Chapter 369 Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1960s 31
After boarding the train, Jiang Yue walked towards her berth. Her berth was an upper berth. When they arrived, the other five people hadn't arrived yet. Jiang Yue put her luggage away first and took out some snacks from her suitcase and put them on her berth. She didn't lie down on the bed yet because the space was too small and the bed was too narrow, making it very uncomfortable to sleep on.
It's better to sit down here than stay up there. A few minutes later, everyone in the carriage had arrived. People don't have phones to play with these days, so the six of them started chatting in no time.
Perhaps because Jiang Yue was there, she felt that what the older brothers were saying was a bit of an exaggeration. However, Jiang Yue was a sensible person and didn't expose them on the spot, as that would be too embarrassing.
Jiang Yue didn't wear her glasses today, which was a mistake. Her good looks weren't hidden. Even though she wasn't dressed in a flashy outfit, her fair skin couldn't be concealed by the short sleeves. Overall, she was a bit careless.
Fortunately, as the sun gradually rose to noon, the wind outside the car window was so hot that everyone was busy fanning themselves. They were too hot to talk and went to lie down. Jiang Yue, however, did not go up because she was wearing a Buddhist robe and was not afraid of the heat.
Around 10:30, the train attendant came over to sell meal tickets. Food is very precious now, so we can't prepare the food in advance or sell it cheaply if we can't sell it all. Otherwise, it would be a waste of food. Now we sell meal tickets two or three hours in advance and prepare the food according to the number of people. When it's mealtime, we deliver the food to the passengers. Passengers exchange their tickets for a lunchbox. A lunchbox costs about 30 cents, which is much cheaper than ordering food in the dining car.
Jiang Yue didn't bring much food, but planned to try the boxed meals to see if they were good. She ordered a meal with meat for four cents. There were quite a few people ordering meals. Since you don't need food coupons on the train, you can just pay with money. After paying, Jiang Yue took the meal ticket given to her by the train attendant and waited for the delivery person to come and exchange the ticket for the meal.
Around 11:30 or almost 12:00, people who were sleeping woke up. It was lunchtime, and those who had brought their own food took it out. Looking around, you could see all sorts of things: eggs, steamed buns, cornbread, pickled vegetables, and so on. Jiang Yue also saw some people who looked like secretaries fetching hot water. Don't ask Jiang Yue how she knew; anyone present could tell that their mannerisms were different from ordinary people.
Around 12:30, the boxed meals finally arrived in Jiang Yue's carriage. When the trolley came over, Jiang Yue handed her meal ticket to the attendant. After looking at it, the attendant took a boxed meal from the left side of the trolley and handed it to Jiang Yue. After Jiang Yue took the meal, the attendant left. She looked at the meal in her hand; it was still an aluminum meal box, and it would be recycled after she finished eating.
I opened the lunchbox and saw that it contained cabbage, shredded potatoes, and two pieces of braised pork. I looked at the lunchboxes of the two men next to me. They had ordered the same thing for 30 cents, except for the two pieces of meat. The two men smiled and said to Jiang Yue, "Teacher Jiang, it's not worth 10 cents for two pieces of meat."
"Yes, let's order vegetarian next time, we can save a penny."
"Oh, that's right. I was thinking of saying that when you placed the order, but you can try it even if you haven't had it before. The braised pork on the train is pretty good."
The older brother said something and then started eating. Jiang Yue took a couple of bites and to be honest, the taste was just so-so. The braised pork wasn't the kind with three layers of fat and lean meat; it was the kind with more fat than lean meat. The cooking method wasn't authentic either. Strictly speaking, it would be more appropriate to call it stewed or braised pork. It was a bit greasy, but that's normal these days.
Jiang Yue felt the food wasn't very good, but she didn't show it. The cabbage and shredded potatoes tasted a bit better than in the school cafeteria, so the meal was just passable. It didn't reach the level of the heroine in a period novel exclaiming how delicious it was. Jiang Yue finished her meal completely, leaving not a single grain of rice.
Jiang Yue isn't exaggerating. Look at most people; they rinse their food with hot water after eating. It's not just on the train; just look at Jiang Yue's school. After working there for half a year, the students ate every meal clean. Mainly, the chefs at Jiang Yue's school are quite skilled. If Jiang Yue thinks something isn't good, it's only compared to what she makes herself.
Around 2 PM, the flight attendant came over with a cart, collecting the lunch boxes and asking if anyone wanted to order lunch for the afternoon. Jiang Yue asked what the lunch boxes contained. The vegetables were the same as before, and the meat dish was braised pork ribs. Jiang Yue asked if she could order food from the dining car to be delivered, but the reply was no. If she wanted to eat food from the dining car, she would have to go to the dining car.
With no other option, Jiang Yue ordered a boxed meal. There were too many people in the dining car, and she didn't want to wait in line. She couldn't stand not eating for 30 hours. Eating steamed buns would make her choke, so she might as well eat the boxed meal on the train. However, eating a boxed meal on its own was a bit greasy. In the afternoon, she would sneak out a bottle of dried radish and eat it with some pickled vegetables, which would be much better.
After dinner, the four men played cards. Jiang Yue and another man, having nothing to do, started talking about the man's child. After learning that Jiang Yue was a teacher, the man asked her for help. His child's grades had always been poor, and he couldn't even pass the factory's recruitment exam. After listening to the man's story, Jiang Yue said that she had no good solution because the child didn't want to study, not because he couldn't understand or absorb the material. Even a god couldn't help him.
"Sigh, the teachers at school said the same thing to me, it seems there's no other way."
This isn't about the learning method being wrong. Jiang Yue really can't do anything about it unless she knows someone and can personally teach them. Her casual acquaintance with her older brother isn't worth doing that for her.
After sitting for a while, Jiang Yue got up to move around. The carriage was crowded and it was difficult to move around. She stood for a while, looked out the window, and then sat down again.
After fiddling around for a while, Jiang Yue checked her watch and realized it was 3 PM. This guy was so bored; time seemed to pass even slower than during class. She borrowed a newspaper from the guy playing cards next to her and asked him for a look. She should have brought a book with her; it would have helped pass the time. A few newspapers successfully wasted an hour of Jiang Yue's time.
Just then, the four older brothers got tired of playing cards, so Jiang Yue and the child's parent took over. To prevent the game from getting boring, Jiang Yue deliberately didn't use any skills and just played whatever she wanted. Even so, she still lost more than she won, which was probably because her opponents were too weak.
Dinner wasn't delivered until 6:30 PM. There was no way around it; there were clearly more people ordering food in the afternoon than at noon. The food they brought at noon must have been eaten up. In this hot weather, people couldn't bring much food. After receiving the boxed lunch, Jiang Yue pulled down the suitcase and, when no one was looking, secretly smuggled out a bottle of dried radish from her spatial storage.
She took out some dried radish and also brought a few magazines down, so she could read them if she got bored later. After taking the things out, she put the suitcase back on the luggage rack, opened the lunchbox and looked at the three pieces of pork ribs on it. Jiang Yue had a strange feeling that she had made a profit, at least more than the two pieces of meat she had in the morning.
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