"Thank you," Sun Yongfu stood up, clasping Zhang Luxin's hand tightly, "for giving us such an excellent class on permafrost technology, which has given me more faith in having a breakthrough in one of the world's hardest problems and being able to commence the Qinghai-Tibet Railway."
"When will you be leaving Golmud?" Zhang Luxin suddenly followed Sun Yongfu's itinery.
"Tomorrow morning I'll climb the mountain, I have a great desire to see the observation station you mentioned on Fenghuoshan Mountain."
"Very good!" When it came time for Zhang Luxin to get up and take his leave, a strong intention unexpectedly came over him. After returning to the hotel, without even the time to eat lunch, he went to hail down a long distance taxi. The assistant asked, "Professor Zhang, do you want to take a taxi, and go all the way back to Lanzhou?"
"No!" Zhang Luxin shook his head, "I'd like to go up Fenghuoshan Mountain."
"What time you leave to climb Fenghuoshan Mountain?" his assistant asked, flabbergasted.
"I'd like to leave late tonight!" Zhang Luxin's gaze was newly set on the faraway snow-covered horizon of Kunlun, and it seemed as if in his mind, he had already surpassed the peak of Fenghuoshan Mountain, "We need to hurry to Fenghuoshan Mountain observation station before Vice Minister Sun Yongfu arrives."
"Is this necessary? You talked about your permafrost research for over an hour at the meeting, I think you've already proved yourself to Mr. Sun," asked the assistant.
"Of course we have to!" Zhang Luxin said, full of emotion, "Several generations of the Northwest Research Institute have been waiting for this at Fenghuoshan Mountain for over forty years, and the minister from Beijing should know of their value and dedication. Moreover, as an older person, at present, it's only me who can talk properly about the research period at Fenghuoshan Mountain."
Deeply moved by Zhang Luxin's determination and persistence, his assistant ran to the side of the street and hailed down a taxi. Then, we went for a drive around the city of Golmud. I can't even begin to describe the bleak state of the taxis here. The best vehicle was a FAW Tianjin Xiali, which had already traveled somewhere between one or two hundred thousand kilometers and was in a pretty worrying state.
"Professor Zhang, I only regret that you've had to go up the mountain in a Xiali." The assistant chuckled bitterly.
"But being able to go in a Xiali itself is pretty good," said Zhang Luxin, contentedly, "in the past when we went through Kunlun, across the Tanggula Mountains, it was in a PLA vehicle."
The assistant was deeply moved: "Things aren't what they used to be. Let's just pray the car won't be so unreliable as to leave us trapped in Wudaoliang!"
That day, the hand of God pushed aside time to the critical line of midnight in the Kunlun Mountains, and Zhang Luxin set out, draping the cold stars of the night sky on the plateau around his shoulders. The Xiali car which had sped up trembled from head to toe, shattering the cloudy night sky, like a shaking light boat on a black lake, the flicker of the headlamps like two fireflies, sinking into the wilderness of the Kunlun Mountains and the boundless sky of the curtain of the Hoh Xil night. The Xiali car made a journey of over 300 kilometers in more than five hours, and as the first signs of dawn were visible, they reached Fenghuoshan Mountain observation station.
At around 10am in the morning, when the observation and study fleet appeared in front of Fenghuoshan Mountain Railway's experimental foundations, Zhang Luxin had already been welcomed by the staff of the Fenghuoshan Mountain Observation Station. Astonished, Sun Yongfu asked, "Professor Zhang, how are you at Fenghuoshan Mountain—did you become airborne?"
"Not quite. Yesterday evening we rushed here by night cab." Zhang Luxin said, with a new realism, "we were waiting for you, the minister! I wanted to give you a report about the particulars of the Fenghuoshan Mountain experimental period."
"I really admire you, Professor Zhang. You did a great job." Sun Yongfu thanked him.
Zhang Luxin said sincerely, "Having been on the move for several decades, you could probably say we've found 'home'."
"Haha …" Sun Yongfu laughed.
"Are you feeling the effects of the elevation?" Zhang Luxin asked, concerned.
"Indeed!" Sun Yongfu nodded his head in succession, "the highest I've ever climbed was 4,000 meters, how high are we?"
"More than 4,900 meters above sea level!"
"No wonder, I feel some obvious lightheadedness, I'm short of breath and my heartrate has sped up."
"Over there is 5,013 meters above sea level!" Zhang Luxin pointed to the Fenghuoshan Tunnel. "In the past, as soon as summer came these mountains were filled with rolling thunder, from above the mountaintops, fireballs of lightning bolts hit one after another, if you didn't hide well enough, you'd pay with your life."
"Oh!" Sun Yongfu nodded his head, "is there still rolling thunder?"
"It's nearly completely gone! However, you can't stay here for long! You can just go for a simple tour and curtail your itinerary." Zhang Luxin lead Sun's delegation, explaining and exploring in exhaustive detail every project of the railway line's half-kilometer experimental section, afterwards introducing the most commonly used techniques of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway's permafrost section, such as slate-bed foundation, protective banks and sunshades. Sun Yongfu stayed on Fenghuoshan Mountain for nearly an hour, before finally waving goodbye, and heading toward Tuotuo River, the origin of the Yangtze River …
Zhang Luxin stood for a long time on Fenghuoshan Mountain, gazing at an enormous flock of grey geese, pursuing the delegation, which shrunk gradually into a black speck, and he felt suddenly, on the wings of geese, that his life as a permafrost scholar was about to reach its spring.
Circling the blue dome of heaven, he heard the cry of a wild goose returning to the flock.
