Chapter 12

Buy Buy Buy

By the time I got on the train the next day, I was stuck in a clattering inertia and couldn't stop.

Soon, a man got on the sleeper berth opposite. He got on the train from Zhangye and said he was going to Jiuquan.

The man was wearing a navy blue Mao suit, buttoned tightly, about thirty years old, with a ruddy face, which was a common complexion among men here. However, when he took off his shoes, he revealed a pair of stinky feet.

Moreover, he casually carried a roast chicken and a bottle of second-hot soup with him. As soon as he got on the bus, he sat down with his legs crossed, lit a cigarette, and then, while holding his toes, he began to tear the roast chicken and eat the second-hot soup slowly.

The smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and roasted chicken.

The three children had not eaten meat for a long time, so they sat in a row from oldest to youngest. Because the roast chicken was so delicious, they rested their elbows on their heads and stared at the serious cadre comrade opposite them who was rubbing his feet and drinking roasted liquor.

"Do you want to eat?" The man asked, perhaps because he felt embarrassed by the children's staring at him.

Erdan opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, Chen Lina immediately covered his mouth.

She decided that if any of the three children dared to eat a bite of the chicken that the man had kneaded with the hands that had touched her feet, she would immediately open the window and throw him out.

Fortunately, the man got off at the next stop. Nie Bozhao and Chen Lina finally breathed a sigh of relief, opened the window to get some fresh air, and dared to breathe deeply.

The train continued to move forward and soon left Hongyan Province. The scenery was completely different when we headed towards the border. At first, it was ok, as we could see people, but as we went along, there were no people. It was just a vast expanse of Gobi desert, one after another, with no end in sight.

Although the three children didn't have to suffer the pain of sitting hard because there were berths, they would be driven crazy by staying like this for a whole day and night.

Fortunately, it was snowing heavily outside. The sleeping compartment was heated, so it was warm inside like spring. The two children were running in sweaters, but it was snowing heavily outside.

To Chen Lina, this was nothing, but to the two children, it was an extremely strange sight.

When eating biscuits in the morning, Nie Weimin still refused to eat.

When milk powder is mixed with malted milk, it smells delicious. When his mother Sun Gong was still alive, she brought Nie Weimin to visit the chief engineer's home, and the chief engineer's family made him a cup of milk like that. He drank it, and he still remembers the fragrance.

Watching his two younger brothers eating biscuits with big mouthfuls and drinking milk powder mixed with maltose is something that he would never think of, no matter if he was in the hands of his grandmother or his maternal grandmother.

In his grandmother's opinion, mutton is always the best choice. Mutton is the most nutritious and can help people grow taller.

What Umayee lacked the least was mutton. When winter came, people had mutton for three meals a day. However, Nie Weimin did not like mutton and was beaten by his grandmother every day until he cried.

Nie Weimin was so hungry that he simply lay down on the upper bunk with his eyes closed and pretended to be dead. He didn't know how long he had been waiting, but suddenly he smelled an extremely strong fragrance.

Nie Weimin had only smelled this fragrance once, when his mother took him to visit the chief engineer's home. The chief engineer's home was filled with this smell.

It's the kind of flavor that can only be created by various spices, deep-frying, and fried eggs. In short, all kinds of delicious foods cooked together.

Although he didn't eat it, the mysterious fragrance left an indelible impression on the four-year-old Nie Weimin.

Rinse the enamel pot with boiling water, then put the lid on, put a pack of instant noodles in, simmer for three minutes, then open it. Chen Lina called Erdan over first and said, "You can only take one bite, each of you take one bite with the cake. After you finish, Sandan can eat, and after Sandan finishes, I can eat. Let's start eating now."

Erdan picked up the meat with his chopsticks, cut out most of it, swallowed it in one gulp, and shouted, "Mom, it's delicious, delicious, I want more, I want more."

The egg was too small to be picked up with chopsticks. A noodle slid for a long time and was still sticking to my chin. Chen Lina took the bowl and took a bite. Then she picked up the bowl and asked Nie Weimin, who was sitting on the counter, "Comrade Nie, do you want to have a bite too?"

"Brother doesn't eat."

"He doesn't eat." Nie Bozhao and the two children said in unison, but before they finished speaking, they saw Nie Weimin with a bitter face sliding down from the upper floor.

He rolled up a big chopstick and put it into his mouth. The instant noodles were soaked until they were just soft and tender. They were oily and fragrant, so delicious that Nie Weimin almost cried again.

It is so delicious.

"That's right. Do you want some candy? You didn't have any yesterday, so you can have two today as per the rule." Chen Lina asked.

Nie Weimin felt that he was a traitor to the people, but the instant noodles were so delicious. In addition to instant noodles, he also wanted to eat candy and fried cakes. He heard Erdan eating fried cakes with big apples, crunching them, and his gluttonous stomach kept flipping and fighting.

"No hurry, slow down, slow down, there's more." Nie Bozhao patted his son who was eating voraciously.

Nie Weimin cried and put food into his mouth. He looked at the second and third children. Seeing that the two younger ones were also looking at him eagerly, he pushed the instant noodles away, wiped his tears, and went up to the table with the apples and fried cakes.

The train was still moving forward. The snow outside the window was getting heavier. There was no people, no houses, and not even a tree. Chen Lina closed her eyes and thought, at least there was a tunnel to go through, which was better than driving forward in the heavy snow.

However, when she woke up again, there was still endless snow hitting the window glass.

At this time, even if they could see a tree in the snow, it would be a great comfort to the people in the car. But no, there was not even a single tree in the snow.

Bored, Chen Lina took out Nie Weimin's sweater from her luggage, tore it into threads, and rolled it into a ball. She was going to combine two sweaters into one and make a big sweater for Erdan.

In the afternoon, suddenly a scream came from the upper floor.

At this time, Nie Bozhao, because his two little ones were too lawless, carried them past the dining car and went to see the ticket compartment in front, which was packed with people.

Chen Lina was dozing off while holding a few balls of yarn.

"Comrade Xiao Chen, Comrade Xiao Chen." Nie Weimin was rolling around anxiously.

"What's the matter?" Chen Lina deliberately spoke slowly and ignored him. This little guy had to be patient.

"My teeth, my teeth." Nie Weimin continued to roll on the upper floor, and suddenly he fell down with a somersault and screamed.

Everyone who was walking outside with Nie Bozhao holding the child heard the cry and ran back to take a look.

The eldest son's two milky white front teeth were stuck to the White Rabbit candy. This was the beginning of the little guy's first tooth replacement in his life.

After sitting on the train for three days and three nights, the three children became listless, and Chen Lina could not even open her eyes.

You have to know that the sleeper berth tickets at that time were several thousand kilometers from the provincial capital to Wuima. These three sleeper berth tickets cost Nie Bozhao half a month's salary.

However, if it weren't for the three sleeper tickets, Chen Lina and the children would probably have died on the train.

She once heard that someone went crazy on the way to Umay because he couldn't stand the long time in the desert. She thought it was a joke at the time, but after she actually experienced it, she realized it was not a joke.

She really is on the verge of going crazy.

"Comrade Chen, we're here, get off the car quickly." Nie Bozhao had already tied up all the woven bags and was carrying Erdan on his back and Nie Weimin on his shoulder, while Chen Lina had to carry the younger one and then lift all the scattered bags.

I have to say, with three children, the luggage is really a lot.

"Why is Umay so small?" After leaving the train station, Chen Lina was stunned by the thick snow, low buildings, and the green buses coming and going in the snow and ice.

"This is Uru. We have to wait for the base's car to pick us up and go directly to the base. Umayee is still behind the base. So, if you have anything else to buy, buy it now." said Nie Bozhao.

Chen Lina was so shocked that her jaw dropped. "You said this is Uru? You are not lying to me, right? How can this be Uru?"

Uru, the largest metropolis in the north, is an economic center connecting Europe and Asia. When Chen Lina came here before, she was so prosperous as soon as she got off the plane that she thought she had arrived in Hong Kong or Shenzhen. How could it be like this now?

How backward must Umay be? And what the hell is a base? She doesn't even live in the city?

"Comrade Xiao Chen, I have a request." Nie Weimin, who had his two front teeth pulled out by Big White Rabbit, spoke with a lisp and his little face was red from the cold.

"Comrade Xiao Nie, you go ahead."

"I don't want to eat mutton. I want vegetables, pork ribs, and the dumplings you made."

"That's not difficult. When we get home, I'll buy you some groceries and I'll make them for you."

"There is no vegetable in the base, only mutton. We only get one sheep a week, and that's all we have to eat."

“Is there no place to buy food?”

"no."

Chen Lina opened her mouth wide and looked at Nie Bozhao. At that moment, she felt like she had been abducted by a trafficker and brought to a poor mountainous area.

But who could have expected that this man would become funny and talkative, a good dancer, humorous, and able to make a lot of money fifteen years later? As long as her eyelids droop a little, he would immediately start buying things.

"Then let's buy it now." Chen Lina gritted her teeth and said decisively, "Do you see that residential area? There must be vegetables there. Come on, come with me and buy some."

Nie Bozhao said firmly, "No, this place is mostly populated by ethnic minorities. I have to go buy food. You guys wait here."

Chen Lina smiled and asked Nie Weimin, "Do you want to go with your dad or with me?"

Nie Weimin thought bitterly and grabbed Chen Lina's hand, "You, I want Comrade Chen to go with me."

If it's his dad, he would buy the same old three things: mutton, radish and cabbage. His grandmother would stew them in a big iron pot. Wow, as soon as the food came out of the pot, it smelled like the armpit of Uncle Ha next door, a pungent, irony smell.

Although she had some understanding of life in the border areas, Chen Lina was still stunned when she entered the residential area and found the vegetable market.

The entire market was filled with meat, with whole cows and sheep hanging vertically. The butchers were sharpening their knives. A cow weighing several hundred pounds was hanging there, and one cut would cut out a large piece of red meat, which fell on the chopping board with a snap.

Only in one corner did she see a mountain of cabbages, two bunches of frozen leeks, and bags of large radishes.

And it's also very expensive. In this era when a pound of cabbage in the mainland costs only three cents, a piece of mutton and cabbage costs fifty cents, radish seventy cents, and leeks are even more expensive, the same price as meat, one dollar per pound.

Comrade Xiao Nie watched eagerly. Chen Lina gritted her teeth, took out ten yuan, and bought ten kilograms of cabbage and ten kilograms of radishes. In the end, she did not dare to buy leeks.

After all, she had to save the hundred dollars on her for emergency use. If the children had a headache or a fever, wouldn't she have to spend money?

After wandering around the market, Chen Lina finally found a place selling vegetable seeds. She bought a few seeds, which were not expensive. She only spent one dollar for a few bags. Then she bought blended vegetables, which were expensive, such as star anise, cinnamon, and cloves. She spent a lot of money.

Carrying a woven bag of radishes and cabbages, Chen Lina felt that she was not far from bankruptcy.

When they arrived at the train station, it was icy and snowy. Nie Bozhao was surrounded by several large woven bags and had an open woolen coat that wrapped the legs of the two children. The three of them were breathing out white air together.

"Comrade Xiao Chen, your letter of introduction is in my pocket."

Unable to lower his head, Nie Bozhao motioned Chen Lina to look at the wallet inside his clothes. "Uru is like this. Umay only has a few small buildings, and the base has nothing. If you can't stand the hardship and want to go back home, just go back and buy a train ticket by yourself. It's still not too late for you to leave now."

"Now that we are here, we should make the best of it. Comrade Lao Nie, now that we are here, why should I leave?" Chen Lina asked back, and smacked her lips at the same time.

"Comrade Xiao Chen, I have a request. Please stop slapping me. I know you have good hearing and a good brain. If you don't slap me, your brain will be fine."

"Yes, she has very good hearing." Nie Weimin quickly agreed, "She heard everything I taught Erdan."

"Children are not allowed to interrupt when adults are talking," Nie Bozhao said to his son.

Nie Weimin had a bitter face, but the two younger ones were laughing.