In the morning, they went shopping. At noon, none of them felt comfortable going to the Zhou family's house, so they found a restaurant outside and ate something casually.

I had nothing to do in the afternoon, so I went to the Forestry Bureau Cinema to watch a movie.

Tang Fengying stayed at the Zhou family's house that night, while the others stayed at a hotel.

There will be a small train returning to the forest farm on September 3rd, departing at 7:00 AM.

So early on the 3rd, everyone got up to pack their things, planning to meet up with Zhou Qinglan and Tang Fengying and head to the Sentie small train station together.

Before everyone could finish tidying up, Zhou Mingyuan and his wife arrived with Zhou Qinglan and Tang Fengying.

"Look, my husband and I both went to work yesterday, so we couldn't spend much time with you exploring the town."

You'll be heading back today, so I don't have anything fancy to give you. I just bought some snacks for the journey.

Zhou Mingyuan carried a large bag of food and handed it to Sheng Xiping and the others.

The small train station of the Senkaku Railway is quite far from the hostel. In this day and age, there are no shuttle buses or anything like that, so you have to walk there.

The little train departs promptly at 7:00 AM, so they have to leave as early as 6:00 AM, without time for breakfast.

Wang Chunxiu had thought of this, so she went out again yesterday to buy some bread and fried dough twists.

I got up early today to boil some eggs and brought them over as soon as possible, just so the children could have something to eat on their way home and not go back hungry.

"Uncle, Aunt, you're too kind, there's really no need."

We drove back to the forest farm, arriving around nine o'clock, and rushed home for dinner.

When Sheng Xiping took a look, he was surprised to find a bag full of food, more than the bread he had the day before yesterday.

These foods will cost a lot of grain coupons. If we buy these things, the Zhou family may run out of fine grains for the month.

"How can that be? You've come all this way to Songjianghe, are you going to go back hungry?"

"I've already brought it, so please accept it. Otherwise, should I let Qinglan keep it?"

Zhou Mingyuan deliberately put on a stern face to scare Sheng Xiping.

Sheng Xiping was at a loss. What should he do? If he didn't take it, wouldn't it be the same if Zhou Qinglan took it?

"Thank you so much, Uncle Zhou and Aunt Zhou. Whenever you're free, I'll get you some good food when you visit the forest farm."

Sheng Xiping had no choice but to accept it.

"Hey, that's more like it. Go back and give your parents some good news."

When you have the chance, bring your parents downstairs and come to our house for a visit.

Zhou Mingyuan and his wife were happy to see that Sheng Xiping had accepted the gifts.

As for saying "take a good word," it's a local custom, roughly equivalent to saying "please inquire after your parents' well-being."

"Come visit me at my home when you have time" is usually just a polite way of saying that.

But for the Zhou and Sheng families, it was essentially the parents of both sides meeting to discuss the marriage.

Sheng Xiping and his group were in a hurry, and Zhou Mingyuan and his wife didn't linger either, exchanging a few words before leaving.

A group of young people left the hostel, chatting and laughing as they walked toward the small train station of the Sen Lorraine Railway.

Around 6:40, the group arrived at the Sen Tseong Railway Station.

In those days, the forest area was isolated by poor transportation, and communication with the outside world depended entirely on the forest transport train.

The forest transport train operated by Songjianghe Forestry Bureau runs on three routes.

Along the northern route are Kaifeng Forest Farm, Shuguang Forest Farm, Qianchuan Forest Farm, and Shengli Forest Farm.

The central line includes Songshan Forest Farm, Ma'anshan Forest Farm, and Caozihe Forest Farm.

The southern route includes Funan Forest Farm, Jinbei Management Office, and Manjiang Forest Farm.

All three lines are served by this single small train, so the train from Songjianghe to Qianchuan runs once every three days.

When everyone arrived, the small train had already been loaded with coal and water and assembled. Everyone boarded the train and found their seats.

At 7:00 sharp, the train started moving.

A 28-ton locomotive pulls five green carriages, two boxcars, and one black guard car.

With its horn blaring and billowing black smoke, it left the station and headed towards the forest farm.

These days, there aren't many rules against smoking on trains, and many people light up a cigarette as soon as they board, talking loudly to others while puffing away.

Fortunately, it's only early autumn, so it's not too cold yet.

Nowadays, trains aren't air-conditioned; the double-glazed windows can be lifted up.

As long as you don't stick your head out, nobody will care.

A breeze blew in through the car window, bringing fresh air, and at least the car wasn't so stuffy.

"Come on, come and get whatever you want to eat, there's so much food."

The train was running smoothly, and Sheng Xiping quickly took out all the food prepared by the Zhou family and distributed it to everyone.

It takes at least two hours to get there, why go hungry when there's food to eat?

Gao Haining and the others didn't stand on ceremony; each of them received an egg, along with a piece of bread or a fried dough twist.

There were also a few cucumbers and radishes at the bottom of the bag.

It must have been Wang Chunxiu who prepared this especially because she was worried that someone might get carsick.

At this time of year, most people's cucumbers would have already been harvested long ago; this must be a late-season cucumber specially planted by the vegetable production team.

This railway line passes through several places, including Kaifeng Forest Farm, Shuguang Forest Farm, Shengli Forest Farm, and Qianchuan Forest Farm.

People from Shengli Forest Farm had to get off at Shuguang Forest Farm and then be transported by internal combustion engine along the Shengli branch line to Shengli Forest Farm.

Most of the people on the bus were from various forest farms who were going to town on business. Most of them had come to catch the bus without having eaten breakfast.

Anyway, the furthest distance is only two hours, and the closest might be less than an hour. It's still quick to eat at home, as eating out is too expensive.

If no one on the bus is eating, I can just bear being a little hungry.

But at this moment, Sheng Xiping and the others were eating twisted bread and eggs, and the aroma filled the entire carriage.

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