Chapter 27

  It's better for people to be humble and modest.

  What the ancients said, "Extreme joy begets sorrow, fullness invites loss, humility receives benefit", is the truth of truths after years and months of deliberation.

  I don't know if it's really a cheap thrill, but anyway, I've been enjoying the tiger skin chili these days, and with the big smokeless coal fire at night, it was just enough to make me feel like my whole body was on fire and my throat was smoking. Before dawn broke, I started humming.

  The sentry outside heard it and thought I was joking, but after listening carefully to my humming, he didn't seem to be pretending to be ill or happy, so he quickly opened the door and rushed out in one step.

  My whole body is burning like charcoal, with a ring of blisters around my mouth. Even breathing through my nostrils can steam buns. If I spit out flames from my mouth, I'd be the evil dragon from Western mythology.

  This was told to me by Jiang Kuan's grandson later, at that time the instructor rushed into the isolation room with his bare back and then sent a car to hurry me down the mountain to the XX Army Hospital.

  Kangming brother accompanied us to the army hospital to see sister.

  Wrong, I'm going to see a doctor.

  Now let's talk about our mechanical department's Chen Lao Da.

  Chen Lao Da, Hubei Yellow Skin Man.

  I don't know what that so-called "husband killer" Bu something is, or if it's related to our Old Chen, but anyway, Old Chen and that Bu something are molded from the same template, looking every bit like a gentle and courteous gentleman.

  They have a scholarly air, having graduated from a regular university and even volunteering to join the toughest troops. After several years of hard work, their gentlemanly demeanor supported by their learning has not changed in the slightest; it's as if they're wearing a tailcoat on Mr. Chen Lao Da's body, which looks like formal attire no matter how you look at it.

  Especially driving skills, that's even more unquestionable. In our troops, among the four major mechanical industries, Chen Lao Da is the number one in driving technology.

  Everyone looks at the police chasing robbers in the movie, it seems very cool. The small car is driving all over the world and crashing everywhere, and can even play all kinds of tricks?

  It's easy for Old Man Chen to handle it, it's a piece of cake.

  The icy road surface, steep cliffs and insufficient air pressure on the plateau made aerodynamic brakes a mere decoration. Ordinary drivers could be proud of driving at 60 miles per hour, but our Chen Lao Da was always speeding at 80 miles per hour.

  The most evil time was when Chen Lao Da took over a new car that had just passed the running-in period, drove for only a few kilometers and reached a big downhill slope, only to find that there were no brakes.

  The person sitting next to Old Chen's side at that time changed color on his face.

  The big downhill on Karakoram Mountain!

  That is a winding mountain road stretching over 20 kilometers, with cliffs on one side and precipices on the other. If two cars meet, they will slowly pass each other, making both drivers nervous and frightened. A slight carelessness would lead to a fatal fall off the cliff.

  But Chen Lao Da was not flustered, and very calmly brushed off the dust from his clothes. He put on his sunglasses and started speeding down the slope. At this moment, if someone could put a Cuban cigar in Chen Lao Da's mouth, I reckon even General Patton riding a jeep to charge into German anti-aircraft artillery positions during World War II would be no match for him.

  All the way downshifting and pulling the handbrake, with barely any time to react, the car came crashing down. By the time they reached the gentle slope, the handbrake was smoking hot. Old Chen slowly and calmly found a wide open space and stopped the car. The person sitting next to him immediately jumped out, knelt on one knee, and burst into loud wailing sobs.

  Then he refused to get on Old Chen's car again.

  Actually, those guys were just not used to Chen Lao Da's style and didn't understand his skills. When Chen Lao Da was practicing driving back then, everyone teased him to show off a stunt, and Chen Lao Da, on an impulse, actually performed the car knight project in front of everyone.

  I won't go into details here. Anyway, roughly speaking, it's like tying a steel bar to the car headlight and charging at a small circle at 80 km/h, just in time to insert the steel bar into the circle, like a medieval knight holding a long spear.

  At that time, the circle was only a few centimeters larger than the diameter of the steel bar. Chen Lao Da's speed was 90 yards and it started to sprint after two big turns.

  At that time, Old Chen saw my face burned like a lobster and got anxious, dressed neatly, pulled me and Brother Kuangming to rush towards the Army Hospital at the foot of the mountain.

  More than 200 kilometers of snowy mountain roads, still in the darkest early morning hours, Chen Lao Da's speed was at least over 90 km/h.

  I was confused at the time, I didn't know, anyway, Gang Ming Ge said that Chen Lao Da was also desperate at the time. The gentlemanly demeanor on his face was completely gone, and he was rushing down the mountain with a pale face.

  Just lost several brothers, everyone is heartbroken and doesn't want to see me get into trouble again.

  Rushed over 100 kilometers and something went wrong.

  The road in the Karakoram Mountains is originally very narrow, and if a mountain collapse or landslide occurs, it can block hundreds of vehicles for several days and nights.

  It just so happens that we encountered a landslide in front of us. The traffic police brothers on the 20th were rushing to repair it, but looking at the scale of the landslide, it would not have been possible to complete the repairs in just over ten hours.

  Kuang Ming's face turned pale at the sight of that attitude.

  At that time I was burning like that, let alone ten or more hours, even four or five hours would not be able to hold on. This is to say that if the front can't get through, it can only watch me burn to death alive.

  Chen Lao Da also got anxious, jumped off the car and rushed over to find the traffic police brother's leader and said: "There is a young brother on the car who is seriously ill, we are rushing down the mountain to save his life. Can this road be repaired as soon as possible?"

  The traffic police chief said, "Brother, I'm not unwilling to help, but look at this landslide, it's a real pain! If it had just fallen on the side of the road, that would be easy to deal with. I could call my brothers to clear a path for you and you could pass through. But look at this, it's a huge hole in the middle of the road! Even if I call an excavator to fill it, it'll take four hours to arrive!"

  Estimated to be the same, because of the urgency, the old traffic police chief rubbed his palms hard and shouted to those traffic police brothers: "Brothers, come on! There's a brother who's ill and needs to rush down the mountain to save his life! Everyone, let's go!"

  With a whoosh, he ripped off the cotton hat on his head and started carrying stones to fill in the big pit.

  Heavy snow weather, the severe cold on the high mountain, I stayed in the driver's room blowing warm air and my brother was also wrapping me tightly with a big coat but I still felt chilled to the bone.

  Those traffic police brothers all took off their hats and caps, exposing their bald heads, holding steel picks to dig stones and fill pits.

  I saw the white snowflakes had just fallen on them and melted away. I saw a cluster of mist rising from their heads. I could still hear the slogans they shouted out when they worked together to push the big rocks.

  I wanted to tell them, brothers, you've worked hard, but I just couldn't get the words out. My lungs felt like they were on fire and I could only cough violently, and as I coughed, a mouthful of blood spurted out.

  When I coughed up blood, my brother was really anxious and his face turned green.

  Come on, hold on tight, I said bald head, you little guy, just hold on for a moment, the road will be repaired soon and we can go down the mountain. You must hold on tight.

  So, it can be said that Lao Da Chen is indeed a well-read person with a good brain. As soon as he saw the mountain road in the distance, he thought there were car lights swaying and said to Kuang Ming, "Don't shout anymore, hurry up and put the flashlight on your back, let's walk over and find a ride on the other side."

  The big brother of the traffic police also saw the car lights and said "Good idea! Good idea! Brothers, come over and lend a hand. We need to save people!"

  Everyone lifted me up and carried me to that side, then several traffic police brothers rushed over to stop the car.

  I still remember it was a small car and a pretty good one, and the license plate number seemed to start with 0?

  The car window opened a slit and someone asked what's wrong, why is the road ahead blocked?

  "Brother Kangming just said that the front has collapsed and I have a brother who is seriously ill. Can you help us send him down the mountain? We are waiting for rescue."

  A woman's voice came from inside the car window, saying "Oh no, how did this happen? This is a new car and you're putting a sick person in it, isn't that a nuisance?"

  Kuang Ming's brother was suddenly stunned and couldn't say a word!

  It's said that seeing someone in danger and not helping is a common occurrence, but if you actually encounter such a situation, even the most mentally resilient person would be overwhelmed by an instant feeling of despair, becoming utterly stunned.

  Then a traffic police brother said "What's wrong with your tone? This is our comrade in the army, can't you...?"

  The woman's voice said: "Hey, what's wrong with you soldiers? We're taxpayers, we support you guys. Do we have to help you transport the wounded?"

  All brothers were speechless...

  Knowledge is power after all.

  As a country with a long history of rule of man, the relationship between law and human feelings has not changed for many years. It is indeed rare to find someone who can say something that sounds so righteous and solemn, yet is absolutely flawless in terms of legal reasoning.

  How can this also be considered as an educated person?

  A group of robust and majestic military men were stuck in the vast snowstorm, with not a single flaw in their reasoning or legality.

  I think that at that time, the hearts of those brothers were also like this sky shrouded in wind and snow, pitch black and icy to the extreme.

  My brother's eyes turned red and he slapped a palm on the car window, shattering the glass.

  That nice little car suddenly let out a woman's shrill cry, saying "Back up the car! Back up the car!" These are all a bunch of rascals, these are all a bunch of bandits. I will definitely report you to the autonomous region!

  The little car sped away quickly in reverse as the woman let out a shriek.

  The brothers were so angry that they couldn't help it. I know several traffic police brothers who instinctively turned the steel nails in their hands into spears and threw them out, but still couldn't do anything about it.

  The traffic police chief was so angry that he said, "Brothers, go and hide a few people in front. If another car comes over, we'll rob one to save this brother's life! This is all because of my fault!"

  It's lucky I didn't die.

  In less than ten minutes, another car came and saw someone waving to stop the car. The car stopped and three sturdy men with big waists got out of the car!

  The Bari Kun in Xinjiang are absolutely mighty men. Their height and physique are the absolute candidates for legendary warriors, and they all have boundless strength and are more generous than others.

  Three big men wearing military vests came down and asked what was going on?

  Chen Lao Da said my brother is in trouble and we have to rush down the mountain to save him, can I borrow your car for a bit?

  Three big Han in Balikun didn't hesitate to say that saving people is important, but this road is too narrow and my car can't even turn around, it's hard to do.

  Many years later, I still remember the situation at that time.

  I dazedly watched those brothers wearing traffic police vests surround the car, and under the loud whistle of the traffic police chief, they lifted a large truck with great effort and changed its direction.

  I won't say thank you then. I don't even know the name of that traffic police officer, let alone the names of those brothers who were desperately lifting the car.

  I don't even remember what they looked like, all I can recall from my blurry vision is the cuirass on their bodies and the military emblem on the hats they had pulled off.

  My life was given by you.

  There's another thing, it was told by Brother Kuangming.

  That truck was a heavy-duty dump truck, and it was loaded with goods that the three burly men from Balikun were preparing to transport to Tibet. It was a whole truckload of fresh vegetables, which could be sold for a handsome price at the market in Tibet.

  When the brothers said that the fully loaded car couldn't be lifted, the three big men from Balikun didn't even think about it and directly pulled out a hydraulic pump, pouring a full load of fresh vegetables onto the snowy ground on Mount Kunlun.

  Vegetables frozen in the snow for an hour are completely blackened and can't even be used as feed.

  They sent me to the hospital, and Old Chen said he would compensate for the price of those vegetables. Then the three men from Baliqun threw down a sentence: Is your brother's life worth only the price of a cart of vegetables?

  Then turned around and left...