Author: Yu Shikai.
After graduating from junior high school, I worked at home for two years as a thin person. My father saw that my muscles and bones were almost tempered, so he begged my brother Shihuo to take me out to work.
After the autumn harvest and autumn planting, Brother Shihuo heard that there were many villagers who were mining coal in the Xiangbishan Coal Mine in Dongxiang County, so he asked for an address and took me all the way to the Xiangbishan Coal Mine.
The Elephant Trunk Hill Coal Mine is located in the middle of the Elephant Trunk Mountain, surrounded by vast forests, about five miles away from people's homes, and there is a narrow path from the mining area to the top of the mountain and behind.
Brother Shihuo's acquaintance took us to ask a few fellow contractors, and they all said that there were enough people, only the contractor Xiang Da had not been working in the mine for a long time, and he was in need of people.
Xiang Da, about forty years old, with a short figure of five and a round and fair face. He laughed, his eyes narrowed.
The boss arranged for the two of us to work as cart workers, Brother Shihuo pushed the minecart in the alley, and I pushed the bucket cart in the small alley up the mountain.
The small alley is so small that it can only accommodate a small bucket truck, and it is crooked, and if you are not careful, you will hurt your hands. The whole roadway is downhill, and it's not so much about pushing the cart as it is pulling the cart, and if you don't pull the handlebars hard back, the car will go crazy. The heat of the alleyway is so hot that you can only wear one pair of pants. The roadway is a few inches thick with dust, and every time people and vehicles pass by, it rolls up dust, like a smoke bomb.
Every time Xiang saw me, he would ask for warmth, and would encourage me to be more diligent in transporting coal, earn more money to go home to my parents, and pay attention to safety. Whenever I encourage my boss, my heart warms up, and I work harder to transport coal. I thought that since I had no talent for studying, I had to make more money and go home, so as not to disappoint my parents and not let others look down on me.
In the blink of an eye, at the end of the year, the coal mine was notified to suspend work on the 25th. On the 26th, Xiang went to the coal mine office to settle the bill. In the afternoon, the cashier returned from withdrawing money from the bank. When Xiang Boss came out of the coal mine office with his satchel, a group of 12 of us followed him all the way to his room. He waved his hand to the boss and said go back, and we will pay you tomorrow morning, and everyone can go home tomorrow evening.
Brother Shihuo has been working outside for many years and has experienced a lot, and at night, he said to me, Shi Kai, you are small, you will not arouse suspicion, don't sleep at night, and keep an eye on the boss.
That night, I kept my eyes on my boss's room, pretended to have diarrhea, and often ran to the toilet. Xiang Boss poked his head out of the room and asked me why I was holding my stomach, and I said that I had a cold last night and had a stomach problem, and he was not alert.
After all, young people have poor patience, and at zero hour, I lay on the bed, squinted and wanted to rest for a while, but I fell asleep in a daze. When I woke up to see that the lights had been turned off in my boss's room, I suddenly had a premonition of unease. I was in a hurry, holding my stomach with one hand, knocking on the door of the boss with the other, shouting, to the boss, to the boss, my stomach hurts, my stomach hurts ......I shouted for a long time, but there was no movement inside.
I was in a hurry, so I hurriedly ran back to the room, lifted Brother Shihuo's bed, yelled at him, and ran to Da for ......
Xiang Da ran away?Brother Shihuo got up with a carp and knocked on the rooms of all the workers. Catch Xiangda, catch Xiangda......Suddenly, the entire coal mine was like an exploding pot.
The noise alarmed the mine manager on duty. The mine manager said, "You draw four men to chase after the main road, and the other eight people go to chase the upper path." As he spoke, he turned on the lamp room and gave each of us a lamp.
To climb over Elephant Trunk Mountain, it is necessary to climb Elephant Trunk Stone. The trail of the Weevilstone was steep and narrow, only a foot wide, and on one side was a hundred feet deep, and we had to hold on to the vines to move forward. After going downhill, there is a gurgling water, and you can only walk forward by stepping on the slippery stones in the flowing water. Getting rid of the flowing water, the terrain opened up, the road was relatively easy to walk, and the eight people strode forward to chase after them. After chasing for a long time, there was no sign of Xiang Boss, and we began to get discouraged. After another big bend, the terrain is more open, and the trees on both sides of the road are lush and tall.
Suddenly, I heard a wolf howl, and as I looked at the sound, there was a faint light in the trees in the distance. We ran quickly, only to see the boss leaning back against an arbor, holding a dagger in his right hand, holding a satchel in his left wrist, and a flashlight on the ground. The cotton pants on his legs were torn with holes, the red blood stained the trouser legs, and a wolf grinned and stalemate with him. Apparently, the wolf smelled a man and chased after him, and he tried to climb a tree to escape, but the wolf did not give him a chance and bit him on the thigh. He could not climb the tree, so he leaned his back against the tree, drew the dagger he carried with him, and waved it, but the wolf did not dare to attack him boldly for fear of the dagger in his hand, so he called out to his friends. Another wolf came to help. The wolf was afraid of light, and when he saw eight strong lights, the wolf who supported him stopped. And when the wolf saw that the eight of us were coming, he ran away with his tail hanging down.
Seeing that we were coming, his life was not in danger, Xiang Boss's nervous nerves relaxed, his body could no longer support it, and he fell to the ground. We bandaged him briefly, and the tall Brother Shihuo carried him on his back, and the other two tall men supported him one after the other, and returned to the direction of the coal mine.
When I arrived at the mine, it was already light, and at this time, coal trucks buying coal came one after another. We hired a coal truck to take Xiang Boss and us to the Dongxiang County People's Hospital along with our luggage.
Xiang Boss asked us to take a telegram at his home.
Xiang Boss's wife came, and Xiang Dawa, who was seriously injured and couldn't move, cried. He choked up and said, I was obsessed with money, I took risks, and almost fell into the wolf's mouth, and it was these brothers who saved me. I'm so sorry for them, you can pay them their wages so that they can go home for the New Year, and the bills and books are in their satchels.