Chapter 3 The Return Train

"Clang, clang—" The old-fashioned green train sped through the mountains and fields.

Cheng Ying sat with her eyes closed in the window seat of the carriage, her mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

In her past life, her greatest dream was to serve her country and fight to protect her people.

Despite Wei Muchen's constant harassment and the trouble he caused her, he could not change her faith. She dedicated her life to the country and the people in the army.

Having been reborn, she actually regrets being a military officer in her previous life and regrets marrying Wei Muchen.

She served in the army, training and going on missions with all her might, climbing the ranks and constantly getting promoted. This meant that she was always in the army, with no time to spend with her family, to be filial to her parents, or to return to her hometown to see her lovely fellow villagers.

Her limited personal time was spent with Wei Muchen after getting married and becoming his wife and daughter-in-law. After work, she had to be with Wei Muchen, doing his laundry, cooking, and all sorts of housework, fulfilling what outsiders would expect of a wife. She also had to make time to visit Wei's family in the capital and maintain their relationship.

In her past life, she was a strong woman, but she still couldn't escape worldly views and rules, doing things she didn't want to do, and wasting her best years of youth.

She could never forget that in her previous life, when many of Wei's relatives and friends knew she was a female military officer with a high rank in the Western Theater Command, two ranks higher than Wei Muchen, they always praised Wei Muchen for being so lucky to have married such a capable wife, but never praised her.

She felt sorry for herself. In other people's eyes, all her efforts and achievements were ultimately just an appendage of Wei Muchen. She even had to follow their rules, do his laundry and cook for him, bear his children, and endure all sorts of difficult and unreasonable behavior from Wei Muchen and his family. She really didn't know what the meaning of such a marriage was for her.

Having been given a second chance at life, she no longer wants to get married and serve men; she just wants to live for herself.

Even if she wants to have children in the future, she will either have to find a man to conceive with, or marry a live-in son-in-law who will live with her and do her laundry and cooking.

She no longer wanted to waste her precious youth on a man.

Thinking of this, she opened her eyes and looked at the scenery flashing by outside the window. She began to feel excited and expectant about returning to her hometown.

"Comrade, which unit did you retire from?" Sitting opposite her, a young woman wearing a floral short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, with two braids, had pretty features, but her skin was quite dark from being in the countryside for a long time, and she looked a bit weathered. She smiled and asked Cheng Ying.

Cheng Ying snapped out of her reverie, looking at the innocent smile on her face, and at the passengers sitting in the nearby green hard-seat carriages, all dressed in old-fashioned, simple clothes of the 1970s in only black, blue, and gray. Everyone was looking at her with curious expressions.

She finally felt a real sense of rebirth and said gently, "I can't say which unit, I can only tell you that I'm from the Western Military Region."

She had indeed retired from the military, but she was still wearing the military green uniform that veterans were allowed to wear after retirement, with a red sash that read "Glorious Retirement" hanging diagonally across her chest, and a large red flower on her chest, to show that she had contributed to national defense and military construction, and to let the people who saw her show her respect.

She didn't actually want to wear her military uniform, or wear a red sash and a big red flower while riding in the car; mainly, she didn't want Chief Wei and Wei Muchen to know that she had retired from the army.

However, Political Commissar Wang told her seriously that she had to wear the uniform, as it was the procedure for military personnel to retire and transfer to civilian life. By wearing the uniform, sash, and red flower, she could avoid paying for a train ticket home and enjoy various privileges on her way home. In order to save some travel and food expenses, she compromised.

Just before boarding the train, Wei Muchen finally learned that she had applied for discharge from the army and return to her hometown. As the train started moving, he rushed to the platform, panting, and chased after the train, shouting, "Cheng Ying, how dare you apply for discharge from the army and return to your hometown behind my back? Do you think that just because you're back in your hometown, we've lost contact? Let me tell you, I don't agree to break up. You'll always be my boyfriend. I'll come find you and we'll have a proper talk."

What a nutcase! Who would want to be his girlfriend? She can break up with this scumbag whenever she wants; does she need his permission? He really thinks he's something special!

Cheng Ying cursed Wei Muchen in her heart, but her expression remained calm. She leaned out the window and waved to Wei Muchen, saying, "Go back. Our fate is over. Don't come looking for me again. Go home and reflect on your problems. Think about what kind of person your mother is. We were never meant to be. Being together was a mistake. Forget about me and find a good woman to date. I believe you will be very happy with her."

She didn't hear what Wei Muchen said next because the train had already gone far away.

However, she could see Wei Muchen running frantically after the train, from the platform to the fields, and then from the fields to the tracks.

He didn't pay attention to the road ahead and fell several times, breaking his head and bleeding profusely. But he still got up regardless and continued to chase the train, limping along. Several times he almost caught up with it.

His actions attracted the attention of other passengers and train staff in the carriage. Everyone asked if the man had bought a train ticket but missed the train and whether they should notify the train conductor to slow down the train so that the man could board.

Cheng Ying cursed Wei Mucheng as a madman in her heart, but on the surface she seriously told the flight attendant not to meddle and delay the other passengers' journey.

The flight attendant saw that she was wearing a military uniform and had a rank insignia, and knew how difficult it was for a female soldier to get promoted in the military. In addition to being very outstanding, she also needed to have a certain network of connections and powerful backers. So she didn't say much and suppressed the matter.

The train has now been traveling for two days and one night, entering the area of ​​a neighboring city, and is about to arrive at a county town called Qingshi County. Since boarding the train, Cheng Ying has kept her eyes closed and has not talked to the people around her. Even if other passengers have any gossipy thoughts, they do not dare to disturb her peace.

Upon hearing this, the young woman's eyes lit up. "Comrade, you don't look very old, only about twenty. You're so young and already have a rank, why are you retiring? If you had stayed in the army, you might have been able to rise to a higher position as a female officer. That would have been so prestigious..."

Cheng Ying smiled but didn't answer her question. Instead, she asked, "Now that the great turmoil is over, many people are trying to get their return-to-the-city permits processed. Judging from your appearance, you seem to be an educated youth sent to the countryside. Are you going back to the countryside to continue building up the rural areas?"

Having served in the military for a long time, she was used to keeping everything in the military a secret and was unwilling to mention anything about herself to any strangers, cleverly changing the subject.

It is now July 1977. A year has passed since the ten-year turmoil, and there is still one month before the national college entrance examination is resumed.

For various reasons, the educated youth who had been sent to the countryside were all restless that year, trying to find ways to return to the city. Educated youth all over the country fought tooth and nail for the quota to return to the city, causing quite a few incidents.

Those who can return to the city to visit relatives are basically determined to stay in the city and find a job so they won't have to go back to their hometown.

Unexpectedly, quite a few educated youths on this bus were so honest and dutiful as they continued to return to the rural areas where they had been assigned to work.

The female educated youth's face immediately darkened: "Who doesn't want to go back to the city? But the number of places to go is limited, and the local places always give them to those with connections and influence. How can someone like me, with no money and no connections, possibly get a place? I could only ask for leave and go home, shamelessly staying there for ten days or half a month, hoping to find a job to solve the problem of going back to the city. But jobs aren't so easy to find. There are too many educated youth returning, and all the temporary jobs are taken. I've been staying at home, and my neighbors and the street office staff keep reporting me. They keep asking the supervisory office and the police to send me back to the countryside to work. It's hard for me not to go to the countryside."

Several young faces around them nodded in agreement, complaining that the current policy was not lenient enough and that there were too few slots for returning to the city, leaving them with no way to do so even if they wanted to.

Cheng Ying did not participate in their conversation. As someone who had lived a second life, she knew very well that the full return of educated youth to their hometowns would take place two years later in 1979. By then, there would be no need for any quotas for returning to the city, and all the educated youth who had gone to the countryside would be able to return to their hometowns.

However, these educated youths had no idea what would happen in the future, nor did they know that the country would resume the college entrance examination a month later, which would soon change their lives.

They are still preoccupied with the frustration of not being able to return to the city, and Cheng Ying wouldn't be foolish enough to remind them of these things.

Cheng Ying had no expectations or intention to participate in the resumption of the college entrance examination. She had already planned her life's path: to become a rural postman and to forge a different path from her previous life.

In her past life, she had witnessed prosperity and enjoyed many good years. She had also done her best to fulfill her dreams and responsibilities, which was enough for her. In this life, she only wanted to walk in her father's footsteps and see the rural postal route that her father could never forget.

The rest of the journey was very quiet. Cheng Ying was unwilling to talk much, and the other passengers in the carriage were also tactful enough not to disturb her.

Half a day later, the train stopped at the Qingshi County station. Passengers arriving at this station disembarked one after another, carrying their belongings. Cheng Ying was no exception.

Cheng Ying didn't have many packages; there were only two military-green packages containing clothes, personal belongings, and some military-grade canned food and malted milk powder.

Carrying a package in each hand, she got off the train and followed the crowd to the station entrance.

It was nearing dusk, and the sky was ablaze with fiery sunset colors, their vibrant glow bringing joy to all who beheld them.

Bathed in the glow of the sunset, Cheng Xue, eighteen years old, with delicate features, a slightly plump figure, and a touch of baby fat, stood at the entrance of the train station. Upon seeing Cheng Ying appear, she excitedly waved to her, "Sister, over here, come here!"