12dz Chapter 392 The Cart-Baking Ceremony
Chapter 392 The Cart-Baking Ceremony
The truck sped along the highway, soon leaving the familiar mountainous area and entering a wide-open plain.
As the convoy continued westward, the road became increasingly narrow and rugged, and the trees on both sides gradually thinned out, replaced by a vast wilderness.
"How much longer until we reach the grasslands?" Li Xiangyang asked the experienced driver sitting in the front seat.
"At normal speeds, it should take three or four days," the experienced driver said, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he squinted at the road. "But it's winter now, the road conditions are bad, so it'll probably take five or six days."
Wang Ergou rubbed his frozen hands: "It's only morning, and it's already this cold. How cold will it get further west?"
Li Xiangyang smiled and said, "Isn't there a heater? It's alright."
The heater in the car emitted a weak warmth, barely enough to keep one from shivering from the cold.
But as the vehicle traveled westward, the temperature dropped further and further, and even the heat from the heater seemed insignificant.
That evening, the convoy stopped at a guesthouse in a small town to rest.
Several people squeezed into one room, using a coal stove for warmth.
"I heard there's a particularly difficult stretch of road ahead," the experienced driver said, eating his steaming noodles. "Last winter, a car overturned there, and all three people inside froze to death. They weren't discovered until spring."
Wang Ergou swallowed hard: "That dangerous?"
The experienced driver nodded: "That's right. Winters on the grasslands are unbearable. The winds are so strong they could blow you away, and the temperatures are so low you could freeze in the blink of an eye."
Li Xiangyang didn't say anything, just silently ate his noodles, while pondering a solution in his mind.
The convoy set off early the next morning, before dawn.
As they continued westward, the road conditions worsened, and the truck struggled to make its way through the snow-covered roads.
Around noon, the convoy stopped to rest.
Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou got out of the car to stretch their muscles, and their breath immediately condensed into white mist in the air.
"Damn, it's so cold!" Wang Ergou stamped his feet and rubbed his hands. "This is nothing! We'll freeze to death when we get to the grasslands!"
Li Xiangyang looked up at the gray sky: "We need to find a way to get more warm clothes."
Just then, the truck suddenly made a strange noise and stalled.
"Oh no, the car is broken down!" The experienced driver quickly got out of the car to check.
"What happened?" Li Xiangyang asked.
"I don't know," the experienced driver said with a worried look. "In this awful weather, it's normal for the car to stall if it has some problems. Don't panic, I have all the spare parts I usually carry with me. It's just that checking for the problem will be a bit of a hassle, and of course, starting it again will be a bit of a hassle too."
Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou exchanged a glance, knowing that although the other's words were lighthearted, they were mostly meant to comfort them.
If the car can't start and gets stuck in this freezing weather, that would be terrible.
"Is there any way?" Li Xiangyang asked.
The experienced driver didn't reply. He frowned, circled the truck once, then opened the hood and began to inspect it carefully.
He took out wrenches, screwdrivers and other tools from the toolbox and fiddled with the cold parts, his hands quickly turning red from the cold.
Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou also came over, helping to hand over tools and asking about the situation from time to time.
The cold wind blew like a knife, and everyone was stamping their feet to keep warm, but the work of repairing the car could not stop.
The experienced driver tightened the screw for a while, checked the wiring, and fiddled with it for quite some time before finally letting out a sigh of relief.
"Luckily it's not a big problem, just an old part that's worn out. We can just replace it," the experienced driver said, panting heavily.
He found spare parts in the car and began to replace them.
In this icy and snowy landscape, every movement became extremely difficult; hands were numb with cold, and it was almost impossible to hold the tools properly.
Despite the difficulties, everyone quickly replaced the parts.
After replacing the parts, the next step is to try starting the vehicle.
These days, starting a vehicle in extremely cold weather is a major challenge, and it usually requires using a fire to preheat key parts.
The experienced driver asked Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou to find some dry grass and branches, and soon the two of them brought back a pile.
Then, the experienced driver applied some diesel fuel, controlled the flame height, and pressed it directly against the bottom of the engine to slowly warm it up.
This scene would absolutely terrify people in later generations, but in these days, it's just standard procedure.
"The fire needs to be heated for a while to warm up the engine before it can start smoothly," the experienced driver explained while keeping an eye on the flames.
Time passed slowly, and after about fifteen minutes of heating, the experienced driver felt it was about time, so he got up and prepared to try starting the vehicle.
He got into the driver's seat, took a deep breath, and then turned the key.
The truck made a few "huffing and puffing" sounds.
After quite a while, the engine finally started and made a powerful running sound.
The convoy continued westward, and similar situations occurred repeatedly along the way, with each stop requiring this "car-baking" ceremony.
On the evening of the fourth day, the convoy finally saw the outline of the grassland.
Unlike the grasslands of imagination, the grasslands in winter are devoid of any greenery, only boundless white snow and howling winds.
Desolate and vast, it felt like entering another world.
"We'll arrive in one more day," the experienced driver told Li Xiangyang.
As night fell, the convoy reached the edge of the grassland, where a few herders' yurts were scattered around.
Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou stayed overnight in a villager's yurt with the others. They sat around the fire, roasting the frozen, hard rations they had just taken off the truck.
"Do you think the wolf packs over there are really as terrifying as the legends say?" Wang Ergou asked while munching on his dry rations.
Li Xiangyang pondered for a moment: "I don't know, but since it's gotten to the point where we have to offer assistance, it must be quite a big fuss."
Just then, the curtain of the yurt was lifted, and a middle-aged man wrapped in a fur coat walked in.
"Are you a support team from the east?" the man asked in accented Mandarin.
Li Xiangyang nodded: "Yes, we brought supplies to provide support."
The man's face lit up with joy: "That's great! The situation on the grassland is terrible; everyone is waiting for rescue."
"Is the wolf plague really that serious?" Li Xiangyang asked.
The middle-aged man's face darkened: "It's far more terrifying than you imagine. Hundreds, even thousands, of wolves devoured all the livestock and attacked many herders."
Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou exchanged a glance, realizing the difficulty of the task.
"You should all rest now; we have a long journey ahead tomorrow," the middle-aged man said, then turned and left.
It was late at night, and Li Xiangyang lay on his simple bed for a long time before he finally fell asleep.
On the morning of the fifth day, the convoy set off again.
As they ventured deeper into the grassland, the surrounding landscape became increasingly desolate.
Occasionally, you can see a few lonely yurts with wisps of smoke rising from them, looking particularly desolate against the vast expanse of white snow.