The lighter at that time still looked like an old-fashioned diesel locomotive, with a green leather and yellow belt. The chairs were hard seats made of wooden strips nailed together. There were two rows of seats facing each other, and three people could sit on each side. There was a small table in the middle for putting things.
In 1979, as we were about to enter the 1980s, policies from above became increasingly relaxed. In the 1960s, when going out of town to do business, you needed to bring documents such as a certificate from your work unit or a letter of certification issued by the street office. At that time, national policies were very strict, and spies were caught particularly harshly. There were joint defense teams patrolling the streets, and they would check the identity of anyone who looked suspicious.
In addition to the control over the rural population staying in cities, it is basically impossible to live in the city without documents such as letters of certification, and once caught by the joint defense team, they will be sent back to their hometown.
But now, the policy has been implemented for many years, and some rules and regulations have been relaxed. Only in cities like Kyoto, the ticket purchase is stricter and requires a letter of introduction, but train tickets for some other cities are not that troublesome.
The female supporting character in the book didn't have a letter of introduction, she just bought a train ticket and went straight south.
Wen Xin left very suddenly. She actually didn't know where she was going. She just followed others and bought a ticket. In fact, it was the same wherever she went. She had no relatives.
She sat in the seat by the window, tears streaming down her face, but she made no sound.
A couple in their sixties opposite looked at the little girl and shed tears. The old lady felt so distressed that she quickly grabbed a handful of peanut candies bought by her son.
"Little girl, is this your first time away from home? Don't cry, you will be back in two days. Eat this candy and you won't cry after eating it." The old lady said kindly.
Wen Xin looked at the old lady with tears in her big eyes, choked, looked down at the candy in her hand, and felt as if she would not feel uncomfortable if she ate one piece. She said "hmm", took one piece from it, and put it in her mouth to chew.
"Is it delicious?" asked the old lady.
Wen Xin looked at her and nodded, and a pair of tears fell down. Oh, the old lady was so heartbroken. This girl was too lovable.
After eating a piece of candy, I felt a little better.
The train had left Kyoto. Looking at the distant and unfamiliar city outside, with fine rain continuously pouring on the windows, she couldn't help but think about what to do next after leaving Kyoto.
When she first came here, she came to the Yan family. Although she worked as a nanny, the Yan family was actually an invisible umbrella of protection for her. Everything she did was smooth sailing, and she did quite well in the compound.
But now, she has left this umbrella of protection and is in an unfamiliar world. She doesn't even know where she will go in the end.
She tried her best to avoid the city where the female supporting role went, and just followed the people in front of her in line to buy a ticket to a city in the south. This novel was set in a fictional period, and all the place names had been changed. They were different from the real place names. Wen Xin didn't know where to go, and only knew those cities in the south.
"You kid, when you see others eating candy, you want to eat some too. Why are you so ignorant? Where can I get any candy for you?" There was a couple sitting next to Wen Xin. They were probably out visiting relatives, and there were bags stuffed under the chair.
The three or four-year-old child was hit twice and was crying with a pout. The old lady quickly handed the child two more candies.
The woman took it and said with a smile: "Thank you, this child is just greedy."
Wen Xin wiped away her tears and looked at her. Although everyone's life was much better these days and they could have food to eat and eat better, sugar was still very precious. Wen Xin had never seen pork, but she had seen pigs run. The Yan family was not short of sugar, they had all kinds of sugar, including brown sugar, white sugar and honey, but Yang Hemiao's family couldn't afford it. Wen Xin made too many small sugar cakes and gave the rest to Hemiao. She thought they were delicious. Not to mention sugar cubes. How could the father and son afford them? Not only did they need sugar coupons, but they were also expensive and limited.
Wen Xin glanced at the woman and child next to her, then looked at the old lady and old man opposite. Thinking of how she had cried just now and they had given her candy to comfort her, she immediately felt a natural liking for her.
"Auntie, thank you." Wen Xin's eyes were red, but she smiled sweetly and said to her.
Seeing that she had stopped crying, the old lady also smiled and said, "It's okay, no need to thank me. My youngest son bought it for the two of us. My husband and I don't like it either. If you like it, take two more pieces."
Wen Xin quickly shook her head and refused to eat.
The old lady looked at Wen Xin, who was wearing a small white shirt, blue pants, and two small braids. Her palm-sized face was snow-white, and her big eyes were red, like a little rabbit. The way she cried just now was really heartbreaking. The old lady didn't have a daughter either. She had two sons in total. The eldest son died, and the second son is still serving in the army. She wanted a daughter back then. When she saw Wen Xin, she thought how nice it would be to have a daughter like Wen Xin. Unfortunately, she was unlucky and never had a daughter in her life.
The train was quite crowded, with many people going to visit relatives or do business, carrying a lot of luggage, large and small, filling up the seats. It was raining outside and the windows could not be opened, especially in the summer. Not only was it noisy, but the smell was also particularly bad.
It was noon now, and conductors were walking back and forth in the carriage, pushing a cart and selling lunch boxes. At this time, train tickets were only three or five yuan, and a lunch box was less than one yuan. Wen Xin saw a cart coming over and hurried over to buy food.
The food on the train is very affordable and no tickets are required, but the prices are a bit higher. The train sells a kind of freshly baked fragrant sesame cake, which is a crispy cake made from wheat flour and white sugar, wrapped in brown paper, 40 cents each, and there are six in a pack.
There are also boxed lunches sold in aluminum lunch boxes. There is hot white rice at the bottom of the box and vegetables on top, which is a bit like the rice with gravy in later generations. The vegetable is stir-fried meat with lotus root, which looks greasy and smells fragrant.
Wen Xin left in a hurry and didn't bring any food with her. She just bought a box lunch, a bag of crackers, and five tea eggs, spending less than five yuan.
When she returned to her seat with the things, there was a young man sitting next to the old man and woman opposite her. Wen Xin gave him a tea egg and wanted to exchange seats with him. She wanted to sit next to the old woman. When the young man saw Wen Xin, he blushed and waved his hands, saying he didn't want the tea egg and immediately exchanged seats with her.
Wen Xin ran to sit next to the aunt. She was very sociable and generous. She invited the old man and aunt to eat together. Her hospitality made the old couple feel embarrassed not to eat. In the end, they took the lotus leaf egg and shortbread that Wen Xin stuffed into them and shared half each. After eating two bites, they took out a lot of dried fruits and candies bought by their son and stuffed them into Wen Xin. Wen Xin was not polite and took them with a smile with red eyes.
Although she felt uncomfortable, she had to cheer up because she was in an unfamiliar environment. She had to plan for her future. She didn't have a letter of introduction. Even if the policy was relaxed and the joint defense team stopped arresting people, she could stay for a while while visiting relatives. It didn't matter if the date of the letter of introduction was more than ten days or half a month later. As long as no one reported her, she could stay there. However, proof of identity was still very important in this era.
At least once you get to a place, you need a place to stay. There are no commercial hotels at that time, only guesthouses. Wen Xin had also asked about it vaguely when she was in the compound. There are also guesthouses in other places that do not require letters of introduction, but the people living there are too messy and the places are remote. Many of the people who live there are not good people, and there are rampant thefts and fugitives. Wen Xin is alone, and it is impossible for her to live in such a place.
In other words, she had to find a reliable place to live. The main use of the letter of introduction was to live in a guesthouse, find a job, buy a house, and transfer her household registration.
So for ordinary people, if they go to the city without a letter of introduction, they have no place to live, can't find a job, and can't stay without various tickets and food rations. Unless someone takes you in and lets you stay, and you can take care of your own food, drink, and defecation, then you can stay.
Wenxin’s biggest problem now is that she can’t find a place to live.
She bit a white flour sugar biscuit in her mouth, ate her meal, sniffed her nose, and began to think about what to do. This era is too unfriendly to her, and she is now in urgent need of finding a place to live.
The aroma of tea eggs and shortbread soon filled this small space, and the woman holding the child opposite kept glancing over here.
There are many people who go to other places for business on the train. They don't lack the three or two yuan, so they will buy the lunch provided on the train. However, most of the people who take the train are the working poor. Many poor people only earn ten yuan a month, and a box lunch costs eighty cents. Few people buy it. They all bring their own corn tortillas and pickles, and ask for a jar of boiled water, and have a good meal.
She is nothing like Wen Xin, who is so extravagant. She bought things worth almost five dollars at once. Anyone who sees her would say that she doesn’t know how to live.
The woman pinched the child secretly, and the child cried, "You are so ignorant, the sugar cakes and eggs were bought by Auntie, not for you to eat, why are you crying?"
The way of asking for things is not even to be exchanged. Wen Xin curled her lips, ate her own food, and put the rest away. The train ride would take two days.
After the meal, she became very friendly with the old lady, hugged her arm and asked her questions.
"Ma'am, where are you going?"
"I'm going back to my hometown, Longcheng. My youngest son is serving in the army in Kyoto. The old man and I went to see him. We stayed in the military family compound for two days, and then Ling'er prepared to go back home."
Join the army? Wen Xin's eyes lit up. Perhaps because of Yamatou, she now had a natural liking for the soldiers of this era. She always felt that they were all good people, so the parents of the soldiers must be good people too.
Longcheng? It seems to be a city in the south close to the coast, and it is also a very prosperous city.
Wen Xin's ticket was passing through Longcheng. Instead of finding a random city by herself, it would be better for her to follow them to Longcheng. If she could get along well with the old men and women in the next two days, maybe they could help her rent a house. After all, she was unfamiliar with the place, and now that she had acquaintances, it would definitely be easier to get things done.
Wen Xin wiped her eyes and finally smiled, thinking that the accommodation problem might be solved.
"Look girl, this is my son. I took a photo especially for us. When we miss him, we can take it out and look at it." The old lady took out a photo. It was a black-and-white photo unique to that era. In it was a soldier in military uniform with two big white teeth showing.
Wen Xin took a look and felt that he looked so familiar. But all soldiers in the world wear the same clothes, so they all look alike.
She nodded and said, "Yeah, you look really energetic." Her teeth are so white.
Along the way, she was considerate to the old couple. Whoever she wanted to please, that person would be treated as if he were in spring breeze. Didn't she cure the demon king's behavior in the beginning?
So, she said all kinds of words to please them and made the old lady like her very much. When they asked her where she was going, she said sweetly, "I'm going to Longcheng too. We'll stop by on the way." The old lady was even happier. Since they were from the same place, she spoke even more cordially.
Not to mention the old man, who always had a smile on his face when he saw Wen Xin, making them happy every day.
The woman opposite watched Wen Xin buy delicious food and drinks for the two old men and women, and when she had nothing to do, she would pour water and bring snacks to the two old people, and even massage the old lady's shoulders, as if she were her own daughter. The old lady said she wanted to adopt her as her godchild, and she even covered Wen Xin with clothes when she slept at night. She curled her lips and said, "Is that okay?" I didn't know anyone on the train.
After sitting for two whole days, the train finally stopped at the station on the afternoon of the third day. Wen Xin carried her bag and suitcase and carefully followed the old couple into the misty city near the harbor, a city shrouded in mist and rain.
…
Yan Zeyang stayed in the hospital for half a month due to his leg injury. As for his three meals, He Wenyan naturally didn't have to worry about it. The hospital had orderly soldiers arranged by his father, and the hospital director's daughter Dong Yao, who brought him soup and water three times a day in the past two days.
At noon, warm sunlight shone into the ward. Yan Zeyang was sitting on the bed, reading a military book with a cold and expressionless face, without turning a page for a long time.
At this time, military doctor Dong Yao was wearing a neat shirt and military pants, a white coat, and had long curly hair. She looked military and very modern. She walked into the ward with a lunch box and said with a smile, "Captain Yan, how are you today? Does your leg still hurt? I made some pork liver soup, which is very good for wound recovery. I made it myself, please give me some face."
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