Chapter 64 Escape
After enduring the long wait, Song Lubai and her group finally disembarked at Shicheng Railway Station at noon on the eighth day.
Before getting off the bus, the team leaders had everyone check their bags again to make sure nothing was missing.
Song Lubai checks the bag every day, and just like every day, everything in the bag is there and nothing is missing.
No one lost anything this time, and everyone lined up harmoniously to get off the bus.
There were four groups of people in total. Two groups were headed to Shicheng, while the remaining two groups had to transfer to Aksu Prefecture in southern Xinjiang.
After spending nearly eight days together, everyone had developed some friendships, so it was inevitable that we would feel reluctant to part ways.
While Song Lubai was talking to acquaintances in the crowd, Sun Hong pulled her aside.
Sun Hong is really tall. Song Lubai's height was measured during the physical examination on the day of registration, and she was 1.66 meters tall. Sun Hong was still more than half a head taller than her.
Seeing Sun Hong's embarrassed attitude, Song Lubai instantly understood why she had brought her here.
"Comrade Song, I'm sorry, I stole your things. I've been feeling terrible and ashamed these past few days. I promise I won't do it again. I hope you can forgive me."
Song Lubai smiled kindly: "It's alright."
Sun Hong didn't even look up. After nodding and saying "thank you," she hurriedly ran away.
Song Lubai watched as Sun Hong found another girl on the bus who had lost something, and she was bowing her head, probably apologizing as well.
Although they had gotten off the train, Director Wang instructed them to wait at the station for a truck to take them to a place with a strange name.
With her backpack too heavy, Song Lubai sat on the roadside, propping her chin up. She looked up and saw Wei Yang and the others unloading goods. She waved to him and called out, "Goodbye, Comrade Wei!"
On this train, only Liu Gao was her classmate; the rest were people she met later. As for Comrade Wei Yang, the two of them had once saved Li Guangming together, and considering their not-so-close interactions over the past few days, they could barely be considered acquaintances.
Today we part ways, and who knows when we'll meet again? Perhaps we'll never see each other again.
With both hands occupied by goods, Wei Yang could only shout "Goodbye."
The trucks arrived, and the groups of people parted ways. Song Lubai and her group split into two groups and boarded the back of two trucks one after the other.
With few vehicles and many people, the space in the back of the vehicle is not large. People standing on the sides can hold onto the vehicle, but those standing in the middle are shaken and unable to keep their balance due to the uneven road surface.
An hour later the truck still hadn't stopped, two hours later the road became even bumpier, and not long after that, the truck drove into the sand and the wheels got stuck.
After everyone got off, they worked together to push the truck out.
The car set off again, and everyone grumbled and speculated about how much longer it would take to get there.
They wanted to ask Director Wang where they were going, but he was sitting in the front seat of the carriage, and no matter how much they called out, he pretended not to hear them.
Before long, the wheels got stuck in the sand again, and the big guys got off again to push it from behind.
The wheels slipped on the sand for a long time without being able to push them out. Song Lubai called for people to run to a distance and collect a lot of dry firewood and stones. They put them under the wheels and finally managed to drive out of the pit.
Unfortunately, the sandy area was very long, and the wheels couldn't move smoothly. Everyone had to pick up sand and lay it down along the way to get out.
"Director Wang, shouldn't we be reporting to the Commerce Department? How did we end up in this Gobi Desert? There's not a soul in sight. It doesn't look like we're heading to the city. Or is the Stone City you mentioned really a city built of stone? How much longer do we have to walk?"
Wang Haiquan, whose hands were covered in sand as he pushed the cart, smiled and said, "Don't worry, we'll be there soon."
Song Lubai had a bad feeling. Shicheng was a city, after all. She had seen a lot of houses when she came out of the train station, but after walking for several hours, she could no longer see any signs of life.
Is this the road to the city?
Is Director Wang planning to take them to some godforsaken place?
Once back on the road, the car was still unstable because the road was really bad; a road covered with gravel was considered a good road.
The bright red sun in the sky began to set in the west, but Song Lubai couldn't tell what time it was from the sun in XJ.
She didn't have a watch, but when she was in Henan Province, she could tell roughly what time it was by the position of the sun.
But XJ's days are exceptionally long, so long that she has lost the ability to estimate time by the sun.
His yellow-green military uniform jacket was tied around his waist, and sweat poured down his forehead.
Ahead lay a cluster of low, yellowish-brown hills. After the truck turned and passed them, the group saw a group of people running towards them.
"Where did these people come from? There's no village or shop in sight, where are they headed?"
A group of people saw the truck and their faces showed obvious panic.
The truck swerved and blocked their path right in front of them.
The driver and Wang Haiquan immediately got out of the truck, and the bewildered passengers in the truck bed followed suit.
The driver, his face stern, demanded, "Where are you going? Did you escape from the 25th Company camp in Lavati?"
Wang Haiquan shook his head, "We're already here, why bother? We can't escape from here."
Song Lubai and her group sensed something was wrong, and someone asked, "Director Wang, what do you mean by this?"
Song Lubai: "Are they prisoners who were sent here for labor reform and re-education?"
When it came to the possibility of escaping, Song Lubai could only think of convicts in labor camps or ex-convicts.
Among the panicked crowd, someone said, "You are the ones who are labor camp and reform prisoners. We are people from Shanghai who came to support the border regions. We are not labor camp and reform prisoners."
"Then why are you running? Where are you running to?"
A young man sat down opposite them, looking distressed and sighing, "What else can we do but run? We're all exhausted. We're never getting enough to eat, and our backs are so sore we can't straighten up. Look at our hands, look at our shoulders, look at the state we've created by digging..."
Upon hearing these words, Song Lubai and the other newcomers began to whisper among themselves, inevitably feeling a sense of fear.
They were never fed, worked from dawn till dusk, and were only paid five yuan a month…
Good heavens, if that's really the case, they might want to run away too.
"Director Wang, didn't we apply to the Commercial Division of the Corps? Didn't you say we'd have to study here for two months before being assigned jobs? Why were we sent here?"
"Director Wang, you need to explain this to us clearly, otherwise we won't leave."
…
Director Wang smiled bitterly to himself.
I vaguely remember a few years ago when a female soldier from Shandong came here. When she saw the situation here, she was unwilling to get off the bus. It was only after the leaders and officers found a way to bring several truckloads of green onions and persuaded her that she finally got off.
Wang Haiquan raised his hand and pressed it down, "Don't get excited, listen to me first. You have two months of pre-job training, but the training is scheduled for winter. Now that you're here, you have to undergo six months of labor training first. Labor training is mandatory."
The crowd's protests subsided considerably.
Labor training has a time limit, so it shouldn't be so uncomfortable for people.
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