Chapter 957 Don’t Drive Over There
Just as Xiao Peng was about to approach, a woman in a white robe waved and stopped his car.
"Hmm?" Xiao Peng stopped the car, rolled down the window and asked in French, "What's going on?"
In Mauritania, there are various minority languages, but as long as you know French and Arabic, you can basically get around here without any problems.
Although Xiao Peng learned Arabic when he was in Marseille, Arabic was too difficult to pronounce, so Xiao Peng still used French.
He was quite curious about this woman. In Mauritania, she would definitely be a "trendy person": her white robe was embroidered with silk, and her headscarf and robe were integrated, like a bed sheet wrapped around her body.
Why is she called a "trendy person"? Because she wears a pair of sunglasses!
Honestly! This was the first time Xiao Peng had seen someone wearing sunglasses in Mauritania, besides soldiers! And it was a woman! However, because of the headscarf and sunglasses, Xiao Peng couldn't see her face clearly.
But Xiao Peng could tell that she was a white person - although her skin was also very dark.
She should be a Berber, that is, a Mediterranean type of Caucasian race. Although her skin color is like a lighter shade of black, she is indeed a white person.
The woman said to Xiao Peng, "I'm just reminding you that it's best not to drive into their village. That's impolite."
"Huh? There's such a saying?" Xiao Peng didn't think much about it and got out of the car directly: "Sorry, I didn't know there was such a custom here."
It is common sense to adapt to local customs.
The woman laughed and said, "It's not a custom, but driving to a fishing village can easily cause misunderstandings."
Xiao Peng was confused after hearing this.
Seeing his confused look, he smiled and held out his hand to Xiao Peng: "My name is Urd Slahi, you can call me Urd. I'll take you there and you'll know."
Xiao Peng shook hands with her: "You can call me Xiao. Thank you!"
Urd said, "Come with me, I'll show you where you are from."
Xiao Peng put on his sunglasses and smiled, "Chinese."
Urd smiled and said, "It's rare to see Chinese people coming here. It's a beautiful place."
"Have you been there?" Xiao Peng asked in surprise.
"No." Urd shook his head: "But I have seen it on TV. Come on, I'll take you over there to have a look."
Xiao Peng locked the car door and followed Urd, saying, "What's that arguing over there? Why do I hear them cursing?"
Urd was stunned when he heard this: "You know Arabic?"
"Well, I can understand some of it, but I'm not very proficient in it." Xiao Peng said truthfully.
Urd laughed and said, "Few people know they are cursing."
She was not joking: it was said that black people's racial talent was singing and dancing, and Xiao Peng had now seen it: those fat women were swearing, but in fact it looked more like they were singing: some women were clapping to keep the rhythm, and some were simply waving their hands left and right while singing and dancing, but the content of their songs was all dirty words that were unbearable to the ears.
"I see the fishermen have made a lot of harvest, so why are they cursing? Is this also a custom?" Xiao Peng asked as they walked.
Urd explained: "Don't look at all the fish, but most of them don't belong to them."
"Ah?" Xiao Peng was stunned.
Urd explained, "The men signed a loan agreement with the fishmonger. The fish will be taken directly by the merchant. The merchant will drive into the village. Do you understand now why I don't let you drive in?"
Just as she finished speaking, the sound of an engine came from behind them, and an old Toyota Hilux pickup truck ran over.
This car can be seen everywhere in Africa. It is the most popular vehicle.
The reason why this car is so common is because it is so tough!
If we were to select the toughest pickup trucks in the world, Toyota's Hilux would definitely be on the list. A TV program once conducted a test on a 13-year-old Hilux with over 190,000 miles. The test involved crashing it, soaking it in the sea, burning it in fire, and hitting it with heavy objects. Finally, the car was placed on top of a building that was about to be demolished, and exploded along with the building. Yet, the car was still able to be driven!
It was from that time that the saying "A Land Rover that can't be repaired, a Toyota that can't be broken" became deeply rooted in people's minds.
There was also a 'Toyota War' in Africa that year.
In 1987, Chad and Libya clashed. How powerful was Libya at the time? Compared to them, Chad was a mere scumbag! Facing Libya's massive tank fleet, the Chadian army had no way to counter it. Instead, they loaded up Toyota pickup trucks with anti-tank missiles, large-caliber machine guns, and more, leveraging the Hilux's immense mobility and reliability to completely annihilate an entire Libyan armored brigade!
Since then, Hilux became famous overnight, and almost all countries in the African continent have obtained a large number of Toyota Hilux, and this "pickup truck + heavy weapons" model has become the most common tank model in Africa.
But this time, the car that arrived was not armed. It belonged to the fishmongers. The car stopped next to the women, who tried to stop them, but it was no use. They continued to load the fish into the car one by one.
“Fishermen are often in debt, so they give most of their catch to the fishmongers, leaving little for themselves to eat,” Ould explained.
The two walked and talked. When they arrived, the fishmongers had just finished loading their carts with fish and were driving away. The women were still there, singing and cursing. The fishmongers seemed accustomed to this scene and drove away. However, everyone noticed Xiao Peng when they saw him, and some even waved to him enthusiastically: "We often see white tourists here, but there are really not many Asians."
After seeing the car leave, the women stopped cursing and started to deal with the remaining fish: after all, no matter how much they curse, they still have to eat!
"There's still quite a bit of fish left," Xiao Peng said. "That should be enough to eat, right? Why would they want to keep more?"
Urd explained, "The fish meat is made into fish floss and fish oil, which is three times more expensive than selling the fish directly! But they owe the fishmonger money so they can't keep the fish."
Xiao Peng suddenly understood.
At this time, the women in the village also saw Urd, waved to her and greeted her in a strange language. It was neither Arabic nor French, but a local language. No one knew what she said, but she was very polite.
Xiao Peng didn't look at them, but was looking at a child next to them.
It was a little girl, about five or six years old, with two bright, big, adorable eyes. In her hand, she was holding a piece of fish that had just been cut and skinned by an adult, and she was eating it with her bare hands. There were at least a dozen flies lying on her face, and she didn't even bother to shoo them away...
It would be a lie to say Xiao Peng wasn't upset at this scene, but what could he do? He was only one person after all. There were only so many people he could help.
It is said that Africa can cleanse people's souls. Now Xiao Peng understands what it means - after taking a look around here, he will cherish his life more.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
