Apart from Xia Minmin's family, there was no one else at the breakfast shop. The owner and his wife were busy preparing steamed buns, mantou, and fried dough sticks. The breakfast shop was in a good location, and people who came by bus would come here to eat breakfast.
Today, everyone unanimously ordered the specialty rice noodles. We used to be able to eat them whenever we wanted without thinking, but from now on, we'll probably only be able to eat them during the Lunar New Year.
Xia Jianguo also ordered two steamed buns. This breakfast shop has a special meaning for him. When he was in school, he didn't have money for breakfast and often went hungry. Occasionally, when he had money, he would buy a steamed bun.
A minibus slowly pulled up, opened its doors, and the ticket seller stood on the bus and called out, "Going to the county town, is anyone there?"
Xia Jianguo, carrying his luggage, rushed ahead to grab a seat for Li Chunmei. They would be changing minibuses several times today, and sitting in the back would make her more prone to motion sickness.
"Don't rush, take your time, there aren't many people today, there are plenty of seats!" the ticket seller said.
Xia Jianguo took Xia Minmin's seat, and Li Chunmei and Xia Xiaomei sat in the first row.
Xia Xiaomei handed Li Chunmei an orange and a mint.
The ticket seller asked, "Are you all going out to work too?"
Li Chunmei handed the fare to the ticket seller, "Yes, why are there only a few of us today?"
“These past two days, the early morning buses have been practically empty. A few days ago, they were packed every day, mostly with people heading out to work. I even want to go out to work myself, but I have a child at home,” the ticket seller explained to Li Chunmei.
"We had no choice; otherwise, who would want to leave their hometown!"
“It’s easy to make money outside. I’ve been buying train tickets for several years now. I always hear people say that the salary outside is more than double that at home!”
"The more you earn, the more you spend. For example, my family has a small child, so we have to rent a place and cook for ourselves, which is a considerable expense."
"Why didn't you leave your child at home with the elderly?" the ticket seller asked curiously.
Li Chunmei said, "My parents-in-law are gone, and my parents don't have time to help us take care of the children."
"You've had a tough time too, things will get better," the ticket seller comforted her.
When we arrived in the county town, the ticket seller helped us with our luggage and said, "Have a safe journey."
"Thanks!"
To get from the county to the city, you need to buy a ticket at the station's ticket hall. It takes two hours to get to the city now, but don't worry, their train is at 6 pm, so there's plenty of time.
It was not even 11 o'clock when we arrived in the city.
The city's bus station is right next to the train station. Xia Jianguo plans to store his luggage at the shop and take his family to explore the city.
We can visit the city's parks and zoo, where we can also take photos. We'll take some photos before going to Shenzhen and send them to Grandma Xia.
"Dad, what kind of boat is that? I want to ride a boat!" Xia Minmin said, pointing to the duck boat.
"The duck boat is just the right size for the four of us to sit in."
Xia Jianguo paid at the management office, and the four of them boarded the duck boat.
This was Xia Minmin's first time riding a duck boat in both her previous lives. In her previous life, her parents were too busy with their business to take her on such a trip.
The whole family had a great time that afternoon; it was a rare moment of relaxation.
After storing and retrieving her luggage, Xia Minmin still couldn't stay still and wandered around. Xia Jianguo had no choice but to let Xia Xiaomei follow her to avoid getting lost, as there were still many people at the train station.
"Dad, is it time to check our train tickets?" Xia Minmin asked, pointing to the train number sign in the ticket inspector's hand.
"My aunt and I are going to queue up first." After saying that, she pulled Xia Xiaomei and ran towards the queue.
Xia Jianguo shouted, "Slow down! You don't have a ticket, so queuing up won't be a waste of time!"
“When Chunmei came to check our tickets, the child had already run far away. He’s only two years old and we can’t control him anymore.”
Xia Minmin ran to the queue and joined the line.
Xia Minmin said to the person behind her in line, "Uncle, there are two people behind me. My parents haven't come yet, so I'm queuing for them. Thank you, uncle!"
The man smiled and said to Xia Minmin, "You little one, you even know how to queue! How polite you are."
"Uncle, I'm a big kid who can read. My mom and dad will be here soon."
Xia Minmin waved to Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei who were walking over, "Mom and Dad, over here! I'm here!"
Xia Jianguo took out everyone's identification documents and train tickets from his waist bag and distributed them to everyone.
The man standing behind said, "Brother, your daughter is really interesting!"
"She didn't cause you any trouble, did she?" Xia Jianguo said.
The man waved his hand to indicate no, "Brother, are you also going to Shenzhen?"
"Yes. This group of passengers should all be going to Shenzhen."
"That's right, the final stop is Shenzhen."
The ticket check line moved forward step by step, and finally it was Xia Jianguo's turn.
After the tickets were checked, everyone ran forward like crazy. Seeing this, Xia Jianguo told Li Chunmei to be careful and then ran after her.
Li Chunmei and Xia Xiaomei held Xia Minmin's hands tightly, afraid that she might get lost, and they followed the crowd forward.
Xia Minmin shook Li Chunmei's hand, "Mom, this is the carriage we're sitting in."
Li Chunmei was a little flustered and said, "Oh, oh, oh."
Li Chunmei was a little flustered as it was her first time traveling far from home and Xia Jianguo was not by her side.
"Chunmei, over here!"
"Little sister."
Xia Jianguo stood beside the seats and waved to them.
"Second sister-in-law, second brother is over there!" Xia Xiaomei pointed to Xia Jianguo's location.
Their three seats were in a row, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief after they were settled.
Before boarding the train, I didn't realize how crowded it was, but once on board, the narrow aisle and the large number of people putting their luggage in made it very crowded.
This stop will be a 20-minute stop, and they won't arrive at their final destination, Shenzhen, until around 2 or 3 pm tomorrow.
It was a little past six in the afternoon, which was dinnertime. All the smells mixed together to create a strange odor, which was still bearable, but Xia Minmin couldn't stand the smell of smoke. She was almost fainting from the stench. It was so disgusting. In those days, there was no such thing as a ban on smoking in public places.
Xia Minmin had no choice but to cover her mouth and nose with a scarf to reduce the impact of the smoke.
"Xiaomin, what's wrong?" Li Chunmei asked, looking at Xia Minmin who was covering her face.
Xia Jianguo and Xia Xiaomei both turned to look at Xia Minmin.
"Mom, the smell of smoke is unbearable!"
Li Chunmei stroked Xia Minmin's head and said, "Lean against Mom and sleep for a while. You won't feel uncomfortable if you fall asleep."
"Um."
Accompanied by the clattering of the train, Xia Minmin slept soundly until dawn.
All three adults were listless and hadn't rested well. Xia Minmin remembered that she seemed to have switched people to lean on halfway through.
When Li Chunmei saw that Xia Minmin had woken up, she helped her wash up. Several people took turns washing up. The washroom in the hard sleeper berth was crowded, not only crowded but also unclean, so no one dared to drink too much water.
Breakfast consisted of braised eggs prepared by Grandma Xia, along with pickled vegetables. Xia Jianguo filled a cup with half a cup of hot water and heated the braised eggs in it.
Nearly twenty braised eggs were eaten clean; for lunch, I plan to try the boxed meals on the train.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com