Chapter Fifteen: Wu Mantun

  Wu Mantun helplessly pushed away the beggar beside him, but it was clear that it had no effect, and he could only be held by the beggar and walked forward, earlier a moment of soft-heartedness

  Took a piece of flatbread from home and gave it to a small beggar who looked like he was about to collapse from hunger, didn't expect to be surrounded by other beggars afterwards.

  After much difficulty and exhausting all his strength, Wu Mantun finally saw a dense crowd of people in front of him, accompanied by the sound of shouting. He knew he had finally arrived at the place where laborers going to work outside the pass would gather.

  Following the directions of others, Wu Mantun walked to the table under the shade of a large tree. There were several people surrounding the table, and Wu Mantun managed to squeeze in with difficulty. He said to the gentleman sitting at the back of the table.

  "Sir! My name is Wu Mantun, from Wujia Village, and my guarantor is Li Laishun."

  "The guarantor is Li Lai Shun. Let me check, I have your name here. Sign this and go wait over there, we'll leave once everyone is ready."

  That gentleman didn't even lift his head and flipped through two pages of the booklet, pointing at a name to let Wu Mantun sign.

  "Oh dear! Sir, you're troubling yourself."

  Wu Mantun, who had never been out before, pressed a handprint in the place pointed by the man, thanked him and squeezed to the side of the wall with the crowd, looked around slightly, and the people around seemed to be divided into small piles according to their hometown.

  From time to time, one could see some people's parents and wives crying beside them. They were going to a place hundreds of miles away where the sand was flying and the stones were rolling, who knew if they would come back alive? Some families even had their children send off their loved ones with mourning clothes.

  But Wu Mantun, who was not yet twenty, did not understand these things very well. After his father left, he became the pillar of the family. He could not bear to watch his mother and younger siblings starve to death. A few days ago, he heard that a foreigner was recruiting workers, providing food and lodging for a month, and also paying three silver dollars and an additional bag of flour.

  Snuck alone to Yima Ridge and found a friend who had been acquainted with his father, begged for half a day before the other agreed to be his guarantor.

  I took the two dollars of relocation allowance and bought some noodles to bring back home. When my mother heard that I had gone out to work and also brought back the relocation allowance, she regretted it but it was too late, all she could do was cry.

  Where is the outside? Wu Mantun didn't know, from what he remembered, the farthest gate was to sell mountain goods at Yima Ridge. Thinking that several hundred miles away wasn't close, three big silver dollars a month were enough to keep his mother and younger siblings from starving to death.

  If his younger brothers and sisters starved to death, Wu Mantun didn't know what face he would have left to go sweep the tomb for his father on Qingming Festival. As the eldest son of the family, Wu Mantun had to take on these responsibilities.

  "Big brother, are you alone too?"

  Mu Bai saw the young man leaning against the wall, seemingly not chatting with his fellow villagers like others, nor did he have any family members to see him off, so he went up to ask.

  "Hmm! Are you alone too?"

  Wu Mantun, who was out for the first time, looked vigilantly at the person in front of him, whose age seemed to be a bit younger than his own, with a thin and cunning face.

  "I'm also a person, looking at you, big brother, it's just that I came over and startled you. It's all because I look too much like a thief, which scared you." Mu Bai said with a smile after noticing the other party's vigilance.

  Mu Bai certainly knew why. Out of ten beggars, nine are thieves. In fact, not all of them are starving. Otherwise, who would be born with a thief's face?

  "Hehe! That's it, that's it." Seeing his thoughts being seen through, Wu Mantun also felt embarrassed, and he quickly waved his hand with a red face.

  "Your home is at Yima Ridge, why didn't anyone come to see you off?"

  He and Mu Bai had a falling out, Wu Man Tuen called the little brother in front of him who kept calling himself "big brother", he understood not much, but only limited to Mu Bai's name.

  "Ah! This... everyone in my family has passed away, I'm the only one left."

  Mu Bai let Wu Man ask for a moment, this is the first time someone asked about Mu Bai's family, Mu Bai was obviously a bit unaccustomed, but thinking of his somewhat fuzzy memories of his mother, Mu Bai's eyes were still red.

  "Ah! I didn't expect you, brother, to be a poor soul too. If you don't mind, from now on, I'll be your big brother, your own big brother."

  Looking at Mu Bai's red-rimmed eyes, Wu Mantun thought for a moment before speaking. He had originally thought that his own life was enough, but he didn't expect this little brother to have lost both parents. As the eldest son who had always been in charge at home, Wu Mantun made up his mind on the spot to acknowledge this brother, and from then on, the two of them would take care of each other when they went out.

  On the official road that had been repaired, a group of travelers lined up in a row, facing the scorching sun of midsummer, and weakly hurried along the road. On both sides of the official road, more than half of the trees were almost withered to death, and the parched yellow leaves, where was there any shade that could provide some coolness for the travelers on the road?

  "Brother! How much longer do we have to walk?"

  After walking for half a day, Mu Bai, who was bare-legged, only felt that his calves were swollen and sore, and he had no strength left in his body. Although in the past when begging for food on the streets,

  This road is not easy to walk, but walking like this for half a day, except for drinking water by the roadside, basically didn't rest. Even that water can only be drunk when encountering a small river, and now my throat is parched and smoky.

  "Hold on, brother, didn't you hear what that man said? If we walk a few dozen more miles to the railway side, we can take the train."

  Wu Mantun was also exhausted and couldn't hold on much longer, but he could only try to encourage his newly acknowledged brother, and at the same time, encourage himself.

  Look around again, everyone's footsteps are soft and tired, their lips are dry, and they occasionally use their tongues to moisten their lips to relieve their thirst.

  "Grandpa! I really can't walk anymore, let's take a break."

  A man who was obviously a native of Yamashita-cho, with parched lips, walked up to the side of the mounted samurai who were drinking water and said.

  "Let's go down to the riverbank ahead and take a break, have a drink of water."

  The cavalryman on horseback wasn't tired, but looking back at the hundred or so people behind him, they seemed to be exhausted. Lifting his head again to look at the scorching sun above, he felt it was time to take a break too.

  It's obviously not a resting place on this official road, the riverbank in front is pretty good, and you can also drink some water and send them half a pancake.

  After walking for the time it takes to smoke a pack of cigarettes, they finally arrived at the river. The thirsty crowd rushed to the river and knelt down by the water's edge, taking big gulps of water. If the river hadn't been half dry with water only reaching their knees, people would have probably jumped in to cool off.

  "Come on, one and a half buns per person. Remember, we won't have anything to eat until this time tomorrow, so save some."

  The tooth man took out dozens of pancakes from the package on horseback and shouted, "One and a half pancakes per person is the rule for the tooth man to pull people on the road. It's just right here that they can eat with river water, otherwise the pancakes won't be eaten without drinking water."

  "Brother, eat mine first, yours can wait till you're hungry!"

  Wu Mantun tore the half pancake he had just received into two halves and forcibly gave one half to Mu Bai, despite his hesitation. Although they had only recognized each other as brothers for a short time, Wu Mantun felt that as an older brother, he should have the demeanor of an older brother, eating less himself and taking care of his younger brother was also a must.

  "Brother! Do you know what a train is?"

  After eating a small half pancake and drinking a few mouthfuls of river water, Mu Bai managed to get some water in his stomach. He heard the people beside him talking about something related to trains, so he casually asked them.

  "I don't know either, anyway trains are just trains. Trains go all the way to the end of the mouth, that's what those tooth people say, right?"

  Wu Mantun used leaves to scoop up water and took a few more sips, closing his eyes as he spoke. He rubbed his swollen and painful feet with his hands, thinking that if he could get a basin of hot water to wash them now, it would be really comfortable.

  "Brother, you said that the outside world is what kind of place. The old people in the mountain village all say that the outside world is a place where sand and stones are flying around, it's not a place for humans to stay, those who go there also have a slim chance of survival, I don't know if it's true or not."

  Mu Bai lay on the withered grass by the river, recalling some of the words spoken by the old people at the front of Yima Ridge.

  "Who knows, anyway we're going there to make money, making money and letting people send it back home is enough, as long as the old mother and younger sisters at home don't go hungry. Brother, you don't need to do these things, save some more money for later when you can talk about marrying a wife and settling down."

  When it comes to talking about his wife, Wu Mantun thinks of the road he took to get here. When he stopped at a village to ask for water, he met a girl from that household who was so pretty and charming. He didn't know if she had a husband or not, but he thought that after he made some money, he could marry someone like her, and this life would be fulfilling enough.

  "Alright! Alright! You've rested enough, hurry up and get going. If we miss the train, everyone will have to walk all the way out, and if you die from exhaustion on the road, that's just your fate."

  After smoking two bags of cigarettes, the tooth man rode on horseback and loudly shouted for everyone to hurry up. As soon as they heard that they had missed the train, they had to go out of the mouth, and no one dared to rest again. They all got up from the grass by the river in a hurry, three or five people in a group rushing forward along the road.

  Some clever ones heard that they were about to rush on the road, so they ran to the river bank and drank a few more mouthfuls of water. Who knows where the next river is? For now, they can drink as much as they can.

  Wu Mantun, who had originally wanted to get up and hurry along, saw that everyone was like this, so he went with Mu Bai to the riverbank to drink a few more mouthfuls of water before chasing after the team, which had already walked out for over ten meters.

  "Hurry up, everyone."

  Seeing the sun is about to set, the anxious toothperson kept loudly urging everyone on, hoping to catch the train before sunset, and by tomorrow morning they would arrive at the port, saving a meal's worth of money along the way.

  Although these people's road, Gao Lao Jia charges half a dollar per person for meals, but if they can eat less, the money will belong to the toothperson.

  Under the urging of Ya Ren, Wu Mantun and Mu Bai had to endure their thirst and leg pain, following in the crowd, jogging behind Ya Ren's horse.

  In the midst of their sprint, Wu Mantun felt like his chest was on fire, suffocating and struggling to catch his breath. He even began to regret why he had put himself through this torture. Meanwhile, Mu Bai was already exhausted, leaning heavily against Wu Mantun's side, almost entirely relying on him to pull him along.