The weather at the end of May was sunny and windy.
A blue and white long-distance bus covered in mud drove forward onto a cinder road beside the provincial highway amid the complaints of the passengers.
Faced with the passengers' puzzled complaints, the ticket seller, who had seemed impatient on the road before, smiled quite gently, which even made some passengers feel flattered.
"I'm so sorry. The last few times we stopped to repair the car and wait for passengers, we delayed everyone for an hour or so."
The female conductor pointed to the sun in the sky outside the window.
"It's almost dinner time now. Our driver usually has low blood sugar and needs to eat immediately. Everyone can rest at the service area ahead and have a bite to eat, go to the restroom, get some water, etc."
"Rest for about an hour, then we'll continue. Our driver will drive faster this afternoon and make sure we get everyone there on time."
The ticket seller spoke very kindly, but a customer who was familiar with the route immediately raised questions.
"Comrade conductor, I took your bus earlier this year, and you never stopped at this time. Even when everyone asked us to turn a corner and go to the nearby town to eat something and take a rest, you refused."
"And the road you're walking on seems to be in the middle of nowhere. What's going on?"
Without waiting for the conductor to change his expression and scold him, the driver, who had been paying attention to the movements in the carriage, chuckled a few times and interrupted the conductor.
"It's a good thing, the Mining Bureau, a major unit in our Laicheng area, is about to be split up."
"It just so happened that a few redundant organizations were assigned to this area in front. Their canteens are large enough to allow us, the bus drivers, to stop and eat."
"What we long-distance drivers fear most is unhygienic food. If we get sick, we can't continue driving. The prices are affordable, and we can get hot water as much as we want."
“Even passengers like us can sit and rest in their canteen.”
"And there's security patrolling the area. There aren't any outsiders there. It's much safer and less stressful than parking on the street or in town."
Seeing that most of the passengers believed the driver's words, the female conductor snorted and continued speaking.
"We used to be afraid to rest for even a moment in town. If we stopped, we'd be the target of petty thieves and even child kidnappers. We couldn't even blink an eye."
The driver echoed her.
"What's a human trafficker? I heard a while ago that a car on another line only stopped in town for five minutes, and two people were robbed. They were crying their eyes out."
Sure enough, this topic immediately resonated with the passengers, because public security in society has indeed declined a lot in recent months.
The cinder road is about 700 meters long and connects to a fork in the county road.
Across the fork in the road is a newly built four-lane road.
There is a huge sign standing on the side of the road - Laicheng Mining Bureau Highway Rest Service Area.
There is also a guardhouse at the entrance of the road, where two people in green clothes with red armbands are sitting inside chatting.
Is there really a gatekeeper?!
The passengers immediately felt relieved and began to look forward to the large group of bungalows not far away.
The condition of cars and roads these days is really too torturous. They can't wait to get out of the car to drain the water or relax.
In places where there are security patrols, at least they don't have to worry so much about their luggage being rummaged through by others when they get off the bus.
The bus stopped at the guard post and took a bamboo sign from the man with the red armband.
Many tourists subconsciously think that this bamboo sign is probably an entry and exit pass?
The parking lot was a large, flattened expanse of slag.
There are seven or eight passing buses parked in the parking lot at this moment.
Many travelers who had arrived before them were walking, chatting, or smoking in the square.
As soon as the car stopped, the passengers couldn't wait to squeeze out and began to relax.
The driver and the female conductor smiled at each other, closed the car door, and walked leisurely towards the east.
Before the passengers could react, two smiling women came to greet them.
"Comrade passengers, the toilet is on the west side. Urinating is free and defecation is two cents."
"Comrades who need to get hot water should go to the canteen entrance and be careful not to get burned."
"If you bring your own food and want to heat it up, go to the two windows on the left side of the cafeteria entrance. There's a steamer there. They'll heat it up for you for two cents."
“If you want something fresh, you can buy a ticket inside the cafeteria.”
A traveler asked curiously.
"Comrade, can we also buy food at your unit's internal prices?"
The leading female comrade smiled and shook her head.
"Because we are open to the public, the meal expenses are not subject to the internal treatment of our mining bureau. We use the price standard of state-owned restaurants."
"By the way, we have a limited amount of food for sale, so if you need it, please hurry up."
Nowadays, people have a very high level of trust in public institutions, especially public canteens, which are synonymous with high-end.
At least there is no need to worry about the two points of "real ingredients" and "safe to eat".
So even the passengers who brought their own food, such as pancakes in their arms, curiously followed everyone towards the cafeteria.
If the food in the cafeteria was too expensive, he would go to the left window and buy some steamed buns for two cents.
There is a huge blackboard nailed to the entrance of the cafeteria, on which are written with chalk the dishes served today and their prices.
At first glance, there are dozens of dishes, a dazzling array, and the prices don’t seem expensive.
Several businessmen on the bus immediately went to buy meal tickets, each got a meal and started eating at the table in the cafeteria.
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