Chapter 251 Unclean Things

True to her word, Jia Zhenzhen bought a double-skin milk pudding and a rice noodle roll for each of Qin Suisui, Pei Jiuyan, and Zhou Jianguo the next morning. Qin Suisui's rice noodle roll even had beef added!

Hu Jue, who had always been relatively unknown in the team, didn't look too happy.

Of these people, only Qin Suisui knew Hu Jue; the others didn't recognize him. Worried that he might have a grudge and it would affect team unity, Qin Suisui explained earnestly: "Zhenzhen is thanking us for sharing our food with him last night, and also for Comrade Zhou Jianguo helping us retrieve our food after it was knocked away by the donkey cart yesterday."

Hu Jue nodded upon hearing this, then took the bowl of wonton noodles he had ordered and found a seat to sit down by himself.

Qin Suisui ignored him; they weren't close, and she certainly wouldn't invite him to dinner. She had already explained what she needed to explain.

It was still morning, and the teahouse had a much wider variety of dim sum than the previous night. Worried that Qin Suisui might not be used to the food on the train, Pei Jiuyan ordered two extra claypot rice dishes and a few shrimp dumplings for lunch. He also bought some glutinous rice chicken, char siu buns, and some of the radish cake, taro cake, steamed sponge cake, and other pastries that Qin Suisui and the others hadn't been able to buy yesterday—these were all snacks she could eat when she was bored.

He was on a business trip and was using grain coupons, and there were many of them, so the waiters at the state-run restaurant didn't say anything.

Qin Suisui originally wanted to buy it herself, but she didn't expect Pei Jiuyan to be so thoughtful. She gave him an encouraging look, and Pei Jiuyan couldn't help but laugh.

After finishing our meal, we waited at the train station for half an hour before the train arrived, and the group boarded smoothly.

In 1971, there was no direct train from Guangzhou to Yunnan Province. They had to take a train from Guangzhou to Shashi in Hunan Province, then transfer to a train on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, then take the Hunan-Guizhou Railway to Guishi in Guizhou Province, and then transfer to a train on the Guiyang-Kunming Railway to Kunming. Only then did they enter Yunnan Province. To get to other towns and cities, they still needed to take a bus.

Such a tortuous journey would take 2-3 days just on the train, not to mention the time spent traveling by car. Qin Suisui felt miserable just thinking about it.

Fortunately, they were all on official business, and the organization arranged for them to travel in a soft sleeper compartment. However, there were only four beds in the compartment, and there were five of them. They had bought their tickets at the window, and Hu Jue happened to be assigned to the compartment next door.

Seeing the four of them in the same private room, Hu Jue secretly clenched his fist and consciously walked to the room next to them.

Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen looked at each other in bewilderment. They had both seen Hu Jue's expression just now, but it wasn't intentional on their part. The ticket sellers assigned carriages randomly, and they hadn't made any special requests.

The group found their own beds and tidied up their belongings. Since Jia Zhenzhen and Qin Suisui were women, climbing up and down the bunks was more difficult, so Pei Jiuyan and Zhou Jianguo voluntarily gave up their lower bunk positions. Pei Jiuyan naturally slept on the upper bunk above Qin Suisui, and Zhou Jianguo slept on the upper bunk above Jia Zhenzhen.

There was a small table by the window in the private room. After everyone put their things down, Qin Suisui put the sunflower seeds she had brought in her bag on the table, and the group could chat and eat sunflower seeds at the same time.

Thinking of Hu Jue over there, who was also a member of the lab, and not wanting internal strife to break out before her mission even began, Qin Suisui grabbed two handfuls of sunflower seeds, wrapped them in tissue paper, and prepared to take them to the next private room, hoping to comfort Hu Jue as well.

After spending the past two days together, Qin Suisui realized that although Hu Jue looked older than them, he was actually more petty and prone to sulking. In addition, he was not familiar with her and she didn't know why the organization had sent him out.

Since the private room was right next door, Pei Jiuyan was sitting near the door and could see Qin Suisui, so he didn't go over and just sat there watching her.

Qin Suisui was holding a handful of melon seeds when she heard Hu Jue's angry voice coming from inside: "Why did you step on my bed without my permission! Your feet are so dirty!"

Then came a nonchalant voice: "Did I not ask your permission? I said it three times, and you act like you're deaf. Besides, I stepped on it through my own clothes. What? Do you expect me to grow wings and fly up there?"

"You brat, are you deliberately picking a fight with my brother?" Another fierce voice came from inside, and it felt like a fight was about to break out.

Qin Suisui frowned. That voice just now... She walked to the door of the next private room and saw the person standing there with his hands on his hips. Her eyes lit up immediately: "Brother Ru...!" Luckily, she almost exposed Liang Qi's identity as soon as she opened her mouth.

When Liang Qi saw her, he smiled and nodded, "I was just about to go over and say hello to you." The burly man with the thick beard who was with Liang Qi also smiled and nodded to Qin Suisui.

When Hu Jue saw that the man was actually Qin Suisui's brother, he became even angrier: "Comrade Qin! Tell me, isn't it wrong of your brother to step on my bed without my permission?"

Qin Suisui frowned. She had seen it when she came in. There was indeed a piece of clothing placed at the foot of Hu Jue's bed. She looked at Hu Jue and tried to lower her voice: "Comrade Hu, my brother is stepping on his own clothes. He's not touching your bed. Otherwise, how would he get up there?"

Hu Jue got even angrier when Qin Suisui didn't speak up for him: "Don't people in our line of work all avoid unclean things?"

"What do you mean by 'unclean'? Watch your mouth, you brat..." The burly man with the thick beard pointed at him angrily.

Just as a fight was about to break out, Pei Jiuyan and Jia Zhenzhen arrived.

Pei Jiuyan wasn't surprised to see Liang Qi, as if he had known he would come. Jia Zhenzhen, however, was very happy. She was a lively person by nature. Back on Qiongtan Island, thanks to Qin Suisui, they were always able to get the best goods at the most favorable prices whenever they went to Liang Qi's black market. Therefore, she had a good impression of Liang Qi, a brother who valued loyalty.

"Oh, it's Comrade Liang! We're all acquaintances and good comrades, please stop arguing!" Jia Zhenzhen ran over to smooth things over. She looked at Hu Jue and said, "Comrade Hu, don't be so petty. When we're out and about, we should support and help each other."

Qin Suisui chimed in, "Yes, Comrade Hu, don't forget our mission. This is just the beginning." As the project leader, she was saying this to remind Hu Jue of his identity and mission.

The atmosphere was tense, and Hu Jue was clearly afraid of the burly man with the thick beard and didn't want to escalate the situation, so he could only back down: "Fine, fine, whatever you say goes, I guess I'm just unlucky!"

Liang Qi didn't say a word, her hands in her pockets, her eyes smiling as she looked at him, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

Zhou Jianguo glanced at Hu Jue, then at Liang Qi, and suddenly spoke up in the tense atmosphere: "How about we switch?"