Chapter 475 Heading West

"Okay!" Fang Minghua answered simply: "Get in my new car and let's take a trip around."

"That's a good idea. Then I'll go back and make arrangements and try to set off as soon as possible!"

When Song Tangtang returned home in the evening, Fang Minghua said that he and Zhao Hongjun wanted to drive back to the place where they jumped in line.

"Hey, don't tell me, Xijing City is in a mess now, and I also want to go out for a walk." Song Tangtang said.

"What about? Let's go together? It's convenient to bring a car."

"I can't bear to leave the child. Just go with the Red Army. I will go to the United States in the second half of this year."

"Visiting Lili?"

"Yes, my second aunt also came to my house today. We have agreed that we will go out when it gets cooler in the autumn. I will also take my two children with me to let them go out and see the world."

Why.

She is such a good mother, always thinking about her children wherever she goes.

"Okay. Then you have to prepare your passport now. Children also need passports." Fang Minghua reminded.

"I know."

Fang Minghua began to make preparations for the long trip.

Medicines, cash, transportation maps, clothing, tow ropes, even fire extinguishers, and tents. Since you are planning on traveling by car, it’s best to be prepared.

On the way, he also went to Western University and signed a contract with the school. Fang Minghua was hired as a visiting professor in the School of Liberal Arts of Western University for a three-year term. The remuneration was calculated on a per-class basis, at 50 yuan per class.

He also did not forget to go to the construction site. The main body of his small building has been built. The next step is to install water, electricity, heating and other supporting facilities.

Early in the morning on May 13, Fang Minghua said goodbye to his wife and drove his newly purchased Land Cruiser to Xu Shimiao Street to pick up Zhao Hongjun.

Zhao Hongjun got into the car smartly carrying a travel bag and sat in the passenger seat.

"Minghua, this off-road vehicle is very comfortable to sit in. It's much better than my Crown. I'll buy one when I come back!"

"This thing is nice to sit on, but it doesn't have the crown to be open." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

Indeed, there is no such thing as SUV these days, and off-road vehicles are not very popular in cities. They are far less majestic and majestic than Crown, Hongqi and the like.

"That's true." Zhao Hongjun nodded.

If you don’t care about face when driving, what kind of car should you drive?

The two chatted and laughed, and the car went west along Lianhu Road, passed the Three Bridges, and got onto National Highway 310.

Fang Minghua and the others jumped in line in a remote rural village in Baiyin, Gan Province. They had to go to Lanzhou first.

These days, there is no expressway from Xijing to Lanzhou. There are two national highways to reach it. To the north, take National Highway 312 through Pingliang, Dingxi and then to Lanzhou.

To the south, take National Highway 310 through Baoji, Tianshui, and then Lanzhou, then turn north from Lanzhou and follow National Highway 109 to Baiyin.

Fang Minghua and the others decided to take the 310 National Highway in the south when they went there, and the 312 National Highway in the north when they came back. Anyway, it was just for fun.

The two drove alternately along the national highway, and when passing by Baoji, Fang Minghua suggested going to Famen Temple.

"Minghua, you are a traveler, are you going to write a travel diary? How about a "Westward Journey"?" Zhao Hongjun joked.

"It's possible, but it's worth a visit here. Bodhi trees have no trees, and mirrors don't stand. Let's go and quiet our hearts that are dusted by the world." Fang Minghua drove his joke car and turned into a county road.

Famen Temple in the 1980s was far less splendid than that of later generations. There were no Buddhist cultural attractions, Namaste Relic Pagodas, Foguang Avenue, or Pilgrimage Square. There was only one pagoda that had been recently restored two years ago.

But Fang Minghua feels that the flavor of Buddhism is stronger now, perhaps because there is no strong commercial smell in later generations?

The underground palace of Famen Temple has been discovered, as well as the only existing Buddha finger bone relics in the country and thousands of rare and rare treasures.

Fang Minghua bought a ticket to enter the underground palace and was lucky enough to see the relics, which are said to be the finger bone relics of Sakyamuni's true body.

But they really didn't see anything special.

I had a bowl of Qishan Saozi Noodles in Baoji and walked around. When I arrived in Tianshui, I went to Maiji Mountain for a walk. In the city, Fang Minghua also had a special meal of spicy hot pot.

The taste is actually similar to the one in Xijing.

We arrived in Lanzhou at noon on the third day.

According to Fang Minghua's plan, they would stay in Lanzhou for one night and go to Lanzhou University the next day.

In early 1982, Fang Minghua went to Lanzhou University to look up information. At the invitation of Ke Yang, the director of the school's Chinese Department, he also gave a course on stream-of-consciousness writing. He heard that Ke Yang was still the director of the Chinese Department of Lanzhou University, so he wanted to visit. visit.

As a result, they were blocked by a parade as soon as they entered the city. Fang Minghua and the others had no choice but to stop at a random shop and eat a bowl of beef noodles each, without even entering the city, and continued on their way.

Along the edge of Lanzhou, cross the Yellow River Bridge and turn onto National Highway 109. The further away from the city, the more desolate the surrounding scene becomes. In the distance are bare mountains, and in the nearby villages, the houses are still low.

Fortunately, the spring wheat has been sown. Although it looks sparse, it adds a touch of green to the gray and yellow land.

"Hey, more than ten years have passed, and it feels like nothing has changed here." Zhao Hongjun couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the surrounding scene.

"That's not really true." Fang Minghua said with a smile while driving: "Look at this road, at least it's much easier to walk than before."

"That's right. Even though it's a national highway, it used to be full of potholes."

It is about 80 kilometers from Lanzhou to Baiyin city. Fang Minghua drove for more than an hour and finally arrived in Baiyin.

It was already sunset.

We found a hotel to stay in and ate the local specialty Shuichuan long noodles. It is said that the local folk custom has always recognized the meaning of "frequent visits". Paired with a few side dishes such as cold cucumber shreds and carrot shreds, it tastes unique.

Early the next morning, Fang Minghua bought a lot of gifts in a department store in the county, such as ginseng royal jelly, biscuits, canned food, etc.

Not for himself but for gifts.

When we arrived at the village, there were many people we knew. We couldn't go empty-handed, right?

They continued to travel along Provincial Highway 217, but this time Zhao Hongjun drove.

The village where Fang Minghua and his team joined the team was a village called Bandeng Village in Jingtaixian, northwest of Baiyin, which is close to Inner Mongolia.

On a May morning, the Northwest was still relatively cool. Zhao Hongjun hummed a folk song while driving:

"You carry the load and I carry the baby,

I carry the baby, we are going to pick cotton,

We are going to pick cotton

The song was melodious.

"Is this a Jingyuan folk song?" Fang Minghua asked tentatively.

"Yes, have you forgotten! When we were sent to work in the countryside, we either sang "Go to the countryside, go to the frontier, go to the place where the motherland needs us most" revolutionary songs or folk songs." Zhao Hongjun said.

Fang Minghua nodded after listening.

"Among the educated youth, the best singer is Luo Hongmei from Shencheng. Her voice is so soft and beautiful. She is also beautiful and has a good figure. Last year, I went to Shencheng on a business trip and found out about her unit. I even arranged to have a meal with her."

"How is she now?"

"I almost couldn't recognize her. She has gained a lot of weight and her waist is as thick as a bucket, but her voice hasn't changed much."

Fang Minghua almost laughed when he heard this.

He vaguely remembered that Zhao Hongjun seemed to have such feelings for Luo Hongmei when he was sent to the countryside.

"I don't know how Professor Lu is now? He has never contacted me since he returned to his hometown in Shenyang. It's really a waste of talent for a university professor to be sent down to the countryside to teach primary school students, but the class he taught was really good."

Zhao Hongjun continued to recall.

The Professor Lu Zhao Hongjun mentioned was originally a professor at Northeastern University. During the special period, he was sent down to a May 7th Cadre School in Jingtai, Gansu Province. Later, Bandeng Village was short of teachers, so Professor Lu was asked to teach in the village primary school. He worked there for ten years and did not return to Shenyang until the policy was implemented seven or eight years later.

Fang Minghua found that the closer he got to the place where he was assigned to work, the more sentimental Zhao Hongjun became.

The car did not go into the county town, but went directly to Bandeng Village, which was close to the edge of the Tengger Desert.