"But aren't you going to visit Uncle Cai's house today?" Su Hua asked puzzledly, "Uncle Cai did you a great favor, taking great pains to transfer you from the Loess Plateau and arranging a job for you. Now that you're in Shanghai, you should visit him as soon as possible."
"I know, I didn't forget." Su Lin said, "But I'm very sleepy now. I don't have the energy. If I go to his house like this and keep dozing off, it would be very rude. So I decided to take a nap first. After I'm full, I'll buy a gift and go to Uncle Cai's house to thank him tomorrow morning."
Su Lin's reasons were sufficient, so Su Hua didn't care anymore. It was none of her business anyway.
Su Hua nodded and said, "That's fine, whatever you want to arrange."
With Su Hua's approval, Su Lin ignored her and took out a washbasin from under the bed and picked up the thermos.
There was still half a pot of hot water in the thermos, and Su Lin poured most of it directly into the washbasin.
Seeing this, Su Hua hurried forward and protected the kettle: "Sister, why are you pouring water?"
"Wash your feet before going to bed. The conditions on the train are not good. I haven't washed my feet all the way. I have to wash them before going to bed, otherwise I will dirty your bed again." Su Lin explained.
In fact, she hasn't washed her feet for more than two months.
There is a severe water shortage on the Loess Plateau. People don't even have enough to drink and are almost dying of thirst. How can they care about washing their feet?
There are many people in the village who don't take a bath. Their bodies are covered with a thick layer of mud, which covers their original skin color. If you touch it with your hands, you will rub off the mud, which is so disgusting that you can't eat.
Su Lin had been on the Loess Plateau for a while and was no longer surprised by it. She had never been able to adapt or integrate into the place, and the frustration and pain she had experienced along the way were too numerous to describe.
Su Lin smiled and said, "Don't worry about me. I will clean the basin and put it back in its place after washing."
"But the basin you are holding is my washbasin. I use it to wash my face every morning. You can't use it to wash your feet." Su Hua reminded.
"Oh, sorry." Su Lin said sorry, but there was no apology on her face. She turned around and made another request: "Xiaohua, I don't like your washbasin. Do you have another basin here? Take it out and let me use it."
"No, I only have this basin." Su Hua said, "Add some cold water and I'll pour the water over your feet. Rub them like this first."
Su Lin was helpless: "That's fine."
Pouring water on your feet to wash them will not clean them at all. It is better to soak them in a basin directly to clean them. After Su Lin finished washing, there was still some black ash left between her toes that she had not rubbed off.
Never mind, let’s just make do with this for one night.
Su Lin lay down on the bed, pulled the quilt over her and closed her eyes.
She was extremely tired and fell asleep after lying down for a few hours, her chest rising and falling with her even breathing.
While Su Lin was asleep, Su Hua hurried out and delivered the matchboxes that had been burnt to the street vendors. He exchanged two hundred matchboxes for one pound of silver.
After exchanging the money, Su Hua came back from the street and took home two hundred sheets of paper to paste matchboxes.
Even though a single matchbox looks very light, two hundred matches packed together still have some weight.
Su Hua was jogging home with a sack of matchboxes on his back.
Just as she was walking downstairs of a residential building, she suddenly heard someone behind her calling her: "Xiaohua? Xiaohua? Wait a minute."
Su Hua turned around and found that the person holding her was Pan Zhiyuan.
Su Hua and Pan Zhiyuan were unfamiliar with each other and had never spoken before. Although both were from the Railway Administration's family compound, the age difference between them was about ten years, a difference of ten years enough to separate people from each other.
The reason she knew Pan Zhiyuan was because she once overheard her mother talking to Su Lin, saying that Su Lin and Pan Zhiyuan were dating. Apart from that, she knew almost nothing about Pan Zhiyuan.
So, Pan Zhiyuan suddenly came to her because he knew that Su Lin was back?
Su Hua asked calmly, "Brother Pan, what can I do for you?"
"Xiaohua, is your sister back?" Pan Zhiyuan rubbed his hands awkwardly and asked worriedly, "She wrote me a letter saying she'd be back in Shanghai around the 10th of the twelfth lunar month. It's the 10th today, and I haven't seen her yet. Has she come back yet? Did something happen on the way?"
Su Hua's eyes looked a little subtle when he heard this.
Even she knew the arrival time of Su Lin's train, and Pan Zhiyuan and Su Lin were in a relationship, but he didn't even know the exact time Su Lin would come to Shanghai?
Did Su Lin not tell him? Or did he forget?
This is too weird.
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