Chapter 649: Entering Beishan

Our car kept driving into the mountains; since it was an off‑road vehicle, its performance was excellent, so these ordinary mountain roads were no problem.

Back then, to build this mountain‑access road, how much effort was required.

It was Huang Shi who prepared it; truly, the predecessors planted trees, the descendants enjoy the shade. Road building is the same.

The road Huang Shi prepared, he never walked it even once.

At an entrance to the mountains,

I stopped the car.

Because the asphalt road was built only up to here, the remaining stretch became a concrete road.

The concrete road is narrower, allowing only one vehicle to pass.

I stood by a stone monument inscribed with "Beishan Highway," gazing into the distance.

"Brother, why did you stop here? This isn't Beishan either." Shi Yong got out of the car and asked.

"I got out to visit an old friend." I said, then took out a cigarette.

"Visiting an old friend—who is it?" Shi Yong asked.

"Huang Shi."

"Huang Shi, ah, he's been dead for how many years? Don't scare me like that." Shi Yong said.

"Huang Shi was a good man; he wouldn't scare anyone. Shi Yong, bring a bottle of wine—I want to pay our respects to our old friend."

Shi Yong took a bottle of wine from the car.

After opening it, I held the wine bottle and circled the stone monument, pouring it out, then lit three cigarettes and placed them on the monument.

"Huang Shi, I'm Zhao Jianqiang; I happened to pass by here today, so I specially came to pay my respects to you.

Because back then, we buried your ashes beneath this stone monument; I don't even remember the exact spot.

So now I will treat this stone monument as your burial site and pay my respects to you.

It's been over ten years,

what I want to tell you is,

the roads have all been opened, and Zaocheng's new city has also been built,

we're all living good lives now.

Sigh, my Da Heng Group has also become a big company, but I've now lost it.

Huang Shi, this time I've returned to Beishan because I want to redevelop Beishan's tourism business.

Please, bless me from heaven.

Bless my business to go smoothly,

bless me to do something more for Zaocheng."

After saying that, I bowed three times toward the monument.

After bowing, I wiped my moist eyes.

I believe Huang Shi in heaven will surely hear my heart's voice.

Huang Shi, Shangguan Zhuren, and these good people will surely bless me.

Actually, when a person dies, it's like a lamp going out.

Paying respects to the dead is merely for the comfort of the living's spirit.

Only at this moment can the living and the dead communicate.

I got into the car and drove onto the mountain road.

This road is in bad shape; it looks like no one has repaired it since Huang Shi fixed it.

Because the mountain area produces no economic value, repairing it brings little benefit.

Basically, later people have all given up on it.

The mountain road is rough and uneven; in some places the concrete road has disappeared, leaving only a few stones laid down.

The car kept jolting.

I was worried about Shi Yong's health, knowing he had just been discharged from the hospital.

So I asked Shi Yong, "Shi Yong, how's your health? If you're not up to it, we won't go."

Shi Yong then said, "Brother, don't worry—this road poses no problem; I'm not made of mud, and if something happens, I'll just go back to the hospital."

Saying that left me not knowing how to respond.

The car finally reached the edge of a mountain gully and could go no further.

I remember the old highway used to go straight to the vicinity of Beishan Village; there was still a stretch to Beishan, so why can't the car get through now?

After getting out of the car and examining closely, I discovered that the original highway had been washed out by a mountain flood,

and, with no one repairing it, the landslide has grown larger and larger,

forming a large mountain gully.

Automobiles simply cannot pass.

This is something I hadn't anticipated,

Before entering the mountains, I had always thought there was a road that could lead into Beishan,

but the reality turned out worse than I imagined.

Even the road into the mountains is gone.

I and Shi Yong stared at this large gully,

"Shi Yong, we can only cross on foot; ahead is Yingzui Mountain, and past Yingzui Mountain lies Beishan."

"Brother, do we really have to go to Beishan?" Shi Yong asked.

"Why not? We've come this far, and besides, your body needs exercise."

Climbing the mountain and losing weight are good for your body. Look, this ditch is easy to cross. After I said that, I jumped into the bottom of the ditch.

Shi Yong, helplessly, also jumped into the ditch.

I climbed out of the ditch.

I turned back, reached out, and pulled Shi Yong up,

Shi Yong's body still couldn't keep up,

he would pant after a few steps.

"Brother, there's no signal here. Sigh, without signal I can't go online to chat. It's pointless," Shi Yong said.

"What would we chat about?"

"WeChat—these days everyone chats on WeChat, and there's the Shake feature that finds nearby friends. I was shaking for ages, and not a single friend showed up here."

"This is a mountain area; who are you shaking for? Brother, you'd summon a ghost and it could scare you to death," I laughed.

"No, I'm afraid Xiao Qi won't be able to find me later. She would worry about me."

"Xiao Qi, aside from Xiao Qi, is there nothing else?"

I see you gasp for breath after just two steps.

Your body can't stay like this without training.

Walk faster and keep up with me."

I finished speaking and strode forward.

Shi Yong could only follow me forward.

We soon arrived at Yingzui Mountain,

the most treacherous peak in the whole Beishan mountain area, its ridges being sheer,

with cliffs all around up and down.

Crossing Yingzui Mountain used to be like passing through a Ghost Gate.

Back when my sister gave birth to Xixi,

the entire youthful labor force of Beishan was mobilized; everyone pushed and pulled to help my sister cross Yingzui Mountain.

That scene remains vivid in my mind.

I looked up at Yingzui Mountain, as if returning to that night.

My sister lay on a stretcher, in excruciating pain.

Old and young men carried the stretcher, striding like meteors along the mountain path.

Now, I am back at Yingzui Mountain,

the mountain is still here, but the vigorous young men are gone.

To build a road through Beishan, explosives were used on the cliff wall of Yingzui Mountain to blast a path up the mountain.

The road winds,

spiraling upward.

Yingzui has been leveled,

so we no longer have to risk the cliffside mountain trail.

However, the road surface is badly damaged; many concrete sections have collapsed.

exposing the rock beneath.

Once you reach the summit, the mountain wind feels fierce.

The mountain wind whistles,

there are no tall trees on the mountain, only thickets of small shrubs, untouched by pruning.

Some sections require you to duck under to pass.

Shi Yong is panting heavily behind.

I can only slow my pace.

to let Shi Yong catch up.

After Shi Yong climbs the mountain,

"Brother, climbing this thing is really exhausting. Back then, I truly couldn't understand why anyone would choose to live here."

I took out a cigarette,

stood on the mountaintop,

and said to Shi Yong, "Shi Yong, this mountain has been repaired; otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get up today. Yingzui Mountain is the most treacherous peak in all of Beishan.

Back then, people chose to live here mainly to escape war.

This area used to be a place plagued by constant warfare,

only those who lived in the mountains could survive.

There was another reason: the mountain was full of bandits. Did you know that Beishan used to be a bandit nest?

It was easy to defend and hard to attack.

Look at this mountain—anyone standing on the tip of Yingzui can block anyone from passing. Times have changed,

what seems incomprehensible now was perfectly reasonable back then.

Let's go, we'll descend from Yingzui Mountain and after a little over two hours we'll reach Beishan,

once we arrive at Beishan, we'll have a place to rest.

It's truly beautiful here.

Look at that distant mountain; it looks like a woman waiting for her husband to return.

I heard people from Beishan call that mountain Wangfu Mountain.

I pointed at a distant mountain peak and spoke to Shi Yong.