Chapter 142 Jin Youqing
"No tickets?" The conductor frowned, his voice stern. "How did you get on the train without tickets? And you're occupying someone else's seat? And you're taking someone else's child's things? This is a serious act of riding without a ticket and disrupting public order! Come with me to the crew room and explain everything!"
When she heard that she had to go to the crew room, the old woman was completely panicked, her legs went weak and she almost fell to the ground.
"Comrade! Comrade! We...we have tickets! We have standing room! We...we're leaving now! We're leaving now!"
The Chinese New Year was approaching and train tickets were in short supply. The three of them couldn't buy seat tickets, so they could only buy standing tickets. However, after only one stop, the little grandson couldn't stand it and started crying.
The old woman heard someone next to her say that there were sleeper tickets on the train, where she could sleep and it would be very comfortable.
Her eyes rolled around as she went to look for a sleeper car with her family. It must be said that she was lucky enough to find one.
In fact, if she had found a seat where no one was around and took a nap quietly, no one would have noticed for a while. But who knew that she would allow her grandson to grab someone else's seat.
The old woman frantically tried to pull the snakeskin bag off the ground, then tried to grab her sobbing grandson, "Hurry up, hurry up!"
But the little boy didn't want to walk at all. He was too tired to stand for a long time because of his standing ticket, so he wanted to lie down.
The little boy started to throw a tantrum and said, "I won't leave, grandma. I want to live here. It's comfortable here."
"If you don't leave, the police will take you away!"
When the little boy heard this, he was frightened and looked at the two flight attendants secretly.
Seeing the serious expression on the conductor's face, the little boy shrank his neck and dared not continue making trouble.
He couldn't understand why he was arrested by the police for riding the train. He thought, he would never ride a train again...
The old woman took the child away, and the young woman hurriedly dragged the remaining luggage to follow her mother-in-law. The three of them were like defeated deserters. Under the stern gaze of the conductor and the contemptuous gaze of the surrounding passengers, they squeezed through the crowd in shame and fled in the direction of the hard seat carriage.
Before leaving, the old woman turned around and glared at Jiang Haitang and Lu Liangchen viciously, muttering something incoherently.
The train attendant warned them from behind: "If you are found occupying seats without tickets or disrupting order again, we will directly hand you over to the police station at the next station!"
Then he turned to Lu Liangchen and Jiang Haitang, his expression softening a bit. "Comrades, I'm sorry to have frightened you. When you're out there, there are all kinds of people around, so be understanding. Rest easy in your bunks, and call us if you need anything."
"Thank you, comrade flight attendant." Lu Liangchen lowered his jaw slightly, and his dark brown pupils were filled with a reassuring calmness.
Jiang Haitang hugged the sobbing little Taozi and thanked the conductor.
The conductor looked at Xiao Taozi, who was still sobbing and whose tear-stained eyelashes looked like butterfly wings wet by rain, and took out a candy from his pocket and handed it to Xiao Taozi.
"Little boy, uncle will treat you to some candy. After you eat the candy, don't cry anymore!"
When the dark blue figure in the conductor's uniform disappeared at the connection between the carriages, the mechanical roar of the train filled the air again.
Grandma Tao sighed, "Alas, there are all kinds of birds in the forest. Fortunately, your husband can keep a calm mind, otherwise, he would have been bullied.
Lu Liangchen didn't respond. His bony fingers stroked the crumpled quilt, as if trying to soothe his frightened daughter. The scraps of fabric fell to the floor.
He handed the small floral quilt to his daughter.
"Don't cry, little Taozi. Look, the blanket is back." Jiang Haitang hugged the little girl and coaxed her softly, her eyes a little red.
Little Taozi hugged the lost and found quilt tightly, buried her little face in the soft fabric, and her sobbing gradually subsided.
Jiang Haitang turned around and said to Tao Yuhe, "Grandma Tao, thank you and Sister Xiaomei for what you did just now."
"Why are you being polite? You helped me, didn't you?" Tao Yuhe waved his hand and went back to his bunk.
Although the incident has passed, Jiang Haitang feels very aggrieved. She has always believed that if no one offends me, I will not offend anyone. But she has not offended anyone, so why would someone else offend her?
Lu Liangchen's cold and hard outline softened, and he gently patted Jiang Haitang's shoulder to comfort her.
Jiang Haitang looked at Lu Liangchen's stern profile and suddenly felt her eyes swelling.
Lu Liangchen noticed that the little girl was in a bad mood, and gently covered her hand with his broad palm.
"I seem to be getting more and more fragile." Jiang Haitang said a little shyly.
In the past, when she had to handle everything by herself, she was not like this now.
Sure enough, only those who are loved are qualified to be vulnerable and act like a spoiled child.
"Don't take it personally. They're just a few idiots. There's no need to get angry over it. It's not worth it to get yourself upset."
Jiang Haitang also knew that there was no need to be angry about such a person, but in her heart, she just couldn't swallow this anger.
As Lu Liangchen spoke, his vigilant eyes occasionally glanced at the connection between the carriages, as if he was watching to see if the family of three would return.
Jiang Haitang saw Xiao Taozi's eyelids drooling and she looked at her watch. The hour hand was almost pointing to one o'clock.
"Don't be angry, let's eat."
She took out her lunch from her bag. She took out a lunch box of pancakes, then a lunch box of cold shredded potatoes, and finally a can of beef sauce.
"For lunch, we'll have pancakes with vegetables and some beef sauce."
When you open the lid, the unique wheat aroma of pancakes mixed with the vinegar aroma of shredded potatoes hits you in the face, and the oil on the beef sauce shines attractively under the light.
"Try my new wrap recipe," she winked at her husband. "I guarantee it's even better than the one made by the cafeteria chef."
Jiang Haitang said this and went to the bunk next to him to invite Tao Yuxiang and Zhao Xiaomei, the grandparents and grandchildren, to have dinner together.
Tao Yuxiang said: "No, no, we brought food."
Jiang Haitang didn't force it. When she returned to her seat, Lu Liangchen had already fetched hot water and made a cup of malted milk.
"You drink two sips of water first, I'll make the pancake."
"Let me do it."
"I know how to roll pancakes, so just leave it to me. Little Peach, can daddy roll the pancake for you?"
Little Peach nodded weakly: "Okay!"
"Little Taozi, don't you want to eat daddy's burrito?" Although Lu Liangchen knew why his little girl was unhappy, he still said it deliberately.
Little Peach forced a smile and said, "No, Little Peach likes to eat daddy's burritos."
Lu Liangchen had already rolled the first burrito and handed it to Xiao Taozi.
"Thank you, Dad!" Little Taozi thanked him in a very obedient and cute way, then started to nibble on the burrito with her little mouth moving, her cheeks puffed up like a little squirrel.
Jiang Haitang scooped up a spoonful of malted milk and handed it to the little guy's mouth, and the sweet aroma spread instantly.
"Delicious!" The child's eyes sparkled, and the corners of his mouth stained with sauce finally raised a long-lost arc.
Lu Liangchen gave the second wrap to Jiang Haitang, and then he rolled several more wraps in a row. Seeing that Jiang Haitang and Xiao Taozi were both in good spirits, his stern brows relaxed completely, his Adam's apple rolled, and he ate the wrap in big mouthfuls.
After the three of them had a simple lunch, Jiang Haitang hugged Xiao Taozi, who was extremely sleepy, and lay on one bunk, while Lu Liangchen lay on the bunk opposite.
The afternoon sun shone through the windows, and as the train swayed, they gradually fell asleep.
Jiang Haitang opened her eyes again and was awakened by the noisy voices.
The sounds of luggage being moved came from the carriage. Four young men and women were chattering and standing on tiptoe to stuff sacks onto the luggage rack.
Seeing Jiang Haitang wake up, a young woman smiled at her sheepishly and said, "Sorry to wake you up."
Jiang Haitang sat up and said, "It's okay, it's time to get up."
As he was speaking, the canvas bag strap got tangled in the young girl's pigtails.
"I'll help you!" Jiang Haitang stood up swiftly, holding the heavy package steadily in her arms.
The young girl blushed and thanked him.
After putting their luggage away, several people climbed onto their own bunks.
The young woman who had just spoken to Jiang Haitang was just above him. She smiled and said, "You are so strong! Even stronger than the strong laborers in our production team!"
"I've been working since I was young, so I have a lot of strength."
"We are educated youth sent to the countryside. My name is Jin Youqing. The four of us went to the countryside in the same county. This time we took leave together to return to Beijing to visit relatives. Are you going to Beijing to visit relatives as well?"
Obviously, the female educated youth was a very talkative person. Although Jiang Haitang had met many enthusiastic people, this was the first time she had met someone so outgoing.
"Yes, we are also going home to visit relatives." Jiang Haitang replied.
"You look quite young, are you married?"
Jiang Haitang didn't know how to answer this question, so she smiled awkwardly but politely.
Another female educated youth, perhaps sensing Jiang Haitang's embarrassment, said with a smile, "Comrade, please don't mind. This is just the character of Jin Zhiqing."
Only then did Jin Youqing realize that she had no sense of boundaries.
She smiled and said, "I just thought you looked familiar, and wanted to talk to you for a few more words. Don't mind."
Jiang Haitang smiled and shook her head, indicating that she didn't mind.
"Hello, comrade. We will walk the road ahead together. Please forgive us if we do anything wrong."
A young man on the upper bunk was probably worried that Jin Youqing might say something wrong, so he apologized to Jiang Haitang in advance.
Jiang Haitang felt that these young people were pretty good and the journey should be smooth.
"I'm fine. I think Jin Zhiqing is pretty good." Jiang Haitang looked at Jin Youqing with a smile. A girl like this is really good and easy to deal with at first glance.
"Let's take a rest first. We'll get up and set off on our journey before daybreak today."
Several educated youth lay on the bunks and soon fell asleep.
Until the carriage returned to silence, Jiang Haitang carefully spread out the paper and her pencil moved across the graph paper with a scratchy sound.
The latest designs she plans to design are intended for the Canton Fair. Therefore, in terms of design, she cannot stick to the rules and must be bold. While retaining traditional elements, she must also keep pace with current trends.
The traditional button elements are repeatedly interwoven with geometric patterns. Amidst the whistling wind outside the window, new design inspiration is blossoming at the tip of the pen.
She sometimes frowned, sometimes smiled, and revised the drawing over and over again, hoping to achieve the best result.
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