beyond the horizon

Luo Yunxi is the third batch assigned to support education in Inner Mongolia.

Getting in the car with dumplings and getting out of the car, the dumplings were knocked out of the stomach when the jeep drove into the pasture. With a pale face, Luo Yunxi moved out of the car while holding the door. As soon as his feet touched the ground, they were immediately crushed under his eyelids. Serve a bowl of egg noodles with floating oil flowers.I don't know how long Luo Yunxi had been waiting for that bowl of noodles, it was already completely cold, and the smell of meat went straight to Tianling Gai, he pinched his palms and endured it again and again, but in the end he couldn't hold it back, turned his head and vomited again.

At this moment, Luo Yunxi was sitting in the office of the Banner Government, holding a cup of hot tea and bowing and apologizing to the whole room.When he bent down, the people in that room quickly bent down even lower. He was ashamed, but the people in the room were even more embarrassed than him.Until Zhao Xiaoqin pressed Luo Yunxi's shoulders and pushed him back to the chair, Luo Yunxi was still explaining to the group of people who had just stepped forward to meet the wind, "It's not because of anything else, it's really because I was motion sick all the way, it was too uncomfortable. It's the first time we met I'm really sorry for being so rude."

Director Li has the highest official position in this room, and Director Li hurriedly said, "What about Mr. Luo? It's because we didn't think about it properly. The teachers have worked hard all the way, so they should rest first."

On the contrary, Zhao Xiaoqin waved his hand very boldly, "Director, we are here to endure hardships. As long as the children have books, we can overcome even the most difficult conditions."

Like Zhao Xiaoqin, Luo Yunxi is an honorable teacher of the people.Luo Yunxi is in his fifth year as a teacher at Beijing Dance Academy, just in time for the central government to call on party members to support education in impoverished counties. deployment.Zhao Xiaoqin is a Ph.D. graduate in Chinese language and literature, and also came to teach. The two met in a jeep.Zhao Xiaoqin has a bright personality, and Luo Yunxi gets along well with her.

The place where the two were assigned was a well-known "big problem" in the banner. The first difficulty was poverty, and the second difficulty was the harsh climate. None of the teachers in the first two batches could survive three months.Luo Yunxi couldn't help feeling a little nervous when he thought of this, and turned his eyes around the people in the room—they were all very young, their faces showed the dark color that had been exposed to the sun and wind when they called the police, their cheekbones were full and swollen, some wore Mongolian robes, some Wearing a sweatshirt, most of the clothes are too old to show their original color, but they are still clean and tidy.

This land endowed its children with broad backs and solid chests, but at the moment they all had their chests and waists bent, as if they were afraid of showing their reckless burly in this small house.Pairs of dark eyes carefully explored Luo Yunxi's face, like a herd of timid cows.

They were afraid that their poor hospitality would make Luo Yunxi, like the previous two supporting teachers, get into the jeep quietly one day and never come back again.

Luo Yunxi thought again of the unfinished bowl of noodles, which was white in color and had two eggs lying in it.Wheat flour in this place is expensive, and it is said that it can be exchanged for cattle, sheep, and even a wife. The bowl of polished rice noodles that made him vomit was made by many families.Zhao Xiaoqin sat there with no regard for details, while Luo Yunxi's empty stomach was dragged down by guilt.

But he was not only ashamed, he felt a strong sense of responsibility under such a sincere and hot gaze.I will never leave.He swears to himself in his heart that all suffering is a paper tiger, which looks scary and can be broken with a single poke.Besides, when it comes to bearing hardships, if he is a dance performance professional, if he is second in terms of ranking, no one in the world dares to be number one.

Sure enough, Director Li's next sentence explained the difficult situation in Qili to the two teachers straight to the point.

"Few people live in brick houses in Qili, and most of them still live in yurts on the grassland. Under such circumstances, if you want to teach children, one of the two teachers can only stay in the village and the other go to the grassland, but the grassland environment must be It's worse, not to mention the climate is changeable—”

Director Li hadn't finished speaking, this time it was Luo Yunxi who waved his hand.

"Director, we all understand the situation you explained. Teacher Zhao is a lesbian. Let her stay. I will go to the grassland."

It was December at this time, and the further we went to the depths of the grassland, the more obvious the coldness became.Luo Yunxi wrapped her military overcoat tightly, but still couldn't help shivering.The scenery outside the car window quickly reversed. Looking up, the sky was gray-blue, the clouds were huge and heavy, the land was withered and yellow, and the surroundings were barren. Only tumbleweeds were chasing the tires.

He didn't bring much luggage, because Zhao Xiaoqin kindly gave Luo Yunxi her red accordion because of the sudden decision to divide the army into two groups, saying that in the hinterland of the grassland, there was no TV signal, and it was just for fun when bored.The folks heard that Mr. Luo was going to live in a yurt, so they gathered some freshly made quilts for him.In their eyes, the slender Luo Yunxi was not even stronger than his own newborn lamb, as if a gust of cold wind could kill him.

The jeep sent them to the place and returned.Director Li borrowed an old pickup truck from a neighbor, and found a local driver to accompany him to send Luo Yunxi off.

Director Li is old and his temples are graying.Luo Yunxi learned from the conversation that he is also a Han Chinese. When he was young, he went to the countryside and came here.Director Li coughed twice, lit a dry cigarette, and then said to Luo Yunxi, on this land, you can see all the appearances of poverty, but even in this dry soil, tumbleweeds will take root, and so do people. .

All living beings, until the moment of death, will eventually return to the soil and form the deepest bond with the land. This is a predestined fate.When a person is alive, on which piece of land grows a bright red beating heart, that piece of land is his hometown.

The pickup drove forward without hesitation, as if it wanted to cross this barren land and pierce into the barren heart of the prairie.

The sun was fading away, Luo Yunxi was drowsy, the driver suddenly braked, he was unprepared, he rushed forward suddenly, his eyes widened and he saw someone jumping out of nowhere in front of the car, he was so scared that he immediately fell asleep nothing.The person who stopped the car was an old man in a woolen cap, still holding a whip in his hand. Seeing that the pickup had stopped, he walked around to the side and knocked on the window with a smile.

The window was slowly lowered, and a smell of dust rushed into the car.

"What's wrong with the sheep?" Director Li asked quite familiarly.

"There is nothing wrong with the sheep, nor is there anything wrong with the cows," the old man scratched his head shyly, and said in Chinese with a strong local accent, "It was my two nephews who had an accident. They came out of the juvenile prison today. There's nowhere to go."

After hearing this, Director Li showed a tangled expression.

"I will retire from the banner government next week, so I can't help them arrange any jobs."

The old man hurriedly said again: "There is no need to arrange work, Director Li, can you let them follow you? You don't need to worry about food and clothing, as long as you follow you."

Director Li covered his mouth with his hand, and coughed in a low voice—Luo Yunxi noticed that he seemed to be coughing frequently along the way, which was very serious. He even took medicine once in the middle, and he didn't know what was wrong with him.

"Okay then. The two of them came out today, why didn't you pick them up?"

"Ouch, more than half of my sheep have not returned home, and I don't have time to pick them up. I'll let those two boys find their way back."

"You let them come back by themselves, and they don't know where they are going. Well, let me see off Teacher Luo first, and then drive this car to pick up Wardler and Hazab after Mr. Luo is settled down. "

"Okay, thank you, Director. Thank you too, Mr. Luo, thank you for coming here." The old man said as he took off his hat and pressed it in his arms. He tiptoed over Director Li's shoulder and sent a grateful look into the car. , Luo Yunxi got up from his seat, and bowed slightly.

The ground is open, and through the windshield, Luo Yunxi can clearly see how the sun changes from bright white to reddish yellow, and the car seems to be running after the trajectory of the setting sun.

"Director Li, are you not feeling well?" Luo Yunxi asked.

Director Li paused and sighed, "Lung cancer, it's advanced."

Luo Yunxi clenched his hands, and he forced himself to look straight ahead.The sun was half sunk on the horizon.

"Director Li, it's getting dark, let's pick up the two children you mentioned first. It's dark, and if they don't go home, the family will be anxious."

From a distance, Luo Yunxi thought it was two wooden stakes in front of the juvenile prison, but when he got closer, he realized that they were two people.

It was already night at this time, Luo Yunxi closed his front twice, and quickly walked in front of them.He knew now that it was not just two people, but two children, as if they had just escaped from the center of a category [-] hurricane, and there was a bear besides them.

Director Li was persuaded by him to get in the car.The temperature outside was really low, and every time he took a breath, he felt that ice was forming in his lungs.He has no reason to let Director Li get out of the car in this weather.

"Director Li asked me to pick you up." Luo Yunxi stomped his feet and said in Chinese.It wasn't until then that he seemed to remember something, and raised his head and asked the two children, "Do you understand Chinese?"

"Understandable!" One of the tall children rushed to answer with a substandard pronunciation.He smiled, and a bunch of hair protruded ridiculously from the hole in the felt hat, looking a little silly.The child next to him didn't smile, his face was full of guard, and he stared at Luo Yunxi, as if two knives were about to fly out from under his eyelids.

Luo Yunxi glanced at the non-smiling one, "Wodele." Then he glanced at the smirking one, "Hazab."

"Wrong, he is Wardle, and I am Hazab." The one who didn't smile said, raising his chin at Luo Yunxi provocatively.Luo Yunxi quietly rubbed his numb fingertips in his sleeves.It was really too cold. The two children in front of them wore thin old sweaters with only a thin padded jacket with cotton wool exposed, but the two of them looked radiant. After all, their young age took advantage.

In fact, he had already greeted him in the car. Director Li said that Wardler was the elder brother and Hazab was the younger brother.The elder brother doesn't understand, but the younger brother understands.

But Luo Yunxi won't say it directly.He happened to have taught a lot of kids, and he had a knack for dealing with problem students.

He smiled, looking indifferent, with a frozen red fingertip showing from his sleeve, pointing at the two of them and saying: "The elder brother is Wodele, and the younger brother is Hazab. The elder brother has canine teeth when he smiles, and the younger brother has good eyes." Beautiful." His voice was already gentle, his tone was light and slow, with ups and downs, as if he was singing a nursery rhyme.

The two brothers were amused by him—it's just that Wardler showed an unbearable expression and rolled his eyes to the sky with a mockery, while Hazab lowered his head belatedly and smiled shyly.But it doesn't matter, at least Luo Yunxi still saw Wo Dele's tiger teeth, and Hazabu's eyes were indeed very bright, like the sun when he was not smiling, and like stars when he was smiling.

Luo Yunxi led Wardler and Hazab slowly to the car.Behind him, the two brothers winked and communicated in Mongolian, sneering from time to time, planning something bad, but Luo Yunxi didn't care, he was thinking about another thing.

"You two, do you want to be my student?" Luo Yunxi asked.He was worried that Director Li's physical condition could no longer take care of these two troublemakers.

"Student? Are you a teacher?" Hazab answered excitedly, and Wardler gave him a hard look and warned him to shut up.

"Yes, my name is Luo Yunxi, a new support teacher. I know that many herdsmen's children can only speak Mongolian, but I can only speak Chinese. You all know it. You can follow me and be my student. Teaching assistant." Luo Yunxi stood still and looked back at the two of them, "Food and lodging are included. And when you get back to the car, you have to say that you voluntarily."

"Teaching assistant" is a new term for them, but "food and lodging included" is not.

"Is it okay?" Luo Yunxi did not show the gesture of an elder, but asked politely.

The two brothers, you look at me, I look at you, and you can see the wavering in each other's eyes.They were so hungry that they didn't even know where to eat their next meal.Luo Yunxi waited quietly, Hazabu carefully asked Wardle with his eyes, can we?

Wardle looked at Luo Yunxi from head to toe.He is not as strong as other men on the prairie. Even wrapped in a heavy coat, his shadow is still only a thin strip under the moonlight.He was weak as a lamb, and the two of them could easily subdue him, knock him out, take all his money, and run away.Thinking of it this way, Wardler felt a little relieved.

"Deal! You'd better not lie to us." Ward said angrily.

"Report! Teacher, I want to eat dumplings!" Hazab was completely ignorant of Wardler's thoughts.When he looked at Luo Yunxi, he only saw a long-term meal ticket.

"Okay." Luo Yunxi smiled, turned around and continued walking in the direction of the car, "But you don't need to call for a report when you talk to me in the future."

The shadows of the two boys landed beside him, one left and one right, a gray and fluffy mass.They were not close to him, and they carefully maintained a safe distance enough to protect themselves. He could see that no matter whether it was the elder brother or the younger brother, there was a kind of animal instinct in them.

Here is the depths of the grassland, the TV has no signal, and advanced technology cannot benefit anyone here, only nature can make people truly awe.The creatures nurtured by the Immortal Heaven follow the most ancient law, the only truth is that the strong eat the weak.

And now—Luo Yunxi closed his frozen hands to his mouth, exhaled, and rubbed his palms vigorously—now he was going to try to adopt two strange little wild wolves under the most difficult living conditions.Worst case he gets an arm eaten by wolves, best case he gets a chance to pet their heads without getting an arm eaten.

God bless me to survive this winter.Luo Yunxi thought in her heart.