Main Road Let the sun turn white, and the dust floats on the road, raising a layer when you step on it. The wind comes from the other end of the road, picks up the fine dust, and then falls back.
At the end of the left-hand path, there is a bayonet.
A wooden fence blocked the road, and a shed was erected at the entrance of the fence.
There is a long table in the shed, and someone is sitting behind it.
The team is arranged in two lines, one for people and one for goods.
The freight train was moving slowly, and the mule cart was stuck in the dust. The brass bell on the shaft of the cart swayed silently. The driver was dozing against the side of the cart, with the reins hanging loosely on his knees.
Kiyoshi was at the end of the leaving column, moving forward bit by bit.
Move forward a little.
Followed by a length.
When the sun was at its peak, the team was half as short.
A wooden sign was hung at the entrance of the shed. The words on the sign were blackened by the smoke, and the corners of the sign were cracked. They were tied with wires.
Behind the case sat the official on duty.
The gray cloth was worn short, and the cuffs were worn shiny.
When I walked in the queue and didn't move, I listened to what was going on at the other end of the gate. I read the same words and looked the same. My voice was very flat and I couldn't hear the ups and downs.
Read the manifest once, open it and read it again, then tie it up as it is.
Dust drifted over from the other side of the gate.
I fell down one level and was at the end of the queue.
Kiyoshi looked at the entrance of the gate but did not move.
In my arms, on the layer next to my body, the registration card gnashed against my ribs, all the way to here. The card still recognized him this way, and he also recognized this journey.
There was a layer of soil crust on the upper of the shoe, which was given to me by Main Road. Sweat dripped down from the back of my neck, making a circle around my collar.
The wind blows through the collar and makes it cool.
The luggage is packed tightly.
The card is pressed against his chest.
When I got here today, I wanted to hand it over to the case with my own hands. After handing it over, the process was finalized.
The team moved forward, and he moved forward.
It's his turn.
The officer on duty was flattening the last bill of goods.
The officer on duty raised his eyes, first at the person, then at the luggage. His eyes paused on the luggage for a moment, then returned to his face.
The table surface was burning hot due to the sun.
"Hand the card."
Kiyoshi took out the registration card from his arms.
Put it on the table.
The clerk picked up the card with two fingers, held it up to the light of the window, and took a sideways look.
The card paused facing the light, then flipped back to the edge of the table, far away from the booklet.
"Whose card is it?"
"Mine."
The official on duty held the edge of the card and rubbed the card surface with his fingertips, touching the column where the name was placed.
"Where to go."
"Sunagakure."
The official on duty didn't answer the call.
He raised his chin towards his luggage.
"What to bring."
Kiyoshi Unload your luggage.
Put it on the corner of the desk.
The official on duty used a bamboo stick to open the mouth of the bag.
After looking at it once, I asked him to tie it.
Nothing was found from beginning to end, so I tapped the bamboo stick twice on the mouth of the bag and tied it tightly again.
On the other side of the desk sat a scrivener.
The inkstone presses the booklet.
In the column where the album is opened, the boxes are next to each other.
When writing a letter, you pick up the pen and dip the pen tip into ink.
The official reports are the same, and the writings are the same.
Name, place to go, things to bring.
When a line is finished, that cell is full.
Before the ink was dry, a seal was left.
After three questions, the person will have a grid on the book.
Asking is a pretense, leaving the question is the real thing.
Dust settled on the rough edges of the album pages, and the scrivener swept it away with his sleeve. The card was still upside down on the edge of the table, and he had not returned it.
The officer on duty stared at the card, as if he was waiting for something, just the next procedure.
The official on duty turned the book upside down.
Push it to him.
His finger clicked on the last line of the volume.
"There is a price in the book."
The line at the end of the book is where he went. There is another small note at the end of the line. The characters are smaller than the main line, and the ink is one layer darker. The strokes of the pen are drawn back sharply, pressing against the edge of the box, so that it does not occupy the box.
After the case was over, the scrivener stopped writing, and tapped the penholder twice on the edge of the inkstone before dipping it in ink. One tap was to wait, and two taps was to think of something to say.
Someone at the back of the team poked his head, glanced at the long case, and then pulled back.
If there is a small note next to the box, the box will no longer be a space.
"Someone asked about this."
After finishing the writing, the pen tip returned to the book.
Describe that line clearly.
The pages of the album were turned over, and the paper made a soft sound.
Who asked the question was not written in the book. The person who asked the question did not show his face, but his face was revealed.
... The names entered the booklet first, and the people came last.
He didn't ask the price or who it was.
He pressed his thumb on the edge of the card and rubbed it back and forth twice.
The price is hanging in the book, hanging in the open, whether you ask or not, it is there.
The officer on duty took the book back and smoothed the corners of the pages.
"The price will be determined according to the book, and this is the same sentence when asked."
The team moved forward, and someone from behind urged me. I swallowed the words I didn't ask and waited for them to get stuck.
The careful note was left in the register. No one's hand could move it away, and the hand of the official could only push it over.
My temples were wet, and there was a line down and on the side of my face. I didn't wipe it off.
There was a noise at the other end of the cargo column.
When the camel bell is rung, the tongue of the bell is wrapped in cloth, half of the sound is muffled and the other half is muffled, and the muffled half rolls against the ground.
A camel team stopped at the entrance of the gate. The pack racks were high and the ropes were tied with outer knots. The leader was not riding a camel and was standing holding the reins, with a large folded fan slung across his back.
The fan was tied with cloth strips, and the edges of the cloth strips were torn by the wind.
The goods on the racks were covered with oilcloth, tightly covered, and the rope ends were tucked into knots.
The official who inspected the talismans came out of the fence and walked around the camel caravan. He was not walking fast and was unconscious.
"Character."
He took out a talisman.
Pass it over.
The official turned the talisman over, looked at the back, and turned it back again.
"Temari."
The one who answered was the one with the lead.
He reached out and took the talisman back.
The camel team did not enter the fence, but stopped outside the fence entrance. Neither the people nor the camels were unloading their packs. The luggage was packed tightly, and the knots of the ropes were pressed together, pressing down to the roots of the pack frames, and the rope ends were all tucked into the knots.
Kiyoshi is in the walking column, looking through the fence.
As soon as the bell rings, the gate of the gate is opened first for the camel team.
If there is a charm, go to the gate, and if there is no charm, go to the long case.
... The only thing missing is the card.
Inside and outside the gate, there are two steps.
The camel team passed the fence one by one, and the dust started to rise, covering half of the road. When it settled, it was another plain road. The big fan was tied with cloth strips and passed the fence, but it was not solved.
The ringing was far away, but the team was still pressing down on the long desk. The smell of ink on the desk drifted over, mixed with the smell of dust.
The officer on duty lowered his head to check the book. He checked slowly, turning one page over and then back again. His hand turned the pages very lightly.
A small note is pressed at the end of the register. Whoever submits the case will be waiting on the edge of his box. The layer of sweat on the back of the neck cools down and heats up again.
The opening on the long case side was moved to the side of the fence.
The train is moving.
The officer on duty turned the card over and pushed it back in front of him. When the card was pushed back, the corner of the card softened a little in his hand.
The card is warm when pinched.
The officer on duty raised his chin and pointed at the gate.
The card was put back into his arms, placed close to his body, and kept in the same position as when he came.
The wooden strips at the entrance of the fence were brushed with oil. The oil had been exposed to the sun all afternoon and became sticky. When I stepped over, the soles of my shoes rubbed the dust on the strips, leaving the dirt from this station in the fence.
The long desk clerk behind him was still processing the next card. The tip of his pen touched the inkstone, making no haste, and slowly moved forward with the second half of the team.
The camel team has long since disappeared, and the ringing sound has fallen behind the road and has not followed. Outside the gate, Main Road forked in front, and the dust at the fork turned white.
Temari The camel team split up.
An old stone pile stood where the lanes divided, and the top of the pile was rounded by the rain.
There is a dog barking at the other end of the forked road, barking lazily.
The camel leader turned first, then the big fan turned second, and the cloth strips flicked.
Temari reined in the reins and raised his chin this way.
"Let's go first."
After saying that, he left without waiting for a response. He didn't raise his hand, which was regarded as a response, and he didn't stop.
The camel team went off the branch road, and Chen followed it to that road.
The sky slopes away from the main roof, and the shadow of the shed shrinks into a single line, close to the root of the fence.
It's stuck in my arms, close to my ribs, making no sound or light.
... It works, but it doesn't light up.
Step back into the Main Road track.
Before it gets dark, there is a resting shed next to Main Road, with an unlit lamp hanging at the entrance of the shed.
The shed was full, and a fire was lit outside the shed, surrounding the people who were traveling at night. There was a stone left by the fire, and he sat on it, with his luggage at his feet.
The fire was started by wet wood. The smoke was big and the flame was short. The fire was surrounded by a circle of stones. Someone added wood to the fire, and sparks jumped up and fell down again.
The night dew came down and fell on the back of my hand.
The camel bells were no longer heard, and there was only the sound of the wind on the road, which had taken away most of the heat of the day.
On the other side of the fire, two people were talking to each other in a low voice.
"Don't look at the face, look at the leaves on the forehead."
The speaker used pokers to stir the fire, and his face was so smoky that he couldn't believe it.
The other one responded half-heartedly, and the one behind him was covered by Chai Xiang.
... the leaf on his forehead, he himself has one on his forehead.
He put his hand on the Forehead Protector belt without lifting it.
The fire collapsed, and the sparks rolled against the ground and were extinguished as soon as they rolled out.
The endless words stopped at the other end of the fire, the tongs were put back on the stone, and no more words were said. The person at the other end shrank into the fire. He sat with the Forehead Protector belt pressed and did not move.
When the fire got low, he didn't add more firewood.