Northbound train

The Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, was spent in a subdued atmosphere of forced cheerfulness by the Lin family. The crackling of firecrackers and the playful sounds of children outside only accentuated the heavy silence inside. The bowl of Yuanxiao, a symbol of reunion, lost its former sweetness, leaving only a bitter taste and a sense of worry.

Lin Guodong tried several more times, asking people at different levels for help, and even went to find his old classmate at the Labor Bureau. However, the responses he received became clearer and more shocking each time - not only could Lin Xueyin's file relationship not be transferred to the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, even the possibility of her staying in North City was ruled out.

The only clear direction was: Beijing. A powerful force was pulling her in that direction, unquestionable and irresistible.

The other party even veiledly reminded Lam Kwok-tung, "Old Lam, look at it more positively. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some people, some families, are beyond our reach. Your daughter... maybe she's just lucky."

"Fate?" Lin Guodong returned home and repeated the word with a wry smile to his worried wife, a smile filled with bitterness and powerlessness. He would rather his daughter be ordinary, stay by his side, and enjoy the stability and happiness of an ordinary family than have this "fate" of being helpless and having an uncertain future.

At the same time, an official letter from Beijing City, in the form of an organizational transfer order, was sent directly to the relevant educated youth resettlement department in Beicheng and Lin Guodong's unit. The transfer order was carefully worded and the procedures seemed to be in compliance. It arranged Lin Xueyin's work relationship with a cultural propaganda unit in Beijing City.

This company had a great reputation, and the positions were leisurely and respectable, making it a place countless people would desperately try to get into. But to the Lin family, this transfer order was like a cold verdict, confirming the existence of the man named Song Zhiyuan and his irresistible will.

Resistance was futile. Both Lam and Su Yu-chen were within the system, and they knew all too well the implications of this top-down power. They couldn't even fathom the identity of the other side, like an ant trying to shake a tree. They had no choice but to accept it.

The days that followed were filled with a near-numbing busyness and pervasive sadness. Su Yuzhen, tears streaming down her face, packed her daughter's belongings, wishing she could cram her entire home into her. Thick cotton-padded clothes, a new shirt, the national food coupons she'd secretly saved, a small wad of cash, and various common medicines... With each item she packed, tears fell.

"Yinyin, Beijing is colder than here. The winter wind is like a knife. These cotton pants are made of new cotton from mom, so you must wear them..."

"Take this vanishing cream with you. I heard the weather in Beijing is dry, so don't let your face get chapped..."

"When you're out there, be more careful and don't be foolish. When you encounter difficulties...when you encounter difficulties, just..." She wanted to say, "Just go home," but the words stopped on the tip of her tongue. Go home? Where is the way? My job has been transferred, can I still go home whenever I want? She could only hug her daughter and sob.

Lin Guodong was much more silent. He used his connections to secure some hard-to-get industrial vouchers, which he used to buy his daughter a brand new enamel washbasin and a thermos flask, emblazoned with the Double Happiness symbol. He also dug out two cans of jasmine tea he had treasured for so long, even reluctant to drink himself, carefully wrapped them in brown paper, and tucked them deep into his daughter's luggage.

"Once you've arrived and settled down, write home," he repeated, his voice hoarse. "At work... be diligent, talk less, do more. Get along well with your colleagues." He paused for a long time before adding with difficulty, "Um... Song... if he comes looking for you, you... you have to be more sensible."

He couldn't express it more clearly. As a father, he felt an unprecedented sense of frustration and heartache. He couldn't protect his daughter, and couldn't even clearly tell her how to deal with the man hiding in the fog.

Watching her parents busy themselves for her, worried about her, weeping for her, Lin Xueyin felt as if her heart were being gripped by an invisible hand, the pain stifling her breath. Guilt, reluctance, fear, and a tinge of uncertainty about her fate all mingled together, threatening to tear her apart. She wanted countless times to tell her parents the whole truth: the man's dominance, that night in the warehouse, her fear and struggle. But seeing her parents' forced strength and the despair hidden in their eyes, she couldn't say a word.

What will be changed by speaking it out, other than making parents more painful and frightened?

She could only swallow all the pain and tears, and in front of her parents, try to appear calm and even look a little bit excited about the "new job".

"Dad, Mom, don't worry. Beijing is the capital, and the conditions are definitely better than in the countryside. The work is also easy, and I can take care of myself." She held her mother's arm, her voice soft, but with an imperceptible tremor.

Su Yuzhen just rubbed her hands over and over again with red eyes.

The day of departure finally arrived.

On the platform, the spring air was chilly, and even the breath was tinged with white mist. The green train carriage, like a silent python, crawled along the tracks, about to carry their daughter away to a distant place beyond their control.

The luggage had already been put in the car. Su Yuzhen hugged Lin Xueyin tightly, her tears soaking her daughter's scarf: "Yinyin...you must write back often...tell your family if you need anything...wuwu..."

Lin Guodong stood aside, his eyes red, and patted his daughter's shoulder vigorously. Thousands of words were stuck in his throat, and in the end, they only turned into one sentence: "It's fine."

"Well, Dad, Mom, you have to be good and take care of yourselves." Lin Xueyin couldn't hold back her tears. She hugged her mother back and looked at her father. "Dad, I'm leaving."

The whistle blew long and hard, like a death spell.

Lin Xueyin steeled her heart, turned around, and boarded the train. At the door of the carriage, she looked back one last time.

The parents stood on the platform, supporting each other. The mother covered her face with tears, and the father stood straight, looking so old and helpless. The cold wind blew their gray hair, and the image was like a needle, deeply piercing Lin Xueyin's heart.

She quickly got into the carriage, found her seat, leaned against the cold window glass, and tears poured out, blurring the increasingly smaller figures of her parents outside the window, and also blurring the city where she had grown up for more than ten years.

The train started slowly and accelerated, leaving the familiar platform and city far behind.

Her life, like the train heading north, seemed to have entered a trajectory completely beyond her control. She had no idea where the destination lay, or what awaited her. She knew only that the man named Song Zhiyuan, like an inescapable shadow, had spread all the way from the remote Hongqi Commune to Beijing. And she, like a kite in his palm, no matter how far she flew, the string remained firmly in his grasp.

She touched the shoulder bag she carried with her. Inside was the unopened brown paper package and the cool, smooth pebble. These two items, like a past so painful to recall yet so complex and intertwined, had been carried by her from the North City to the capital, to that man's territory.

The future is uncertain and the return date is slim.

---

(On the other side, Beijing City)

Almost at the same time when Lin Xueyin boarded the train heading north, Song Zhiyuan also ended his "mission" in Hongqi Commune and returned to Beijing quietly.

His return, like Lin Xueyin's transfer, was carried with a certain procedural precision. Under his silent care, the professors relegated to the "cowshed" safely navigated their most difficult period. Rumors have been circulating lately that the situation may be easing. He had completed his mission and was now retiring.

Back in the heavily guarded, serene compound, life seemed to have returned to its normal course. My conversations with my grandfather in the study were brief and efficient, reporting on our achievements and accepting new instructions. At the family dinner table, the atmosphere remained restrained. My mother inquired about my health, but the conversation centered around family matters and current events.

But some things are different after all.

On his desk was a document confirming Lin Xueyin's transfer and placement. He glanced at the name of the cultural unit and the address of her assigned dormitory, his eyes expressionless, as if he were simply confirming the final location of an item.

On the third day after his return, his mother casually mentioned, "The girl you mentioned last time has been transferred. She's in a good unit and has a dormitory arranged for her, not too far from the compound."

"Hmm," Song Zhiyuan replied, picking up a piece of food for his mother with his chopsticks as a response. There was no thanks, no further explanation.

Mother Song glanced at her son's stern profile and swallowed back any further inquiries that were about to come. She knew her son well; he never needed anyone else's input on his decisions. As long as his family background was clean and his personal qualities were acceptable, the Song family could handle the rest. As for relationships... in a family like theirs, stability and control were often far more important than fleeting emotions.

Song Zhiyuan's life quickly re-adapted to the rhythm of Beijing. He visited several places and met with a few people, some for superficial work handovers, others for deeper connections. He appeared in places closed to the public, briefly interacting with some young people with extraordinary temperaments. His world was far more vast and complex than Lin Xueyin could have imagined.

But he did not forget the woman he pushed to Beijing.

He calculated the train's arrival time and ordered someone to pick her up and take her to the designated dormitory. He didn't go in person. In his opinion, it wasn't time yet. She needed to adapt first, to face reality, to understand who she could rely on here.

He stood by the window of his room, looking out at the trees in the courtyard beginning to sprout new buds. His mind flashed back to Lin Xueyin's face, which must have been filled with panic, grievance, and tears when she learned of her job transfer and the separation from her parents.

He knew she would be afraid, resentful, and even hate him.

But so what?

What he wanted was never her gratitude.

What he wanted was her, a person who belonged to him completely, who adapted to his rules and existed within his domain. This process might be painful, but the result would not change.

The short separation and the helplessness of arriving in a strange environment for the first time will grind away some of her unnecessary edges and fantasies, allowing her to realize more clearly who is the master of her destiny.

His fingertips tapped lightly on the window frame, with a steady rhythm and a calmness that seemed to have everything under control.

The train heading north brought her here.

And he was already waiting here.

The next stage of the game is about to begin, and the rules are still set by him.