◇ 【098】 The third cultivator!
Gu Juan opened the other two lunch boxes as well. Each contained eight exquisite mushroom and vegetable dumplings, neatly arranged. It was obvious that the person who packed them was very attentive.
He pushed his lunch box forward and said, "Everyone, try it."
They were all young people, so it was easy for them to chat and play together. Cheng Feng and the others didn't hesitate and each took a bun.
The six young people shared food with each other, talked and laughed, and the journey was less boring.
This feeling was new to Gu Juan. In his previous life, he had never experienced traveling with classmates or friends. In this life, he wanted to live a relaxed, unrestrained and happy life.
The train didn't arrive in Lanzhou until nearly midnight. Guo Jianwen had already arranged a hotel, and after getting off the train, he took everyone to the hotel to settle in. The students were already exhausted, so after their assigned rooms, they went back to their rooms to rest.
Gu Juan called Xi Lang. They talked for nearly an hour until their phones became hot before they ended the call.
The next morning, Liang Yuntang treated everyone to breakfast, and the group found a car and headed to Yu County.
Soon after leaving Lanzhou, the car got on the highway and got off the highway more than two hours later. Liang Yuntang asked everyone to get off.
Everyone got off the car and took all the luggage down, piling it up into a small hill.
Looking around, he saw only deserted fields, no village in front and no shop behind.
"Teacher, is this our destination?" Cheng Feng asked Guo Jianwen in surprise.
Guo Jianwen said: "It's still early."
Cheng Feng and others all had a bad feeling.
Guo Jianwen looked at the boys and asked Jin Meng and Cheng Feng, "Do you see the woods ahead?"
Jin Meng and Cheng Feng both nodded. About two miles away was a dense poplar forest, with some small houses faintly visible.
Guo Jianwen said, "That's a small town. You two have better physical strength. Go over there and find a few cars to take us to Qishan Township."
Jin Meng and Cheng Feng agreed and trotted over.
The others sat on the suitcases to rest. Although it was September, the temperature was still quite high, and the sun was scorching hot, burning painfully. Furthermore, the dry climate here made people feel even more dehydrated.
Everyone was tired, hot and thirsty, and sat quietly, no one in the mood to chat.
After waiting for about ten minutes, several cars drove out of the town, making a rumbling sound, getting closer and closer, and stopped in front of them.
There are four cars in total. From above, they look like luxury cars, but from below, you can see that each car has only three wheels.
Jin Meng laughed and said, "Do you know what this car is called? It's called 'Beng Beng'."
Zhou Dong and the others were puzzled as to why it had such a strange name. Once they sat in the car, they finally understood. Because the car was so noisy and had poor shock absorption, it bounced around a lot, hence the name "Bengbeng." It was a perfect description!
After nearly an hour of bouncing, the four vehicles arrived at Qishan Township. Qishan Township is a small town with a single main street, visible from one end to the other. The rows of houses are low and squat. The street is deserted. A woman in a headscarf lifted the door curtain, peeked out, then lowered it again.
It was already noon, so Liang Yuntang led everyone to a noodle shop and ordered a bowl of beef ramen, a local specialty. The thin, thin, and wide varieties all impressed the artisans. A bowl of beef noodles, topped with a spoonful of beef, a spoonful of chili pepper, and perhaps an egg, was fragrant and enticing, making it mouth-watering.
After eating, Liang Yuntang asked the noodle shop owner about Guiyi Village.
"Are you going to Guiyi Village?" the noodle shop owner was very surprised. The local dialect is similar to Mandarin and is not difficult to understand.
Liang Yuntang said, "Yes, we are unfamiliar with the place. Could you please help us find a few cars? The price is negotiable."
The boss shook his head. "Guiyi Village is too remote. Even if I could find you a car, you wouldn't be able to get in. There's only a bumpy mountain road leading to the village. If you want to go, you'll have to take an ox cart."
"Ox cart?" The five students except Gu Juan said in unison.
Fang Lingling was almost crying. Where were they going? She looked at Guo Jianwen aggrievedly, "Teacher..."
Guo Jianwen glanced at her calmly and said, "If you don't want to go, go back. It's still not too late to go back now."
Fang Lingling's eyes turned red, but she didn't dare to cry out loud.
Wu Yu patted her shoulder comfortingly.
Liang Yuntang said, "Ox carts are also fine. Boss, we have a lot of people and luggage, how many ox carts would be appropriate?"
The boss took a look at the luggage piled outside and stood up. "At least four cars are needed. You guys sit down and I'll go ask for you."
Cheng Feng whispered to the people around him, "I can already foresee the miserable life that will follow after I arrive in Guiyi Village. Hey, do you think we should buy some more food? Like noodles, instant noodles, or something like that? There won't be any more shops like this after this village."
Jin Meng said: "Good idea."
Zhou Dong said: "Buy it, you have a car anyway."
Wu Yu said, "Lingling and I won't go with you. When we get there, we'll cook you a meal if we have the chance."
Cheng Feng and the other two all agreed.
Gu Juan said, "I'll go ask the boss lady if she can sell us her pot of beef."
Cheng Feng and the other two had their eyes shining and gave him a thumbs-up.
The proprietress readily sold Gu Juan a pot of fragrant beef for a hundred yuan. The meat and soup were packed separately for easier portability: the meat went in one thermos bucket and the soup in another.
Cheng Feng and the other two returned quickly, each carrying two plastic bags filled with instant noodles. While instant noodles aren't very nutritious, they're certainly convenient. They can be eaten dry, soaked, boiled, or even stir-fried.
After waiting for about ten minutes, the boss came with four middle-aged men with dark and rough skin. Each of the four men was driving an ox cart, and the carts were covered with a thick layer of hay.
The middle-aged man in the lead asked, "Are you going to Guiyi Village?"
Liang Yuntang walked over and said, "Yes, we are from the imperial capital. We are professors from the medical school. We are going to Guiyi Village to treat patients. Please take us there."
The middle-aged man nodded and glanced at the other three. "We're going to see a doctor. Okay, get in the car."
Liang Yuntang asked, "How much?"
The middle-aged man said, "It takes three hours to get to Guiyi Village from here. By the time we get back it will be dark and the road will be even harder to travel. So the price can't be low, eighty yuan per car. How about it?"
Liang Yuntang took pity on their difficult lives and said, "Okay." without bargaining.
Several men carried the suitcases into the car and secured them with ropes.
There are two people in each car.
The uncle driving the cart raised his whip and gave it a light whip, and the ox cart began to move forward slowly.
Wu Yu and Fang Lingling were afraid of getting tanned, so they both took out their umbrellas.
Not far from the town, the road gradually became bumpy. The oxcart jolted and jolted, and the people swayed with it. They had to hold on to the railings to keep from falling. Fortunately, the oxen were not moving very fast, otherwise they would have thrown people flying.
Wu Yu and Fang Lingling couldn't hold up the umbrella, so they had to put it away again.
Wu Yu lay down on the straw carelessly, covered himself with the coat he had taken out earlier, and said to Gu Juan, "Junior brother, I want to take a nap. If I am about to fall, please help me up."
Gu Juan nodded with amusement.
The further you go, the harder the road becomes. Occasionally, there will be a section of the road so narrow that it can barely accommodate an ox cart. If you are not careful, you may slide into the fields beside the road.
Cheng Feng, Jin Meng and Zhou Dong found the shaking of the ox cart very novel at first, but they couldn't help complaining after half an hour.
"Oh my god, my butt hurts so much, I can't even sit or stand."
The men driving the cart understood and laughed out loud.
"You little kids still lack exercise!"
Cheng Feng enviously watched Gu Juan sitting as steady as a mountain from beginning to end. "Gu Juan, how do you sit so steadily? Do you have any secret?"
Gu Juan thought for a moment and said, "There's no real trick to it. Putting my feet against the suitcase should be better."
Cheng Feng tried it, but still felt bumpy, so he simply lay down and held the rope with one hand.
At this time, several people on horseback came from another direction, attracting Gu Juan and his men's attention.
"If we don't have much luggage, we can rent a few horses to ride. It should be more comfortable than riding in an ox cart." Jin Meng said enviously.
Zhou Dong said: "Looking at their appearance, they seem to be from other places."
Gu Juan's eyes flashed with shock. These three were all cultivators! His worries were not unfounded; there were indeed cultivators in the ** Country besides him and the old man. He saw that the three were only at the Fusion Stage, so he wasn't worried. However, he did wonder why these cultivators appeared in such a remote place.
At this time, the two men and one woman also noticed Gu Juan and his group, but they just glanced at them and didn't pay any attention.
Three minutes later, the two groups of people converged on the same road.
The horses couldn't go fast on the path, and the three riders were three or four feet behind the ox team.
When the team reached a relatively wide road, the three monks sped up slightly and overtook the ox team. The three horses trotted away on the narrow mountain road.
Gu Juan asked the uncle driving the cart, "Uncle, besides Guiyi Village, where else can this road lead to?"
The uncle waved his whip skillfully, "Besides Guiyi Village, there is Yanshan Village. However, Yanshan Village is very small, with only a dozen households."
An hour later, the oxcart climbed a hill. Gu Juan saw the three monks stop their horses and sit on the grass to rest and drink water. The oxcart passed them and continued on.
In less than ten minutes, the three monks were ahead again and galloped away on their horses.
After swaying on the ox cart for more than three hours, a village came into view in the valley ahead.
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