The next day, when Xuemei and her group finished washing up and set out from the guesthouse, it was already past 6:10, and it was already 6:30 when they arrived at the staff canteen at the train station.
Xuemei and her friends first found an empty table to sit down and put their things down, and then Han Chen took the Mingwen brothers to buy breakfast.
The food in the railway station staff canteen was quite good. Xuemei drank a bowl of soy milk for each person and ordered a pound of dumplings stuffed with leeks and eggs, which she dipped in chili oil and vinegar.
After breakfast, several people went to the free hot water supply area at the train station to fill everyone's kettle, then picked up their backpacks and bags and went to the platform to wait for the train.
After waiting for twenty minutes, the train arrived. Mingwen stood behind Xuemei and the others, looking at things while protecting He Wanting with one hand.
Xuemei and the others waited at the open window of the train. As soon as the passengers got off and the conductor called out to them to get on, Mingwu climbed up from the window. Xuemei then helped He Jing from below, and Mingwu pulled He Jing onto the train. After He Jing got on, Xuemei and Han Chen began to pass things around.
After all the things were handed over, Han Chen lifted Xuemei from behind, Mingwu pulled Xuemei on the train, and He Jing watched the things on the train and reserved a seat by the way.
After Xuemei climbed into the train through the window, Han Chen also climbed out through the window. Ming Zhengwen waited until most of the others had entered before escorting He Wanting out from the train entrance.
After Han Chen came up, he and Mingwu separated everyone's luggage, and then put the burlap bags on the shelf above their heads.
Xuemei was taking a train for the first time, and before coming to Beijing, she specifically asked Han Chen about his experience. Han Chen's expression was indescribable. It was summer when Han Chen arrived in Liujia Village, and as soon as he boarded the train, he was greeted by a strong, sour odor: a mix of sweat, stinky feet, and the sour smell of fermented grain.
Jing City is far from Nanhu Province, requiring at least a 39-hour train ride. That means if you depart Jing City at 5 or 6 in the morning, it will take one night and two days to reach the train station in Nanhu Province at 8 or 9 the next evening. This is only if the journey is unobstructed, and you can arrive on time.
On that trip to the countryside, Han Chen sat for a full 45 hours, starting at 8 a.m. and traveling for two days and two nights. He finally arrived at the train station in Southern Province at 5 or 6 a.m. on the third day. It was hot, and the water supply on the train was barely enough for everyone to drink; there was no extra water for washing.
Anyway, when Han Chen got off the train, his face was greasy and his hair was greasy and stuck to his scalp. He looked like a stinky salted fish.
Fortunately, the Youth League Institute did not rush to arrange a car for them to go to the county town. After getting off the train, Han Chen and the others went to the guesthouse to clean up. Otherwise, Xuemei would not have wanted to get close to them that day because the stench was really unbearable.
Xuemei looked at the seats on the train. They looked similar to the benches in the park, made of wood and with backrests. The length of the chairs with backrests was about 80 centimeters and could accommodate three people.
Opposite the chair with a reclining back is an identical chair, which should be for six people to sit facing each other. There is a long table in the middle where lunch boxes and kettles can be placed.
There are two chairs with backrests in a row, and the aisle in the middle is about 50 centimeters wide.
After Xuemei finished observing, she and Han Chen helped stuff the four backpacks under the table, two on each side.
After putting their things in place, the four of them sat down, two on each side. Xuemei and He Jing each took out their schoolbags and took up a seat.
A few minutes later, Mingwen and He Wanting arrived. Mingwu joined Xuemei, who sat by the window, Hanchen next to her, and Mingzheng by the aisle. On the other side, He Jing sat by the window, He Wanting in the middle, and Mingwen by the aisle.
Mingwen was probably worried that He Wanting was pregnant and would feel uncomfortable sitting on the hard stool, so he took a sack from the luggage rack above his head, and then took out a thin quilt weighing about two kilograms from it. He covered the area where He Wanting and her sister were sitting and their backs with the quilt before letting He Wanting sit down.
Han Chen looked at Xuemei and asked her if she wanted to use a quilt. Xuemei and Han Chen also brought a summer quilt that was one and a half meters long and eighty centimeters wide, weighing more than one kilogram. They brought it specially to cover themselves when it was cold at night.
Xuemei shook her head. It was better to keep a low profile. This morning, before leaving the guesthouse, Xuemei, He Wanting, and He Jing all wore headscarves, leaving only their eyes exposed and hiding most of their faces. The headscarves were also quite old-fashioned. Xuemei's was Liu's mother's, but I wasn't sure if He Wanting's or her sisters' were.
As a result, Mingwu laughed for a long time when he saw the three of them in the morning, saying that the three of them looked very much like the aunts in the village.
Mingwen's behavior just now was understandable, after all, He Wanting's bulging belly was visible to everyone. Now, the people sitting nearby were still discussing Mingwen and He Wanting. Mingwen remained silent, as usual, while He Wanting feigned tiredness and closed her eyes to sleep. Mingwu, fearing he would be tricked into questioning him, also closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
When it was almost twelve o'clock, the three boys went to the toilet first and filled the six kettles with water.
When they came back, Xuemei and He Jing took He Wenting to the toilet, one in front and one behind. He Wenting couldn't hold it anymore. Although the smell of the toilet on the train in winter was not as strong as in summer, there were too many people coming and going on the train. She was afraid of getting hurt, so she tried to go to the toilet as little as possible.
When Xuemei and the other two came back from the restroom, Han Chen and the other two had already heated up the corn porridge they had packed in their lunch boxes that morning. Han Chen had packed one lunch box of corn porridge, and Mingwen and the others had packed two.
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