Gao Dapeng was very grateful to Yuan Fangguo for being able to go to Yunnan this summer vacation. Like Yang Xuexiu, she had basically earned enough money for her university tuition under the care of Yuan Fangguo and Li Chunli in the past year. Now Yuan Fangguo was paying for him to go to the Martyrs' Cemetery in Yunnan to pay tribute to his brother. He even felt a little guilty and originally wanted to split the bill with Yuan Fangguo, but Yuan Fangguo firmly disagreed and instead asked him to mail the money back home.
Gao Dapeng has an older brother and an older sister. His brother died on the battlefield and his sister is married. He has a younger brother and younger sister. The conditions of his family are even worse than Yuan Fangguo's. At least Yuan Fangguo and his family live in the mountains. If things really get bad, they can still rely on the mountains for their livelihood. But Gao Dapeng's family, who lives in the plains, can only rely on the weather. According to him, his family originally had three adobe houses, but one collapsed in the summer of the year before last. Now the family is squeezed into two houses, with his old father and younger brother sharing one room, and his mother and younger sister sharing one room.
When Gao Dapeng talked about the situation at home, he couldn't help wiping away tears. When he was moved, he even buried his head deeply between his knees and burst into tears.
Seeing that the train was about to leave and Gao Dapeng was still emotional, Yuan Fangguo hurried to comfort him.
After a long period of consolation, Gao Dapeng finally stopped crying.
Putting on their backpacks, they headed straight to the train station.
In the waiting hall of the train station, Yuan Fangguo saw Lin Yumei and others.
He originally thought that Lin Yumei was traveling to Yunnan with her best friends, but after he looked around, he found that there were a few boys there.
Seven girls and three boys.
It seemed that there was no couple, but Yuan Fangguo noticed that there was something wrong with the way one of the tall boys looked at him.
However, he didn't have Yang Tengtao's eyes that always had malicious intent when he stared at people. This boy's eyes revealed more of a strong jealousy.
Lin Yumei was completely unaware of this and instead introduced Yuan Fangguo to her bestie and friends.
It turned out that they were all Lin Yumei's high school classmates. After the college entrance examination, they made an appointment to travel to Yunnan together during the summer vacation of their freshman year.
Unlike Yuan Fangguo and Gao Dapeng who sat in hard seats, Lin Yumei and the others sat in sleeper berths.
"Do you play poker?" Lin Yumei couldn't help but ask on the platform.
"I can play a little." Yuan Fangguo nodded.
"There are exactly 10 of us here, and we are not even full. You and Dapeng can come over and play poker together." Lin Yumei said with a smile.
"Okay, we'll come find you then."
After saying this, the two of them separated, one to the left and one to the right.
The train was not crowded during the summer vacation. The entire carriage was only half full of passengers, which surprised Yuan Fangguo and the others. In particular, there were only two of them in the three-person seat where he and Gao Dapeng were sitting. If no one got on at night, they could even use the seat as a berth.
Although Yuan Fangguo's net worth is already hundreds of thousands, he will never waste money when he needs to save. Considering that the food on the train is expensive, he and Gao Dapeng have already prepared some dry food.
Each of them brought a cup of water, some pickled mustard greens, some biscuits, and some bread.
After having a simple dinner on the train, Yuan Fangguo also began to feel bored.
He and Gao Dapeng just stared at each other, doing nothing.
The train from Chengdu to Kunming takes about 30 hours. If nothing goes wrong, they will not arrive in Kunming until around nine o'clock the next evening.
Neither of them knew how to pass the time.
Thinking of Lin Yumei's previous invitation to them to play poker, Yuan Fangguo told Gao Dapeng about it, and Gao Dapeng readily agreed.
They often played a three-person poker game called Run Fast in the dormitory. Gao Dapeng rarely played it, but Yuan Fangguo often played it with Sun Kejian and Yi Juntao. However, when some of them were not in the dormitory, Gao Dapeng, who had nothing to do, would also join in the fun.
The two of them didn't have much luggage. They each carried a small bag with all their belongings inside, which gave them great flexibility and maneuverability.
Putting on their backpacks, the two of them prepared to go find Lin Yumei and the others to play poker.
The hard sleeper attendants of this era are easy to talk to. As long as they don't spend the night in the berth, there is nothing wrong with them going to each other's carriages.
When they found Lin Yumei and the others, they were also preparing to play poker.
The boy who was jealous of Lin Yumei talking to Yuan Fangguo took the initiative to invite Lin Yumei and Yuan Fangguo to come together.
The remaining nine people were also divided into several pairs.
Playing poker is also popular in the girls' dormitory. Poker games have an element of luck in them, but more of it depends on strength.
Yuan Fangguo's intelligence was put to good use in this poker game. Almost every time after a few hands were dealt, he could clearly count the cards in the hands of Lin Yumei and the boy named Gu Zhengbo.
Except for those times when he was not strong enough, he won most of the rounds.
At nine o'clock in the evening, Gu Zhengbo was so angry that he threw the cards in his hand and said, "I don't want to play anymore."
Lin Yumei smiled awkwardly.
Yuan Fangguo acted as if nothing had happened and invited Lin Yumei and the others to continue playing tomorrow.
At 9:10 in the evening, without waiting for the attendant to take the initiative, Yuan Fangguo and Gao Dapeng left the berth on their own.
When they returned to their seats, there were still few people in the carriage, but there was a middle-aged man sitting next to them.
When he subconsciously looked into the eyes of the middle-aged man, Yuan Fangguo found that his eyes were sharp and powerful, like thunder.
The middle-aged man nodded at Yuan Fangguo and smiled slightly as a greeting.
Yuan Fangguo responded politely.
Gao Dapeng has always been a man of few words, even though his personality changed a lot later on. After returning to his seat, he briefly said a few words to Yuan Fangguo, then he rested his chin on his hand and cast his gaze into the vast darkness.
As they got closer to Yunnan, Gao Dapeng's emotions became more and more complicated. He looked out the window for a long time, and his eyes were filled with tears again.
Yuan Fangguo couldn't help but hand him a piece of toilet paper.
Taking the toilet paper, Gao Dapeng wiped the tears from his eyes vigorously.
"Fang Guo, what do you think we should buy before we go to the memorial service?" Gao Dapeng suddenly asked.
"What were your hobbies when you were alive, brother?" Yuan Fangguo asked.
"He likes reading, especially 'How the Steel Was Tempered.'"
"Then let's buy a copy in Kunming tomorrow and burn it for him when we get there."
"Yeah." Gao Dapeng nodded. "Should we also buy a bottle of wine and a pack of cigarettes?"
"You have to buy the wine. As for cigarettes, see if your brother smoked when he was alive."
Gao Dapeng shook his head. "He doesn't smoke. He saves his allowance every month and sends it home."
"Then buy a bottle of good wine."
…
The two were chatting in heavy hearts when the middle-aged man suddenly interrupted, "Are you two also going to the Martyrs' Cemetery in southern Yunnan?"
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