On the evening of April 30, 2003, the motorcade arrived in Golmud.

Boss He is the boss’s partner. He has wide connections and strong connections. He is responsible for Mahila potash fertilizer and railway construction in Tibet. The eldest brother is from Qingdao. He has been in Golmud for many years and opened a Haiba restaurant specializing in seafood. We all call him eldest brother. He is a very nice person. He is tall, has a square face, has a loud voice, and talks straight, like a Liangshan hero.

We are a mixed group of people, with everything. Erpi, who is addicted to alcohol, can't kick a fart before drinking, and becomes explosive after drinking; the tire-repairing man with shawl hair, like a madman when working, and a fool when not working; Mengcun old man Feng was born for love. He always had a pair of predatory eyes wherever he went, looking for women like a cat looking for fish. He also had Niuzhuang's thin glasses. He looked like a girl no matter how he walked. He wiggles his butt and speaks in a slurred voice. Every time I see him, I feel like I've eaten a blowfly.

A ragtag crowd, like locusts that had been hungry for three days, with green eyes and red wings, marched into the hotel in a mighty manner. The eldest brother from Shandong hosted the reception banquet, and everyone listened with their ears and mouths moving. After eating and drinking, they patted their swollen bellies and returned to the hotel near the long-distance bus station to rest.

Early the next morning, I was awakened by a loud noise. I kicked off my slippers and ran out to watch. Laowang Wuzhi was unconscious and was carried into 120 by several people and taken away. When he went up to Rubber Mountain the day before yesterday, he felt a little high, his lips looked like he had chewed a purple grape, and he spoke in a whiny voice. Last night, I sat together with the drunkard Erpi again. The two of them had a great time exchanging glasses, but who knew that they fainted this morning.

I had nothing to do in the morning, so a few of us went wandering on the street together. I bought some fruits and an insulated travel kettle. I have the habit of writing a diary, so I bought a few notebooks. I heard that it was an uninhabited place, and the things in the shops were surprisingly expensive. Every driver who was a heavy smoker wanted to take a few cigarettes with him. Jintang found Caibei cigarettes that he only had at home in a corner store, and several addicts If you find a treasure, it will be divided up quickly.

In the evening, we continued to set off, ending at Mahai Industrial Zone, more than 300 kilometers away. It is located in the northwest of Qinghai Province, about 100 kilometers northwest of Dachaidan Town, and not far from the old 315 National Highway. How far.

After leaving the city and heading north, when we arrived at the toll station, the driver in front started arguing with the people at the toll station again. The No. 1 car driven by San Dan rushed to the front of the team, but the "mummy" Xiao Wang, who was in charge of accounting, was at the back of the team. When he ran to the toll station out of breath, San Dan and Qinghai Gawa, who were tolling, were red-eyed. Already making gestures. Seeing that the matter was getting serious, Xiao Wang hurriedly called Mr. He. The toll station also called the highway transportation administration. It was cold in the front, cold in the rear, and it was windy and cold in the middle of the night. I turned on the heater, leaned on the steering wheel and fell asleep. I waited until midnight before passing the toll booth.

Going north along National Highway 2151, we arrived at Wanzhang Salt Bridge at two o'clock in the evening, which is 60 kilometers away from Golmud. Under the bright car lights, the white road surface shimmered, and her crystal body seemed to be visible.

The Wanzhang Salt Bridge is a road built on the Qarhan Salt Lake, entirely paved with salt. It is said to be a bridge, but in fact it has neither piers nor railings. The road surface is flat, smooth, straight and straight. When a pit is discovered during maintenance, the road crew only needs to scoop a spoonful of thick brine and pour it on it. The salt particles will melt and the pit will be as flat as before. The Wanzhang Salt Bridge is a dazzling pearl in the Qaidam Basin.

After passing Xitieshan, there is the Haohan Ridge and the 14th class. The motorcade stops and goes, clumsy and slow like a pregnant woman. Cars are like people. They are alive and kicking when they are at home, and their abilities seem to be endless. But as soon as it reached the plateau, it immediately withered, the power dropped, and malfunctions occurred frequently. Either the water temperature was too high, or the pipe was broken, and even the new tire of car No. 3 that had just been replaced in Jiaozuo burst. After staying on the plateau for a long time, I realized that the air pressure difference between the mainland and the plateau is too big. If the car is going to haul goods at high altitudes for a long time, it is best to inflate and deflate the tires once, otherwise it will not easily burst!

Having a hasty meal at Daqaidan at noon, the sky was filled with thick gray-yellow turbid clouds. In the afternoon, when we crossed Luliang Mountain, it started to snow again, with ravines and ridges falling. The snow seemed to have a grudge against someone. It was as turbulent as the sea water, trying to submerge everything. The cold wind held a sharp ice knife and stung the face with pain.

The road is icy and the car is slipping and unable to get on. The tires are spinning in circles and swishing on the ground. The ice is melting and steam is rising from the tread, but it is still impossible to get on. I am anxious. , pulled one out of the piles of quilts in the car, stuffed it under the tire, and the car roared and rushed forward.

It was not until evening that the cars arrived one after another at the potash fertilizer plant in Mahai Industrial Zone.

This is a large factory with an investment of hundreds of millions of yuan. It covers a large area. It is currently being built and produced at the same time. From a distance, you can see many workshops and factories of varying heights and potassium fertilizer piles like snow-capped mountains. .

Under the blue sky, there is the vast Gobi Desert. The low-hanging white clouds are as cotton-like as cotton, and the air is fresh but smells of sand. Opposite the factory is a khaki-colored hill, without any vegetation or trees, as barren as a beggar. There is no shelter or barrier on the Gobi desert, and the wind blows all day long, as if it wants to suck away the little moisture from the body.

The temperature difference between morning and evening here is large. The sunshine during the day makes people feel a little confused, but at night it is several degrees below zero. At this time, I suddenly remembered a few jingles said by a person in Golmud, known as the four monsters of Qinghai:

Mohai’s mosquitoes, Lenghu’s wind,

Da Chaidan’s Student, soldier of Golmud.

The man explained to me one by one with his fingers:

First, the mosquitoes in Mahai are very big, like dragonflies, and they are also stupid. I can’t drive them away, I clap my hands and bleed (holy shit, it scared me, it’s so powerful, it won’t bite people to death);

Secondly, Lenghu is at the center of the storm, with four of them in a year It is windy during the season, and the strong wind can blow stones all over the ground. A newly built simple house will be blown over if it lifts even a corner.

The third is the student children of Dachaidan. It is said that they all have some backgrounds and cannot be offended, not to mention Golmud. Many years ago, there was a saying that there were 60,000 soldiers in a city with 100,000 people.

When I entered Mahai, I looked around and saw that there was nothing else except a car repair department, two disgraced Qinghai Gawa people, and a small shop. There were no restaurants, no gas stations, no barber shops, only a few heavy-duty dump trucks with Qing and Gan license plates roaring past, raising dust all over the sky.

We were arranged in a row of iron houses on the east side of the factory. From south to north there were dormitories, kitchens, warehouses, and offices. I lived with Captain Huang, Air Force, Jintang and Mengcun Old Feng.

Lao Huang is from Zhengzhou. He has a popular face and is of medium height. He speaks in an unhurried and slow manner, and always likes to include the phrase "duck feathers" in his spoken words.

Air Force and Jintang are honest people and don’t have many hobbies. Apart from going to work, they just sleep. After the convoy arrived in Amdo, northern Tibet, the drivers split into several factions at some point, and there were often conflicts. The three of us were outsiders and did not join any of the "gangs!"

Old Feng of Mengcun Village I like playing the harmonica and also like women. The songs I play are very nice and faint, like the moans of women at that time. I once worshiped him as a teacher and learned to play the harmonica. Once the car broke down, we drove the team's Iveco to Golmud to buy spare parts. We stayed in a hotel near the long-distance bus station at night. There was a dumpling shop next to the hotel, opened by an old couple from Heze, Shandong. It was cheap, affordable and delicious. I personally ordered a bottle of highland barley wine, a plate of peanuts, and two bowls of sour soup dumplings. I don’t drink, so most of the bottle went into Lao Feng’s stomach.

While walking on the street after dinner, his special hobby relapsed. Alcohol and long-unreleased desire made his eyes red. There was a row of low houses on the west side of the bus station. The two of us pretended to be wandering around, and when we took a closer look, we saw the four words Mengni Hair Salon on the faded signboard, with colorful lights wrapped around it, like a woman's hand, emitting a seductive light.