Chapter 717: A bumpy road
He suddenly grinned, revealing his half-missing front tooth.
"Don't complain about me drinking too much when the time comes!"
The platform broadcast suddenly sounded a departure reminder, and the sound of electricity crackled in the metal speaker.
Zhang Lei dragged Wang Jianguo towards the carriage without saying a word, and the wind from the sleeves of his work clothes swept across his hot cheeks.
Gravel beside the railroad tracks splashed under his feet. Wang Jianguo looked at his friend's sweaty back. The food coupons in his pocket were pressing against his heart through the cloth, feeling warm and hot.
The scalding rails twisted into a shimmering illusion under the scorching sun. Wang Jianguo's cloth shoes pressed tightly against the edge of the platform, as if he could step both his gratitude and guilt into the concrete floor.
The veins on Zhang Lei's hand that was gripping his wrist bulged, and the sleeve of his work clothes rubbed against his sunburned forearm, the rough touch carrying an unquestionable force.
The wrinkled food coupon hung between the two men for a moment before Wang Jianguo finally stuffed it back into his pocket with trembling hands. The rustling sound of the plastic film rubbing against the cloth was particularly clear amid the roar of the train starting.
"Okay, I won't be so distant with you."
Wang Jianguo's voice sounded like it had been sandpapered. He looked up at the sky, trying to force back the heat in his eyes.
The clouds in the distance were burned into golden edges by the sunlight, and in a trance they overlapped with the golden marking lines on the blueprint of the health center.
Memories suddenly came flooding back - last winter, Zhang Lei brought antipyretic medicine overnight, leaving footprints in the snow, one deep and one shallow.
At the beginning of spring, he helped to repair the school building, and he was still grinning even when a splinter pierced his palm.
These images, mixed with the beads of sweat on the other person's temples, blurred into blurry light and shadow before my eyes.
Zhang Lei then let go of his hand and smiled brightly, revealing his half-missing front tooth.
He wiped his face with his backhand, and the sweat stains on his overalls were dried in an instant.
"That's more like it!"
He pulled Wang Jianguo towards the carriage. The iron ladder was red hot from the high temperature.
"When you invite the technicians back, we'll make corn liquor that we've been serving for 20 years, and we won't leave until we're drunk!"
Before he could finish his words, the train suddenly blew a deafening whistle, startling the sparrows on the platform and causing them to fly away in panic.
When the iron door of the tool compartment was pushed open, a cloud of choking sawdust and dust rose up.
Wang Jianguo squinted his eyes and crawled in, and immediately felt a cold piece of iron against his back.
The edges of the surveying instrument's wooden box hurt him, but it was not as painful as the warmth of Zhang Lei's hand as it reached into the car.
The other person was carefully stuffing a half-filled pot of herbal tea into his arms. The aluminum pot still had body temperature.
“Save your drink for the journey.”
Zhang Lei's voice was torn into pieces by the roar of the train.
"Don't show your head when you pass the Wangjialing Tunnel. The wind can blow you away!"
With the sound of gears meshing, the train slowly started. Wang Jianguo peeked through the crack in the door.
Zhang Lei's figure flickered in the heat. The frayed threads of his work clothes cuffs revealed as he waved his arms, and the sweat stains on his back formed a map of varying shades.
The gravel beside the rails was picked up by the wheels and hit the carriage with a crackling sound, mixed with Zhang Lei's final shout:
"I want to be the first one to register when the clinic is completed!"
When the train turned a curve, Wang Jianguo finally retreated into the carriage.
In the darkness, the kettle of cold tea felt hot against my chest, and even more burning was the memory of Zhang Lei's words, "You're always thinking about others."
He fumbled to take out the food coupons from his pocket, and with the faint light coming through the gap, he could see the fine stitches pressed out by a thimble at the corners.
That was the purse that He Yushui sewed for him.
At this moment, the food coupons with body temperature and the roaring train in the distance together weave a net leading to hope.
Loaded with a full carriage of timber and the expectations of a village, it sails towards the steaming horizon.
The iron carriage was hot enough to fry eggs under the scorching sun. When Wang Jianguo opened the rusty iron door, a pungent smell mixed with engine oil, sawdust and rust hit him in the face.
The beam above his head was so low that it almost touched his forehead. He hunched over and moved forward. His lower back accidentally hit the crowbar leaning against the wall. The sound of metal collision was particularly harsh in the confined space.
"Be gentle! Don't touch the surveyor!"
Li Zhiqiang's roar came from outside the car. Wang Jianguo held his breath and, with the help of a ray of sunlight coming through the gap in the car, he finally found a half-meter square of open space in the corner.
There were piles of greasy hemp ropes and rusty wrenches, and next to them stood two wooden boxes with the words "Precision Instruments, Handle with Care" printed on them, their edges polished to a shine.
He sat down carefully, and as soon as his coarse cloth trouser legs touched the iron plate, they bounced up violently due to the heat.
After finally getting used to the temperature, the train suddenly made a loud "clang" and started slowly.
The whole carriage shook violently, and the pile of hemp ropes in the corner collapsed, pressing on his legs with a sour and moldy smell.
Wang Jianguo reached out to help, but his fingertips touched cold and sticky engine oil, which spread into dark stains on his palm.
The wheels made regular "click" sounds as they rolled over the joints of the rails, and each vibration was like a heavy hammer hitting the coccyx.
The wooden frame holding the oil barrel groaned as it shook. The condensed oil on the barrel wall kept dripping and formed dark puddles at his feet.
When the train entered the first tunnel, darkness instantly swallowed up the last ray of light, and thick coal smoke poured in through the gaps, choking him and causing him to cough violently.
Wang Jianguo hurriedly pulled up his collar to cover his mouth and nose, but his back was hit hard by the overturned toolbox, and the pain was so severe that he saw stars in front of his eyes.
After an unknown amount of time, the midday sun once again shone obliquely into the carriage. Wang Jianguo moved his numb legs and discovered that his trouser legs had been stained gray-black by engine oil and rust.
His back was pressed against the cold iron sheet, and damp sweat condensed into a sticky film between his clothes and the metal.
The surveying box beside him suddenly slid due to the bumps, and the edges scraped his calves. The burning pain made him gasp.
A long whistle of a locomotive was heard in the distance. Wang Jianguo counted the vibrations of the joints of the rails and estimated that three hours had passed.
The temperature in the car was getting higher and higher, and sweat flowed into my eyes, stinging them painfully.
He thought of the mung bean cake that Zhang Lei had stuffed in his pocket before he set out. When he took out the oil paper bag, the cake had already been crushed into crumbs. The sweet taste mixed with coal ash melted on his tongue, and it became the only comfort on this long journey.
When the locomotive blew its last long whistle, Wang Jianguo felt his heart stop beating along with the vibration of the rails.
After eight hours of bumpy ride, his coccyx felt as if pierced by countless steel needles. His legs had long lost all feeling and felt as heavy as two wooden stakes filled with lead.
The shouts of unloading workers came from outside the carriage, and the clanging of iron objects penetrated the rusty iron sheets, but could not dispel the tinnitus-like dizziness in his ears.