Sheng Xiping and his two companions arrived at Songjianghe at noon and had lunch at the Zhou family's house. In the afternoon, Wang Chunxiu kneaded the dough and chopped the filling, and everyone worked together to make dumplings.

At night, Sheng Xiping and his brother stayed in the west room, while the Zhou family of four stayed in the east room.

Wang Chunxiu slept next to her daughter. The two of them lay in bed, whispering to each other all night, and no one knew when they fell asleep.

Wang Chunxiu got up very early on the 2nd.

I fried several plates of the leftover dumplings from last night, packed them into two lunchboxes, and saved them for Zhou Qinglan and the others to eat on their way to the bus.

What's left is breakfast.

In addition to pan-fried dumplings, Wang Chunxiu also cooked porridge and salted duck eggs.

The duck eggs were obtained by Wang Chunxiu through someone from Donggang, and about thirty of them were pickled in a jar.

They usually couldn't bear to eat them, but this time Wang Chunxiu scooped out more than ten and cooked them all.

Aside from what we ate in the morning, the rest was given to Zhou Qinglan and the others to eat on the road.

After breakfast, around eight o'clock, the man who drove the donkey jeep arrived at the Zhou family's house and started calling out outside.

The people inside heard this and knew that they had come to pick up Sheng Xiping and the others to go to the station, so they quickly packed their things and went out to catch the train.

Zhou Qingyue took leave yesterday and couldn't take leave again today, so she went to school after breakfast.

The hospital was busy, and Wang Chunxiu couldn't miss any more work. Only Zhou Mingyuan took some time off from work in advance and went with her to the station.

Sheng Xiping and the others put all their luggage, big and small, into the car, and then the four of them jumped into the car.

The cart driver cracked his whip, and the little donkey pulled a cart full of people straight to the main train station.

There are no direct trains to the provincial capital; the only option is to transfer in Hunjiang. Therefore, Sheng Xiping and his companions had to buy tickets from Songjianghe to Hunjiang first. Once in Hunjiang, they would then buy tickets to the provincial capital.

I don't know if it's because universities are about to start, but there were quite a few people in the station, a mixed bag of all sorts.

Some suspicious individuals mingled in the ticket queue, peeking around and sneaking their hands into other people's pockets when no one was looking.

“These people are all in gangs. If you shout, more than ten people will come running. Don’t meddle in other people’s business. Just take care of your own things.” Xi Ping held down Sheng Xi’an’s hand and shook his head at his younger brother, not letting him open his mouth and make a fuss.

Sheng Xi'an grew up in Qianchuan Forest Farm, and the furthest he ever went was Songjiang River.

In the forest farm, people see each other all the time. Although there are some backstabbing and infighting, things are generally acceptable on the surface, so Sheng Xi'an has never witnessed these kinds of things.

He's simple-minded and too naive. He was so surprised when he saw a pickpocket stealing someone else's things that he opened his mouth wide.

Sheng Xiping assumed that his younger brother had seen someone stealing and wanted to shout, so he quickly stopped him.

"Brother, I know. I'll be more careful from now on." The innocent child was deeply shocked by this incident, which was the first time he had encountered such a thing, and he couldn't accept it for a while.

"Yes, be careful, you're all alone out there. If anything happens, remember to write home or send a telegram."

Sheng Xiping nodded, thinking it would be good for his second son to broaden his horizons so that he wouldn't be too naive and unable to adapt to the complexities of society in the future.

The two brothers queued up and bought three tickets for the slow train to Hunjiang. After finally squeezing out of the crowd, they found Zhou Mingyuan and his daughter.

There was still nearly an hour before the train arrived at the station. The group found a quiet corner to sit down, and Zhou Mingyuan gave Zhou Qinglan and Sheng Xi'an some more instructions.

When the announcement came over the loudspeaker that the train departing from Baihe and bound for Tonghua was starting to board, the group quickly stood up with their luggage and other belongings and went to queue for ticket inspection.

I guess there are a lot of people taking the train, so the station is stricter now. It's not like before where you could just say you'd see someone off and go with them; you have to buy a platform ticket now.

Zhou Mingyuan wanted to go back and buy a ticket, but Sheng Xiping stopped him.

"Dad, don't spend that money. There are three of us, we can definitely get on the bus."

Looking at the people behind him, Zhou Mingyuan figured that by the time he bought his ticket and came back, they'd be somewhere in line.

"Alright, you three be careful. Qinglan, remember to write home."

Zhou Mingyuan stopped following and instead called out to Sheng Xiping and the others, watching them arrive at the ticket gate, check their tickets, and enter the station.

This train, which departs around 10 AM, is a slow train and is frequently delayed. Today it was only about ten minutes late before arriving at the station.

This train originates in Baihe and runs to Tonghua. It's a slow train that stops at both major and minor stations, so even though it originates in Baihe, quite a few people get off at Songjianghe.

Songjianghe is a major station, and there are many people trying to catch the train, so everyone is pushing and shoving forward.

Upon seeing this, the flight attendant quickly shouted, "Let passengers disembark first, then board; do not push!"

With so many people, who cares about these things? Some people just squeeze onto the bus without a second thought.

Sheng Xiping carried the luggage and protected Zhou Qinglan. The three of them finally managed to squeeze onto the car.

For short-distance buses, no one cares about assigned seating; as long as there's a place, you grab a seat and sit down, and nobody can stop you.

Fortunately, Sheng Xiping and Sheng Xi'an were strong and able to squeeze in, and quickly found an empty long seat after getting on the bus.

"Honey, sit down first. I'll put the luggage on the luggage rack first."

As he spoke, Sheng Xiping stuffed his luggage rolls and several bags onto the luggage rack before sitting down with Sheng Xi'an.

The train stops at major stations for three minutes. When the time is up, someone blows a whistle, waves a small flag, the train sounds its horn, the doors close, and then it slowly moves forward.

Those who squeezed onto the train later found themselves without seats. Some stood in the aisle between carriages, while others wandered around, trying to find an empty seat.

If you really can't find it, then you can only stand anywhere.

This was Sheng Xi'an's first time riding a large train. Looking at the carriages, which were clearly more than twice as spacious as those on the small train, and at the crowd of people, he found it quite novel.

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