Farewell to a group of colleagues who were puzzled by my behavior. I turned a blind eye to their pointing, and only gave a rough description of the return time. This time I'm going to explore the suspension spring again. I decided to find out the reason for the strange situation of the suspension spring. The leader was noncommittal about my decision, but gently told me not to delay my return trip and to pay attention to safety when going to the wild. If I can't go back, pick me up at this patrol next time. I also expressed my gratitude to the leaders for their kindness, and naturally I don't need too much courtesy to get along with them for many years.
Li Ge happens to be on patrol, so it's natural to welcome me. Seeing a few bags, I was ready to settle down at their patrol point, saying that he came to work on the railway and didn't bring so many things. "Get ready", I waved a flat shovel used to manually make holes in the Gobi Desert. This is a special tool with a manganese steel head and a wooden handle. The shovel head of manganese steel head is curled inward, which can reduce the resistance, and the shovel head will become sharper after long-term use. This is what I saw when I went to get ham sausage with Lao Li just now. I thought the length of this thing was very suitable for trekking. It can also be used as a weapon in an emergency, so I took it off conveniently.
Li Ge also got off work, so he helped me take all my backpacks to his dormitory. Two people in a dormitory. His colleagues are patrolling at the moment. He needs an early shift tomorrow to rest again. So we decided to start early the day after tomorrow and explore the hanging spring again. After discussing some things, I think we must climb the mulberry tree and go to the cave this time. When Li Ge cleaned the collapse pit twice, he also found several suspicious places, which should be explored clearly this time. If there is still time after the expedition, we will continue to head for Bogda Mountain. It's not easy to hike once. This time, because of the company, we even made an ambitious preliminary plan for a five-day tour of Bogda Mountain.
As we need to spend the night outside, Li Ge and I decided to take a backpack and a blanket each, so that we can resist the biting mountain wind when we spend the night outside. Decided to let Li Ge go to the canteen to make lunch. I was idle and decided to take a look around this patrol point. This is one of my habits. I can never stay in the dormitory quietly and do nothing.
The patrol point is located on the north side of the railway, and the gate of the yard opens towards the railway. The fence of the small courtyard is artistically built in the form of garden gables. The winding top of the wall is just out of sight and goes around the courtyard wall. On the back wall of the dormitory, you can see a small moon gate, which leads directly to the Gobi desert outside the yard. Walking out of the moon gate, the wall is a shallow ditch dug by the builders when they borrow soil. Inside the shallow ditch is the garbage dumped outside the patrol point. At the end of the shallow ditch, near the courtyard wall, is the toilet of the patrol point. The road to the toilet is a simple intersection. Go along the intersection. When we get to the toilet, there is also a path formed by people who often walk together.
Unexpected bell
From the path through the shallow ditch, we reached the opposite side of the shallow ditch. There are several very old buildings. These buildings obviously have a long history. It is the kind of dry masonry building that is common in Xinjiang in the old society. On the front door of the building, a plane was drawn with cement, and several distinctive patterns were drawn on the cement plane. Next to it is a line of hollow characters painted with red paint, which can be regarded as "how to build socialism quickly and economically"
This is obviously the place where workers along the railway used to live. I don't know who it is, but I often come here. Nature lacks interest in dilapidated buildings, bypasses the small door and walks to the middle open space surrounded by buildings. There is a single-sided basketball stand on the hardened cement floor. Obviously, I don't know who it is. I often come here to entertain myself. The cement yard is clean. In a corner of the field, there is a well with stagnant water. There is no cover in the well, but there is still water at the bottom of the well. I was surprised to find that there was a shallow ditch between the cement ground and the well. Obviously, a worker carried forward the style of hard work and plain living, made full use of this cement basketball court and collected rainwater in the well.
I picked up a small stone from the side and threw it into the well. I want to see how deep the well is below. There was a thud from the bottom of the well, but there was actually a lot of water in it. Not far from the well, there is a crooked-necked tree. On the bottom branch of the trunk, there is an iron bucket with a rope. Hehe, people often use this bucket to draw water, which may be the only plant that will water this patrol point.
This elm tree is flourishing, which shows that it has a long history. It may be planted here by former railway workers. This small and simple place used to be where many people lived. Looking at the dry-foundation houses that have become very dark because there are no doors and windows, the former railway people built the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway under such difficult conditions, which turned the gap between Xinjiang and the motherland into a thoroughfare. This small architectural relic, even if it is a little far away, can't see any difference from the surrounding Gobi Desert. They are made of simple mud bricks and loess filled with gravel.
I used to live in such a building. These houses built of mud bricks made of saline-alkali land are actually much stronger than they seem. Take this building for example. I don't know how long I've been standing here. There is not even a gap in the building. It still looks so practical and reliable. This kind of building can often be seen all over Turpan, and even the famous ancient city Jiaohe is made of this saline-alkali soil and mud bricks. It has stood in the storm of Gobi for more than 1000 years, and the appearance of some of its buildings is still very complete. Even those buildings that are about to collapse are extremely difficult to dismantle by hand.
Walking in front of these houses, on the windowsill where the small window was obviously the second small window in the previous office, I had an unexpected harvest. This is something left by people who have been here. One end of a faded rope is connected in series with a copper bell. This bronze bell is hung around the neck of livestock when people use animal power. This bronze bell can't be dated, but it's obviously very old and mottled with copper rust.
(To be continued)
(The above is the author's real artistic experience.)
Wonderful content in the past:
Travel Notes —— My "Hanging Spring" Journey in Bogda
Travel Notes —— My "Hanging Spring" Journey in Bogda (Part Two)
Travel Notes —— My "Hanging Spring" Journey in Bogda (3)
Travel Notes —— My "Hanging Spring" Journey in Bogda (IV)
Forever grassland, forever shepherd, forever pastoral (preface) is on the land of Ordos.
The author introduces:
Gengdu Qilian, a native of northwest China, is a freelance writer for agriculture, countryside and farmers. Based on local conditions, focusing on agriculture and rural areas.