Chapter 124 Conversation (Part 2)

"What are you talking about?"

"fine."

Jiang Weimin adjusted the tilt of his chair, slowly straightened up, and turned the chair around. "Why are you here?"

A hint of confusion appeared on his face at the right moment, but when his eyes swept across the time displayed on the big screen, he suddenly understood.

"Oh, I'm fine. I'll be back soon." He said, straightening up from his chair, lowered his head to put the cigarette between his fingers into the breast pocket of his shirt, and was about to leave when he saw his daughter take out a small stool from behind her and set it up in the cab.

Jiang Qian sat down on the small stool and looked up at her father who was about to leave. "Dad, let's talk!"

The light from the cab shone on Jiang Qian's face, casting a soft glow on her features. Jiang Weimin was stunned for a few seconds before returning to his seat and asking with a smile, "What are you talking about?"

"Chat..." Jiang Qian stared at him, "Talk about whatever you want to talk about!"

"What do I want to talk about?"

Jiang Weimin was stunned again. He repeated it with his mouth, but his head slowly drooped.

But because the stool Jiang Qian made was relatively short, even if he lowered his head, she still did not miss every expression on her father's face.

Jiang Weimin raised his eyes and saw his daughter staring at him with her bright eyes. Considering her attitude just now, he knew that he had not hidden anything, so he just revealed his cards directly.

"Well, I feel a little uncomfortable today."

Jiang Weimin took out the cigarette from his shirt breast pocket and rubbed it between his fingertips.

They had set up a train station in the city of City A for several days. Every day, countless people were rescued by the rescue team, and many made it through the zombie-ridden streets and onto the train floor. However, among all the people, the family didn't see a single familiar face. Neither Huang Liping's relatives from her mother's side nor the villagers from Xiaohewa who had left early to look for her in the city had seen her.

Although not seeing it might just be because the timing was not right and it doesn't mean anything clearly, but considering what he had heard recently in the car, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Jiang Weimin to remain optimistic about the current situation of his villagers and relatives.

He rubbed the cigarette between his fingers and told his daughter what he had been suppressing in his heart, "...I was thinking about how your Uncle Hongbing and Uncle Weibing are doing now..."

Jiang Weimin couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted to say. Some things were tacitly understood, and he'd thought about them more than once. But whenever he wanted to say them, he worried about whether others would hear him, especially God. It was as if once he said something, if it came true, he would be solely responsible for it.

Her father hadn't finished speaking, but Jiang Qian knew what she wanted to say, because she had already heard her mother muttering about it for a while during the day.

They were lucky to be able to live together as a family. However, staying in a safe place for a long time did not mean that they were unfamiliar with the outside world. On the contrary, staying on the train made them extremely well-informed.

Jiang Qian didn't want to make up any comforting words to her father, such as "They must be fine." He also knew that at this point, her father would definitely not believe it even if she said it, but she also didn't want her father to be immersed in negative emotions.

Jiang Weimin saw his daughter's frown and sighed, "I shouldn't have told you earlier. What's the point of telling you? You've already done everything you can."

Jiang Weimin felt a little regretful.

Although there are trains, they, as family members, know better than anyone else that she has done everything she can. They want to contact their relatives, so she strives to set up stations in various cities to give them the opportunity to reunite with the people they met.

Now the sites have been set up. Although he hasn't met the person he wants to see yet, this is already good. At least he knows that the person he wants to see is near this city, instead of like what he heard today, where the relatives are thousands of miles away and there is no way to find them even if he wants to.

In comparison, their family is already very lucky. How many people are separated from their loved ones by thousands of miles and now don’t even know where to go or how to find them, let alone hear from them!

Thinking of the real suffering he heard in the dining car today, Jiang Weimin felt sympathy and empathy in his heart, and the words he heard while eating in the dining car today emerged in his mind again.

[I wish the train would have a station in the south someday...]

Jiang Weimin's heart skipped a beat, and he felt as if all the blood in his body had been heated, coursing through his veins. He suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of power within him, and an idea that had been lingering in his mind for a long time kept clamoring incessantly.

He clenched his fists, and the cigarette between his fingers was broken by the sudden force, and the rolled tobacco fell to the shiny floor in pieces.

He looked at his daughter, his eyes sparkling and his face full of impatience, as if he had finally discovered a treasure after a long period of digging.

"I was thinking, why don't we run the trains at night?"

"Um?"

Jiang Qian was dazed for a moment, not knowing why the topic suddenly jumped here.

Jiang Weimin, however, thought Jiang Qian's indifferent reaction made him think she disagreed with his proposal, so he quickly said, "I was thinking that since I'm idle at night anyway, and the trains are mostly autonomous these days, why not run them at night as well? That way, we can reach the 5,000 kilometers required to set up new stations sooner, and the train stations can be spread across the country sooner..."

Although the train now runs between the starting and ending stations more than once a day, it also stops for six to seven hours every night.

Jiang Weimin spared no effort in trying to persuade Jiang Qian, "Although there are not many passengers during the early morning hours, and running the bus might be a loss-making operation, we have no shortage of crystals or passengers right now. I think it's worth spending some crystals to get the new station built soon..."

"As soon as the new site is launched, the initial investment will be recouped hundreds or thousands of times over. We will definitely not lose money..."

"Right now, rescue efforts in many places are hampered by traffic. If we can connect all the cities, the speed of rescue efforts will definitely be taken to a new level. Perhaps more people and families will be rescued or find their loved ones sooner..."

Jiang Weimin spoke in bits and pieces, and Jiang Qian couldn't help but follow his words and immerse herself in her father's fantasy.

but……

"But then there has to be someone in the cab all the time..."

Although only the newly opened sections require manual driving, there are not many stations now, and manual driving is required every seven or eight hours, so the demand for drivers is still quite high.

"...If the road section is manually driven during the day, it would be fine, but if it happens to be in the middle of the night..." Then someone will have to get up in the middle of the night to drive.

Even though I only have to sit in the cab for two hours, it still counts as a night shift. "Will it be too tiring?"

"Hey~ What's the big deal?" Before Jiang Qian could finish her subsequent concerns, she was interrupted nonchalantly by Jiang Weimin, who was in high spirits.

"It's just getting up at night and driving for two hours. What's so difficult about that? Don't your mom and Dongzi always go to the dining car at two or three in the morning when it's their turn?"

Jiang Weimin felt that for him, the hard work that Jiang Qian thought was was not a big deal at all.

"Back when we were harvesting wheat back home, it was too hot during the day, so many people had to work late at night, didn't they?" Jiang Weimin wrapped the tobacco he had crushed into a pulp in a new piece of paper and rolled it up. "I'm just driving a car. Compared to those people who toil down below and have to work the night shift, isn't that much better?"

That’s right… Although Jiang Qian thought so, she didn’t intend to let her father take on all the driving work. Just as she was about to speak, a sudden voice from behind scared the two of them.

"What are you talking about?"

When Jiang Qian and Jiang Weimin turned around, they saw Jiang Dong and Huang Liping standing at the door of the cab, wrapped in blankets.

"Mom? Why are you here?"

Jiang Qian stood up from the small stool and pushed it towards her mother.

Huang Liping sat down and replied, "You said you were going to look for your dad, but he hasn't come back for so long, so we came to check on him."

As she spoke, she saw that Jiang Qian's eyes were still looking out of the cab, and explained, "It's just the two of us. Xiaoru had woken up and wanted to come, so I asked her to stay and look after Chenchen."

"What about you? What are you talking about here? Why don't you go back so late?" Huang Liping asked the father and daughter.

In fact, when they just opened the door and came in, Huang Liping and Jiang Dong had already heard some of their conversation and had some guesses in their minds, but it was a rare opportunity for the family to sit down and have a good chat, and she also wanted to understand her family's thoughts more clearly.

Jiang Qian briefly explained what had happened, "...and then Dad said he wanted the train to run at night, too. He had just said that when you guys showed up."

Huang Liping glanced at her husband and saw Jiang Weimin rubbing the back of his head and lowering his head. Seeing her husband not daring to look her in the eye, with that guilty grin on his face, she knew exactly what he was thinking. It was probably his "good guy" genes at work again.

But this time, Huang Liping did not pour cold water on her husband as mercilessly as before.

If you are poor, you should take care of yourself; if you are rich, you should help the world.

If you have the energy to spare, who wouldn’t want to help more people?

"Then count me in for the evening shift too!"

As soon as Huang Liping finished speaking, Jiang Weimin, who had lowered his head, instantly straightened his neck.

But at the same time, Jiang Qian and Jiang Dong's disapproving voices also rang out.

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

“How can this be possible!”

【Author’s words】

I don’t know why today, maybe I was in a bad mood, my heart felt a little uncomfortable in the afternoon, so the update was a little late, sorry.

Thank you for your support! Hearts and kisses!