After finishing the meal and going downstairs, I found the raw stone base had become lively. Merchants from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou had arrived early at the exhibition hall, waiting for us to unveil the day's prize winner.
However, my mind wasn't on this. I had an appointment with Wang Dong for three o'clock in the afternoon at a meeting point less than a hundred kilometers away. After crossing the border, it was all mountainous terrain, with most areas accessible only on foot, as vehicles could not pass.
I arranged for Lan Ya to handle the prize winner matters, with Da Kui assisting her. Jing Lei, knowing I was going across, seemed very anxious but unable to help. She watched me organize things here, her mind unsettled, and she tried to speak several times but stopped herself.
I knew her worries, but the decision was made and could not be retracted. Whether it was a mountain of knives or a sea of fire, I had to go through it.
I asked Wen Siqiang to prepare the car, and we got ready to leave.
Jing Lei walked over, straightened my clothes, and said nothing, just looking at me affectionately.
I patted her shoulder with my hand, then pulled her hand and told her, "Wait for me to come back."
She responded with a hum. I turned and got into Wen Siqiang's car. I waved to Jing Lei from the car window, asking her to go upstairs. Jing Lei refused, watching my car drive away and remaining standing in place.
I felt a pang of sadness, a sense of embarking on a journey of no return, which felt rather tragic.
Honestly, I had no confidence at all. Everything I was about to face was unknown. A great sense of unease enveloped me, making me feel as if I were walking on a tightrope, with the possibility of falling into an abyss with every step.
The car quickly drove out of the city and headed towards the border crossing.
We completed the exit procedures at the border. The border inspection personnel reminded us, as usual, to be careful, and then let us pass.
I was grateful for the staff's kind reminder, as it was quite unsafe across the border, and they were fulfilling their responsibility to every citizen exiting the country.
However, this safety was not something we could control; it depended entirely on the other side.
The car drove for dozens of kilometers, and we arrived at a small town where the car could go no further. From here on, we could only proceed on foot.
I called Wang Dong to inform him we had reached the town. He gave us an address. I asked some people in the town, who told me to head into the mountains from the south side of the town and walk about ten li.
However, there was no proper road, only a mountain path that others had used to climb.
I asked Wen Siqiang to park the car in front of a small shop and gave the owner some money as a parking fee. The shop owner kindly gave us two sticks to use on our journey.
Looking at the towering mountains, I understood why the Myanmar government was powerless against local armed groups. As long as they hid in the mountains, even an army of thousands would be left gazing at the peaks, helpless!
I paid two hundred yuan to hire a guide. If it were just the two of us, we wouldn't find the place even if we walked until dark.
The guide was the shop owner's son, about fifteen or sixteen years old, dark, thin, and frail, clearly malnourished. However, when it came to walking mountain paths, neither of us could match him. He had to stop every few steps to wait for us. He leaped and climbed like a monkey, while we could only take one step at a time.
Fortunately, the sticks the shop owner gave us proved very useful. They helped support our almost toppling bodies and allowed us to probe the path and push aside branches blocking our way. Without these sticks, we would have had no way to advance.
We crossed one mountain after another in this manner. Our pants and shirts were torn by thorny branches, and we sustained many scratches.
After crossing the highest peak, the guide told me we were close and that we would reach our destination after descending this mountain.
As we walked down the slope, we saw a vast expanse of low-lying land, and large fields of opium poppies came into view!
This was a sea of flowers. As far as the eye could see, beautiful blossoms stretched to the horizon. They were so beautiful, so breathtaking.
However, I knew that these beautiful flowers were flowers of sin, flowers of death.
Opium poppies are native to Asia Minor, India, and Iran. Small amounts are cultivated in pharmaceutical farms in some parts of China. The opium poppy is a biennial herbaceous plant of the poppy family. The entire plant is grayish-green. The leaves are long and oval, growing around the stem. In summer, it flowers, solitary at the tips of branches, large and brilliant, in red, purple, and white, opening upwards. The flowers fall early, and a spherical capsule forms, containing numerous small seeds.
The opium poppy is also called the "hero flower" and is the raw material for producing opium. Raw opium, as a painkiller, sedative, and sleep aid, was highly valued by physicians in ancient Greece and Rome. The opium poppy is native to the mountainous regions of eastern Mediterranean and areas such as Asia Minor and Egypt. In the early days of the Common Era, opium poppies were introduced to Egypt from Greece and the plains of Mesopotamia. In ancient Egypt, the opium poppy was called the "flower of the gods." It was introduced to Southeast Asia in the 7th century. For a long time, people in Southeast Asia regarded the opium poppy as a medicinal plant.
The existence of the opium poppy is a temptation, a temptation that can lead people to destruction.
This temptation is extremely powerful, so powerful that many are willing to accept this destruction, to accept this temptation, allowing vibrant lives to gradually wither and dry up until death!
This is what I had read from books before coming here about opium poppies, calling it a hero flower because it had brought many contributions to humanity. In the era before the development of medicine, it served as a substitute for drugs, relieving and curing many ailments.
However, now it has lost its significance as a hero flower. Its existence is merely to allow criminals to refine drugs that harm people.
Although I had done my homework at home and learned some knowledge about opium poppies, I was still shocked when I truly saw this sea of flowers. Seeing the scene before me, I felt ashamed of myself for being like a frog at the bottom of a well. Everything before me opened my eyes!
This has completely challenged my understanding. As Lan Ya told me, my thinking was too naive.
Wu Guodong didn't help Principal Sun beat me because he lacked money. He was interested in the mainland market. He suppressed me to make way for Principal Sun or Principal Liu, opening a channel for him to enter the mainland through Ruicheng. And I was their biggest obstacle, so they had to eliminate me at all costs.
I had indeed thought too simply, viewing this matter as Principal Sun's personal grievance against me, aiming only to kill me. I hadn't realized that not only Principal Sun but also Wu Guodong truly wanted me dead.
The international community is now applying pressure using the strength of various countries, blocking many drug export channels. Air, land, and sea transportation are being cracked down upon with unprecedented intensity. Although government forces find it difficult to clear the mountains, the purpose of planting vast amounts of opium poppies is to transport them out and turn them into money. With most channels successively blocked, these drug lords, big and small, have begun to seek new avenues towards the mainland.
The unique geographical environment of the border has brought significant convenience to criminals and also given them hope. I believe Wu Guodong must want to be the first to take the plunge and open a brand-new drug smuggling channel.
The guide pointed to a small path in the middle of the sea of flowers and told me that if we followed this path for another five or six li, we would arrive.
My heavens, the cultivation of opium poppies is not measured in acres but in li. I don't know how many li this area spans; I have no concept of this. Visually, it's at least ten li wide and twenty li long.
Although the open ground had undulations, the sea of flowers stretched as far as the eye could see. It must be tens of li. Even if it's twenty li long and ten li wide, that's two hundred square li. What kind of concept is that? I dare not imagine.
And this is only a small portion that I can see. According to statistics from international organizations, the planting area in the Golden Triangle alone is several million mu!