Chapter 27: Farewell at the Station

The morning light of late spring pierced through the mist, and the old locust tree at the entrance of Majiaji Village was crowded with people.

The air is filled with the smell of earth and an inextricable sadness of separation.

Aunt Wang’s eyes were swollen like walnuts, and she held Shen Lingning’s hand tightly.

She stuffed a pack of still-hot boiled eggs into her bulging blue cloth bag and said, "Lingning! Please send me a message when you get there! If you need anything, I'll send it to you! ... Fubao, let grandma kiss you again..."

The rough, calloused fingertips stroked Fubao's tender little face, and tears finally rolled down.

Li Tiezhu's wife silently handed him half a bag of fragrant fried soybeans, her throat tightening as she said, "It's for the kid to grind his teeth on the way..."

The old Party branch secretary, Ma Zhenshan, stood with his hands behind his back, his back straight, his voice loud but with a barely perceptible hoarseness: "Defend the country! Take Fubao with you and strive for a better future!

The threshold of Majiaji will always be reserved for you two! If anyone dares to bully you, let them know that our hoes are not vegetarians!

The simple and warm words and the heavy hometown friendship merged into a warm current, which made Shen Lingning's eyes hot.

Holding the ignorant Fubao in her arms, she bowed deeply to the yellow land and the simple folks.

Thousands of words were stuck in my throat, and only turned into a trembling voice: "...Thank you... Take care everyone!"

Fubao also raised his little hands and waved to everyone, which made the farewell team burst into tears.

"Settle in and write a letter!"

"Come back if things get bad over there!"

"Take good care of yourself and Fubao! Be careful on the road!"

…

The wheels of the ox cart rolled over the yellow earth, making a dull "creaking" sound, gradually leaving everyone's instructions and reluctance in the spring breeze, drifting farther and farther away.

Li Tiezhu is the "general who protects the emperor" elected by the whole village.

Responsible for escorting Shen Lingning and Fubao, mother and daughter, to the Jinnan Hecheng Station.

The man was a man of few words. He just kept his head down as he carried two large bags that were so stuffed that they were about to burst the blue flowered coarse cloth. They looked like two moving hills.

Inside the bundle were Ma Jiaji's heartfelt gifts: wild vegetables from Aunt Wang, dried vegetables from Zhuzi's wife, brand new thousand-layer-soled cloth shoes, and thick insoles...

Before leaving, Shen Lingning combined his previous life experience and Fubao's "big boss" advice, and wrote to the old branch secretary a "golden idea" plan about organizing the young wives in the village to make embroidery to earn foreign exchange, and proposed how Suzhou and Hangzhou could use embroidery to earn foreign exchange for the country.

Combining Shen Lingning's business talent since childhood with the guidance of Fu Bao, a business tycoon in his previous life, he wrote a development path that was most suitable for Majiaji.

But Shen Lingning never expected that the seeds she inadvertently sowed would grow into towering trees that would make Majiaji embroidery famous all over the world.

——

We rushed all the way to the Hecheng Station, and it was like a boiling pot.

There was a lot of noise and chatter, and the green train was breathing heavy coal smoke, like a long iron worm lying in its nest.

Li Tiezhu relied on his brute strength to fight his way through the carriage that was packed like sardines in a can, stuffed the two "mountains of luggage" onto the luggage rack, and snatched a hard seat by the window for Shen Lingning and her mother.

By the car window, two young female educated youth with shiny pigtails were performing a "Speed ​​Race" with their parents who were seeing them off outside the car window.

——A huge luggage bag tied into a strange shape with hemp rope was stuck on the car window and could not be moved up or down.

The girl inside blushed and pulled hard, while the parents outside pushed hard with veins bulging.

"Girl! Push harder!"

"Dad! It's stuck!"

The conductor at the door, a middle-aged man in a navy blue uniform with his hat pulled low, stamped his feet anxiously and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Quick! Quick! The train's leaving! Those at the back! Stop squeezing! I'm talking to you! That kid!"

He was quick-witted and quick-handed. He suddenly lifted the back of a young boy who was carrying a huge bedding roll that was almost taller than him and was stuck at the door of the car, unable to move forward or backward!

"Hey yo!"

The boy used the force to "shoot" into the carriage like a cannonball, almost knocking down the bedding rolls.

A few minutes later, "Woo-!"

The whistle blew long and hard, and the train, like an old man in his twilight years, reluctantly puffed out a few puffs of thick white steam.

Then there was a series of teeth-grinding "crunching, clanging and banging" sounds, and finally, he gasped and slowly moved his heavy body.

The crowd on the platform who were seeing them off suddenly became excited. The cries, shouts and exhortations merged into a noisy ocean, which was then ruthlessly left behind by the increasingly fast wheels and merged into the silhouette of the river city shrouded in morning mist.

After giving a few instructions, Li Tiezhu quickly jumped off the train and ran a few steps after it. Looking at Xiao Fubao who was sticking to the window and waving at him, he also quickly waved back, his eyes a little red.

He kept waving his hands vigorously until the train completely left the platform, then he put them down and turned around silently.

The carriage was packed with people, and also filled with young passion and sadness.

Most of them were educated youth who responded to the call that resounded through the sky and rushed to the unknown frontier with the ambition of "a vast world and great things to do".

Their faces, young yet filled with excitement, confused yet filled with longing, the oldest no more than twenty years old, the youngest still childish. Someone started, but a clear voice began to sing their farewell song:

"In the blue sky, white clouds are flying,

Along the beautiful Yangtze River lies the lovely ancient city of Nanjing, my hometown...

Farewell, mother, goodbye, hometown,

The golden student days have been recorded in the history of youth and will never come back.

The footprints of life are deep and shallow in a foreign land..."

The singing seemed to have magic and quickly infected the entire carriage.

The young, slightly hoarse, and even choked voices merged together and echoed in the crowded and noisy carriage, strangely diluting the sadness of parting and giving rise to a tragic and heroic sentiment.

Shen Lingning was also infected by the atmosphere. He gently patted Fubao in his arms and hummed along.

Fubao opened his big black eyes, listening curiously to the strange and exciting melody, and his little mouth babbled along unconsciously.

Li Tiezhu's burly figure shrank smaller and smaller outside the car window, finally becoming a blurry black dot. His back seemed somewhat lonely in the morning mist.

The train accelerated, and the rhythm of "what's more" became more and more intense, like a monotonous and stubborn march.

The new passengers finally found a place to stand, and the dim incandescent lights on the ceiling of the car went out with a "click", leaving only a faint light source at the joint of the door.

The train plunged into a series of tunnels, and the carriage was suddenly plunged into darkness. Only the occasional reflection of the rock wall passing by the window brought a momentary light.

The singing continued, and the conversation was clearer in the darkness, mixed with the occasional "clucking" sound from the chicken coop and the crying of an unknown child.

The cold wind blew in through the gaps in the car windows, which were not closed tightly, bringing with it the cold and dampness unique to the tunnel. In the darkness, suppressed coughs came one after another.

Shen Lingning hugged Fubao tightly and warmed her daughter with her slightly warm body temperature.