South of Chutian

Under the blue sky and the sun, Tang Heng felt his eyes go dark.

Li Yuechi was wearing yesterday's gray jacket. It was windy in the morning, and his collar was turned up, covering half of his face.After finishing the mouth movements, he didn't speak, but just stood there and looked at Tang Heng.

Sun Jihao let out an "ah" and called out tremblingly, "Brother?"

"Teacher Sun," Li Yuechi said with a smile, "good morning."

"Early, early, hey, Xiao Li, why are you here—Junior Brother, have you finished your meal? Wait, I have something to tell you, Junior Brother!"

Tang Heng ignored him and strode away.

To be precise, escaped.

Li Yuechi did not chase.

A quarter of an hour later, Tang Heng was sitting in the back seat of the off-road vehicle, and the team was ready to go.Seeing that the car in front had already driven off, Tang Heng asked the driver, "Why don't you leave?"

The driver turned his head and glanced at Tang Heng with a puzzled expression: "We still need someone, leader."

"Who?"

"Xiao Li—here we come."

Before he finished speaking, the passenger door was opened, and Li Yuechi leaned over and sat in.He greeted the driver, then took out a medicine box from his pocket, and handed it to Tang Heng expressionlessly.

Tang Heng was stunned for two seconds before taking it, and suddenly remembered that yesterday's motion sickness stickers were used up, and there were no stickers today.

No, no, the point wasn't that he gave him another box of motion sickness stickers.

"Why are you here?" Tang Heng asked, ignoring the driver.

Li Yuechi: "I am your guide for visiting the village."

"You?" They really need a guide when they enter the village. First, they have to go door to door with someone to guide the way. The houses in the mountainous area are not like the houses in the plains.

But according to regulations, the guide must be a villager in the village.

Li Yuechi turned his back to Tang Heng and said calmly, "You guys go to Banxi Village today."

"Um."

"My family lives there."

Banxi Village is located in the southwest of Yinjiang County, and it takes about two hours to drive there—after the road was built in 2015.

"What about 15 years ago?" Looking at the rolling mountains outside the window, Tang Heng suddenly found it hard to imagine that this narrow road was only built two years ago.

"At that time, there were dirt roads, and it was very difficult to walk." The driver was very talkative, "My wife's cousin-in-law is from this village. He went out to work in [-] and went to Wenzhou. It took him five years! It's hard to earn money. After paying some money, his old lady fell ill again, it’s that kind of emergency. He hurried back to see him for the last time, but there was a mudslide on the road, and he didn’t make it in the end...” The off-road vehicle had already driven out of the county town, driving on a flat road On the asphalt road, there are still mountains on both sides of the road, and the distance is dark and green, and the gray-brown rock walls are jagged and undulating nearby. Tang Heng found it difficult to imagine how to live in such a place.

The off-road vehicle drove into the tunnel, and within a short ten seconds, the field of vision was plunged into darkness.Tang Heng heard his own voice: "You used to go to school in Wuhan from home, how did you get there?"

When the light came back, Li Yuechi said: "Take someone else's car to the county seat, take the car to Tongren, and then take the train."

"Is it troublesome?"

"Fortunately."

"Of course it's troublesome!" The driver took the conversation, "Teacher, you grew up in the city, right?"

"……Yes."

"You don't know our place. They say that if you want to get rich, you should build roads first. There's nothing wrong with that!" The driver turned the steering wheel, and Tang Heng saw a straight cliff two or three meters away from the off-road vehicle. "Let's put it this way, Mr. Tang, Before the road was repaired, from Banxi Village to the county seat, the road conditions were normal, and it would take a whole day—it was all mountain roads, so there were detours!"

Looking at Li Yuechi's indifferent profile, Tang Heng didn't know what to say, so he could only say, "Fortunately, the road has been repaired."

"That's right! It's all about good national policies, and your Macau is also good. We really want to thank you..." The driver smiled honestly and said with emotion, "Our place is really too poor. People are in the mountains and cannot walk. Get out."

The off-road vehicle shuttled between the mountains, and the wind was strong on sunny days. Sometimes when it drove to places without asphalt roads, the dust would explode like an explosion. Tang Heng had to close the windows of the car. Soon, the glass was covered with a layer of brown dust.Nearly 180-degree turns followed one after another. Although the motion sickness stickers were posted, Tang Heng still felt a little dizzy and closed his eyes.

After another tunnel, the driver suddenly stopped the car not long after.

Tang Heng opened his eyes: "Are you there?"

"It's still half an hour. Why did the one in front stop?" The driver poked his head out of the car window to look around, and shouted, "What's the matter?"

"Motion sickness!" The driver of the previous car responded from a distance, "The student vomited!"

Tang Heng pushed open the car door: "I'll go and have a look."

There were four students sitting in the previous car. When Tang Heng walked over, he saw a Macau girl squatting on the side of the road with a bottle of opened mineral water standing by her feet.

"Is it better?" Tang Heng asked her.

"It's much better after vomiting, teacher," she said in a low voice, with a slightly aggrieved look, "I obviously took motion sickness medicine...the roads in this place are too winding."

"Try to get over it, just this one time—you take a break, we'll start again in 10 minutes," Tang Heng took out a motion sickness sticker from his pocket and handed it to her, "Put this on."

"Ah, thank you teacher..."

Tang Heng turned around and was immediately stunned.Li Yuechi was standing not far from him, he didn't know when he followed.

Li Yuechi said: "Teacher Tang, can you come here?" He was very polite in front of the students.

Tang Heng walked over, and the two stood by the side of the road, a few steps away was the cliff.

Li Yuechi said, "Let's take a break," and then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. It was the Zhonghua that Tang Heng bought, "Have one?"

The students also got off the bus and stood on the road far and near to breathe.Ordinarily one shouldn't smoke in front of students, but at this moment, Tang Heng couldn't refuse Li Yuechi, he knew he was a little guilty.

Tang Heng held a cigarette in his mouth, Li Yuechi took out the lighter, arched his other hand to block the wind, and lit it for him.

Tang Heng asked: "You don't smoke?"

Li Yuechi shook his head.

Tang Heng had no choice but to take a puff of cigarette alone: ​​"I didn't expect to be so far away."

"Yes," Li Yuechi smiled, "Why do you think you have to come here to suffer?"

Tang Heng squeezed Yan's hand for a moment, thinking to himself, he really heard that sentence.

"Since you're only here this time, why don't you come at all, aren't you very motion sick?" Li Yuechi still smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I mean her, she's only here this time...not me."

"Then will you come?"

"..."

A few steps away is the cliff, and the mountain wind in the morning is extremely harsh.

Tang Heng stared at the cliff, and after a few seconds, Li Yuechi beside him suddenly said, "Don't be afraid."

"I do not have."

"You're afraid that I'll push you down," Li Yuechi took two steps forward, turning into a posture facing Tang Heng with his back to the cliff, "Is this all right? Only you can push me down."

Tang Heng's heart was shaken, and he said in a low voice, "That's not what I meant!"

"In this way, we can rest assured," Li Yuechi said, "After all, I have stabbed someone before."

Tang Heng was speechless, only feeling terrified.The mountain wind blew the hem of Li Yuechi's jacket fluttering. Tang Heng secretly estimated that if Li Yuechi jumped off the cliff in the next second, his reaction speed and the distance between them would be enough for him to catch him.But why did Li Yuechi jump off?What was he thinking about?

"Can I ask a question?"

"You ask." Maybe even Tang Heng himself didn't notice that his voice was trembling.

"Why did you come to Shijiang?"

"Work," Tang Heng paused, "It wasn't supposed to be me, a teacher was hospitalized, so I was temporarily replaced."

"You agree?"

"At first I didn't know it was Shi Jiang."

"What happens after you know?"

"I think," Tang Heng said with difficulty, "I don't think it's such a coincidence, I just ran into you."

"Well," Li Yuechi thought thoughtfully, "It's your bad luck."

"It's good to meet again."

"Anyway, you won't come a second time."

"..." Tang Heng knew he couldn't deny it.

A long white cloud passed across the sky, blocking the sun.It was getting darker and the wind seemed to be getting stronger.At a certain moment just now, the thought did flash across: Li Yuechi wouldn't push him down, would he?

After all, he should hate him, of course not only him, but also his uncle, their family.If he hadn't met them, Li Yuechi's life would not be like this.

He didn't mean that Li Yuechi was bad, but if Li Yuechi really pushed him down, it would be understandable.

"Then why are you in Macau?" Li Yuechi asked again.

"When I graduated, the school over there was recruiting, so I went."

"that's it?"

"that's it."

Li Yuechi lowered his eyes and shook his head to himself.He just asked a few questions, and his tone was even a little aggressive, but Tang Heng looked at him, but felt a burst of sadness for no reason.

"Tang Heng," Li Yuechi said, "Do you know why Macau helps the poor in Guizhou?"

Tang Heng was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that he called him by his full name.First time since reunion.

"...Because of national policy?"

"There is another explanation," Li Yuechi said earnestly. "I just found out yesterday that Macau's drinking water comes from the Xijiang River, and the upper reaches of the Xijiang River flow through Guizhou. The news said that Macau helped Guizhou to help the poor because they drank water from the same river."

"...Is that so?"

Drink a river together.

So from the moment he decided to go to work in Macau, the reunion on this trip was already arranged?

Tang Heng had mixed feelings in his heart, and forced a smile from the corner of his mouth: "That's really a coincidence."

"Yes." Li Yuechi looked past Tang Heng and looked at an off-road vehicle in front of him. Tang Heng also turned his head to look over, and saw the motion sick girl raised her head and drank a few sips of mineral water before getting into the off-road vehicle .

There must be nothing wrong.

"We'll be leaving soon," Li Yuechi lowered his voice, "How about we make a bet? It's such a coincidence to meet again, it's a pity not to bet once."

Tang Heng hesitated, "What bet?"

"I took three steps back. If I missed it, you would have time to stop me, which is equivalent to saving my life. We will settle the past."

"Do not make jokes--"

"If I don't step on the air," Li Yuechi paused for two seconds, "you will stay with me until you return to Macau."

Tang Heng was shocked, almost thinking that he had heard wrong.

But Li Yuechi's expression was too serious, so serious that every word was like a crisp steel hammer, clanging into Tang Heng's eardrum.But what is this, he is still playing with him, or talking angry?

"Li Yuechi, listen to me, I know you have been wronged about the past..." Tang Heng tried his best to sound gentle, "I don't know what your plans are for the future, but I can..."

"One," Li Yuechi took a step back, with a calm expression on his face, followed by another step, "Two—"

"Li Yuechi!!!" Tang Heng rushed up and grabbed his arm violently, using the greatest strength in his life, grabbed him tightly, and pulled him back to his side.

"I promise—I promise you," the cigarette had been thrown away long ago, the veins on his arms were tense, and his heart was beating wildly as if he had died once, "I, we are together." What did he say?I can't take care of it.Li Yuechi is a lunatic.

The driver trotted over upon hearing the sound: "Teacher Tang, what's the matter?"

"It's okay," Li Yuechi let Tang Heng grab her, and said lightly, "We're just joking."

"Oh," the driver assured him, "let's get in the car, we can go."

"Okay."

Tang Heng sat in the car in a daze, only feeling that he was still in place, and in front of him was Li Yuechi who was backing away—he ignored his words, as if he couldn't hear him at all.Only one step, or half a step, and he would fall into the wind like the wind, and he would not be able to catch it.That time six years ago he said, Li Yuechi, don't leave, your brain is chaotic and your body is weak, so you can only let Li Yuechi take all the cash in his trouser pocket, and then watch him disappear at the door from behind.Still powerless this time, he couldn't hold him, the familiar feeling of powerlessness almost crushed him.

Li Yuechi opened the door of the back seat, got into the car from the other side, and sat side by side with Tang Heng.

"Hey, Xiao Li," the driver said, "don't you sit in the front?" He winked at Li Yuechi as he spoke, which meant that the seat in the back was reserved for the leader, why did you pass by?

"Teacher Tang is a bit motion sick." Li Yuechi didn't change his face, "He wants to sleep next to me."

"Oh, then I'll drive more steadily!"

Tang Heng turned his head very slowly, looking at Li Yuechi.

Li Yuechi looked at him and said frankly, "Don't hold on, Teacher Tang."