55.055 Stuck in traffic.
As night fell, with the headlights on, Lao Wang and Ning Jin sat in the driver's seat, staring at the road ahead. Su Yu sat alone in the back of the truck. She was most sensitive to the changes in the sky. The wind picked up, and the wind carried the smell of dust mixed with moisture.
The car had been running non-stop from midnight until dawn, trying to hurry through the mountain road. However, the heavens did not hear the three people's prayers, and as soon as six o'clock came the rain.
The car stopped for a moment, and Su Yu stuffed all the things she bought into the canvas. Two quilts, six pounds of twisted dough sticks, and she herself were stuffed into the driver's seat and sat on the untidy tools.
The car continued driving, but after less than half an hour, the road ahead was no longer visible. With no other option, Old Wang had to pull the handbrake and stop the car in the rain, waiting for it to stop.
"Won't the saccharin at the back get wet?" Su Yu asked.
"No, the canvas is folded into three layers, so it's waterproof." Ning Jin saw that she was sitting uncomfortably with her back hunched and head down, so he moved his body outward and pulled her over, saying, "Come on, sit down with me. Who knows how long this rain will last? You must be uncomfortable sitting like that."
Upon hearing this, Su Yu glanced at Lao Wang. Seeing that he didn't react, she placed the thin blanket she was holding on the clothes she was sitting on, bent down, and squeezed next to Ning Jin. Before she even sat down, she heard a loud rumbling sound in front of her. She looked at Ning Jin, whose face was also tense.
"Did the mountain collapse?"
Old Wang slammed his fist on the steering wheel and said irritably, "I was worried that there would be another landslide, but I still couldn't avoid it."
No one spoke; all three stared at the torrential rain outside. Even if the rain stopped immediately, they wouldn't be able to leave.
However, half an hour later the rain still hadn't stopped, but a man walked out through the rain ahead. He was overjoyed to see the car and hurried over.
Su Yu leaned forward to roll down the car window, but Ning Jin stopped her. Only then did she notice that the other two people were frowning and not moving, their eyes fixed on the man running towards them. Su Yu had no experience in this area, so she sat back down and stopped moving.
"Brother, can you help me?" A man soaked to the bone pounded on the car door from under the vehicle, his voice coming through the metal: "The front of my car is buried by dirt that slid down from the mountain. Can you come down and help me push it so I can back it out?"
"Let's wait until the rain stops. If we go now, the man might be buried alive." Old Wang rolled down the car window, letting the raindrops hit the window, and squinted to carefully examine the man under the car.
"Could I get in the car to get out of the rain? And could I borrow some clothes to change into? I'm soaking wet, and the wind is chilling me to the bone," the man changed his mind and made another request.
The rain lessened, and Old Wang glanced at the road and the rearview mirror, pulled the handbrake, turned the key, and kept his eyes fixed on the man under the car. Seeing that the man was jolted back by the roar of the car, he shifted gears and, with his eyes still on the rearview mirror, reversed the car.
"Hey!" Su Yu peeked out at the man chasing the car and asked hesitantly, "Why are you leaving? Isn't this man a good person?"
“They’re probably just scouting the way. Just sit still and don’t talk.” Ning Jin patted her, rolled down the window, and reached out to wipe the rearview mirror. Seeing that the rain was hitting it faster than he was wiping it, he leaned out of the window to look back. “In another 10 or 20 meters, the road widens. You can turn around there.”
Old Wang grunted in agreement, rolled down the car window halfway, and continued reversing. Su Yu glanced at the man still chasing the car, wondering how they judged him to be a bad person, but she didn't dare to ask.
After turning the car around, he sped up for five minutes, and the man chasing the car was no longer in sight. But Old Wang continued driving for another twenty minutes before stopping. He wiped the rain off his face, rolled up the window, and said, "You bastard, you're still so bold in this day and age. You should be taken to the executioner's block."
"Brother Wang, how did you tell he wasn't a good person and was just scouting?" Su Yu finally managed to ask.
"Let your man speak first; he's been driving sports cars for a few years now."
Ning Jin stopped drying his hair and said to Lao Wang, "First of all, there are no tire tracks on the road. After such a long rain, even an oxcart would leave two tire tracks in the sand. That's the most suspicious thing. Secondly, he doesn't know the market. According to him, it must be a large vehicle. Whether it's a long or short trip, there must be two people with it. I'm afraid that if there's an accident, one person won't be able to handle it. He didn't mention the other person at all. Thirdly, he changed his story too quickly. If my car's front was buried, and I had to run out to ask someone to push it, then the car must not be buried very deep. He wouldn't give up just because a stranger said to wait until the rain stops. Another point is that this is the middle of nowhere. How could he be sure there are other vehicles behind him? In an unfamiliar environment, I would definitely feel safer guarding the car."
"Brother Wang, am I right?" he asked, seeking Old Wang's opinion.
"That's right, these four points are enough for us to escape. The more remote the place, the more unruly the local people are, and the more united the whole village is. There are quite a few people who take advantage of the chaos to rob. If he is a scout, there will definitely be people following behind him. Once we get off the vehicle, there is basically no chance of us getting back on. It's a small matter if the goods are stolen. If someone kills you and buries you in this desolate place, in ten or eight years, the person who buried you might forget where they buried you."
Su Yu tensed up as he spoke, but she couldn't help but listen to his analysis. "He was on my side. I could see that his expression was off. He really wanted us to get out of the car. He even leaned into the car to look inside. Another thing is that his hands were clean. His shoes were so dirty that you couldn't tell what they were, but his trousers were clean. Any driver whose car was buried in the ground wouldn't be so clean after crawling out of the car."
There were too many loopholes, and it would be easy to fool someone like Su Yu who had no experience. But Old Wang had been driving a truck for seven or eight years. During the hardest times of the 1960s, he had encountered many people lying in the middle of the road begging for food. At first, he was soft-hearted and would throw down the food he had brought to them, begging the driver for a little something so they wouldn't starve. He would lose a few pounds from each trip, but he felt a sweet sense of satisfaction, always feeling like he was saving someone's life.
But after a while, he memorized the faces of the people blocking his way, and he hardened his heart. Once or twice, it might be because his family was poor and had no rice to cook, but if it happened for a year or two, he would be thinner than the person lying in the middle of the road. Who could bear that?
It's just a perfunctory gesture. If they had replaced a few more people lying in the middle of the road, he probably would have been more lenient for another two years.
To save fuel, the car was turned off as soon as it was stopped. The rain had been falling since morning until noon. The three of them hadn't eaten or drunk anything since dinner the night before, and now they were thirsty and hungry, only able to chew on dried dough twists. Ning Jin got out of the car and scooped up two bowls of water from his lunchbox, saying to Su Yu, "Let it sit for a while before drinking. The firewood is all wet now, so we can't boil any water."
That's all we can do. We filled our stomachs with rainwater and fried dough twists, and just as we finished eating, the rain started again, and water began to flow down the road.
"Is there any other way back? We don't know when the landslide road will be cleared. Should we go back to the city?" Su Yu asked, picking at her nails. If the rain keeps falling and the mountain roads are blocked, they can't just sit in the car eating fried dough twists and getting through the days.
The two men smiled wryly, wishing they could slap their past selves for rushing on their way. "We can't go back until the road is dry. This highway is covered with a thick layer of sand. After we get off the highway, it's a four-hour stretch of muddy and sandy road leading into the city. Our truck is carrying a lot of stuff, and if we walk on it, we'll get stuck."
Su Yu was stunned, paused, and said, "This is indeed a rare experience. Being trapped in a car while camping is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Fortunately, it's not like being trapped in a dangerous situation waiting for someone to rescue you."
"You're quite optimistic." Old Wang thought to himself, "It's just bad luck that I ran into this while I was out."
"Since it's already like this, even if I can't think straight, I can't just get out of the car and carry it away."
The three of them sat in the car like idiots, watching the rain patter against the windows. If only they had a deck of cards, they could at least kill some time.
The unbearable day was finally over, and the rain had stopped. The car door was opened to let in some fresh air. Old Wang and Ning Jin got out of the car to check the saccharin they were carrying. Seeing that the ropes were tied tightly and the canvas was covering it well, Old Wang leaned over to Ning Jin and asked, "Xiao Wu, tonight?"
"We can only sleep in the driver's seat, but please, Brother Wang, forget about this when you get back. This is bad for my wife's reputation, even if I sleep in the driver's seat too. People's hearts are the most wicked."
"Okay, I know, but I can't tell anyone."
"Well, my wife has never come out with us, and don't mention your sister-in-law either, anyway, no one has seen her on the bus." At this moment, Ning Jin was glad that he had been careful and had Su Yu carry him on and off the bus. He was worried that someone would report Su Yu for traveling across provinces without a letter of introduction, but he didn't expect it to work here.
Old Wang was surprised and patted Ning Jin on the shoulder, saying, "You're a clever guy, you even thought of this."
Ning Jin smiled and did not refute.
That night, Lao Wang slept in the driver's seat, while Ning Jin held Su Yu in his arms as they slept in the passenger seat. He pressed her down near the door, and spread out the blanket to cover both of them. He opened the window on his side by a crack about three fingers wide, so it would only get cold and not hot, and Su Yu wouldn't kick off the blanket, lest anyone see something they shouldn't.
Su Yu closed her eyes, but was startled when a hand slipped inside her clothes. She opened her eyes wide, glaring at him fiercely, furious that he wanted to do this at this moment.
"Don't lean against the car door, you'll be more comfortable sleeping with your head against me." Ning Jin pushed away his hand and pulled up her undergarments. When she was in a deep sleep, she would vaguely take off or kick off anything that made her uncomfortable, and she would have no recollection of taking off her clothes when she woke up in the morning.
Realizing she had misunderstood him, Su Yu gave an embarrassed smile, leaned her head on his shoulder, and quickly closed her eyes.
Su Yu wasn't sure if it rained during the night, but when she woke up in the morning it had stopped. The sandy road surface was dry and didn't stick to her feet. Having been cooped up in the front of the car for a day and a night, Su Yu jumped out of the car as soon as she woke up, swinging her arms, legs, and neck, and picked up tree branches to dry on the road, planning to burn them when she cooked.
Yesterday it rained as if the sky had a hole in it. The sun came out early this morning, but the mud on both sides of the road was still sticky until evening. Ning Jin's shoes sank into it when he stepped on it.
This is the fourth day since we left, and we're about to spend our fourth night in the car. We can't head towards the city. Su Yu overheard Ning Jin and Lao Wang discussing turning around and heading forward tomorrow afternoon to see if anyone can help resolve the landslide issue.
The reason they didn't go today or early tomorrow morning is because they're afraid someone might be waiting on the road to ambush the car. Some people are willing to die for money, but they're worried about getting involved in someone's death, so they're also gambling on that group's patience. If people who don't know the road conditions don't see the car coming for two days, they'll probably guess that it has already turned back.
As it grew dark and his son-in-law and daughter still hadn't returned, Old Man Su asked the two children how many days their short trips to Ningjin usually took. He learned it was three days, sometimes four, which made him uneasy. But when he noticed that Xiao Yuan seemed to have noticed something and was staring at his face, the old man turned and went inside to urge his wife to cook, while he sat in the yard playing with the silly dog.
"Grandpa, when are Mom and Dad coming back? It's been four nights already. When Mom left, she said it would only be three or four days." Xiao Yuan asked the old man who was sitting in the yard feeding mosquitoes before going to sleep.
"Who can say for sure? Your mother finally managed to slip away and go out to play. I heard she's going to the city, a place even Grandpa has never been. Who knows, she might stay at the guesthouse for a couple more days and wander around the city." Old Su said with a hint of disdain, patting his grandson's bottom, "You, who eats coarse food, shouldn't worry about whether those who eat chicken, duck, fish, and meat will go hungry."
Xiao Yuan chuckled. "My mom would never do that. She eats chicken, duck, fish, and meat, but she'd never let me eat coarse grains and wild vegetables."
"Alright, I'll eat coarse food and go to sleep." He shooed the boy away, and as he was about to go inside, the old man stood up and followed him in, instructing the two children in the room, "If anyone asks about your mother, just say she went to take care of your pregnant aunt, to share in the joy." He had only heard about the third child's pregnancy from the eldest a few days ago, so he had a reason.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
