South of Chutian

The second village visited is only an hour's drive from the county seat, and the road is much easier to walk. The off-road vehicle they took was parked in the newly built basketball court, next to the village's reading room.

"It's done well," Sun Jihao looked around, "The mobile phone signal here is also pretty good."

"I don't know how the village where Senior Sister and the others went."

"They're miserable," Sun Jihao shook his head, and handed the phone to Tang Heng, "They're still on the road right now, and they probably won't arrive within two hours."

On the screen was a WeChat dialog between him and Lu Yue. Lu Yue sent a photo of the blue river in the mountains, and said: It's still early.Tang Heng saw that the note he gave Lu Yue was "Leadership", followed by an emoji of the moon.

"Let's go back early today," Tang Heng said, "I will transfer data with you tonight."

"Probably not a problem. The condition of this village is pretty good at first glance." Sun Jihao patted Tang Heng on the shoulder and said with a simple smile, "It's just that if you help me get it done, I can even take your senior sister to the county town for a stroll."

As he said, the economic conditions of this village are indeed much better than that of Banxi Village. After visiting around, Tang Heng saw cars parked in the yards of several families.At 03:30 in the afternoon, they finished their work and returned to the hotel.

"Junior brother, take your time, this data cannot be changed after being uploaded, be careful." Sun Jihao got up and left after speaking, with a look of complete relief.

In the evening, Tang Heng received a call from the United States.

"I've already contacted you, a graduate student from Guizhou University. I'll probably be there tomorrow morning." Jiang Ya's voice came from the phone, and Tang Heng felt a bit like a lifetime away.

"Well, good," Tang Heng paused, "I'm sorry to trouble you."

"Are you being polite to me?"

"It's been a long time since I saw you."

"Hey, it's not easy to hear such words from your mouth," Jiang Ya laughed, "Dad didn't love you for nothing."

"roll."

"Seriously, someone poisoned you?"

"It's not poison, I suspect it's... sleeping pills."

"Fuck, don't scare me!"

"Don't worry," Tang Heng stared at the unfinished bottle of buffalo milk, "I can handle it."

On the other end of the phone, Jiang Ya was silent for a moment.Tang Heng asked: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I was just thinking," he said and laughed again, "In the past, you probably just beat others up, but now you know how to check first, is there any progress?"

"Have I been this irritable before?"

"No, do you remember An Yun's bass? It was abruptly interrupted by you."

"... Bess?"

"The silver gray one."

"I remembered."

"Tang Heng," he suddenly lowered his voice, and his tone became serious, "I'm going back to China next month, and I'm planning to go to Hunan."

"..."

"Xiaoqin's memorial day is here, I'll go and see her. If you're free... let's get together?"

Tang Heng frowned, and replied softly: "Let's talk."

Jiang Ya smiled: "Okay."

It's really strange that Jiang Ya is willing to go back to China.In my impression, this person has been abroad for six years, and only returned to China once - he still went to Hong Kong to do a project, and never entered the mainland.Tang Heng even once thought that he would never meet Jiang Ya again, at least not in China.As for An Yun, she lost contact even more.Ordinarily, she and Jiang Ya are in the United States, although one is on the east coast and the other is on the west coast, but there is no chance of meeting - but Jiang Ya said that they did not have the opportunity to meet.I don't know what An Yun is busy with.

The three of them have a WeChat group, but no one talks in the group.Regardless of Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, New Year's Day, or New Year's Eve, no one spoke.Not even a word of blessing.Tang Heng knew that this was their tacit agreement, they could no longer be friends, the world was far apart, the old year and the new year, they knew that each other was still living in this world, that was enough.If it wasn't for the emergency this time, he wouldn't have contacted Jiang Ya for help.

But Jiang Ya is going back to China?Tang Heng stared at Li Yuechi's WeChat avatar on the screen, a little dazed.As if he had made an appointment, the old people and the past appeared in front of him, making him restless.

At 05:30 the next morning, Tang Heng saw the graduate student of Guizhou University at the entrance of the hotel.He drove here overnight, and his expression was a little sluggish.

"Thank you." Tang Heng handed him the black plastic bag in his hand, "This is it... Please go back and have a look."

"You suspect that there are sleeping pills in the milk?"

"I'm not sure if it's a sleeping pill, but the effect is drowsiness."

"I see. I'm going back to school for testing, and the results will be available tonight at the earliest."

"Thanks, let me know the result immediately, and keep this matter secret."

"OK."

The boy returned to the car with the plastic bag, and soon the car disappeared from Tang Heng's sight.At this time, the sky is dim, and a few rays of sunlight are exposed from the distant skyline.Tang Heng thought, another sunny day.This is his fourth day in Shijiang. If everything goes well, he will stay here for another seven days.

On the way back to the room, I ran into Manager Qi again.He stood alone by the pool smoking a cigarette, and when he saw Tang Heng, he was surprised: "Teacher Tang, why did you get up so early?"

"I can't sleep anymore, come out for a walk."

"Hey, you're so young, you can't fall asleep," Manager Qi said with a smile, "It's really hard to fall asleep at my age."

"Really?" Tang Heng also smiled, "You are not a few years older than me, are you?"

"36."

"It's about the same as my senior brother."

"I just feel that after the age of 35, the energy is obviously not as good as before."

"You're working too hard."

"I can't help it, I want to make money," Manager Qi put out the cigarette butt, and smiled helplessly, "My wife and children are all supported by me."

The third village was farther than Banxi Village, and the mountain road was winding. This time, there were only the driver and Tang Heng in the carriage.When turning a corner, Tang Heng was swayed by the inertia. He realized that Li Yuechi was not there, and the compartment of the off-road vehicle was actually empty.But in fact Li Yuechi is so thin - I can't explain why I feel this way.

Tang Heng asked the driver nonchalantly, "Is Xiao Li busy these two days?"

"I heard that he went to Chongqing to deliver the goods."

"yes."

"Looks like he left yesterday?" The driver's tone was a little envious, "What do you think, boss, he made a special trip to deliver the goods, and he must have made a lot of money this trip."

Tang Heng laughed, but didn't speak.He thought Li Yuechi was so afraid of being pestered by him?So that he tried so hard to avoid him, and even hid in other places.In fact, it doesn't have to be like this at all, he is no longer as unscrupulous as he was six years ago, and he must take everything he likes.

It wasn't until after five o'clock in the afternoon that they completed the task of visiting.The location of this village is really remote. Some villagers have already moved away, and they can't see anyone, so they have to call one by one to find out the situation.Coupled with the steep mountain roads, it is impossible to drive in many places, and you have to rely on your legs.It was nearly eight o'clock in the evening when we got back to the hotel. The students were so tired that they staggered around. Even Sun Jihao got motion sickness.He waved his hand at Tang Heng: "Junior Brother, I'll upload the data tomorrow...I'm going back to sleep..."

"Don't you have dinner yet?"

"Let's talk when I wake up... Oh, tell Lu Yue for me, let's make a video call between her and Ke Ke at night... I'm really bored." Ke Ke is their daughter.

Tang Heng responded and watched Sun Jihao enter the room.