At one o'clock in the morning, the alarm clock woke Dongqing and his wife from their dreams.
Li Yuzhu said, "Lie down a little longer, I'll get up and make the mutton soup."
Dongqing said, "It's so cold, don't get up. Go to sleep, I can do it myself."
After Dong Qing finished speaking, he got dressed and went into the kitchen to boil the mutton soup. Then he poured it into a thermos. This thermos of mutton soup was enough for Fang Lin to drink for four meals. It was nice to be able to drink mutton soup on the train during the Spring Festival.
Just as I finished preparing the mutton soup, I heard someone knocking on the door. Without a second thought, I knew it was Fang Lin.
Dong Qing walked to the front gate, opened it, and saw Fang Lin standing outside with her luggage. He said, "Come in!"
They went into the living room, and Dongqing went into the kitchen. He packed a few steamed buns for Fang Lin in a bag, along with a bowl and a pair of chopsticks. He just wanted her to eat well on the train during the Spring Festival. Then he cut two pounds of beef slices and packed them in as well.
Dong Qing carried the thermos and bag to the living room, asked Fang Lin to pack the bag into her luggage, and handed her the thermos, saying, "It's getting late, let's go. I'll take you to the train station."
Fang Lin said, "The road is too slippery; driving is slower than walking. No need to take me; I'll go myself."
Dongqing said, "I'm worried about you going alone to the train station late at night. Come on, I'll take you there."
With such heavy snow, it was indeed frightening for a woman to walk alone on the road at night. Fang Lin didn't insist anymore. Dong Qing helped her carry her luggage, while Fang Lin carried the thermos. They walked out of the house together toward the train station.
The snowfall had lessened considerably by this time, and there were no pedestrians on the road late at night; there was already loose snow on the road.
The more firmly the snow is compacted, the more slippery it becomes; a layer of loose snow on the road makes it less slippery.
Twenty minutes later they entered the train station; it was already past two o'clock.
At around 2 a.m. on New Year's Eve, the train station waiting hall was empty, with not a single passenger waiting for their train. It's normal for train stations to be like this during a major holiday when no one is going out.
Dong Qing took out 10,000 yuan from his bag and handed it to Fang Lin, saying, "Take this money with you, and leave some money for your father at home."
Fang Lin said, "I have money."
Dong Qing said, "Take it with you, do you think I don't know whether you have money or not? Even if you weren't planning to go back, you could have kept your money in the bank."
As Dongqing guessed correctly, Fang Lin had no intention of going home. All her money was in the bank, and she only kept a little over 200 yuan at home. She finally said thank you and accepted it.
"It's too cold. Wait here, I'll go to the company and find you a coat!"
In those days, there was no air conditioning on trains, and the carriages were always at a constant temperature. It was unbearably hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.
The train station is only 300 meters from the company, and Dong Qing walked there in no time.
He asked the security guard on duty for a yellow overcoat, saying that with this overcoat, he wouldn't feel uncomfortable sitting in the car.
Dong Qing took off his yellow coat and put it on Fang Lin.
Fifteen minutes before departure, the ticket inspector approached them, glanced at the ticket in Fang Lin's hand, and said, "You can go in now."
Dong Qing saw Fang Lin off onto the platform, where the snow had been swept very clean.
It was very cold waiting for the train on the platform, so Fang Lin said, "It's too cold, you should go back."
Dongqing said, "It's okay, the train will be here soon."
A train soon approached from afar, its whistle blaring, and slowly came to a stop in front of the platform.
Dong Qing led Fang Lin to carriage number six. After the train conductor checked their tickets, they boarded the train with their luggage. Dong Qing stood below the train and said, "Call me long-distance when you get home."
Fang Lin said, "Okay, you can go back now?"
Dong Qing said "See you next year" and walked off the platform with the passengers getting off the train.
Fang Lin entered the carriage. It was Lunar New Year's Eve, and there were very few passengers on the train. There were empty seats everywhere, so she randomly found one and sat down.
The inside of the carriage wasn't much better than outside. Wearing a coat, I wasn't too cold sitting on the train, but my feet were freezing. The hands and feet are the parts of the body most susceptible to cold.
Fang Lin opened her luggage, took out a cotton top, took off her shoes, wrapped her feet in the top, and leaned against her luggage, half-lying on the seat. This made her feel much better, and she drifted off to sleep.
She woke up the next morning.
He didn't feel cold even while sleeping in his overcoat, and his feet were warm with the cotton-padded coat on. It was all thanks to Dong Qing's thoughtfulness; otherwise, he would have gotten sick from the cold all the way here.
The temperature wasn't so low on the second day of the train journey. It wasn't snowing here, and it would get warmer the further we went towards my hometown.
Fang Lin went into the restroom to relieve herself, then washed her face before returning to her seat.
Fang Lin felt hungry, so she took out a bowl and chopsticks and placed them on the small dining table on the train. She opened the thermos, and the aroma of mutton soup wafted out the moment she opened it.
The thermos kept the soup very warm, and she picked it up and poured herself a bowl of soup.
As Fang Lin was eating her steamed bun and drinking her soup, a little girl of about five or six years old ran up to her, staring longingly at the soup in her bowl. She said, "Little girl, do you want some soup?"
The little girl nodded after hearing this.
Just then, a woman approached; she was probably the girl's mother. She said, "I'm sorry, the child is just being silly."
The woman spoke fluent Sichuan dialect, and Fang Lin replied in the same dialect, "Sister, we're from the same hometown. Do you have a bowl with you? If so, I'll bring it so I can pour some soup for my child."
Lamb soup is such a delicious dish that even adults, let alone children, would find it tempting. Most people wouldn't dare to drink it in a restaurant, let alone on a train.
The woman didn't stand on ceremony, said thank you, went back to get a bowl, and Fang Lin poured a bowl of mutton soup for her. She also used chopsticks to scoop some meat out of the bucket for her.
The woman said, "Thank you. To be honest, my child hasn't eaten all day."
Fang Lin asked in confusion, "Why aren't you eating? There should be food available on the train, right?"
The woman said, "Even if there's food on the train, I still need money. The money I earned from a year of working was stolen when I boarded the train. How am I supposed to buy food without money?"
Fang Lin felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this. It's not easy to work away from home these days. How can one survive if a year's worth of money is stolen and taken back home?
After hearing this, Fang Lin gave the woman some steamed buns, as well as several packets of instant noodles and sausages, saying, "The child is growing and can't go hungry. If you don't have enough to eat, come here for some."
The woman said thank you and took the mutton soup back to her seat.
The woman was reluctant to drink the soup; she only ate two steamed buns and drank some water. Her daughter finished the entire bowl of mutton soup, exclaiming, "It's so delicious!"
The child is still too young; I didn't think to give the mother a little bit.
Fang Lin said, "Big sister, I gave you some instant noodles. It's so cold, have a bowl of noodles. Your body can't handle eating two steamed buns."
The woman said, "I'm full."
Fang Lin knew that she was reluctant to eat it herself and wanted to save it for the child.
When the woman went to the bathroom to wash the dishes, Fang Lin followed her with two packets of instant noodles. After the woman finished washing the dishes, she handed the noodles to her and said, "Be good, make these noodles and eat them."
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