1988, autumn.

Lop Nur. At noon, the sun was burning.

A boy about 18 years old, wearing a gray sportswear and a pair of gray travel shoes, carrying a black backpack, was listless and walking on the saline-alkali land, surrounded by deserted people, quietly walking across a large slope, two people stood at the bottom, one tall and the other short. The fine dust fell on their faces, making their faces look fragmented and extremely strange.

"Xiaoxiong, go up there?" the tall man asked the boy.

Zhao Xiaoxiong's puzzled eyes moved from the tall face to the short face, and then from the short face to the tall face. The two of them had exactly the same smile on their faces, revealing exactly the same burnt teeth. Zhao Xiaoxiong's nickname was Xiaoxiong. Although they were called the nickname, Zhao Xiaoxiong did not know them and did not know whether he should agree to them.

The short man took a step forward and said to Zhao Xiaoxiong with a smile: "Your father asked us to pick you up. Your father was hit by a car. Now in the clinic, your mother is taking care of your father in the clinic. There is no one in your house, and they are all in the clinic."

When Zhao Xiaoxiong heard that his father was injured and was hospitalized, he was suddenly in a state of chaos. I asked them: "Why did my father get the car injured?"

The tall man said, "Your father came back from outside to collect the rent. A carriage rushed over in front. The horse was frightened and injured your father."

After hearing what they said, Zhao Xiaoxiong no longer doubted that Zhao Xiaoxiong's father reclaimed more than 300 acres of land on the deserted beach and rented it to dozens of families in a radius. Every year after the wheat is harvested, his father would go to these families to collect rent. Zhao Xiaoxiong said with tears in his eyes: "I want to go to the hospital, I want to see my father."

The short man raised his arm and said, "Your father also wants to see you as soon as possible. Follow us. There is a car over there." Zhao Xiaoxiong looked along the short man's hand and saw a small car parked dozens of meters away.

The short man grabbed Zhao Xiaoxiong's arm and pulled into the car. The tall man sat in front of the car. The horse rang all the way and drove towards the town. There was a clinic in the town. However, the car did not stop in the town, but passed through the town and continued to move forward.

Zhao Xiaoxiong asked: "Isn't my father injured? Isn't he in the clinic?"

The short man said, "Your father is in the county hospital, not in the town clinic."

Zhao Xiaoxiong suspected that they were bad guys and shouted: "But you just said that my father was in the clinic... Stop quickly, I'm going home."

The smile on the short man's face suddenly disappeared. He gritted his teeth and looked ferocious. He swung his hand and slapped Zhao Xiaoxiong in the face. Zhao Xiaoxiong made a crisp sound on my cheek, and then it became a scorching pain. I started crying, and the crying sound was like fragments of glass, leaving all the way.

The tall man turned around and cursed, "Cry, block this timid mouth."

The short man took out a piece of dirty cloth from his pocket and stuffed it into my mouth. Then he tied Zhao Xiaoxiong's hands with a thin rope. Zhao Xiaoxiong's mouth couldn't make a sound, and he struggled hard, and his arms were strangled by the thin rope and it was so painful that it was unbearable.

Zhao Xiaoxiong didn't understand. They all smiled so well before, but why did they become like this in the blink of an eye? I felt extremely wronged and puzzled.

After the town disappeared from sight, the car drove forward lightly. I don’t know where they were going to pull Zhao Xiaoxiong, and I don’t know if my parents would be anxious if they couldn’t wait for Zhao Xiaoxiong to come home.

Zhao Xiaoxiong struggled hard, and his whole body was in pain; later, he saw that this was futile and he stopped struggling. After turning a mountain pass, the car was getting slower and slower, the road was getting narrower and narrower, and the slope became steadily. He saw that there were rocky peaks on both sides, and several cypress trees grew tenaciously in the cracks of the mountain. The cypress trees were dense and low, like a brush. A group of crows lived beside the cypress trees, and their chirping sounds were dry and empty, echoing in the empty valley, making people shudder.

Later, the car could no longer walk, and the short man pushed Zhao Xiaoxiong out of the car, and he jumped down. Zhao Xiaoxiong fell heavily on the pile of stones, and the sharp edges of the stone made Zhao Xiaoxiong feel painful. The tall man turned the carriage and drove lightly down the mountain.

The short man pulled out two pairs of straw sandals from his waist, putting one on his own, putting the other pair on Zhao Xiaoxiong's feet, and seeing the pair of special straw sandals with small fronts and large backs, stepping on the ground, just like footprints in the opposite direction. In this way, even if there are people following behind, they will mistakenly think that we were coming down from the mountain and boarding the carriage.

Zhao Xiaoxiong didn't know what they were pulling here for.

The short man pulled Zhao Xiaoxiong to climb higher and higher along the mountain road, and finally came to a cave. The cave was gloomy and terrifying, and there was an unpleasant smell of urine, which made Zhao Xiaoxiong shudder for several times. Suddenly, he came to the dark cave from the scorching sun, as if he had suddenly fallen into an ice cellar.

The short man took out a rag from Zhao Xiaoxiong's mouth, and Zhao Xiaoxiong's crying finally came out. The short man looked at me disdainfully and said, "Cry, cry, no one can hear it here, cry as long as you want."

Since no one can hear it, what else can I cry? I whimpered, and it seemed like a toad was stuffed into my throat. The bumps along the way and the frightened along the way made Zhao Xiaoxiong's body close to exhaustion. Later, Zhao Xiaoxiong was tired and fell asleep in the cave.

When he woke up, Zhao Xiaoxiong saw that the sun was about to set, and the afterglow of the setting sun strolled a layer of golden color on the mountain in front of him. In addition to being short, there was also a bearded man in the cave. Seeing that Zhao Xiaoxiong woke up, he said, "What a fool. When is it, you can still fall asleep." His voice was muffled, as if a broken bell was ringing in his ear.

The bearded and the short man sat on the ground. There was a stone among them, and a whole roast chicken was placed on the stone. The short man tore a piece and put it in his mouth, chewing it squeaked; the bearded and put it in his mouth, and the chicken oil flowed down the corners of his mouth. I hadn't eaten all day, and I was hungry, and my intestines were twisted into twists. Seeing them eating and drinking, the fragrance of chicken drifted into my nostrils, my saliva was almost flowing out, and I swallowed it quickly, and a gurgling sound came from my throat.

The short man looked at Zhao Xiaoxiong and said, "Do you still want to eat? Have a hammer."

The bearded man said, "Give some food. If you starve to death, you will be useless."

The short man threw the leftover chicken bones he gnawed at Zhao Xiaoxiong's feet, and he said, "Give it to you."

Zhao Xiaoxiong knew that short man was an insult to me. When my father fed dogs, he would feed them like this. My father would say to the dog, "Get out after eating." Short man treated me as a dog. However, I was so hungry that I looked at the chicken bones on the ground, and finally couldn't help but walk over, picked them up, and put them in my mouth. I creaked and bit them, chewed the chicken bones and swallowed them.

After they finished eating roast chicken, they opened another can of shochu. The smell of shochu was wandering in the cave, making Zhao Xiaoxiong dizzy. Zhao Xiaoxiong heard the short man ask the bearded: "Did you send the letter?"

The bearded man said, "I've given it. I'm probably reading the letter now."

The short man asked again: "How much did you want?"

The bearded man said: "A thousand dollars, no one child can be missing."

The short man said: "Zhao Xigui has money. If it were me, it would be at least three thousand oceans."

Zhao Xigui is the nickname of Zhao Xiaoxiong's father. His father regards money more important than his life in his life. People say that every copper plate he has strung on his ribs and his family is rich. He eats steamed buns every meal with pickles. Not only does he do this, he also asks the whole family to eat this way. I don't know why they mentioned my father, why they mentioned three thousand of a thousand oceans, and what letters they sent to my father. My father probably doesn't know them, otherwise they wouldn't beat me or let me chew the leftover chicken bones.

The sun sets down the mountain, and the cave quickly becomes dark. The short man takes out the rope and ties Zhao Xiaoxiong to a stone pillar. Zhao Xiaoxiong struggles hard. The short man swings his arm and slaps Zhao Xiaoxiong in the face, angrily shouting: "If you are not good, I will throw you down the valley to feed the wolf."

When Zhao Xiaoxiong heard that the short man wanted to feed me a wolf, he was frightened and dared not struggle anymore.

The bearded and the short man talked about something they couldn't understand. They seemed to be talking about a woman, her skin and body, and they made a shriveled laugh as if they were a male duck.

Suddenly, an extremely shrill cry came from outside the cave. The sound was low and thick, and there was a sharp sound in the middle, as if a spear pierced a shield. The bearded man said, "There is a wolf." The short man took two steps back. Zhao Xiaoxiong saw his thin body trembling like the dead branches and leaves in the wind. Zhao Xiaoxiong was also frightened and trembled all over.

The bearded man said, "There are really wolves."
Chapter completed!