Forty-nine people on the journey
After the initial excitement, the long train journey became tedious. Fortunately, a group of young people were laughing and joking together, playing cards, chatting, and eating snacks, which made it quite lively.
Especially Ding Anping and a few other boys, who were playful and mischievous, performed magic tricks and told jokes, making the girls laugh non-stop. Li Wei wasn't interested in their magic tricks and jokes; she mainly ate snacks and listened to the radio.
The snacks were mainly brought by Li Wei and the proud Zhao Lingling. How could they withstand the consumption of this group of young and strong locusts? By the morning of the second day, Li Wei's snacks were all gone. She really didn't like the things sold on the train. She was really depressed. She leaned against a corner of the lower bunk, fiddling with her small radio like an old man, listening to the broadcast while watching everyone making a fuss.
Suddenly noticing that Zhao Lingling's cheeks were a little swollen, he couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious, so he sincerely asked, "Sister Lingling, do you have a toothache? I see your cheeks are swollen. Do you want me to give you a couple of painkillers?"
Zhao Lingling glanced guiltily at the people playing cards with her, especially Ding Anping, and said without looking at Li Wei, "You must be mistaken. I don't have a toothache or a swollen face. I'm perfectly fine. Don't make things up."
In fact, Li Wei noticed the moment she saw Zhao Lingling that she was eyeing her future aunt's husband, Ding Anping. That's why Zhao Lingling's gaze towards her and her aunt was quite unfriendly. And Ding Anping's female classmate, Chen Qian, also gave him a rather intriguing look. Surrounded by enemies, she had to be careful. Therefore, she wouldn't be polite to Zhao Lingling: "Really? But I see your mouth is a bit asymmetrical. The right side is clearly much bigger than the left. Are you born with a two-toned face?"
No one had ever heard of this new term before, and they all stared curiously at Zhao Lingling's face, wanting to see what a "two-faced" look really meant. They had heard of "yin-yang eyes," though. Zhao Lingling was getting annoyed by the stares and glared at Ding Anping: "Who has a two-faced look? What kind of eyes do you have? Don't talk nonsense. What do you know, you're just a kid. If you say another word..."
Before she could utter her threat, she suddenly felt a slight pain in her mouth, and something slipped out of her mouth with a whoosh, startling her. Seeing everyone looking at what had fallen out of her mouth, she was immediately embarrassed.
Li Wei, having successfully ambushed Zhao Lingling, feigned surprise as she watched the white strip of milk candy fall from Zhao Lingling's mouth: "You said it wasn't a toothache? Look at this big tooth worm, did they eat all your teeth? This brat, she said she was out of snacks a long time ago, but she still ate hers without any politeness along with everyone else, and even ate more than anyone else. Now she dares to secretly eat it all by herself, how unfair!"
Zhao Lingling's petty tricks were exposed by Li Wei, and she blushed as everyone laughed. A little embarrassed and angry, she shouted at Li Wei, "I only have one piece left, how could you do this to me? You're so annoying!"
Li Wei didn't seem to care, shrugging her shoulders. "Oh, I only have a few pieces left. Do you guys want some?" She opened her palm, revealing several White Rabbit candy pieces. Seeing that no one dared to take any, she tossed one to Chen Jingguang, who hurriedly caught it. She kept the rest for herself.
This left Zhao Lingling in a dilemma, unable to cry or scold. She simply couldn't understand. The candy was clearly in her coat pocket. How did it suddenly end up in that little girl's hands?
Everyone else figured it out. Although curious, they just treated it as a joke and didn't pay much attention. Cheng Fei was even less concerned. She had long disliked Zhao Lingling, who was always targeting her. She continued playing cards.
Only Ding Anping, standing to Zhao Lingling's right, could see clearly. Li Wei, using Ding Anping as cover, stealthily approached like a monkey snatching food. While squeezing Zhao Lingling's cheek, she took advantage of Zhao Lingling's distraction and swiftly reached into her coat pocket with her other hand, stealing the candy. If Ding Anping didn't know her well, he would have suspected this little one was a pickpocket. She was too quick! He wondered where this little girl got so many clever ideas.
Li Wei ate the milk candy she'd managed to snag from Zhao Lingling, admiring Zhao Lingling's chubby, monkey-like face. She also noticed Zhao Yan's slightly embarrassed, dark expression. Why was this candy so sweet? Was it really true that books can only be read if borrowed, and candy can only be sweet if stolen? But train journeys without snacks were truly unbearable. Luckily, someone was providing supplies. Li Wei openly glanced at Zhao Lingling's bag on the upper berth. She hoped Zhao Lingling still had some left.
Everyone found it amusing and burst into laughter.
Zhao Lingling snapped, "What are you laughing at? What's so funny! And you, what are you looking at? This time it's really over. Humph!"
Everyone laughed even harder, but Chen Qian, worried that Zhao Lingling would be embarrassed, stepped in to smooth things over: "Everyone must be hungry, let's go to the dining car for lunch."
Zhao Lingling was the first to walk away, but Li Wei quickly called out, "Hey, Lingling, your bag, your bag! Everyone should keep their bags with them!" Others were one thing, but Zhao Lingling's bag might have other treats in it; she didn't want a thief to take them.
It's obvious that Zhao Lingling comes from a well-off family, but she's a bit willful. Every time she goes to the dining car, she always orders her favorite dishes first. If someone orders a dish she doesn't like, she'll criticize it. And she won't eat scallions, carrots, or anything else...
This reminded Li Wei of Ding Anni, and she really regretted not suggesting that Ding Anping bring his sister along so the two princesses could have a competition. She wondered who would win, hehe.
Zhao Yan clearly doted on his sister more than Ding Anping, acting as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. Chen Qian just smiled and said nothing. The other boys didn't care about such things either, eating whatever was available without being picky.
Li Wei wasn't going to stand on ceremony with everyone. Her motto was to eat well, drink well, and have fun. Her money was lying in her specially made canvas flower bag, and she didn't believe she couldn't spend it.
So after Miss Zhao Lingling ordered two dishes, Li Wei looked at the menu on the blackboard on the food cart and said, "Chef, braised yellow croaker, Kung Pao chicken, pork ribs stewed with green beans, cucumber salad with mung bean jelly, and one of each of those, plus five bottles of beer, four sodas, and ten steamed buns. Um, do you have any rice?"
Everyone shook their heads. You've already ordered the top three most expensive dishes on this beat-up truck; what more could they ask for? Zhao Lingling, seeing that Li Wei had ordered more and more expensive dishes than she had, said somewhat uncomfortably, "I don't eat spicy food or cold noodles."
Li Wei didn't even turn her head: "Then don't eat it."
Zhao Lingling was speechless.
Despite the playful bickering, they managed to make it to the third day, and everyone was excited as they approached their destination.
While Li Wei was happy, she also thought about the more practical issues: where to stay, eat, and have fun in Shanghai? Now she saw that Ding Anping was a nice guy, or perhaps inexperienced. He wouldn't object to any suggestion unless there was a major problem. So, Zhao Lingling, who liked to make decisions, and Chen Qian, who was good at managing money, became the actual leaders. Both of them had ulterior motives towards Ding Anping and were desperately trying to show off their superior abilities. Although Chen Qian was more reserved and mature, neither of them were what Li Wei wanted.
If we follow their advice, it's probably a far cry from my goal of having a good time. I'm small and insignificant, so I need to think of a solution.
So after careful consideration, Li Wei took out a deck of cards and, with two hours left before arriving at the station, nudged Ding Anping and said, "Uncle, isn't it a bit much that you're always the group leader? We can take turns being the leader, everyone gets a chance to be in charge, isn't that more interesting?"
He nudged Zhao Lingling, Ding Anping's tagalong, on the other side: "Don't you think so, Sister Lingling?" This girl likes to show off, so she probably won't object.
Sure enough, Zhao Lingling's eyes lit up immediately. Everyone always restricted her from doing this and that and didn't take her seriously. Anping hadn't even had a chance to see his abilities. She immediately nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, let's take turns being group leaders. In our class, everyone takes turns being the group leader. This can motivate everyone. Right, Honggang and Tianyong?" She had already started automatically forming cliques and seeking support.
Zhou Honggang and Liu Tianyong, who were not very talkative, smiled but didn't say anything; they didn't seem to care.
Chen Qian surprisingly agreed, saying, "I think it's a good idea. Anping, you can have a lighter burden too." Chen Qian had been a class leader since she started school and considered herself to have good organizational and administrative skills. She also wanted to show off her abilities.
Cheng Fei, who was engrossed in her storybook, was jolted back to reality by Li Wei. She glanced at everyone, not quite understanding what was going on, but she didn't care. With her little devil around, she had nothing to worry about: "Whatever Li Wei says goes." She continued reading her storybook, feeling that she had never been so relaxed since starting school. Anyway, she was far from home, so there was no point in thinking about anything else. She could just clear her mind and focus on having fun.
As for Zhao Yan, he didn't care at all. He was happy to have someone else take care of things and could relax. He figured he'd be heading home by the time it was his turn to be the group leader. Strangely, everyone treated Chen Jingguang like a child, and no one asked for his opinion.
The next question was who should start. Li Wei suggested that everyone draw lots with playing cards and compare the points. Whoever had the highest points would be the group leader for the day. This way, everyone would have a chance. Those who wanted to perform were afraid of missing their chance due to time constraints, so no one objected.
Li Wei shuffled the cards, deftly spread them into even semicircles with her hands, and gestured for them to begin: "Let's start."
Zhao Lingling reached out and drew a card without hesitation. When she turned it over, she saw that it was an eight of diamonds, which was considered a high number. She was very happy, while nervously watching others draw cards.
Then came Chen Qian, Ding Anping, and Zhao Yan, none of whom surpassed Zhao Lingling, which made her beam with joy.
Cheng Fei also randomly drew a card, which was a long suit card. Finally, only Li Wei was left. To be a truly authoritative leader, Li Wei confirmed again: "Everyone agreed on this; whoever is the team leader gets to decide, right?"
Zhao Lingling: "Hurry up, whatever you're rambling on about is fine, otherwise what's the point?" She completely forgot to question Li Wei's age of not being legally entitled to civil rights, and no one else seemed to realize it, or perhaps they just thought it was a joke.
After Li Wei insisted on getting affirmative answers from everyone, she reached out and drew a card without hesitation, seemingly casually tossing it onto the bunk. Everyone peeked out and saw: Ten of Hearts!
Li Wei became the temporary group leader for today.
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