In modern times, the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway was built in 2000. It runs through the north and south and is an important highway connecting Kyoto, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. It is also one of the "two vertical, two horizontal and three important sections" of the national highway trunk line planned by the state.
It was 1974, and there were no expressways, only provincial roads. And those provincial roads weren't the widened, smooth, straight avenues that became available after 1996, so don't expect to get to Shanghai in ten hours given the current road conditions. Even those who enjoy driving fast these days wouldn't be able to do that.
After driving for about five hours and entering the border of Hebei, Jiang Huashu asked everyone to get off the bus to move around, stretch their arms and legs, and Guan Peiqi also took the opportunity to take a break.
After resting for about ten minutes, everyone continued on their journey. This time the seating arrangement was changed, with men in one car and women in another. Little Guan Peiqi betrayed her mother and went to find her "big brother" Jiang Huashu.
After a few hours of driving, followed by a few more breaks, they arrived at Yanshan, a county town on the border of Hebei and Shandong provinces, before dark. Shui Shui had been here before in modern times and visited the only department store there: Yanshan Department Store, or Yanbai for short. Although Yanshan was a small county town then, it was much more prosperous than it is today.
Shuishui remembers the farmland here as particularly interesting. The phone signal on the left indicated an IP address in Hebei. Move slightly closer to the right, search with Little Umbrella, and a text message will pop up: "Hospitable Shandong welcomes you." Back then, she told her classmates, "This guy's wife and daughter were married off in a village a mile or two away, yet they were supposedly from another province, so there was no place to go to complain."
There are two inns here. Since drivers leaving Kyoto in the morning can reach this area before dark, they often stay in this county town when they're not in a hurry. Those who travel frequently know this place. It's similar to the post stations of the past.
The inn they visited was run by an elderly man who, upon seeing the large group, knew they were going to be big business. He greeted them warmly, bringing several pots of hot water. Seeing there were children, he even offered two Shandong specialties: flower buns, a pair of tiny pigeons with a red dot on their heads. They looked incredibly lifelike.
Every Lunar New Year, every household in Hebei and Shandong steams flower buns. The dough is kneaded, then divided into small pieces. These are placed in wooden molds and pressed firmly, resulting in various flower shapes. After fermenting in a warm place for an hour, the buns are steamed until cooked through. When they're ready, they're dotted with red dots.
This kind of flower steamed bun is usually used to visit relatives, offer sacrifices, and eat by oneself during the Chinese New Year.
After arranging our rooms, we set aside our belongings and then found a nearby restaurant for dinner. The food was simple, but delicious. After dinner, we returned to our rooms, took a hot shower, and finally, rested.
Only poor Xiaowu was sleeping alone in the room.
The next morning, Jiang Huashu looked at the potholed provincial highway and the two cars beside him and shook his head helplessly. The road conditions were truly terrible. This situation reaffirmed his resolve to seize the opportunity and use his connections at the Foreign Trade Bureau to implement plans ahead of time, boosting the national economy and saving money for highway construction.
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