Arriving at the station on time, on the platform, a child with tears in his eyes wore a big red flower on his chest. In the vast countryside, young people with great potential were full of passion.
I walked past them and boarded the sleeper car. This train was scheduled to arrive in Siping tomorrow morning. As soon as I got to the middle berth, I opened my bag and looked for the cooling oil. It was a summer train, and the smell was unpleasant.
She rubbed some on her temples and passed the time with a newspaper. She hadn't finished reading "The Female Militia of the Sea" yet, so she brought it with her.
Before I finished reading the front page, someone arrived on the train. "Are you an educated youth? Hello, my name is Sun Yanyan, and I'm going to Tieling from the capital." The enthusiastic young woman, about my own age, spoke.
"My name is Jiang Cha. I'm not an educated youth. I'm going on a business trip." The little girl was wearing a green military uniform and carrying a green schoolbag, which were the most popular clothes of that era.
She had a big red flower pinned to her chest and was carrying a lot of bags. I climbed down to help her stuff her bags into the luggage rack. She was on the lower bunk. She sat on the edge of the bed, opened the window, leaned out, waved, and cried her heart out.
The train slowly started moving, and Sun Yanyan was still crying. Four people came into the carriage together. They looked like they knew each other. After the noisy cleaning, one of them spoke to me.
"Hello, my name is Ding Rui. I'm an educated youth who went to Tieling. We are classmates." As he spoke, he gestured with his hands, and it was obvious that we were together.
"Hello, I'm Jiang Cha." "I'm Zhou Li." "I'm Yan Xiaofeng." "My name is Yan Xiaofang, and I'm his cousin." "Are you all educated youth going to Tieling? That's great, now you have company. My name is Sun Yanyan."
Jiang Cha was the only one on this train, on a business trip; the others were educated youth. They were all about the same age, so they quickly fell into conversation. They'd heard Siping was a little further north than Tieling, and that Tieling was known for its coal production, and so on and so forth.
If you can get a sleeper in the countryside, your family must be well-off! There's no backstabbing or innuendo, just the joy of a chance encounter. The girls eat first, then the boys go back, and there's always someone watching over the luggage.
They chatted and laughed all the way to Goubangzi Station. The devilish voice kept looping in her head, reminding her to stop and buy some roast chicken.
I asked the other people on the bus if they wanted to buy some too. Yan Xiaofeng was left alone to look after the luggage while everyone else got off to join in the fun.
Famous roast chickens in the north include Dezhou Braised Chicken in Shandong, Daokou Roast Chicken in Henan, Fuliji Roast Chicken in Anhui, and Goubangzi Roast Chicken. I'll definitely try them on my future business trips.
There were a lot of people getting off at this stop, and people were crowding towards the small tricycles on the platform. There were many tricycles with glass windows on the platform.
Inside, roast chickens were neatly stacked, and the aroma wafted from afar. Jiang Cha was a few steps behind them, jostling in the crowd, some paying, others peeking through the display windows, hoping to pick out a large one.
Jiang Cha, who was standing in the corner, kept an eye on the time and asked them to go up first after they finished buying. In the last two minutes, he bought up all the remaining 10.
After buying, I hurried back to the train compartment. The bell rang again, and the train was about to depart. On the messy platform, I quietly stuffed 9 roast chickens into the space.
She returned to the carriage with the oil-paper bag. Her hair was messed up due to the crowding. Seeing her slow pace, she wanted to mess it up.
We had dinner together, laughing and joking. The roast chicken couldn't be left out in the hot weather, so several people decided to eat it all. Some people contributed tomatoes, others chili peppers, and some ginger tea leaves.
She ate roast chicken with chili peppers, slurping it up with great pleasure. Finally, she was so full that she, along with Sun Yanyan and Yan Xiaofang, strolled back and forth in the corridor.
My image was completely gone. I strolled for half an hour, sipping tea to soothe the greasy feeling. The roast chicken was truly delicious, the meat firm and chewy, the flavors brimming with oil and a rich, fragrant aroma. The carriage still lingered with a rich aroma.
The scented tea I brought with me on this business trip was newly bought. My tea coupons were still a month away from expiring, so I quickly bought three pounds of jasmine flowers at Minchun Tea House (known as Zhang Yiyuan during the Cultural Revolution).
A flush of hot water filled the carriage with the rich aroma of jasmine flowers. Several people, with bulging bellies, drank tea and chatted, no one allowed to laugh at each other.
It was past 8 p.m. when they were about to get off the train. We exchanged contact details and agreed to write to each other often. I helped them get their luggage off the train, and after saying goodbye, we returned to the train. It had been so lively just a moment ago, but now it was so quiet.
No one showed up by the time the bus departed, so Jiang Cha put her bag against the wall, next to her pillow. There was nothing important in it, but everyone else put it there, so she just followed the crowd.
After lights out, Jiang Cha didn't dare sleep any longer. He squinted his eyes and calculated the work. The section chief said it would probably take a while, but he didn't know how long.
She ate too much in the afternoon and went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She crawled down in the dark. She lived alone here. She opened the curtain and went out without worrying about disturbing others.
As if stained with the smell of a toilet, I trotted back. Just as I was about to lift the curtain, I heard movement inside. Slowly lifting a corner, I vaguely saw two men in the moonlight.
The train hadn't stopped just now, so there couldn't be new people on board. And there happened to be two men in her compartment.
He stood between the two carriages, pulled the curtain next to him and gently covered himself with it. He listened quietly to the two people talking in low voices.
"Brother, there's only one girl in this room. She'll probably be in line for the restroom soon. Let's not let her see us."
"Cover your face first. After we finish this job, we'll go to Guangzhou and swim across the river. From now on, we'll eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks. This is also the capitalist life."
The moment the two men opened the curtain and came out, Jiang Cha raised his foot and kicked one of them out. The other one came over with a knife in his hand, dodged and grabbed his arm with his backhand, and directly disarmed him.
Another one stood up and punched him. The commotion was so loud that the entire nearby carriage erupted in an uproar. While dodging the punches, he shouted, "Catch the robber! There's a knife on the ground! Everyone, be careful!"
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