeward wind, and the camels formed a circle, and they lit a bonfire in the circle and rested on the spot.

Uncle Zhao took a sip from his water bag and said, "The Jinsha Inn is not enough to see in ordinary times, but in this desert, there is nothing more comfortable than there!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, except Uncle Mo, who was always strict and unsmiling. He leaned on the camel and closed his eyes to rest, not participating in their discussion.

Although Zhuang Xiaohe was put in a bowl of desert spirits, he didn't enjoy the delicious food or the hot bath water in their mouths, but just based on the open-air rest, this place has a roof and a shed. The Sands Inn is just fine. I don’t know how many levels it is.

The caravan was full of men, some married and some not, and everyone chatted unscrupulously about some men and women, and it was inevitable to talk about the beautiful proprietress of the Jinsha Inn.

The nasty words followed one after another, mixed with some malicious jokes, Zhuang Xiaohe pretended to be asleep, lying on the sand with his eyes closed, his face flushed.

Everyone was chatting excitedly when a half-grown boy saw a flame approaching them in the distance.

The kid was half joking, half a little scared and said: "Could it be the robbers in the desert? I heard that there is a group of gangsters called vultures in the desert. They kill people like hemp, and they will rob everyone!"

At first glance, he looked like a novice who was doing business with a caravan for the first time.

Uncle Zhao laughed, turned on the bonfire and said, "There are no gangsters. I have traveled through the desert so many times and have never encountered one. Don't listen to the storytellers' nonsense."

Before he finished speaking, Uncle Mo opened his eyes and looked into the distance. He suddenly turned pale with shock, stood up, and shouted to everyone: "Pack up your things, run quickly, the robbers are coming." I saw the shining knife in the flames.

Everyone was shocked, packed up their things one after another, pulled the camel and ran forward, Uncle Mo shouted: "All together, don't get separated!"

In such a desert, there are countless bones buried under the yellow sand. If you don’t pay attention, they will turn into white bones. If those inexperienced people get lost, they can’t find water, and they can’t get out of this place. A desert with only one outcome.

That is death!