Chapter 26: Spring Day Green (9) You hate my family, and...
He Chuan helped Lin Xia carry her painting bag and box, and the two of them struggled to get to the restroom, which was naturally packed, especially the women's room. After waiting in line for a long time, it was finally Lin Xia's turn. After taking care of her personal needs, she finally relaxed.
Walking out of the bathroom, Lin Xia saw He Chuan waiting for her not far away. She smiled slightly and was about to step forward when the phone in her bag rang again. This time it was Zhao Qianyi calling.
Lin Xia then remembered that she was so flustered after Jin Hui left that she seemed not to have told her parents what happened here.
Picking up the phone, Zhao Qianyi asked in a very anxious tone:
"Xia Xia? Are you still at the train station? Alone?"
"Well, Aunt Jin Hui..."
"I know, I know. I just called her and found out that they are in the hospital now. She actually left you alone at the train station! How could she do something like that?
"What the hell? That's too much! What the hell is that!"
Zhao Qianyi cursed for a long time but still felt unsatisfied. She suppressed her anger and asked Lin Xia:
"Did they say when the trains can resume?"
"No, I don't know yet."
"Xia Xia," Zhao Qianyi said seriously, "The train station is too crowded and chaotic right now. It's almost nightfall, and it's too dangerous for you to stay there alone. Go back to the studio first and see what happens tomorrow."
Lin Xia was stunned for a moment: "Maybe, the road will be open soon, I want to wait a little longer."
"Don't wait, go back quickly."
"Well, what if I miss this train and don't have a ticket tomorrow? What if I can't make it back?"
"Your safety is more important. Your father and I have discussed this," Zhao Qianyi said, emphasizing each word. "If you really can't make it back in time, just give up this year, repeat the year, and take the exam again next year."
She sighed softly, her tone indescribably tired: "Maybe your father is right, I shouldn't have insisted on sending you to Beijing..."
When Lin Xia heard the word "repeat", tears started to flow again. She refused without hesitation:
"No! I won't repeat! I won't waste another year! I have to take the exam this year!"
How could she give up before even trying? How could she start over again after getting this far? How much suffering had she endured during this time? How determined had she been, how fiercely vowed had she been? Repeating a grade might not be uncommon for art students, but Old Sun had told her how difficult, painful, and stressful it would be, and she absolutely wouldn't do it!
Zhao Qianyi didn't expect that the usually obedient Lin Xia would refute her so fiercely. She was stunned for a moment. Considering that this decision was indeed of great importance, she slowed down her voice and explained:
"Xia Xia, we're doing this for your own good. How can we be at ease with you, a little girl, taking the train alone? Besides, the train isn't leaving for a long time now. What if it can't be opened tomorrow? If planes and buses can't reach you, your father and I won't be able to pick you up even if we want to..."
Lin Xia couldn't listen to Zhao Qianyi's long speech anymore. She grasped the key words in her words and said hurriedly:
"I'm not alone, I'm not! I... I met a classmate from our studio at the train station. He's... he's also from Northeast China, and he's taking the same train back with me!"
As she spoke, she put the phone into the hands of He Chuan, who had already walked in front of her and had been listening to her call, and tried her best to mouth to him:
You said you are Sun Ping'an, Sun Ping'an!
He Chuan put the things he was holding in his two hands into one hand, took the phone with his free hand, put it to his ear, looked at Lin Xia's pleading eyes, lowered his voice, and spoke slowly:
"Hello, Auntie, I'm Lin Xia..."
"Well, what a coincidence! I changed my flight yesterday and only found out today that we're on the same train."
"Yeah, it suddenly snowed."
"Don't worry, Auntie. Lin Xia and I will take care of each other."
"No trouble."
Zhao Qianyi is usually very busy and only calls Lin Xia once a month. She doesn't know much about her classmates in the studio, and she can't recognize He Chuan's voice at all.
The matter was thus temporarily muddled.
Lin Xia put away her phone and breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as they have a companion by their side, they should feel at ease.
She said to He Chuan a little apologetically: "I made you lie."
He Chuan smiled and said, "It's okay."
They both knew very well that he shouldn't be here at this moment, shouldn't be worried about her, shouldn't be with her, shouldn't have any contact with her. In the eyes of their common elders, the relationship between them shouldn't exist at all.
Therefore, we must be extra careful and pay extreme attention. Even in unknown places, the bond between their lives has unknowingly become so deep.
.
At 17:21, after being delayed for more than 8 hours, the trains departing from Beijing Station and heading northeast finally began to check tickets.
At that time, there was no real-name system for train tickets. After waiting for such a long time, many passengers who were not in a hurry to travel gave up. He Chuan paid a higher price and bought a ticket for another passenger on the same train, and got on the train with Lin Xia.
"I promised your mother that I would take good care of you in the car," he said.
But Lin Xia knew that it was all a joke, he was just worried about her.
There were a lot of people on the train. Since the airport and highways were all closed, a large number of passengers flocked to the railways. This train was the first one from Beijing to the Northeast, and many passengers from other trains were afraid that they would be too late to catch the next one, so they also rushed to get on this train. Those with tickets and those without tickets rushed up at once, filling the seats and aisles to the brim, which was almost as crowded as the buses during rush hours in the morning and evening.
The train had been leaving for a while before Lin Xia and He Chuan finally squeezed into her seat with great difficulty, but it was already occupied by someone, a thin middle-aged man in his fifties.
He Chuan took the ticket and said to the man:
"Excuse me, these are our seats. Did you sit in the wrong seat? Please move aside."
The man didn't even look at the ticket and shouted loudly:
"What the hell is your seat? Your train runs this? I've been waiting for seven or eight hours and finally got a seat. You say it's yours and I'm giving it to you? Get out of here!"
Lin Xia was a little scared and quietly tugged at He Chuan's sleeve, but He Chuan held her hand in his backhand and did not back down, continuing to argue with the man:
"We bought tickets, and these are indeed our seats. It's not easy for everyone to wait for so long, but we still have to follow the rules. If you keep up this, I'll have to call the conductor."
The man's eyes narrowed: "Go find him! Let's see who can do anything to me?!"
The lady sitting next to them couldn't stand it and spoke out:
"This is the little girl's seat. Why are you, a grown man, competing with her for it? Do you have any shame?"
A bald man with a burly back standing on the other side also started cursing:
"What are you pretending to be, you little bastard! Get out of my way! You're embarrassing yourself!"
Most of the people on this train were from Northeast China, and people from Northeast China are the most straightforward, generous and warm-hearted. They cannot stand such injustice. The people around them started to talk to each other, and scolded the man who occupied the seat until he lost all his arrogance. Seeing that he would not get any good result, he glared at He Chuan fiercely, got up and left cursing.
He Chuan and Lin Xia expressed their gratitude to the people around them, then He Chuan helped Lin Xia put away her luggage, settled her in her seat, and stood beside her.
Lin Xia asked: "Aren't you going to your compartment?"
Their tickets were not for the same carriage.
He Chuan said, "No, it's too hard to squeeze through. I'll stay here with you."
"Then let's sit together. I'll go inside."
"It's okay, just sit down."
"No way!" Lin Xia was anxious. "It'll take more than ten hours. How can we stand the whole time?"
He Chuan smiled and said, "Then we'll take turns sitting. You sit first, and I'll stand for a while."
There were so many people without tickets on the train, the attendants were jostling to get them tickets. Lin Xia had originally booked a hard seat for the day, which was fine, but now that they were set to spend the night on the train, the hard seat seemed like a poor choice. He Chuan had wanted to ask the attendants for a sleeper berth, but as expected, there were no tickets left, so they had to make do with this place for the night.
The train departed from Beijing at 5 p.m., passed through Beidaihe, Qinhuangdao, and Shanhaiguan, and suddenly stopped at 10 p.m., seven or eight kilometers away from Jinzhou Station.
Everyone was worried, but fortunately the train restarted in less than half an hour. However, after running for a while, just after passing Jinzhou Station and before reaching Shenyang North, the train stopped again. This time it stopped and did not start again for a long time.
Not only that, the lights on the train began to go out one after another, the water and electricity were cut off, the toilets were closed, and even the heating was no longer hot. When the crew was asked about the reason, they only got the answers that it was a weather problem, a train malfunction, and the restoration time was to be determined.
In the dark and cold carriage, the passengers were restless, with cries and curses heard frequently. Some people felt nauseous and vomited due to nervousness and poor air quality. Not far away, a young baby had a fever and was crying incessantly because there was no emergency medicine on the train. The helpless young parents simply cried along with the baby, and everything was a mess.
He Chuan kept asking Lin Xia to sit down, but he refused to sit down himself. The lady sitting next to him was kind enough to make some space for him, so the three of them squeezed together. Fortunately, all three of them were relatively thin, so it wasn't too uncomfortable for them to sit like this.
Lin Xia was afraid of the cold, and her hands and feet were already freezing. He Chuan unzipped his down jacket, wrapped her in his arms, and warmed her with his body heat.
"Are you feeling better?"
Lin Xia put her arms around He Chuan's waist, pressed her face against his chest, and nodded slightly:
"Much better."
"I heard that the railway was frozen due to the freezing rain. They need to de-ice it, so the train won't be able to start for a while. You should get some sleep first."
Lin Xia shook her head:
"I can't sleep."
Her voice trembled slightly:
"He Chuan, I'm a little scared."
It's not just the fear of missing the exam. Now it's pitch black all around, and there are strangers everywhere. The train is parked in the middle of nowhere. It feels like the end of the world, the beginning of a horror movie, and anything can happen.
He Chuan deliberately asked:
"Crying again?"
"No."
Lin Xia felt a little embarrassed and buried her face in his chest again. At least he was still by her side, so she didn't feel scared to tears.
He Chuan laughed softly, and a slight vibration came from his chest.
"Okay, if you can't sleep, let's talk."
"Um."
Lin Xia responded in a muffled voice.
"S-What?"
"Say..." He Chuan paused and teased her deliberately, "Xia Xia, why do I feel like your accent is a bit strange now?"
"Really? What's strange about me?" Lin Xia was confused.
"Yes, your flat and retroflex tongue sounds are a little confusing, and the ending sound is a little floating."
How could it be possible? Although her Mandarin had a slight Northeastern accent, it was still relatively standard, and Wangchun's accent wasn't strong either. She almost wanted to recite a tongue twister on the spot to prove her innocence.
Lin Xia frowned and thought for a long time, then suddenly understood:
"Maybe I was influenced by my classmates from Hunan."
After being together for so long, has even her accent changed? But she herself doesn't feel it at all, which is terrible.
She asked worriedly, "Is it obvious?"
"It's okay." He Chuan comforted her, "It's okay. Language depends on the environment. You will slowly get back to normal after you go back and stay for a while."
Lin Xia couldn't help but feel relieved. She believed every word He Chuan said.
After his joke, she felt a little relieved, her mind turned a little, and suddenly she remembered:
"How are you going to tell your mother that you're getting on the train with me?"
"She didn't say anything. She just said something happened at school and she had to reschedule my flight. She didn't know the exact time I would be back."
The relationship between mother and son is still as dull as ever, Lin Xia thought.
"How's Grandpa's treatment going?"
"It's not ideal. It was fine before, but the latest checkup showed signs of recurrence." He Chuan sighed slightly, "That's why I came to Beijing this time."
Lin Xia was stunned for a moment. This was the first time she heard about this. Lin Xuedong had never mentioned this to her.
"What should I do then?"
"We need to observe for a while longer and do an in-depth inspection, then we'll see what the situation is."
"Dad said that when Grandpa was young, he went to the countryside and suffered a lot. His health was weak, so he got stomach cancer." Lin Xia whispered, "I hope Grandpa can pull through this."
Although they are not close, they are blood relatives after all, and she hopes that everyone around her can be healthy and safe.
"I definitely will." He Chuan said firmly.
Lin Xia paused, hesitated for a while, and finally said:
"He Chuan, I want to ask you a question. If you don't want to answer, you don't have to answer me, but you must not lie to me or get angry."
"What?"
"Will you...will you hate my grandfather, my father, my family, and...me?"
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