"Thank you!"

"You're welcome, it's our pleasure. We welcome you to stay at our hotel again."

After saying goodbye to the hotel driver, the family pushed their suitcases into the waiting hall.

"Wow, so many people!"

"Are they all going to work?"

Xia Minmin looked around and there were basically no seats available, but fortunately their train was only about 20 minutes away from departure.

Xia Minmin said, "Let's go to the ticket gate now! It's almost time."

"The ticket gate for our train is over there," Li Qing said, pointing to the gate where people were already queuing to get their tickets.

Let's go!

"Be careful not to lose your luggage."

"knew."

"There are so many people, Xiaomin, walk in the middle so you don't get lost."

"Yes, yes, let Xiaomin walk in the middle. It's the easiest time for children to get lost at the train station."

Xia Minmin pushed her suitcase toward the middle, but being small, she was easily blocked.

The difficult ticket check and the difficult train boarding.

After boarding the train, everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"We couldn't get soft sleeper tickets back, only hard sleeper ones, so please make do," Li Zhonghua said.

"Mom and Dad, you two sleep on the lower bunk," Li Chunmei said.

Xia Minmin raised her hand and volunteered, "Mom, I'll sleep on the top bunk!"

“Then I’ll sleep on the top bunk too!” Li Qing said.

“You two kids are saying the top bunk is dangerous, what if you fall down?” Sun Erni said.

"Don't worry, Auntie won't. The upper bunk is low, which is perfect for a child."

"Mom, don't worry! Everything will be fine."

Seeing Xia Minmin and Li Qing's determination, the others no longer objected.

"Then can I sleep in the middle bunk with Zhonghua, and Chunmei, can you sleep in the middle bunk next to Jianguo?"

"Sister-in-law is fine!"

Xia Jianguo and Li Zhonghua stuffed all their suitcases under the lower bunk.

Sun Erni took out three decks of cards. "Want to play Upgrading?"

"Playing is boring anyway."

Six adults are getting ready to play cards.

"Mom, have you seen my schoolbag?" Xia Minmin asked.

"Look for it yourself, it's probably buried under the gift bags," Li Chunmei said.

Xia Minmin rummaged through her schoolbag, took out the Chinese, math, and English workbooks she needed, and her Walkman, and placed them on the bed.

Li Zhonghua looked at the large characters for "Sixth Grade" on the seal and asked, "Xiaomin, are you planning to skip a grade?"

Xia Jianguo said, "Well, Xiaomin mentioned it once a few years ago and passed the exam, but their principal felt that Xiaomin was too young and might not be able to adapt to skipping a grade, so he asked Xiaomin to try again in two years. Last year at the end of the semester, Xiaomin mentioned it again, and this time the principal agreed."

“Xiaomin is one or two years younger than her peers in first grade. If she skips a grade, the gap will be even bigger,” Sun Erni said.

"Why didn't you say so sooner? If you had known it would be like this, you wouldn't have taken them out to play during the winter vacation," Grandma Xia complained.

The older generation values ​​education highly, fearing it might hinder their children's future.

"It's not good to spread things around before they're even confirmed. Once she successfully skips a grade, her dad and I will definitely treat you to a meal."

Li Chunmei said, "Let's continue playing cards and let the two of them go study."

“All we do is play cards. The children are going through a crucial time, and we’re just adding to their troubles. Isn’t that affecting them?” Grandma Xia said.

Li Chunmei explained, "Mom, this is also a test, a test of their concentration. Besides, even if we don't make noise, there are so many people on the train, can you control everyone?"

"Xiaomin and Xiaoqing, you two can study on the middle bunk. It's a bit higher, so it'll be easier for you to move around," Sun Erni said.

"Okay, thank you, Auntie!"

"You're welcome, hurry up and go up!"

Xia Minmin climbed onto the middle bunk and sat down. Sure enough, being short has its advantages; even when sitting up straight, her head wouldn't hit the ground.

"Dad, hand me the book on the bed."

Xia Jianguo picked up the books, pens, and Walkman that were on the lower bunk and handed them to Xia Minmin.

Xia Jianguo nagged, "You should take care of your eyes when reading and writing. Don't become a four-eyed person at such a young age. It's so inconvenient to wear glasses every day."

"Okay, Dad! I'll be careful." I'll never be a four-eyed kid again.

Li Qing then climbed onto the middle bunk opposite her. "Sister Qing, even though you're now a four-eyed kid, you still need to be careful!"

"Okay, housekeeper. You go ahead and study! Don't worry about me."

Time flies when you're focused on studying; the light on the train dimmed around 4 p.m.

Xia Minmin put away her books, took out her Walkman to learn English, and listened and read along. She listens to English songs or stories for at least an hour every day to maintain her language sense.

I don't know why, but in my past life, I always felt ashamed whenever I spoke English aloud, or rather, I felt timid because I wasn't proficient enough. Over time, I became a mute in English.

After starting elementary school, I often went to the university English corner with Li Qing to study. At first, I would stumble when I spoke, but as I accumulated vocabulary and grammar, I gradually became more confident in speaking.

"Xiaomin, stop listening! It's time to eat." Li Chunmei reached out and patted Xia Minmin.

Xia Minmin packed up her things and handed them to Li Chunmei before getting out of bed. Li Qing didn't even know when she got down.

Xia Jianguo and Li Zhonghua were trading with vendors outside when they opened the window.

Li Qing said, "The takeout lunches are still the best! Today's lunch was awful, I've never had such a bad meal."

"It really didn't taste good. I'll never buy boxed meals on the train again!" Xia Minmin agreed.

The vendors outside the window beamed with joy as Li Zhonghua bought a large amount of boxed lunches and fruit.

"You two came down? Come on, you can choose between chicken and braised pork boxed lunches. Which one do you want?" Li Zhonghua said when he saw the two sisters.

"chicken."

"chicken."

"You really don't want braised pork?"

"Braised pork belly tastes best when made with pork belly, forget about pork belly," Xia Minmin said with a look of disgust.

"I can't eat braised pork, it's too greasy!"

Xia's grandfather said, "You two have really high standards. In the past, we could hardly eat meat except during the New Year. How lucky you are to be able to eat meat and even choose! You should study hard in the future and become useful people to the country."

"Okay, Grandpa. I'll study hard."

"Okay, Grandpa."

The boxed lunch was quite generous, and Xia Minmin still had half left. As usual, her father helped her finish it up.

Seeing that Xia Minmin and Li Qing had finished their boxed lunches, Li Chunmei said, "You two should hurry up and wash up after you finish eating, there will be a lot of people coming later."

After washing up, Xia Minmin stood in the middle of the bed and did two sets of radio calisthenics to aid digestion. She felt weak after spending most of the day in bed and couldn't muster any energy to do anything.

After washing up, the adults started playing cards again, but they didn't play for money. I don't know why they started arguing.

They're both bad at the game and love to play, and they often miscalculate scores and cause conflicts, which are quite loud and attract a lot of onlookers with nothing better to do.

"Sister Qing, I'm going up now," Xia Minmin said to Li Qing, who was watching the card game with her.

Be careful.

"Got it, I'm pretty quick!"

Xia Minmin fell asleep listening to English stories on her Walkman. She was so happy to be in Shenzhen early tomorrow morning and finally go home!