Chapter 77 Heading South
At nine o'clock in the evening, Gao Xiulan and Lin Xiaotong were wearing thick clothes and headscarves.
The dew is heavy at night, and you will freeze to death if you are not fully armed.
Each person had a woven bag containing a few cooler clothes.
The letter Xie Yi sent back said that their place was the real south, where there was no winter.
She only needed to wear one set of winter clothes, and the bag also contained some miscellaneous items and food that Gao Xiulan had packed.
When they go out, they are poor at home and rich on the road. Lin Xiaotong and Gao Xiulan sew the small pockets of their underwear tightly.
The two hurried to the train station. There were people waiting for the train at this time, but not many.
Lin Xiaotong brought Gao Xiulan to the ticket window and they found an empty window.
When I looked up, I saw a young man in uniform sitting there during working hours, sleeping soundly with his head tilted on the chair.
My goodness, is it possible to let him fall asleep just like that?
Lin Xiaotong took a deep breath, and said loudly:
"Corruption and waste are grave crimes. Comrade, I would like two soft sleeper tickets to Yangzhou."
"Why are you shouting so loudly? I'm not deaf. You want a berth, right?
Why don't you show me the letter of introduction from your employer?"
The young man inside was awakened from his doze. With one eye open, he spoke in a bad mood, and the worksheet on the table was thrown down with a loud noise.
Lin Xiaotong handed the young man the letter of introduction that she had obtained from the department store and the letter of introduction that Gao Xiulan had obtained from the street office.
"You're not a cadre, so it's good enough that you can buy a hard seat."
The young man took a look at the letter of introduction and thought, "You are just an ordinary worker, and you want to take a sleeper berth? That's so funny."
"Does that mean you can only buy hard seats?"
Lin Xiaotong had never ridden a green train, so naturally she didn't know that at that time, most people could only buy hard seats when going out.
Hard sleeper tickets can only be purchased by older people or by someone whose work place has connections.
Except for foreigners coming to China, others can only buy soft sleeper tickets if they reach a certain level.
"Well, if you don't have the ability, don't brag. You're asking for a soft sleeper right away. You really can't see clearly."
The young man twisted his mouth, looked Lin Xiaotong up and down, and didn't say anything.
"Comrade, my daughter-in-law and I are going to Guangzhou to visit my injured son. Could you please book us a hard sleeper? Even one will do?"
Gao Xiulan lowered her voice with a pleading look on her face. How could Xiaotong squeeze in the hard seat for more than 30 hours?
When the car was full, the hard seats were the most crowded, it was packed and really crowded.
Moreover, the probability of accidents happening in hard seats is relatively high, as many thieves and kidnappers mix in there.
"If I say no, then it's no. What's the matter, old lady? Don't you understand what I'm saying?"
"If you're a foreigner, forget about the hard sleeper. You don't even need to ask for a word when you get to this station. I'll get you a soft sleeper without a second thought!"
The young man in the window sneered and mocked, his tone impatient.
In fact, under special circumstances, you can also get a hard sleeper, as there are not many people on the express trains.
Many times the sleeper cars are not full, but in this case you can get a hard sleeper as long as you can afford the ticket.
Fuck, my fist is hard.
When Lin Xiaotong heard the young man opposite her say the last sentence, she really wanted to punch him.
"Son, you're out there fighting to defend our country. It's hard for your mother and your wife to see you for the last time!"
Gao Xiulan caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man walking towards her from the opposite side out of the corner of her eye.
Judging from the way he walks, he probably belongs to a leader.
She decided to go all out and just lay down on the ground, and started singing, reciting, acting and fighting, which completely confused the young man.
As soon as Lin Xiaotong saw the look in her mother's eyes, she knew what was going on and secretly pinched her arm.
She didn't control the strength well, and the pain made her cry, turning her into a tearful young wife.
No, why did the old lady start howling while she was talking?
He was not even informed and had no preparation.
The young man stood there watching in amazement, not noticing the leader coming.
"Xiao Xiao, you have this attitude when you see the families of soldiers. Aren't you afraid that the soldiers will be disheartened?"
The leader walked over quickly, took Gao Xiulan's arm, and together with Lin Xiaotong helped Gao Xiulan up from the ground.
Sure enough, the leader saw this farce and criticized him harshly in person.
Young man, oh, Xiao San lowered his head when he heard this, then stood up straight, his face turning pale and blue.
"Auntie, and this lady, don't worry, I'll arrange berths for you right away."
"Xiao Laosan, why don't you come over and issue the tickets?"
"Boss, it's not that I don't want to open it, it's just that all the berths are sold out. A group of foreigners came here and bought them all."
"Then give me a hard sleeper. Auntie, I'm so sorry that this kid has caused you trouble. I'll talk to him later."
"Here, two hard sleeper beds."
The leader glared at Xiao Laosan, turned around and handed two train tickets to Gao Xiulan in both hands.
"I am truly grateful to the leadership. The light of the proletariat immediately warmed my heart.
I am very happy that you can give me a ticket. Here is the ticket money, young man, keep it safe!"
Gao Xiulan shook the leader's hand with both hands and said sincerely, then took out the money from her pocket and handed it to Xiao San.
She took a look at the hard sleeper express ticket and saw it was 59.2 yuan, which was really expensive.
After Gao Xiulan spoke nonsense again and made her leader blush, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law took their luggage and found a seat to wait for the train to arrive.
"Mom, this is so expensive! Just this one ticket costs me two months' salary."
Lin Xiaotong finally understood why many people chose to squeeze into the hard seats of ordinary trains. Most people really couldn't bear to spend the money.
"That's right. I almost couldn't hold it in when I got the ticket. My hands are still shaking now."
Gao Xiulan sat down and released her hands holding the two tickets, her palms were sweaty.
Lin Xiaotong took it and looked at the two tickets carefully, one for the middle berth and one for the lower berth.
Hard sleeper ticket
The two of them sat down to rest for a while. Gradually, more and more people came into the waiting hall, and the noise was everywhere.
Gao Xiulan looked up at the timetable on the wall and saw that it was nine forty.
Their train leaves at 10:10 pm, and the doors at the departure station should be open for people to get on.
"Xiaotong, the car door is open, hurry up and get in with your things."
Gao Xiulan watched the staff open the door of the green train and put the step in place, and quickly called Lin Xiaotong to get on the train.
Hurry up and go up now while there are few people, otherwise you won’t be able to squeeze in. Many people climb in through the window.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law hurriedly squeezed to the front with the woven bags and walked through the door.
I rushed all the way to the hard sleeper compartment, opened the door, and there was no one inside.
After finding a bed, the two put their things on the lower bunk.
There are six beds in a partition, with upper, middle and lower beds on both sides.
"Xiaotong, you sleep in the middle bunk. I'm afraid someone in the lower bunk might act dishonestly at night."
Gao Xiulan looked around and let her daughter-in-law sleep in the middle bunk.
"Okay, Mom, leave the stuff here with me."
"Wait until I get the food out."
Lin Xiaotong stuffed the two woven bags into the inner side of the middle bunk bed.
Gao Xiulan and Lin Xiaotong were both tired and hungry at night.
Gao Xiulan took out a large teacup, two pairs of chopsticks, two spoons, and two aluminum lunch boxes from her bag.
The lunch box was still warm, and inside it was Gao Xiulan's pancake filled with green peppers and shredded pork.
The other lunch box contained boiled eggs.
"Xiaotong, I'm going to get some hot water. Stay here and don't come out."
After Gao Xiulan finished speaking, she hurried out with a large teacup and a pot. Lin Xiaotong responded, made the lower bunk, and wrapped the two lunch boxes with a cloth to keep them warm.
At this time, footsteps were heard outside the door.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
