These speculations tossed and turned in the young heart of Qin Limin until the train chugged into the Yumen station. That afternoon, when little Limin and his mother stepped out of the Yumen railway station, they encountered a sandstorm. Yellow sand was swirling everywhere, and the thick sandstorm made it hard for Limin to breathe and see. He clung tightly to his mother's side, his little hand firmly grasping her coat, fearing that a gust of wind might blow her away. This was Limin's first impression of Yumen.
The mother held her luggage in one hand and tightly held her son to her side with the other. Facing the wind and sand, they stumbled along and reached a row of adobe houses. Two uncles standing in front of the house led them inside. After a few words with the mother, they left. The furnishings inside the room were simple and old: a table, a chair, and a dirt bed in the corner. Perhaps there were gaps in the windows and the door, as the howling wind could still be heard and the strong smell of sand and dust could be smelled inside the room. Fortunately, there was a small iron stove in the room, and an old iron kettle on top of it was steaming, which somewhat relieved Xiaoli Min's fear and coldness.
"Mom, why are we here?" Little Limin finally asked his mother timidly, voicing the question that had been on his mind: "Did something happen to Dad?"
The mother looked around the small adobe house, her eyes brimming with tears. She held onto the edge of the table tightly, and after a while, she spoke to her son in a trembling voice, "Min, your father was seriously injured at work and has left us." By this time, her face was covered with tears. Little Limin threw himself into his mother's arms and sobbed. The mother wiped her son's tears while continuing to tell him, "This little house is where your father once lived. Back then, he came here with great ambition, searching for oil fields and extracting oil for the country. This place held his dreams..."
In the early days of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, your father joined the Northwest Geological and Mineral Exploration Team of the Nationalist Government. At that time, the natural environment here was extremely harsh and the working and living conditions were very tough. However, your father did not refuse and never complained after coming here. At that time, there was only one belief in his heart, which was to drill the first oil well for the country.
Xiaolimin listened quietly to his mother's account. It seemed that he could no longer hear the howling wind outside the adobe house. He was moved by his father's story and felt proud and honored of him.
Wiping away the tears from the corner of her eyes, Mom continued, "If it succeeds, it will be a source of pride for our country. For your father, serving the motherland was his life ideal and lifelong pursuit." These words were deeply engraved in Qin Limin's mind, planting a seed of "making the nation proud" in his young heart.
It was from that moment on that Qin Limin's childhood memories and every night's dreams were tightly wrapped and haunted by the endless oil fields and that oil well with his father's figure.
Bringing his thoughts back, Qin Limin said firmly, "You all know that Yumen has always been a place I yearn for. When I was a child, my dream was to go to the Yumen Oilfield and extract oil for our motherland after growing up." Qin Limin's answer was straightforward and simple, yet it exuded determination.
The roommates looked at Qin Limin and sighed helplessly, "You are just too stubborn and inflexible. You should know that the college really wants you to stay after graduation, either for further studies or to teach. It's much better than going to Yumen... If you can't stand it there or don't want to stay, it will be very difficult to get transferred back to Beijing!"
Qin Limin's expression froze for a moment, his hands tightening the straps of his military green schoolbag. Hadn't he thought of all these things his roommates mentioned? The department head had already talked to him before. The college was preparing to recommend him to study abroad at Moscow University. He knew that if he gave up, it would mean a completely different life path for him. Qin Limin wasn't without hesitation or wavering in his heart. The girl he had a crush on had also advised him, hoping he could go to Moscow with her. Although her words were subtle, Qin Limin understood that once they went abroad, their relationship would naturally develop.
But when he thought of that afternoon thirteen years ago, when the wind and sand had ceased and the afterglow of the setting sun illuminated the horizon, when he recalled his mother walking with him to measure the oil well his father had won with his life, and when he thought of his mother's hardships and earnest teachings over the past decade and more, all at once, the thoughts of staying on at school or going abroad for further study vanished without a trace. Only three words remained in Qin Limin's heart: Go to Yumen!
Qin Limin made up his mind in his heart that no matter how hard it was in Yumen, located in the northwest of China, even if it was a world of sandstorms or continuous snowfall, he would never give up.