In the depths of Wanda Mountains primitive forest at the edge of Xiao Xingan Mountains, this has always been a place where few people venture. But today, a convoy of cars came rumbling through with an air of ferocity, five off-road vehicles emitting a sense of recklessness. Two Hummers with SH license plates, one JEEP Wrangler, one Dongfeng Warrior, and the last one was a BJ212 that should have been discontinued long ago. Its clear that this group of "off-road enthusiasts" who came to the northeastern border after eating their fill are quite high-end.
Although the road was rugged, fortunately it wasnt a snowy day. The convoy finally stopped at a village that would never appear on any map, with about 60 or 70 households. A young man with a sturdy build got out of the leading Dongfeng Mengshi vehicle, and at first glance, he gave the impression of being physically strong but mentally simple. However, if someone understood the meaning behind the "Shen K3" license plate, they might think that this guy wasnt as simple as he seemed on the surface. In the passenger seat was a girl with a tired expression, who only showed her face, enough to make her an object of desire for men of all kinds. Unfortunately, the slightly thick makeup gave her a flirtatious label.
Hummer and牧马人 walked down three young people, at a glance, it can be seen that they are southerners, all of whom have a well-proportioned figure, wearing standard off-road attire, occasionally revealing their watches or mobile phones, which made people gasp in amazement. This group of young people who drive high-end off-road vehicles and run wildly across China may not all be rich young masters, but they are absolutely not poor people.
A woman jumped down from a BJ Jeep 212, wearing a duck-billed cap that covered half of her face, and a pair of heavy black-framed glasses that didnt make her look any lighter. She held a camera in her hand, and the thick camouflage uniform unintentionally concealed her curvaceous figure. Behind her followed a man of about 30 years old, with a clean and neat crew cut, strong and agile, yet quiet to the point of being wooden, not making a sound as he followed her to the outskirts of the village, watching as she took out her camera to take a photo of a wall propaganda slogan.
"Yang Shao, who is she?" asked the young man from the south, driving the horse-drawn carriage. There were only two women in the entire group, and one of them was already taken. This young man was used to having beautiful women warm his bed every night on his own turf, so he naturally couldnt help but cast his gaze at the young woman who had been taking pictures all along the way. If it werent for the fact that everyone in this group had a complicated background, he would have already had the urge to take her by force.
"To be honest, Im not very clear either, its quite inexplicable how she got involved. I dont think she looks like trouble, so I didnt bother to investigate further. Lingfeng, if you really have a thing for this girl, I can actually help you look into her background. In our circle, we can make things big or small depending on the situation."
The tall and sturdy young man who was appreciating the village scenery with his eyes narrowed and hands on his hips smiled, but didnt turn to look at his companion beside him. This smile made his face, which lacked depth, suddenly appear more profound. "Also, please dont call me Young Master Yang or anything like that. Its not popular around here, Im not sure what the custom is where youre from, but at least Im not used to it. Besides, as a small public servant whos just going through the motions in the local armed forces, I really cant be called that name. It sounds like youre mocking me, so lets just stick with my name, okay?"
"Right." A young man from the south, who was nearly half a head shorter, chuckled in a northeastern accent, saying that to be honest, he didnt like being called "Yang Shao" by his peers either. He felt that not only was he shorter, but also less dignified. He glanced at the young woman taking pictures in the distance and flashed a playful smile, lowering his voice to say: "No intention of chasing her, just want to have some fun, see if it works."
"Whats the big deal? Women are just for us to play with."
The young master who drove the HLJ provincial military district car to the border patted his companions shoulder and said with a dismissive expression, seemingly an extreme male chauvinist. He slightly lowered his head to look at the "friend" from SH who had come from afar, then glanced at the Dongfeng Mengshi that looked similar to a Hummer, where the girl who was nominally his girlfriend stretched her waist, revealing her curves, and he showed a smile that couldnt be considered decent. He said in a low voice: "If you dont mind getting dirty, take that little girl back to Harbin to play for a few days, after all, shes just a money-grabbing woman."
The two of them exchanged a smile, seemingly very pleased with each other.
The village was very small, so small that even the smallest things could spread quickly throughout the village. For most of its members, who had only recently been introduced to electricity, tractors were already the epitome of their imagination. The five steel beasts that suddenly appeared at the entrance of the village today were undoubtedly a huge visual shock. Not only did the dirty and tattered children stare with wide eyes from behind the fences or earth walls, but almost all the villagers stood far away, admiring and marveling with reverence. Two slightly bolder kids tried to sneak up and touch these massive objects, but were glared at by a young man driving a horse-drawn carriage, and immediately ran away to a distant mountain top. It seemed that this clean and refined city person was more dangerous than the leopard that could knock down an old yellow cow. A delicate girl who had just gotten off the East Wind Warrior saw this comical scene and laughed so hard that her flowers were in full bloom, causing the eyes of a group of villagers who had only seen "heavenly beauties" in a few rare New Years paintings to almost drop to the ground.
A few young people gathered together, seemingly discussing something, while those simple villagers looked on from a distance, their eyes so simple that they didnt even contain jealousy.
How many generations of struggle and striving does it take to get from this world to that one?
A simple duck-tongue hat, gender-neutral military boots, and black-framed glasses that conceal her eyes, the woman seems to be from a different circle than those young people.
Lanterns, fences, old tractors that had long disappeared from big cities, and even a pure and innocent child standing in the distance laughing at her, all became visual collectibles for this woman. She silently took them in with her eyes and stored them in her camera. Finally, she walked along a small path into the village on the mountain slope. As far as houses were concerned, the earth houses here couldnt compare to some of the ancient towns in Jiangnan that she had visited. Stopping and walking, she came to an open space and was surprised to see a basketball hoop, although it was crudely made. After all, this was one of Chinas most remote corners. She smiled lightly and looked at two villagers on the ground who seemed a bit unusual.
One was tall and the other short, with vastly different personalities. Perhaps it was because of the villages simplicity that bordered on dullness, or maybe it was the big guys silly and foolish appearance that made her think the slightly shorter villager was a bit strange. As someone familiar with photography, she knew about this kind of contrast, so she couldnt help but take another look at the guy. He looked like he was 24 or 25 years old, around 1.75 meters tall, which was an unremarkable height among northerners, but he had a very pale face that belonged to a southerner. Even if she lowered her notoriously strict aesthetic standards by several notches, he still couldnt be considered handsome. In fact, if she put him in the midst of city crowds, even someone with exceptional memory like her would find it hard to form a clear impression of him. But this person, standing in a remote village at Chinas northeasternmost tip, holding a tattered basketball and staring at her with unblinking eyes, finally made her reveal a radiant smile she hadnt shown in ages. She snapped a photo of this interesting scene, feeling very accomplished.
Then she turned around and left directly.
For a woman who always carries "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Will to Power" in her travel bag, love at first sight, fate, these are all negligible small things. Toads are eagerly waiting for the swan that doesnt care about appearance to land, but who knows that the swans that have reached this realm are basically not interested in any toads or even swans.
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"Rich and beautiful, arent they?" The slightly short young man finally blinked his eyes, waiting for the woman to walk away before revealing a set of pearly white teeth in a smile. He tilted his head towards the big guy standing not far away, a towering figure who was at least nearly two meters tall, making him stand out like a crane among chickens even in the northeast. Unfortunately, his silly grin that never changed ruined the majesty and intimidation he was born with.
The silly big guy didnt say a word, opened his mouth, and had equally exceptionally white teeth. The curve of the corners of his mouth was even bigger, and when he smiled, he really looked silly.
"Dont laugh!" The guy holding the basketball said with a slightly sinking face.
The silly big guy immediately retracted his smile, looking serious, but still making people feel ridiculous.
The young man with a skin tone that stood out from the entire village, tossed the basketball to Da Ge and said with a sly smile: "Fu Gui, why dont I find you a wife like this?"
There is a silly big guy with a very rustic name who laughed again, meaning hopeless.
This time the slightly shorter young man did not stop, but helplessly took over the basketball that was thrown back, and made a rather clumsy three-step layup, which didnt go in.
A barefooted kid ran to the empty ground, panting, and looked at the ball with disdain. With his hands on his hips, he said in dialect, "Ergou, many of those cars you told us about have arrived at the village entrance. Li Cuo, the village head, is talking to them now. You should go take a look! Theres someone whos really pretty, and after seeing her, even Li Cuo can walk without limping."
He bent down to pick up the basketball and asked with a smile, "Just how pretty is it?"
After thinking for a long time, the little kids face turned red and said: "Just like the immortals in the painting!"
He smiled and said: "How about we make a bet, if that fairy-like beautiful person talks to me, you secretly pour me two cups of the medicinal wine from your home, what do you say?"
"No gambling."
"Bad."
"Go all in!"
The young man seemed to have already smelled the fragrance of that medicinal wine, let alone the four-leaf pure wild ginseng, plus the top-grade deer antler "snowflake", and some precious mountain medicine that couldnt be named. Such a medicinal wine was simply an unattainable divine brew. He closed his eyes, squatted down on the basketball, smiled, looked towards the direction of the village head, and muttered: "A good thing to guard the tree and wait for the rabbit, the ancestral tomb is emitting green smoke?"