Chapter 653: Going to One Line Sky

I haven't had pancakes for a long time.

I tell the truth: in recent years I've mainly eaten steamed buns and rice.

I've almost forgotten the taste of pancakes.

And it's this thick pancake,

Eating such a thick pancake requires great bite force to get it moving.

It really trains the chewing muscles.

Living in this place requires good teeth, otherwise survival is hard.

Mountain pancakes are so thick mainly because they are convenient for wrapping vegetables.

In the past, people who went up the mountain to work, not returning home for lunch, would wrap vegetables in a pancake,

Thus they had both vegetables and rice, and after a few sips of mountain spring water, a meal was finished.

Later, life improved, and no one ate this thick pancake anymore.

I didn't expect that in Gourd Village one could still eat this thick pancake.

The old man watched us wolfishly devour the pancakes,

and was quite pleased,

"I didn't expect you to love eating so much.

Sigh, I'm the only one left in the village; there is no one to talk to.

In a few more years, when I die, this place will be completely empty."

After hearing the old man's sigh,

I asked the old man, "Sir, everyone in the village has left, why don't you leave?"

"I can no longer move; the children have gone south to work and settled there. I was there for a few years, couldn't get used to life, so I had to return.

After returning, there were no houses outside, so I could only live inside Hulutao,

At first there were a few other elders living here. But as they died or left, I was left alone,

I have nowhere else to go, so I can only hold my ground here.

If people had a way, they wouldn't live in this mountain region; look, life here is very inconvenient, transportation is poor, and there is no water or electricity,

far worse than a town.

Young people here can't even find wives, and children have no schooling.

Sick people can only wait for death here.

It's over; this village is finished, there's no salvation," the old man continued sighing.

"Didn't this place have electricity before? How come there's none now, and how do you live alone?" I asked.

"When people lived here, it was of course electrified; now that no one lives here, keeping the power on would be wasteful. No one maintains it, so it stopped.

Living alone here is simple; I can cook for myself.

These pancakes are the ones I sell. I'm old now and don't want to be a burden to the children,

Living alone here is fine," the old man said helplessly.

It seems the old man's children are not doing well outside; otherwise, who would let their own father live alone here?

I bite the pancake forcefully,

Shi Yong also eats in big bites.

Perhaps we were truly hungry; after walking such a long mountain road, we hadn't brought any food.

This big pancake was perfect for satisfying our hunger.

When you're hungry, everything tastes good; this saying is absolutely true.

One pancake, I finished it in a moment. The old man brought us tea boiled with mountain spring water.

I drank it in big gulps; it was very sweet.

After the meal,

I had Shi Yong give the old man five hundred yuan.

The old man said he wouldn't accept anything,

"Having you come to keep me company is enough. These pancakes are my own stall, there's no capital. Besides, what use is money to me? I have nowhere to spend it. Keep it for yourselves,"

We kept insisting that the old man take the money, but he refused, and he even got angry.

The stubbornness of mountain folk surfaced.

We stopped trying to give him money; I voluntarily took out a pack of cigarettes for the old man.

This time the old man did not refuse.

After Shi Yong, the old man, and I said our goodbyes, we left Hulutao.

On the road, Shi Yong asked me, "Brother, where are we going?"

I said, "We're going to One Line Sky to take a look, then exit the mountain through One Line Sky,

so that we can reach Xue County by evening."

"One Line Sky? We have a One Line Sky here," Shi Yong asked.

"Yes, you just haven't been there; the main path is difficult.

That place is extremely treacherous; ordinary people don't want to go. Once you pass One Line Sky, you are in Xue County." I finished speaking and strode toward One Line Sky.

The One Line Sky of Hulutao is atop a nearby hill,

due to past mountain movements, perhaps earthquakes,

the peak of this hill developed a fissure,

and over time the fissure has widened.

People can easily pass through this crack.

In this crack, it can be said that it's warm in winter and cool in summer; it's very comfortable inside.

Because the crack is bottomless, legend says there is a giant python inside.

When we were kids, we were afraid to come to this place; we thought the bravest were those who dared to crawl through One Line Sky.

In my memory, it seems no one has ever gone through One Line Sky.

Shi Yong and I walked to One Line Sky,

At the cave mouth a different wind blew; even before entering the cave, we felt the chill at the entrance.

After entering the cave, walking ten or so meters inward, we could see the One Line Sky above our heads.

That sky was like a thin thread hanging above,

Water droplets dripped from time to time on the stone walls on both sides.

I turned on the flashlight on my phone,

shining ahead, the front was pitch black.

I said to Shi Yong: "Shi Yong, what do you think about us going through One Line Sky today? Do you have the guts?"

Shi Yong, standing behind me, patted his chest and said: "Brother, there's nothing I, Shi Yong, wouldn't dare. I saw others exploring on my phone and it looked exciting; now we want to explore too."

"Shi Yong, we agreed: if there's danger, don't panic and don't shout loudly, because sound here will cause resonance and make rocks fall from above. That's very dangerous."

Shi Yong nodded in agreement.

We continued forward; the deeper we went, the darker and cooler it became.

I shone my phone light ahead,

"Shi Yong, you know, when I was a kid, the elders said there is a giant python in One Line Sky.

Let's see if it's really true."

"Brother, is it really true?" Shi Yong uttered a trembling sound from his mouth.

"It's just a legend, nothing to fear; there's no python here at all." I said to Shi Yong.

"Brother, I stepped on something so slippery it moved. Oh my mother, could there really be a python?" Shi Yong shouted loudly.

Then he turned and ran.

This Shi Yong did exactly what he had promised not to do.

I didn't panic,

I held my phone and shone it on the spot where Shi Yong had just stepped,

only to see a bent piece of dead wood under my feet; due to the dampness in the cave, the dead wood was covered in moss.

So Shi Yong slipped on it.

When he stepped on it, the dead wood would definitely move; this Shi Yong was scared away by a piece of wood.

Really,

I also hurriedly turned back,

because Shi Yong's loud voice shook loose some stones above, and staying here is dangerous.

I walked out of the cave mouth,

Shi Yong was at the cave mouth, nervously wiping his sweat.

"Shi Yong, you stepped on a piece of wood and got scared like that. Alright, let's not compete in exploring here.

However, this place can be developed,

tourists coming here to play would definitely find it exciting." I comforted Shi Yong.

Shi Yong then relaxed.

"Brother, let's go; today we've walked a lot of mountain roads, we're completely exhausted."

"Let's go, head toward Xue County." I said, pointing toward Xue County.

"Brother, our car is still thrown over on the other side of the mountain. We're not going back."

"Going back would take until midnight; then we couldn't get out of the mountains. After passing this ridge, as long as we reach Mantou Temple, we'll have made it out. Once we reach Xue County, we must have a good drink; today we're too tired." After saying that, I headed toward Xue County.