sinovels Chapter 14 Chapter 14
Chapter 14 Chapter 14
The next morning, Lin Mu woke up and lay on the bed with his eyes open for a while, staring at the ceiling in a daze.
He's at Jimmy's house.
One of Jimmy's many homes, to be exact.Here he spent the night—separately, of course.
The trees are staring at the bright sapphire blue on the ceiling, occasionally embellished with some forest green and bright yellow, which is the unique bright aesthetic of the Thar people.
For the first time he saw himself on Tar's map.He saw himself getting acquainted with the past of the land and involuntarily trying to figure out a future for it.
He smiled softly, wondering which kebab stall on the ground was still burning today.
When the trees follow the aroma of coffee through the long corridor to the restaurant, Jimmy has been waiting at the table for a long time.
Last night, he asked Raj, the guard and housekeeper, to buy the freshest milk and eggs from the village. He hung up his apron and cooked four pieces of delicious French toast, plus cut persimmons and plums into small pieces. Arrange on a plate.
"Here, syrup." He pouted, motioning to Lin Mu.
Lin Mu thought he was going to use syrup, so he walked halfway across the room, just to pick up the silver pot of syrup from the table and put it firmly in his hand.
"I mean you, I wonder if you want syrup?"
Lin Mu nodded. Jimmy then sprinkled the syrup on his french toast, glistening.
The dripping coffee smells fragrant, two peacocks walk proudly in the yard, and a camel pokes its head out of the window curiously.
Jimmy looked at the trees and thought, won't it be like this for the rest of his life?
after?the rest of my life?Can it be so?
Jimmy thinks that the best of the world should be defined as being like this for the rest of his life: the tea is hot in the cup, there is him in front of him, there is no rainstorm in the desert, and the rest of his life is a good season.
After the meal, Lin Mu wiped his mouth and asked kindly: "Are you going to work today? I'll take the rest and drive you?"
After hearing this, Jimmy waved his hands again and again: "Captain, don't be too polite. As soon as I heard that you were going to drive, I suddenly quit today."
In the end the two decided to go for a ride in the Thar desert.
Jimmy checked the weather forecast. Except for a slight dust storm at noon, it was basically cloudless today. If the wind eased at night, they might be able to watch the flag-lowering ceremony at the border of the two countries together.
The motorcycle escorted by Ji Yuanyuan's passport has long since returned. Jimmy took Lin Shu to his ancestral garage, and he reluctantly chose a Harley motorcycle from the last century from a crowd of ostentatious classic cars.
The motorcycle has a bucket, just to load the trees.
Jimmy wiped his helmet clean and put it on, and said in a dark voice: "You know this kind of car is for elopement, right? One car is for the groom, and the other is for the bride in a bucket suit. Got it."
Lin Mu put on a straight face: "Who said we eloped?"
Jimmy smirked: "So you admit that you are my bride?"
forest:"……"
Jimmy reached out to rub his hair, but he stopped him with his hand, and the two started teasing like a child, and it ended with Lin Mu's hand tightly grabbing his hand.
Lin Mu: "If you say it again, let's see who is the bride."
Jimmy raised his hands in admiration: "I am your bride, I am your bride. According to the customs of my mother's family in Tar, two cows are enough for the bride price. When will it be delivered?"
Lin Mu casually pulled a scarf, which is the most common among locals, and wrapped it neatly around Jimmy's face, creating the effect of still holding a pipa and half covering his face.
Jimmy still yelled dissatisfied: "Just a scarf? You give me a scarf when you marry me?!"
Starting from Taal to the northeast, and passing through the familiar karst landform, Jimmy got off the car and explained to Lin Mu.
It is not selfish for him to go in this direction. He wants to take another look at the terrain between "Vulture" and Tal - doing arms business and transportation is a big obstacle, not to mention, if a war starts in the future, he needs to know that "Vulture" may line of attack.
Unexpectedly, Lin Mu is more familiar with the karst landform than he is.
"This is the largest conjoined karst landform group in the world, and it is adjacent to the best-preserved BC nomadic tribe remains in the world so far. Do you know why this place is not a UNESCO World Heritage Site?"
Lin Mu asked him, making him feel as if he had returned to a university in London, and the teacher suddenly asked a quiz question in class.
Lin Mu took the lead in answering: "Because they didn't apply. Most people in country Z discriminate against the Thars, and they don't want their civilization to become a tourist attraction and be known to the world."
Jimmy answered: "The ancients are really miserable. They spent their lives hard. They can't even watch TV and don't have air conditioners. Whether they can be remembered after death depends entirely on God's will."
Lin Mu frowned and replied, "It all depends on the Americans."
At the end of the last century, the United States invaded on a large scale with the endorsement of the International Atomic Energy Organization and the United Nations on the grounds that it discovered "weapons of mass destruction" in country Z, committing a heinous debt of blood.
During those ten years of unjust wars, many ethnic groups in country Z, including the Tahrs, united for the first time, resisted the aggression of the United States desperately, and did not fall down.
After learning the truth through battlefield reporters, the American people began to put pressure on the government, and the US military was gradually unable to make ends meet, and finally ushered in the day when the armistice agreement was signed.
Just when people were preparing to usher in the multi-ethnic unified country Z, they discovered that the United States had proposed in the armistice agreement that a separate country should be established for the Tatars, and a part of the border of country Z should be divided to form country Y.
The Kotals have lived in country Z for centuries.
The Americans made unreasonable arguments, saying that the Tatars have their own dialect, customs and religion, and for the sake of long-term peace in the south, they must be self-reliant.
"In fact, the United States is just to continue sending troops." Jimmy sneered, "They hope that the situation in Thar will be as chaotic as possible, so that they can get a share of the melee. And terrorist organizations such as the Vulture have also emerged as the times require, and it just happened. American wishes."
Jimmy pointed to the distance, and Lin Mu immediately understood that it was Tal's famous oil field and oil pipeline.Nearly [-]% of the world's crude oil reserves are hidden in the Thar Desert.
Here is the golden heart of the world.
"It is said that the United States respects human rights and emphasizes justice... justice?" Lin Mu's chiseled face was a little confused, "but a just country will watch people sacrifice everything? Men, women, children... On the founding day, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Organization Flew to Thar to attend, triggering large-scale protests. More than 300 Thar people were killed by the US army.”
Jimmy followed the gong: "That's right. It's too much, how could they do this."
"I was the one who flew him to country Z." Lin Mu said.
Jimmy was dumbfounded.
Lin Mu had been to Taal before, which was not unusual.Thar belongs to the area with the most backward infrastructure and the least developed tourism among the three southern countries. It is not uncommon for him to fly for eight years to reload, and he has been here several times.
But how did Lin Mu get involved with the International Atomic Energy Organization?
He undertakes outsourced transportation?He works in the local office?still……?
Jimmy couldn't figure it out for a while.
"I was working for Jianxin at the time," Lin Mu said, "Jianxin arranged for me to fly, and there was only one passenger, which is not unusual. It's just that he suddenly gave me a business card after boarding—"
"The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency..."
"His name is Jesus, Jesus, it's true. I saw it written on his business card with my own eyes." Lin Mu is still unbelievable.
There were a few playful smiles in his eyes that usually ignored the life and death in the clouds, which made Jimmy's heart flutter.
Lin Mu also said that Jesus was originally a professor at the Zurich University of Technology, but when he was approaching retirement, he was suddenly put on the international stage by politicians.
The curtain was lifted, and it turned out that he was just a puppet, and he believed in God in a fit of anger.
Lin Mu originally thought that he was a villain who bullied others, trapped Tal and unjust, but who knew that he was just a slightly mediocre old man with white beard, afraid of heights and airsick, but he liked Tal's earthy castle very much.
Before leaving, Jesus gave him a deck of cards from Zurich.The card was the log cabin where he dreamed of retiring.
He said that the wooden house had a name, and it was called "Justice".
A few months later, Lin Mu heard in the news that the International Atomic Energy Organization assisted the United States in conducting a large-scale search in Tahr, but no trace of uranium raw materials was found in the end.
Back then, Lin Mu sent Jesus to Tar.On the other side of the newly established border, the first flag-raising ceremony of country Y is about to begin.
It was at that flag-raising ceremony that something went utterly, irreparably wrong, and the life of a college student named Jimmy sailed in the opposite direction for good.
Is he going to... tell him?
Does he... explain?
Lin Mu sat in the back of the Harley motorcycle, but suddenly he was speechless like a bride-to-be.
The last gas station before the warning zone changed hands. After that, they drove along the border for a long time before Lin Mu asked, "Six years ago...where did you go after your father's accident?"
He thought that Jimmy would show even a little pathetic expression, but he saw that the other party was still smiling, with an expression of unrepentance.
Jimmy: "I miss you."
Lin Mu: "... At that time, you didn't even know my name."
Jimmy: "Want to know your name."
Lin Mu tilted his head and stared warningly: "I'm serious."
Jimmy's hand hugging his waist moved down a little bit, and his messy hair kept rubbing against his arm, his whole body seemed to have no bones:
"London. I go to every theater in the West End, except on Wednesdays. Every restaurant in Chelsea has a fixed slot for me. I only keep constant temperature and humidity in the wine room. There are a few rows of California Napa in 06. This wine is not old. , sweet. Oh, I know it’s because my family owns the winery, and it’s mainly for giving away. I borrow the antique car from my family, and I can’t finish driving it every week. I’ll go down to Plymouth or up to Oxford on weekends. Go, let's relax. Wednesday is my father's memorial day, I go to school, the assistant will copy my homework for me, and I will ring the nine o'clock class bell and put it on the teacher's desk."
Jimmy suppressed his smile: "How does this life sound?"
"It must be good."
"You are wrong. Lin Mu, life without you is just enough."
He looked at Lin Shu seriously, and hugged his arm tightly, "The theater is lively, but when I applaud, I have both hands free, and no one can hold them. The restaurant is luxurious, but each person has a plate of foie gras, steak and paella. Fast, not even a chance to share a taste of other food. Winery and sports car, all for the envy of others. I am the only Asian in school, not social. But my dad has everything, but for For some reason I haven’t found out yet, I lost everything again. I go to class alone, eat alone, hold an umbrella, cross a bridge, check a map, and even when I am bullied by my classmates, I am alone. Lin Mu, you Guess that's the life I want—"
After hearing this, Lin Mu didn't make a sound, and put Jimmy's hand on his waist and hugged him tightly.
It didn't take long for him to regret it, because the person who pretended to be miserly soon started to touch down, and he put his hand back on the spot, and climbed up again with malicious intentions, again and again, again and again He carried him back to the original place.
The two of them had a great time.
At sunset, they finally reached the border of Country Y.
The national border is a barbed wire fence that stretches for hundreds of miles. When it reaches the Thar Desert, a large iron gate and a stadium are circled for the world-famous flag-lowering ceremony.
During the flag-lowering ceremony, soldiers from the two countries will shout battle cries to each other, muster all the morale beside the flagpole...competing whose legs can be kicked higher.
The person who kicks higher will naturally get the cheers of the audience, while the loser will send a person to fight again. The lingering and bloody history between the two countries is condensed in this short one-hour flag-lowering The ceremony was in progress, and even the BBC reported it.
"Really, a good show!"
Holding Coke in his left hand and potato chips in his right, Jimmy imitated a famous emoji of Aunt Xue and walked slowly to the venue.
"Haven't you seen it?" He asked Lin Mu with wide eyes. "Well, I haven't seen it either. Every time my friends came to see me, they said they wanted to watch the flag-lowering ceremony, but I never came."
After waiting for a long time, the ceremony did not start, but I saw two long lines of local people, men, women and children, lined up beside the stadium, and the people in the line were jumping and jumping, eager to try.
What are you doing in line?It must be fun.
Immediately, Jimmy pulled the trees and rowed through.
It turned out that it was the opening of the disco dance accompanied by music before the flag was lowered.
As soon as the cumin-flavored melody was released, the Thars rushed into the arena, laughing and shouting, and danced to the slanting sunlight.
There was no embarrassment on their faces, no trauma from the war, and no intention of competing with their former compatriots from the opposite country—they just couldn't help but want to dance when they heard the music.
Jimmy was enjoying himself among the locals, only to realize that the trees were gone.
At some point, that person had already flashed outside the cordon of the dance venue, watching vigilantly at a group of people reveling with hands and feet, as if wary of abnormal points that should not appear on the radar.
Jimmy is happy.He should have guessed he didn't like dancing.
Jimmy unhurriedly turned to Lin Mu's side, raised his head and narrowed his eyes pretending to be innocent, pretending to talk to him, but was dazzled by the sun again.
As soon as Lin Mu took the bait, he lowered his head and leaned closer to listen to him, Jimmy quickly stretched out his hands to hook Lin Mu's neck, and then slammed into his arms following the rhythm of the music.
The melodious music in that minor key seems to evoke the nomads' nostalgia for centuries - the golden desert, the soft beauty, the delicious mutton...
Jimmy rubbed against Lin Shu's body, unhurriedly, like plucking a string on a guitar.From the loud music and noisy voices, he could tell that the man's breathing gradually became short of breath.
Jimmy pretended to let go and pushed the tree aside, and the cordon was breached by the crowd, pushing and mingling them thoroughly.
Jimmy fell into Lin Shu's arms, very warmly.
He didn't care if the music came crashing like waves, whether anyone was watching them or noticing.He kissed Lin Mu's side face.
Lin Mu suddenly pulled up his scarf, and when it fell from the sky, it covered the heads of the two of them. Jimmy was enclosed in the square world of scarves, unable to see daylight for a while.
——but finally saw Lin Mu's face clearly.
He blushed a little, not sure if it was from the sun, from dancing, or from being shy from being kissed.But his eyes are full of stars and seas, and there is also a vast sky.
Jimmy couldn't help but put his hand over his eyes, then kissed his lips.
This time Lin Shu didn't wait as gently as the first time.
He took the initiative to pry open Jimmy's lips with the tip of his tongue, and then slowly and carefully swept a circle in his mouth, listening to his sigh overflowing unconsciously and flowing into his ears.
After he sucked his lips, tongue and mouth once more, Lin Mu withdrew intermittently, but did not leave completely, the tip of his lips still left moist warmth on his lips, stimulating his memory to want to reflect this moment forever in mind.
"I know what you have been hiding from me." Lin Mu broke their kiss.
Jimmy froze on the spot, under the cover of the scarf, it seemed that the world was dark: what did he know?
But at this moment, Lin Mu showed a rare smile: "I know that the hostel was empty that night, and it was all because of you."
He was unskilled but firmly wrapped Jimmy in his arms.
In the distance, another violent sandstorm raised a little eyebrow.
Jimmy thought, it turned out that he had been going around for many years, just to drag him around in a stupid circle at the end of the world and the beginning of the desert.
It is better than the title on the gold list, better than the wedding candles.
What justice?He is justice.
After the flag-lowering ceremony was over, they walked out of the stadium among the crowd collecting stalls, preparing to pick up their cars.
At this time, Jimmy saw people pointing to country Y one after another. It turned out that it was the flag-lowering ceremony of country Y and the last solo performance.
It was a one-legged young man, wearing a traditional robe and a wide-brimmed hat, spinning tirelessly, round and round, as if he would not get tired.
Jimmy turned his head away, trying not to look at him, but couldn't help but look back at the one-legged youth again and again.
It was during the War of Independence in Country Y that his leg was blown up by a landmine, and his life was ruined by other people's mistakes.
And that landmine was first introduced by Edison Chan to the three southern countries.
That night, the "Blue Velvet" bar.
On the dance floor, which by Tal's standards was already exhausted, the disco ball was spinning endlessly, and the smell of alcohol mixed with ambition and desire filled the air.
Banerjee, Aunt Aruna's sister, was leaning on the bar and counting money with great fanfare.Seeing Jimmy coming in, she has the same habit as her sister, asking someone to pour milk tea.
"No need, Banerjee, I'm leaving now."
Ban Naji put his chin on his hands and smiled: "Your wedding must be held here, right? I have watched you grow up in the past three years."
"What wedding? What did Aruna tell you? I don't have a horoscope yet—I just reached first base in baseball, and it's still early!"
Jimmy pretended to be modest and smiled, then raised his chest and raised his head, "But our wedding will definitely be held by you, and I can guarantee you this right now."
Banna Gish was used to drunkards saying nothing, so she ordered someone to take a pen and paper and forced Jimmy to sign it.
Jimmy took out a stack of US dollar bills, thinking that Lin Mu would elope with him as a little bride, and slapped it on the table without counting.
"Jimmy!" Chen Yan found him on the booth, and waved at him hoarsely. When he got closer, he asked in a low voice in Chinese: "Why do we have to meet at this point? What trouble have you caused?"
Jimmy patted him on the shoulder: "Trouble? I don't know what the word means. Could you please let me know. I'm being investigated by the Atomic Energy Organization, which is inconvenient."
"What?" Chen Yan's heart sank.
"I have uranium, and I want to trade it in cash."
Jimmy was lost in the eerie lights of the disco ball, unable to make out his expression.
Chen Yan sighed, and watched helplessly as his truant and fussy junior became an arms dealer who might die in the international news if he couldn't stop playing too much.
"Edison Chan's uranium was taken away by the people who killed him, either from country Y or country Z. Now I have evidence pointing to country Z, and I want to release news of the transaction to lure them out."
Jimmy closed Chen Yan's wine list with a wave of his hand, only to find that he only ordered a glass of iced lemonade.
"I won't dip into your muddy water—"
"I might donate a new camp to USAA this weekend. I thought you guys were short on supplies after the quake."
"It's settled." Chen Yan swallowed the glass of ice water.