Chapter 418: Language Barrier
Chapter 418: Chapter 418: Language Barrier
Before long, the bus was nearly full. Su Qing glanced over at the middle-aged woman and the young girl. The two seemed to have warmed up to each other; the girl even had a smile on her face as she spoke with the woman.
Su Qing’s frown deepened.
Because of the human trafficking incident she’d heard about yesterday, Su Qing was somewhat suspicious of the middle-aged woman. But right now, the woman was just chatting with the girl. Nothing was happening, so Su Qing couldn’t very well go over and say something. She just kept a subtle watch on them.
The bus was headed to Maqu County, a journey of about six or seven hours with stops in a few towns along the way. The middle-aged woman, however, didn’t make any suspicious moves. When they finally reached Maqu County and got off the bus, Su Qing watched as the woman smiled, said goodbye to the little girl, and they went their separate ways.
Seeing this, Su Qing blinked. ’Could I really have been wrong?’
Su Qing couldn’t help but laugh at herself. ’Looks like I was just being paranoid.’
Compared to Xiyuan County, Maqu County was clearly not as prosperous. But Su Qing was quite taken with its local culture and specialty foods.
On the main streets here, many people used horses for transportation. In the short time since she’d gotten off the bus, Su Qing had already seen several people ride past her on horseback.
To be honest, Su Qing had never ridden a horse before. She looked left and right, her curiosity piqued, which led to a misunderstanding. But immediately after, Su Qing discovered a serious problem: she couldn’t understand what the local people were saying.
Last time in Laxian, the locals also spoke a regional dialect. But because people often held stone-gambling events there, the locals could more or less speak some broken Mandarin, so communication was still possible. Here, however, she couldn’t understand a single word they said.
"Young lady, are you trying to get to the market but can’t find the way?" a woman asked kindly, noticing Su Qing looking around everywhere.
Su Qing couldn’t understand the woman and gave an awkward smile. She tried asking in Mandarin, "Excuse me, does anyone here speak Mandarin?"
She needed to get to Xiqing Mountain, which meant finding transportation. And since she wasn’t familiar with the area, she would definitely need to ask for directions. It looked like she might need to hire a guide.
Su Qing began to wonder if it would do any good to go to the police station for help if she really couldn’t find anyone who spoke Mandarin.
"Huh?" The woman couldn’t understand Su Qing either and stared at her, blank-faced for a moment. "What did you say?"
Seeing the woman’s baffled expression, Su Qing blinked. She got it. The woman couldn’t understand her either.
The woman thought for a moment, then asked, "Young lady, you’re from out of town, aren’t you?"
Su Qing still didn’t understand and blinked awkwardly.
The woman realized Su Qing couldn’t understand her. After a moment’s thought, she started gesturing, beckoning for Su Qing to follow her.
Su Qing could tell the woman meant her no harm and was curious to see what she wanted, so she nodded and followed her. Soon, they arrived at a market.
The market was bustling. There were stalls selling food, daily necessities, and several selling sheep and horses. Some were even selling yaks.
The woman led Su Qing to a stall that sold horses and said a string of words to the stall owner.
The stall owner was a man in his forties. After listening to the woman, he turned to Su Qing. He spoke in Mandarin, making Su Qing let out a sigh of relief. Finally, someone who could understand her. "Young lady, you from out of town?"
His Mandarin was heavily accented, but at least it was understandable. Su Qing quickly smiled. "Yes, I’m from out of town. I just arrived today. I’m so lucky this ma’am brought me to you. Otherwise, I would have been in real trouble today."
"HA HA HA HA, don’t worry," the man laughed heartily. "There are some people here who can speak a bit of Mandarin, just not that many."
"This is already wonderful," Su Qing said with sincere gratitude. "Could you please thank this ma’am for me? I’m so grateful she brought me to you. Otherwise, I would have been completely lost."
"Ha ha, no problem." The man smiled and said a few words to the woman.
After listening, the woman smiled at Su Qing, waved her hand, and said a few words.
The man translated, "She says there’s no need to be so polite. You’re a guest here, so it’s only right that she helps you."
"I should still thank her," Su Qing said with a smile. Then, using her backpack as cover, she took out a bag of White Rabbit Creamy Candy from her storage space and handed it to the woman. "This is just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."
Seeing the White Rabbit Creamy Candy, the woman quickly waved her hands in refusal. The gift was too valuable; she couldn’t accept it. All she did was show the way. She hadn’t expected Su Qing to give her such a generous gift. A bag of White Rabbit candy had at least twenty or thirty pieces, which cost two or three yuan!
After some back-and-forth, Su Qing finally convinced the woman to accept the candy. The woman thanked her profusely before leaving.
Once the woman was gone, Su Qing smiled at the man and said, "I want to go to Xiqing Mountain. I was wondering if you know anyone who’s familiar with the area? It would be best if they could speak Mandarin. I’d like to hire a guide to show me the way."
"What? You want to go to Xiqing Mountain!" The man was shocked to hear her words. "Young lady, Xiqing Mountain is deep and dangerous. Why would a young girl like you want to go there? It’s not a place you can just enter casually. The mountains are deep and the forests are dense, and there’s a lot of large wildlife. If you’re not careful, something bad could happen."
"Oh, I’m studying under an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor," Su Qing explained simply. "I heard there are a lot of medicinal herbs in Xiqing Mountain, so I wanted to go into the mountains to have a look. I won’t go too deep. But this is my first time here and I’m not familiar with the area, so I think I need a guide to take me to the foot of Xiqing Mountain."
"It’s true that there are a lot of medicinal herbs in Xiqing Mountain," the man nodded. "But it’s still too dangerous for a girl on her own. I’d advise you to be careful."
"It’s fine. I know some martial arts, so I can protect myself. Besides, I won’t go deep into the mountains," Su Qing said quickly.
"Is that so." The man thought for a moment and said, "Well, I won’t hide it from you. My home isn’t too far from Xiqing Mountain. If you’re willing, I can take you with me when I head back to my village today."
"Really? That would be wonderful," Su Qing said with a smile. "I’ll be sure to compensate you."
"Compensation? What compensation?" The man waved his hand dismissively and smiled. "It’s on my way. No need to be so formal."
"You’re helping me out in a big way. I must thank you properly," Su Qing insisted.
Since they would be traveling together, the two introduced themselves. Su Qing then learned that this hearty man was Tibetan, and his name was Sangji.