In just two hours, she sold about thirty-six yuan worth of goods. Since she didn't have oil coupons, she asked for meat coupons and grain coupons, which were the only two things she could use.
However, these two types of tickets are in short supply. Currently, even those with tickets may not be able to queue up to buy grain. So instead of queuing in long lines at the grain station, it's better to buy from her, at least it's in stock, and at least the quality of the rice is not bad.
After receiving the thirty-six yuan, five jin of grain coupons, and one jin and six liang of meat coupons, it was almost time to go.
When she arrived at the bus station, the rain had stopped as heavy as before, and there were more and more people. As long as they wouldn't lose money on the trip, they finally set off on time at four o'clock in the afternoon. The bus was completely full, and there were three or four people standing. In total, there were less than twenty people. It was a small bus. In those impoverished times, even the traffic police didn't check for overloading, so they squeezed in as many people as possible.
Xiao Jiu gets carsick quite badly, so she specifically chose the last row by the window and held an orange in her hand, hoping to ease her carsickness by smelling the orange.
In this situation, it would be extremely annoying if someone were to smoke. The car already smelled strongly of gasoline, there were many people, and the roads were slippery from the rain, so the windows couldn't be opened. And yet this person was openly smoking inside the car. Did they have no sense of public morality?
Xiao Jiu patiently and spoke politely to the man in front of her.
"Sir, it's raining today, and we can't open the windows because of the rain. Could we wait until we get off the bus before smoking? I'm sorry to trouble you, but with so many people in such a confined space, it's really unbearable to smell the smoke. I'm so sorry, could you please put out this cigarette?"
The old man turned his head and saw a fair-skinned and pretty young girl. She was polite and friendly, so it would be a bit unreasonable for him not to put out his cigarette. He immediately smiled and said...
"Yes, yes, yes, I'll pinch it right now!"
Unexpectedly, the woman in her forties or fifties next to him was unhappy.
"Why are you pinching it? It's a waste if he doesn't finish his cigarette. Just wait, we have to wait until he finishes it!"
The old man frowned. "Just pinch it in my hand, I can smoke it after I get off the bus, it's the same."
As a result, his wife, with her slanted, triangular eyes, was displeased.
"Just do what she tells you to do, why are you asking so many questions? Besides, why should we stop just because she tells us to?"
After saying that, she glared at Xiao Jiu, "Why do you care so much, you little girl? Nobody on the bus has said a word, why are you making such a fuss?"
Xiao Jiu retorted matter-of-factly, "I get carsick and can't stand this smell. The old man already agreed, so could you please do me a favor, ma'am?"
Xiao Jiu suppressed his anger and tried to reason with her with a forced smile, but the woman wouldn't listen. She snorted and turned her head away. Luckily, the ticket seller came over and spoke up.
“Auntie, this young girl is right. Look, the old man has already put out his cigarette, so let’s not be so serious about it, right? There are so many people in the carriage, and there are children too, so please be understanding.”
The ticket seller's words carried far more weight than hers; the old lady's quick change of expression left Xiao Jiu speechless.
He was just a moment ago giving her a cold look, but the moment he turned around, he was all smiles and trying to get close to the ticket seller. He even asked her if she was married, if she had a boyfriend, how great her nephew was, and suggested that they arrange a meeting.
Xiao Jiu: "..."
If she hadn't been explicitly told that she was already married, this old woman would have made up an endless story!
When she returned to her seat, the old woman's loud voice was still there, making it hard not to pay attention to her. In that moment, she caught a glimpse of a wart behind the old woman's right ear. Thinking back to what the old woman had just said, she seemed to live near the cotton mill in L City. Wasn't she the old woman that Fifth Sister had mentioned, the one who saved her but then tried to extort money from her?
Fifth Sister had previously mentioned that she carried an old lady home on the street, rescued her, and took her home, but instead of paying the agreed-upon price, she even turned around and accused her. If Fifth Sister hadn't been too lazy to argue with her, she might have even had to pay her back.
I never expected to run into you here today, hmph.
The journey from Y County to L City took more than two hours, with no stops in between, but rather many stops and starts. If it weren't for this, she wouldn't have gotten so carsick. Even when it was drizzling and a bit cold, she had to open a crack in the window for some fresh air, otherwise she would feel nauseous and uncomfortable.
Even with all the precautions taken, she still vomited violently, throwing up all the food she had eaten at noon. Fortunately, her position didn't bother anyone else, but the sound of her vomiting did displease the old lady.
"It's disgusting. Knowing that she gets carsick, she still took the bus, and to make matters worse, she was in the same car as her. Nowadays, everyone is struggling to afford food, and she's throwing up."
A young man next to her, who had probably disliked her for a long time, said, "So what? If you think it's a waste, go over and lick it yourself. That way it won't be a waste!"
Upon hearing this, everyone on the bus burst into laughter. The old lady turned ashen with anger and stood up unsteadily, ready to confront the young man.
Xiao Jiu watched coldly, feeling uncomfortable. She could tell that the old man was having a hard time. She advised the old lady not to cause trouble, but she still got punched in the eye socket. If it weren't for the young man's louder voice and his waving fist making her intimidated, she didn't know how this would have ended!
The old couple sat at the door. They had been through a lot on the way. Xiao Jiu was a little tipsy when he saw the passenger arguing with the old woman.
"This is my money bag. I dropped it, and you picked it up, right? I even realized what was happening and turned around to pick it up, but you insisted it was yours. So tell me, how much money is inside, and what kind of bills are in it?"
"I can vouch for you. This old lady picked it up. Give it back to her. You're such a grown woman, how can you be so inconsiderate!"
With so many passengers, it was a bit crowded, but in this day and age, without cell phones to keep us occupied, everyone's attention was on the carriage, and any slight movement could be seen. The old lady was unreasonable, thinking she had gotten a great deal, but little did she know that the other person was not one to be trifled with either, and started arguing with her. The two of them were fighting for a long time, and even when the driver and ticket seller came to mediate, she wouldn't let go and just wouldn't give in.
As fate would have it, in her struggle over the money, the old lady lost her breath and fainted. Meanwhile, someone else had lost their wallet, grabbed it, and pushed open the door to leave.
The cars of that era were quite old; passengers could open them manually without the driver needing to lift a finger. By the time the passengers realized what was happening, the cars had already vanished.
Xiao Jiu lifted her eyelids slightly, watching coldly without offering any help. With so many precedents to follow, she wasn't about to invite trouble.
The old man was extremely anxious, but the surrounding passengers were afraid of being taken advantage of, so none of them were willing to come forward. It was the driver and ticket seller who, fearing responsibility, took them to the nearest hospital. Fortunately, it was the old lady who fainted, not the old man; otherwise, none of the people on the bus would have been able to leave today.
After helping to carry the woman to the hospital, the passengers returned and said, "That old lady is beyond saving. When we were carrying her, her complexion was terrible."
From the time she fainted until she was taken to the hospital, at least half an hour had passed. During that time, no one tried to help her except her husband who tried to revive her by pinching her philtrum. Under these circumstances, there was indeed no possibility of saving her.
It could be said that Xiao Jiu watched the whole thing with a cold eye. If she had intervened, she might have had a glimmer of hope. But she was afraid. First, there was her sister, and then there was her sharp and mean way of doing things. If things went wrong, people would say that she had delayed her treatment. She didn't have that much time to learn from her mistakes.
People like that deserve to die!
When she arrived at the school, she was exhausted and could barely walk. Perhaps because her face was too pale, the teacher allowed her to go back to the dormitory to rest instead of staying up until midnight.
Back in her dorm, she changed her clothes. She was covered in the smell of gasoline, which was awful. She couldn't understand why the young man on the bus would tell her that he loved the smell of gasoline, even though she was carsick. That was quite a peculiar quirk.
While no one was in the dorm, I filled up some hot water, took a shower in my room, changed into clean clothes, washed my dirty clothes, and hung them outside the dorm.
Only then did I feel a little bit of an appetite. I cooked some millet porridge on a small stove outside the warehouse, and added five or six glutinous rice balls before it was done. That was my dinner.
Looking at the time, it was already nine o'clock in the evening. Her roommates would be getting out of class soon. Xiao Jiu took her book and read for a while. When they were about to come back, she opened the door to the water room and immediately grabbed everyone's thermos flasks to fill them with water. Just then, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.
Why didn't you go to class today?
Grandpa in the water room saw her lingering nearby, so he opened the door for her ten minutes early.
"Grandpa, I got caught in the rain and felt a bit unwell, so I asked for leave."
"Oh dear, you need to rest quickly. Soak your feet in hot water to warm them up, or you'll catch a cold."
Xiao Jiu readily agreed with a smile. Not long after she lay down on the bed, her roommates returned, and at the same time, the power came back on in the dormitory.
Before, when she was in the dormitory, she would fumble her way around in the dark, and she was too lazy to even use a flashlight.
Although the light bulb was dim, it was still an electric light, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her.
"What's going on? You're never late, why did you take the day off today?"
"Don't even mention it, this whole afternoon of this has almost killed me."
She didn't hide anything from her roommates and told them everything that happened that afternoon. After listening, they all looked at her with sympathy.
"No wonder, we were all wondering why you were never late. Luckily, there wasn't much to do tonight, so we did a dictation of English words and memorized the classical Chinese text from Lesson 10. Do you know these? If not, try to memorize them tomorrow morning."
"I've got it." The classical Chinese texts I knew in my past life, I can recall after reading them a few times in this life. Not to mention memorizing them, even reciting them from memory is a piece of cake.
As for English vocabulary, well, that's even more of a stretch. She's a PhD student, and many of her classes are taught entirely in English. Those words have long since become muscle memory for her.
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