Introduction
This travel note records a cycling story that took place from October 2017 to December 2017.
I rode an electric bike from the ancient town of Xitang in Zhejiang Province.
Traveling through Anhui Province, Jiangxi Province, Hubei Province, Chongqing City, Sichuan Province, and Guizhou Province, after 49 days and nights, finally arrived in Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province.
The story begins with my past life in Xitang.
The end is about my current life in Liuzhou.
My relatives and friends often advise me that if I write serial articles, the order of writing should be clearer. But I was very stubborn, and felt that it would be troublesome if there were texts that needed to be revised.
It can be serialized, it should be able to write the story in more detail.
After a lot of prodding, I compromised.
The travel story will be updated at a very random time. Maybe it's a sunny morning, or maybe it's a rainy night.
Thank you for reading.
March 04, 2016
This long journey, no one's company, no one's farewell. Dudu is a wine-red mountaineering bag, tied on the bony shoulders as always.
The time is 08:22 in the morning.
Chongqing, which is waiting to wake up, is shining with lights like stars and clouds floating like crucian carp scales.
People in the bright lights abandoned pillows, folded quilts, leaned against the glass mirror to dress up, and put on a layer of green suits; gusts of majestic wind also rose early, turning the colorful clouds and bringing dense fog.
Thick fog smoky, shrouded the morning of the mountain city.
"Chongqing, out of the 365 days in a year, there are at least 300 days of heavy fog and haze. When will the sun be seen? To be honest, I don't even know!"
Chongqing, get used to it.
March 5, 2016
I am standing in the waiting hall of Jiubao Passenger Transport Center, about to take an intercity bus to a quaint town.
In the wind, listen to the falling beads; in the rain, caress the butterfly and dance; when it is sunny, run and chase the footsteps of the setting sun; when it is foggy, sit and watch the churning of the sea of clouds.
The wine shops along Tangdong Street are singing and dancing every night; the fishing boats on the Fuchun River are busy every day. There are always people in a hurry, coming and going; there are always idle cats, sleeping and waking up.
This quaint town fiddles with time comfortably.
June 27, 2017
"Hello, hello! This is 1981 International Youth Hostel."
"The location of the inn is at the north entrance of the scenic spot."
"Oh! It's not the North Gate, it's the North Entrance! Hey...it's not Beizha Street, it's North, North, North, North Entrance! You are at the bus station, take bus K215 to Pingchuan Middle School Station."
"You enter the north entrance, walk 50 meters and turn right, that's it."
"The market price of the room is 128 yuan."
"The price on the website? It's also 128 yuan."
"Guest officer, if you use WeChat to book a room, you can enjoy a 10% discount."
"Huh? You booked a room on the website last week? Uh...can I trouble you? Can you cancel the order from the website?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Guest officer, there is no commission for orders placed on the website!"
"Huh? You don't know how to cancel a website order?"
"You are amazing!"
"Yes, the inn can buy discounted tickets for tourists."
"55 yuan."
"You have to transfer the ticket money to the Alipay account of 133XXXX4573; then send the ID number to the WeChat account of 182XXXX0742."
"How do I give you the tickets?"
"The discount ticket is not a paper version, but an electronic version."
"After you arrive in Xitang, you only need to swipe your ID card to enter the ancient town. The shelf life of the discount ticket is 3 days, during which you can enter and exit the scenic spot 3 times at will."
"Are you worried that I'm a liar?"
"Oh, you go and buy a paper ticket for 100 yuan!"
The person talking to me was a tourist from Chengdu.
I put the microphone on the telephone, and heard a crisp sound of "ding ding ding dong dong"; I raised my feet again, leaned on the long cabinet smeared with golden butter wax, and picked up the mobile phone.
She is very knowledgeable and added me on WeChat.
"Hey! This woman who ordered B102, tut, tut, tut!"
"Look at you, you are really dishonest! You are obviously waiting for the big girl to issue your ID number, but you want to rummage through other people's circle of friends. What about professional ethics?"
"How is it?"
"Let me...take a look...well..."
"Here, standard pretty goods!"
"Yo!!!"
"Brother Zhao, let's guess how old she is. 24? 26? 28? Hey, did she come to Xitang alone? Hey... It would be great if she was alone."
"You... are you dreaming again?"
"Where is the fantasy?"
"Hey, I don't know you yet? Whenever you see a pretty girl, you can't control it! The point, the point is, she's protruding, right?"
"Oh, let me tell you how old she is."
"I guess 20!"
"I guess C..."
The person who spoke to me was a colleague of Qujing.
July 11, 2017
In front of the long cabinet smeared with golden butter wax, a watery girl dragging a suitcase came.
She has shoulder-length short hair, blinking pupils, looking down for the ID card in the satchel for a while, and wiping the crystal beads of sweat on her back.
I took her ID card and looked at it.
But seeing her round cheeks and short chin, she looks like a Sichuanese.
"Beep!"
A gray square box bounced on the computer screen with a crisp sound.
What is displayed in the box is indeed "401, Unit X, Building X, No. 43, XXXX Street, XX District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province", and the birth date that bounces together with the household registration.
"1984-11-19".
Brother Zhao's crow's mouth really hits the nail on the head.
Unexpectedly, such a beautiful girl is born in the 80s, 9 years older than me.
I should have called her "sister" or "aunt"...
However, the twists and turns and the situation of the willows and the flowers often sprout quietly.
"Well... I'm here to inquire about one thing."
"you say."
"When I first arrived in Xitang, I found that the key to the suitcase was missing. Fortunately, your colleague, a boy with braids, helped me buy a new key on Taobao."
"Are you asking me to thank you?"
"No."
"oh?"
"The new key is sent by SF Express, and it was mailed from Hangzhou in the morning. I want to confirm that the courier sent from Hangzhou today can be delivered to Xitang tomorrow?"
"Who told you that the courier sent from Hangzhou can be delivered to Xitang in one day?"
"Seller."
"You have to know that Xitang is a village, not a big city."
"ah?"
"After the courier is delivered, it goes to Jiaxing first, then to Jiashan, then to Xitang, and finally the courier brother sends it to Guzhen. Even if it is SF Express, one day is far from enough."
"!@#￥%...*"
"What?"
"Okay, can you help me pry the box!?"
"ha?"
"My change of clothes, pants, cosmetic bottles and cans are all in the box. It's already 41°C in Zhejiang, and I can't open the box. Why should I take a shower?"
"You really want it?"
"Um!"
"Brother Zhao, the hammer!"
Bang!
Aunt held the suitcase of the dead, bounced back to B102.
For this reason, I think that in the hot summer season, there is no one kind of experience that can make a woman feel like bad luck and disaster are imminent.
So far, I have a relationship with my aunt.
Misty phantoms came into being.
My aunt leaned against me, walking side by side in the alleys paved with bluestone slabs; in the ambiguous whisper, where to go to lick a cup of ice cream to wipe away the drops of sweat on the forehead.
Suddenly, torrential rain poured down.
The two figures are intimate, dodging under the eaves of the raised feet.
But my aunt wandered around Xitang alone.
July 19, 2017
In the garden courtyard, the cobblestone-paved forest path is steaming with billowing heat.
I lay paralyzed on the wooden chair in the gazebo, looking around at 1981. Look at its flowers, birds, fish and insects, its pavilions, its hustle and bustle, and its silence.
Outside the courtyard, two ginkgo trees were planted.
When the ginkgo's lush leaves change from bright and charming, gentle and eccentric, to golden and gradually wither in the cold wind, it's time for me to say goodbye to Xitang.
"When you bid farewell to Jiangnan, will you be reluctant to part?"
"No way!"
"Ah? You are so heartless!"
"Oh! In the valley where the birds don't shit, I had to take a bus and run 20 kilometers to Jiashan to play football. I didn't find out until I arrived at the county that the number 11 people were not neatly put together!"
"This is not Xitang's problem, it's Chinese football!"
"One Nine Eight One quickly resign from me!"
When talking to my mother on the phone, I was often full of resentment.
But people with a knife mouth and a bean curd heart are often very nostalgic.
At this moment, I am already in Nanning, sitting at the desk in the company dormitory. My fingertips tapped the words densely on the keyboard, reminiscing about the past.
There is a clear bar called "Shanren".
The folks of 1981 have always appreciated the glory, and they take a nap together when they have nothing to do. You, me, and he are robbing watermelon and beer, and no one dares to take money.
There is a square bridge called "Sixian Bridge".
In the middle of the night, on the eaves of the beams, sweet songs are often sung. "We Don't Talk Anymore" and "Alive" reciprocate, all of which are masterpieces of Brother Zhao.
There is a workshop called "Li Jiazao".
After 8 o'clock in the morning, the stuffed beef and pickled cabbage must be sold out. I often visit at 05:30, munching on beef stuffing, and leave Hechi Village contentedly.
There is a group of people called "One Nine Eight One".
July 24, 2017
"Hi, brother at the front desk!"
"Hey!"
"I still have a week's vacation left, and I'm wondering where to spend my time. If I go to Xitang again, will 1981 give discounts to repeat customers?"
"Book on WeChat, 10% off."
"I know! You can get a commission for booking a room on WeChat!"
"OK."
"Is the 10% discount too perfunctory? When I went to Xitang for the first time, you said it was 10% off; when I went to Xitang for the second time, you still said 10% off! Children, let's give it a little more discount."
"Miss, you are crazy!"
"Can you? Say!"
"Well... 30% off..."
"make a deal!"
My lovely aunt, rang 1981's work WeChat again.
July 27, 2017
My aunt was waiting at the intersection in front of the bus station, looking left and right.
There was still a suitcase on her side.
But the old soldier who was "killed in battle" had already disarmed and returned to the field; now the one who accompanied his aunt to Xitang was a new soldier wearing a "Doraemon" coat.
"Hey, you really came to lead me to fare evasion!"
"if not?"
"You promised me long ago."
"Yeah!"
"Apart from fare evasion, will you be my tour guide? I came back in a hurry last time, so I didn't have a chance to appreciate how you and other children from 1981 lived in Xitang."
"You get the inn work card first, follow me into the ancient town and then beep."
"Auntie, she is a new volunteer."
"Oh, you young man, it's so strange, you go to the ancient town to get volunteers every day. I'm embarrassed to ask you for money, auntie still has to support the family?"
"My inn has a lot of openings, and the demand for volunteers is huge..."
"Hey, the demand is huge... all the volunteers in your inn need female students?"
"Female classmate, aren't you... welcome to see?"
"Okay...let's go..."
The old woman who guards Tang's Lane is used to my old ways.
"Hee hee hee... kid, tell me honestly. Did you take the inn work card every now and then to evade fares for beautiful female students to enter Xitang?"
"no."
"oh?"
"In June, my father was on a business trip in Hangzhou and stopped by Xitang to visit me. I also gave him the inn work card and swaggered into Tangjia Lane."
"Hey, don't change the subject."
"ha?"
"As I just said, I just want to know how the residents of Xitang live in the ancient town. Will you be a tour guide and take me around?"
"If you like, go and see the scenery of the ancient town in the dead of night."
"OK!"
"But it won't be until 12 o'clock in the morning when I get off work."
"12 o'clock in the morning, see you there!"
In my heart, it seems that there are thousands of glass beads jumping and jubilant; dripping and dripping, in the alleys of bluestone slabs, and in the cobblestone forest paths.
In my palm, I was holding another inn work card.
It was dripping with sweat.
19:00 is the shift time.
Brother Zhao was a fierce man, and peeled off the bony butt from the wooden chair.
The buttocks swayed, twisted and tossed, and went to the rice fields in the countryside. Or Hechi Village, or Jinming Village, or Pailou Village.
I was left alone, sticking to the courtyard.
Brother Zhao especially likes the paddy fields under the starry sky and the singing of frogs in the paddy fields. He often walks on the ridge of the field, intoxicated by the soft whisper of the wind stirring the rice and wheat.
But if Brother Zhao went to visit Wang Sanpi, he would have to walk slowly, with his arms crossed, cursing at his mother.
"Fuck NM's Wang Sanpi, lost contact in the Internet cafe again! He won't eat, sleep, or go home! I have to go to the Internet cafe, even if it's forced, I must save him!"
Wang Sanpi is from Qujing, a fellow villager of Brother Zhao.
This young man with internet addiction has been living in 1981 for a long time.
If you describe Wang Sanpi as simply staying overnight, he does all kinds of chores; if you describe Wang Sanpi as a volunteer, he spends all day and night in Internet cafes.
Brother Zhao often eats instant noodles and iced black tea with Wang Sanpi, and hangs out in Internet cafes together.
When the moon was at its zenith and the night was dark, the two of them gave up the mouse in their palms and the keyboard on their fingertips. After that, he went back to 1981 crookedly, staggeringly, and grumbling.
That night, Brother Zhao did not visit Wang Sanpi, but wandered in the rice fields under the stars.
It was a wonderful night.