Chapter 117 Returning Home

The staff on the train pushed the dining cart and shouted, "Food for sale, food for sale. Today's offerings include shredded potatoes with green peppers, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, braised pork, two-grain rice, steamed buns, sesame cakes, and boiled eggs. Call anyone if you need any."

Jiang Hao stopped the dining cart as soon as he saw it and handed over two lunch boxes. "Hello, two servings of rice, six ounces each, braised pork and shredded potatoes, one serving of Chinese cabbage, and two boiled eggs. Please divide them into two portions, one in each lunch box."

The staff counted the bill while serving the rice. "Okay, a total of two dollars and eighty cents."

Jiang Hao paid and handed a meal to Shi Luo. "The food on the train is expensive. In a state-owned restaurant, braised pork would only cost 70 or 80 cents, but here it costs one yuan, and the portion is not as big as in a restaurant."

"That's no other way. If I don't eat on the train, I'll be hungry. For today, I can only bring enough food for one meal. If I bring more, I'm afraid it will go bad. Besides, meals on the train don't require tickets, which is actually quite convenient."

Shi Luo took the spoon and ate the rice mouthful by mouthful, and continued,

"Actually, the food on this train is pretty good. Eat more. Once you get off the train, it'll be hard to buy meat without a ticket."

The girl sitting on the side saw the two people eating with relish and became very greedy, so she spent ten cents to buy a portion of shredded potatoes and ate it with the two-grain bread she brought with her.

The short-haired girl took a bite of shredded potatoes and said, "Hey, try it! The vegetables on the train are actually fried with lard. They're quite fragrant. We didn't dare to buy food on the train the last few times to save money. We really missed out."

The long-haired girl also had a look of being at a huge loss. "You said our monthly salary is not low, and the round-trip tickets and accommodation expenses for business trips are reimbursed. It's just that we spend a little money on food, and we don't even need receipts. It's not that we can't spend a dime. Why do you think we are so frugal?"

The short-haired girl said, "I want to have the confidence to get married in the future, and I want to have money in my hands so I don't have to worry. The more private money I have, the better. But when I go on business trips in the future, I can buy some oily dishes on the train without receipts. Eating well is good for my health."

While eating, Jiang Hao whispered to Shi Luo, "These two girls are not bad. If every girl these days could have her own little calculations like them, then at least half as many girls would be persecuted."

Shi Luo swallowed the food in his mouth and drank a sip of water. "In fact, it is still too careless. How can we talk about money in front of outsiders? If there is someone with bad intentions, the two girls will probably suffer."

Jiang Hao's lips curled up slightly. "They're not stupid. We're the only ones who can hear what they say. When I bought food just now, I saw that the doors of the cubicles next to ours were all closed. We don't look like we'd covet the things on them, so they're naturally not afraid of us hearing."

Shi Luo nodded, "That's right, and they didn't carry any large or small bags when they went on business trips. They probably didn't carry much money with them, so naturally they wouldn't be afraid of people."

Jiang Hao took the clean lunch box to the hot water room to wash it clean, and then filled two pots of water before going back.

In the next few days, no one got on the compartment where Jiang Hao was, and the two girls did not get off the bus. Their destination should be the same as Jiang Hao and the other two, which was Beijing.

As the train slowed down, Shi Luo also saw the two big words "Beijing City". More than half an hour passed before the train stopped at the station.

Shi Luo put on his backpack, stood up and stretched. "Finally here. I've been feeling really suffocated these past few days. When I get home, I must find a bathhouse and take a long bath."

Jiang Hao smiled dotingly, "Okay, I'll go take a shower after I get back to clean up. It's still early anyway, not even nine o'clock."

This train station is the one where Shi Luo took the train to the countryside, so it is very close to Shi Luo's home.

The two of them walked for about twenty minutes before arriving at Shi Luo's house. Jiang Hao followed Shi Luo, opened the door, and walked in together. "Your place is quite close to my grandfather's. It's the first courtyard house at the turn of the alley in front. My grandfather and my uncle live there."

Shi Luo locked the door, took out the cleaning tools from the space, and said while wiping the glass, "The large courtyards and quadrangle courtyards here are basically inhabited by workers from the First Machinery Factory. The land deeds and residence rights are all in the hands of the machinery factory.

There are only six or seven independent courtyards like mine, with a few houses, that don't belong to the machinery factory but are privately owned. Most of the residents are local residents."

Jiang Hao was sweeping the floor as he said, "Where are all the furniture in your house? Have we been living here for more than two months?"

Shi Luo saw that the cleanup was almost done, so he took out all the original bed, table, and stools in his room and put them in order. He put a table and two stools in the living room, went to the kitchen, put out a big pot and placed it on the stove, and got out a lot of firewood and coal briquettes, but left everything else out.

After finishing, he looked at Jiang Hao with pride and said, "When I went to the countryside, I was afraid that they would be stolen, so I put them all into the space. I think this is enough. It's only two months anyway, so there's no need to make it so complete."

Jiang Hao nodded. "A bed and a table are enough. Just a place to sleep and put things. If you bring too much, you have to clean it up when you leave. It's quite troublesome. The kitchen is enough. Anyway, you can take whatever you need at home. If you really need it, you can buy it."

Shi Luo packed up the toiletries and clean clothes, then pulled Jiang Hao out and said, "Let's go take a shower. If I don't take a shower, I feel like I'm going to turn into a mud man."